This is a sentence about idioms though… so I feel like typical ideas of thinking about idioms in translations kind of goes out the window.
They did a literal translation, in the sense of keeping it about tanukis… they just did the logical leap that idiom is supposed to be giving as advice as well. What other idiom did they morph it into?
Yeah. If they aren’t don’t it literally, then why not translate it as “The expression ‘Don’t count your chickens before they can hatch’ is ‘don’t count your chickens before they can hatch’ in Japanese.” Of course, that is obviously bad, but the current one is hiding that behind a half translation.
To explain idioms, you need a literal translation.
True, I forgot that it was part of sentence. So number 2) is out.
I worded that poorly. I meant they morphed the meaning somehow. I actually like the new suggestion, since it keeps a bit more context. “Don’t assume you can grab a tanuki” just feels like “Why would I want to grab a tanuki?”
But yeah, thinking about the whole sentence, I don’t think this is a big deal.
I was trying to think of the Finnish equivalent and I guess it’s “Älä nuolaise ennen kuin tipahtaa”. Translates literally to “Don’t lick before it drops”. Sounds… quite different.
“tipahtaa” is passive voice, so how about if the act of dropping happens by some other force?
But if you lick just after it drops, you can catch it before it drops to the ground. That’s always the image I got from that saying. But enough of derailing the thread, I guess.
@adrianh You might want to move this to the Japanese Language category.
Semantic translation (focus on source text) and communicative translation (focus on message) both have their uses. The fact that you prefer one does not make the other incorrect.
Aye, that’s exactly my thought. There’s no need to preserve the meaning of the Japanese idiom in this instance, because that meaning is made clear by the direct contrast to the English equivalent that’s already in the sentence. Think the best option is to make a literal-ish translation on the pattern of the English equivalent.
I.e. “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch” > “Don’t count your tanuki skins before you’ve caught them”
Has… has anyone actually tried e-mailing them yet?
Or tagging the @Mods? 
If I could chime in, I think my main point would be the purpose of the overall Wanikani contextual sentences and not the translation in a vacuum and whether if it was done ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.
Wanikani contextual sentences have always rubbed me the wrong way, I have encountered over-complicated sentences that miss the point of the word being contextualized, some times for the sake of just being quirky; I have encountered sentences that decide to change from Kanji to hiragana mid-word which at the beginning I thought this was to avoid more complicated kanjis but then other sentences throw in kanjis that you will not learn until very high levels, and I think I also spotted previous learned kanjis being written in hiragana (so it was not about progression); also I have encountered sentences that try to contextualize a word by using it when is a part of a 四字熟語 or some other type of grammar modified version, and let’s not start with those examples that try to contextualize a word by using it as an abstract item (like the infamous example that said "I just got a tattoo that says ->word in question<- ").
Wanikani is mostly used by people that is learning Japanese at the same time (a minority might speak it but is trying to learn to read I guess), so these kind of sentences and translations throws our learning efforts out, which was the main incentive behind the original post: “I definitively see 卵 but I am also reading 皮算用 which is not in the translation, I get the gist of the sentence but I am now doubting my japanese reading capabilities”.
I guess I could just shrug it off like many other times I found weird sentences that translated very different from what I read in japanese but then I will miss another chance of learning which exact part in japanese conveys which meaning in english.
Indeed, my personal preferences do not determine standards of correctness, but I didn’t claim that communicative translations are universally wrong. Some allow much more expeditious understanding than literal translations (which is why anime subtitles are often communicative rather than semantic), and should be preferred over literal translations in such cases. Others completely transform what the original sentence meant, message included, and may lead to confusion. We have to consider translations individually, and my comments pertain only to this particular translation and are coloured by my belief that original meaning should be preserved, be it through wording or through message. That’s why I said it was ‘wrong’ based on my standards. Standards and criteria for acceptability do vary from person to person though.
I’m the one who said I disagreed with calling it a mistranslation, right?
I’m deleting the posts and I apologize to @adrianh if he feels I railroaded him into changing the title of the thread.
I wasn’t thinking of you specifically, honestly. I just feel that it kinda snowballed with various people suggesting that that a translation is valid as long as it captures the central concept of the idiom. (Ergo there was nothing ‘wrong’ with that translation.)
For my part, I’ll go collapse my last post and delete the elaborations. Sorry @adrianh for derailing the thread.
@Leebo @Jonapedia Not at all guys! I didn’t feel pressured, hijacked nor anything bad. All’s good.
I have enjoyed the discussion so far and actually I am intrigued learning your posture towards this topic. Also, I found very interesting what you wrote regarding Kiki’s book translation @Jonapedia , kinda wish you hadn’t edited out.
Cheers
It’s always there under the edit history if you want to read it. 
I just felt I shouldn’t drag the argument out any further.
Yeah! I did read it! Bypassing that kind of translations was my first reason I started studying Japanese, to stop missing out those little details that get lost in translation!
Completely off topic, and nothing to do with eggs or tanuki, but I can’t help but but bring up my absolute favorite American vs. Japanese saying.
I’m continually amazed how often both country’s sayings express exactly the same concepts. Sometimes they are almost word for word identical, other times they use words quaintly specific to the culture and attitudes.
One couldn’t be more different, though:
The US expression is: “The squeaky wheel gets greased.”
In Japan, the expression is 「出てる釘を当たる」(“The nail that stands up gets hammered.”)
Same circumstances, 180-degree, polar-opposite moral to the story!
After 45 years dealing with both Japanese and Americans, I’m convinced that people are people, but, to me, this difference explains everything about the difference in cultures! (laugh)
That, and the fact that where an American would say “good luck”, a Japanese person would say がんばって, “work hard”.
To be fair, “Do your best!” and 幸運を祈る do exist as well.
I feel you. You always get so much more when you understand the original. 
Fair enough, but がんばって has a wider set of usages than ‘good luck’. You can even say it to someone who’s having a hard time at work or going to court. I personally tend to think of がんばって as ‘all the best’ rather than ‘good luck’, though I’m aware of its literal meaning. Maybe I see it as ‘work hard! I’m hoping for the best for you!’?
Also, while all Western cultures certainly aren’t equivalent, in French, it’s about as common to say “bon courage” (literally ‘good courage’, wishing someone the strength to get through something) as to say “bonne chance” (‘good luck’), if not more so. Putting the onus on the individual as opposed to leaving it to chance isn’t exclusive to Japanese culture. Besides, there are shrines for success in exams, at work or even in love, no?
I went and looked this up on Wiki because I had never heard of it (I’m not American and haven’t spent more than two weeks in the US in my life), and the page essentially said that it’s about loudness getting attention. I guess it points towards attention-seeking behaviour being a good thing because it gets a person what he or she needs. How do you understand it? I’d like to know.