Voici mon secret. Il est très simple, |
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.) |
Navigation
4. For the 'flesh' (the translation of individual words and expressions), see here  . |
1. FIRST SENTENCE: ANNOUNCING THE SECRET
There are three main sentence patterns used to announce the secret.
The majority of translators use a construction along the lines of 'I'll tell you my secret' or 'Let me tell you my secret'. Note that while mon secret is translated here for convenience as おれの秘密 ore no himitsu, there is actually considerable variation in how it is translated. See "Flesh" for more details.
'Let me tell you my secret'
Voici is translated by using a verb such as 'to tell', 教える oshieru, 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 (see "Flesh"
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
Kore ga kimi ni okuru boku no himitsu da yo
'This is the present that I give to you'
'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' |
The most prominent feature of this pattern is the use of というのは to yū no wa after 秘密 himitsu 'secret'. This is a colloquial form meaning something like 'that which is (my secret)'.
The use of such seemingly meaningless fillers is a common feature of Japanese. In fact, it is not totally meaningless, but indicates that something is about to be said about the nature of something. See "Flesh" for more details
'This is my secret'
This pattern is closest to what one would expect as 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' |
2. SECOND SENTENCE: NOTING THE SIMPLICITY OF THE SECRET
There are only two sentence patterns calling attention to the simplicity of the secret.
'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' may sometimes be used.
- 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.
- Très is translated quite neutrally as とても totemo 'very'. Simple is translated as 簡単 kantan, an adjective meaning 'simple, not complicated, not difficult'. (For more details, see "Flesh".)
- The biggest departure from the French is the insertion of the word こと koto, meaning 'thing' in an abstract sense. The insertion of this is more natural in Japanese, although not absolutely required given that two translations leave it out (see below).
'It is very simple'
Two translators use an attributive adjective like the French: 'It is very simple'.
'IT IS VERY SIMPLE' |
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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 |
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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 |
