Hello Kitty’s origins
07/22/2005 @ 4:00 pm
It has been suggested at an Internet site called juiceenewsdaily that Hello Kitty may have had her origins in the Maneki Neko doll, and that “the name Hello Kitty itself is a back-translation of Maneki Neko, which means “beckoning cat” in English.
It has also been noted that the character shows a resemblance to the character Miffy by Dick Bruna and that the line drawing style is not original.”
Hello Kitty not original? Stop the presses!
For a detailed discussion of this, try our post last January:
http://japundit.com/archives/2005/01/29/hello-santa-kitty/
July 22nd, 2005 at 5:47 pmWhat in the world is a BACK-TRANSLATION? What does that mean? Syllables reversed, KO NE KI NE MA does not make sense for Hello Kitty.
But it is entirely possible that Hello Kitty was ripped off from somewhere. but not maneki neko. Proof not available.
July 22nd, 2005 at 7:56 pmWhat is Back Translation? Hmmmm. Maybe HELLO KITTY “is” a back translation of the maneki neko figurine and Sanrio owes huge royalties to someone….
Back Translation is the process of translating a document that has already been translated into a foreign language back to the original language - preferably by an independent translator
Translation of raw data such as focus group transcripts back into the language of a client from the language of the consumers is common in market research in Asia. In fact translation remains one of the costliest parts of a market research project. This is because it is an area where costly errors can be built in - in research stages where checks and balances are limited.
The nuances of translation are far-ranging. A literal word in one language, for example, may have no equivalent in another language, or could have a completely different “meaning” or effect in the translated language. This is why translation is an art rather than a science. No translation can be expected to convey perfectly the “meaning” of what consumers meant to convey in their own language. Hence the need for accredited translators who can translate verbatim. All the good work of a focus group moderator in not “interpreting” verbatim comments can be wiped out by a careless translator.
Back translation can improve the reliability and validity of research in different languages by requiring that the quality of a translation is verified by an independent translator translating back into the original language. Original and back translated documents can then be compared.
Due to its high cost, back translation is not overly common, but in very high risk - high return situations is well worth the investment.
July 22nd, 2005 at 8:41 pm