Scene 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
Makoto and Chinatsu walk to the mall
dialog
parsed 日本語
ああ、やっぱり、こっちは いい ですね？
「おちつく」と いいますか
「じかんが ゆっくり」と いいますか
literal
ah, I-knew-it, this-one? good, isn’t it
“calm down” to-say?
“time! no-hurry” to-say?
English
ah, I knew it, it’s nice here.
I’d say it’s calm
I’d say time is in no hurry
おねえちゃんは どこから きたの？
しゅっしん ですか？
わたしは 「よこはま」って とこから きたん ですよ
ああ、よこはま しってる
とうきょうのとこの でしょう？
ああ、ちょっと おしい かな
big-sister? where-from came?
city-of-origin is?
I? “Yokohama” where-from came is!
ah! yokotama know
tokyo’s place’ the-one isn’t-it?
ah, a-bit almost(but-not-quite) is-it
Where are you from?
what city am I from?
I’m from Yokohama.
ah! I know Yokohama.
Isn’t it the one in Tokyo?
ah, you were so close!
ああ、ひろい です ね？
千なつちゃん、まい子に なるから はなれちゃ だめ ですよ
どっちが?
ah, spacious-is, right?
Chinatsu, lost-child will-be-because to-be-separated from no-way is!
which-of-the-two? !
ah, it’s big
Chinatsu, don’t go away so you don’t get lost!
Whose the one that would get lost?!
vocabulary
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おちつく
じかん
ゆっくり
しゅっしん
とこ
おしい
ひろい
まい子 [まいご]
はなれる
はなれちゃだめ
quiet, peaceful
time, hour, period
slowly, without hurry
one’s place of origin (city, country, school, parentage)
alternative form of ところ, i.e., place, location
almost (but not quite); close (but no cigar)
spacious, wide
まよう + 子: to-lose-one’s-way + child, i.e., a lost child
to get separated, to put distance in between
don’t get separated
P&T notes – asking questions
“This is a date?”, clause with tone rise, from NCIS
original clause
change word order
raise tone at the end
change word order and raise tone
This is a date
Is this a date
This is a date?
Is this date?
In Japanese we can also ask questions without using question words in different ways. Unlike English, we cannot denote a question by changing the order of the words but, instead, we can append a question marking particle. We can also rise the tone, or we can do both. In formal speech, the question-marking particle is か, so we have:
original clause
raise tone at the end
use question mark particle
raise tone and use question mark particle
ほうき かいます
ほうき かいます?
ほうき かいますか
ほうき かいますか?
In casual speech, the question-marking particle is の:
original clause
raise tone at the end
use question mark particle
raise tone and use question mark particle
ほうき かう
ほうき かう?
ほうき かうの
ほうき かうの?
The reason we don’t need to change the intonation of a question in Japanese is because the question mark particle is already stating that the clause is a question, i.e., the Japanese question-marker particle says that we are asking a question in the same way that the English change of order of words says that we are asking a question.
We translate の, の?, か, and か? as the question mark “?”, so we cannot translate the nuance of formality of the particle.
Finally, we need to match the form of the speech with the corresponding particle. In particular, using the formal か in casual speech sounds insulting:
ほうき かうか # Don’t use this! It’s rude.
question-markers pair up with clauses
language
Japanese
English
Spanish
question clause
おねえちゃんて… (どこからきた)の?
big-sis… (where are you from)?
Makoto… ¿(de donde eres)?
comment: どっちが？
In English we use ‘between’ when we are comparing two things, like in ‘the football went between the posts!’, and we use ‘among’ when we are comparing three of more things, like in ‘we house was nestled among the trees’. Thus, ‘who do you like between them?’ and ‘who do you like among them?’ have different nuances. Japanese works like this too.
In Japanese, we use the [ko/so/a/do]chira family to choose between two things, while we use the [ko/so/a/do]re family to choose among three or more things, e.g.,
Japanese
kochira (thing)
kore (thing)
dochira (things)
dore (things)
English
this one between these two things
this one among all these things
which one between these two things
which one among all these things
The casual form of the formal [ko/so/a/do]chira family is -tchi or -chi. This is what Chinatsu uses in the last sentence of this scene, when she asks ‘dotchi ga?’. In this case, the two people she is talking about are Makoto and herself, so ‘dotchi’ is ‘who between us?’. But the point of her question is to refer back to Makoto’s comment about Chinatsu likely to get lost. Hence, Chinatsu uses a ‘ga’ to point out that she is not the one likely to get lost. In English, she would have said ‘You mean you are likely to get lost!’