やれば / しかし、中には... / の / そんな言葉...

[eeky]

Hiya,

1. これらはとても普通の人にはできないことだが、ギネス ブックにはやればできそうなこともけっこう載っている 。

My attempted translation: "These things [previously mentioned] are impossible for ordinary people to do, but if you look at the Guinness Book [of Records], quite a few things that seem possible also feature."

My main uncertainty is やれば. Which of numerous possible meanings does it have here?

Also, is it correct to translate けっこう as something like "quite a few"?


2. しかし、中にはほかにはだれもやりそうにないことも載 っている。

My translation: "However, among these are also other things that it seems (= that you would imagine) no one would do."

Is this OK?


3. 河童の川流れ。

Translation given: "The best swimmers are oftenest drowned." (= "Anyone can make a mistake")

I don't understand how the Japanese expression forms a complete sentence. What is the function of の?


4. そんな言葉じゃ言い表せない。

Translation given: "Like is hardly the word."

I'm guessing that the translation is not optimally punctuated and probably means "'Like' is hardly the word." However, I still don't get it. To me it looks like the Japanese means "that kind of word can't be expressed". Any ideas?

 

[Toritoribe]

1. これらはとても普通の人にはできないことだが、ギネスブックにはやればできそうなこともけっこう載っている。
My attempted translation: "These things [previously mentioned] are impossible for ordinary people to do, but if you look at the Guinness Book [of Records], quite a few things that seem possible also feature."
My main uncertainty is やれば. Which of numerous possible meanings does it have here?

You can think やればできそう as a kind of set phrase, "to seem possible to do if I/we (actually) do".

Also, is it correct to translate けっこう as something like "quite a few"?

Yes.

2. しかし、中にはほかにはだれもやりそうにないことも載っている。
My translation: "However, among these are also other things that it seems (= that you would imagine) no one would do."
Is this OK?

Yes.

3. 河童の川流れ。
Translation given: "The best swimmers are oftenest drowned." (= "Anyone can make a mistake")
I don't understand how the Japanese expression forms a complete sentence. What is the function of の?

That's not a sentence but a phrase. 川流れ is a nounal usage of the -masu stem of verbs, thus, の expresses "possession".

4. そんな言葉じゃ言い表せない。
Translation given: "Like is hardly the word."
I'm guessing that the translation is not optimally punctuated and probably means "'Like' is hardly the word." However, I still don't get it. To me it looks like the Japanese means "that kind of word can't be expressed". Any ideas?

Yes, your translation is correct. Is that a full sentence? Is there any phrase/clause preceding it, something like 好きとか、そんな言葉じゃ言い表せない?

 

[Glenn]

1) やればできそうなこと is "things it seems you can do if you try". You're right about けっこう.

2) Looks good.

3) It would form a complete sentence with だ. の is like が here, I believe. At least it feels more like that than anything else, although 河童が川流れ doesn't make any sense to me, or at least it doesn't feel right. Could it be の is more like the の in 私の着物 here? Possibly, but it still seems to be in between the two uses.

4) I think you're right about the punctuation, and it's like "you can't express it with that kind of word."

[Edit] This time Toritoribe beat me!

 

[eeky]

Thank you both.

Yes, your translation is correct.

My translation was "that kind of word can't be expressed", but Glenn's version "you can't express it with that kind of word" seems to make more sense. Which is right?

Is that a full sentence? Is there any phrase/clause preceding it, something like 好きとか、そんな言葉じゃ言い表せない?

There is nothing preceding it, but it comes from a source (Tatoeba: Collection of sentences and translations) that isn't 100% reliable, consisting, at least in part, of user-generated content. So if it's odd or incomplete Japanese then it wouldn't be a huge shock.

 

[Toritoribe]

Oh, sorry. I misread it as "that kind of word can't express (it)".

I think the poster of the site misquoted the sentence. 好きとかそんな言葉じゃ言い表せない(lit. That kind of word like "to like" can't express it.) quite fits to "'Like' is hardly the word".

EDIT:
Another possibility

The poster might completely misinterpret the sentence as 「そんな」は言葉じゃ言い表せない or "No words can express 'sonna(= like that)'".

 

[eeky]

Thank you. Sorry, I have one final question about this sentence. In the correct translation, "you can't express it with that kind of word", the word "with" corresponds to Japanese で which is wrapped up in じゃ (=では), right?

(I think my mistake was not thinking properly about じゃ, but just vaguely assuming it went with the negative ～ない by some kind of false analogy with じゃない. Oh dear.)

 

[Toritoribe]

Exactly. じゃ is the contraction of では, and で indicates "the means of expressing" here.