Until recently, however, millions of Japanese were denied this opportunity due to the language barrier. Now, however, the efforts of a 17-year-old Japanese student have helped remove this obstacle.
Starting November 20, 2016 this anonymous student known only as K・T-san began translating almost all of the Donald Trump’s tweets into Japanese.
やらかしたNYタイムズだが、ほんの最初から私のことを捉え間違っていた。彼らは私が予備選挙でも負け、本選挙でも負けると言ったんだ。フェイク(嘘)ニュースめ！ https://t.co/6bKHHbzrHn
— (日本語訳)ドナルド トランプ (@DonaldTrumpJPN) 28 января 2017 г.
According to the web portal RocketNews24, K・T-san actually started his Twitter account and subsequently began this translation work simply because he wanted to improve his English skills for college entrance exams, although he was also interested in learning what exactly the new US president was saying on social media.
トランプ氏のツイッターを見る上でこれだけは覚えておきたい9の単語・用語 pic.twitter.com/Ge2xim5cQR
— (日本語訳)ドナルド トランプ (@DonaldTrumpJPN) 21 января 2017 г.
Setting upon his task with gusto, K・T-san paid particular attention to Trump’s use of casual speech, relaying such nuances by differentiating between polite and impolite Japanese.
He also takes great care when dealing with tweets containing typos, patiently explaining how they look to an English-speaking audience and what kind of jokes these spelling gaffes could trigger.
珍しい。。
— (日本語訳)ドナルド トランプ (@DonaldTrumpJPN) 29 января 2017 г.
トランプ氏が誤字――has を gas と誤表記して投稿。これに対し｢トランプこそガスまみれだ｣とのコメント多数 pic.twitter.com/kM2DvnCwWd
K・T-san’s dedication and enthusiasm did not go unnoticed, as his Twitter account has already attracted 80 thousand followers and continues to grow with each passing day.
