I found various translations for the word 世話焼き: nanny, busyboy or busybo**d**y. Since I'm trying to read シロクマカフェ I would prefer busyboy, but which one's acutally correct and how could I've find out myself? I couldn't find the word in my dictionary.
2
-
1世話焼き has both positive and negative connotations; therefore, one would need to be familiar with this character in order to answer this question.– user4032Commented Aug 10, 2014 at 1:01
-
Thanks for the clarifications so far. What I'm still wondering is, this 世話焼き is part of a character description at the very beginning of the book. So how would this be of any use to the reader if it has a positive and a negative connotation and you don't know the character yet?!... Shouldn't there be a way to distinguish?– Christof WalkerCommented Aug 10, 2014 at 18:14
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
Pulled partly from 三省堂 大辞林 and paraphrased.
1.a. To like or enjoy taking care of others.
1.b. Wanting to take care of others beyond what is necessary; burdensome to the receiving end.
2. Caretaker*（世話人{せわにん}）
* This definition spans various industries, environments, and situations. For example, a caretaker in a home, an organizer for an event, a person in charge of doing miscellaneous tasks for a sumo stable or arena, etc.
Now, I don't know what シロクマカフェ is so I can't give you an answer in terms of the literary context.
-
Comment on 世話人. It is such a broad term and used in many situations. It can also refer to someone who is tasked with managing or mediating tasks or relationships. For specific instances, it might be better to look up what 世話人 is in a particular scope or context. Commented Aug 8, 2014 at 19:57