I have a question about the last sentence here taken from this essay:
やっぱり旅っていいな…としみじみ感じます。
'Then you will know the true joy of travelling.'食事の後はちょっと外へ出てみましょう。
'After your meal, go outside for a while.'なんと宿のすぐ裏でホタルたちが一面に乱舞。
'You will see a myriad of fireflies dancing right behind the inn.'その幻想的なことといったら息をのんでしまうほどです。
'The phenomenon will take your breath away.'
The English translation provided, though conveying the right idea, is very loose. Here is my more literal translation (which doesn't flow as nicely):
'Just speaking of such a fantastic thing, it's enough to take one's breath away.'
I am wondering who is speaking in this sentence and whose "breath is being taken away" (yes my translation is still quite figurative). Is it (a) the speaker (I guess this is called 1st person singular)? = "Just speaking of such a fantastic thing takes my breath away" Or is it that (b) if "one were to describe the event it would take one's breath away" = (third person singular)? Or (c) a combination of these = 'If I spoke of these things it would be enough to take your breath away" or (d) just ambiguous? If there is a clear answer, how can one ascertain who is performing these actions?
Edit: Or perhaps I should understand these as two figurative phrases? その幻想的なことといったら = such an amazing thing 息をのんでしまうほどです。=just breath-taking!
I apologize in advance for my ignorance of grammatical terms.
息をのむほど
and息をのむよう
are generally translated as "breathtaking" while息をのむ
is "catch one's breath" so I'm not sure anyone is performing the action. I'm thinking "astonishing" and similar words may be usable in place of it. I'm starting to think that sentence is fairly similar toその幻想的なことは息をのんでしまうほどです
except in emphasis. "The fairytale-like phenomena is breathtaking" maybe. – cypher Dec 1 '11 at 7:14