The English equivalent of "gambarimasu"

[ireallylikebakedbeans 0]

This is curious but I sometimes find it easier to say Japanese in some situations. You know, like the extremely useful 'gambarimasu' and 'yoroshiku' etc that people litter conversations with.

 

I'm sometimes asked what we would say in English and I find it difficult to answer.

 

What would you say?

[bushpig 0]

if someone is telling me ganbatte, and I answer with ganbarimasu, then in English I guess I'd answer with a "thanks" or "I will", depending on the situation.

as in "Hey good luck tomorrow!" "Yeah, thanks."

 

Yoroshiku is a slimy one isn't it! If you are saying yoroshiku to someone after asking them to do something, then I might say something like "Thanks for doing that for me." I always get stumped on how to translate yoroshiku in the sense of "kore kara ~san no koto, yoroshiku ne" It would sound really lame to say "Please take care of so-and-so for me from here on." I think this is just a case where we wouldn't even say anything. Any suggestions?

[oo 1]

That's it - when you've been here so long and start thinking a bit in Japanese, the English that comes out in situations like this is just totally lame. And embarrassing. I'm really interested what other people say.

[Kemuri 0]

Different mentalities, different form of expressions.

I would translate Ganbarimasu with "I'll do my best". Yoroshiku is an expression to be polite, the Japanese specialities, to translate it'll depend on the context.

 

On the other hand, sometime I wish we had more bad words, we are too limited with baka , unko and kuso.

[Hokkaidough 4]

Do "real people" who have not lived in Japan go round actually saying "I'll do my best" all the time?

[bushpig 0]

nup. That's why I reckon we would answer a "ganbatte" with a yeah, thanks. But we wouldn't always state "I'll do my best!" Sounds really wanky.

[Ocean11 0]

You're getting it all wrong. Completely.

 

In these situations we English speakers always says something hurtful, flippant, profane or all of them.

 

Instead of saying "ganbatta ne" we say "What were you trying to prove?"

 

Instead of saying "ganbatte ne" we say "Break a leg. No really, I mean it". Or if it's something like a job interview we would say something like "That tie really doesn't go with that suit. But never mind."

 

Instead of saying "kore kara ~san no koto, yoroshiku ne" we say "Watch out for that ~. He really hates your guts".

 

It's a different culture. Of course, trying to persuade a translation client that you've really translated it properly can be a tough sell.

[bushpig 0]

Now you've put a cat amongst the pigeons!

[DumbStick 13]

 Quote:

He really hates your guts

Very curious phrase that, isn't it?

But lets try to get one and be friends, even if we are not keen on someones guts. Gambarimasu!