Japanese Help Thread

[mitchhamilton]

"So, now what will you do? You don't wanna.... tell your mom?"
"I see no point. I would just worry her."
"No point... If she finds out later won't she be shocked. Actually that's kind of funny."
"You think?"
"Haru-nii's injury is minor anyway. If she found out..."
"Right? My injury is minor so I'll be out of here in a few days, at most. So lets just keep silent for now."
"Yeah, yeah. Then how about buying me an oven baked souffle pancake from the new Kameta coffee shop in front of the station to keep me quiet?"

 

is what is said before that. the first one is the gitl, then next line is the guy, so on and so fourth. then he says

 

了解。いつも世話をかけるな

 

which she follows up with

 

それは言わない約束でしょう？

 

then they laugh

[Parallel Pain]

Much better

18 minutes ago, mitchhamilton said:

了解。いつも世話をかけるな

それは言わない約束でしょう？

So as used here this is a very  Japanese thing from both of them. So much so that I think the best way to translate that phrase is just either

"Don't say that." or "Don't mention it."

It has a heavier connotation than that. But in the end the translation will remain the same.

To make it more light-hearted maybe "Aww. Don't mention it." or something.

[mitchhamilton]

hmmm. the only issue i have now is that if you understand a little bit of spoken japanese you can hear her say the words promise and soureha,

 

any suggestions?

[Parallel Pain]

8 minutes ago, mitchhamilton said:

hmmm. the only issue i have now is that if you understand a little bit of spoken japanese you can hear her say the words promise and soureha,

Hmmm. I highly doubt it'll change anything, but how did you translate いつも世話かけるな

There really isn't an equivalent I can think of in English. IMO it's closer than "Hey, it's what I do." And writing out the connotation would make the scene too serious it'd be jarring.

Maybe we can work something out. Can you describe their laughter in the lines afterwards? Were there any pauses before it? Did it start small and grow into a hearty laugh, or just a friendly chuckle from both before moving on.

They only way is to just put a translator's note me think. I can give a little explanation about the meaning behind it if you'd like.

[mitchhamilton]

i translated いつも世話かけるな to "Whatever it takes, I guess"

 

the guy is easier to mess with since, unless you read it in its original form, people will just have to take the translators word to what hes saying.

[Parallel Pain]

16 minutes ago, mitchhamilton said:

i translated いつも世話かけるな to "Whatever it takes, I guess"

 

the guy is easier to mess with since, unless you read it in its original form, people will just have to take the translators word to what hes saying.

I wouldn't don't do that. If you're worried about someone being able to hear and understand それは and 約束 then you should be worried about them being about to hear 世話かける. Just stick with "Sorry to always bother/bug you" or something.

What about their laughter?

[mitchhamilton]

laughter seems genuine.

 

also you cant hear the guy speak. hes the mc.

[Parallel Pain]

Then yeah, I'd just stick with.

MC: "Got it. Sorry to keep bothering you (with everything) / Sorry to keep bugging you / Thanks for all your help."

Girl: "Awww. Don't mention it."

And then put a translator's note if you're really worried.

[mitchhamilton]

k. just out of curiosity, what would be the closest translation to それは言わない約束でしょう？

[Parallel Pain]

12 minutes ago, mitchhamilton said:

k. just out of curiosity, what would be the closest translation to それは言わない約束でしょう？

Depends, apparently, on if they are quoting an ancient TV comedy.

It's literally, as you can probablytell: "you're not supposed to bring that up"

Direct meaning-wise "Don't mention it" is indeed the closest translation. Just the idea and background, at least as far as I know, is different.

They both mean "Hey, it's what I do" (so not point drawing attention to it).

The difference is in Anglo culture (I think), you say it after someone thank you, meaning "meh, what I did was insignificant" or "no big deal", or just being polite and standard like " you're welcome"

If they're not quoting the comedy, it's as follows:

In Japanese, you say what she said after someone say close to you say "sorry to always be bothering you" or something along that line. A lot of the times in East Asian culture you say sorry instead of thanks, or you say both, to show that you understand the other person helped you when she could've done something else, so you therefore were a nuisance. You show your gratitude by saying sorry and showing you realised the trouble you caused.

That's what he says. Her reply to that is either:

It's her social obligation to help him (in general, not any specific case). So him bringing it up is 水臭い, treating her as a stranger.

And/Or

Whatever the cause from him (sick/poverty/unemployment/divorce etc), helping has become a routine for her that she thinks nothing of it and doesn't want to be reminded of their situation.

If they are quoting the comedy, it's "hey you're not supposed to bring up the fact that I have to do this because of you."

[mitchhamilton]

(sigh) i need help, again. the two characters promise not to share that the mc is in the hospital for a minor injury, to his parents (yes. i am still there) and the girl says this.

 

優子「それじゃ、明日もまたお見舞いに来るから、大人しくしてるんだぞ？

 

btw i promise ive been using google translate but i wanna be absolutely sure.

[Down]

"Well then, I'll come to visit you again tomorrow, so behave yourself ok?"

Those sentences are really simple, if you struggle with them maybe you should brush up on your grammar a bit or something? And don't use google translate to translate whole sentences, it won't work.

[mitchhamilton]

thanks. i am just doing awful. im making barely any progress cause i am always coming on here asking for help. i thought it would be easier than this. i have hardly any problem when its the mc and the other girl talking.

[Down]

Well, it's normal to struggle at the beginning and it's fine to ask questions (in fact it's probably a really good thing to do, although I don't do it much myself).

Maybe though, you should point out what specific points are giving you trouble, so that you can revise grammar on that or that we may provide an explanation rather than a translation.

[mitchhamilton]

honestly, i dont know how to read japanese at all. i can understand a good portion of spoken japanese and i have a text hooker to help fill in the blanks. i started this project because i thought, in comparison to other vns where i had to use a text hooker, this is a bit more understandable. but alas, here i am..... constantly.

[Parallel Pain]

I would actually say you need to complete first year university level or JLPT 3 or 2 before you want to translate.

Also to translate properly you'd want at least some knowledge of culture.

[mitchhamilton]

Just now, Parallel Pain said:

I would actually say you need to complete first year university level or JLPT 3 or 2 before you want to translate.

Also to translate properly you'd want at least some knowledge of culture.

are you saying im unrefined? how dare you!! (scratches crotch)

 

in all seriousness, i have a decent bit of knowledge of japanese culture. also i tried school once. didnt work. i cant learn by just sitting. i cant retain knowledge like other people. i need a software thatll teach me how to read kanji and hiragana, and katana and any other form of written japanese.

[mitchhamilton]

the mc is in a hospital bed when a girl pops in to serve him tea and cookies. he enjoys the tea and asks what kind of tea is it. she responds with

 

アポン・ライムのお茶です。学院の友達に、病室だとお湯くらいしかないからこれがいいと薦めてもらったんです

[Down]

"It's Upon Lime tea" (not sure what kind of tea this is supposed to be). "A friend from school (college?) recommended it to me. He said that in a hospital room there probably hardly would be anything but hot water, so that would do."

Btw are you just reading this thing or translating it? It's probably not the greatest idea to attempt a translation at your level. Translation doesn't really work to enhance one's skills before you get confident enough.

[Nosebleed]

I'm not really sure what this guy is trying to say with this sentence:

さやちゃんが初めて話しかけてきた時

僕が助けたトカゲが恩返しに来たのかなって思ったよ

They were talking about a story/fable of a boy who found frog and it turns out the frog was the girl he liked. After the story was done the protagonist said that to the girl (Saya, his girlfriend) who was the one telling the story, but I don't really get it.

Her reply:
もしそうだったら
どうする？

His thoughts after:
は虫類苦手だけど
さやちゃんがトカゲだったととしてもー

Is he saying he thought she was a lizard at first? It seems really strange but that's the only idea I get out of it.

[Down]

It's kinda that, yeah. "The first time you came talking to me, I wondered if you weren't a/the lizard (I'm not knowledgeable about lizard so I'm not sure what exactly a tokage is) I had saved, come back to return the favor." As an analogy with the boy and the frog of the story. 

恩返し is a difficult concept to translate... I'm not sure what would be the best way to translate it.

[Nosebleed]

I didn't think of the analogy with the story. I was confused about the parsing of the second sentence because I didn't get what it could refer to, but I guess since he works at a pet-shop it wouldn't be strange if he saved a lizard before, so he's saying when Saya appeared out of nowhere one day, it might just have been that lizard he once saved.

That already helps plenty, I'll figure out the best way to word it later.

Young love and reptilians these days.

[Nosebleed]

Need some more help with reptilians

あとヤモリの指先は吸盤になってるんだよ

吸盤っていうか細かい毛？でこぼこで爪もあって

I don't get the second sentence, mostly the expression 吸盤っていうか細かい毛

[Down]

吸盤 in english would be uh... sucker? Like, there seems to be a word for that in portuguese, ventosa (similar to the french ventouse) but I'm not sure how you'd call that in english. Ask Ren maybe.

So he's saying, "Rather than a sucker, it's more like small hairs?"  literally, or in a better way "Or maybe they're more like small hairs? It's all rugged and there are nails there too".

The life of a translator: looking up anatomy words and shit.

[Nosebleed]

Yeah I couldn't make out the whole thing. The random question mark in the middle confused me even more. And sucker would be the best word for 吸盤.

Translating this manga has taught me so much about reptilians it's not even funny.