hey! so, i am finding it so hard to do lower intermediate translation for japanese. i practice so much, and while i see improvement, , when i come across very long sentences with a lot of verbs and need for nomanlisers and modifying noun related things, i always freak out and do so badly. just yesterday i did so poorly on my translation exam because i just become so lost and confused under pressure and with a time limit. do you have advice on how to practice translation? any material out there?
Firstly, wowza… I commend you on battling through exams and time constraints because that’s always super tough!
Secondly, as someone who studies casually and without time constraints, I have the luxury of taking this business at my own pace as well as the freedom to laugh in the face of my own blatant inadequacy. I imagine that with your studies, there might be a more pressing need to see results. My lax study habits may not mesh with the criteria you have. I apologise if any of this fails to meet your needs and can put you on to smarter folk if you like (Just flick me a message any time)
H’okay! Wall of text ahead… (・・;)ゞ
Material for practising translation? Literally anything written in Japanese.
That’s right. Read, read, read. Reading explodes your grasp of vocabulary and grammar. Having a parallel text in english is especially helpful for those of us who can get the gist easy enough, but sometimes stumble with precision. Finding reading material is one google search away, but here are a few for good measure:
NHK Newsweb Easy (website)
Human Japanese’s Satori Reader (free or paid subscription)
Breaking into Japanese Literature (physical book)
Short Stories in Japanese (physical book)
I’ve linked you to Tofugu’s reviews on both books as I feel they are quite accurate. I own both books and am getting through them slowly with much enjoyment. The Short Stories volume is particularly good, in that it often shows furigana for a kanji the first time you encounter it, then promptly drops it thereafter, requiring you to fire up those recall engines. Not recognising a particular kanji at all means scouring the parallel english text like a regular Sherlock Holmes for its english meaning. Definitely be prepared to use your dictionary and jot new info down on paper. It’s slow going, but fun (especially for sleuths and those who get a kick out of linguistic dread)
How to practise sentence translation?
You mentioned practising a lot, but find that the sentence length, frequency or odd placement of verbs and the occurrence of “nominalisers” like こと and の get you sweatin’ (saaaaame)
My advice probably outlines things you already know, and is perhaps better thought of as “sentence understanding” rather than translating, but it may have some merit:
Make long sentences into several smaller ones.
When confronted with a Japanese sentence, I ask myself two things - Do I know these words yet? (vocabulary) and - Do I understand how the words are interacting with each other? (grammar) Generally the answer to these questions depend on my exposure to both aspects - e.g. over the past several months, how often have I needed to recall this kanji? How often have I seen or heard this sort of grammar pattern?
If my answer is “Oh yeah! Some of these words seem familiar! Also, I have a reasonable understanding of how particles link things together” then I should also be able to break any sentence into manageable chunks and come away with the gist, if not more - especially if I use the aid of a dictionary.
I define a “chunk” as being a word+particle combo, or anywhere a pause seems it could naturally follow - e.g それは… 公園に… 彼が… 東の方へ… To me, this always feels like a little break in which to get my bearings and question what information might come next. 公園に.. Yes, I’m listening… “at the park” what?
See mid-sentence informal verbs as a little flag which marks a relative or descriptive clause.
A relative or “adjectival” clause is just a mini sentence or one bigger chunk which describes the chunk that follows it. Sentence-ception (⌐■_■)
ぎんさんは [ お菓子を 食べるのが ] 大好きな人 ですね
As for Gin-san, he is a person who loves [ eating sweets ] isn’t he?
See that の there? That leads into my next point.
Treat nominalisers as a switch for the verb it’s attached to.
A verb+こと/の combo is a chunk that requires some thought before you can add it to what comes next. Because こと is a word meaning “abstract thing” - tagging it to a verb switches the verb from being an action to being the experience or concept of performing an action. In fact, as in the example sentence, it can switch an entire relative clause ending in a verb into one!
Consider the verb “walk” 歩く …On it’s own, it means X walks. It is an action that someone performs. However, if we want to talk about the “thing” we call walking, we need to use こと. の does the same thing to a verb, but carries a sort of personal or intimate nuance. Often used for verbs that are directly sensed or experienced.
So, Gin-san is a person who loves what? Eating sweets.
That’s about as simple as it goes for me, I’m afraid. If anyone reading would like to add their advice - especially those who are studying formally and dealing with the same pressures, by all means do!
