The phrase 想いを通わせる
 

I apologize if this is too vague but I've seen people argue over the meaning of the phrase "想いを通わせる" which when translated I gather is "exchange feelings."

What I'm wondering about is this: if I wanted to say "exchanged feelings of friendship" or "exchanged feelings of closeness" would I use this phrase or can this one only be used for romance? What phrase would I use for "exchanged feelings of friendship/closeness/something besides romance" if that was the case?

Thanks and let me know if you need more information.

「想いを通わせる」, all by itself without context, is very difficult to translate as it covers a wide range of meanings including the three types of "feelings" mentioned by you. The phrase can be used when there is a high level of communication and understanding between any two (groups of ) people.

It can be between a teacher and his/her class, between two friends, between parents and their kids, etc. The point of the word 「通う」 is that something exists "two-way" instead of "one-way". If two persons speak to each other all day everyday without ever understanding or respecting each other, this word cannot be used to describe the state of their relationship.

The 「想い」 part of the phrase can be replaced by 「心」 in case anyone is wondering.

Not knowing your current level of Japanese, I shall stop here just now. If you need a longer explanation, please say so by asking more specific questions that would show your level.

Well okay let's give the phrase some context then.

This is the sentences I'm looking at:

クラウドとは物語の終盤に想いを通わせ、「AC」「DC」� �時代は一緒に暮らしている。

クラウド Cloud
とは with
物語の終盤 end of the story (game in this case)
想い = feelings/emotions
を = object marker
通わせ = communicate back and forth

So the feelings are being communicated back and forth with Cloud and the statement is takling about a she.

So the translation I would do is "She communicated her feelings together with Cloud in the final stages of the game, and during AC and DC they are living together."

It's the word 想い that I'm wondeirng about. I undestand it's usually written as 思い but when written as 想い it's a more powerful emotion and more personal.

I know it has a wide variety of meanings such as feelings or it could be desire and love.


With the statement I posted above, is it possible to determine if the phrase is about romantic or intimate love on its own or do you need more context? It was my understanding that 想いを通わせる would imply something romantic (I had a couple people tell me so anyway), but I wanted a second opinion on the matter to be sure (I always do that :P)

I remember you now from your very first post here, which I answered.

The sentence in question is clearly about a romantic relationship. I would not even use the rather wordy and literally-translated phrase "communicated her feelings together with ~~" if I were translating it. I would simply say "She fell in love with ~~" if that fits the context.

Basically, it is only a matter of aesthetic preference between 思 and 想. Since many prefer using the latter, it has kind of become the normal choice in talking about love or something very important. We were at least not encouraged to use 想. in elementary and junior high just because we saw it more often used than the other in the media.

And no, we do not need more context. The 「一緒に暮らしている」　part is enough context.

Okay so maybe "They fell in love at the end of the game and are living together at during AC and DoC" then?

Thanks for ansewring BTW, I really appreciate it. I translate a lot of Final Fantasy stuff and want to make sure i'm not being bias or screwing anything up XD

I am someone who knows nothing about Final Fantasy but if your new translation above fits the story, then it is a good translation.

It is usually 大和言葉 (originally Japanese words and phrases), in other words, kun-reading ones as opposed to Chinese loan words, that we like to choose to describe our more intricate emotions. 「想いを通わせる」、「心が通う」, etc. are good example of this phenomenon. Even after 1,000 + years of importing Chinese words, it is as though we have yet to completely internalize them and their "on" sounds that are very different from our original "kun" sounds. In professional or technical speech, however, Chinese-origin words rule just the way Latin-origin words do in English as you well know.

Lesson to learn:
DO NOT confess your love to that special Japanese person using too many cold-sounding on-reading words. It will turn him/her off. Use the softer-sounding Japanese-origin words that go straight into his/her heart.

Ahh well, there in lies the issue, even though it's been stated as such elsewhere, there are people who believe these two characters never fell in love. And they'll argue that I was being bias and that we need someone who doesn't know the context to determine what the phrase is actually saying. But you don't know the context and you said it meant a romantic relationship XD

Personally I think translating Japanese with no context is a really horrible idea :P

As for the rest of the post, I think that makes sense. I mean if a phrase has worked for thousands of years, I don't see why you'd change it.

Why did you come to a Japan Forum, then? You should have gone to a FF forum.

Show me a native Japanese-speaker that thinks the sentence below is NOT about a romantic relationship, I will show you a liar.

クラウドとは物語の終盤に想いを通わせ、「ＡＣ」「Ｄ Ｃ」の時代は一緒に暮らしている。

Okay I'll be good :(
But thanks for the help :)

haha, okay thanks, :vsign: