Re: Translation request

Ron Moses wrote:
On Mar 1, 3:33 am, Ben Finney <bignose+hates-s...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Fine. You'll sound like a robot, but you'll be understood :-)

Back in the 1950s I heard at least one comedian talk like that, presumably for the comedic effect.

That's definitely a problem. I think my biggest obstacle to pulling
this off is that I don't know the tonality of what I'm supposed to be
saying. I have this paragraph... and it's like I know the lyrics but
I don't know the music. I'm not sure how I'm going to get past that.
Is there some kind of notation for tonality?

There is; I like to use the LH (low and high) stuff from time to time because it freaks a lot of the regulars out. Well, Sean, at least.

I was hoping some real speakers of Japanese would chime in, but neither Ben nor Sean have jumped on any of my suggestions, so maybe they're more or less OK. I'll try to indicate where you should intone higher and lower with "/" for a rise between syllables and "\" for a fall. I think a rise sounds kind of like "re mi," and a fall more like "mi do," but try as I might I am not a musician, nor very good at spoken Japanese.
After a rise, you want to stay almost level, just gradually going a bit "flat." Sometimes there is a drop after the first vowel of a word or phrase; that means start high (mi?). If the last phrase ended without a drop, "unflat" a new high. Except the "ko" of "konnichiwa," which would be "ko/nnichiwa" in very deliberate speach. Also you should probably give the "wa" in "te\emawa" a bit of an upturn, sort of as you would intone the end of "theme" in English. And, come to think of it, ditto for the "de" after your name. Di (do sharp)?

Normally "nihon" would be "ni/ho\n," but that doesn't sound right *to me* in this context.


mi/nasan, kon'nichiwa. po\ddokyas(u)t(o)-ni yo\'okoso. wa/tashiga
ho\s(u)t(o)no Ron Moses(u)-de, kyo\'ono te(\)'emawa ni/hon'no
o\ngakude gozaimass.

Oh, what the heck. Just for the record:

LHHH, (L)HHHH. HLLLLLL HLLL. LHHH HLLL (Ron Moses)L, HLL HLL LHH HLLLL LLLL.

[...]
To sign off (“good night”), just stick with 「おやすみなさい」
“oyasumi nasai”.

I'll use that, thanks.

This way, you could be talking to your whole audience. To your wife, if would be more likely "Omae(mo) oyasumi." But people not familiar with your English sign off *and* who are Japanese might not take it right.

When you're *giving* something to someone, and asking them to partake
of it (like a meal or a gift), it's not normal in Japanese to say
“enjoy”. Instead, you'd say “please accept”, 「どうぞ」 “douzo”.

For the case of “please enjoy what you're about to do” (as in,
listen to the music/performance), yes, “please enjoy” is correct,
and 「お楽しみに」 “otanoshimi ni” is fine for that.

I guess I'll work on both and use whichever one I feel more
comfortable saying.

To me, "otanoshimini" means strictly "(Please) look forward to it (next time)." But since retirement, my Japanese is fading pretty fast.
I'd rather say something like "otanoshimi (no "-ni") kudasai," but I'd feel uncomfortable, feeling that there must be a more appropriate expression, something closer to "I hope you will enjoy it" than "please enjoy it as a favor to me."

Bart
.

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