It’s no secret that I quite enjoy translating Japanese quotes. I’ve done Luffy quotes from Onepiece and Light Yagami quotes from Death Note. There’s something very satisfying about trying to find the perfect way to translate the original Japanese words to express as close as possible what they mean in English.
Sometimes this means going for a very literal translation, sometimes it means going for something that is actually quite different from the original, direct meaning, but which manages to get across the essence in a different way.
Here’s what I’ve been translating recently. How’d I do?
The thing that is beautiful,
is your soul that sees beauty,
in beautiful things.
美しいものを
美しいと思える
あなたの心が
美しい
Aida Mitsuo
Use your money on things you can’t see.
Tangible things like clothing and accessories soon go out of fashion and lose their value.
But new skills, education, knowledge, things you can’t see, enrichen your very being.
お金は「目に見えないもの」に使いましょう。
洋服やアクセサリーなど、形あるものは、すぐに流行遅れになり、その価値を失ってしまいます。
ところが技術や教養、経験や知識は、目には見えませんがあなた自身を豊かにしてくれます。
美輪明宏
Miwa Akihiro
Eating gives a moment of happiness
Slimming gives a lifetime of happiness
Unknown
