Lost in Translation: Lost in Culture

课程名称：Intercultural Communication

论文题目：Lost in Translation: lost in culture

                       班 级：2013级7班

                 姓 名：   林沫                    

学 号：  2013220124  

Lost in Translation: lost in culture

Before I watching Lost in Translation I had been thinking that this movie must be a typical simple love film telling a love affair happened in a foreign country. Yet I began to watch I found this movie was great and far beyond my expectation.

Lost in Translation is written and directed by Sofia Coppola, a great director in American. It is acted by Bill Murray,Scarlett Johansson, etc. The film revolves around an aging actor named Bob Harris (Murray) and a recent college graduate named Charlotte (Johansson) who develops a rapport after a chance meeting in a Tokyo hotel. Because they are same at lost in communication from local people and both looked against the grain under the cultural surroundings of Japan, and then they begins to fall in love. Though this movie looks like a love film apparently, but actually this film trying to explain the eternal loneliness of human nature through both of these two people’s experience. Through the whole film we can see these two intercultural foreigners encountered cultural shock, especially United States low context culture encountered Japanese high context culture. So I’m going to analyze cultural shock thorough the main characters experience which was showed in this film.

1, different attitudes towards culture shock        

Culture shock is the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or simply travel to another type of life. This concept was first conceived by world famous cultural anthropologist Kalvero Oberg in 196o’s.

In the film, since the main characters Bob and charlotte arrived in Tokyo, they began to feel different about the culture. At first they faced the different culture in completely opposite attitudes. But later they both represented anxiety and restlessness more or less.

Bob is a middle age man facing his midlife crisis crises with his 25 year marriage. His attitude was negative and elusive when he got confused by Japanese guys because he was unfamiliar with local social semiotic and then had a serious anxiety disorder on psychological aspects.  He found it impossible to accept the foreign culture and to integrate. So he isolates himself from the outside environment which can’t offer him a process to adjust. While charlotte is a young lady who just graduated from college and came Japan with his husband, John who is a celebrity photographer on assignment in Tokyo. On account of her husband’s busy working, she was absolutely left in cold, but she chose to begin a adventure in Tokyo and made friends with many interesting and modern local guys. She managed to adapt to the aspects of the host culture she see as positive, while keeping some of her own and creating their unique blend.

2, language barrier in culture shock

There are a lot of causes of cultural shock, One of the most common causes of culture shock involves individuals in a foreign environment. in this film, the gap of communication between American and Japan is huge enough. As we all know, American is a country, in which people speak directly and frankly. So it is fast to get to the point in a conversation and easy to understand the meaning in their language. While Japan is a country with tedious traditional manners, which leads to people’s habit to talk in a euphemistic way. Japanese people are accustomed to express their feelings or opinion in a roundabout way to show their manners and respect to others.

There is a scene in the film when Bob (Murray), a Japanese director, and an interpreter (are on a set, filming a commercial for Suntory whisky. In several exchanges, the director gives lengthy, impassioned directives in Japanese. These are invariably followed by brief, incomplete translations from the interpreter.

The director of the advertisement told the translator in Japanese:” the translation is very important, understand?”

The interpreter answered in Japanese:” yes, of course I understand.”

Then the director told Bob the feelings he should convey in Japanese:” Mr. Bob. You are sitting quietly in your study. And then there is a bottle of Suntory whisky on top of the table. You understand, right? With wholehearted feeling, slowly, look at the camera, tenderly, and as if you are meeting old friends, say the words. As if you are Bogie in Casablanca, saying "Here's looking at you, kid,"—Suntory time!”

Because of the fast speed and high tone of Japanese, it looked like the director was losing his temperate on Bob. Bob felt nervous then.