The thing I don’t understand about translations, besides the original language, is why They put a the before whatever the language is translated from. For instance, before the story starts in the Haruki Murakami book I’m reading it says:

Translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin

See that little “the” in there? What’s that all about? Do They say, “Translated from the English by Cletus McSmith” in the Japanese version of Nora Roberts’ novels?

‘Cause if they do, that just sounds weird.