November 3, 2023

The classic in Japanese

I'm sure everyone's familiar with Dracula, at least to a degree: ancient Transylvanian vampire goes to London and is opposed by our heroes. That's what you'll be getting here. I won't talk much about the story, given how well-known it already is.

I will talk a bit about the translation, however. I read this in conjunction with the original English Dracula, and was able to take a few notes as I did so.

  1. Most character accents were dropped in this translation, notably Dr. Van Helsing and various random English characters who had extremely thick ones.

  2. Given the lack of accents and period writing, this is an easier read than the English original, given that you know English and Japanese equally well. Granted, that's not much help if you're a native English speaker and a Japanese learner, but just thought I'd note it.

  3. This is an epistolary novel, and there were a handful of typo'd dates. Especially noticeable if you're trying to follow along with Dracula Daily, as I was.

  4. This was present in the English, but especially notable in the Japanese given the enormous page count: the translator stayed faithful to the English line breaks, meaning that you will quite often have pages and pages of solid blocks of text until the next paragraph. It's not the end of the world, but can be tiring for learners trying to read a single entry.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed reading this; Dracula is already a good book, and you get some nice learning in with this translation: plenty of pages to reinforce skills you already know, plus a pretty wide range of vocabulary, going from religious to terms for period technology to geography and medical. Recommended for confident learners who are at least intermediate level and want to sink into a long book.

Gradings:14
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eefara graded
on October 1, 2024
similar in difficulty to流沙の記憶L35
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on May 10, 2024
eefara graded
on December 12, 2023
eefara graded
on November 20, 2023
similar in difficulty toコップクラフトL35
eefara graded
on November 3, 2023
eefara graded
on November 3, 2023
harder than変な音L32
eefara graded
on November 3, 2023
similar in difficulty toハリー・ポッターと賢者の石L31
eefara graded
on November 3, 2023
eefara graded
on November 3, 2023
similar in difficulty to体育館の殺人L31
eefara graded
on November 3, 2023
similar in difficulty to十角館の殺人L35
eefara graded
on November 3, 2023
similar in difficulty to七回死んだ男L34
eefara graded
on November 3, 2023
similar in difficulty to告白L32
eefara graded
on November 3, 2023
harder than夜市L31
eefara graded
on November 3, 2023
harder thanコンビニ人間L30