The WritingWise logo is made up of an egret in front of the moon. At first glance, an egret may seem like a strange choice for a translation service, but it can be a problematic bird for translation, particularly from Japanese to English.
The snow-white feathers of the egret have sparked a large corpus of works in Japanese art and literature, and it is perhaps the best-known member of the heron family in Japan. So much so, that the word “heron” itself in Japanese (sagi) is frequently understood to refer to egrets. This can present challenges in translating texts about herons, as it is not always clear which term should be used in English.
For reference, the common names for different types of herons in English and Japanese are provided in the table below (hyphens added to distinguish units of meaning).
Common Names of Birds in the Heron Family
| Japanese | English |
| 青鷺 ao-sagi (lit. “blue heron”) | grey heron |
| 五位鷺 go-i-sagi (lit. “heron of the fifth rank”) | night heron |
| 小鷺 ko-sagi (lit. “little heron”) | little egret |
| 大鷺 dai-sagi (lit. “great heron”) | great egret |
| 大青鷺 ō-ao-sagi (lit. “great blue heron”) | great blue heron |
The Japanese names all end with sagi, meaning “heron.” The English names are less consistent, with the term “egret” being used to describe white varieties in the heron family and “heron” being used for darker varieties. Consequently, most English speakers associate the term “heron” with great blue herons or grey herons and may not even be aware that the white wading birds they associate with the term “egret” are members of the heron family. This leads to the linguistically problematic situation of Japanese speakers perceiving sagi as a comprehensive term that includes egrets, while the average American would not perceive the English equivalent “heron” as a term that includes egrets.
As an example of how this can be problematic, consider translating the following idiom.
闇夜に烏、雪に鷺 (Yamiyo ni karasu, yuki ni sagi.)
Lit. “like a crow at night or a sagi in snow.”
Meaning: Something that is indistinguishable from its surroundings.
In Japanese, the opposite colors of the two birds form the bedrock of the idiom. If sagi were translated as “heron” here, it would be difficult for an English reader to understand the idiom’s meaning, because there is no clear relationship between herons and snow in the average English speaker’s mind. However, simply switching to the word “egret” enables the reader to grasp the meaning nearly instantaneously (“like a crow at night or an egret in snow”).
A related problem often arises in texts about Japanese art and traditional dance that use the term shira-sagi (lit. “white heron”) to refer to egrets. Like the term egret, shira-sagi does not refer to a specific species on its own, but rather refers to all white species of heron in general, making “egret” the most natural equivalent.1 However, in English translations of these texts, it is somewhat common to come across the term directly translated as “white heron.” While it may be scientifically accurate to say that an egret is a white heron, the choice not to use the commonly understood name adds a layer of confusion to the English text that is not present in the Japanese—potentially causing the reader to mistakenly believe that “white heron” is a separate species of heron, distinctly different from the bird they know as egret.2 To avoid these pitfalls, it is important for translators to be sensitive to gaps in understanding arising from the different sociolinguistic contexts of the original writer and the target readers.
As these examples illustrate, though often misunderstood, translation is not simply the replacement of words in one language with words in another. It is the transposition of ideas from one culturally-specific language to another. The egret in the logo is meant to serve as a visual metaphor for this concept, while also alluding to the creativity and artistry that goes into creating natural-sounding translations.
1 Though, it should be noted that some birds called egrets are not white. (For example, the reddish egret has two distinct color morphs—brown and white.)
2 For example, according to an article from the Audobon Society, the phrase “great white heron” is sometimes used to describe a color morph of the great blue heron that is endemic to Florida. However, this bird does not exist in Japan. To avoid confusing English readers, it is best to use the common English name “egret” when referring to little egrets and great egrets collectively.
Photos by Bob Brewer (Little Egret) & Max Kleinen (Grey Heron) on Unsplash
Print: Segawa Kikunojo II as the Heron Maiden (from the series Ichimura Theater), 1770. Ippitsusai Bunchō (Japanese, dates unknown). Color woodblock print; The Cleveland Museum of Art (CC0 license)