Japanese folklore and language questions

[darkestnova]

Hi, all!  Just a couple of quick questions.

I have a character, a young Japanese woman going to college in the United States.  She speaks English fluently, but sometimes slips into her native language when she's upset.  At the moment, I have another character address her by a nickname she hasn't used since childhood, and she answers in Japanese, "

Comments

[darkpixiefaery]

I don't know if "That person is dead!" I want her to say this in the sense of, "I'm a different person now and you're not allowed to call me by that name," will translate directly, but I recommend you ask at: http://community.livejournal.com/correctjapanese/

They might be able to answer about the transformation questions too.

[darkestnova]

Thank you! I'll check there.

[uozaki]

Unless you're expecting your audience to auto-translate and See What You Did There, using English is usually a better choice. If you have to include a translation, you might as well just say it in English in the first place. (Although it makes a lot of sense for her to switch there. Could you avoid the issue indirectly and just somehow indicate, while still *writing* in English, that languages have been switched? Different quotation marks, or something, maybe.)

[darkestnova]

You have good points there, but for one thing, I'm a fan of the genius bonus, and for another, it's a minor plot point that the person she's talking to doesn't actually understand what she's saying. But thanks just the same.

[uozaki]

Ah, well, that you didn't mention (and you did say that Just English was an option). Hopefully someone will get you a decent translation then.

[majolika]

[darkestnova]

From what I've read, it seems like the yuki-onna can be the ghost of someone who died under specific circumstances, while the nekomata is something that was never really human. That's where my concern about incompatibility comes from. But I guess I'm probably overthinking it.

And thanks for the mention of films. Ju-On in particular comes to mind, now that I think about it, with little Toshio and his cat. I'm always reluctant to use movies as a reference point, because mythological aspects are so often distorted in ways that someone from another culture might not be able to recognize, but I really shouldn't discount it entirely.

Thanks for the advice!

[majolika]

while the nekomata is something that was never really human. That's where my concern about incompatibility comes from. But I guess I'm probably overthinking it.

That is true but in some books there are some clues to its true form when in human form. Cat-like face or eyes, the way they move, avoid big puddles or lakes and exhibit other cat-like traits. Some have tails hidden under clothes and some at night alone stretch their bodies in the cat style on certain nights. To be completely human, with all cat traits hidden, is rare in fiction.

Your concern about incompatibility. The snow woman can't tolerate the heat (or she'll die) and the cat can't tolerate the wet snow. How do you make this hybrid work? :) A snow woman becomes a cat or other way round is hard but not at all implausible. The temperature issue is more awkward to resolve.

[majolika]

[jaguarx13]

Kono hito wa nakimono arimasu - "That person is dead."

Watashi wa kono hito ga konoue arimasen - "I am not that person anymore."

My Japanese is intermediate level, however, and correct Japanese probably has a better translation.

[darkestnova]

Thank you! I think the terms you're using are more formal than what I want, but as rudimentary as my knowledge of the language is, all help is appreciated.

[creator_chaos]

I don't know if this applies here, but my Japanese friend once told me that idioms such as "spill the beans" and other phrases that mean something entirely apart from their literal meanings don't exists in Japanese. However, "that person is dead" is more symbolic, so it might have a translation.

[tylik]

That's interesting - they're extremely entrenched in Chinese*, and the literary borrowing tends to be extensive.

* There are dictionaries of such idioms. It can be a real pain in the ass for a non native speaker.

[creator_chaos]

I could be wrong, but even though she's lived in America for about nine years, she still speaks Japanese in her home, and her parents aren't completely English fluent, so I think she's pretty reliable. She said she had trouble with the concept of idioms in English class because they didn't exist in Japanese.

That's cool about the Chinese; it's like a language within a language.

[tylik]

I'm not in a position to question it - I spoke a little Japanese as a child, but I certainly can't think of a contradiction right off.

It is cool - but it also can drive you crazy.