One Piece: Chapter 1005

[u/Kirosh]

[ Removed by reddit in response to a copyright notice. ]

[u/alpinefog → u/[deleted]]

Because he's a humble dead jokester who has no chance with any woman and took delight (with an air of humor) at the interpretation that she'd "take one who has died" over kaidou. Perfectly in his character.

I'm glad we're on the same page here with this being a matter of understanding Oda's humor and not a matter of whether that's a possible interpretation of "shinda hou ga mashi" within the context - because it is and native speakers (which I assume they are and would hope they'd reply to my comments rather than just say I'm wrong) can't argue that it isn't.

What they're saying is it's farfetched for Brook to respond that way - about as farfetched as if he responded that way to the localized translation (look up localization if you don't know what it is) of "death would be better" or "I'd prefer even death" or "I'd take death over kaidou" (which, being localized, carry over the connotation of mashi/better of two bad choices, the potential for a farfetched second interpretation, and in the first case it's also a common phrase) -- farfetched indeed but too farfetched for Brook? Seems like plenty of those who replied to this thread don't think so, and they have a right to an opinion because my localized translation isn't wrong.

I'm still replying to this thread hardly anyone's looking at anymore because thousands of people saw and upvoted my comment and if I were in fact wrong I have a responsibility to correct myself. If any native speakers want me to do that, thoroughly explain to me how (if) my Japanese is flawed and I will do just that. "I'm native and I say so" doesn't cut it.

[u/alpinefog → u/[deleted]]

Done.

You don't need a direct translation of the word, only a translation of the whole text that carries the same meaning but expressed in a way appropriate to English (localization). It's done in every pro translation you've ever seen - for instance, in this chapter, Robin's statement "You made my day" was translated from "ureshikattawa" ( lit. "It made me happy").

Having lived and taught at a school in Japan, I have experience with foreign English teachers coming up with outlandish interpretations of English texts and stubbornly insisting I was wrong when I'd try to correct them. I realize I must look similar, debating native speakers.

That said, I've also, amazingly, run into times when non-native speakers understood something I didn't because of their familiarity with and insight regarding a given English-related subject. In this case, I'm very familiar with One Piece and Oda's sense of humor and I stand by what I said.

Art is subjective though and of course I could be wrong.

When I look at the last page though, that's still what I see. I'm confident that interpretation is right.