1

From a short article on tax:

もし税金が加わらなければもっと安いのになあ、と残念な気がします。また、会社から給料をもらったときも同じような気持ちになります。全体の給料から税金が引かれるので、実際に受け取れる金額が少なくなるからです。

I'm unsure about the final sentence - why is から used at the end? I think the whole sentence means something like "Since tax is taken from salary as a whole, the amount received in practice decreases". The first clause is the cause and the second clause is the effect, but it seems both clauses as being marked as causes with ので and から respectively.

1 Answer 1

3

It's explaining the previous sentence. Your translation of the last sentence looks good to me, but you've omitted translating the last "から". If you include both it and the previous sentence in your translation, I think it becomes clearer.

Also, when receiving salary from (my) company, (I) feel the same way. Because since tax is taken from salary as a whole, the amount received in practice decreases.

Although obviously this is slightly awkward English. You can also reorganize the Japanese to just put the sentence ending in "から" first and the meaning is basically the same, though it gets pretty verbose.

また、(全体の給料から税金が引かれるので、実際に受け取れる金額が少なくなるから)会社から給料をもらったときも同じような気持ちになります。

When you see a sentence that ends with から like "...からです" or "...からだ", it's often a good hint that the sentence is being used to explain/as the reason for something else. A comparable phrase in English might be "It's/That's because...". Just be careful not to mix it up with "から" for descriptions of time, like ”仕事は朝の9時からです".

3
  • Great explanation, thanks! I think I understand what it's trying to say now though it's definitely a bit tricky to translate it to natural English. I suppose that doesn't actually matter since I'm not translating professionally. Commented Jan 9, 2018 at 19:01
  • 1
    I err on the side of very literal translations for grammar explanations because it makes the English easier to map back to the Japanese, but if you’re comfortable changing the structure a little more I think the sentence can be made into something relatively natural. For example “…feel the same way. That’s because tax is taken from salary as a whole, reducing the amount actually received.” or something even more interpreted like “… feel the same way. It’s hard not to, when tax is taken straight out of my total salary, reducing the amount of money I actually receive."
    – Mindful
    Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 3:08
  • I like that translation. It keeps the meaning of the original while using a more natural English structure for better flow; I guess that's what all true translators strive for. I can also understand the use of more literal translations for explanations like this. Thanks again for your help! Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 12:43

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .