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Hey peoples!
First of all, HOLY INFLUX Batman! SO many new names and faces around here! I guess there was a sale? lol. Anyway, welcome to all of you pretty people, there are so many of you that I don’t have the time to go individually to each introduction and say hi, but I do acknowledge that you are here lol.
Well then. Onto the point. For those of you who are part of the Tofugu mailing list (and if you aren’t, what the hell are you even doing?), you’ll have gotten this sentence pack of 500 sentences to translate. For you advanced folks it probably won’t be a very big help but for us beginners it’s pretty damn awesome. I thought it might be good to start a thread for people to discuss their answers to that, since, from what I can tell there is no way to check one’s work. I mean, google translate is only so effective, right?
A prime example of google’s infitie translation ability is this:
あなたの事を思い出しています = “I am reminded that your”And since the word you’re trying to translate (事) doesn’t even show up in that translation, we can already see a massive error.
So, anyone have questions? And further, does anybody have answers? (I mean, I can help A LITTLE)
I haz a blog http://maninjapanchannel.wordpress.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLQzB-1u-dgI’ve glanced over the 500 sentences, but haven’t really looked at them in detail. Been pondering buying the 4500 sentences thing as well…
In any case, there’s nothing excessively wrong with that particular translation… or at least, not more wrong than normal Google Translate. =P I’d probably translate 思い出しています as “I remember” rather than “I am reminded”. Nの事 is literally translated as “things of N”, but that’s downright clunky in English, so it’s often rendered as “about” in translations, or just omitted completely. For example, 君のことが好き is usually just translated as “I like you”. So, “I remember you”.
SO many new names and faces around here! I guess there was a sale? lol.
Yeah. It must be New Years’ or something. =P
Sadly, I’m terrible at welcoming, so I’m hoping everyone isn’t left thinking this place is quiet or something. =)
I’ve glanced over the 500 sentences, but haven’t really looked at them in detail. Been pondering buying the 4500 sentences thing as well…
Yeah, same here. I think my employer might be less than pleased when I inevitably print that at work though, since it’s 10 per page, so 450 pages lol.
Yeah. It must be New Years’ or something. =P
Hahaha good point!! I hadn’t thought of that!
I haz a blog http://maninjapanchannel.wordpress.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLQzB-1u-dgOkay! Now I need help! lol.
I generally understand this:
何をしようとしてたのか忘れました。
But I’m having troubles separating out the components of this part: ~しようとしてたのか~
しようと is, as far as I can work out, like “trying to do something”. But then I’m really confused as to what is what (or you might say 何は何です for context-specific references harharhar) after that. It IS possible that I’ve been awake too long and I’m mentally burned out so my brain is metaphorically trying to swim through land, and that this will all be perfectly clear by tomorrow, but I’d rather not take that chance. So, halp? :DI haz a blog http://maninjapanchannel.wordpress.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLQzB-1u-dgWait, someone posted that exact sentence on HiNative…
～ようとする = trying to (verb) – where ～よう is the volitional form of the verb. So しようとする = trying to do. の is the nominaliser, and か… I’ve forgotten the technical term, but it kinda turns the sentence into a unified clause which functions as the object of the final verb. Gonna have to get the grammar dictionary to help me explain that better.
Anyway, the sentence means “I’ve forgotten what I was trying to do.”
Ah, it’s grammar mountain! Okay. That’s funny that it was posted on HiNative too lol.
Well now that I know how it’s broken up I can beat myself over the head with my grammar dictionary until it makes sense! Cause yeah based on the more important words of the sentence I had it figured out, but it’s like putting ikea furniture together. You know how it should look but then you’re standing there with extra parts singing the chorus from How To Save A Life.
Anyway lol, thanks a ton Joel!
I haz a blog http://maninjapanchannel.wordpress.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLQzB-1u-dgHere we go. “か marks an embedded question”. That was easy. =P
Basically, the embedded question here is “What was I trying to do?”. Essentially, the sentence is “I’ve forgotten: What was I trying to do?”
If you’ve got the Dictionary of Basic Grammar, you’ll find this under “ka (do ka)”. Not sure how to write the o with the macron, but it’s sorted the same in the grammar dictionary, so it doesn’t matter. =)
～ようとする is only in the “Related expressions” section of “miru”.
Let’s take one extra look at the sentence, please.
何をしようとしてたのか忘れました。It’s the する. する in te-form is して. する in ta-form is した. What is there both a た and a て after し? Is it する in te-ta-form?
Ah, right. してた is an abbreviation of していた (i.e. the past tense of している). Dropping the い from ～ている is a common way of abbreviating it in casual speech. (Fun fact: in Hiroshima dialect, they say ～ておる instead, and the abreviation is ～とる. Unlike いる, おる is an う-verb, so the past tense is ～とった.)
I’m coming to suspect, incidentally, that the の is not the nominaliser, but rather the sentence-ender のだ.
Cool. Thank you Joel. You’re awesome.
Okay last question for this one. The horse is dead so let’s beat the hell out of it lol.
When you say ka (dou ka), I look that up in my dictionary of basic Japanese grammar and all of its examples actually fully write out ka dou ka. Is dropping the end of that just another Japanese conversational omission or is there some specific device at work that makes this particular sentence say ka instead of ka dou ka?
Thanks again Joel! You win the coveted internet beer! Lol
I haz a blog http://maninjapanchannel.wordpress.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLQzB-1u-dgIf you’ve got the same grammar dictionary as me, there’s a bit in the Notes section that explains the difference between using か and かどうか. Simply put, かどうか requires the embedded question to be a yes-or-no question – it essentally translates as “whether or not”. こういちさんがいるかどうか知らない = I don’t know whether or not Kouichi-san is here. If you just have か, the embedded question can be either yes-or-no or it can be a who/what/where/why/how question, as in this case.
Ohhh yeah, I just went over it again and I found the note you mentioned. Not sure how I missed that before but hey problem solved.
Thanks a ton (or 0.9072 of a tonne!)
I haz a blog http://maninjapanchannel.wordpress.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLQzB-1u-dgNo problem. Next sentence? =P
I should probably actually have a look at the list myself sometime…
Haha I’m okay for now! I saw my Japanese tutor today and she got me caught up on the other ones that were weird (seriously there’s some really abstract stuff in there). I’m sure I’ll come up with more at some point.
That said, other people can totally start firing questions into here! The sentence thing is a terrific learning tool!
I haz a blog http://maninjapanchannel.wordpress.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLQzB-1u-dg
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