Translators

79 readers

2 users here now

This is a community for all things translation. Whether you need help translating a phrase, want to practice your language skills, or seek feedback on your work, you’ve come to the right place.

How to Participate

Need a translation? Post your request with the original text, target language, and any context. Our polyglot community is here to help!

Want to practice? Share your translations and ask for reviews. Constructive feedback is always welcome.

Offering help? Browse requests and contribute your expertise. Please only translate into your native or fluent languages.

■ Rules & Guidelines

★ Be clear and specific: Include the source language, target language, and context for accurate translations.

★ No machine translations: Human translations only—this is a space for learning and collaboration.

★ Respect others: Keep discussions civil and supportive.

★ No spam or low-effort posts: Avoid repetitive or overly simple requests (e.g., single words).

★ Use tags to in the post title to clarify the language pairs: Use the two-letter ISO language code. e.g. [ja > en] This tag means that the poster is requesting to have Japanese text translated into English.

■ Tips for Quality Translations

★ Provide context (e.g., formal/informal tone, audience).

★ Mention any specific challenges or nuances.

Let’s build a helpful and inclusive space for language lovers!

founded 2 weeks ago

MODERATORS

k0e3@lemmy.ca

[ja > en] What do the first 2 lines mean? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 day ago by nore@sh.itjust.works to c/translators@lemmy.ca

4 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Another letter! ;p
This time I can understand the last 2 lines, but the first 2 perplex me.

Context: Christmas!

Image text:

エミリーへ
まよいみち
サンタをすくう
きらぼしは
やみよにまたたく　ねがいかな
メリー・クリスマス！　ははより

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

No worries, you made a decent attempt putting it together. The entire body of the letter is one long sentence so the word ordering is extremely different here than in English:

(1)まよいみち (2)サンタをすくう (3)きらぼしは (4)やみよにまたたく　(5)ねがい(6)かな

(6) I wonder if (3) shining stars are (5) wishes (4) twinkling in the night sky, (2) that help Santa (1) from getting lost.

It would help if your mother used punctuation more in her other letters :) . You may also notice that the sentence ending, suffix, whatever the term is (6) sets the tone of the whole sentence. Like ~だろう ~である ~なのだ ~かも ~なさい, etc. They aren't to be taken as filler.

The way these are used tend to define people's speaking style, more subtly in real life, sometimes local dialects show their distinctness with unique endings, and more obviously in caricature portrayed by characters in anime, manga and games.

[–] nore@sh.itjust.works 2 points 15 hours ago

Thank you very much!
I really need to pay more attention to the ending particles, for some reason my brain often just glosses over them when reading.

It would help if your mother used punctuation more in her other letters :)

Yeah, here's what a letter from a villager normally looks like:
Much easier to translate.