ごめんねの かわりかさらを あらってる
4-5-4 translation:
Washing dishes.
All because I didn’t
say, “I’m sorry?”
ごめんねの かわりかさらを あらってる
4-5-4 translation:
Washing dishes.
All because I didn’t
say, “I’m sorry?”
ごめんねのかわりかさらをあらってる
“I’m sorry” substitute? Dishwashing.
Translation notes:
- ゴメンネの代わりか皿を洗ってる
ごめんねのかわりかさらをあらってる
“I’m sorry” substitute? Dishwashing.
Notes:
“I’m using punctuation as part of the translation here to indicate what’s meant by か and keeping the first part as a noun in the English version.”
This award is almost entirely due to @alo 's incredible ability to go back and stealth edit this senryu everyplace it was written, including the original website, and add that か in the middle that I’LL SWEAR TO MY GRAVE WAS NOT THERE WHEN I LOOKED AT THIS YESTERDAY!
The human brain freaks me out. This isn’t the first time this has happened here! Apparently when I read Japanese the 送り仮名 completely disappears. I know we read words at a time in English or Japanese, but it’s increasingly apparent that “extra” kana easily blends in with adjacent 送り仮名. Did anyone else experience this?!
Volume: Global truths
- 思いやり思い上がりと紙一重
I can “read” every bit of this without a dictionary. But I still don’t know what it means! (Yet.)
Remember to please use the spoiler tag with your translation attempts! Also, please include the reading in kana with your submission.
Everyone is encouraged to participate, no matter your level!
Online tools like dictionaries, sentence databases, and even AI translation engines are fair game and can be extremely helpful. Yomichan is particularly handy if you use the Chrome or Firefox browser. The 語源由来辞典 is also an excellent resource for researching the etymology of various words and expressions.
Here are the links to the 356 Japanese originals (spoiler free) and to the the spreadsheet with all the upcoming senryu as well as the translations to date.
Ah! I think I’ve got it.
- 思いやり思い上がりと紙一重
おもいやり・おもいあがりと・かみひとえ
Thoughtfulness is
a paper-thin step
from presumption
Notes:
Once again, I’m quite confident in my translation. Experience has taught me I’m about to be shown my confidence was misplaced!
おもいやり おもいあがりと かみひとえ
3-5-3
A fine line
divides conceit from
sympathy
Not sure if this is the right meaning,
Edit: The psychology of 思い上がり
- 思いやり思い上がりと紙一重
おもいやり・おもいあがりと・かみひとえ
Thoughtfulness is / a paper-thin step / from presumption
Notes:
Volume: Heartfelt (しみじみ編)
- 恋人のモーニングコール起きて待つ
Wowza. Yet another connotation for しみじみ <blushes>. Easy to read, though (no character beyond level 17).
Remember to please use the spoiler tag with your translation attempts! Also, please include the reading in kana with your submission.
Everyone is encouraged to participate, no matter your level!
Online tools like dictionaries, sentence databases, and even AI translation engines are fair game and can be extremely helpful. Yomichan is particularly handy if you use the Chrome or Firefox browser. The 語源由来辞典 is also an excellent resource for researching the etymology of various words and expressions.
Here are the links to the 356 Japanese originals (spoiler free) and to the the spreadsheet with all the upcoming senryu as well as the translations to date.
こいびとの モーニングコール おきてまつ (5-8-5)
3-4-3 translation:
Wake up to
wait for my love’s
wake up call
This one was easy after I learned that “morning call” = “wake up call” - didn’t know that until now.
The first translation that came to mind was: Wake up to / wait for my love’s / moaning call. The kinda call that I’d like to be woken up to. And the translation reads way better than the original.
I’m traveling for the next 3 days - will resume once I’m back next Tuesday. Y’all have fun.
I hope it’s a pleasure trip.
Thanks for the submission and talk to you in a few days!
I knew what a “morning call” was in katakana-go — “moaning call” didn’t even occur to me!
Even so, I think the connotation is similar.
恋人のモーニングコール起きて待つ
Kana:
こいびとのモーニングコールおきてまつ
Translation attempt:
Waiting for
My lover’s call
On waking
Once again I’m going to take a day to submit a poll (and once again I’m sneaking my own submission in at the end).
Which is your favorite? [Please don’t be shy — anyone viewing this thread is welcome to vote.]
0 voters
Coming in late with a submission
恋人のモーニングコール起きて待つ
waiting to
wake up to my love’s
wake-up call
I ended up googling 起きて待つ to see if it was a set expression I was unaware of, and I was amused to find this book on cat-related expressions in English. Here, it’s translated as “wait up for”.
As far as interpretations go, the sense I got from it is that instead of setting an alarm or something, the person is letting their lover be their morning alarm, so it’s not actually morning until their lover has woken them up.
Also, I’ve been a little busy, so I missed this one:
I just wanted to comment that 紙一重 is actually another word that I learned from wrestling, haha. It was used in a wrestling promo that I translated a couple months ago, and has been bouncing around a bit in Anki for me because the reading is a little tricky . I did, in fact, manage to read it correctly in the senryu, though, so I guess my practice is counting for something!
Well, so much for using a poll to help make my decision easier!
- 恋人のモーニングコール起きて待つ
こいびとの・モーニングコール・おきてまつ
Awake but / waiting for my love’s / call to rise
Notes:
Volume: Salaryman
- 久しぶり 定時帰宅に 笑顔なし!
It’s starting to amaze me how many of these recent ones I can read without a dictionary now. Daily reading practice, even just 17 音 per day really seems to pay off.
No hints because all of these are pretty common words and taught on Wanikani. 久しぶり ([after a] long time) is the most advanced from level 34.
While I understand all the words, it doesn’t mean I necessarily understand the intended meaning. I can think of at least a couple different interpretations.
Remember to please use the spoiler tag with your translation attempts! Also, please include the reading in kana with your submission.
Everyone is encouraged to participate, no matter your level!
Online tools like dictionaries, sentence databases, and even AI translation engines are fair game and can be extremely helpful. Yomichan is particularly handy if you use the Chrome or Firefox browser. The 語源由来辞典 is also an excellent resource for researching the etymology of various words and expressions.
Here are the links to the 356 Japanese originals (spoiler free) and to the the spreadsheet with all the upcoming senryu as well as the translations to date.
Hiragana
ひさしぶり ていじきたくに えがおなし!
Translation notes/ discussion.
This first is a direct translation because poetry hard.
Long time no see, going home on time, without a smile.
or
It’s been a long time since I’ve come home on time to no smile.
I believe the one without a smile is the author due to the origins being in Salaryman, but I can’t shake the feeling maybe the person waiting for the salaryman isn’t happy he’s back home on time.
So essentially if no one’s waiting for him to come home, then he’s not happy to be leaving on time. This one is tricky…
Since time zones are a thing, I will post this attempt following the salaryman is not happy to be coming home on time.
Attempt
been a while
since I’ve gone home
on time, no smile!
Just a couple thoughts, the first I’m certain of, the second less so:
久しぶり (without the 「〜ですね!」) doesn’t always mean “long time no see”. Exactly as in your final submission, it can also be「久しぶりに〜」meaning a long time since doing something or since something has happened (not necessarily just meeting or seeing someone).
Another possible interpretation of 笑顔なし is that he’s trying to hide a smile. My initial thought is the salaryman author is hiding the smile from their boss or co-workers. The old salaryman trope is that the boss can’t leave until all their reports have gone home, and that everyone has to give their all to the company.
Ohhhh number two makes more sense now, of couse he’d be happy to go home on time, and the exclaimation point hammers that point in. With this in mind I’ll give it another crack…
It has been so long
since I have gone home on time.
I’m not smiling!
I’m not happy with it, but poetry isn’t my strong suit. Just happy to translate
I actually had the same interpretation as @superelf94
His wife is waiting at home, but surprisingly she‘s not over the moon that he‘s home so early.
It’s also a thing in Japan that wives divorce their husbands after they retire, because before retirement the wives could just do as they please (and even if they didn’t really like their husband they wouldn’t see them much) but now their husbands are around which is of course annoying so they get divorced.
I think this is the direction the 川柳 is aiming at. (Not divorce or anything, but „wife is actually happy to spend her time alone and the husband is 邪魔 sometimes“)
久しぶり 定時帰宅に 笑顔なし!
It’s hard to choose between the boomer stereotypes but
I thought the same as Myria and superelf94, the family is not happy to see him.
his wife just wants to be alone, and he his out of touch with his children that he never see anyway. Seems to be a common theme that the dad is always isolated, working endlessly.
Going for 4-5-4
Finally could
go back home on time
Nobody smile!
I wasn’t going to attempt this one because the subject matter wasn’t terribly compelling to me, but after reading the discussion, I couldn’t resist a more tongue-in-cheek translation (as opposed to a literal one) .
久しぶり 定時帰宅に 笑顔なし!
“hello, honey!
you’re home early!” said
without smiling
- 久しぶり 定時帰宅に 笑顔なし!
久しぶり・ていじきたくに・えがおなし!
been a while / since I’ve gone home / on time, no smile!
Notes:
Volume: Intense
- うますぎる話見抜けぬ欲の皮
Once again I’m amazed at actually being able to (s-l-o-w-l-y) read another one without a dictionary, while still having absolutely no idea what’s going on!
Here’s how I parse it, but I’m still struggling with the real meaning (as always, mistakes are likely below, but you may not want to look until after you’ve tried your hand at it).
So l suspect the meaning is something like “clever talk is the skin covering hidden desires” but I’m still completely unsure if that’s even close or if that even makes a lick of sense!
Remember to please use the spoiler tag with your translation attempts! Also, please include the reading in kana with your submission.
Everyone is encouraged to participate, no matter your level!
Online tools like dictionaries, sentence databases, and even AI translation engines are fair game and can be extremely helpful. Yomichan is particularly handy if you use the Chrome or Firefox browser. The 語源由来辞典 is also an excellent resource for researching the etymology of various words and expressions.
Here are the links to the 356 Japanese originals (spoiler free) and to the the spreadsheet with all the upcoming senryu as well as the translations to date.
Had a spare moment, and thought I’d drop by! So glad I did, since this includes a new expression for me. I’m excited to see how everyone else interprets this poem.
since I accidentally learned it really early in my language journey. We’re talking です、ます、and ぬ - the point where I used to think it was as common as ない.
うますぎるはなし / みぬけぬ / よくのかわ
a story
too good to be true
conceals greed
The perspective of my interpretation:
Ideally, I wanted to express that you “aren’t able to see the greed of the other party, when being told something that’s too good to be true”.