Wait....if you spend so much time translating Japanese manga....let say you have put in 1000 hours doing it (just an assumption)....shouldn't your Japanese be pretty good already? I mean, you'll just know what something means, or can just guess what it means pretty well...

Are you talking to Duo or me? Moreover, it doesn't hurt to ask ;) Having masaegu (or other knowledgeable people) say "Yup, that's right" or "No, that's wrong. It's actually ~~~" can save a Japanese learner a lot of trouble. Also, it ensures they aren't learning things incorrectly, thus building upon bad information. Y'know? A native speaker's advice beats 'guesslating' all day.

Accurate TL.

The hidden verbs are all 約束する. Otherwise the structure of these lines would not work. You've got the 4th line correctly.

One only needs to see that それは苦難に歓喜を、 戦いに勝利を、暗黒に光を、者に生を約束する血のごと き紅き石 is one sentence with a verb hidden at its end, which would be である.

In other words, 苦難に歓喜を、 戦いに勝利を、暗黒に光を、者に生を約束する血のごと き紅き石 is one long relative clause.

Thanks for the nice words, sweetie!

I don't get that dude's comment, either. He himself had asked a question from anime a few days ago, to which I answered correctly, which he never acknowledged. :mtongue:

Hello everyone! Today I'm having some problems reading the lyrics of a song, so I need to ask a few questions.

背には磯を打つ波しぶき
なによりも重い盃よ
荒れた海原を握りしめ
命張ってみろや

情なしに生きられようか
人を守るのも男なら
深かく熱いその懐に
誠の義を貫いて

叩け 叩け 叩け　その血潮で太鼓を打ち鳴らせ
いつも胸に仁義　そうじゃそれが瀬戸内の仁侠道
燃やせ 燃やせ 燃やせ　その炎で度胸に火をつけろ
義理に散るも花よ　そうじゃそれが瀬戸内の仁侠道

産湯の頃から無頼漢
向こう見ずにただ砕け散る
一度吐いた唾なら飲むな
ケジメつけてみろや

弱き物に手を貸してこそ
真に男は本物さ
人の痛み 渡世の涙
思う道を ひとすじに

叩け 叩け 叩け　その拳で 根性 打ち鳴らせ
決して切れぬ契　どうじゃ それが瀬戸内の仁侠道
踊れ 踊れ 踊れ　西の海真っ赤に染め上げろ
義理に咲いた花よ　どうじゃ それが瀬戸内の仁侠道

1. What is an equivalent of the particle や in the first verse? Is it か?
2. What do そうじゃ and どうじゃ mean? I don't get these phrases.
3. What does 散る in the third verse mean? It looks like it has a figurative meaning here.

1. There is no exact equivalent. よ would be close enough in meaning. This や is a sentence-ending particle used for imperatives and soliciting

2. Kansai way of saying そうだ and どうだ.

3. It means "to die for".

Thank you as usual. This clarifies a lot :D

Something has just popped up in my mind. So when some characters in manga and anime say じゃろう instead of だろう, the じゃ is also a part of Kansai dialects?

It may and it may not. We cannot tell from just one phrase.

The reason I said "Kansai" in my last post was that there was the word 瀬戸内 in the lyrics. At least the western half of that area is considered part of Kansai.

There is what I would name the "universal country-side dialect" used in Japanese story-telling, particularly manga and children's stories. It is a non-existing dialect and じゃ is often used in it, especially as phrase-enders by older characters.

I get it now. So that's the reason why the verbs they use don't sound Kansai. The characters who use じゃ that I saw usually use おぬし to address other people and わし to address themselves, which I presume to be used mainly by elderly.

I have a question that may be related to delacroix's question. I've seen from time to time a that a character will add what I assume is おる to a verb stem (like in my following example):
ロゼ、この者達はな　錬金術師の間では暗黙のうちに禁 じられている「人体練成」を…最大の禁忌を犯しおった のよ! Roze, these people have violated the greatest unspoken taboo among alchemists, 'human transmutation'!

I'm not sure if I've ever seen a change in nuance when this suffix is added, but japanese isn't my native language so I'm not necessarily apt to notice it. Does this おる (or even おう) change the meaning of the verb, is it some sort of 年寄り弁 in the same way as だ becoming じゃ and so on?

As a side question about the line of text I chose, I think I understood 暗黙のうちに禁じられている fairly well, but had trouble putting it meaningfully in my translation. My dictionary says that 暗黙のうちに is 'implicitly' (as opposed to explicitly), so 暗黙のうちに禁じられている I thought meant 'implicitly forbidden'. Given that an 'unspoken rule' is generally a 'rule that is understood without the need of being explicitly told', like "murder is wrong", I thought that it wasn't much of a stretch to alter the wording to 'the greatest unspoken taboo'. I'm more looking for an opinion than anything, but if I managed to miss my mark in translation, please let me know!

Edit: Just thought I'd add something that probably won't be useful to you delacroix, but everyone might find interesting. One of the native speakers I converse with on a native basis comes from somewhere in 広島 and she says that where she grew up men would address themselves as わし regardless of age, which threw her parents for a loop when they first moved there.

おる in that sentence is called 補助動詞, a supplementary verb. It has no meaning all by itself but gives nuances. In the sentence, it expresses the speaker's disdain for the action in question. This おる is used both in real life dialects and as part of the universal 年寄り弁 that you speak of.

Your understanding (and TL) is correct even though I myself do not consider a murder as being 暗黙のうちに禁じられている. To me, it is explicitly forbidden by law. It is written.

A good example of 暗黙のうちに禁じられている rule would be stealing a base in baseball when your team is leading by more than a few runs.

Hi,

Could someone please explain the difference/s between ~とおもっている and ~とおもう? I mean when do you use ~とおもっている.. and when do you use ~とおもう?

Also, how do you say, "I can peel an entire apple all in one long curly strip without breaking it" in Japanese.

Thanks :]

I just watched a commercial and it kept saying

ねえしてる？
What does this mean really. I tryed googling and someone just said "it means do I know you, basically".

@ Jenthepen

I was under the impression ねしてる meant... something like "Did you know? or Do you know?"

but you will have to ask someone with a little more experience.


My question is

What is the difference between:

日本語のみ
or
日本語だけ

I have seen them being used almost interchangably sometimes but then not some other time, please help me :D.

The only difference is that the former sounds more formal than the latter. Their interchangeability solely depends on the formality/informality of the context.

For everyone, the correct word is しってる, not してる. This is of great importance because してる is also an existing word.

知ってる = knowing ~~

してる = doing ~~

Ahhh rookie mistake on my part.

Many thanks :D

～～と思う = "I think ~~."
You are stating your opinion regarding a subject that is new to you. You have not been given much time to think about it.

～～と思っている = "I have been thinking ~~." including "I am thinking ~~."
You are stating your opinion regarding a subject that you have been thinking about for a duration of time. It can be a just a few hours or even years.

Regarding the translation request, I would only chip in if you showed us your own attempt first. The sentence belongs in super-advanced Japanese and I wonder if that is where you are, looking back on your previous questions.

Can anyone help me by translating this message into Japanese for me, please?

My message is:
"Thank you so much for uploading the film. I became a premium member and downloaded it. The quality is very good.
It is not necessary for you to send me the DVD. Thank you so much for the offer, but the file I downloaded is completely adequate.
Also, sorry for my delay in replying. I had a lot of difficulty finding a translator.
I can't tell you how much you've helped me. Thank you again for your kindness."

I have been looking for an old Italian film for a long time; it didn't catch on there, but became popular in Japan when it was shown there in 1970. However, it was never released on DVD or VHS anywhere. It was shown on Japanese television nearly ten years ago, and a Japanese person taped it and kept it on VHS. On my request, he sent me the entire movie (online), and even offered to put it on DVD and send it to me, if I would prefer it.
I have been using various websites to translate messages between us since our dialogue began, but I can't find anyone who'll translate my final reply, and I'm desperate to thank this person to show my appreciation, as he has been so kind to me.
If anyone can help me with a translation, I would be extremely grateful. Thank you very much for your time.

Hi,

My friend and I are debating about what this image actually says:


We have tried using wikipedia and google, but to no avail unfortunately.

Anyone? :)

Looks like フロム・エー (furomu ee)
"From (something?)" I have no idea.

"From A", it says.

It's the name of a very popular magazine containing endless "help wanted" ads.

Impossible! It's a top-selling magazine.

Google フロム・エー.

Ooh, I'd never heard of From A before. So it's a magazine for jobs? Thanks for the info and pic ;)

Yeah, it's one of the best-selling magazines out there.

Pop Quiz Time! :D
What does the "A" stand for? I'm sure it's in your Japanese vocab.

I'm going to go ahead and guess アルバイト is what the a stands for?

In any case, I transcribed something from the opening of an anime and I was hoping I could get a check of my transcription and translation. The page is here and I've written down the first 30 seconds.
錬金術は物質を理解、分解、再構築する科学なる。され ど万能の技にはあらず。無から有を生ずることまとわず 。何かを得ようと欲すれば必ず同等の対価を支払うもの なる。これすなわち錬金術の基本「等価交換」になり、 錬金術師に禁忌はあり、それは人体練成なる。何人も犯 すことなかれ。

Alchemy is the science of understanding, breaking down and reconstructing matter. However, it is not an all-powerful technique; something cannot be created from nothing. In order to gain something, something of equal value must be given. This is the fundamental of alchemy "Equivalent Exchange". There is a taboo amongst alchemists, "Human Transmutation", which may not be broken by anyone.

Apologies if the punctuation is a little weird, I couldn't decide what to do a lot of the time. That being said, I'm pretty sure I've heard it before, but なる is being used as the copula (です) right? I think I'll wait till my transcription has been checked before I ask anymore questions.

Dang it! That's what I was gonna say! :mtongue:

ピンポーン！

科学なる　＞　科学なり
まとわず　＞　あたわず（能わず）
ものなる　＞　ものなり
になり　＞　なり
禁忌はあり　＞　禁忌あり
人体練成なる　＞　人体練成なり

You may want to re-study the auxiliary verb なり.　You appear to firmly believe that なる is the infinitive form. That is probably why you keep hearing the wrong form.　

Excellent, which is weird when you are not hearing everything correct.

なり, not なる

Well due to my professor's help in practising my interviewing skills for my JET interview back in February, I got accepted.

I want to thank her with a card of course with my message in Japanese. I have ideas, but honestly feel so appreciative that I couldn't possibly fit all the thanks I feel on a card. So I need help in staging a good grammatical way of saying thanks that's not too unnatural or odd sounding. Also any helpful phrases to enter would be great too.

Mainly the ideas I have are...

お世話になりましたことを深く感謝します。
そのことなので、私はJETプログラムに
受けられました。お手伝いをくださって
どうもありがとうございました。(この
プレゼントがつまらないものですが、
ほんの気持ちだけです。)

Parentheses for the fact I don't think I would say that in writing, but only in speaking.
Yeah most of that is just random appreciations I feel.
Any and all insights and elaborations on how to convey myself better would be greatly appreciated.

I suggest that you use what you have come up with. It is not natural-sounding Japanese by any standards but it will at least get your idea across. Doesn't your professor know exactly what your current Japanese proficiency is like? I feel it would be more natural and heart-warming if you wrote this with the only help of a dictionary. If I were the professor, I would appreciate the card written with your own words even if it contained multiple mistakes much more than a card that I would instantly know was written by an stranger.

I am aware that this was not what you expected to hear but it is how I honestly feel. These cards are very difficult to write for Japanese-learners because one must use time-tested set phrases that will make you look like a Japanese-speaker which you are not even close to being.

It would actually have been much easier for me to revise the whole card than to explain what I have explained in a foreign language, trust me. This time, however, not revising is the best help I can think of offering you.

Hi.
I completely agree with masaegu.


Just for information:
（These are a little different from what you have written, but I would write like this.）

A polite version;

先生、大変お世話になりました。
親切にご指導いただきましたことを、深く感謝いたしま す。
先生お会いできましたことは、
私のかけがえのない経験になりました。
今後のご活躍をお祈り申し上げます。
このプレゼントは私の気持ちです。
気に入ってくださるとうれしいのですが。


A little casual (polite enough) version;

先生、ありがとうございました。
先生のにお会いできて、
本当によかったと思っています。
とても親切に教えてくださったことは、
絶対に忘れません。
もっと先生に教えていただきたいけれど、
これからは自分で頑張っていきます。
先生、どうぞお元気で。
このプレゼントは、ほんの気持ちですが、
もし先生に気に入っていただけたら嬉しいです。

Thank you, I actually agree after you explained that something mistake ridden would be more meaningful and personal even. My only concern is if it is too ungrammatical that she would not understand what I am trying to say.
I am only changing two parts, and that is because I should of known to use 大変, so that's not much of a big change. And using ご指導, because I wanted to use it when I was thinking how to write this, but wasn't sure how to use it. Also, can it be said as 「大変お世話さまになりました。」 Or is it really strange to use さま there?

Yeah, it is pretty strange because adding さま there makes it too colloquial. This may sound weird but with certain words (like お世話, which already has the honorific in it), the bigger honorifics you use, the more conversational it sounds.

I bought a pup yesterday and we named it Toshi. I wanted to pick a different name, but my friend insisted that we should immediately choose a name and I guess I should be happy because she loves old, stupid and boring names for dogs :rolleyes:

Ok so back on-topic. Does Toshi only mean gemini ? (That's what I got when I googled it.)

How did you even google that? Any links?

"Toshi" does not mean anything. People need to abandon this silly idea that Japanese names have meanings.

Only when "Toshi" is written in kanji, then the kanji can have meanings. "Toshi" can be written in multiple ways.

If a Japanese person named his dog Toshi, however, it would be written in kana 99% of the time, again resulting in having no meaning but the sound.

So here I think is my final version. What do you think? Still understandable?

先生、たいへんお世話になりました。
忙しかったときでも、お手間とご努力とご指導
いただきましたことを深く感謝します。
そのことのために、私は、JETプログラムに受けられまし た。
お手伝いいただいてどうもありがとうございました。

:eek:!! Thank goodness for this site!!

Just recently met a Japanese girl at the library, and ended up getting her email. We've been emailing each other for the past week and a half now, with me using Google Translate to translate everything. She can't speak English...*sigh*

Google Translate often gave me a few odd translations and that's exactly the reason I am here.

If anyone would be willing to translate these several short phrases, it would be a huge help! Please and thank you, everyone :)

NEED TRANSLATED:
かおもじってゆうやつです\(//∇//)\
どっちともです\(//∇//)\

化粧してる時と、してない時では顔が全然違います
ワンピースが好きです

私そのとき化粧してなかったんで、、、

こまーしゃる駅です

コマーシャル駅です

エレベーターであいました。
コマ－シャルの駅のエレベーターのとこで

５月２日です

すごいですね
カナダ出身とかいいですね
私の誕生日は、１９９３．０５．０２です

canada大好きになりました
誕生日はいつですか？

おぼえてます！！
元気ですよ！
そちらは？

"Those are called face marks.
They both are.

My face looks completely different with a make-up on.
I love One Piece.

I was not wearing make-up then...

It was the Commercial Station
*same line again*

We met at the elevator.
Elevator at the Commercial Station.

It's May 2.

Awesome.
Must be cool to be from Canada.
My birthdate is May 2, 1993.

I fell in love with Canada.
When is your B-day?

I do remember!
I'm doing well.
How about you?"

It's "understandable" but I would correct one part because it's potentially misleading.

受けられました　＞　受かりました

受けられました means you were able to take the test.
受かりました means you were accepted.

Thank you VERY MUCH, masaegu!

Translation needed:
"Good morning!"
"How is your week going? And what are you doing today?"
"And by the way, I'm sure you still look cute without make up on."

Sorry for all these translation requests for my own personal gain, but I'm getting pretty interested in this girl and your guys' translations could possibly be the start of something beautiful! I just started learning Japanese about a week ago, so just give me some time, and I promise I'll be up to par.. one of these days.. lol *sigh*:rolleyes: