Recently, I started listening to Japanese Parallel Audio – Volume 2 from Lingo Jump. It’s basically just a list of 501 random phrases in English and Japanese, and for the most part it does what it says on the tin.
However, after listening to the first few hours, I’ve noticed a remarkable number of translations that I find questionable.
It still works as listening practice on my walks, because I know enough to notice when something is very obviously amiss. Still, I figured I’d share them here, both to test my own understanding and to give a feel for what to expect from this resource.
Do you want me to put the TV on?
Their translation:
テレビの上においてほしい？
The Japanese sentnce is grammatically correct, but makes me wonder if the translator misunderstood the English sentence as “Do you want me to put it on the TV?”
Using roughly the same grammar, I’d translate this as
テレビをつけてほしい？
I’m running a bit late
Their translation:
少し遅れて走っているよ
This strikes me as an overly literal translation. Does this idiom exist in Japanese? Or would this only refer to literally running while late?
I’d use something like:
少し遅れそう
How do you take it?
Their translation:
どうやって持っていくの？
This sounds to me like they’re literally asking “How do you transport it?”
whereas I’d interpret the English sentence as asking for your preferred way of taking a drink or meal, i.e. if you like your coffee with milk or not.
I’m actually not entirely sure what the “canonical” way to ask this is, but searching a bit, it seems a couple of altenratives are:
〇〇のお好みは？
どのように飲みますか？
They haven’t met her yet.
Their translation:
彼らはまだ彼に会っていないよ
Now, I do think that technically, 彼 isn’t 100% male-specific (originally, it just means “that one”). Still, using it without added context for an explicitly female object is a bit curious, especially considering how particular they are with their pronouns in other sentences, such as:
私には計画があるの (“I have a plan”)
あれは美味しかった (“That was delicious”)
How many?
Their translation:
なんかい？
Obviously, this can be correct, depending on what you’re counting, but without context I’d have expected いくつ.
That being said, it also striked me as a silly sentence to include without context: Either the listener will already know it, or they’ll end up confused.
Are you seeing anyone?
Their translation:
誰かを見ているの？
This strikes me as another instance where the translator might have misunderstood the English sentence, and ended up translating it as “Do you see anyone?”
I’d use something like
誰かと付き合っているの？
付き合っている人はいるの？
恋人はいるの？
I like risk.
Their translation:
私は危険が好き
In this case, I mostly find the English sentence rather unnatural; it sounds like they’re talking about the board game. It would sound more natural to me as “I like taking risks” or “I like a bit of risk”.
I’ve got a flat tyre.
Their translation:
フラットタイヤを持っているの
This sounds like “I have a flat tyre in my possession”, like they’re trying to sell it to you or something.
For describing the problem that one of the tyres on your care is flat, I’d expect something like:
(タイヤが)パンクしている
Good day
Their translation:
おはよう
I guess towards the end of the morning, there is some overlap where both “Good day” and おはよう could be used, but this still strikes me as a very odd choice without any context. (They also use おはよう for “Good morning” in an earlier sentence.)
I need to get online
Their translation:
オンラインで手に入れないと
Again, I wonder if the translator misunderstood the English sentence, because this sounds to me like “I need to get it online”.
I’m not quite sure what the best translation would be here, but probably something like:
オンラインにならないと
ネットに繋がらないと
ネットを使わないと
ネットを利用せえへんとあかんで
