[Japanese] Translating into Japanese =)

celestial_sacred

Active Member
[Japanese] Translating into Japanese :]

Just asking. XD Is this right? Is this right?? If it isn't, what are my mistakes and your suggestions?

[monologue in anger (clenching teeth with tears about to flow down..haha.so emotional :-p)][informal?][female..haha]

You don't even understand the real me...you'll never ever understand
本当の私君わ分からない...いつも分かってじゃない
hontou no watashi kimi wa wakaranai...itsumo wakatte ja nai

Um.. I don't know about "even".
"Kimi" might be too formal.. "Teme" sounds too rude. "Anata" sounds weird. About the sentence structure...*laughs* Not sure at all. Haha. Up to you experts out there. =D
 

chazle

<b>Super Special Awesome Translator</b>
this is what i would say if the speaker's female:
本のあたしは誰なんか、あなたには分かんないよ...いつだって分かんないもん...
it's literally: "you don't know who the real me is...you'll never know...", but i feel that it comes across as what you want. i wouldn't put "kimi" because it sounds too lovey-dovey, and i'm imagining that b/c her teeth are clenched in anger, she's not feeling too lovingly. i also imaigne that she's talking to her boyfriend or whatever, and "anata" sounds more appropriate in this context. "temee" or "omae" are also inappropriate b/c of her feelings. if she were more pissed off than emotionally distraught, then i could imagine a situation where it might be ok, but i still have my doubts. saying "itsumo wakaranai" is not right b/c she'd be saying "you never understand" as opposed to "you'll never understand." in this situation, you need to think of "never" as "any time" or "at all times" but just negative. also, "wakatte ja nai" just isn't right, i feel. maybe what you were aiming for is "wakatteiru nja nai" (because you don't form the negative like that...as far as i know, at least), but more appropriate for this "wakaranai." the "mon" on the end is a way of expressing her frustration but not really being able to do too much about it at the time b/c there's no way of convincing the person she's addressing at the current time. in addition, it helps show how she's not willing to have the person she's talking to understand how she's feeling right when she says that statement. finally, i wouldn't worry about using "even" in this situation. the word doesn't really fit in the japanese. one of the most important things to remember when you're translating is not to get all the english words in there, but to transmit the feeling through the available words that are most fitting to the situation. *star* (oh, and yes, it's "hon no atashi" on purpose--as opposed to "hontou no watashi." i figure this woman is in a state where she would be exhibiting her femininity, so she would express herself with "atashi" instead of "watashi" which can much, MUCH more easily be used by both men and women.) anyway, hope that helps!
 

onkeikun

私語が多いって言われるよ。でもそんなの 関係ねぇ
celestial_sacred;1602 said:
You don't even understand the real me...you'll never ever understand
本当の私君わ分からない...いつも分かってじゃない
hontou no watashi kimi wa wakaranai...itsumo wakatte ja nai

Note on your sentence structure:
hontou no watashi ga kimi ni wa wakaranai...

●'ga' is the subject marker that goes after the subject of this sentence (that being 'me', in this case).
●I added 'ni' before 'wa' to show contrast. It implies that s/he (the person you're talking to), of all people, doesn't understand you, while you yourself do.
●Note that the 'wa' you used in 君わ分からない is not the right one. Just like what miforever wrote about 'Greetings' in her first post, you use 'は' as the topic marker, not 'わ'. Yes, 'は' is pronounced as 'wa' when it is after the topic of the sentence. 'わ' by itself has absolutely no meaning, so there is no need to feel confused about when to use 'は' and 'わ'. Unless you're interested in writing shouts like 'wah!' or 'waaah' (わっ! or わー btw), you rarely use 'わ' for anything by itself, much less in a proper sentence.
●The second part, 'wakatte ja nai,' doesn't work because the 'ja nai' negative ending is only for nouns. Since 'wakaru' is a verb, obviously you can't use 'ja nai' for it. Instead, you use the ending meant for verbs, in this case, 'nai'.
To change 'wakaru' to it's negative, you will change 'wakaru' → 'wakara' + 'nai' → wakaranai
Your use of 'wakatte' tells me that you want to use the te-form, so to make it negative in that case, you will change 'wakaru' → 'wakatte' + 'nai' → wakattenai
(It would actually be 'wakatteinai' in textbook Japanese, but explaining that will be going off-tangent and I don't want to make you more confused and overwhelmed than necessary right now. You'll just have to take my word for it, for the time being.)


What I (personally) would say:
あんたは本当の私のことを分かってないよ・・・いつだってそうよ。
anta wa hontou no watashi no koto wo wakattenai yo... itsu datte sou yo.
Exact translation of the statement: You don't know the real me... you never do.

●I used 'anta' instead of 'anata' because it's a bit more rude, but not overly-so like 'teme' and 'omae'.
●'wa' comes after 'anta' because 'anta' (you) is the topic of this sentence.
●'hontou no watashi no koto' = 'the thing about the real me' put literally.
●'wo' + 'wakaru' = 'wo' is the particle used for this verb, and as stated earlier, 'wakattenai' is the present, negative tense of 'wakaru' te-form. Like I also said before, the standard Japanese will really be 'wakatteinai,' but to make it casual, speakers usually drop the 'i'.
●'itsu datte sou' = 'it's always like that (no matter what I try to do to change it otherwise)' ← The stuff in parentheses is what's implied in the sentence, making it pessimistic. Japanese is neat, huh? :]
●'yo' at the end of 'itsu datte sou' is used to put an impact onto that statement. It gives a tone of finality, that it will not change.

Keep in mind that you shouldn't always transliterate the English into its exact Japanese counterpart... just like how you shouldn't always transliterate the Japanese into the exact English. Almost inevitably you will end up with something awkward that many people will not say in real life.

Let me know if you're confused about something and want more examples. I'll try to give a better explanation.


Edit:
I just thought of something, you can also use this:
watashi no koto wo wakatte kurenai
私のことを分かってくれない

Everything I've already said sticks here, but let me add the 'kurenai' part. The 'kurenai' can only be joined after the verb is put into its te-form. It means that the person you're talking to 'will not do you the favor of' understanding you. When translated, this sentence will be exactly the same as what I've written in English above, but in Japanese, the nuance here is that the other person is snubbing you, ignoring your needs, not even bothering to really open their eyes and see you for who you really are.
 

onkeikun

私語が多いって言われるよ。でもそんなの 関係ねぇ
Yes, when used by itself as a verb, 'kureru' means to give. But when it's put after another te-form verb, it's not "to give" literally... the 'kurenai' used here is a type of construction that is only based off the original word... I'll edit this post with more sensible information later after I come back from class. D:
 
Top