Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese Forum

Jamal

クールメンバー

Help translating a few things.

Well I decided to try and read through a manga. I'm not very good at Japanese yet and have been learning for just under a year, with no teacher, so this is probably out of my league, but I'd like to try anyway. It's a bit embarrassing but I got stuck on the first page

彩南 - Said さいなん, no idea on this one, but I guess it is a town or region?

告白しようとして - well kokuhaku is confession, but the rest, I'm not sure about.

失敗するところを - shippaisuru is to fail right? However I don't know what to tokoro is doing or why there is wo at the end of a sentence.

もともとポジションにはこだわらない。つもりだったから - well motomoto is original and pojishon is position, so something about an original position.

Also can someone explain to me about combining the particles には. I sort of understand it and all, but not completely.

Last edited by Jamal (2012-05-31 11:53:30)

Blackiris

Regular member

Re: Help translating a few things.

告白しようとして
しようとしる = try to do something

失敗するところを
dictionary says: ところを (prt,conj) although (it is a certain time or something is in a certain condition)

もともとポジションにはこだわらない。
"Not being fixated about one's original position", maybe? には combines the two particles. こだわる goes with the に particle and is refering to ポジション which is the topic of the sentence (thus the は).

Jamal

クールメンバー

Re: Help translating a few things.

The firs two translations make sense. Not so sure about the second one, guess a lot of it might come from context? Anyhow thanks! Also i realized I made a typo on the second sentence of the last one, which I have now fixed!

踊り子

日本語なんか楽ちん！

Re: Help translating a few things.

guess a lot of it might come from context?

Always.

もともとポジションにはこだわらない。つもりだったから

"(I) am not fixated about (my) position by nature. It was my intention to (context)."

もともと is an adverb here.

Last edited by 踊り子 (2012-05-31 12:16:26)

Jamal

クールメンバー

Re: Help translating a few things.

guess a lot of it might come from context?

Always.

もともとポジションにはこだわらない。つもりだったから

"(I) am not fixated about (my) position by nature. It was my intention to (context)."

もともと is an adverb here.

Thanks, but I still can't work out what it means So I scanned in the page, this is the first page so there is nothing before it...

http://i47.tinypic.com/2udvvb9.png (Don't judge my choice of manga, it was recommended to me )

踊り子

日本語なんか楽ちん！

Re: Help translating a few things.

Why in the world did you put "。"?
"It was because I decided not to care about my position from the start"

Jamal

クールメンバー

Re: Help translating a few things.

Why in the world did you put "。"?
"It was because I decided not to care about my position from the start"

Aha, sorry I've not really read very much vertical text, and I assumed seems as it started a new line randomly it was a new sentence. I'm not very sure about the way to read vertical text.

Anyway thanks for the help!

any idea about 彩南? I thought it was a place..

Last edited by Jamal (2012-05-31 12:57:25)

踊り子

日本語なんか楽ちん！

Re: Help translating a few things.

I should have noticed something is wrong. "~。つもりだったから" does sound strange.

KOBAYASHI osamu

New member

Re: Help translating a few things.

文脈がわからないので定かなことは言えませんが、
  「もともとポジションにはこだわらない つもりだったから」
は
  「もともとポジションにはこだわらないつもりだったから」
あるいは
  「もともとポジションにはこだわらない そういうつもりだったから」
ということでしょう。
また、「ポジションにはこだわらない」と「ポジションにこだわらない」では意味が異なります。「は」が入ると、ポジション以外の点についてこだわっていることがある、ということを示唆します。このケースでは、ポジション以外にこだわっている点が重要だろうと思います。

KOBAYASHI osamu

New member

Re: Help translating a few things.

もう一点、補足します。
「もともとポジションにはこだわらない つもりだったから」
ですが、
「もともと ポジションにはこだわらない つもりだったから」
「ポジションにはこだわらない もともとそういうつもりだったから」
と解した方が適当だと思います。

irankarapte

日本語なんか楽ちん！

Re: Help translating a few things.

@Jamal
・・私は見ていた・・告白しようとして失敗するところを
I was seeing the part where he tried to confess it and failed

Jamal

クールメンバー

Re: Help translating a few things.

@Jamal
・・私は見ていた・・告白しようとして失敗するところを
I was seeing the part where he tried to confess it and failed

Yeh I got that, Although I translated it as "That day...at ***** Water Land, I saw it. Rito confessing to Haruna and it failing."