Funniest Sentence In KO.

pm215 Member

From: UK Registered: 2008-01-26 Posts: 1354

Not unique to Narita -- all of the airports defined by the EU as 'city' airports (London City, Belfast City, Berlin Tempelhof and Stockholm Bromma) have a curfew on nighttime jet operations, as do another dozen other major airports. This is all basically noise-related, not a safety issue.

Jarvik7 Member

From: 名古屋 Registered: 2007-03-05 Posts: 3946

Somewhat unique to Narita. It's not really in a city, but the locals HATE the airport. I remember the first time I landed there there was a huge sign visible from the air that basically said "GO AWAY".

kerosan41 Member

From: 青森県 Registered: 2007-11-23 Posts: 143 Website

甘いものを食べると、渋いお茶が飲みたくなる。
When I eat something sweet, I become to fancy astringent tea.

Wait, what?

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yudantaiteki Member

Registered: 2009-10-03 Posts: 3619

~たくなる is hard to translate into English, we would just say "When I eat something sweet, it makes me want to drink strong tea." But literally it's like "I become wanting to drink"

I think this person was a non native speaker who used "fancy" for ～たい (as in the old-fanshioned "would you fancy a drink?") and "astringent" for 渋い.

Last edited by yudantaiteki (2010 February 16, 9:58 pm)

Nesetoru Member

From: 芬蘭 Registered: 2009-12-27 Posts: 122

ブラウンさんは日本にいる間アメリカの自分の家を他の人に貸している。
ＭＲ. Brown is renting out his house in America during ＨＥＲ stay in Japan.
Well, I always suspected that Mr. Brown had gender issues...

captal Member

From: San Jose Registered: 2008-03-22 Posts: 677

彼はついに怒りを爆発させた。
He finally raged.

I just saw this one for the first time today. I think it's been brought up before but it's just so good.

Yudan- all of their translations are clearly done by non-natives. A lot of them are quite good, but a lot of them are off. Sometimes by a little and sometimes by quite a bit. If it bothers me enough I fix it in my own deck so I don't have to keep seeing "I become to fancy astringent tea"

Last edited by captal (2010 June 25, 8:21 pm)

chair Member

From: Baltimore Registered: 2009-12-21 Posts: 48

This isn't in KO but it's pretty hilarious anyway (and it's in a learning resource (DoBJG)).

私は女であるほうが男であるより楽しいと思う。

Asriel Member

From: 東京 Registered: 2008-02-26 Posts: 1343

Now this isn't in KO either, but I figure no sense making a new thread for it.
Found this in the "tatoeba" plugin for Anki. How useful is Tatoeba.org? I'm not sure, but when the top sentence for 炎 this:

私たち、テレビでママの仕事場が炎に包まれているのを見たわ。
On TV we saw Mummy's office in flames. [F]

I can't help but love it

Shadeless Member

Registered: 2010-05-25 Posts: 39

This is kinda offtopic since it's english, but it's a kanji mnemonic and it made me laugh when I recalled it the other day so I suppose it's worth a mention:

位 rank

ONYOMI: I
as in, "Because of all the dick jokes in this book, I got the worst rank in the "nihongo textbook competition."

Btw is there a way to set up tatoeba plugin to show only japanese and english sentences? Sorry for double offtopic.

Last edited by Shadeless (2010 November 15, 3:52 pm)

aphasiac Member

From: 台湾 Registered: 2009-03-16 Posts: 1036

From Core2000:

彼女は足が太い。
Her legs are fat.

Funny thing is, the picture that accompanies this sentence is of a toy bunny-rabbit with bandages round it's legs. Always makes me smile when I review this one

Irixmark Member

From: 加奈陀 Registered: 2005-12-04 Posts: 291

日本の企業は、不況でも雇用を守るために、従業員を解雇しない.

Japanese enterprises would not dismiss their employees in order to protect their employment even though they may suffer from depression.

Another one of those great translations. I had almost forgotten about that one and now it popped up again. I always knew that Japanese companies were reluctant to lay off permanent employees, but it's heart-warming to know that they also care about those who suffer from depression.

captal Member

From: San Jose Registered: 2008-03-22 Posts: 677

Dude. 不況 is not a depression of a person, it's an economic depression. That sentence is saying that even in times of (economic) depression, Japanese companies do not lay off their employees.

Asriel Member

From: 東京 Registered: 2008-02-26 Posts: 1343

@captal -- that's what makes it a funny translation. While we know and understand the true meaning, the way the translation was worded makes it sound like the employee is suffering from depression, rather than the economy.

captal Member

From: San Jose Registered: 2008-03-22 Posts: 677

Well I knew most of us knew that, but it wasn't clear Irixmark knew

I actually changed this one myself so I'm not used to seeing it that way- I change the sentences when they're strangely translated because it bugs me too much

Last edited by captal (2011 January 10, 11:01 am)

Irixmark Member

From: 加奈陀 Registered: 2005-12-04 Posts: 291

Asriel wrote:
@captal -- that's what makes it a funny translation. While we know and understand the true meaning, the way the translation was worded makes it sound like the employee is suffering from depression, rather than the economy.

Thanks Asriel. I was about to make a snippy remark.

Irixmark Member

From: 加奈陀 Registered: 2005-12-04 Posts: 291

PS Just in case, the Great Depression is 大恐慌, which sounds duly terrifying to me. 不況 would be a mere recession if you're among economists; and an economic slump in everyday language.

Javizy Member

From: England Registered: 2007-02-16 Posts: 770

If you want crazy sentences, it's all about the Tanaka corpus. I wonder if a ole Breemy edited these ones out...

一発で命中しなくたって、妊娠するまでハメ続ければいいだけだし。 [XXX]
Even if we don't get lucky on the first try we can just keep ******* till I get pregnant. [XXX]

安全日だからといって、サルのように生ではしません。しっかり避妊するのが愛のセックスの義務ではないでしょうか？
Just because it's a "safe day" I'm not going to make out like monkeys without protection. Isn't it the duty of loving sex to take proper care of contraception?

乱交パーティーの中で、めぐみはすっぱだかで芝生を走り回った。
During the orgy Megumi ran naked round the lawn.

ta12121 Member

From: Canada Registered: 2009-06-02 Posts: 3190

Javizy wrote:
If you want crazy sentences, it's all about the Tanaka corpus. I wonder if a ole Breemy edited these ones out...

一発で命中しなくたって、妊娠するまでハメ続ければいいだけだし。 [XXX]
Even if we don't get lucky on the first try we can just keep ******* till I get pregnant. [XXX]

安全日だからといって、サルのように生ではしません。しっかり避妊するのが愛のセックスの義務ではないでしょうか？
Just because it's a "safe day" I'm not going to make out like monkeys without protection. Isn't it the duty of loving sex to take proper care of contraception?

乱交パーティーの中で、めぐみはすっぱだかで芝生を走り回った。
During the orgy Megumi ran naked round the lawn.

lol. Man those ones are extreme

monitor Member

Registered: 2012-03-13 Posts: 21

I'd say this one's up there too:

スカートを脱ぐだけで、彼のズボンはもう我慢汁でビショビショだった。

I only had to take off my skirt and his pants were soaked with precum.

Gingerninja Member

From: England Registered: 2008-08-06 Posts: 382

Now there's a word I didn't think I'd learn today...

monitor Member

Registered: 2012-03-13 Posts: 21

Another hilarious one:

日本語のニュアンスが分からないくせに、自分の辞書のほうが正しいと言い張る傲慢な毛唐だ。

You're an arrogant dirty foreigner who claims your dictionary is correct even though you don't understand the nuances of Japanese.

Stian Member

From: England Registered: 2012-06-21 Posts: 426

I kind of liked this Genki-sentence:
(Not from any premade Anki deck, sorry.)

あの人はゴリラみたいです。

Must be very useful.

monitor Member

Registered: 2012-03-13 Posts: 21

Stian wrote:
I kind of liked this Genki-sentence:
(Not from any premade Anki deck, sorry.)

あの人はゴリラみたいです。

Must be very useful.

I think I remember seeing a similar comparison in 月の恋人, actually lol

uisukii Guest

monitor wrote:
Another hilarious one:

日本語のニュアンスが分からないくせに、自分の辞書のほうが正しいと言い張る傲慢な毛唐だ。

You're an arrogant dirty foreigner who claims your dictionary is correct even though you don't understand the nuances of Japanese.

That's pretty rude considering I bathe at least once a week.

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Asriel wrote:

Javizy wrote:

Stian wrote:

monitor wrote: