分享

日本“收纳女王”开网店,为什么几乎所有英美媒体报道?(上) | Albert书房

 Albert说英闻 2021-03-07

1

背景


今天介绍给大家的这篇文章来自Fast Company,一听就知道是一家财经媒体。文章的主人公叫Marie Kondo,是不是感觉不太熟悉?日文名:近藤麻理惠,似乎有耳闻?

这位个头小小的日本收纳达人,早在2014年就凭借一本关于收纳整理的书,在欧美刮起了一股“断舍离”的狂风。

今年1月1号那天,Netflix推出了由Kondo担任“主演”的真人剧Tidying Up with Marie Kondo,火爆全网,让她成为了美国家喻户晓的人物。


这几天,Kondo开设了自己的网店,我所知道的主流英美媒体居然争相报道,真是让人感慨:把一件事情做到极致,不成功太难太难了。

2

原文


The next phase of Marie Kondo’s empire is here
By Elizabeth Segran

Marie Kondo’s fashion sensibilities veer toward minimalism, but she does wear many hats. She’s a best-selling author, most recently of a children’s book. She’s the star of a hugely popular Netflix show. She’s launched a program that allows consultants to be certified in the KonMari approach to home organization. And starting today, she’s adding a new title to her résumé: e-commerce entrepreneur.

sensibilities以(a)bility结尾当然和能力相关,大致对应“感受力”;

veer toward 朝向;minimalism 从日本刮下欧美的“极简主义”风;

wear any hats 字面意思“带多顶帽子”很容易引申出去表示一个人身兼数职;中文不也说一个人有“多个头衔”嘛;

home organization/家庭整理,一听就觉得很正式,把tidy up/整理都变成了一门学问的感觉;

 
Over the last few months, Kondo has been quietly building her online presence through her KonMari website, which features a blog about tidying along with details about her consultant network. 

原来过去这几个月,Kondo已经通过建立自己的网站逐渐去刷网络上的存在感/online presence, 但是网站上的内容仅限于关于收纳整理的博客以及她咨询服务的一些细节;


Now, there’s an online shop where Kondo curates around 150 products from other brands. Everything on the site is an expression of Kondo’s philosophy and methodology, which she laid out in her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which was first translated into English in 2014 and became an instant hit in the United States. 

但是现如今网站上又多了一个重要部分:网店。

curate 是一个非常高级的词,一般对应“策展”这个中文翻译,也就是那些在博物馆里、艺术馆里工作的人员,特别是负责人会去对他们的展品所开展的活动;所以一般网店就用sell,不能用这么高级的词,精品汇集的网站才可以用这么雅的词:curate;

美国人非常喜欢Kondo这本书,所以作者提到became an instant hit,从感受到的冲击力里面你已经体会到真实的意思。


The book’s thesis was that decluttering our lives of possessions that aren’t meaningful to us allows us to focus on those things that “spark joy.” KonMari’s new e-commerce site is full of products designed to achieve the same goal of filling our life with meaningful objects.

作者开始介绍这本书的主旨/thesis: decluttering。这是一个很好理解的词,clutter就是混乱的一团东西,那declutter就是消除这种状态的意思。更高级的表达是日本人借汉字总结的“断、舍、离”。

 
I sat down with Kondo on a cold, blustery Friday morning. She had flown into New York from Los Angeles, where she’s lived for the past five years with her husband, Takumi Kawahara, and two toddler daughters. 

作者第一人称叙述她如何和Kondo见面,开始采访;

blustery 风大的;toddler 蹒跚学步的小孩


True to form, she appeared calm and serene, not a hair out of place, in a mustard-colored sweater with puffed sleeves and black A-line skirt. She moved to the United States from Japan to make it easier to connect with her American audience and film her Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. (Her team says she is in talks with Netflix to do a second season.)

true to form “忠实于外在的形”,这是字面意思的翻译,对应的感觉是不是“果然/正如我来之前期待的”;

serene 平静的,比calm更高级的一种calm;

mustard 西方的“芥末”,涂在面包上的那种黄色的酱;

A-line skirt 就是整体轮廓看起来像字母”A”的裙子;

 
During our meeting, Kondo listed some of the items that she’s curated for the new shop. Some items are organizational tools, like a simple $75 leather box for keeping sundry items on your desk or glass canisters starting at $35 for storing dry goods in your kitchen. 

sundry 杂物;联想你办公桌上无法收纳的那些东东;

glass canister 玻璃罐,比如放干货的那些;


But there are many other products that aren’t related to her core mission of helping people tidy up. For instance, there’s a $180 traditional Japanese ceramic pot called a donabe in the store that is designed for steaming meat and vegetables.

但是似乎有些产品违背Kondo一直宣扬的断舍离,比如价格180美金的donabe/日本的那种粘土锅;

steam 当然是“蒸”的意思,好下次蒸包子知道怎么用英文说了;

 
“Over the years, my followers and readers reached out to me to ask about the products I use every day that spark joy,” Kondo says in Japanese, speaking scarcely over a whisper through her translator. “That’s when I first had the idea for the store. Some of the things I use every day are incense and a tuning fork, along with items for bath rituals and home purification.” 

incense 家里烧的“熏香”,寺庙里点的“香”;

tuning fork/音叉,是不是严重怀疑这里作者写错了?有钢琴的家庭肯定知道音叉是什么样子,因为调音师来调钢琴琴弦的时候要用到。敲一下会发出比较空灵的声音,所以Kondo不是用它来调琴,而是“赶走家里污浊的气氛”。谁说日本人不善营销!

 
Kondo’s husband became the CEO of KonMari Media LLC in 2015. He’s been behind the scenes, helping her land book deals and produce her Netflix show. Now, Kawahara is helping to drive this new direction into online retail. 

Kondo家开的其实是夫妻老婆店,因为她老公是她公司的CEO;

behind the scenes/在幕后;land 有没有中文里“拿下”那个气势?

“I don’t know if my husband and I have a clear division of labor,” Kondo says. “But we always have discussions about where we want to take our company. I’m good at expressing the philosophy and thoughts behind my method and my husband is extremely adept at the business strategy. It’s important for us that we never lose sight of our mission, which is whether or not the next step we take is sparking joy for us.”

division of labor 劳动分工;原本经济学上的专业术语走入寻常百姓家;

adept 擅长…的

*全文比较长,后半部分下期分享。


    转藏 分享 献花(0

    0条评论

    发表

    请遵守用户 评论公约

    类似文章 更多