Japanese Help Thread

[ittaku]

アナタは暇な大学生。

近所には大の仲良しさんの双子の美少女・西村ななみちゃん、このみちゃんが住んでいます。

 

I see those lines as

You're a bored college student.

In your neighbourhood live two extremely friendly beautiful twin girls, Nishimura Nanami-chan and Konomi-chan.

 

 

[sanahtlig]

I'm not trying to replicate childish speech so much as avoid using phrases that sound inappropriate for a child to use.  In fact, I lean towards replicating Japanese speech patterns where possible because that's what lolicons would expect, especially those looking to play a game in Japanese (here I translated a description for the game to list on VNDB).

 

My hangup here was 「わぁ…よかった…」, which I translated as "Thanks oniichan!".  That doesn't quite capture Nanami's character; she's shy and a bit precocious.  The literal translation is something like "That's a relief... (I thought you might refuse)" or "I'm glad...", but those don't seem like natural responses in English.  I ended up going with what I felt was a natural response, but ended up sacrificing a bit of her character.

[dowolf]

The simple answer is "use simple words." However, it's hard to do that with such short examples.

(Also, while this is personal preference, I generally try to avoid using "onii-chan" in English when the person is not literally the speaker's brother--most of your audience will know that it means "brother," but few will know that it also means "mister.")

 

also what Ittaku said re: the first two lines.

[sanahtlig]

I updated the translation based on feedback.

[ittaku]

The rest seems fine except for the last line which the translation is a little off.

 

Here's some more suggestions, taking into account your request to keep Onii-chan, 3rd person speech, shyness and the childish speech.

 

「このみに勉強教えてくれる、おにいちゃん？」

 

"Onii-chan, will you teach Konomi?"

 

「いいよ、僕でよければ喜んで」

 

"Sure, if you want me to, I'd be glad."

 

「わぁ…よかった…」

 

"Wah... lucky..."

 

「わぁーい、やったーっ！」

 

"Yay, goodie!"

 

こうして、ななみちゃんとこのみちゃん、そしておにいちゃんの “いけない夏休み” が始まったのです。

 

And thus begins Onii-chan's "summer vacation of wrongdoing" with Nanami-chan and Konomi-chan.

[sanahtlig]

I ended up going with:

 

「わぁ…よかった…」

"He didn't say no... thank goodness."

 

I think that's more in line with Nanami's personality.

[Deep Blue]

10/10 vn...

[storyteller]

I ended up going with:

「わぁ…よかった…」

"He didn't say no... thank goodness."

I think that's more in line with Nanami's personality.

[Zarple]

ㅤ ㅤ

[Yeah Way]

*Parallel Pain's answer

 I

 I

V

[Parallel Pain]

It's literally: "The reason I could paint before (implying not now) was that I was a child..."

Therefore:

I could paint back then because I was a child...

She's saying the reason why she can't paint now.

[Zarple]

ㅤ ㅤ

[FunkyBoy]

What does 洋モン mean? There's this old geezer and the protagonist buys him an H book from the nearby town, and the geezer says, 「やっぱり、エロ本は洋モンに限るのぉ」

[Down]

It just means "western thing" (as in european/american). Like, western-style food, or western-imported stuff. He says that the best porn is the western one, basically.

 

edit: actually there's an entry for 洋モノ on weblio. This is just a casual モン instead of the full モノ.

[Parallel Pain]

It just means "western thing" (as in european/american). Like, western-style food, or western-imported stuff. He says that the best porn is the western one, basically.

edit: actually there's an entry for 洋モノ on weblio. This is just a casual モン instead of the full モノ.

[FunkyBoy]

Ahh, okay, didn't spring to my mind to check a japanese dictionary/reference site. What about かぎる? Does he say that western porn 'hits the limit' or is at the limit as in there isn't anything better?

 

@Parallel Pain, in the dialogue it says the old man loves American porn (peeps call him メリケン something-something..). It said in the dialogue the 'gravures' were American, so it's all-western porn. 

[Down]

Actually I'm curious. In this case does it mean western made porn or Japanese porn with western actress do you know?

[Parallel Pain]

に限る means "there's nothing better than"/"is the best"

Literally it's there's no other choice than (insert porn here)

[FunkyBoy]

Oh, well I'm an imbecile.

 

I see, that cleared up things a lot, thank you both.

[Deep Blue]

I'm having problems with the meaning of this conversation, gonna put the entire dialogs:

 

ええと……？　『香蕉愛衣佳さんへ。　お話ししたいことがあります。放課後、４組の教室前に　来てもらえますでしょうか』」

名前は……うん、無いみたいね。

「わ、わあぁっ！　声に出しちゃダメだよぉ！」

律「別に誰も聞いてないから、気にする必要ないって。　それより、これってまさか……」

「う、うん……やっぱり、そうかな」

律「そうね……ちょっと驚いちゃったけど」

「……果たし状、だよね？」

律「んなわけないでしょ！？」

愛衣佳のボケっぷりに、頭を抱えたくなる。しかも多分、本気だ。

「違うの？」

律「違うわよ。どう見ても、ラブレターでしょーが」

「……へ？　らぶ、れたー？」

律「なにを驚いてんの」

「え……だ、だって、私だよぉ？　ラブレターなんて送って、どうしようって言うの？　果たし合い？」

律「どうあっても果たし合いたいの、愛衣佳は？」

 

 

So basically, 2 girls talking about a letter that one of them received anonymously, that says to met her in front of a classroom to talk about something blah blah it doesnt matter , and this is what I don't understand, she is kinda "slow" or naive so she mistake this love-letter (or it seems that way for her friend) for a 果たし合い which means a duel.

I don't get the joke, is it common to be called for a duel? I understand that her character is innocent and naive but am I missing something, is it a known joke in japan or is it a common thing to be called for a duel? Maybe a duel means something else

[storyteller]

It's common (manga?) culture for delinquents to call out other delinquents to a duel through letters in the shoe rack.

Just about as often as love letters are thrown in shoe racks.

As such, when a character finds a letter in his/her shoe rack, you can expect him/her to wonder aloud whether it's a letter of challenge or a love letter.

[Deep Blue]

I see, seems weird and a little stupid I mean she is a high-school girl, the airhead energetic type, why would she be expecting such a letter beats me O.o but oh well.

Thanks

[storyteller]

I think in the given case, it's to show that the girl is clueless about love.

[Deep Blue]

I think in the given case, it's to show that the girl is clueless about love.

[RaurosFalls]

I don't suppose anyone will know what ハミガキ粉カスタード actually is?

It seems literally to translate to "toothpaste custard" (lol)

 

Edit: I'm blind. The next sentence explained it.

"Custard with a toothbrushing effect"