からには translated "as long as"

Japanese
#1

Hi, I’m having an issue with this particular translation for the grammar point からには. I’m hoping somebody can explain, as I’m unable to access the Snowfox reading and the other one was just an example in Japanese.

Basically, the feeling I get for “A からには B”, is that B is conditional upon A, and A is true/factual i.e. A has happened or will almost definitely happen

The feeling I have for “As long as A, …B”, is that B is conditional upon A, but A is only probable, NOT factual or definite.

Is my feeling on either of these wrong? My instinct is that something like “Given A, …B” or “Since A, …B” would be a better translation, but I’m not advanced enough to be confident in trusting my gut :stuck_out_tongue:

#2

As I understand it…

It’s literally the 3 basic particles stacked on top of each other, から・に・は, where に is only being used to let us mark から with は。

The most natural way to translate it into English probably depends on the context. Suppose we’ve just made a change, and that change will make things easier going forward: からには here would most likely become “now that ◯, ______” in English.

If something has always been the case and is not expected to change, からには might be rendered in English as “since ◯, ______.”

If something will only remain possible given that an existing condition remains unchanged, that’s when からには could be expressed as “as long as ◯, ______.”

 

It seems to me that “as long as” is a somewhat loose/rarely-applicable interpretation of this grammar, but it’s a somewhat unique phrasing that helps set it apart from your basic から or ので.

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#3

Hey, sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, and thanks for the response!

Your understanding is pretty similar to mine. Looking back, I think it may be the English sentences that are causing my problem rather than the Japanese.

日本に行く からには 、できるだけ日本の文化や食べ物を体験したり、味わってみるべきだ。

“As long as I am going to Japan, I should try to experience Japanese culture and food as much as possible.”

This example doesn’t really sit right with me, as I generally interpret “as long as” to mean there is some kind of dependence on a third person or condition, especially at the beginning of a sentence. I feel like the sentence would need some extra context to have “as long as” make sense here, otherwise something like “given” or “since” seems a much better fit.

I think it’s maybe part of a wider issue I have with bunpro (and most Japanese resources to be fair), where the Japanese is translated into “good” English, rather than directly, which can often obscure what the actual grammar is expressing.

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#4

You’re welcome!

Explaining things like this is a good way for me to test my own understanding. Still, it feels far too common that I put effort into explanations like this and never get a single word in return. So really, thank you, too!!

What you’re describing though is a “necessary evil” of the nature of the system, I think. We can mitigate the problem if we get really clever (your translation of からには as “given” here strikes me as a great solution), but unless we make this platform monolingual, we’re forced to map English onto Japanese regardless of how poorly or haphazardly the languages match each other at times.

I consider it a minor problem in the grand scheme of things, personally.
There are only two things I want out of 文プロ.
I want to be able to…

  1. Internalize the grammar, so I understand it as I read/hear it without thinking
  2. Recall and correctly produce the grammar when I’m speaking or typing Japanese

I’ve got to say, I’m on a 100-day streak right now and am 1 lesson away from adding every grammar point the site’s got so far, and my comprehension feels like it’s skyrocketed over the past few months.
It’s most definitely working :wink:

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