Translating On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur into Japanese: Exploring Variation
2. Choice of Conditional
This covers all translations that use the 'if not look... can't see' pattern (11 translations)
-なくちゃ ... -ない -nakucha ... -nai is only one of a number of ways of expressing the conditional + negative construction. This page gives a fairly comprehensive rundown of the alternatives. The following are those found in the 11 translations that use this structure.
If not look....
...not見なくちゃ
minakucha-ない
-nai見なくては
minakute wa-ない
-nai見ないと
minai to-ない
-nai見なければ
minakereba-ない
-naiTOTAL
- 見なくては minakute wa 'not seeing', mostly in its colloquial form 見なくちゃ minakucha, accounts for more than half the total.
- The conversational form 見ないと minai to 'if not see' accounts for three.
- The officially correct but unwieldy 見なければ minakereba 'if not see' only makes two appearances.
Textbooks will tell you that there are subtle differences in meaning among the constructions, and indeed there are. But these differences don't show through very well in these translations. What the translations do reflect is the fact that 見なくては minakute wa and 見ないと minai to are the preferred forms in conversation. The two translators who use 見なければ minakereba achieve a much more formal effect typical of the written language.
| Translating voir 'to see' |
| The choice of conditional |
| Translating 'things' |
| Word order: Placing the topic |
| Translating bien |
| Framing the sentence -- ということさ to yū koto sa |
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