E-Journal of Philosophy of Education:
International Yearbook of the Philosophy of Education Society of Japan, Vol. 5, 2020

Possibility and Difficulty of Translation:
Issues Related to Citizenship and Border Crossing
Shigeo KODAMAThe University of Tokyo

1. My discussant theme
My Discussant theme is in the possibility and difficulty of translation, that is theissues related to citizenship and border crossing.

2. On the presentation of Liz Jackson
In the presentation of Liz Jackson, she said, in a globalized context where English
is primary, misunderstanding puts an unfortunate burden on non-native English speakers,
who often work and study in other languages, to translate themselves, and educate people
who do not know what they do not know. This translation work takes patience. So she
focused on the difficulty of translation, a reward of being bilingual and cross-cultural.

3. On the presentation of Naoko Saito
In the presentation of Naoko Saito, she said, translation involves an attunement towhat happens in the encounter between different languages, and this ordinarily involves
the experience of a gap—of the incommensurable, of the “untranslatable”. It is thisimperfect answerability in translation that is the condition, in humility, of opening
ourselves to the other.
So she focused on the possibility of translation as the condition of opening ourselvesto the other.

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4. Common perception
Liz focuses on the burden and difficulty of translation, on the other hand, Naoko
focuses on the translation as the condition of opening ourselves to the other. Although Lizand Naoko seem to be contrasting at first glance, they share a common perception thathomogeneous attitude to other cultures is a trap for multicultural society and in thiscontext translation is a stake that determines the consequences of bridging different
cultures.
But the question of multilingualism or emphasis on translation is a major issue
between the two.
So the following question could be asked of Liz and Naoko: That is, how do you
think about this issues? This is my first question.
And before asking the other question, I would like to give an example.

5. Young people on the streets of Hong Kong
On June 16 2019 there is a demonstration of 2 million people held in Hong Kong.
Agnes Chow Ting is one of the most influential leaders in Hong Kong democratization
movement. Agnes grew up strongly influenced by the Japanese “otaku” culture. “Otaku”
culture is a culture of Japanese youth who love anime and idol groups. Through “Otaku”
culture she learned Japanese and bridges the youth culture of Japan and Hongkong, andconstructs a democratic spirit to change the political regime of Hongkong. I think she isa multilingual person using Chinese, English, and Japanese, and at the same time she is
an excellent translator between Japanese and Chinese through political action as a global
citizen. I think it is this kind of citizenship that enable her to have both multilingualism
and translation.

6. Citizenship and border crossing
So in this symposium I would like to say that to have both multilingualism andtranslation is an important condition for the internationalization of the philosophy ofeducation, and at the same time political and global citizenship is the key to mediating
multilingualism and translation.
E-Journal of Philosophy of Education: International Yearbook of the Philosophy of Education Society of Japan, Vol. 5, 2020

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S. KODAMA

So my second question is, what kind of citizenship enable us to have both
multilingualism and translation? In other words, what do you think on the relationshipbetween citizenship and border crossing?
As Lothar Wigger said, according to Humboldt every language implies its own
world view and is an expression of its own way of life. Especially in Japan in themodernization process people in Japan has incorporated western cultures throughtranslating them into Japanese, and Japanese language formed by such translations hascreated a common way of thinking for Japanese citizens. So I think thinking in Japaneseis indispensable manner in our academic community.
That is why we should not give up teaching and learning philosophy in Japanese.
What is necessary for us is border crossing citizenship and being responsible for andkeeping listening to other foreign languages and translating them into Japanese, likeAgnes in Hongkong.

Thematic Research: Globalization, Internationalization, and Universality of Philosophy of Education