Yeah, Hokkaido’s summers are nice seems to be a better translation for it. Good catch!
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@Asher @gyroninja I just read this discussion. @gyroninja is more correct. “I’m center” is an omission of an article, or it’s treating the position as a title, as in, “I’m Center”. The sentence “I’m coffee, egg, and salad” is not really correct as a translation. The way the English is being used here is like in the context of: “Which part are you in the play?”, “I’m coffee, egg, and salad”. The way this is used in the reading is – “I am [defined by] coffee, egg, and salad”.
That said, it’s awkward.
And it’s not a faithful translation of Japanese.
あなたの朝食はコーヒーとパンですか？
Is your morning meal coffee and bread?
私はコーヒーと卵とサラダです。
＝私は [＿が] コーヒーと卵とサラダです。
For me, [it] is coffee, egg, and salad.
It would be “I’m coffee, egg, and salad” only if you could write 私がコーヒーと卵とサラダです。
One other possibility is it comes out like this with hesitation:
“I’m… coffee, egg, and salad” — But that’s still a grammatically incomplete sentence, or two half thoughts that got merged together.
The うなぎ文 idea doesn’t really fit both sides of this translation.
Hi @jj for most of the readings, we are using natural Japanese, and showing the translations. You are completely correct in saying that Summer in Hokkaido would be more natural (in English), but the more literal translation is to avoid confusion about the actual meaning of the sentence in Japanese.
In 夏の北海道, Hokkaido is being highlighted as having a relationship to Summer, and not the other way around.
We may eventually do two translations for these, one literal one natural, but right now, the primary focus is on the more literal, as it highlights the Japanese more faithfully.
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I think Bunpro is trying to use psuedo English almost, to emphasize a point.
Imo though, both the translations you offered are more 北海道の夏がいいです。
For 夏の北海道がいいです。
During Summer, Hokkaido is nice!
Or mirroring one of your translations:
Hokkaido in the Summer is nice!
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@Asher @ThousandJP Thanks for clarifying! I think an additional note in the reading would be helpful unless it’s not really a common point of confusion.
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Not to bring up an old conversation here, but what I think a good example of what Asher was saying is the way when receiving food it would not be considered weird to say “I’m the coffee” or something along those lines.
E.G.
Waiter: “I have a Coffee and two Juices”
Customer: “I’m the coffee”
A different customer: “And we’re both juices”
Idk, probably doesn’t matter, the entire point of the literal translations is to show us the direct translation of the sentences so we can more easily construct our own in the future.
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We agree. The English is not weird. It is, however, incorrect grammar.
It’s not weird to say “Where you at?”. It is incorrect grammar, though. 