あの大ベストセラーがついに

ベストセラーで映画やアニメにもなった『舟を編む』が昨年英訳されていたんですね。しかも訳者は青谷優子さんなんかも絶大の信頼を置いているJuliet Winters Carpenterさん。さらにKindle Unlimitedなら無料で、Kindleで買ったとしても500円代で購入できます。

（アマゾンの紹介文）

A charmingly warm and hopeful story of love, friendship, and the power of human connection, award-winning Japanese author Shion Miura’s novel is a reminder that a life dedicated to passion is a life well lived.

Inspired as a boy by the multiple meanings to be found for a single word in the dictionary, Kohei Araki is devoted to the notion that a dictionary is a boat to carry us across the sea of words. But after thirty-seven years creating them at Gembu Books, it’s time for him to retire and find his replacement.

He discovers a kindred spirit in Mitsuya Majime—a young, disheveled square peg with a penchant for collecting antiquarian books and a background in linguistics—whom he swipes from his company’s sales department.

Led by his new mentor and joined by an energetic, if reluctant, new recruit and an elder linguistics scholar, Majime is tasked with a career-defining accomplishment: completing The Great Passage, a comprehensive 2,900-page tome of the Japanese language. On his journey, Majime discovers friendship, romance, and an incredible dedication to his work, inspired by the bond that connects us all: words.

扱うのが日本語の辞書なだけに訳すのは大変だったでしょう。多少端折っているのは仕方がないかもしれません。たとえば冒頭のところの犬のダジャレの部分はカットされていました（笑）

（オリジナル）

荒木は幼いころから言葉に興味があった。

たとえば、犬。そこにいるのに、いぬ。はは、おかしい。（中略）

犬は、動物の犬だけを意味する単語ではない。

（英訳）

Words fascinated him, always had.

He had learned early on that dog contained other meanings besides the four-legged animal.

翻訳を手がけたのはAmazonCrossingというアマゾンの子会社のようで、色々手広くやっていますね。