手に入れる世界は vs 手に入れた世界は meaning

Can somebody translate me these two phrases, and point out the (possible) differences? I am planning on getting a japanese phrase tattoo and as such have to be really helpful, especially as did not get to the grammar part at all yet. Thanks in advance :slight_smile: .

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I don’t mean to change the subject or sound disrespectful, but why do you feel like getting a tattoo that you don’t understand is a good idea? In my oninion it’s not such a good idea. What exactly are you trying to convey?

手に入れる means “to obtain something”. 手に入れた is the past tense conjugation of that. The は there also makes no sense.
手に入れる世界は means roughly “(as for) the world that (somebody) will obtain, …”
手に入れた世界は means roughly “(as for) the world that (somebody) obtained, …”

I’m confused about what you want exactly. There are a billion reasons why you shouldn’t get a text tattoo that you don’t understand.

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I imagined there was a segment after this.

It also sounds like something you’d hear in an anime, 手に入れた世界は、急に奪われた。

Something something grim reminder…

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Thanks for quick response! Don’t worry, I will not tattoo anything on myself before I fully understand the meaning. To answer your question though, I love tattoos, been wanting to get one for 3 years now. Coincidentally, I also am a fan of japanese for quite some years, started learning it a few months ago. Love the sound of the language as its symbols (artistycally). Unfortunatelly, as mentioned, I haven’t started grammar and reading yet. The phrase I posted is from my all time favourite japanese musician TK, in a song “Film a moment”, which helped me get through some tough times. The reason for the question is that very many sites (that are probably not to be too trusted) translate it to: “The world is in my hands”. My tattoo would be under the wrist going towards shoulder on the forearm. Hence, my question. But as I suspected, that is apperantly not the most common translation and as such of course will not be used.

Will be working on grammar soon and no, the tattoo is not coming in a while. Don’t wanna be the classic kanji tattoo regret story ;).

Again, thanks for reply and helpful words.

Sincerely, Peter

(Sorry for grammatical errors, not a native.)

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It’s hard to take song lyrics out of context and hope it makes sense. There’s a lot of lyrical liberties taken when writing a song. especially this line, where the sentence is cut off in half without being completed. I strongly advise against this kind of tattoo to be honest, there’s all sorts of ways it can go wrong. You might get a text that doesn’t make sense out of context, you might get an artist that messes up the kanji themselves, then there’s the cultural issues about having a tattoo in Japan. The problem is much more complex that you’re thinking, and there’s a lot of risk involved. So if you do go through with it, please do it only after weighing everything and doing your best to minimize any chance for a bad outcome.

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I love TK! :smiley:

As you might know, while songs are very poetic and can be a great source for quotes, grabbing half a sentence without much context is not a good idea, basically ever.

And TK’s songs always have a frantic feel to them and their lyrics, so you can’t expect the same you do from other artists.

手に入れた世界は film a moment (this doesn’t make sense to me)

The other instance of the segment is later.

手に入れた世界は無表情さえもsilent.
その先が見てみたいなんて 未来を殺していいの

無表情 = lack of expression; blank look (on one’s face)
さえも = even; if only; if just; as long as; the only thing needed

The translation I found for this segment seems to make (close to literal) sense, so I’ll post it here.

The world I hold in my hands is expressionless and silent
I want to see what lies beyond
Could I kill the future?

In general, this song doesn’t seem to be the uplifting kind, since he says that he became invisible to everyone, and that he became unable to stop anything from happening.

I’m obviously not going to tell you not to tattoo it because of that, but first understand it, then decide.

I have a lot of songs that mean a lot to me that are pretty dark, or images that mean a lot to me that stem from questionable sources, but that’s life.

For example, a phrase such as なんか全部めんどくせえ could be taken in a variety of ways, but if it was a tattoo, it would probably be with the connotation that you’re still living in spite of that.
Just an example from a song I like. :sweat_smile:

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Wouldn’t getting a tattoo in Japanese be a lot cooler and more personal to you if you could actually understand the meaning yourself?

In that way it might even be kind of a cool reward for your Japanese level getting to that point. Perhaps even a motivational goal to work towards.

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Also, a lot of the time things aren’t easily translatable, especially between languages that differ as much as Japanese and English and especially poetry.

So the translation will likely only really be a guideline anyway, but if you could understand the Japanese, you’d really know what it meant, making it that much more special.

Also things often sound a lot cooler in one language, but of course you have to understand the language for that to be the case.

Like, a very strange and unrelated example, but I like how the Japanese version of Agent Smith doesn’t say “I’m going to enjoy watching you die, Mr. Anderson” but rather the very Japanese badguy-esque 死ぬところを見せてもらおうか、アンダーソン君. That just becomes garbage if you try to translate it and keep what gives it the flair (Something like “Shall we have me recieve the favour of you showing your dying moment, Anderson-kun?” Maybe? And that doesn’t explain how people can act tough by claiming to recieve favors that are obviously not given voluntarily. It’s too Japanese to translate and that’s what makes it a nice touch to me)

OK, I’ve derailed this enough. Have a nice evening! :sweat:

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Perhaps 世界を手に入れる?

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Thanks for reply! Yes, I will get one eventually when I advance my japanese to the point I won’t have to post the question. Have a good one! (and yes, TK is epic)

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Thanks for reply. I will do exactly as you suggested. Tattoo can wait anyways, it is gonna be forever after all!

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You and me brother, I don’t think I’d ever get a Japanese tattoo without first asking at least a Japanese acquaintance. :joy: No matter my level.

Songs rarely make sense in context. :stuck_out_tongue:

That, and you’d probably be explaining it to people forever.

I wouldn’t get a tattoo in a noticeable place, but if people asked, I would explain it to them, it’s like getting a new shirt with some kanji in it, 2 minutes of talking about it and it’s done.

I also already talk about a lot of nonsense, so at least this would be more interesting.

If it’s an image, though, I probably wouldn’t explain it.
Since images tend to carry a lot more meaning than a phrase that everyone could understand.
So it’d be for myself, and anyone who had seen and remembered the cover of a specific manga. :sweat_smile:

An established proverb or yojijukugo probably make the best tattoo candidates.

I assume you want to go to Japan? I know its getting better, but I’m pretty sure tattoos are very frowned on over there, like to the point you wont be allowed in places.

Also, you should go look at people who have English words tattooed on them from other countries. It kind of looses its coolness when its just some common word. Although a proverb would be pretty tight in any language as @Leebo suggested.

Perfect example… “Don’t worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon.” - John Madden

:slight_smile:

Yeah, this is something to keep in mind. If you ever want to work in Japan a lot of jobs don’t allow tattoos/require your tattoos to be hidden.

I have a few small tattoos, and so far the only really annoying thing has been that I miss out on a lot of cool onsens!

I’ve been booted from capsule hotel for tattoo. I guess they had blanket rule to keep irezumis out. Mine (2) are very small, mostly hiding. Also I’m as white as it goes, so I’m not sure why they were so strict.

My tattoos are mostly in Japanese. One is quite rare in Japan, my experience ~10% of Japanese can read it. Most of them recognize the meaning when given in sentence with other kanjis to combine, but alone just looking at the kanji I’m always surprised if someone can read it correctly. (now I have to check if WK actually teaches that one…)

Second one is super easy to read, although I use less common alternative reading so most Japanese people read it wrong the first time. When I say my (actual) name, everybody has the light bulb -moment. Kanjis are same as on my nafuda:

Looks like my rare kanji is not on WK database. Checking couple online dictionaries, they have it but mention it’s old one.

But the 9-Rings -case was good reminder not to take tattoo until you check it with couple people (you trust).

So it’s an old form of a common kanji?

EDIT: Oh, maybe you meant “its old one.” So… dictionaries don’t have the kanji you got tattoo’d but they have the old form of it, which itself is also rare? Are you willing to share what kanji it is?