She uses the term 夢遊病者, literally ‘sleepwalker’ or ‘somnambulist’. It’s a very frequently used term in atomic testimonies. At times a literal translation is fine. This time it just doesn’t really work.
Native Hong Kong (yay kanji!) and learned a couple years of Japanese. I’d just do a literal translation and say like a sleepwalker. I think it works because sleepwalker doesn’t have to walk, and it’d be good to trust her self “diagnosis”. It is easier for people to search through records too if they want to look for people who called themselves sleepwalkers.
The Japanese? You know Japanese, Bacon?
It’s: 私たちのいる一階の廊下は、今や阿鼻叫喚のちまただった。焼かれ傷ついた裸体の群が、泣き叫びながらそこここにうずくまり、悶えていた。さながら地獄だった。私は恐しかった。こうした人たちの中にいることが真底から恐しかった。が、その場を逃げ出す気力もなかった。私はいつの間にか夢遊病者のように、自分で自分がわからなくなり、またへたへたと足元に崩れてしまった。
She uses the term 夢遊病者, literally ‘sleepwalker’ or ‘somnambulist’. It’s a very frequently used term in atomic testimonies. At times a literal translation is fine. This time it just doesn’t really work.
Google translate: “Before I knew it, like a sleepwalker, I lost track of myself and collapsed at my feet.”
Maybe re-wording it along the lines of a puppet or marionette with its strings cut.
Native Hong Kong (yay kanji!) and learned a couple years of Japanese. I’d just do a literal translation and say like a sleepwalker. I think it works because sleepwalker doesn’t have to walk, and it’d be good to trust her self “diagnosis”. It is easier for people to search through records too if they want to look for people who called themselves sleepwalkers.