Secret Christmas Gift Favour

[keywiz]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to ask if someone with a grasp of the Japanese language could help me with a small Christmas gift I am preparing for a friend. It is not a big favour at all - Just a translation of the one sentence from English to Japanese.

It might sound like a random sentence, a bit (or even quite) weird to some but maybe you'll be up for the challenge?

The sentence is: "Milk them while they are still young"

Greatly appreciate it !!

 

[Mike Cash]

Who are "they"?

 

[Grandpa Frank]

"MILK" might be confusing also to translate. Many meanings -fleece/exact/take/exploit/extort/drain/empty/exhaust/pump/wring/bleed. The way you use the term 'milk' may make a difference on the translation you want to get across.

 

[keywiz]

Thanks for the replies. I want to keep it ambiguous on purpose but for translation purposes 'they' is aimed to address people.

And 'milking' I want to use in the sense of extracting the most out of a situation/person, not necessarily in a positive sense so draining, exploiting and exhausting are close to what I am trying to say.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks

 

[Toritoribe]

若いうちにしぼり取れ
Wakai uchi ni shiboritore

Note that this can mean "Milk them while you are still young" because of leaving who "they/them" refers to ambiguous.

 

[keywiz]

That is awesome! Just to make it as accurate as possible, could you stick the word 'others' or 'people' in? So 'milk others'. As that is roughly what I am aiming for?

Forever in your debt

若いうちにしぼり取れ
Wakai uchi ni shiboritore

Note that this can mean "Milk them while you are still young" because of leaving who "they/them" refers to ambiguous.

 

[Mike Cash]

That is awesome! Just to make it as accurate as possible, could you stick the word 'others' or 'people' in? So 'milk others'. As that is roughly what I am aiming for?

Forever in your debt

That's why I asked you to begin with who "they" are. It would be nice if you had been cooperative instead of coy.

人が若いうちにしぼり取れ
Hito ga wakai uchi ni shiboritore

 

[keywiz]

Apologies! I underestimated how such subtle differences might affect the meaning of the whole sentence. A truly rich language indeed! Thanks for your input

That's why I asked you to begin with who "they" are. It would be nice if you had been cooperative instead of coy.

人が若いうちにしぼり取れ
Hito ga wakai uchi ni shiboritore