I know you're translating it, but can you read it?

Years ago I was out in town in the US somewhere translating a Japanese document while I waited for the kids. Someone happened by, saw the document and said, "Can you read that?"

I answered that I was translating it to which she responded, "But can you read it?"

While, it's very true that I've seen, and possibly even produced, translations that didn't look like the translator was able to read the original, any credible translation of course requires a thorough understanding of the original, which in turn typically requires reading.

I bring this up, however, because I occasionally have a Japanese acquaintance interact with me in a way that requires reading, seem to notice nothing unusual, only to be surprised later to find that I can read. 

Perhaps at one level reading, being something most people do, doesn't stand out very much. At another, when they stop to think about it, "Oh, wait a minute (you're a foreigner) can you read that?"

So, I've had people after I get off the stage having given a presentation in Japanese ask if I can read. Probably they don't realize my rote memorization skills are much weaker than my reading skills. I'd never have been able to do a long presentation like that without being able to read my ques from the presentation material.

I've had people after a meal at a restaurant where I ordered from an all-Japanese menu express surprise at some later point that I can read.

And I've even had people with whom I've exchanged significant quantities of e-mail in Japanese ask me if I can read. And you thought I was able to appropriately answer your e-mail exactly how, if I couldn't? (One must be able to read to even write the language. One types it phonetically, but then has to choose appropriate characters from lists of words with those pronunciations. While I'm sure I get some wrong sometimes, it would be incomprehensible if it were too terribly wrong.)

Truth is, these days reading is often easier for me than understanding what some people say. People who talk fast or softly, or speak of subjects I'm not very familiar with can leave me in the dust. I've been in the US most of the past 30 years, and my ears ain't as young as the rest of me. But I can decipher the same information in written form since I have a little more time to do so, and because written language contains so many cues and clues that it can be easier to figure out.

Similar to Greek and Latin roots in English, much Japanese is made up of compounds of Chinese characters. If you hear a combination you don't know, it's sometimes hard to guess from so many possibilities what it could be, though sometimes you still can due to context. But if you know one or both of the characters, it becomes much easier to guess what the compound is when you see it. Many words are pronounced the same, but each character also has a unique meaning, which really narrows down the choices.