Difficult translation Japanese to English??

LeahLolita · 7 Apr 2020

Help please! I really need help thinking of a good way to translate this sentence into English.

たまにものすごい毒を吐くクセの強さがあります。

Literally, it says 'Has a habit of spitting out poison'. But I want it to make more sense to an English reader, since 'spitting out poison sounds a little overreaching. Any help?

mdchachi · 7 Apr 2020

Assuming it's something like a snake you could certainly say something like that e.g.
It has the power to spit deadly venom.
It has a tendency to spit deadly venom occasionally.

Majestic · 8 Apr 2020

毒を吐く is an idiom that means "to bad mouth", "to pile invective on", "to complain critically/harshly about someone". In short, it means to dis someone or something.

He/she has the unfortunate habit of bitching about things.
He/she has a strong tendency to bad-mouth people.
He/she is always bitching about things.

bentenmusume · 8 Apr 2020

To be a bit nitpicky, the main sentiment here is クセの強さがあります, which is saying that the person in question is a highly (lit. strongly) eccentric/idiosyncratic one. It's not saying that her tendency to spew invective itself is strong, or something that she "always" does.

You can tell because the sentence specifically says たまに, which suggests that it's a rather infrequent occurrence (which in turn probably makes it even more shocking/suprising when she does).

You could render it as something like "[She's] a highly eccentric/idiosyncratic character who has a tendency to spew extreme vitriol [at others] from time to time."

(I say "character" because the line in question appears to be from this page describing a character in a movie: 屍人荘の殺人インタビュー: 神木隆之介×浜辺美波×中村倫也、語り尽くす「屍人荘の殺人」 - 映画.com)

LeahLolita · 8 Apr 2020

Majestic said:
毒を吐く is an idiom that means "to bad mouth", "to pile invective on", "to complain critically/harshly about someone". In short, it means to dis someone or something.

He/she has the unfortunate habit of bitching about things.
He/she has a strong tendency to bad-mouth people.
He/she is always bitching about things.

Thanks! I'll take this into consideration with my translation task. I noticed that it implies that it is occasional, thanks to 'bentenmusume' for pointing that out, so I will look into creating a translation that offers both insights!

LeahLolita · 8 Apr 2020

bentenmusume said:
To be a bit nitpicky, the main sentiment here is クセの強さがあります, which is saying that the person in question is a highly (lit. strongly) eccentric/idiosyncratic one. It's not saying that her tendency to spew invective itself is strong, or something that she "always" does.

You can tell because the sentence specifically says たまに, which suggests that it's a rather infrequent occurrence (which in turn probably makes it even more shocking/suprising when she does).

You could render it as something like "[She's] a highly eccentric/idiosyncratic character who has a tendency to spew extreme vitriol [at others] from time to time."

(I say "character" because the line in question appears to be from this page describing a character in a movie: 屍人荘の殺人インタビュー: 神木隆之介×浜辺美波×中村倫也、語り尽くす「屍人荘の殺人」 - 映画.com)

Thanks for the in-depth help! This is super useful. It's crazy that you found the actual source! So I'll be sure to take this into consideration when translating this sentence

LeahLolita · 8 Apr 2020

bentenmusume said:
To be a bit nitpicky, the main sentiment here is クセの強さがあります, which is saying that the person in question is a highly (lit. strongly) eccentric/idiosyncratic one. It's not saying that her tendency to spew invective itself is strong, or something that she "always" does.

You can tell because the sentence specifically says たまに, which suggests that it's a rather infrequent occurrence (which in turn probably makes it even more shocking/suprising when she does).

You could render it as something like "[She's] a highly eccentric/idiosyncratic character who has a tendency to spew extreme vitriol [at others] from time to time."

(I say "character" because the line in question appears to be from this page describing a character in a movie: 屍人荘の殺人インタビュー: 神木隆之介×浜辺美波×中村倫也、語り尽くす「屍人荘の殺人」 - 映画.com)

I'm just wondering, what would you make of the phrase ミステリー愛好会の葉村譲を神木隆之介 ? I'm struggling to decide whether it's 'mystery lovers association' or whether he is THE mystery lover? It's a confusing phrase

bentenmusume · 8 Apr 2020

LeahLolita said:
I'm just wondering, what would you make of the phrase ミステリー愛好会の葉村譲を神木隆之介 ? I'm struggling to decide whether it's 'mystery lovers association' or whether he is THE mystery lover? It's a confusing phrase

It's "For 葉村譲 of the Mystery Lovers' Club, (they casted) 神木隆之介." If it were saying 葉村譲 himself was a mystery lover, it would be ミステリー愛好家の葉村譲. If it was saying the actor was a mystery lover, it would be 葉村譲には、ミステリー愛好家の神木隆之介, etc.

Toritoribe · 8 Apr 2020

LeahLolita said:
I'm just wondering, what would you make of the phrase ミステリー愛好会の葉村譲を神木隆之介 ? I'm struggling to decide whether it's 'mystery lovers association' or whether he is THE mystery lover? It's a confusing phrase

The problem is caused because you picked up a single clause. The actual structure of the sentence is;

主人公の探偵大学生・剣崎比留子を浜辺美波が演じていて、ミステリー愛好会の葉村譲を神木隆之介が演じていて、同会会長の明智恭介を中村倫也が演じている。.

Makes sense?

Difficult translation Japanese to English??

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