Table of all translations of the fox's secret here.
The Fox's Secret:
Voici mon secret. Il est très simple.
Translating into Japanese (1)
| (Japanese translations) | ▼ Here is my secret. It is very simple | ▶ One sees clearly only with the heart | ▶ What is essential is invisible to the eyes |
| The Japanese versions (popup) |
| A. STRUCTURE |
| B. VOCABULARY CHOICES |
| C. DISCOURSE AND MOOD |
| ▶ Fr ▶ En ▶ Ch |
Voici mon secret. Il est très simple -- 'And now here is my secret, a very simple secret'. This is how the fox starts telling his secret.
As noted at the analysis of the French original, the two sentences convey two messages:
| 1. The fox announces that he is about to reveal his promised secret. (Voici mon secret.) |
| 2. The fox comments on the simple nature of the secret. (Il est très simple.) |
1. FIRST SENTENCE: ANNOUNCING THE SECRET
| Voici mon secret |
Japanese lacks an exact equivalent to French voici (English 'here is'). Translators give the fox three ways to announce the secret.
1) 'Let me tell you my secret'
The majority use a construction along the lines of 'I'll tell you my secret' or 'Let me tell you my secret'. (Note that while I use おれの秘密 ore no himitsu for mon secret in the examples below, this is purely for convenience. There is actually considerable variation in how mon secret is translated. See Expression.)
The commonest verb in this pattern is 教える oshieru 'to tell', often in the form 教えよう oshieyō, meaning 'let me tell' or 'I'll tell'.
'LET ME TELL YOU MY SECRET' |
|
おれの秘密を ore no himitsu o 'my secret' |
教えよう oshieyō 'let (me) tell' |
In accordance with normal Japanese practice, the verb comes last in the sentence, after its object 秘密 himitsu, which is marked as object by the particle を o. There is some variation in verbs and forms used...
For more on the verb and sentence endings see 'Here is my secret' (declarative). One translator also adds an extra sentence after the fox has told the secret. This sentence reinforces the notion that this is the fox's gift: これがきみに贈るぼくの秘密だよ In addition, there is one sentence that hides an expression of 'telling the secret' inside the structure 'The secret I want to give to you as a present': きみにプレゼントしたい秘密 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2) 'My secret is (like) this'
Three translators use expressions meaning 'my secret is (like) this':
'MY SECRET IS LIKE THIS' |
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'that which is my secret' |
'is a thing like this' |
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おれの秘密 Ore no himitsu 'my secret' |
というのは to yū no wa 'that which is' |
こういうこと kō yū koto 'a thing like this' |
なんだ nan'da 'is' |
What stands out is the use of というのは to yū no wa after 秘密 himitsu 'secret'. This literally means 'that which is (my secret)'.
The use of というのは to yū no wa indicates that something is about to be said about the nature of something. It is commonly used in explanations, with a meaning something akin to 'It's like this'. In a formal/academic context this is often found in the form とは to wa.
As in this example, というのは to yū no wa is often found in tandem with ということ to yū koto 'thing', resulting in the structure 'That which is X is a thing which is Y'. The three translations that use this structure are as follows...
There are minor variations:
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3) 'This is my secret'
This is closest to a literal translation of 'this is my secret', but is used by only one translator.
これが Kore ga 'this' + subject particle |
おれの秘密 ore no himitsu 'my secret' |
なんだ nan'da 'is' |
Note the use of the subject particle が ga, which in this context foregrounds (emphasises) the word これ kore 'this', as opposed to the use of は wa, which would background it as the topic of discussion.
Note also the use of なんだ nan'da, the shortened form of なのだ na no da, which is also used in making assertions.
2. SECOND SENTENCE: NOTING THE SIMPLICITY OF THE SECRET
| Il est très simple |
There are only two sentence patterns calling attention to the simplicity of the secret.
1) 'It is a very simple thing'
Thirteen translators use a pattern meaning 'It is a very simple thing'. This adds the word こと koto, meaning 'thing' in the abstract.
very
'simple'
'thing'
'is'
totemo
'very'
kantan na
'simple (attributive)'
koto
'thing'
da
'is'
The features of the dominant pattern are:
- Japanese does not normally use a personal pronoun like il ('it'), although a demonstrative like それ sore 'that' or これ kore 'this' may sometimes be used. In this case, one translator uses これ kore 'this'.
- The form だ da, the plain sentence-ending form of the verb である de aru (polite form です desu) is used after nouns, and is roughly equivalent to est in French or 'is' in English. However, the Japanese doesn't vary for number or person.
- The main departure from the French is the insertion of the word こと koto, meaning 'thing' in an abstract sense, i.e., 'a very simple thing'. One translator uses もの mono, a word which tends to be used for a concrete thing. The insertion of a word meaning 'thing' or 'fact', referring to the secret, is more natural in Japanese, which is why thirteen of fifteen translators use this pattern.
2) 'It is very simple'
Only two translators use a predicative adjective like the French: 'It is very simple'. Note that there is no word corresponding to il ('it').
'IT IS VERY SIMPLE' |
||
très very |
simple 'simple' |
est 'is' |
とても totemo 'very' |
簡単 kantan 'simple' |
だ da 'is' |
3. HOW THE TWO PATTERNS ARE COMBINED
The above sentence patterns are found combined together in a few different ways, of which the first is overwhelmingly dominant.
HOW TRANSLATIONS COMBINE THE TWO SENTENCES |
||
Sentence 1 |
Sentence 2 |
Occurrences |
| おれの秘密を教えよう。 Ore no himitsu o oshieyō. 'Let me tell you my secret.' |
とても簡単なことなんだ。 Totemo kantan na koto nan'da. '[It] is a very simple thing.' |
10 |
| おれの秘密というのはこういうことなんだ。 Ore no himitsu to yū no wa kō yū koto nan'da. 'My secret is like this.' |
とても簡単なことなんだ。 Totemo kantan na koto nan'da. '[It] is a very simple thing.' |
3 |
| おれの秘密を教えよう。 Ore no himitsu o oshieyō. 'Let me tell you my secret.' |
とても簡単なんだ。 Totemo kantan nan'da. '[It] is very simple.' |
1 |
| これがおれの秘密なんだ。 Kore ga ore no himitsu nan'da. 'This is my secret.' |
とても簡単なんだ。 Totemo kantan nan'da. '[It] is very simple.' |
1 |
EXPRESSIONS, DISCOURSE, MOOD |