Lost in translation

Tako · 18 Oct 2007

hi guys, i got a little problem in translating the sentence "Music is the best lover". Which is the correct translation?

this -> 音楽は最もよい恋人だ
this -> 音楽は一番最上な愛人だ
this -> 音楽が一番よい恋人だ

or are all wrongs? what do you suggest?

Doumo arigato!

The7thSamurai · 19 Oct 2007

Don't know what's natural but I think you'd probably use が to mark 音楽.

undrentide · 19 Oct 2007

Tako said:
this -> 音楽は最もよい恋人だ
this -> 音楽は一番最上な愛人だ
this -> 音楽が一番よい恋人だ

or are all wrongs? what do you suggest?

All of them are grammatically correct.
But I would say 最高の恋人 for "the best lover".

The best:
To me 最もよい or 一番よい sound a bit like literally-translated-from-foreign-language somehow. 最 of 最上 already mean "the most/top" so combining it with 一番 (the most, first) is redundant.
Lover:
恋人 is better. It is like sweetheart, girlfriend/boyfriend, etc.
愛人 implies that it has something to do with affair out of marriaeg, cheating, concubine, etc.

は or が？:
If it is just a normal statement, は is better.
音楽は最高の恋人だ。 (Music is the best lover)
If you want to emphasize that it is music, nothing else, which is the best lover, then you should go for が.
音楽が最高の恋人だ。
(It is music that is the best lover.)

Tako · 19 Oct 2007

undrentide said:
The best:
To me 最もよい or 一番よい sound a bit like literally-translated-from-foreign-language somehow. 最 of 最上 already mean "the most/top" so combining it with 一番 (the most, first) is redundant.

here i am! in fact i'm italian... that sentence is taken from a song i love, i wanna tattoo that sentence somewhere over my body.

undrentide said:
Lover:
恋人 is better. It is like sweetheart, girlfriend/boyfriend, etc.
愛人 implies that it has something to do with affair out of marriage, cheating, concubine, etc.

yes, i think 恋人 fits better

undrentide said:
は or が？:
If it is just a normal statement, は is better.
音楽は最高の恋人だ。 (Music is the best lover)
If you want to emphasize that it is music, nothing else, which is the best lover, then you should go for が.
音楽が最高の恋人だ。
(It is music that is the best lover.)

well, being a tattoo i think i won't write "hiragana"... just kanji...
音楽最高恋人 is a sentence so easy that can be understood without "grammar kana" don't u think?

nice gaijin · 20 Oct 2007

if you love the phrase, why not get the tattoo in the language in which it is sung, instead of a translated approximation in a language you don't understand?

Taking the hiragana out of the sentence makes it no longer Japanese--it just becomes a string of kanji. It'd be like getting a tattoo that says "musicbestlover." If that is what you want, good luck to you. check out hanzismatter.com for other people who don't really care about linguistic integrity.

ajmd20 · 20 Oct 2007

Tako said:
well, being a tatoo i think i won't write "hiragana"... just kanji...
音楽最高恋人 is a sentence so easy that can be undestood without "grammar kana" don't u think?

Maybe what you want is something more like 音楽是最高的愛人?

Tako · 20 Oct 2007

nice gaijin said:
if you love the phrase, why not get the tattoo in the language in which it is sung, instead of a translated approximation in a language you don't understand?

Taking the hiragana out of the sentence makes it no longer Japanese--it just becomes a string of kanji. It'd be like getting a tattoo that says "musicbestlover." If that is what you want, good luck to you. check out hanzismatter.com for other people who don't really care about linguistic integrity.

you misunderstood.... i love japan and japanese language. I studied japanese for 4 years and I got the 3rd level of JLPT . I wanna write that sentence in japanese to imprint on my skin the moments that that sentence suggests me and my love for Japan. I asked here the correct translation because i was not sure of mine. As Undrentide said, my translation seems translated literally.

I wasn't saying i hate hiragana..... l love hiragana, i just thought that this sentence...that is simple...could be written just in kanji. If you think that in this way doesn't sound "japanese" i can use the correct form with hiragana... no problem with that.

Undrentide... i suppose you are Japanese. Do you think too that without kana makes it no longer Japanese?

epigene · 20 Oct 2007

I'm responding because undrentide probably doesn't have Internet access this weekend.

Undrentide and I are both Japanese, and I say what nice gaijin says is right.

Tako · 20 Oct 2007

well i think i'll use the correct 100% japanese form

音楽は最高の恋人だ

mmh.. some purist could ask for the COMA!

音楽は最高の恋人だ。 <-- anyway with the little maru is cute too

another little hint ... do you think that is better to use DESU instead of DA ?
DA sounds less "poetic" ?

ajmd20 · 20 Oct 2007

I think that this sentence will work without any form of the copula at all.

Tako · 22 Oct 2007

ｓｉｍｐｌｙ
音楽は最高の恋人。 ?

doesn't need copula?

undrentide · 23 Oct 2007

@epigene-san

Thank you for follow-up!

@Tako

窶ｰﾂｹﾅ?y窶堙債催?坂?壺?堙娯?氾ｶﾂ人 is fine, it is a complete sentence.

nice gaijin · 23 Oct 2007

Proper grammar or not, I still think you're doing a disservice to yourself by getting a tattoo of a phrase in Japanese. But it's your body and your decision; at least you came here to make sure you got the sentence right.

Kurado-sama · 23 Oct 2007

but if its off the main topic, が is more often used.

Tako · 24 Oct 2007

nice gaijin said:
Proper grammar or not, I still think you're doing a disservice to yourself by getting a tattoo of a phrase in Japanese.

a disservice? why? it's just a phrase in japanese. What's wrong with that?

nice gaijin · 24 Oct 2007

When you get a tattoo, you're making a statement about yourself. I can understand that this phrase is meaningful to you, and that you want to show off that you studied Japanese, but I'm not sure that a tattoo is the best way to do that, especially since there seems to be no connection between your love of music and your study of Japanese. Furthermore, tattoos still aren't very popular in Japan, and when young people these days do get them, asian characters are rarely on the menu. A long time ago I considered a kanji tattoo, but the more I studied Japanese and the more I learned about Japanese culture, the more antithetical the idea of a tattoo, let alone a kanji tattoo, became.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you will be completely satisfied with what you get inked, because it won't wash off.

orochi · 24 Oct 2007

And how often do you see entire sentences written out?

Wouldn't it be strange to find somebody with:
"I think music is the best lover in the whole wide world."
tatooed on his arm?

Tako · 24 Oct 2007

nice gaijin said:
When you get a tattoo, you're making a statement about yourself. I can understand that this phrase is meaningful to you, and that you want to show off that you studied Japanese

you're totally wrong... and you don't know me at all to say that this phrase is meaningful to me. I don't wanna show nothing.... it's just a mark about my first 23 years of life. It isn't just a "fashion" tattoo.

nice gaijin · 25 Oct 2007

I'm glad you pieced together that I don't know you; all I know is what you've written in this thread. It was silly of me to assume that the phrase you want written on your skin for eternity is meaningful to you. It'll go nicely between the tattoo of some random sanskrit characters and the dutch word for anus.

Go ahead and get your tattoo. In fact, get it on your forehead. No one will confuse it for a fashion statement then. I guess the only thing we can do for you is proofread.

orochi · 25 Oct 2007

>In fact, get it on your forehead.
For forehead tattoos, I recommend

nice gaijin · 25 Oct 2007

orochi said:
>In fact, get it on your forehead.
For forehead tattoos, I recommend.

best. idea. ever.

Mikawa Ossan · 25 Oct 2007

orochi said:
>In fact, get it on your forehead.
For forehead tattoos, I recommend.

If I ever get a tattoo, that's what I'm going with!

Lost in translation

後輩

Master of the Universe

Japa'n vagyok

後輩

Resident Realist

先輩

後輩

相変わらず不束者です

後輩

先輩

後輩

Japa'n vagyok

Resident Realist

分かっちゃいねえな

後輩

Resident Realist

便利屋

後輩

Resident Realist

便利屋

Resident Realist

いかんわ！

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