Translation Questions - Toradora Spinoff 2

[rpapo]

Interesting. I will have to think this one out. I've looked at the logo and agree it's a bit of a stretch. Who knows what was going on in Takemiya-san's head, though...

[EusthEnoptEron]

But note:
"握りこぶしぐらいに見える" is describing the "小さな顔" and has no direct connection with "シャネルマーク入りのサングラス。".

Hence, my guess would be:

"On her face, that seemed to be as small as a clenched fist, she was wearing sunglasses with the Chanel logo."

[rpapo]

That was actually closer to what I had been thinking, except that instead of "as small as" I somehow thought that she had her face twisted in annoyance. That because a few lines further along she truly is annoyed . . . at Taiga. At this point in the story Ami, Ryuuji and Taiga are over in a more fashionable district. Ryuuji is dressed adequately, if not spectacularly. Ami, of course, is dressed to a T. Taiga, on the other hand, is a problem. Just what kind of problem I don't know yet . . . I haven't read that much further on yet.

[rpapo]

Does anybody know just what "ぽわぽわ" means? I don't find it in any dictionary, list of slang or sound effects. It seems to be an adverb, based on where in the sentence it is found, and based on that I suspect that it is some sort of emphasizing onomatopoeia word.

I -do- see it used on various web sites, but the contexts there seem to indicate it is there used as a corruption of the english word "power". That doesn't entirely make sense in the book's text, where the author is describing Taiga's taste (or lack thereof) in dressing up.

[rpapo]

Stumped everybody? Well, here's another oddball not in the dictionaries, nor even present in any Google results:

某宥名

The first kanji means "one", or "a certain one", the second means "pardon", "excuse" or "forgive", and the third is a common kanji for "name". Together, who knows?

[joay_b]

Can you post the sentences where "ぽわぽわ" and "某宥名" are being used? Or at least what page in the Japanese sources where they are used?

[rpapo]

No problem. Here's the whole paragraph, with the problems being the third and fourth sentences.

元々、大好きなのはフリルとレース。オーバースカートの前ボタンを開けて、中に着込んだペチコートやらアンダースカートやらをもっさり見せるのが大河の定番ファッションだった。ふわふわもしゃもしゃの素材も好きで、カーディガンにもセーターにも、とにかくニットの花やらなにやらあちこちにぽわぽわくっつけて、乙女全開、花柄も全開、フリルとレースとコットン命で、重ね着するのがお約束。全身総額とんでもない値段になる某宥名フリフリブランドが、一番にして唯一のお気に入りだったはず。

The first three sentences I currently render as:

From the start, she really loved ruffles and lace. Overskirt with the front buttons undone, unfashionably wearing petticoats and underskirts inside, that was Taiga’s standard fashion. She loved fluffed up and disheveled stuff, cardigans and sweaters too. Anyway, it’s like she had made a vow to dress in layers, using knits with flowers and suchlike attached here and there, really girly, really flowery, frilly, lacy and with live cotton.

For the time being, I've ignored the "ぽわぽわ" in the third sentence that I mentioned a couple of days ago.

[joay_b]

1. I see, your sources say "某宥名" when it's actually written as "某有名" (literally "a certain famous ..."). What sources were you using?

2. Try speaking "ぽわぽわ" out loud. I tried doing it and it (probably) gave me an impression of something suddenly popping up at some random place.

[rpapo]

I've been using a transcript file that Vaelis pointed out to me. Originally, I was making my own transcript, which made the work a lot slower. I have not verified the one that was given to me character by character against the books, and once in a while I find a mistake in it. Most of the time I think there's a mistake, but find when I open the book that the transcript is right. This has happened so many times I now often forget to check the book...

I think this will be the third or fourth real mistake I've seen in the transcript.

Unfortunately, I'm at work, and my books are on my desk at home. I work on the translations while I'm waiting for my main work machine to get something done for me. There's a lot of waiting involved in software development.

Thanks!

[rpapo]

Back to the slurred/elided Japanese department again. This time, it's Ami speaking. After looking over Taiga's sloppy clothing for going to the gym, in response to Taiga's challenge to go ahead and laugh at her, Ami responds:

「……ごめん。無理だ。亜美ちゃん笑えない。きっついわ、これ……」

The first three of four sections of this are plain enough: “… Sorry. It’s not possible. Ami-chan won’t laugh."

The problem is the last section: きっついわ (kittsuiwa). This appears to be contracted or slurred Japanese once again. Does anybody have a suggestion as to what this means?

[Kinny Riddle]

Back to the slurred/elided Japanese department again. This time, it's Ami speaking. After looking over Taiga's sloppy clothing for going to the gym, in response to Taiga's challenge to go ahead and laugh at her, Ami responds:

「……ごめん。無理だ。亜美ちゃん笑えない。きっついわ、これ……」

The first three of four sections of this are plain enough: “… Sorry. It’s not possible. Ami-chan won’t laugh."

The problem is the last section: きっついわ (kittsuiwa). This appears to be contracted or slurred Japanese once again. Does anybody have a suggestion as to what this means?

She's just saying Taiga looked so pathetically lame (due to her getting fat) that it's not even worth laughing about.

"...Sorry, don't think it's possible for Ami-chan to laugh. Cause you're just too pathetic..."

[rpapo]

Thanks. I will see how this works with what follows.

[rpapo]

Here's an odd one that somebody with more cultural insight might be able to answer: on page 48 there is a brief description of a upscale workout center that Ami has taken Taiga & Ryuuji to. The author describes the first floor as full of exercise equipment, and a number of "studios" partitioned off with glass. Then she mentions a "studio menu" with a variety of items on it that Ryuuji thinks they should check out later.

Now it seems to me that "studio" is not at all the right word here. That, or I am misunderstanding something here. Why would they have what would seem to be a food court at an exercise center???

The key here, I think, are the words スタジオ (studio) and メニュー (menu). Perhaps they mean something different here from what to an English speaker is the obvious?

For reference, the original paragraph text is the following:

勝手がわからないままに、とりあえず更衣室近くのベンチに腰を下ろす。館内マップによれば、この階にはマシンのスペースと、ガラスで区切られたいくつかのスタジオがあるらしい。スタジオメニューは多彩で、後ほどいろいろ試すつもりだ。そして地下にはプールとサウナ。大河が嫌がらなければ、ぜひともこちらも試したかった。

My current translation goes like this:

Whether or not it really suited him I cannot say, but for now he sat down on a bench near the locker room. According to the map of the inside of the building, on this floor was space for machines, and, separated by glass, there seemed to be a few studios. The studio menu had a wide variety of items, eventually they planned to try out some of them. And in the basement there was a pool and sauna. If it weren’t for Taiga’s glare, he by all means would have gone to try it out.

[RonnieCorny]

hi Rick

probably it's just the naming conventions... the "studio menu" would probably equate to "activities listing" of the gym; like free-weights, pilates/yoga, treadmill/stationary bicycles, etc.

much like japanese calls apartments/flats "mansions"... so, calling these small cubicle/areas "studios" would be similar but appropriate...


rgds,

- ron

Here's an odd one that somebody with more cultural insight might be able to answer: on page 48 there is a brief description of a upscale workout center that Ami has taken Taiga & Ryuuji to. The author describes the first floor as full of exercise equipment, and a number of "studios" partitioned off with glass. Then she mentions a "studio menu" with a variety of items on it that Ryuuji thinks they should check out later.

Now it seems to me that "studio" is not at all the right word here. That, or I am misunderstanding something here. Why would they have what would seem to be a food court at an exercise center???

The key here, I think, are the words スタジオ (studio) and メニュー (menu). Perhaps they mean something different here from what to an English speaker is the obvious?

[rpapo]

Thanks. I will adjust the translation accordingly.

The same kind of word transformation happens between English and Spanish. Anybody who speaks English finds quickly that many words in both languages are essentially the same, once you deal with some relatively simple transformations. For instance, "translation" becomes "traducción". This leads directly to a humorous situation, a story that passed around when I was serving as a missionary in southern Peru (1982-83). The story goes like this:

A young lady had just arrived a few weeks earlier from the USA, and was still having difficulty with the language. She and her partner (also female) arrived one Sunday at church, and when the minister saw them he said, "Hello! I'm really glad to see you here this morning. You see, one of the people who was going to speak this morning couldn't make it, and I was wondering if you could fill in. Could you do it?" The young lady, whose Spanish was not all that good yet, didn't really want to, but in the end gave in. Later that morning, when she got up in front of the congregation, the first thing she tried to say was "I'm sorry, but I'm really embarrassed right now, and it's all the minister's fault!" Unfortunately, she used the word "embarazada" for "embarassed". An innocent mistake. Truly unfortunately, that word means "pregnant".