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    Precipitation24's News

    Posted by Precipitation24 - May 30th, 2022


    I love English and was once good enough to become an English teacher at a Japanese junior high school. However, that was in the past and since then my knowledge of English has been declining rapidly. So, as part of my language learning, I decided to submit some simple questions and comments about English language that are not easy for me (and that I should ask on HiNative or Quora) to Newgrounds. I am not an expert in English and may be making elementary mistakes, but thank you for your patience.


    Jokes | English Is Not So Easy 9


    In my article, I mentioned that it is very difficult to translate swear words in American movies into Japanese. There are other things that are difficult to translate. Jokes.

     

    Skipper: Leopard seals! Nature's snakes.
    Kowalski: Aren't snakes nature's snakes?
    Skipper: How should I know? I live on a flippin' frozen tundra!
                 ―from "Penguins of Madagascar (2014)"

     

    These kinds of gags are relatively easy to translate.

     

    <My Translation>

    隊長:アザラシ。奴らは自然界の蛇だ

    コワルスキ:蛇も、自然界では?

    隊長:知るもんか。カチンコチンのツンドラにいるんだぞ。

     

    But, this example is very difficult to translate:

     

    Mike: What's the special prize, and who gets it?
    Wonka: The best kind of prize is a surprise! Hahahahaha...
                 ―from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)"

     

    This is because the gag is formed by the similarity in pronunciation between "prize" and "surprise. In other words, when translating it into Japanese, it is necessary to prepare something similar in pronunciation to "keihin", which is the translation of "prize".

     

    <My Translation>

    マイク:特別な景品って何、誰が貰うの?

    ウォンカ:最高の景品(keihin)は自鳴琴(jimei kin; music box)!ははははは…

     

    I don't think anyone would laugh because it is not very funny, but I think this is an appropriate translation because no one but Mr. Wonka laughed in the movie.

     

    Now, I would like to ask you to experience the feelings of translators. The next example is a gag from the Japanese anime "Paranoia Agent (2004)", which I saw both subtitled and dubbed in English, and both were really great.

     

    ================================

     (Middle-aged detective Ikari talks to Maromi, a stuffed animal held by a girl Sagi)

     

    Ikari: "君はどうだい?犯人を見なかったかな?ずっと一緒にいたんでしょうね、マロミちゃん?ん?!(Sub: How about you? Did you see the attacker? I know you were there. Right, Maromi-chan! Huh?!; Dub: Well listen, so how about you? Did you see anybody suspicious? I know you were there wither. Isn't that right Maromi? Huh?!)"


    Sagi: "大丈夫ですか? (Sub: Is he all right?; Dub: Is he brain damaged?)"

     

    (Ikari blushes.)

     

    Sagi: "川津さんの様態 (Sub: I meant, Mr. Kawazu's condition...; Dub: I mean Mr. Kawazu.)"


    Ikari: "命に別状はないそうです (Sub: He's in stable condition, Miss.; Dub: He's in stable condition, thank you.)"

    ================================

     

    However, one compromise is seen in both sub and dub. In Japanese, Sagi's remark "大丈夫ですか?(be okay?) + 川津さんの様態 (Mr. Kawazu's condition)" is just a natural inversion that can be correct regardless of Ikari's reaction, implying that she is unaware of Ikari's feelings, but in English, "I meant … / I mean …" is added, making it more likely that Sagi is conscious of Ikari's reaction. This is a problem caused by the linguistic structural differences, but can we create an English that resolves the differences between the two? Is such a script possible?


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    3

    Posted by Precipitation24 - May 30th, 2022


    I love English and was once good enough to become an English teacher at a Japanese junior high school. However, that was in the past and since then my knowledge of English has been declining rapidly. So, as part of my language learning, I decided to submit some simple questions and comments about English language that are not easy for me (and that I should ask on HiNative or Quora) to Newgrounds. I am not an expert in English and may be making elementary mistakes, but thank you for your patience.


    "Do you know how hard is it?" asked Precip.24 | English Is Not So Easy 8


    Not to brag, but one of the authors of the textbook I mentioned in #7, David James, was an English teacher in Japan and I took his class. His lecture was very interesting and the content was something that even a Japanese English teacher would not know. For example, he forbade Japanese students from using "get" in a sentence. The reason, he said, is that "get" sounds a little childish. And when he was lecturing on speech in English-speaking countries, he said, "The grammatical rule of quotation marks is very complicated. Beginners should not use them." However, that is a serious problem for me because one of my goals is to write a novel in English in the future.

     

    So how difficult is it? The best way to find out is to observe actual samples. I have a book, "ZEBRA and Other Stories" by Chaim Potok, which has probably drifted to Japan after a long journey. It is a well-known children's literature in Japan, and there are few words in it that one would have to look up in a dictionary to understand. However, through the stories, the complex emotions of children who are neither children nor adults are clearly described. It is a novel that can be enjoyed from both a child's and an adult's point of view.

     

    I have researched a number of sample conversations from this novel.

     

                 "You always tell such sad stories," Andrea said.
                 The bell rang. Mrs. English dismissed the class.
                 In the hallway, Andrea said to Zebra, "You know, you are a very gloomy life form."
                 "Andrea, get off my case," Zebra said.
                 ―ZEBRA

     

    One example can be found: "blah blah blah," one said. It seems that when "one said" is placed after a dialog, the comma must be placed in an odd position for me.

     

                 At one point during the day, I astonished myself by suddenly asking Seth why his parents had divorced. … But he took two or three deep breaths and finally said, "Because of my dad's drinking. He tried to keep it from us, but we all knew."
                 By the time he finished telling me that, there were tears in his eyes.
                 —B.B.

     

    His novels sometimes contain conversational sentences without quotation marks. This is a technique unique to his novels in which the reader is never told what kind of wording the protagonist uses to ask him such a question.

     

                 "He asks if he may touch your hair."
                 "What?"
                 "May he touch your hair?"
                 Moon took a deep breath. All those questions, and now this. Touch my hair. Well, why not? He turned his head to the side....
                 "He says he likes the way your hair looks and feels," Mr. Khan said to Moon.
                 —MOON

     

    In this scene, Mr. Khan interprets the words of a boy named Ashraf. In his novels, the past tense is basically used, but "asks" and "says" are used when the characters make statements in the speaker's conversational text.

     

                 I said to Mom and Dad over breakfast the next morning, "I had this dream last night. Joe Redhill was carrying me."
                 "What do you mean, carrying you?" said Dad.
                 "Over his shoulder," I said.
                 "Why was he carrying you?" asked Mom.
                 "I don't know."
                 —NAVA

     

    Interesting expression used here: "blah blah blah?" said/asked one. When the speech is in the interrogative form, are the verb and subject swapped? The rule remains an enigma.

     

                 "What?"
                 "Your hair, it's so long and beautiful. Did your dad have red hair?"
                 "My dad's hair was blond," Isabel said.
                 "Can I touch it?" Betsy asked, and without waiting for a reply, put her hand on the hair alongside Isabel's forehead. Isabel felt Betsy's fingers lightly stroking her hair and saw a strange look enter her eyes: they appeared to grow enormous, translucent, the color of watery gray ink. She ran her tongue over her lips, drew her upper lip back, and caught her lower lip between her teeth.
                 "It's like silk," Betsy said.
                 Isabel stepped back. "Please don't," she said.
                 —ISABEL

     

    What is the difference between "'blah blah blah?' asked one" and "'blah blah blah?' one asked"? I give up.

     

    Mr. James is right, it seems to be very difficult to use quotation marks. I hope this article will give you an idea of the grammatical difficulties of quotation marks and the fascination of Chaim Potok's works.


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    Posted by Precipitation24 - May 30th, 2022


    I love English and was once good enough to become an English teacher at a Japanese junior high school. However, that was in the past and since then my knowledge of English has been declining rapidly. So, as part of my language learning, I decided to submit some simple questions and comments about English language that are not easy for me (and that I should ask on HiNative or Quora) to Newgrounds. I am not an expert in English and may be making elementary mistakes, but thank you for your patience.


    100 Spells | English Is Not So Easy 7


    In Japan, there are 100 magic sentences that must be memorized in order to learn to speak English fluently. To see the text of these 100 sentences, you had to buy the book in Japan (I have bought this book three times in my lifetime), but they are now illegally uploaded on this page.


    The 100 sentences were written by a Japanese high school English teacher Hironobu Takeoka based on the advice of an English native speaker David James, and are intended for those who have already mastered basic knowledge of the English language and wish to acquire practical English skills. In other words, the basic practical knowledge of the language is packaged into the 100 sentences.

     

    Q1. Please fill in the blank.

    It (   ) dangerous to drive a car after drinking two bottles of whiskey.

     

    An English(US) speaker in HiNative:

    "is" is preferred …

    https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/14428647

     

    The answer is "would be". According to Takeoka's view, the word "would be" contains the nuance "I don't think you are the kind of person who would drink and drive," and English speakers are very conscious of whether the remark is hypothetical or not, so "would be" is more appropriate.

     

    Q2. Please fill in the blank.

    Anya has nice drums, (  ) she never lets anyone else play them.

     

    An English(US) speaker in HiNative:

    I'd say "but" …

    https://ja.hinative.com/questions/12635329

     

    The answer is "and". Because the fact that she has a good drum set has absolutely nothing to do with her letting someone else play it.

     

    I think English used by native speakers is the most correct, but this is a great book for me.


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    Posted by Precipitation24 - May 30th, 2022


    I love English and was once good enough to become an English teacher at a Japanese junior high school. However, that was in the past and since then my knowledge of English has been declining rapidly. So, as part of my language learning, I decided to submit some simple questions and comments about English language that are not easy for me (and that I should ask on HiNative or Quora) to Newgrounds. I am not an expert in English and may be making elementary mistakes, but thank you for your patience.


    You were cried by your friend???? | English Is Not So Easy 6


    While it is true that if you want to know how a foreigner thinks, it is better to investigate directly how people from that country think, you can sometimes also get a glimpse of their characteristics by learning their language.

     

    For example, in Japanese there is a sentence like this:

     

    "昨日友達と話してたら突然泣かれちゃって。"

     

    The literal translation of this is:

     

    "Yesterday I was talking with a friend and all of a sudden I was cried by her."

     

    Yes, "I was cried by her" is a meaningless expression when translated directly, and the correct translation is "she cried", but Japanese people often use this kind of expression. This indicates that the friend suddenly started crying and the speaker was very confused, "What?! I didn't tell you anything hurtful!" This phenomenon can be interpreted as a reflection of the "paranoid" nature of the Japanese, or, more linguistically, as a characteristic of Japanese language, which frequently uses "particles" that play a role similar to that of English prepositions, making it easier to create passive verbs using "by" than English.

     

    30 Untranslatable Words From Other Languages Illustrated By Anjana Iyer.

    http://redd.it/25fkk8

     

    As the anonymous on Reddit pointed out, the German word "Schadenfreude" (malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else's misfortune; from Wikipedia "Schadenfreude") was not in Japan, but recently a word "メシウマ" was invented. This is a slang and an abbreviation of "メシ (dinner) + ウマ (い) (delicious.)" which means "dinner is delicious while listening to someone's unhappy stories."

     

    Did you catch a glimpse of the Japanese national character? As a Japanese, I love Japan and do not hate it, but this phenomenon is similar to our feelings toward our lovers: when we live with them, we see what we do not like, and when we look at them from a distance, we find only good points. So, finally, I would like to introduce my favorite English expressions.

     

    Sticks and stones.

    A magic spell for when you have to meet someone you are afraid of.


    It's not rocket science.

    A magic spell for when you are faced with a difficult problem.


    serendipity

    If you want to come up with good ideas, you need to think about the problem, study it, and live with it.


    psychological safety

    How a healthy workshop should be.


    The cat is out of the bag.

    Really? Where is she? <3


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    Posted by Precipitation24 - May 30th, 2022


    I love English and was once good enough to become an English teacher at a Japanese junior high school. However, that was in the past and since then my knowledge of English has been declining rapidly. So, as part of my language learning, I decided to submit some simple questions and comments about English language that are not easy for me (and that I should ask on HiNative or Quora) to Newgrounds. I am not an expert in English and may be making elementary mistakes, but thank you for your patience.


    What is the one thing you hate about English language? | English Is Not So Easy 5


    As a native Japanese speaker, my complaint with my native language is that it is hard to distinguish questions in colloquial Japanese. For example:


    ・宿題はもう終わりました(lit. '(My) homework is already over.')

    ・宿題はもう終わりました(lit. 'Is (your) homework over yet?')


    a question can only be expressed by adding just one letter "か" at the end of the sentence. Furthermore, in colloquial speech, even this "か" is usually omitted. In other words, it becomes impossible to distinguish between a platitude and an interrogative sentence when the colloquial language is transcribed into written form. As a result, I often experience conversations like these examples:

     

    Example 1

    "宿題終わった?(Is the homework over yet?)"

    "へぇ、そりゃよかった。(Oh, that's good.)"

    "違う、聞いてんの。(No. I'm asking)"

     

    Example 2

    "あの映画観た? (Have you seen that movie?)"

    "ほんと?どうだった? (Really? How was it?)"

    "違う。聞いてんの。まだ観てないよ (No, I'm asking. I haven't seen it.)"

     

    Example 3

    "あれ面白い?(Is that interesting?)"

    "ほんとに?変わってるね… (Really? You're weird...)"

    "違う。聞いてんだヨォォォォォ (NO, I'M ASKING YOU!!!!)"

     

    I know the root cause of this inconvenience is my pronunciation, but this is what I find frustrating about the Japanese language.

     

    Then, what are your dissatisfactions with the English language? …Before I ask you this question, a native speaker already gave me an answer.

     

    ghoti

     

    Although English seems to be a very logical and organized language compared to Japanese, I was troubled by the discrepancy between spelling and pronunciation. For example, when I first started learning English, I could not write "hamburger" correctly.

     

    HUMBURGER

    HAMBURGAR

    HUNBARGER

    (Three muscular German guys?)

     

    recognize

    ReKoGuNizzZe

    (Delicious Italian bread?)

     

    claim

    KuLaaIMu

    (Delicious French cake?)

     

    My advice to all English learners is, "Buy an electronic dictionary that can pronounce English, not a paper dictionary!"

     

    As to why English has a particular form of pronunciation, I learned that it has undergone complex changes from its old Germanic origins, with words coming from the Netherlands and being introduced by the French, plus the presence of the Vikings and letterpress printing technology also influenced this tendency.

     

    Incidentally, English is also known as a highly efficient language for information transmission, capable of conveying the same amount of information in short sentences. At the same time, English is known as a language with the largest number of syllables and the largest number of words in the world. It is not a good example, but a person who does not know the word "nipple" cannot guess what it means by looking at the letters, but this is not always the case in other languages. For example, in German it is "Brustwarze; Brust ("breast") + Warze ("wart")", and in Japanese it is "乳首; 乳 ("breast") + 首 ("neck")".


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    Posted by Precipitation24 - May 30th, 2022


    I love English and was once good enough to become an English teacher at a Japanese junior high school. However, that was in the past and since then my knowledge of English has been declining rapidly. So, as part of my language learning, I decided to submit some simple questions and comments about English language that are not easy for me (and that I should ask on HiNative or Quora) to Newgrounds. I am not an expert in English and may be making elementary mistakes, but thank you for your patience.


    Of Which | English Is Not So Easy 4


    A high school English teacher once told me, "For Japanese students, English as a subject is like science." Indeed, at my school, students who were good at science subjects tended to be good at English as well, but I did not like that idea because I thought it was too mechanical.

     

    Indeed, there is a scientific aspect to language. For example, this is especially true when I am working on rearranging sentences according to the grammatical rules of English, as in a puzzle game.

     

    1. That house with a flat roof is my uncle's.

    2. That house whose roof is flat is my uncle's.

    3. That house of which the roof is flat is my uncle's.

    4. That house the roof of which is flat is my uncle's.

    ―綿貫陽『基礎からよく分かる英文法』、p.202

     

    But even if it were possible to rearrange a single sentence so that it had the same grammatical meaning, I think the reality is that usually one of them is the way native speakers most often use them, and the rest are not grammatically incorrect but are not used very often in daily life. According to Prof. Watanuki, who wrote the book, the first example is the most natural, the second is a little unnatural in its use of "whose roof", and "of which" is rarely used today.

     

    Then what about "in which"?

     

    1. This is the restaurant in which I first met her.

    2. This is the restaurant which I first met her in.

    3. This is the restaurant that I first met her in.

    4. This is the restaurant I first met her in.

    ―綿貫陽『基礎からよく分かる英文法』、p.200

     

    According to the book, the first is still used today but sounds very polite or old fashioned, the second is grammatically correct but not often used, the third, "that … in," is relatively used, and the fourth, without "that", is the most common. However, in the English I have been exposed to, examples using the first "in which" are more frequent, and I do not recall ever seeing a sentence with a preposition like "in" placed at the end of a sentence (In German, sentences with prepositions at the end of sentences are relatively common). Is this because most of the English texts I have been exposed to are taken from papers and articles for the English proficiency test? Or has such language become extinct today?


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    1

    Posted by Precipitation24 - May 30th, 2022


    I love English and was once good enough to become an English teacher at a Japanese junior high school. However, that was in the past and since then my knowledge of English has been declining rapidly. So, as part of my language learning, I decided to submit some simple questions and comments about English language that are not easy for me (and that I should ask on HiNative or Quora) to Newgrounds. I am not an expert in English and may be making elementary mistakes, but thank you for your patience.


    Swear Words | English Is Not So Easy 3


    "Bite me."

    That the phrase could be meant as an insult is something I could imagine from what the three poor girls at Britain's Got Talent said to the booing audience and to Simon. However, the term still makes me think of Mavis from Hotel Transylvania.

     

    English swear words are unique and difficult to translate into other languages. If someone says "Bite me" to me, it does not mean that they want me to bite them, nor does "fu-- you" mean that they want to have s-x with me.

     

    Japanese translators have historically struggled with such words. I was reading The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, translated into Japanese by a translator named Takashi Nozaki, when the strange word "オマンコシヨウ (lit. let's play with pu--y??)" caught my attention. The word was used only in this novel and not in any dictionary, but when I looked up the English original, I found that it was a translation of "F--K YOU".

     

    Until now, the most common translation rule for English-specific swear words has been "do not translate directly and replace it with another swear word," but there are a few exceptions. As I wrote in the first article, there was an American filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick, who did not allow that policy. He consequently created the opportunity for a new vocabulary of swear words in Japan.


    ・そびえ立つクソ(stacked s--t)

    ・メス犬の息子(son of a b---h)


    An unnamed Japanese person who used to provide Japanese subtitles for Angry Video Game Nerd's YouTube videos translated "mother f--ker" as "母犯し野郎," so I think he or she was influenced by "Full Metal Jacket".

     

    Incidentally, in Japan today, more than 90% of words classified as "English-specific swear words" are translated as "くそったれ" meaning "(You) who shit yourself!" or "畜生" meaning "Beast!"

     

    However, it is interesting to note that if it is a gesture rather than a swear word, its origin is a little easier to learn. For example, in the United States, the gesture of raising the middle finger is considered a very offensive sign because it signifies the male genitalia. Also, in England, the two-finger salute is considered an insult. This is because in the old days, brave Robin Hoods who handled bows and arrows appealed to the guards in prison, "Cut off my fingers if you can!"

     

    Finally, I would like to talk about such words and gestures in Japan. Before that, let me tell you that the gesture introduced here is probably not something you need to be aware of if you do not live in the Japanese cultural sphere.

     

    はぁ? ≒ Huh?:

    iu_653413_5502418.jpg

    (from "Usseewa(うっせぇわ)" by Ado)


    This is no one's fault, but the pronunciation of the English "huh?" is similar to that of the Japanese "はぁ? (lit. WHAAAAT?!)" and this word, unfortunately, is a very offensive way of asking back. However, most Japanese know the English "huh?" so if you are a native English speaker and a learner of Japanese, there is little chance of being misunderstood.


    iu_653419_5502418.jpg

    (from "The Whispering Woman(囁く女)" by Junji Ito(伊藤潤二))


    Instead, a common way for Japanese people to ask back is "え?≒ Eh?" This is rarely used in the U.S., but I have heard that it is commonly used in Canadian English, which is influenced by French. So, please ask back in Canadian English to Japanese people.


    clicking your tongue:

    iu_653407_5502418.jpg

    (from "Kimi ni aisarete itakatta (君に愛されて痛かった)" by Shiruka bakaudon(知るかバカうどん))


    In the past, there was a time when this gesture was used to express thinking about something or as a way of expressing mild praise, but today it is done only to express strong dissatisfaction or irritation. If you do this in Japan, people around you will think you are extremely angry.

     

    making the hand bones sound:

    iu_653410_5502418.jpg

    (from "Hokuto no Ken(北斗の拳)" by Hara Tesuo(原哲夫) and Buronson(武論尊))


    This indicates to others that "I'm going to hit you now." You may have seen this in manga or anime.

     

    making a ring with the thumb and forefinger of one hand and moving the forefinger of the other hand in and out:

    No insult meant, but it does imply s-


    Tags:

    Posted by Precipitation24 - May 30th, 2022


    I love English and was once good enough to become an English teacher at a Japanese junior high school. However, that was in the past and since then my knowledge of English has been declining rapidly. So, as part of my language learning, I decided to submit some simple questions and comments about English language that are not easy for me (and that I should ask on HiNative or Quora) to Newgrounds. I am not an expert in English and may be making elementary mistakes, but thank you for your patience.


    Is machine translation dangerous? | English Is Not So Easy 2


    The performance of machine translation these days is extremely high. To give you an idea of how high it is, I have translated recipes for dishes written in English and actually cooked them. In the 2000s, there were some Japanese translation software, but I remember that they did never output natural Japanese that made sense. Such software are now already extinct, and the following two systems diligent are currently dominating Japan.

     

    Google Translation: He is a "diligent" translator who returns the most accurate word-for-word translation in the world. While there are almost no mistranslations, he is not so good at translating polysemic words or words that he doesn't know and tends to ignore some words or output unnatural sentences.

    DeepL: He is a "passionate" translator and very good at expressing natural and "wet" (at least Japanese) sentences, and he outputs translations that did not come to my mind. However, he sometimes outputs a translation that has the exact opposite meaning due to the omission and misinterpretation of original words. The potential for causing mistranslations is higher than with Google Translate. The function for users to customize the translated text implies that this software should be used by people who are already familiar with the language.

     

    I don't believe that the advent of machine translation eliminates the need to learn the language. It is not only because machine translation could cause mistranslations. This is a mistake I actually made:

     

    Friend: "Do you mind using your art?"

    Precip.24: "Yes. Of Course!"

     

    This is totally an excuse, but there is no Japanese equivalent to "Do you mind ...-ing?", so no matter how good translation apps you use, they will probably output "...してもいいですか? (May I ...?)". Of course, I knew this phrase, but at that time, I read only the Japanese translation and replied, "Yes, of course!"

     

    This is when I came to realize that even when using a translator, I should always check the original text. Google Chrome has the ability to translate sites using Google Translate, and I think this is a great technology, but the display format that masks the original text needs improvement.


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    1

    Posted by Precipitation24 - May 30th, 2022


    I love English and was once good enough to become an English teacher at a Japanese junior high school. However, that was in the past and since then my knowledge of English has been declining rapidly. So, as part of my language learning, I decided to submit some simple questions and comments about English language that are not easy for me (and that I should ask on HiNative or Quora) to Newgrounds. I am not an expert in English and may be making elementary mistakes, but thank you for your patience.


    What does "Let me be good to you" mean? | English Is Not So Easy 1


    Hey fellas
    The time is right
    Get ready
    Tonight's the night
    Boys, what you're hopin' for will come true
    Let me be good to you
                 ―Let Me Be Good to You by Melissa Manchester from "The Great Mouse Detective"

     

    First, this article is written by one Japanese person. In other words, I always think in terms of "English compared to Japanese." In this article, I would like to write about translation from English to Japanese, and I would like to mention one of the most difficult phrases to translate into Japanese: "Let me be good to you." This is also a song by a singer named Lou Rawls, but my focus is on the romantic line sung by a singer named Miss Kitty Mouse in The Great Mouse Detective.

     

    I understand what she means, but translating is another matter, at least into Japanese. This is what I exactly thought: "'Let me do something,' …and 'something' is 'being good to you,' and that equals 'being nice to you.'..."

     

    Indeed, if I follow this train of thought, I can get a word-for-word translation:


    私にあなたにとって良くさせて(lit. 'Let me be good to you')


    but this is too mechanical and awkward. I have to find another solution.

     

    In my opinion, one of the common problems in translation is "how to avoid a mechanical output," and the solution is to imagine what would it be like if the same song were sung in my mother tongue. To do this, sometimes it may be necessary to add or omit some words, or even use completely different words. Then the next question arises: "To what extent can translators be VIOLENT?" This question is still being debated today by many professional translators and writers.

     

    Incidentally, Stanley Kubrick was known as an extreme perfectionist, and whenever he released his films in foreign countries, including Japan, he always had the translations submitted to the translators in those countries. One of his masterpieces "Full Metal Jacket" was translated by a classy female translator named Natsuko Toda, but he rejected the script because Gunnery Sergeant Hartman's words were "not violent enough". For him, it was violent not to translate the words of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in a violent way. Instead, a translation by film director Masato Harada was submitted, and Mr. Kubrick liked it a lot. Generally, in translating Kubrick's works, translators are always faced with the problem of difficulty in translating swear words in English language, and I would like to write about this in another article.

     

    Now, let me back to "Let me be good to you". I was just wondering how the machine translation would respond.

     

    Google Translate:

    よろしくお願いします(lit. 'Nice to meet you')

    Comment: ?!?!

     

    DeepL:

    いい子にさせてね(lit. 'Let me be a good girl')

    Comment: Good translation.

     

    It is amazing how technology has evolved in recent years. Now let's take a look at translations by humanity.

     

    Japanese sub/dub (by a professional translator):

    私に任せて(lit. 'Let me handle it')

    Comment: BOOOO!!

     

    My translation:

    Keine Ahnung.

    Comment: Sorry.

     

    I think I need to know a little background on what she said. In the film, she sang this song to the men in the show pub with chairs and beer bottles in their hands. This scene reminds me of Jessica from Roger Rabbit, the world's first moe character Betty Boop, and the greatest sex symbol of all time Marilyn Monroe.

     

    I wanna be kissed by you
    Just you and nobody else but you
    I wanna be kissed by you, alone
                 ―"I Wanna Be Loved By You", Marilyn Monroe

     

    If they were the models for Miss Kitty, did her song also imply some sort of "sexual seduction", despite the fact that the film is a Disney production for children? I don't know the answer, but if so, that is the field that I am really good at and can suggest the following translation:

     

    My translation:

    お世話してア・ゲ・る♡(lit. 'I'll take care of YOU <3')

    Comment: …This is my conclusion. Very adorable.


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    Posted by Precipitation24 - June 28th, 2021


    As I mentioned the other day about the inability to support Newgrounds due to the internet banking crimes that occurred in Japan, Mr. @WolffSteel has just provided me with financial support. I would like to express my sincere gratitude.


    I will continue to actively submit delicious works.


    I hope that Japan Post Bank will resume business with PayPal, but if things don't turn around, I have the option of getting a credit card or opening an account with a bank that does business with PayPal. Both of these options require complicated procedures and may not always be successful, but I will try.


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