American author Ian Hideo Levy (who translated the Man’yōshū /The 10,000 Leaves, above) recently gave a guest lecture at Stanford University, discussing his successful career first translating then writing Japanese novels.

An articulate linguist, Levy begins by admitting he has not spoken publicly in his mother tongue for more than 20 years, and sometimes struggles to express himself in English. His hour-long speech is peppered with ‘aaaaah‘  (‘um’) and he often uses Japanese phrases before translating them into English. ‘As we say in Japanese…’, he says.

At one rather charming point, an audience member calls out an English word he can’t recall (akogare/yearning):

Right! Yearning, yearning, yearning.

Levy touches on nihongo-ko (Japanese-language person), as well as the cultural dislocation felt by many zainichi (foreigners, generally Korean, living in Japan). In one example, a character in a novel by zainichi author Lee Yangji discovers her sense of cultural difference is in fact, a sense of linguistic difference.

Not only is Levy’s talk an interesting discussion on Japanese literature, it’s a fascinating look at cultural and linguistic identity.

More info on Levy’s work can be found at the Stanford website.

Or watch the full lecture. (Fast-forward to 06:25 for his extremely Japanese chuckle and somewhat awkward introduction).

Levy’s novel, Ando’s Room and Other Stories, has recently been translated – by other people – into both English and Chinese but has yet to be released.

(I’m guessing he’s checking the proofs).