Mountain = Mole Hill...?

I'd like to share this thought: sometimes English translations of Japanese sentences make the language seem so much more complicated than it actually is.

Great Example:

"Mr. Hill can speak Chinese".

Simple? Of course, and so it is in Japanese as well:

(romaji form)
"Hiru-san wa Chuukokugo o hanasu koto ga dekimasu."

If I personally were to tranlsate this back into English my thinking would be:

"Mr. Hiru Chinese speak can."

With the understanding of the particle placements and that "koto" is acknowledging the concept (thing) of "speaking" here, the translation would be simple to me.

However!

The book that teaches this same sentence translates it back into English is this way:

"As for Mr. Hill, speaking Chinese is possible".

Huh? :? Soooo... since it's 'possible' for Mr. Hill, does it mean he definitley can, or not?

Tell me if you think such a translation is neccessary? ☝

I think that any such translation is actually counter-productive. In order to progress in a language it's important not to try to think of it in the context of your own native tongue. Japanese sentences and grammar are arranged differently from English; trying to make them fit each other results in unnatural translations.

Mr. Hill can speak Chinese
hiru-san wa chuugokugo ga hanasemasu
hanasu koto ga dekimasu is also alright, it's like the difference between "can speak" and "is able to speak"

The "as for..." nonsense is how most books like to translate the use of the "wa" particle. I think it's silly.

Also, it would greatly benefit you to start learning and using hiragana and katakana and eventually kanji. Japanese makes way more sense when you read and write it.

I actually already know the kanas and have been chipping away at the beginnings of learning kanji... It's really rewarding to be able to read sentences in genuine Japanese (although right now, sentences I can read fully are equivalent to such like "Last week I played tennis"). *^_^*

- Aurura

Aurura said:

I
"Mr. Hill can speak Chinese".
"Hiru-san wa Chuukokugo o hanasu koto ga dekimasu."
"Mr. Hiru Chinese speak can."
"As for Mr. Hill, speaking Chinese is possible".

Click to expand...

I think there are two kinds of translation in textbooks. One is to translate according to the meaning and the other one is to reflect the structure of the original language. "Mr. Hill can speak Chinese" is the former and "As for Mr. Hill, speaking Chinese is possible" is the latter.

Reading the translation "Mr. Hiru Chinese speak can", one can only deduce the relationships between "Mr. Hiru", "Chinese", "speak", and "can" from semantic relationships of meanings of these words. "As for Mr. Hill, speaking Chinese is possible", on the other hand, more directly reflects the sentence structures represented by Japanese grammatical devices such as 'wa', 'o', and 'ga', and 'koto'.

I agree with grapefruit, and think that both are necessary. It's important to see what the structure is on the one hand, but it's also important to know what it actually means in good, natural English on the other hand.