Saturday, October 15, 2022
Previous senryu
- 「空気読め!!」 それより部下の 気持ち読め!!
「くうきよめ!!」・それよりぶかの・ きもちよめ!!
“You should read the / room!” Boss, better still, / read your staff’s minds!
I’m constantly fascinated at the similarity between many expressions in Japanese and English. Sometimes they develop independently but end up expressing similar ideas in similar ways. Other times, of course, they’re introduced from one language to the other (where they might morph in odd ways).
Current senryu challenge
Volume: Universal truths
- 言葉にて傷つき言葉で立ち直る
Hmm. This one again has easy words, but I need to ponder to figure out the intended meaning.
The literal meaning seems to be that “words of your own let you recover from hurtful words” but I’m wondering if I’m missing some nuance of 立ち直る.
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! Questions and comments are as valued as translation submissions.
Please try not to be disappointed if your translation isn’t selected or if you disagree with the daily choice: the judge isn’t terribly consistent with his grading (and has awful taste!).
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.