Translation help

[uoza82]

Im new to this, and am wondering if this quote can be translated into kanji.

Do not run away; let go. Do not seek, for it will come when least expected

great quote by bruce lee!

 

[Mike Cash]

I don't know if anyone here speaks kanji.

 

[uoza82]

really?...
i was hoping to get this translated so i can get a tattoo of it!...no one wants to help me out?

 

[TwistedMac]

what he means is Kanji is not a language =P

it's sort of like the alphabet except each sign represents a word or so

so you wouldnt "translate it into kanji".. you would write it in kanji...

that would probably be a lot of kanji :/

 

[jonny-mt]

Herm...if Bruce Lee said it, then you're probably better off getting it in Chinese rather than Japanese...in addition to being more authentic, it will be more compact and thus better suited for a tattoo. That being said, here's my shot at the t/l--"let go" and "when you least expect it" have a lot of subtleties in English here, so someone please correct me if I missed them in the Japanese.

逃げないで、放ろう。求まないで、知らず知らずの内に来るからよ。

Phonetically, it reads 'nigenai de, hourou. motomanai de, shirazu shirazu no uchi ni kuru kara yo'.

 

[Glenn]

Herm...if Bruce Lee said it, then you're probably better off getting it in Chinese rather than Japanese...in addition to being more authentic, it will be more compact and thus better suited for a tattoo.

Chinese would be better for compactness, but what if he originally said it in English? He did live in the US for at least half of his life, and I would imagine that he did most of his philosophizing in English.

 

[PaulTB]

Chinese would be better for compactness, but what if he originally said it in English?

Then the translation job becomes a whole lot easier.

 

[Glenn]

Then the translation job becomes a whole lot easier.

Eh, I'm not sure that I'm following. You mean that it's easier because it wouldn't be translating a translation?

Either way, that's a lot of text for a tattoo, no matter the language.

 

[Elizabeth]

How about a proverb such as 柳に風 (follow the path of least resistance, lit : wind goes through the willow). Unfortunately the middle one isn't a kanji, but at least it's basically where bruce lee came up with it =D

 

[Mike Cash]

Then the translation job becomes a whole lot easier.

Have you noticed all the Chinese and Japanese who get profound sayings tattooed on themselves in English?

 

[PaulTB]

Eh, I'm not sure that I'm following. You mean that it's easier because it wouldn't be translating a translation?

I mean it's easy to translate English into English.

 

[Glenn]

I mean it's easy to translate English into English.

That depends on the two speakers.

Anyway, he wanted it in Japanese in the first place, not English.

Have you noticed all the Chinese and Japanese who get profound sayings tattooed on themselves in English?

I haven't seen any tattoos, but I have seen the shirts. Some of those are just, well, unbelieveable. I'm sure you could find some of them at engrish.com.