I did pick up on the whole internet translated thing, even if it was just because the font is so.. boring lol.

Didn't know if maybe there was a better word for "alone" or something. Maybe there were better kanji or those ones didn't quite fit.

Thanks again for all your help :D

Hello :) It's been a while since I've needed some help, but the other day I finally ran into something I'm not quite understanding.

It's the "甘える系" from this page: http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/8263/helpe.jpg

If I were to make a guess, I would say she's saying "What, you want to/prefer to cuddle?" But that's just a guess.

Thank you very much in advance.

Seems you have got the gist of it. This is the same 系 as in the word ビジュアル系. ～～系 means "pertaining to the ~~ group" and people keep creating new words with it to categorize others. Originally we just used nouns to put up front but now we even use verbs and adjectives, which drives grammarians up the wall. :p 甘える系 roughly means "the type that like to be coddled by others", "the big baby types", etc.

To further explicate a bit, "cuddle" and "coddle" are different. masaegu has the right English word (coddle), not KellyMD (cuddle).

"Cuddle" is more what lovers do after sex or instead of sex. "Coddle" is what a mother does to a child, esp. babying him and spoiling him.

甘える is when a mother babies her child. It's "coddling," not "cuddling."

What does this say please? 'バカにつける薬はないわね'

I have no idea, I keep thinking I'm wrong. I mean, this is '薬' drugs, right? And obviously バカ is idiot. Does it supposed to mean, 'there is no drugs (cure?) for an idiot.' I saw it on someones status on facebook and thought I'd ask. (I know that ない is a negative, and I googled わね which supposed to mean emphasis, I don't know though. Lol, I'm always unsure of myself.)

It says: "There is no cure for a fool"
薬 can be translated as drugs, medicine, pharmaceuticals etc.

And you are right about the わ particle too.
It seems to be a mainly feminine particle used to show some kind of assertion or volition.
I think, like you have seen, it would be used quite commonly with よ or ね.

It can be used by male speakers too but I think there is a difference in pitch, and of course a male speaker wouldn't say something like わよ.
Don't take my word on that last bit about males using it (even though I'm pretty sure of myself that they can use it) - I'm just trying to remember what I had learned about it in the past.

Lots of males, myself included, use the 「わ」 endings but the 「わね」, 「わよ」 and 「わよね」 endings would be almost completely reserved for females unless they are used in dialects that I am unfamiliar with.

Got a looong one today! Sorry D: I figured it'd be better if I did the whole scene with context. Parts I have trouble with will be posted in a subsequent reply.

**Context: "Mazenda" (username) is a troubled girl who meets "Nakura" online. She tells him all about her problems with her family life; She discovers her father is having an affair. She's disgusted by how ostensibly normal her father and mother are to each other despite her father's secret lover. Nakura relates a similar story about his family and proposes the two of them meet in real life to commit suicide together because 「一緒に死んだら　彼らも嫌でも分かるんじゃないかな ・・・　本当に　大事にすべきなのは　なんだったのか 。」 Mazenda goes to meet Nakura but is kidnapped by someone posing as Nakura. Later, she is saved by a woman. This woman tells Mazenda where to meet Nakura.**

奈倉: マゼンダさん！ "Miss Mazenda!
マゼンダ: はっ…。 Oh...
奈倉: はじめまして　奈倉です。 Pleased to meet you, I'm Nakura.
マゼンダ: ほんとに　奈倉さん？ Are you really Nakura?
奈倉: す～っと　いなくなりたい奈倉です。 I'm Nakura who wants to disappear quietly.
マゼンダ: あぁ… はじめまして。　ひょっとして 助けてくれたの　奈倉さんですか？
Ah... Nice to meet you. By any chance, were you the one who saved me?
奈倉: はい　僕です。 Yup. That was me.
マゼンダ: ありがとうございました。 I don't know how to thank you.

奈倉: 怖かったですか？ Were you scared?
マゼンダ: はい…。 Yes...
奈倉: 大変でしたね。 That must've been awful.
マゼンダ: ええ…。 でも　どうして分かったの？ It was... but how did you know?
奈倉: だって　彼らに　マゼンダさんを 拉致するように言ったのは 僕ですから。
Because I'm the one who told those guys to kidnap you, Miss Mazenda.
マゼンダ: えっ…。 What...?
奈倉: それを　わざわざ 助けるように言ったのも　僕です。
And not incidentally, the one who asked you be saved was also me. 1.)
マゼンダ: どういうこと？ What do you mean?

奈倉: 死のうと思ってたのに 拉致なんかされちゃって ここで　びびってる自分は 何なんだろうかと思って ちょっと悔しいとか思ったりして。
You were going to kill yourself (die) but you were kidnapped, which made you scared ???? (2) and you felt mortified(?)

でも　抵抗したら 死のうとしてた自分を 否定することになるから ここは　運命だと思って 素直に受け入れようかと 思ったりもして。
But if you fought back you would be denying the part of you that wanted to die, so you thought it was fate and compliantly accepted it.3


でも　いざ　助けられたら ホッとしちゃったりとかしてる そんな君の顔が　見たかったから。
But now that you've been saved you're relieved. I wanted to see what your face would look like.
ひと言で言うと すべて見透かされちゃって 絶句してる君の顔が 見たかったから。
In a word(?), I wanted to see your speechless face when I saw through everything.

マゼンダ: どうして？ Why?

奈倉: どうして？　そうだねぇ それに対する答えは　君にとって とても哲学的に聞こえると思うよ。
Why? Well... I think my answer to that might sound a bit too philosophical for you.

それでも　あえて　説明すると 人間が好きってことかなぁ。
But I'll still try to explain it to you. I love human beings.
人間ってものが おもしろくて　興味深くて しかたないんだよねぇ。
Humans are interesting, truly fascinating, I can't help myself.
ああ　あくまで好きなのは 人間であって 君じゃないから。　ここ　重要。
Oh, the thing I love to the bitter end is humans(??), not you. That's important.

マゼンダ: 全部　ウソだったの？ All of it was a lie?

奈倉: 自分の立場　分かってきた？おいで。 Do you understand your position now? Come here.

**Nakura takes Mazenda to the edge of the building where they look down and see a blood stain on the pavement**

マゼンダ: あぁ…。 Aah...

奈倉: ここ　何人か 人飛び降りてるんだよね。 名所とまではいわないけどさ ここからなら 確実に　死ねるんだって。
Many people have jumped to their deaths from here. I wouldn't say this spot is famous or anything but the fall from here would definitely kill you.

ほら　見てよ　あそこの染み。 君さ　自分だけ 特別だと思ってない？ そんなことないから みんな　一緒だから。
Look, see that stain down there? You think you're the only special one? It ain't so; Everyone is the same.

清廉潔白なだけで 生きていけるヤツなんて どこにも　いないんだからさ。
There isn't a man alive who has lived his life by only being pure and innocent.
君だって 秘密の１つや２つ　あるでしょ？
Even you have a secret or two of your own, right?
自分は　よくて な～んで　親が　ダメなのか 考えたことある？
It's fine for you but your parents (???)

マゼンダ: それは…。That's...

奈倉: 結論を言わせてもらうとね Let me tell you what I think (my conclusion)
浮気しても　浮気　知ってても 誰だって つまんない冗談に笑って 甘すぎる煮物を食べて 生きてるんだと思うんだよね。
I think that even if you're having an affair or you know you're been cheated on, anybody would still laugh at the same dumb jokes, still eat the same overly sweet stew, they would keep living.

**Nakura paraphrased much of what Mazenda had told him in their emails here. She feels he's belittling her and she tries to hit him but loses her balance. Nakura grabs her and lets her dangle off the building. (If he lets go, she'll plummet to her death.)**

マゼンダ: あっ。 あぁ…。

奈倉: ご覧。　どんな悩みがあろうが 今や　みんな ただの染みだよ　染み。
Look. No matter what kind of problems they had, they're all just stains now. Stains.
例外なく誰でも 神のもとに　平等に。 放してあげようか？
Everyone in equal under God, no exceptions. Should I let you go?
マゼンダ: あっ…。 Ah...
奈倉: ほ～らね。 See~?
マゼンダ: うっ…。 Uuhh...

奈倉: まっ　今日一日 君の気持ちが ぶざまに　揺れ動いたのが 見られただけで　よかったよ。
Well, today (something??) thank you for letting me see you tremble pathetically.
オレが　ほんとに　興味あるのは 君のお悩みとかじゃないからさ。
I don't care about your problems.
悩んでる君の生態だから。
I wanted to see how you handled your problems.

ついでに言うと　君の生態は 予定どおりで　退屈だったよ。
And let me say, you were just as boring as I expected.
最初から　死ぬ気ないのは 分かってたからね。 それじゃあね！
I knew from the beginning you didn't want to kill yourself. See ya!

楽しかったよ　マゼンダさん。 It's been fun Miss Mazenda.

Here are my questions, though please feel free to comment on parts you don't think are good in my above translations :D

奈倉: それを　わざわざ 助けるように言ったのも　僕です。
And not incidentally, the one who asked you be saved was also me.

Where does 「それを」 fit in here?

奈倉: 死のうと思ってたのに 拉致なんかされちゃって ここで　びびってる自分は 何なんだろうかと思って ちょっと悔しいとか思ったりして。
You were going to kill yourself (die) but you were kidnapped, which made you scared ???? and you felt mortified(?)

Does 「ここで」 mean "at which point" here? What does 「びびってる自分は 何なんだろうかと思って」 mean? "You who was scared thought what"? 「～とか思う」 means "you thought/felt something like~"? Also, Nakura says 「～たりして」 a lot along with 「plain volitional form + と思う」 in this dialogue. What do they mean?

でも　抵抗したら 死のうとしてた自分を 否定することになるから ここは　運命だと思って 素直に受け入れようかと 思ったりもして。
But if you fought back you would be denying the part of you that wanted to die, so you thought it was fate and compliantly accepted it.

Why 「ここ」and not 「これ」? And what does 「思ったりもして」 mean?

ひと言で言うと すべて見透かされちゃって 絶句してる君の顔が 見たかったから。
To put it in a single a word(?), I wanted to see your speechless face when I saw through everything.

Why does he say 「ひと言で言うと」? He definitely doesn't sum it up in a single word :mtongue:

ああ　あくまで好きなのは 人間であって 君じゃないから。　ここ　重要。
Oh, the thing I love to the bitter end is humans(??), not you. That's important.

Does 「あくまで」 mean "to the bitter end" here? Again, why 「ここ」and not 「これ」?

自分は　よくて な～んで　親が　ダメなのか 考えたことある？
It's fine for you but your parents (???)

I think he's saying something like "Why is it fine for you to have secrets but not your parents?" but I can't figure out the literal translation.

奈倉: まっ　今日一日 君の気持ちが ぶざまに　揺れ動いたのが 見られただけで よかったよ。
Well, today (something??) thank you for letting me see you tremble pathetically.

Does 「今日一日」 mean something like "That's it for today?"

Sorry for the length! Thanks for reading :)

Hello everyone! I have a small question today.

Does anyone know what ファミ通「ビータでヴィンヴィン！背面タッチでパッコ パコ」means? I'm sure that it's about PSVita, but I have totally no idea about ヴィンヴィン and パッコパコ. Are these onomatopoeia or slangs?

This is a special usage of 「それ」. It is special in the sense that it can refer to either a person or thing. It means "the thing/person that is in the situation that has just been described." Nakura could have also used 「そのマゼンダさん」 instead of 「それ」.

Yes, it does. This is an example of Japanese direct and indirect speech being ambiguous. In English, you would use 「そこ」 instead of 「ここ」 because you are not quoting the other person (Mazenda). I am certain that you know what I am talking about here. In case you don't, I am referring to the phrase 「ここで　びびってる自分は 何なんだろうか」. By the English standards, that line is a sheer mixture of direct and indirect speech. In Japanese, it is just very normal.

「びびってる自分は何なんだろうかと思って」 means "You thought to yourself 'What the hell am I, being so scared. '" To use indirect speech, "You wondered what (kind of a person) you were, (being so scared in that kind of a situation) ".

「～とか思う」 means "You kinda think ~~", "You would have kinda thought ~~", etc. You use it when you are guessing at what another person is thinking. 「～たりして」 is VERY often added at the end of a sentence to add a little disclaimer saying that what you just said may not be correct.

「ここ」 is used because it refers to "in this situation". 「これ」, while not incorrect, is just not the native speaker's choice because it sounds too strong. 「思ったりもして」 means "You probably thought ~~~". Speaker is only guessing because you never know what others are thinking for sure.

「ひと言」 doesn not mean "a single word". It means "in short" or even "a short speech". My elementary school principal used to say at morning student gatherings, 「ひと言だけ申し上げます」 and his speech always exceeded 10 minutes.

"To the bitter end" ? No, not here. It just means "A rather than B". Nuance-wise, it falls somewhere between "rather" and "definitely". He did not use 「これ」 because that sounds too direct/assertive/stout.

You have got the meaning down. Yours is already almost a literal TL, except for the "to have secrets" part.

No, that is not what 「今日一日」 means. It just means "today" or "the course of today".

Ah, thank you very much. I was pretty close then!

I see, that's very interesting. Will remember that, thank you!

I am afraid this is not suitable for an all-age website like JF. It took me some courage to even quote this. Both are onomatopoeias; That is for sure.

Ah, thank you. That's what a friend asked me about, so I had no idea it would be about those games. I'll be more careful next time.

letter from my girl
 

Help!. my gf wrote me a letter.. can anyone translate this?

It's not really grammatically correct, and some words are used incorrectly, but I can tell what she meant to write is
"[whatever your name is—Kurt or Nurt?],
No matter what happens, I will always love you. Good night! Sweet dreams"

thanks!!!!
 

i see.. yay! thank you very much. ive been trying to translate it myself but i ended up nowhere.. :)

フェイルセーフ
“fail-safe”の検索結果（10 件）：英辞郎 on the WEB：スペースアルク

And yeah, "baka-yoke" literally uses the word "stupid person" in it.

Dude, we don't use romaji here. Also, you spelled both "gomenasai" and "arigato" incorrectly :mtongue:

Thank you SO much for answering my long, cumbersome questions. :o
Very interesting. I didn't know 「ここ」 could be used in such a way. 「～たりして」 seems like a good form to know, so I'd like to know a little more. Is there any difference between 「～たりして」 and 「～たりもして」? And are these a kind of auxiliary verb? If so, what's the dictionary form?

Thank you very much for the previous help, masaegu :)!

There's just a little something else I need help with. And it's once again from a manga as per usual!

So, this girl's boyfriend and her childhood friend (who unadmittedly likes the girl) get into a heated basketball match and then they have this exchange in the middle:

Boyfriend: 「今　ここで」くらい...　すんなり俺に勝ち　譲ってく ださいよ...！！
Guess translation: "At least right here and now (???)...hand over the game/win/victory to me without a fuss...!!")

Childhood friend: ...なんだよ　譲るって......譲るも譲らねぇも...最初から 俺のなんかじゃねえんだよ...!!
Guess translation: "...What? "Hand over"......? Whether I hand it over to you or not...it wasn't mine to begin with...!!" (What wasn't his to begin with? The girl? The win...?)

Thank you very much in advance.

feiruseefu
Romaji may look at least semi-passable when dealing with native Japanese, but when dealing with imported terms from English, it just looks plain ugly!

Is there a saying like "崎岖" in Japanese?

The 「も」 in 「～～たりもして」 is the usual "too = as well = also". Someone probably is doing A and he probably is doing B as well (as A). If you are mentioning just one action, you drop the 「も」.

There is no auxiliary verb in 「～～たり（も）して」
たり = a connective particle
も = a particle
して = a verb. Since this is in the continuative form, the 「して」 ending is used only in casual speech.

The dictionary form of 「して」 is 「する」, if that is what you are asking about.

Context would definitely be needed to know what 「今　ここで」くらい was referring to.

The topic of the convo, without a question, is the girl.

No, I do not believe so. The second hanzi is not even used in Japanese.

You asked for "fail-safe." I gave you "fail-safe." If you try to pronounce the word out loud, you'll find it sounds like someone saying the word "fail-safe" with a Japanese accent. Very much how saying "telescope" sounds like an English person saying the Greek word "teleskopos."

And it's "gomen nasai" and "arigatou."

Ah, okay. I get it now. I wasn't sure if the 「して」 here was the regular 「する」 or if there was an aux. verb ending in 「～す」. Thanks. :cool:

I don't even know what that is. It sounds like a Cowboy toy from the 1950s, not a Japanese word.

And what I gave you means "fail safe," as I think I said a couple times and you specifically asked for. You never asked for "error avoidance" (I just checked) so I don't know where you're bringing that into this. "Error avoidance" and "fail safe" don't even mean the same thing in English.

"Error avoidance" is a completely different phrase. “error avoidance”の検索結果（2 件）：英辞郎 on the WEB：スペースアルク
Eraa kaihi = error avoidance
eraa kaihi shisutemu = error avoidance system

I'm finding it tiresome to help you. You keep moving the ball and asking non sequitur questions. Please try and make your posts more logically consistent and coherent.

I need help with one quick line today.
「今こそ　オレ？　今から　オレ？ 今　オレ　モテ期到来みたいな～？」
This is said by a goofy 15-year-old boy to adult ladies who're clearly not interested. The 「モテ期到来」 part is what's confusing me. I know モテ is slang for 'popular with the ladies'.
Here's a shoddy translation attempt;
"Now is my time? Me from now on? Now, have I reached my time to be a ladies man~!?"

モテ期 = Time period in which one is popular with the opposite sex (?)
到来 = Arrival
みたい = It seems

Am I right?

You could not be righter.

「みたいな」 has been a common sentence-ender for the last 20 - 25 years. It is very close in meaning to the disclaimer 「～～したりして」 we just discussed yesterday.

He could have said 「今　オレ　モテ期到来なんつったりして！」.
「なんつったりして」　＝　「なんて言ったりして」

I do not mean to teach slang expressions but an older guy might have said:
「なんちゃって」　＝　「なんて言っちゃって」
or even more colloquially 「なんつって」　＝　「なんて言って」
or simply, 「なんてね」 instead.

I am mentioning these because you WILL see them in manga.

Haha! Cool :D Y'know I was clueless but as I started typing this question and thinking about it, I sorta figured it out. Thank you for showing me various sentence-enders. I'm always glad to learn new grammatical forms ;)

This probably won't be considered, but there's this recipe book which no one has fully translated yet, and I can't really learn a whole language in this amount of time. There's about 45 pages left but not a lot of text (I think)

Ah, I thought so. Thank you very much, masaegu :).

As for「今　ここで」くらい, here's the page it was on plus the one before it: http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/5958/pg1w.jpg
http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/1937/pg2d.jpg (This is the page it's on).

Thanks. Now it is clear. The 後輩 demands that the 先輩 give a straight answer regarding who the girl officially "belongs to", such as one including the phrase　「今　ここで」. The 後輩 should be thinking of a line like 「今ここで誓う。Ａ子はお前のものだ。」.

Thank you very very much once again, masaegu :)!

Now that my exam has ended, I'm back with some questions as usual. I hope these aren't too much :)

1. 現実は、俺が追いついてくるのを待っちゃくれない。
What is a non-colloquial way of saying 待っちゃ?

2. な、何いってるの...？ れーじ、正気なワケ......？殺されるって時に告げる、最 期の言葉がそんなものでいいわけ！？
"正気なワケ?" means "do you really mean it" or "are you serious about that", correct?

3. 震える唇から、何とか次の言葉を探す。しかし、浮かん でくる言葉はどれも俺が口にしたくないものばかりだ。
Does 口にする mean "to speak of" or "to speak out"?

4. Can someone tell me the difference between 距離を取る and 距離を保つ?

5. Finally, does とてつもない mean the same as とんでもない? Or are they different?

1. 待っては

2. Literally, the latter but you could also use the former for a tanslation.

3. It means "to utter".

4. Not much of a difference. One needs to first 距離を取る and then one can 距離を保つ. More emphasis on "maintaining the distance" in the latter.

5. Two are very often interchangeable. There is more emphasis on "unreasonableness" in the former and on "unexpectedness" in the latter.
The importnat difference is that while the former usually carries a negative connotation, the latter can be used affirmatively.

Thanks again for the clear explanation, masaegu :D Now I'd like to ask a few questions for today.

1. こいつは、貴方たちの手に追える相手じゃない！
Does 手に追える mean "to be on par with"?

2. 顔色が、すぐれませんが
This mean the complexion of the person doesn't look good, correct?

3. Can you tell me what 夢にする mean? I heard 夢にしないで in a Japanese song, but I can't find the phrase in dictionaries to figure out the exact meaning.

1. The phrase has been used incorrectly here. It is only used in the negative form of 手に負えない, meaning "one cannot handle/manage ~~". This person used the wrong kanji as well.

2. Right. It is a euphemistic way of saying "You look sick."

3. That is not something we say often. Probably means "Do not let it end a dream." In other words, "Make it happen!" Context needed for confirmation.

So that's the reason why I couldn't any similar example. Thank you for pointing that out. :)

Ah, here is part of the lyrics I got through google :
I also would like to ask about the meaning of the last line. That one is quite difficult to understand for me.

Here is the song, in case you need it to be sure :
YouTube - ‪T M Revolution - Madan ~der Freischutz~ Undercover MIX‬‏