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The ‘untranslatable’ Japanese phrase that predicts love

bbc.com

21–28 of 28 posts

Re: The ‘untranslatable’ Japanese phrase that predicts love

#21

"Premonition of love". Oh, there, I translated it. It's not untranslatable. It's just not a popular culture thing anywhere except Japan. Sure, it's different from "love at first sight" because you feel you will love them, not that you already do. Personally, sounds a lot like "lust" or just "interest" to me.

[deleted]

Re: The ‘untranslatable’ Japanese phrase that predicts love

#22
post #4

I think there are some characteristics that will induce koi no yokan: - jishin ((quiet?) confidence) - ii kanji (feeling of good) - yasashii kanji (feeling of gentleness -- maybe something like "has empathy") - atama ga ii (smart). This is only popular in certain circles and is more typically valued by women in men than the other way) -- most Japanese men seem. It to want their wives to be smarter than they are (alth…

There are words that better express the nuances of the Japanese terms:

Jishin–(self-assured-ness) ii kanji–(feels right) yasashii kanji–(nice to someone) atama ga ii–(smart)

Re: The ‘untranslatable’ Japanese phrase that predicts love

#24
post #18

"Premonition of love". Oh, there, I translated it. It's not untranslatable. It's just not a popular culture thing anywhere except Japan. Sure, it's different from "love at first sight" because you feel you will love them, not that you already do. Personally, sounds a lot like "lust" or just "interest" to me.

Everything is translatable. It can take a sentence, a paragraph or an essay. What the term usually means is: it is not translatable as a single word. And in this case, it isn't.

The original was a phrase, and my translation is a phrase that's the same number of words.

Re: The ‘untranslatable’ Japanese phrase that predicts love

#25
post #15

"Premonition of love". Oh, there, I translated it. It's not untranslatable. It's just not a popular culture thing anywhere except Japan. Sure, it's different from "love at first sight" because you feel you will love them, not that you already do. Personally, sounds a lot like "lust" or just "interest" to me.

I had never heard this term until I read this article, but have often thought of a very similar feeling in the past. Maybe it's the same? The problem is, what I'm thinking of with myself is something that I was not consciously aware of at the time, but that definitely occurred. So I can't relate to the idea of "I will probably fall in love with this person." Rather, it's there's this reaction I have, that's probably…

I've certainly met girls that I thought, "I could fall in love with this person." But it wasn't a premonition, just an observation of how great they were, and how well I thought (from a single observation) that we could fit together.

It certainly wasn't fate for any of them, as I didn't date a single one, and I'm quite happy with the woman that I did marry.

Re: The ‘untranslatable’ Japanese phrase that predicts love

#26
post #4

I think there are some characteristics that will induce koi no yokan: - jishin ((quiet?) confidence) - ii kanji (feeling of good) - yasashii kanji (feeling of gentleness -- maybe something like "has empathy") - atama ga ii (smart). This is only popular in certain circles and is more typically valued by women in men than the other way) -- most Japanese men seem. It to want their wives to be smarter than they are (alth…

There are words that better express the nuances of the Japanese terms: Jishin–(self-assured-ness) ii kanji–(feels right) yasashii kanji–(nice to someone) atama ga ii–(smart)

I humbly suggest that your translations of the "kanji" terms do not to justice to the potential range and scope of their meanings.

Jishin also has a range of interpretations that may not be identical for those in non-Japanese contexts.

Re: The ‘untranslatable’ Japanese phrase that predicts love

#27
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything is translatable. It can take a sentence, a paragraph or an essay. What the term usually means is: it is not translatable as a single word. And in this case, it isn't.

The original was a phrase, and my translation is a phrase that's the same number of words.

Did not see your reply earlier. Quite informative indeed.

Re: The ‘untranslatable’ Japanese phrase that predicts love

#28
post #20

Sounds pretty superfluous to me. Somewhere between like, having a crush and love, I don't quite see a place for "premonition of love." Given no other culture has it (as far as mentioned), I'm tempted to believe it's a cultural quirk or a tradition, rather than a universal phenomena.

I lived in Japan for about 8 years and I have studied and worked with its culture for many years longer. I think you're comment is overly dismissive. First, other cultures probably do have it, but it's just not named as a phenomenon. I personally don't believe the nihonjinron theory. That said, the language and culture is very linguistically and sociologically distant from the west, so some terms don't translate natu…

Arigato, for the thoughtful reply!
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