Need a word or phrase translated?

[Scrivener]

Although in this instance "The following are" actually sounds fresher and more authoritative to my mind. But even that aside, when shifting the subject could undermine the original emphasis or context such as countering an assertion that there were few or any unratified treaties Japan was a party to, I personally wouldn't take the liberty. For what it's worth, neither would I change it to 'Japan,' since that's the only country it could be referring to.

Filling in the gaps for EDICT is a good idea. I've stumbled onto a handful of terribly ungrammatical English sentences and simply never done anything about it.

This is a perennial debate in the industry. It's more of an art than a science. A "risk reward" equation. The risk is that you will misrepresent someone - the reward is that your English will sound more natural. You have to go by context: there's no point getting too paranoid or being too rigid. Anyway that's my perspective after about seven years translating bloody technical Japanese. :bitter:

 

[PaulTB]

For what it's worth, neither would I change it to 'Japan,' since that's the only country it could be referring to. □ [T]
Filling in the gaps for EDICT is a good idea. I've stumbled onto a handful of terribly ungrammatical English sentences and simply never done anything about it.

Just a quick click on the check box next to the [T] and then the 'Send comments/corrections button'.
You ought to be getting the form response any time now.

 

[fixelbrumpf]

How would I say "I don't do drugs" in Japanese? I take it 麻薬 is the commonly used word for drugs, right? But what's the verb to go with it? According to Google, using "mochiiru" wouldn't be the best choice in this context. What's the most natural way to say this? Thanks in advance.

 

[PaulTB]

It's just "cleaner" to use subject+object in English. Those long chains of qualifiers sound "Japanesey".

Maybe so. But I suspect that I was using long chains of qualifiers in my English long before I started to learn Japanese.

===================

How would I say "I don't do drugs" in Japanese? [...] What's the most natural way to say this?

No idea. I'll put five pence on
ドラッグなんか使ってない
but I expect it's not the best way to say it.

 

[Elizabeth]

No idea. I'll put five pence on
ドラッグなんか使ってない
but I expect it's not the best way to say it.

All I know is 薬物を乱用 (drug abuse) and 薬物に引かれる (attracted to drugs, although that was only once, in an article, you could still try in the negative.)

 

[puKKa]

Could someone tell me how to write Northern Light with Katakana? with the respelling as in all other imported words


thanks

Think I got it together:

noosu raito
ノースライト

correct? :?

 

[epigene]

could someone tell me how to write Northern Light with Katakana? with the respelling as in all other imported words


thanks

Think I got it together:

noosu raito
ノースライト

correct?

I wonder what you mean by Northern Light.. :?
If you just want it in katakana, it's
ノーザンライト
If you mean the arctic natural phenomenon "northern lights", it's
オーロラ

 

[Glenn]

How would I say "I don't do drugs" in Japanese? I take it 麻薬 is the commonly used word for drugs, right? But what's the verb to go with it? According to Google, using "mochiiru" wouldn't be the best choice in this context. What's the most natural way to say this? Thanks in advance.

How about the word-of-all-words in Japanese (well, I guess I should say "one of the two that mean nearly the same thing"): やる?

My attempt is: 麻薬なんかやらないぜ。 (Thanks for the なんか, Paul. I wouldn't have thought of it other wise. :bow

 

[Scrivener]

My dictionary has both:
麻薬を用いる
and
薬をやる

or you could just say:
結構です

 

[GaijinPunch]

麻薬を用いる

I think this is okay if you're a doctor.

薬をしない is probably the best general way to say it. The most common way to say it in the open is ドラッグしない。Of course, there's a lot of slang words, but depends on what flavor you're talking about.

 

[Kamisama]

maybe it's me, but we should sticky this...

 

[PaulTB]

maybe it's me, but we should sticky this...

Naaa.

It's used so often it's always near the top anyway.

Personally I think we should unsticky (or greatly improve) the Nihongo Everyday thread.

 

[Elizabeth]

最近あんまり良い事がないので落ち込み気味です。
こういう気分になるときは誰にでも あるんでしょうね。

I don't think I appreciate the use of "誰にでも" here. Is it a slightly different nuance with 誰でも ?

 

[Scrivener]

It is pretty hard to explain the difference between "dare demo kore ga aru" and "dare ni demo kore ga aru". The grammar is not precisely replicated in English. The "ni" kind of emphasizes that the "kore" is a situation or property I guess. You would use the first to say "I have a computer" and the second to say "I have a brother", if you see what I mean...

If you put 誰にでも秘密がある into Google you get 200000 hits; if you put 誰でも秘密がある you get 78 hits. It's because the secret is more like a situation or property than a possession, IMO.

 

[Elizabeth]

ありがとう。 わかりました。

基本的に、その文の終わりに人物の直接目的語がつく場合だけは
「ＸＸＸにはＸＸＸいます。」を使います。
と思ったんです。（例：私には彼がいます、私には家族がいます)。 けれども、
「私には彼がある」でも聞いたことがありますね。

 

[nhk9]

Usually, in natural Japanese, one would say "... ni ... aru" or "... niha ... wakaranai"

For example "井戸に(は)水がある" あるいは "そんな難しい問題、わたしなんかにはさっぱり分からない"

In both cases, you have the "ni" inside the sentence, so when you want to use "demo", you need the ni as well.

For example "そういう易しい問題、子供にでも分かってるだろう"

 

[blade_bltz]

How would you say something like, "In this regard..., so and so"

 

[Elizabeth]

最近あんまり良い事がないので落ち込み気味です。
こういう気分になるときは誰にでも あるんでしょうね。

I don't think I appreciate the use of "誰にでも" here. Is it a slightly different nuance with 誰でも ?

By the way, 誰でも落ち込むときはありますよね。is also OK, I just discovered. Why don't they have a universal word for 'everyone' ? So there doesn't seem to be anything like a hard and fast rule, but I will try to ask about the difference just out of fun sometime.

 

[TZed9]

Hi guys! I seek something translating pls, tried babelfish but doesn't seem to work...

Can some kind person let me know what this means pls?::::

'Watashi mo isogashi node ikemasen zan-nen'

I have some:

I (also) _____ ___ don't go ___ ___.

But I am unfamilier with 'isogashi node' and 'zan-nen'.

Yoroshiku ne!! :sorry: :sorry: :sorry:

 

[CorDarei]

By the way, 誰でも落ち込むときはありますよね。is also OK, I just discovered. Why don't they have a universal word for 'everyone' ? So there doesn't seem to be anything like a hard and fast rule, but I will try to ask about the difference just out of fun sometime.

This is just my impression, but 誰でも sounds more like "anyone" to me. Of course, in English you don't say "Anyone has times when they get depressed", so in this instance it's "everyone." But if I said 誰でも出来る, I think in English that would be "Anyone can do it."

Also, when I was trying to think about why "minna" doesn't work in that first sentence, I came up with: みんな sounds like you're talking about everyone in a certain group. So if someone came up to me and said みんな落ち込むときはありますよね, I would say "who the hell are you talking about?" I don't know if this actually makes sense or not, but it's my story and I'm sticking to it. (Until someone tells me I'm wrong, of course.)

Hi guys! I seek something translating pls, tried babelfish but doesn't seem to work...

Can some kind person let me know what this means pls?::::

'Watashi mo isogashi node ikemasen zan-nen'

I have some:

I (also) _____ ___ don't go ___ ___.

But I am unfamiliar with 'isogashi node' and 'zan-nen'.

Yoroshiku ne!! :sorry: :sorry: :sorry:

"isogashii" means busy, and the "no de" part is just giving a reason or explanation. "Zannen" means "too bad" or "it's a pity" or similar expressions. So that sentence (which should probably have a period after 'ikemasen') means "I'm busy too, so I can't go. It's too bad."

 

[PaulTB]

みんな sounds like you're talking about everyone in a certain group. So if someone came up to me and said みんな落ち込むときはありますよね, I would say "who the hell are you talking about?" I don't know if this actually makes sense or not, but it's my story and I'm sticking to it. (Until someone tells me I'm wrong, of course.)

I'm not saying you're wrong - but I think
みんな落ち込むときはありますよね
sounds to me like everybody has times when they _all_ get depressed. It isn't necessarily about a particular group or not - but that they are a /group/ getting depressed vs. a random person getting depressed. Anyway that's my story (until somebody tells me I'm wrong).

 

[TZed9]

Thank you CorDaei. Yes it felt along those lines, appreciate the explanation.

More words for my ever increasing Nihon go vocabulary.

 

[Elizabeth]

This is just my impression, but 誰でも sounds more like "anyone" to me. Of course, in English you don't say "Anyone has times when they get depressed", so in this instance it's "everyone." But if I said 誰でも出来る, I think in English that would be "Anyone can do it."

誰でも sounds more like the proper subject of a sentence than 誰にでも, but that's just a vague impression until I get more information.

 

[Kamisama]

A while ago a came across a Japanese word for The United States of America.

All i can remember.. was that it started with a B i think... does anyone know other Japanese words for America? not アメリカ

 

[Bob in Iowa]

A while ago a came across a japanese word for The United States of America.

All i can remember.. was that it started with a B i think... does anyone know other japanese words for America? not アメリカ

I think the word is Beigoku. I'll ask my wife for the kanji when I get home tonight. I think that it literally means 'rice country'.