c/translators · by nore@sh.itjust.works · 228d

[ja > en] What do the first 2 lines mean?

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

7 points · 5 comments · view on lemmy.world

5 Comments

Rentlar@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 227d (3 replies)

Winding paths / Losing one's way

Rescue Santa

Do you want to have a go at the whole sentence based on that? (Hint: I think からis implicitly omitted at the end of the first line)

nore@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 227d (2 replies)

If I were to translate it from what you've given me:

To Emilly
To help Santa find his way
Make a wish to the twinkling stars in the dark sky.
Merry Christmas! from mom

The lack of particles in these is really testing my confidence (-.-').

Rentlar@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 227d (1 reply)

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 pts · 227d

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.

k0e3@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 223d

It's also worth noting that it's written in a tanka form so some shortcuts are taken to fit the artistic style.