Now, as much as I would like to point out that, "hey, I am confused about this part," that is not the case. I was able to change it to kanji, romaji, then to English. I managed to fail it, and I would really like to know why, if someone could point out "exactly" what is wrong with my "anything" here, I would be very thankful.



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My Japanese isn't the greatest, but this is how I understood it. I could be wrong.

Are you sure it's one costume?
男子制服 means boy's uniform, right?
Why would a boy's uniform need a ribbon?

I think it should be (2種類) two types of costumes, one is a high school boy's uniform and one is a Haruhi ribbon. When you say "in it" it sounds like a pack with a girl's ribbon and 2 sets of boy's uniform. I don't think that's the case unless boys wear ribbons in their hair at that school. I don't think there would be 2 uniforms in a pack either. Those things are expensive if it's what I'm thinking about...

Also for:
うまく着こなせるかな？
I think "Could you wear it?" doesn't convey the Japanese meaning as nicely as it could. It's more like "wear it, own it, look awesome in it," I think...

Maybe: "Wouldn't you look great/stylish/cool/awesome in this?"

I hope that was helpful.

Yes, I read it as boy's uniform, but if you think about, that just doesn't sound right. I figure the writter adapted the word as just a general term for "student uniform." I do believe it is one uniform but maybe in a better wording would have been, "style" or "variation." I think I'm going to change that to sound better.

You have a good point about "Could you wear it?" changing into Japanese could be taken wrongly.

Yeah, if I keep looking over it I eventually notice small things that could be better.

Just to clear things up, Haruhi is the character on the right of the picture. I believe the term is referring to her style of ribbons.


From the popular novel "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," comes a new costume.
In it a Haruhi-style hair ribbon, and two North High School student uniform styles.
Both the ribbon and jacket's color and shape, present the items with a great impact.
Wouldn't you look stylish in this?
The items are scheduled for release next year in January.

I definatly like the second-to-last sentence better now. I hope that it will pass. Give me luck!

Goodlookinguy Wrote:In it a Haruhi-style hair ribbon, and two North High School student uniform styles.

This sentence no verb...

I found this sentence that seems similar in grammar on http://www.alc.co.jp

このラーメンは塩味と醤油味の2種類があります。
The product comes in salt, and soy sauce flavors.

And this ad for the ribbon and boys uniform that is talking about:
http://pc.webnt.jp/hotnews/news120.html

And good luck with the test!

--------------------------------

And on a semi-related note....

「県立北高校/男子制服」
価格:25000円(税込)/26250円(税別)
サイズ:Mens'サイズ　SS/S/M/L
セット内容:ジャケット
※シャツとネクタイはセットに含まれません。
発売:2007年1月発売予定

How is that a uniform? It's just a jacket.
You don't even get the shirt and tie.
Seems high to me...

I didn't know the uniform was real...

Alright, I need to add a verb to give the following sentence a reason. I think I did just that, maybe.

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Err, I really to look it over more. I am not catching some things.

By the way, I am trying to figure out a better way to right the third sentence, it just doesn't sound right.

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Maybe....
"Both the ribbon and jacket have high-impact color and design."
or "Both the ribbon and jacket are items with high-impact color and design."

I think you can leave "items" out without hurting the translation.
"Design" sounds better than "shape" to me. And in this case, I would say both carry the same meaning.

I still think there is only one boys uniform (the jacket), though. And it means "2 types of costumes."

Hm, I passed that test a while ago(I was so proud ). But I can't remember what I wrote.
Anyway, tell us when you pass ^_^

When I originally transliterated it, I left out the "items" but felt that I could add it back in. Now that you are saying I could just leave it out, it reassures me.

High-impact, that was great. I never thought of the possibility of that. I really like the way you put the sentence. If you don't mind, I want to keep that.

Both the ribbon and jacket are items with high-impact color and design.

From the popular novel "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," comes a new costume.
The costume comes with a Haruhi-style hair ribbon, and two North High School student uniform styles.
Both the ribbon and jacket are items with high-impact color and design.
Wouldn't you look stylish in this?
The items are scheduled for release next year in January.

I think the second sentence is referring to one uniform two styles.　　Edit: Oh, you agree with me, two different styles.

Luckily, I haven't turned in the test until I am sure that I have it correct.

I think I'd go with Pretty Kitty suggestion that the costume has 2 types: one with ribbon and one with a boys school jacket.

*Edit: I just noticed the comma in that sentence - which may indicate that the '2 types' applies only to the boys school uniforms. (ie. It's a girl's costume which includes a choice of 2 boys' uniforms). Perhaps you could check what Harumi actually wears to answer it? *

Isn't ....かな？used when one is asking oneself the question? (with the speaker/thinker either as the subject or wondering about something else) In other words, more general than a direct 'you' question.

What happened to 県立？ Is it "Prefectural North" HS? (rather than prefectural high school called North HS b/c it isn't 県立な　or 県立の?)

I mean 2 different types of costume. I think it's calling the jacket a costume and the ribbon another costume.

Like the example I found on alc:
このラーメンは塩味と醤油味の2種類があります。
The ramen comes in two types, salt and soy flavored.

And another one from alc.co.jp that's similar:
このバッジはシールになったタイプか、首にかけるカードの2種類から選ぶことができます。
Customers can choose either a sticker that they place on their clothes or a card that they wear around their neck.

I think the ad is saying:
(このコスチュームは）ハルヒ仕様の髪飾りリボンと、
県立北高校の男子制服の2種類だ。
There are two types of costumes,
a Haruhi style hair ribbon and a North High boy's uniform.

So there are new costumes coming out and there are 2 different types of costumes, a ribbon and a jacket. Although I wouldn't call either one of those full "costumes."

But if I were wanting to say "a ribbon and 2 types of uniforms" I would have written ハルヒ仕様の髪飾りリボンと2種類の制服


Although, I do see why you think it's two styles of a uniform.
Maybe someone else can give an opinion on this?
I could be totally wrong. Just giving my opinion. ^^

かな？ Yes, it should mean asking a question as in an "I" manner. It just sounds odd in such a sentence as this.

Alright, I am giving this another try.


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I changed a few things around, would it be right?


EDIT: Oh hey, somebody else was asking for the same thing I was asking, kinda, on another page on this site http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=281

I think using "you" on the 2nd to last sentence is fine. If you want to change to "I" that's also fine, but seems a little odd to me in an ad. It's really saying something like, "Perhaps it can be stylishly worn (by me/you/anyone)." The subject here is the costume, not so much who is wearing it. It's gonna look stylish on whoever has it on because it's just that stylish!

I don't think the 2種類 is 2 styles of the boy's uniform. The pic showed only 1 style. If you translate it as "two types of costumes" it doesn't also mean "two types of uniforms" at the same time.

EDIT:

I found someone else asking about the same text, if this helps any.
http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...338AASC2Sj

I think this is my final. If you see anything that I should change before submitting it, please tell.

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I turned in the test. Give me thy luck!

What about "県立" prefectural?

Isn't the whole idea of this test to see if you can translate it by yourself? If you can't then they probably don't want you to contribute, right?

I did translate it. I just didn't write it out the best that I could have, and I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it as I should have; And I needed to know, would "this" and "that" be correct, just to reassure myself.

You should think about improving your English skills before doing any J-E translating.

Hey, I'm only 16. I've spent countless hours studying three languages, English, Spanish, and Japanese. Don't you tell me I need to improve myself at age 16, with schooling in-between all of this.

[ファブリス]

Hehe, Goodlookingguy, there are not many younger members on this forum so sther probably assumed you were adult.

The first thing that came to mind when I read this topic is that the first sentence sounded a little strange. I know I'm weird but... I thought "A costume comes out of the novel..eh?". But technically your translation seems correct. But if you take a step back perhaps something like "Based on the novel xyz" instead of "From".

I thought.. Japanese grammar often swaps things around, so perhaps it would work as a way to take a step back to forcefully write the translation by swapping around subject, verb, etc again? Then compare with literal translation, see which one sounds more natural.

Just an idea to play with, I know translation is difficult.

I don't know about the Japanese but maybe the goal is to produce a good translation and not just a literal one. In which case you should rewrite it so that it sounds good in English. But without knowing more about what the instructions were, I don't know if that's relevant or not.

Don't they give you another piece to translate if you wait too long?

I took the test and received a manga scan to translate. I saved it off to my computer and decided to go to bed and do it the next day. Then when I logged on to turn in my translation, the image had changed to a newspaper scan. So I translated that one right then and submitted.

But it looks like if you fail, you could just wait a day or so for another piece of text to try.

wrightak Wrote:Isn't the whole idea of this test to see if you can translate it by yourself? If you can't then they probably don't want you to contribute, right?

I agree with wrightak. If you are going to get several people correcting your translation, then you are cheating. It's the same with most tests, you are supposed to answer the questions on your own. You can ask someone to check your work once in a while, but you can't translate something seriously if you lack confidence in your own work. That wouldn't be ethical.

Goodlookinguy Wrote:I did translate it. I just didn't write it out the best that I could have, and I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it as I should have; And I needed to know, would "this" and "that" be correct, just to reassure myself.

Only excuses...
So you didn't it seriously and still want to pass a translation test?
If you want to do something well, you have to put the necessary effort into it. If you don't want to do it well, you don't deserve to pass the test.

You would better keep on studying Japanese and take the test when you feel confident. I hope animelyrics won't disappear in the meantime.

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Now, with that, I do believe that I would contribute just fine to the site.

EDIT: One more peace of knowledge to add. I am not only 16, going to school 5-days a week for 8-hours(+homework), learning three languages, but I am also learning programing; html, php, javascript, c++, and TI-Basic; but above all of that, am running a website that I have to make sure is working properly every day. Before anyone else criticizes me on anything, ask yourself, are you as busy as I am every day of your life. I don't take breaks, as they are frivolous and unnecessary, and I have no time for them.

EDIT2: Me Bickering ^

Sorry I didn't mean to offend you there, I was just being honest. Just a bit of constructive criticism, so take it with a grain of salt. 16 or 60, you should be striving to improve yourself at any age.