I stumbled across this ad and I feel confused because I understand the words but not what it means.
Something like “Even if small Godzilla is born”? Is there maybe a meaning of 生まれる that I’m not familiar with?
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They are separate sentences. 小さくても、ゴジラ “Even if (it’s) small, (it’s) (a) Godzilla”. And 生まれる “It is born.” They’re not one sentence together.
Basically, I think they’re just saying that the copier is smaller than other models, but still has a lot of functionality. Basically. And it’s new (生まれる).
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Also, based on the credits at the bottom, the character is actually “baby godzilla”. I don’t know that character but I guess it causes as much damages as an adult one. And since it’s a baby, that’s how you connect to 生まれる
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From reddit a year ago, this translation is pretty good!
[ Dropping Godzilla to try to capture the first idiom–and sticking in the manufacturer’s name to capture the second idiom:
“Though it be small, it’s a monster of a machine. A new invention–from Canon.”]
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I see – I think my confusion was maybe thinking of 生まれる as only the birth of a living thing, but in this case it’s likely referring to the birth of a new kind of printer?
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If I remember correctly, 生まれる can be used for any sort of birth or production, whereas 産まれる is reserved to births of living things. According to an article I just read, the other difference is that 産まれる is reserved for discussing events at or immediately after the time of birth, meaning that one should use 生まれる for a child who have become an adult. Here’s the full article in Japanese if you’re interesting:
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As Jonapedia pointed out, it’s probably the case that 生まれる can be literally used for non-living things, but basically anything can be used metaphorically. And an ad where a tiny Godzilla uses a copy machine would definitely be open to metaphorical language usage.
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Edit: misread the time stamp. I didn’t realize so much time had passed. Oh well.
More than a tiny Godzilla, it’s a baby Godzilla, making it a pun rather than a metaphor.
But anyway, my dictionary lists for 生まれる:
２ 新しく作り出されて、世に出る。物事が新たにできる。「最近―・れたばかりの制度」
which also aligns with my experience with the word.
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