Done [JP] Having difficulties with a Japanese cultural concept...

[Tokonatsu]

Hello! Thank you for coming!

I'm still working away at my first translation but I'm a bit stuck again...
This time I'm at what's almost like a turning point in the story so I really don't want to screw it up!

What the main character says is:

でも

あいつの背中が
いつも前にあるから、

俺ももっと
頑張んなきゃって思う。


Which I have translated as:

"But,

That guy's back
is always in front of me because,

Again I also
(ummm... think he's resolute???)"

......Yeah. I've heard that in Japan a person's back is a big indicator of how strong their personality is, so that's what I think he's getting at. I'm just not sure how he's saying it.

Like, I'm pretty sure that 頑張 means "tenacious, stubborn, etc." and that 思う is kind of like "to think, or to feel" But I'm just not sure how he's connecting them, or how correctly I've translated the first parts, either.

He was just talking about all the things he does and then doesn't like about the guy, and then suddenly he delivers this all dramatically. Problem is, I'm just not confident enough in my Japanese to tackle such an important line... because I'm probably doing it all horribly wrong XP


Well, thank you very much for reading that giant post, sorry it ended up being so long!
If I could get any help I would really appreciate it!

 

[Name-Undecided]

Re: Having difficulties with a Japanese cultural concept...

頑張んなきゃ is short for 頑張らなければならない i.e. "I have to do my best".
俺ももっと頑張んなきゃって思う could be translated as "It makes me feel I have to try harder.

The word here is 頑張る(ateji) 【がんばる】 (v5r,vi) (1) to persevere; to persist; to keep at it; to hang on; to hold out; to do one's best

And your interpretation of 背中is correct.

 

[mote]

Re: Having difficulties with a Japanese cultural concept...

This line appears word for word in pretty much every shounen manga ever

"His back is always in front of me" is just a metaphorical way of saying "no matter how good I get, it seems like he's always better" (i.e., "As far as I go down the path of getting stronger, every time I look ahead I see his back in front of me"). In the context of two rivals maybe, or like a younger person looking up to an older mentor. Sounds like rivals in this case.

 

[Tokonatsu]

Re: Having difficulties with a Japanese cultural concept...

Thanks so much! That makes way more sense!
Yeah, I'm trying to teach myself the more polite Japanese before moving on to the informal kind that is used by so many characters... So I am finding myself at a loss whenever this guy uses the short forms of things

So it's kind of like where "がんばって" comes from, I'm guessing?

Oh, and here's what I have now:

"But,
Because that guy's back is always in front of me,
It makes me feel like I have to try harder."

I'm still getting a grasp at using "から" too, so I'm hoping I did that right!

Thanks again for the help!!! ^_^

---

"His back is always in front of me" is just a metaphorical way of saying "no matter how good I get, it seems like he's always better" (i.e., "As far as I go down the path of getting stronger, every time I look ahead I see his back in front of me"). In the context of two rivals maybe, or like a younger person looking up to an older mentor. Sounds like rivals in this case.

Sorry I missed your post! I think I was actually in the middle of replying to the first person when you put it up! XP

Yeah, now that you mention it it actually is a pretty generic line, hehe

And OOHH yeah are they rivals, and he's even younger than the guy too, so you nailed it! XDDD I guess now I'm just wondering if I should keep it as the more literal translation, or use something more like the translations that you gave, where they convey the meaning of the statement in a more generally understood way...