|
|
 Words of Truth and Wisdom: Yoroshiku!
Written by Alethea and Athena Nibley
Lately, we've been having a really hard time coming up with column ideas. I'm not entirely sure why this is--I kind of think it shouldn't be all that hard. At any rate, if anybody has anything they'd like us to talk about, we'd be more than willing to consider it! Anyway, I decided last night that part of the problem is that I'm not sure how much of what I say will be stuff that all you readers already know. Nevertheless (that's a fun word!), we've decided to talk about Japanese ritual expressions today, and what kind of experiences we've had translating them. I feel like a lot of fans will already know about a bunch of them, so hopefully we'll be able to give some new, or at least interesting, insight.
Let's start with “ittekimasu” and “itterasshai,” just because. A long time ago, a friend linked to a blog entry where someone had gone through volume one of Fruits Basket and pointed out all the differences between the original Japanese version and the final English (TokyoPop) version. He was still learning Japanese, so he was right that some places ended up different, and wrong about others, but there were a few that ended up in debate. Most specifically was his comment on “itterasshai.” Most readers are probably familiar with the scene in Fruits Basket where Tohru regrets not getting to say a certain phrase before her mother left on that fateful morning, and that was the phrase. We had translated it to “come back safe,” which indicated that Tohru might think that by not telling her mother to “come back safe,” she might share in the blame for her mother's failure to do so. This is based a lot on our own psychological hangups, because that's exactly how we'd feel about it. But the blogger's argument was that “itterasshai” is no more than a ritual expression, and wouldn't have that kind of significance.
So the question then becomes this: what does itterasshai mean? The “itte” part comes from “iku (to go),” and “rasshai” is the command form of “irassharu,” a very polite way to tell someone to come (or go, or be, but in this case, come). So together, because of all the grammar stuff that I don't want to explain right now, it means “(please) go and come.”
Incidentally, we know that “irassharu” means “come” in this case, because “itterasshai” is the response to “ittekimasu,” which means, “I will go and come” (“kimasu” comes from “kuru,” which definitely means “to come”). Ittekimasu is what someone says when they're about to leave, usually for school or work, and, in our translations, usually ends up as, “I'm off!”
So back to itterasshai. Our reasoning was that if you're telling someone to go and then come, the requirement would be to stay safe long enough in order to make it back, so “come back safe” would be an accurate translation. The blogger was adamant that that wasn't significant though, so we did what our Japanese professors always told us to do in cases like this: we asked a native speaker. I wrote our Japanese pen pal, and he agreed that the meaning of “itterasshai” wasn't really as important as the act of saying it, so we had to concede the point. Still, we think it's not a bad translation for “itterasshai” for the most part. These days, we usually go with “take care,” because that's what we think most people tell someone who says that they're off.
Another ritual expression that got brought up was “yoroshiku onegai shimasu” (or “yoroshiku” for short). Yoroshiku is a translator's bane. Or at least it's ours; I guess I can't speak for other translators. So I want to explain what it means, and when you see the kind of situation where characters are saying something that kind of goes along with this, maybe you'll be able to accurately think, “Oh! That must be a yoroshiku!”
“Yoroshiku” is the -ku form of “yoroshii,” which is the honorific (or polite) form of “yoi” or “ii,” meaning “good,” or rather “well,” because -ku makes it an adverb and “good” is an adjective. “Onegai shimasu” means “I (humbly) ask,” and, when it doesn't come with a “yoroshiku,” is often translated to “please.” So, as far as we understand it, “yoroshiku onegai shimasu,” or “yoroshiku,” loosely means “please regard me kindly” or “please be kind.” We've mostly seen it in situations where people have just met, or where people are about to work on something together, or when someone is about to receive a favor of someone else--places like that. But because it's used in so many different contexts and by so many different characters, it's difficult to come up with just one translation that works in all of them, and it's one that tends to trip us up a lot. I can just imagine Goku from Saiyuki saying “yoroshiku” and how hilarious it would be to have him say “regard me kindly!” (I picture him with a big grin, making a peace sign.)
Incidentally (I like that word, too), we took “yoroshiku onegai shimasu” to the translator thingie at Infoseek, and the translation we got was “thank you in advance.” This kind of works, because I know usually when we use it, it's in e-mails asking people (usually people we've never met before) for help. In my head, it's a “please be nice to me!” because we're actually quite terrified of people, and also kind of a “please forgive me for being so forward as to ask this of you!”
But in some cases, it just sounds weird, like in My Heavenly Hockey Club, when they basically blackmail Hana into joining the club, she says “yoroshiku onegai shimasu,” and why on earth would she be thanking them for forcing her into a club she doesn't want to join? Of course, the term was being used ironically, but it still just wouldn't sound right. We tried to use “please regard me kindly,” but the higher-ups at Del Rey said that didn't make any sense (and they were right), so it was changed to “I'm looking forward to playing hockey with you,” which really works much better.
I'm not sure I managed to explain “yoroshiku” as well as I'd have liked, but I hope it made some amount of sense. We've thought of a few more ritual expressions and other Japanese words that would be fun to explain (why they make life so hard), but I think I'll save those for another column. Yay for having material in advance! Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!
: :
|
30 August 2010
MangaLife: On Culture
Share 25 August 2010
Words of Truth and Wisdom: I Put A Spell On You
Share 11 August 2010
Words of Truth and Wisdom: Filters
Share 6 August 2010
Maybe You're Not Using It Right :On Japanese Load Words
Share
|
