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I’m my text book I have a statement that I couldn’t quite get my head around. 美味しさに国境はない 。 I punched it into translate and it came up “there is no border in taste.” But for this to mean that it would have to read 美味しさの中に国境はない。 I’d appreciate it if someone could explain :). Thanks.

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  • Do you understand a sentence like this?
    – naruto
    Jun 2, 2020 at 3:54
  • Yeah I get the には in that sentence. When I see stuff like 彼に子供が生まれる I read it as “a child will be born to him.”
    – Dave07
    Jun 2, 2020 at 3:59
  • My explanation is: don't trust the automatic translator; it's just plainly a bad translation. If you have your own idea on what the phrase most likely means instead, please offer your thoughts and we can comment on/correct those as needed!
    – Micah Cowan
    Jun 2, 2020 at 4:03
  • And I think you're right that 美味しさの中に国境はない is a closer version of "there is no border in taste" (which is a ridiculous phrase both in English and Japanese); though I think 味{あじ} is a better choice than 美味しさ{おいしさ} for a neutral word like "taste".
    – Micah Cowan
    Jun 2, 2020 at 4:05
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    I believe 美味しさ is much better than 味 in a phrase like this.
    – naruto
    Jun 2, 2020 at 4:10

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美味しさに国境はない means the concept of 美味しさ itself is universal. In plain words, it simply means every language has a word that means "delicious", and everyone in the world likes something yummy rather than something yucky. (Another possible interpretation is "what is delicious in one country is also delicious in other countries", but this is a controvertible statement. I don't think everyone in the world understands the taste of natto. Still, the interpretation somewhat depends on the context.)

You don't need 中に in a sentence like this. 中 rather explicitly means "inside", and 美味しさの中にある国境 doesn't make much sense to me.

～に(は)～{がある/はない} typically takes a person as the subject (see examples here), but it has broader usages. Similar phrases I came up with:

  • 君の可能性に限界はない。 Your possibility is limitless.
  • このゲームにエンディングはない。 This game has no ending.
  • 戦争に正義はない。 There is no justice in war (i.e., war is always wrong no matter what).
  • 戦争に悪はない。 There is no evil in war (i.e., everyone fights believing they are right).
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  • As always great and helpful answer! Thank you!
    – Dave07
    Jun 2, 2020 at 5:20
  • @Dave07 BTW, please check the most beneficial answer if you are satisfied. (You may want to wait for a day or two before doing this.)
    – naruto
    Jun 2, 2020 at 5:48
  • Oh sorry I didn’t realize you could do that! Thank you
    – Dave07
    Jun 3, 2020 at 7:30

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