Need a word or phrase translated?

epigene · 6 Mar 2005

Glenn said:
"We are destroying the earth." I'm not sure how natural it is, though. Was it translated by a native Japanese speaker?

I agree with Glenn that it sounds too simplistic to be written by a native-speaking Japanese adult, although it's not grammatically wrong.

GaijinPunch · 6 Mar 2005

Google shows quite a few hits. Not near as many as 破壊する but enough to probably say it's not improper, weird, or "unadult".

Two places I can use as reference:
-Sun Electric did a remix of some cheesy (most likely crap) J-Pop song. One of the unmistakable lines in it is 壊れた世界が見える。 Not the same thing, but close enough, no?
-Some anime I watched WAAAAY back in college (X the movie I think) had one of the characters... he specifically said, 地球が。。。壊れる。。。
-Finally, when my wife was telling me something about some 9/11 report she saw on TV, she said something along the lines of 消防士がこのビルが壊れると言われた。

Elizabeth · 7 Mar 2005

epigene said:
I agree with Glenn that it sounds too simplistic to be written by a native-speaking Japanese adult, although it's not grammatically wrong.

A more preferred way might come from changing the auxilliary verb ?
地球を壊してしまう for instance....:?

epigene · 7 Mar 2005

Elizabeth said:
A more preferred way might come from changing the auxilliary verb ? 地球を壊してしまう for instance....:?

The original Japanese posted here is correct, and yours is, too--just different in meaning.

The original is saying we are "presently" destroying the Earth now, with all the human activities going on. Yours means that we will "eventually" destroy the planet, if the activities continue.

Although the original sentence could be OK depending on what precedes and follows that, the impression I get from the sentence alone is something spoken by an environment-conscious kid.

I think GaijinPunch-san's suggestion posted earlier is best--replace 壊している with 破壊している

GaijinPunch · 7 Mar 2005

That wasn't really a suggestion to be honest. I think both words are fair game and even "native" (which was the initial complaint)... just different in meaning. To be honest, my wife even says (regularly) お前たち地球を壊しているアメリカ人！ This is usually triggered by some unfortunate event on CNN, like someone being freed from kidnappers, only to be shot by GI Joe.

Elizabeth · 7 Mar 2005

ありがとう、Epigeneさん！とにかく、今は、みんなもっと自然を大切にしようという運動かか高めています。日本でも、汚かった川もずいぶんきれいになっていますね。

「破壊」と「壊す」の意味合いの違いかまだよくわからないけど。。。:?

epigene · 7 Mar 2005

Elizabeth said:
「破壊」と「壊す」の意味合いの違いかまだよくわからないけど。。。:?

違いはないと同じです。ただ、環境問題の話なら、「壊す」より「破壊」のほうが、オトナかな～と個人的に思います。これも、時と場合、前後の関係で使い分けられるものです。私の個人的な傾向でもあるかな？

Elizabeth · 8 Mar 2005

epigene said:
違いはないと同じです。ただ、環境問題の話なら、「壊す」より「破壊」のほうが、オトナかな～と個人的に思います。これも、時と場合、前後の関係で使い分けられるものです。私の個人的な傾向でもあるかな？

そうですね。辞書の例文を見る限り、「壊す」だと、「急変した」「引き裂く」そのものの方法に聞こえるでしょう。

私の普通の話し方は小学校の低学年レベルだろうけど。。。

roady · 8 Mar 2005

Thank you all for the great help.
It's correct that it schould say - "We are destroying the earth."

I think we humans are pathetic creatures that exploits the earth without really care about the consequences (dark, I know)...

I'm making a tattoo on my back so just wanted to dubbelcheck that the calligraphy translation I got was correct =)

Best Regards
//Bäcker

f4senkyo69 · 8 Mar 2005

How would I say,
My Japanese isn't good, but I'm still practicing!

What I have are these 2 possibilities so far:

watashi no nihongo wa amari ii de wa arimasen ga, watashi wa 練習 desu yo.

watashi no nihongo wa amari ii desu. Demo watashi wa 練習 desu yo.

GaijinPunch · 8 Mar 2005

Why not take a look at the まだまだ thread. Generally speaking, you wouldn't show possession of nihongo. "nihongo ha yoku hanasai/shaberanai/wakaranai" is a good place to start. As for practice, with out "suru" appended, it's a noun. So you'd say renshuu shiteimasu, or if you want to get jiggy with it, 練習中ですよ。 (renshuu chuu).

Damicci · 8 Mar 2005

日本語を話すことが下手です。
にほんごをはなすことがへたです。
I am not skillful at speaking Japanese.

HeadBanger · 9 Mar 2005

I'm working on an anime I created entitled "Himno ki Shimo" and need several romanji translations.
first off, "What the Hell"

Glenn · 11 Mar 2005

何？何だ？ and 何と？ are all good, I think. I would go with the first one, though.

Miki-san · 11 Mar 2005

一人サボテン any idea what this refers to?

Thanks,
Miki-san

Glenn · 11 Mar 2005

Uh, "alone, cactus." Or "one person cactus." This appears to be a handle for online use. I don't think it really means much, but I could be wrong.

epigene · 11 Mar 2005

"Saboten" is a formation in gymnastics kids learn in PE that looks like this:

So, "hitori-saboten" is formation practice you do on your own when your partner is not around....

Another is "hitori-piramiddo" (pyramid formation on your own).

epigene · 11 Mar 2005

Oops! Sorry, didn't realize the pic was so big!

Glenn · 11 Mar 2005

Ah, that makes a lot more sense! Thanks, epigene!

Miki-san · 11 Mar 2005

Thanks.

Miki-san

GaijinPunch · 11 Mar 2005

Bummer for the kids on the bottom.

Elizabeth · 11 Mar 2005

HeadBanger said:
I'm working on an anime I created entitled "Himno ki Shimo" and need several romanji translations.
first off, "What the Hell"

Did you mean this as a question or exclamation ? I don't think you can just use intonation to make the difference as in English.

HeadBanger · 11 Mar 2005

Elizabeth said:
Did you mean this as a question or exclamation ? I don't think you can just use intonation to make the difference as in English.

both please

arigatou

Elizabeth · 12 Mar 2005

HeadBanger said:
both please

arigatou

There isn't a directly corresponding phrase. It could be anything from 「いったい何？」「何だって」「かまうもんか」「何なの？」「なんだそりゃ？」。。。。

If you have a situation in mind, the correct one will probably be immediately obvious.

HeadBanger · 12 Mar 2005

Elizabeth said:
There isn't a directly corresponding phrase. It could be anything from 「いったい何？」「何だって」「かまうもんか」「何なの？」「なんだそりゃ？」。。。。

If you have a situation in mind, the correct one will probably be immediately obvious.

surprise

(please post it in romaji)

Need a word or phrase translated?

相変わらず不束者です

遠いから行きません

先輩

相変わらず不束者です

遠いから行きません

先輩

相変わらず不束者です

先輩

後輩

先輩

遠いから行きません

先輩

後輩

一切皆苦

先輩

一切皆苦

相変わらず不束者です

相変わらず不束者です

一切皆苦

先輩

遠いから行きません

先輩

後輩

先輩

後輩

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