Japanese Help Thread

[dowolf]

Couple things on other lines here:

 

--"Oh, that beast girl.": While Japanese is... flexible when it comes to punctuation, English isn't. Make sure any and all questions get question marks, even if they didn't in the original. (edit: on re-read, you could read this as not a question. Guess it'd depend on what comes before. *shrug*)

--Consider "she-wolf" and "lioness" for 狼女 and ライオン女. This is just a personal taste thing, but I figured it was worth mentioning. this no longer seems like as good an idea as it did 30 minutes ago. my mind is weird at 2 a.m. >_>

 

--お前、また、メンバーを好きにするのか?": he's saying that the boss is the one doing things again >_>

--あれは見せ物だぞ?奴隷でさえないんだ: Should be "She's a showpiece. Not even a slave."  I think you got thrown off by the question mark in the original? (It's marking that the boss is confused, not that the statement is a question--again, Japanese punctuation is flexible.)

Also, unless you're given damn good reason to (read: if this is an official job and your boss tells you to), feel free to ignore any and all official romanizations if you think they're wrong. A lot of the time, the person coming up with the romanization doesn't know what they're doing.

[stormwyrm]

Well, now that you mention it, what is this メンバー they talk about there? Is it a euphemism again...? >_>

 

I find it strange though given the rest of the context.

 

Also, with 'she-wolf' and 'lioness', I think it'd make one think they're talking about actual wolves and lions rather than kemonomimi wild girls.

[Parallel Pain]

He's talking about member of the band/circus

[dowolf]

メンバー would be a (free) member of the crew.

and yeah. half-hour-ago me was crazy and clearly not trustworthy. but I'm still not in love with calling everyone "wolf-girl" and "lion-girl." wolf-girl has "werewolf," and you could always invent "werelion" if you wanted. but w/e.

[Deep Blue]

何か, 寂しい感じがする子だな

何か, イヤな感じがする子だな

 

is there any difference between these 2 lines?

one is stating that it is sad and the other one unpleasant, right? but overall they mean something similar or is my interpretation really off?

[stormwyrm]

何か, 寂しい感じがする子だな

何か, イヤな感じがする子だな

 

is there any difference between these 2 lines?

one is stating that it is sad and the other one unpleasant, right? but overall they mean something similar or is my interpretation really off?

Well, 寂しい means sad or lonesome or desolate. イヤ is more like disagreeable or detestable or dislikeable. Their meanings are quite different actually, and I'm not sure what gives you the impression that the two words are similar in meaning.

[Deep Blue]

I mean in a sense that they both mean something bad, you need to chose 1 of those options but they both are "bad options" is like whatever you chose will give you the same result. Again maybe is just me and i'm really not understanding what it says

[stormwyrm]

I mean in a sense that they both mean something bad, you need to chose 1 of those options but they both are "bad options" is like whatever you chose will give you the same result.

 

Well, if you were exiled to an island all by yourself, that would be 寂しい. Now, if you got exiled to an island filled with loathsome and foul-smelling worms and insects, イヤ might be more like it. You would be much too disgusted with the creatures you shared the island with to think of yourself as being lonesome or abandoned. Yes, both options are bad, but that's where the similarity ends. I still don't get why this difference is lost on you.

[Deep Blue]

because with the context of the visual novel and what's going on it seems kinda insignificant, I know that without the full dialogs you cant really tell what they mean but it's a whole route so I can't give you the context you need , and this one seems like the bad one to pick 何か, イヤな感じがする子だな because when you chose it it gives you like a "wrong sound"

[stormwyrm]

Sounds something like a choice between a hell of loneliness and a hell of torment as I was saying. Without more context that's really all that can be said.

[dowolf]

It's asking if she looks lonely (i.e. "I should go talk to her!"), or if she gives you the creeps.

[Deep Blue]

oh so the 感じ it is meant in a way of how it feels in terms of looking, like how the situation of this kid looks or feels to you, now it makes more sense!

that's why if you chose unpleasant it's the wrong choice. btw I checked weblio (I look there when I don't understand very well how a kanji is used) and it said

 感じがする  feel / have the feel of something. But as english is not my native language I didn't understand it in that way, with your example it was really clear.

Thanks both of you.

[stormwyrm]

I've run across another puzzling bit of Japanese while trying to translate Arcana. This time Caprese's travels have taken him to a prosperous city-state ruled by a young noblewoman named Amoroso (she has the Empress Arcana). Orphaned at a young age she is bored, as she is surrounded by yes men who always agree to everything she says and there is no one around she can have a proper conversation with. She is intrigued by the audacious Caprese, who eventually gets her to sneak out of her palace and go out into the countryside and mingle with the common folk, and one option has her helping out a peasant family in the fields. After they sneak back into Amoroso's palace they have this puzzling bit of conversation:

 

Amoroso: カプリス…大丈夫だった?

Caprese: 俺はね。それより、大事なお姫様が一日行方不明ってほうが…

Amoroso: それはね…じいやがごまかしてくれた

Caprese: じいや?

Amoroso: ああ、さすがに騙しきれないと思って、じいやには話したんだ。そうしたら…

Caprese: ??

Amoroso: じいやもずっと前には畑仕事をしていたんだって。協力してくれたよ

Caprese: そうか、それは助かった

 

Here's a try at translating it:

 

Amoroso: Caprese, are you all right?

Caprese: I'm all right. more importantly, a princess has gone missing for a whole day...

Amoroso: You know... "Jiiya" deceived me.

Caprese: "Jiiya"?

Amoroso: Yes, as you might expect I did not think myself so completely deceived, as I talked with "Jiiya". And then...

Caprese: ??

Amoroso: "Jiiya" a long time ago also worked in the fields. I cooperated with him.

Caprese: I see, that was helpful.

 

Who or what is じいや？ It clearly refers to a person, but it's obviously not a personal name, as all personal names should be rendered in katakana as there are no Japanese people in the story. It sounds like it might be a term for an old servant or retainer or something, sort of like じいさん, but it's not in EDICT. I found this, but am not so sure if it's relevant.

[astro]

Who or what is じいや？ It clearly refers to a person, but it's obviously not a personal name, as all personal names should be rendered in katakana as there are no Japanese people in the story. It sounds like it might be a term for an old servant or retainer or something, sort of like じいさん, but it's not in EDICT. I found this, but am not so sure if it's relevant.

[Deep Blue]

lol old geezer does anyone use that word in english? and yeah o-jiisan is used to call old people probably +50 years I've seen it in many novels that little kids tend to use it too for grown up people (+16) not just "really" old people

douzo douzo http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E7%88%BA%E3%82%84

[stormwyrm]

*Gives you a slap to the wrist*

https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%88%BA%E3%82%84-516180

 

Also you're translating that passage wrong

[Parallel Pain]

Amoroso: カプリス…大丈夫だった?

Caprese: 俺はね。それより、大事なお姫様が一日行方不明ってほうが…

Amoroso: それはね…じいやがごまかしてくれた

Caprese: じいや?

Amoroso: ああ、さすがに騙しきれないと思って、じいやには話したんだ。そうしたら…

Caprese: ??

Amoroso: じいやもずっと前には畑仕事をしていたんだって。協力してくれたよ

Caprese: そうか、それは助かった

[Deep Blue]

is there any way to translate a dialog where the topic are pronouns? the main character is using washi but he is really young and her sister is concerned because he is not using ore like he used to do...how can you translate that :/

 

[自分の事を『ワシ』だなんて……ひーちゃん、おじーちゃんになっちゃったの？」

「ちょ、ちょっと口が滑っただけだ！　“俺”ね、“俺”！」

「そう？　わ～……お姉ちゃんびっくりしちゃったぁ]

[stormwyrm]

is there any way to translate a dialog where the topic are pronouns? the main character is using washi but he is really young and her sister is concerned because he is not using ore like he used to do...how can you translate that :/

[Deep Blue]

while I can't think of a substitute for omae because there isnt a word in english for that, I hate when I see a translation and they use just "you" because if someone is using omae there are not saying it in a friendly way so you can at least change his patter of speech to something more agressive, but how can you translate ore, boku, washi, atashi...

[dowolf]

 

Caprese: I am. I'm more worried about the all important princess who's gone missing for a whole day...

[Parallel Pain]

Do be careful here--in English, this sounds like they're talking about a third person.

[stormwyrm]

For お前 perhaps just have him call her "girl" all the time. That seems closer to the original tone than "twerp."

[Deep Blue]

I can't understand the meaning of this, 

 

１０年ほど前に義兄さんが逝ったのを機に、私の姉さんは娘夫婦や孫に面倒を見てもらうことになった

その為、住み慣れたこの土地を離れ、姪たちのいる青森へ移ることになったのだ

 

 

his brother in law died 10 years ago and took that as an opportunity for? and then it was decided that the daughter and her hunsband and her (daugher/son) of my older sister will take care him (the main character) and for that reason he was separated and had to get used to live in that land because their nieces moved to the aomori's capital?

 

I'm really lost, specially with the first part, it's not really important for the story but I'm intrigued 

[storyteller]

１０年ほど前に義兄さんが逝ったのを機に、

 

You got this part right.

The first part is "When my brother-in-law died 10 years ago", and the second part is "took the opportunity to"

 

私の姉さんは娘夫婦や孫に面倒を見てもらうことになった

 

This part tells you that the speaker's older sister is the one "taking the opportunity to" do something.

娘夫婦や孫 refers to her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren as you derived. Probably better just be translated to "her daughter's family".

面倒を見てもらうことになった here, 見てもらう shows that the older sister in question is the one being looked after. 

From context, I assume the older sister is not the main character, and "moving in" is appropriate stand-in for 面倒を見てもらう

 

その為、住み慣れたこの土地を離れ、姪たちのいる青森へ移ることになったのだ

 

住み慣れたこの土地 is "this land she was familiar with"

離れ is "to leave"

青森へ移る The subject of the sentence is still the speaker's older sister, so the one moving is the older sister

姪たちのいる is an adjective phrase describing Aomori, saying that the speaker's niece (the older sister's daughter) lives in Aomori.

 

Put together, it's something along the lines of:

"When my brother-in-law (or "her husband") died 10 years ago, my older sister took the opportunity to move in with her daughter's family.

To do so, she had to leave this area (town? city? probably a better word here) she had become familiar with and move to Aomori, where my niece (or "her daughter") lived".