Questions tagged [translation]
翻訳. This site does not provide a translation service. However, questions about translation are welcome provided that they have some academic merit. For example, questions about translating uncommon words, phrases that have different meanings in different contexts, and other non-trivial topics.
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What is the function of では in this context?
I was trying to translate this text and I didn't understand the use of the では particle. I thought it might be something like “with this body without feet, hands and wings I am the serpent of the world”...
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Does the signature in the following Kannon statue mean "Made by Kutani Kubikin"?
I bought a Kannon (Guanyin) statue at a flea market. There are Japanese characters on the underside, which I was able to translate halfway thanks to Google Translator: "Made by Kutani Kubikin&...
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Need help breaking down some grammar
In a script I'm translating, Character A is telling Character B how Character C isn't afraid of performing difficult stunts. A proceeds to say:
……多少は危ないことに危機感を持ってほしいというか、あの無謀さは少々どうかと思う時もあるが——
I have ...
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Do both "白の女王" and "白き女王" mean "White Queen"?
There's this Japan-only game called Grimms Notes, and it has 2 characters called "白の女王" and "白き女王". The former is based on the White Queen from Alice in Wonderland, and the latter ...
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Puzzling use of 直立
In the following passage from 永井荷風, 浮世絵の鑑賞, how is one to interpret 直立濶歩したりし? It appears to mean 'strode (around) erect', but 'erect' doesn't seem quite appropriate here. I wouldn't have thought that ...
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How does やがる work with なる?
"もう1ヶ月が経ってんだぞ！?"
"一人でしたって変な感じになりやがるし"
The character friend has not been playing with him for a month. From context I can gather that "Even if I try to do things alone, it ...
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Why is the same English meaning of ため tied to different Japanese meanings in different dictionaries?
Jisho gives "consequence; result; effect" with an example sentence
それは、おまえの声をよく聞くためだよ。(It is in order to hear your voice well.)
Tangorin gives "consequence; result; effect" ...
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What does 余裕がない actually mean?
The characters are carrying a heavy object. However, now they are standing in place (with the object) and doing nothing, so one of them asks the other character:
動いてもよいか?俺もそこまで余裕がない
Why is 余裕がない ...
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What does the last の in "おどるのはたのしいのです。" mean/do?
I'm having trouble understanding the grammar of this sentence:
おどるのはたのしいのです。
I understand it means, "Its fun to dance," but I'm struggling to understand why の is placed here:
おどるのはたのしいのです。
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Is 私は明日がスポーツを 遊ぶ。correct?
I'd like to say,"I'll play sports tomorrow." Would dropping the 私は be simpler? So instead, 明日がスポーツを 遊ぶ。as the 'I' can be implied?
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Is this なことには here functions the same as 不思議なことには?
さらに重要なことには、これほどの美女がネズミを駆除するなど誰も信じない
i encountered this sentence on the witcher3 . Is this なことには here functions the same as 不思議なことには?
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What does くるりと回れば means? Is this some kind of expression?
The old woman is recalling what her daughter said before leaving the village. I understand
中の者も 外の者も関係ない
"Whatever it's a person from inside the village or outside it doesn't matter"
...
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決める +としよう = plan verb + volitional [duplicate]
2人に一緒にかっこよく決めるとしようや
The characters are at the end of a challenge and they are about to face the last room, when one of them says this. After that, they do an athletic c trick to pass the challenge.
...
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What does this use of まいな mean?
忘れちゃおるまいな
From context he seems to be asking "You didn't forget how much I apologize to the dude"? But I'm not sure about this specific use.
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What does this use of あっていいな mean?
ああ 水車小屋か
風情があっていいな
The character said this after stopping in front of a 水車小屋. Why is ていいな here being used here?
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What does じゃないじゃん mean? Does this count as a double negative?
じゃないじゃん from context she seems to be it's the time to support that girl?
and "I don't have more free time. Pull yourself together"
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What does でしょなんでだ mean?
What is the meaning of the sentence on the left exactly? She seems to be given the reason the forest is called like this is because of the fungi?
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What does 何があんだよ mean here?
なんでここに?
Why are you here
飯食いに来た以外に何があんだよ
"Other than coming to eat..."
I'm stumbled on this meaning of 何があんだよ. From context he seems to be saying "what else is there to do here?"...
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Why is ても used here? [duplicate]
お前 何を
And his answer
縛り上げるだけだよ
まだ襲われてもうっとうしいから
I understand he's expressing his displeasure over the possibly of another attack, but why is "も" particle used?
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Is 頭上を取る some kind of slang?
I'm sorta stumbled on this meaning here. "A skill level that can touch over the top of my head"?
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What is the exact difference between "が世話になって and "に世話になって
So this character says to this girl
課長にはいつもお世話になってます。。。 Aka "The section chief (your husband) is always helping me"
But then this girl says to him
いつも主人が世話になってます aka "Thanks for always ...
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What is the で in the movie name 「地獄でなぜ悪い」? [duplicate]
The English translation on Wikipedia is "What's so bad about hell?" But I'd think that sentence would use は instead of で: 「地獄はなぜ悪い」. So I'm confused what role で is playing.
Perhaps it's ...
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Meaning of 「内容をテキストのみに適用」
In the context of a right-click drop-down menu, what does
内容をテキストのみに適用
Apply the contents only as text (?)
mean? At first I thought I thought it meant "paste as text only", but clicking ...
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How is ことはあっても used in this sentence?
怒らない。。。の?
And his answer:
何言ってるんだ. 何日も懸命に頑張ってくれたのに。。。
感謝することはあっても
怒る理由がない
I understand the answer is akin "What are you saying? You did your best for us for so many days."
However I ...
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How does the Japanese language quantify over dual numbers?
x-posted from linguistics stack exchange
According to the evolution of the English language, certain quantifiers (both, either, neither, each I think this is exhaustive) are remnant of the older dual ...
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Does 前の方 have the same nuance of 前方
すごい行列だ
でも、運良く前の方に並べたし
"What a big line. But luckily, I was standing..."
Does it mean the front part? Or does it mean he was standing there fro before?
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Understanding 「フレーズ句切りが行なわれた文に対して，アクセント変形を考慮した上で文としてのピッチパターンを表示します。」
I'm trying to parse the first sentence of OJAD's README:
フレーズ句切りが行なわれた文に対して，アクセント変形を考慮した上で文としてのピッチパターンを表示します。「，、．。,.？！?!：:」「／/」及び改行がフレーズの句切りとなります。これはユーザが指定します。また「。．.？！?!」と改行が文の句切りとなります。...
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This fantasy world description: 時の異次元世界
Excuse me, I'd like to know if "world with a different time dimension" is an accurate/sufficient translation of 時の異次元世界. Thank you.
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ほど translation in this sentence
How to translate this ストレスの多い人ほどよく夢を見る ?
Could someone give me full translation of this whole question ?
I currently understand that ほど in this context is used to show an extent but I can't translate ...
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I do not understand what 腰折れ懸念 means
I am a student of Japanese language, and while translating from an economic review text, I encountered this term 腰折れ懸念, which I tried looking up on the internet, but unfortunately with no results, if ...
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Understanding 「100人以上が心臓麻痺なんて偶然があるか？」
From the second episode of Death Note:
100人以上が心臓麻痺なんて偶然があるか？
Is this sentence parsed as one sentence (as above), or two:
100人以上が心臓麻痺なんて[だ]。
偶然があるか？
If it's one sentence, it seems there's a double ...
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Translating "In 10 years, I might be living in Japan."
Regarding periods of time, I know that for one-time-event verbs, there are a few options. For example, "I'll move in 10 years" could be 「10年後にひっこす」「10年でひっこす」「あと10年でひっこす」.
This link gives ...
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Understanding 「心臓麻痺って死因から洗ったのでは 何も出ませんからね」
From the second episode of Death Note, authorities are debating what to do about a bunch of suspected criminals suddenly dying of heart attacks under mysterious circumstances:
そんな大組織などといったら
FBI か CIA ...
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Why is "warrior" not listed as a possible translation for 無双?
The word 無双 to translates to "warrior" in nearly every search result. For example ゼルダ無双 厄災の黙示録 -> Zelda Warriors: Apocalypse of Calamity (according to Google translate. Nintendo localized ...
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Clarification about particle は
I had to translate these 2 questions:
"Is this Chinese (language)?"
"Is this sake?"
And I translated in this way:
それは中国語ですか。
それは酒ですか。
But the book solutions were
それ中国語ですか。
...
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What is meant by そこはね here?
女：手でね、書かなくても、今パソコンで作るからさ、別に問題はないんだけど でも頭の中にあるものを手で書けたら、なんかもっと幅が広がるような気がして
男：これ、あれですね、ペンタブ買うやつですね
女：いや、まずはね・・・まずあの・・・そんなお金はかけない。紙からやるけど、上手になったら考える
男：偉いね！形から入るタイプの人だったらまず買うよ
女：いや、でもさ、...
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Understanding なんか in 「なんで鍵なんか閉めてんの？」
I know that なんか has various uses, one of which is similar to a dismissive など, where <NOUN>なんか can mean "thing like NOUN" (dismissively).
Question: Is that what's going on here
...
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Understanding 「 退屈だな学校ってところも」
In the second episode of Death Note, a 死神 says about a human school:
退屈だな学校ってところも
退屈だ is I assume modifying 学校. So why isn't だ in its attributive form, as in 退屈なな学校 (I assume the other な is the ...
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Understanding 「あの後のオヤジとあれからどうだった？」
From the second episode of Death Note, a classroom a student says to another student:
ってあの後のオヤジとあれからどうだった？
I'm curious about this <NOUN>と...<COPULA> usage here. Is this slang for ...
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Meaning of 僕に in 「僕に勝手に人を裁く権利があるのか？」
In the first episode of Death Note, the speaker wonders whether he has the right to take people's lives as he wishes:
僕に勝手に人を裁く権利があるのか？
I understand that 勝手に means "as one pleases", but ...
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するだろうな wonderment or a question?
If a person says " レイどんな顔をするだろうな"
Is it more correct to translate it as:
I wonder what face Rey would make.
Or
How do you think he will react?
CommunityBot
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~乙女ならばともかく: Translation and grammar issue
I was reading The Tatami Galaxy, and I came across the following sentence:
うら若き乙女ならばともかく、二十歳過ぎたむさ苦しい男を誰が抱きしめてやりたいものか。[pg.295]
I know ~ともかく means "leaving aside", "never mind X,..." ...
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Prepositional phrase with に and verb 感じられる
"界王神界にまでエネルギーが感じられるほど強大な力を開放し"
In this phrase, would it to be correct to say the prepositional phrase "界王神界に" connects to the object of the verb "エネルギー" or the subject of ...
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Inferring the missing verbs from「世の中に知らしめるんだ 僕の存在を正義の裁きを下す者が いるってことを」
Here's a transcript segment from the first episode of Death Note, where the main character goes on an egotistical rant:
18:03
世の中に知らしめるんだ 僕の存在を
18:06
正義の裁きを下す者が いるってことを
The speaker then gets ...
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How do you say "breast meat chicken"?
My instructor told me to say 「胸肉」-- "breast meat" -- but we got a lot of weird looks in Japan (one waitress asked for clarification by discreetly tracing the shape of her own breast). Since ...
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行けます vs 行きます potential form
I've got the following sentence:
Everyone but my older brother is going on next week's trip.
which, in Japanese, is supposedly
来週の旅行は兄以外みんな行けます。
But since it's got 行けます as opposed to 行きます, which, ...
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Attack on Titan episode 2 - What does preacher say?
I am translating 進撃の巨人. Below is a sentence from the transcript of the second episode.
Here the link for reference: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XT7gHjFO8jft8DAQCVpPfmU3DreCsraJVYC-NPtmv5g/edit
...
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How to parse 親も辞書を買ってやったかいがあるってもんだ
親も辞書を買ってやったかいがあるってもんだよ
The context is that speaker (a child) is trying to find the meaning of a word and asks her friend if she can borrow a dictionary. The friend ridicules her. She brushes aside ...
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Meaning of 文す, かわらせなく in sorobun, Tanizaki, Yoshino-kuzu
Ther following is an extract from a letter that the writer quotes in the above book. The letter was found amongst his grand-mother's belongings after she died, apparently a letter sent to her, by her ...
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Translating into single line having the qualification name, subjects and its grades
I've been trying to translate this single line of the qualification name, subjects, and its grades in Japanese and somehow it looks more challenging to me than how it's supposed to be. Here is the ...
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