When you type in the phrase “簡単過ぎて、ドイツは下駄だ” into google, you get “too easy, germany sucks” (yes this is in relation to the world cup and yes I sent this to a german friend).
Though, of course 下駄 are clogs, and i meant to type 下手. I’ve heard clog used as an insult in english. Can this carry over into japanese, or is this a mistranslation?
If it works i’m gonna start using it lol
3 comments
下駄 aren’t [clogs](https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=clogs&ia=web) (not the image we have in the west, anyway). 下駄 are [geta](https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=geta&ia=definition). If you’re looking for an English equivalent word, the closest is sandals, though even that isn’t perfect.
And no, I’ve never seen it used as in an insult in that manner.
The issue with Google translate is that it will do its best to give you an answer- even if your input makes no sense. So it may give the impression that a sentence you give it makes sense when in reality it doesn’t. If you want to learn more about specific words, I’d suggest using a proper dictionary like [Jisho](https://jisho.org/search/%E4%B8%8B%E9%A7%84). Not only will it tell you what a word means, but it also lists other usages and has example sentences.
To elaborate on u/Noodle_de_la_Ramen’s excellent response, I would strongly discourage you from using Google Translate (or DeepL, or any machine translation) this way.
The reasons are detailed [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/stepqf/deeplgoogle_translate_are_not_learning_tools/), but the TL;DR version is that they have no way of knowing what is and isn’t correct Japanese and will just assume what you’re entering is natural/grammatical and spit out its best guess as to what you mean via its algorithm in natural English.
In addition to [jisho.org](https://jisho.org), which has already been mentioned, I would recommend [Weblio](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E6%A5%BD%E5%8B%9D) and [goo辞書](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E6%A5%BD%E5%8B%9D) as good online dictionaries with lots of example sentences.
Allow me to also make a couple of suggestions on what you’re trying to say.
First of all, the most natural way to say “too easy” in terms of a sports match is 楽勝・らくしょう and the phrasing used a team being crappy is generally 弱い, not 下手. You can further make this 弱っちい to get a more slangy feel (“sucks”).
If I wanted to taunt your German friend, I might say something like 楽勝！ドイツってこんな弱っちいんだっけ？ (the だっけ makes it kind of sarcastic or fake-innocent like saying, “All too easy! Has Germany always sucked this bad?”)