Re: Nanitozo
- From: "John R. Yamamoto-Wilson" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 02 May 2007 09:25:30 +0900
aesthete8@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
When I searched an online dictionary, the English equivalent given was
'please.'
But isn't a more accurate translation, 'I beg of you'?
Phil Yff replied:
A more literal translation would be, "If it's possible" or "Could you
possibly..." Nanitozo means something to the effect of "by some means or
other".
aesthete said:
Interesting.
Then how about, "In some way..."?
Are you talking about the literal meaning or the illocutionary force? Usually translators are interested in the illocutionary force (how to express a similar idea to the original), not in a literal translation.
For example, literally "Itte mo ii desu ka?" is "Going if good is it?" (or, if you want to follow something more like English word order, "Is it good if going?"). But no one would understand this. In English people say "May I go?" in these situations (again, "Dekuru watashi iku?" - a literal translation of the English expression, wouldn't make much sense in Japanese).
So when you ask for an "accurate" translation of "Nanitozo" do you want to know what the word translates as literally in English (which will probably not make much sense to English people) or do you want to know what English-speaking people say that corresponds to "Nanitozo"?
They might say "please" in situations where Japanese people say "Nanitozo", but they'd never say "In some way".
John
.
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