た くみ or 匠 or たくみ

Question

た くみ (notice space) is translated by Google Translate as 'take it easy'

匠 as 'master' or 'artisan'.

たくみ as 'Takumi'

I don't find any evidence besides Google Translate that た くみ can be 'take it easy'. Other dictionaries also don't show the 'master' translation.

Is Google Translate wrong here (again)? I'm inclined to assume that 匠 is 'artisan' (unless in the combination 巨匠, which would be a master) たくみ would be the proper name 'Takumi'.

Am I right?

How careful should I be with Google Translate?

Answer 1

This is a good example of how important context is. たくみ is a play on words, as they explain on their webpage:

El nombre Takumi representa la esencia del restaurante, “artesano”, “maestro”, además de la unión de los dos prestigiosos chefs, Toshio y Álvaro (TA) en el mismo equipo (Kumi), un juego de palabras perfecto que compone el espíritu del restaurante Ta-Kumi Gastro-Bar.

With the help of what little I know about Spanish and Google Translate (yes, it can be useful, if used right), that loosely translates to

The name Takumi represents the essence of this restaurant - “artesano”, “maestro”. It also stands for the name of its two prestigious chefs, Toshio and Álvaro (Ta, た), who form a team (Kumi, 組). A perfect word game that makes up the spirit of the Ta-Kumi Gastro-Bar restaurant.

So their claims are:

• たくみ means artisan, which is right (see below).
• Takumi can also mean "maestro", a Spanish word that, according to wiktionary, means (among other things) "(master) craftsman". Apparently, by itself "maestro" can be ambigious, which is why they paired it with "artesano" - to clarify the meaning of たくみ. It does not translate to all the nuances and meanings of the English word "master"
• くみ (組) can refer to a team or group of several persons, which is also true. For example, 2人組 refers to a team or group of two people, such as a team of two comedians.

As for Google Translate and the translation "take it easy": It does somewhat well if you give it well-formed Japanese sentences (that do not involve poetry or too much creative language usage). You should not expect software to be able to translate a word without context, especially when it involves word play.

Just compare these results from Google Translate:

• た くみ? becomes Are you tired?
• た,くみ becomes Sun, eyes
• た くみ becomes Take it easy
• た くみ! becomes Take it!

Thinking about it, this could become a new homebrew encryption for English text...

---

From the Japanese-English dictionary 新和英大辞典 第5版:

Excerpt from the entry for たくみ:

たくみ(meaning no. 2)【匠･工】 (takumi)

 1 〔細工師〕 an artisan; a craftsman; a workman; a mechanic; 〔木工〕 a woodworker; a carpenter; a joiner

[...]

Excerpt from the entry for くみ:

くみ(meaning no. 1)【組】

[...]

グループ〕 a party; a group; a team; (競技の) a team; (こぎ手の) a crew;

[...]

2組に分ける　divide 《the class》 into two groups [teams]