Japanese to English Questions

Started by kazuichikun · 14 Nov 2003 · 730 replies

Learn Japanese Page 6 of 37

5 Apr 2004, 15:35 #101
Oh, I think you misunderstood me when I told you your name would be in Katakana in Japanese. Katakana is a writing system primarily used to write "borrowed words" (ie: English words).
So what I meant was that you would just write your name using Katakana.
So, it would look something like this....... ƒWƒFƒbƒVƒJ\ (it says Jessica)

(And your font colors are pretty nuts! :D )
5 Apr 2004, 16:04 #102
Hey that ok =o) I still think it is cool (the writing) My name is to common around here anyways.. I really don't like it.. I went to the link and it helped out alot! I wish my keyboard can write in japanese! That would be cool if it did! I have the language supports on the comp but not sure how to use them heh!

(Thanks I try to be differnt) :twisted: heh
5 Apr 2004, 16:41 #103
Takki_Lver22 wrote:Hey that ok =o) I still think it is cool (the writing) My name is to common around here anyways.. I really don't like it.. I went to the link and it helped out alot! I wish my keyboard can write in japanese! That would be cool if it did! I have the language supports on the comp but not sure how to use them heh!

There is a thread that helps people to install the Japanese text. I'll do some digging for you.

http://jdorama.com/viewtopic_2916_0.htm

Takki_Lver22 wrote:(Thanks I try to be differnt) :twisted: heh
What's up with the 'twisted' icon? You're scaring me.

Please post questions on Japanese language in this thread.

http://jdorama.com/viewtopic_304_315.htm
15 Apr 2004, 07:20 #104
:crazy:
Recently I've been totally captivated with Japanese pop music; most specifically with two singers, Kuninaka Ryoko (the star of Churasan) and BoA. I'm a fairly new student of Japanese language in general and now I'm trying to make head or tails out of Japanese pop lyrics. Normal japanese grammar is already pretty well mixed up when I try to make sense out of a sentence, but I've found in lyrics all bets are off that any single line will make any sense at all.

I've noticed that the combination of 'e to' is used fairly often in the lyrics. naturally to me it makes no sense at all. I assume they are some kind of idiom but can't find the combo in any of my language books yet. So what does the combo mean please?

From Ryoko's beautiful album Furusato, from the second track 'Watashi No Mama De' the first line reads:

"kanata e to tsudzuiteku" which to me translates as: "yonder to and it continues".

A few lines further down again:

"ima wa tada watashi e to" which translatest to me as: "Now just me to and"

Appreciate your input

Ralph
15 Apr 2004, 07:45 #105
generally speaking "ee to" or "e to" connotates stalling time... I guess the closest translations would be "let me see" or "hmmm" in English.

"e to" in sequence are not the particles "to" and "and" in said circumstances.
15 Apr 2004, 08:00 #106
Ushiroyubi wrote:the closest translations would be "let me see" or "hmmm" in English.

"e to" in sequence are not the particles "to" and "and" in said circumstances.


I was thinking that too, when you hear someone saying "e to ... e to ..." it's like an English speaker saying "Umm ... Uh ..." But it seems like it would be weird to have that in the middle of a song lyric, wouldn't it?

It would be interesting to see the original lyrics with Kanji ... maybe "e to" is incorrect? Could it be "ato" (after/later)?
15 Apr 2004, 08:08 #107
vibius wrote:

I was thinking that too, when you hear someone saying "e to ... e to ..." it's like an English speaker saying "Umm ... Uh ..." But it seems like it would be weird to have that in the middle of a song lyric, wouldn't it?

It would be interesting to see the original lyrics with Kanji ... maybe "e to" is incorrect? Could it be "ato" (after/later)?


possibly.

but because of the severe lack of colloquillisms in Japanese as opposed to English, "e to" can mean a great number of things... "hmm", "ummm", and "let me see" can all be "e to".
15 Apr 2004, 09:09 #108
vibius wrote:

I was thinking that too, when you hear someone saying "e to ... e to ..." it's like an English speaker saying "Umm ... Uh ..." But it seems like it would be weird to have that in the middle of a song lyric, wouldn't it?

It would be interesting to see the original lyrics with Kanji ... maybe "e to" is incorrect? Could it be "ato" (after/later)?


No sooner requested than done. here are the scanned lyrics from the CD insert:
http://users.cwnet.com/ralphm/furusato02a.jpg
http://users.cwnet.com/ralphm/furusato02b.jpg
15 Apr 2004, 09:20 #109
I also bought ryoko's picture book. Fortunately it's mostly pictures. The most significant text is her foreword (I think). OK now I'm beginning the struggle to make sense of it. The first sentence already has me toatlly confused. Hope you can translate JUST the first sentence to get me going.
To me it reads as "saikin dou desu ka" which I translate as "recently how?" Perhaps you can also explain why she starts with "I (or) me [e]"?
here's the original text:
http://users.cwnet.com/ralphm/ryokobookpf.jpg
Here's the cover of the book for your pleasure:
http://users.cwnet.com/ralphm/ryokobook01.jpg
You may also want to skim thru some other Ryoko stuff I put out there from my index:
http://users.cwnet.com/ralphm
15 Apr 2004, 09:21 #110
ralphm1999 wrote:No sooner requested than done. here are the scanned lyrics from the CD insert


Well, that's the particle ƒw all right, so I don't think it is the "Umm/uhh" (which I have seen spelled ‚¦‚Æ)

So it looks to me like "yonder to" is probably right.
but I'm a Japanese newbie, so ...
15 Apr 2004, 09:46 #111
Ushiroyubi wrote:

possibly.

but because of the severe lack of colloquillisms in Japanese as opposed to English, "e to" can mean a great number of things... "hmm", "ummm", and "let me see" can all be "e to".


Just to force a notice to you that I posted a reply.
15 Apr 2004, 09:51 #112
vibius wrote:

Well, that's the particle ƒw all right, so I don't think it is the "Umm/uhh" (which I have seen spelled ‚¦‚Æ)

So it looks to me like "yonder to" is probably right.
but I'm a Japanese newbie, so ...


as am I. Makes more sense than what I had.

thanks for the lesson.
15 Apr 2004, 10:13 #113
Ushiroyubi wrote:thanks for the lesson.


Ha ha, if you take lessons from me you will flunk for sure! :nut: :nut: :nut:
15 Apr 2004, 10:41 #114
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/jwb/wwwjdic?1KG

oddly enough... I got this translation:

”Þ•ûƒw‚Æ‘±‚¢‚Ä‚­

* ”Þ•û y‚©‚È‚½z (n) (1) (uk) the other; the other side; (2) there; yonder; that; EP
* Possible inflected verb or adjective: (te-form)
‘±‚­ y‚‚­z (v5k,vi) to be continued; EP

ƒw‚Æ seemed to indicate a time between getting to "the other side" and "to be continued"... like you suggested.


god I dunno.. lol
15 Apr 2004, 11:48 #115
vibius wrote:

Well, that's the particle ƒw all right, so I don't think it is the "Umm/uhh" (which I have seen spelled ‚¦‚Æ)

So it looks to me like "yonder to" is probably right.
but I'm a Japanese newbie, so ...



thanks for both your help. Somebody explained to me the title of the song means 'Being Myself". so based on that and your concurence and the fact that Japanese text likes everything to be backwards and if possible take the most obscure farfetched meaning of any group of words, perhaps it means:
"I will continue on the other side"
15 Apr 2004, 21:44 #116
FYI. I posted the same question on another forum and received this reply:

"e to is just a way of showing how the action takes place. Personnally, I had learned it with a repetition of e, but I guess that it can be used more liberally...

So "kanata e to tsuzuiteku" -> I keep going far away"
18 Apr 2004, 06:32 #117
I didn't quite get the explanation above... Here's more info that I found if anyone still wants it:

http://www.animelyrics.com/forum/topic_show.pl?tid=6488
(towards the bottom)

After a long time with a dictionary trying to read the explanation :beaten:, the gist: ‚Ö‚Æ is about the same as ‚É, although more poetic.


I also wanted to ask, is ‚­ in ‘±‚¢‚Ä‚­ a shortened s‚­ or —ˆ‚é or something else?


The uŽ„‚ցAÅ‹ß‚Ç‚¤‚Å‚·‚©Hv: "To myself: How have you been lately?" (It's a letter to herself. :))
18 Apr 2004, 08:13 #118
pantsu wrote:
I also wanted to ask, is ‚­ in ‘±‚¢‚Ä‚­ a shortened s‚­ or —ˆ‚é or something else?

The uŽ„‚ցAÅ‹ß‚Ç‚¤‚Å‚·‚©Hv: "To myself: How have you been lately?" (It's a letter to herself. :))


@pantsu:
‚Í‚¢A‘±‚¢‚Ä‚­@has the shortened s‚«‚Ü‚·or s‚­ attached to it.
18 Apr 2004, 10:11 #119
pantsu wrote: The uŽ„‚ցAÅ‹ß‚Ç‚¤‚Å‚·‚©Hv: "To myself: How have you been lately?" (It's a letter to herself. :))


Great that clears up where I went wrong. I never could have guessed she is writing a letter to herself. I'm not quite sure why she would do that.

Also I see from your Anime forum reference that I'm not the only one puzzled by the 'e to' combo.
14 Aug 2004, 23:29 #120
moo naka nai

‚à‚¨‚È‚©‚È‚¢

I'm not sure if this is it but does it mean anything?

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