Basically as the title says. I’m currently working through Genki, using Anki for building my vocabulary and using Lingodeer, as I like the way it’s structured and the various tests it has to help with revision.
When it comes to listening tests, I find I’m understanding the meaning of what’s being said but I’m not exactly matching the translations when they’re revealed.
So, for example, it might show あそこは学校ではありません with the English translation as “That place over there is not the school.”
In my head I’ve understood it as “That isn’t the school over there” but that’s obviously not the exact match that it’s showing.
Am I going a little over the top with this?
4 comments
IMO yeah
you aren’t gaining much from forcing yourself to memorize someone’s exact translation
except in a few places where some accurate detail matters a lot, but you can figure out where those are on a case-by-case
Definitely, a lot of things in Japanese we can’t directly translate, so we have to interpret a lot of things. If you limit yourself to a single translation of something, then you won’t be able to explore the variety of grammar and vocabulary easily.
Take いただきます. If you watch 3 different anime that use this phrase in regards to eating, they’ll never be the exact same. I’ve seen some characters use it as “I’m hungry”, “thank you for the food”, “bon appetit”, or “looks delicious”. Of course these are all different, but they convey the same meaning.
Or one All mights’ catch phrases: 私が来た. In the anime it’s translated as “I am here”. But I read as “𝘐 came” or “𝘐 arrived”.
Whatever the case, if your translation or interpretation of the sentence still conveys the same meaning or concept, then that is what’s important
>Am I going a little over the top with this?
I’d say yeah, probably you are — and I’d go a step further and advise you to gradually get away from relying on English translation altogether.
Obviously, when you’re just starting out, there’s going to be a degree to which you have to “translate” in your head, just because your knowledge of Japanese is still minimal compared to that of your native language(s).
But before long, you’ll realize that there are many, many aspects of Japanese grammar and sentence structure that can’t be 100% literally captured in an English translation anyway, so the goal is to be able to understand how the Japanese sentence is being put together and internalize that grammar/syntax so that you understand it on its own terms, not in terms of what it would/could be translated into in English. (This is the process people are referring to when they talk about “thinking in Japanese” vs. “thinking in English.”)
In your example sentence, if you understand what the pronoun あそこ means, understand how the particle は is connecting it to the rest of the sentence, and understand the noun 学校 and the fact that ではありません is negating it, then you understand the sentence. Even this simple sentence could — as you realize — have multiple valid English translations, but it’s still the same Japanese sentence, and (ideally) your understanding of it shouldn’t be affected by minor details of translation.
It’s a gradual process, though, so just give yourself time and practice.
“That place over there is not the school.”
“あそこは学校ではありません”
“That isn’t the school over there”
“あれは学校ではありません”
However, English 冠詞 do not exist in Japanese, so it is difficult to translate accurately with just that short sentence.