追憶は狂気

This phrase is the title of a music track from a game. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any specific contextual meaning behind it. It could possibly be reference to how you're traversing through the first area of the game again, only now the world is currently in a corrupted state, or perhaps it could be in reference to how the world fell into this very same chaotic state in the previous game, but that's simply conjecture on my own part. Unless I'm mistaken, "追憶" can be read as "reminiscence," "recollection" or "memory," and "狂気" would be "madness" or "insanity." I believe that "は" would simply be "is" or "am" when self-referential. A direct translation would probably be something like "reminiscence is madness," but that doesn't sound very natural in English. Thus, I was curious if anyone might have any suggestions for a more natural sounding translation.

While not a 1:1 translation, one person did provide me with an interesting suggestion, that being "Hyperthymesia." "Hyperthymesia" is the "uncommon ability that allows a person to spontaneously recall with great accuracy and detail a vast number of personal events or experiences and their associated dates." "Hyper" is derived from the Greek word for "excessive" or "exaggeration" while "thymesis" is apparently derived from the Greek word(s) for "consideration," "longing" "memory" or "desire." I was thinking that perhaps "thymesia" could be used in place of "追憶" while "hyper" could be used in place "狂気" since being excessive could also be viewed as crazy in many situations. However, I acknowledge that this is likely quite a stretch.

RosenkreutzXIII said:

A direct translation would probably be something like "reminiscence is madness," but that doesn't sound very natural in English. Thus, I was curious if anyone might have any suggestions for a more natural sounding translation.

Click to expand...

1. "Memories of Madness"
2. "Recollections of Insanity"
3. "Nostalgia is Lunacy"
4. "Remembrance is Insanity"
5. "The Madness of Reminiscence"
6. "Retrospection's Frenzy"
7. "Deranged Memories"
8. "Insane Recollections"
9. "Madness in Remembering"
10. "Delirious Nostalgia"

To me, it sounds fine as Remembrances are Madness (or mdchachi's #4 above). It sounds very much like the Japanese titles of the tracks for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

That is, the title is deliberately ambiguous to allow the listener to contemplate the meaning.

Majestic said:

To me, it sounds fine as Remembrances are Madness (or mdchachi's #4 above). It sounds very much like the Japanese titles of the tracks for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

That is, the title is deliberately ambiguous to allow the listener to contemplate the meaning.

Click to expand...

I can see what you mean in regards to the Japanese titles for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, especially with the song "Brain Damage" which was titled "狂人は心に." Was there a particular reason why you only recommended mdchachi's fourth suggestion? Out of the examples they provided I'd probably say that "Memories of Madness" is the one that best rolls off the tongue, although I suppose that would be closer to "追憶の狂気" in Japanese.

There's no correct answer. It's whatever the translator thinks is the best option given their understanding of the original and their background in the English language. You could probably have 5 different copywriter/translators do it and come up with five different answers.

RosenkreutzXIII said:

Was there a particular reason why you only recommended mdchachi's fourth suggestion?

Click to expand...

It is one that I felt was both an accurate translation, yet had the same ambiguity as the original. The others seem to add something that isn't in the original. They may be more or less what the original author intended, but unless the original author has explained his/her intentions elsewhere, we run the risk of adding an element or a nuance that wasn't part of the original.

"Memory" is usually translated as 記憶. So why 追憶 instead of 記憶? According to one Japanese language site:

「記憶」 is simple word of "memory".
「追憶」 is literary expression which include not only the memory but also the action of looking back the memory. Almost never use in normal conversation

Click to expand...

(credits to HiNative and the poster hmunakata for the above)

I'm not a native Japanese person so I cannot attest to the accuracy of that statement, but let's assume its true. It means that maybe "remembrance" (or remembrances) might be a better choice than just plain old memory, because remembrance seems, to me at least, to be a bit more literary, and maybe has the nuance of self-reflection. So #4 seems like a good fit to me.

Sometimes its inevitable that some nuance will creep into a translation that isn't intended. And maybe that nuance will have a beneficial result for the target audience, making it easier to understand, and sometimes maybe it will be a weight that has to be overcome. Using the Pink Floyd example again, the Japanese name for Dark Side of the Moon is 狂気 (madness). Was that a good choice of translation, or did they cock it up? Was "dark side of the moon" (月の暗い面) too cumbersome in Japanese for the music publisher, or did they just feel that "狂気" was more to the point. Looking back, I think the publisher would have done well to stick with the direct translation, but as mdchachi says, its a translator's (or publisher's) choice. If the translator can defend his/her choice, and the original author agrees, then everyone is happy. The theme of madness runs throughout Dark Side of the Moon, but it doesn't seem to me to be an album solely about madness - which is why Dark Side of the Moon is a good title because it invites the listener to contemplate these themes, whereas "狂気" puts a hard stamp on it, telling the listener that the album is about madness, which to me takes away some of the pleasure that comes from contemplating the themes.