Today, we have an exciting day because we have TWO grammar points covered in one lyric! 一石二鳥ね〜 The best part is that it is a lyric to one of the most popular Japanese songs of all time, so you'll never forget either of them.
And I do mean it.
Now, that's what I call good luck here at JLPT Blues.
The lyric in question (which I have linked to the exact second is here):
ほら、あなたにとって大事な人ほどすぐそばにいるの
Hora, anata ni totte daiji na hito hodo sugu sobo ni iru no
If you're interested in Mongol800, please check out my blog dedicated to Mongol800.
- Grammar Point #1
Okay, so let's start with TOTTE.
TOTTE is used when trying to say "from the viewpoint of", and it's usually used when expressing someone's opinion that they personally hold.
Like:
私にとって数学ホントにめんどくさいよな〜。To me, math is really annoying.
What's important is that only I have this opinion. Well, I suppose other people have it too, but I'm not assuming. You can do with other things, like...
Prolife NI TOTTE fetus are alive at conception.
So, if we look at the above lyric in question, we can know that since it says あなたにとって it means from the viewpoint of you.
Construction of NI TOTTE
- Noun + ni totte
Remember! only a noun!
- Grammar Point #2
It's time for HODO!
Well, HODO is usually taught in conjunction with YORI and NO HOU GA. This way, you can learn how to say something is more than something else, that something is just as something as something else, or will be more something.
Did that make sense... ? Really? I thought it was a rather eloquently constructed description.
Let's try this again.
- YORI-より More than.
- NO HOU GA -の方が Better than (or worse than) (sometimes used to suggest something)
- HODO -ほど Just as
I'm not really going to go into the other two, but I put them there for the sake of grouping them together which is always a great way to remember things.
So, HODO means "to the degree of" essentially, and it's probably one of the most useful words ever in Japanese. Well, behind え〜 and そうですか . Okay, I'm still exaggerating a little bit, but it is very useful. Unlike in English, it is a much more versatile word.
So shall we go into how it works?
マーリン ブランドほどかっこいね〜He's as cool as Marlin Brando.
This is a very simple use of this. However, the way HODO is used in the song Chiisana Koi no Uta can't be translated so easily. So, let's go back up to the lyric above and see if we can't feel what it means.
大事な人ほど (daiji na hito hodo)
Unromantically, this means that the singer is trying to say that he is the exact degree of an important person. Oddly, and way more than a little confusingly for the Japanese language learner, the most grammatically correct way for an English person to understand this is:
The person who is important.
Wait a minute, what happened to HODO?! Yeah, that happens. It sucks, but nuances don't really translate well. So, if you want to use this in a more fluent way, you probably need to forget about thinking in English first, and just feel it out. In any case, I would argue that this would translate as "the most" because I honestly believe that is feeling behind the lyrics.
So, here it is, my translation of the entire sentence:
Look, the most important person to you is right beside you.
So, that's that. Now may you sing this song at many karaokes, and have it blissfully stuck in your head for many an hour to come.
Also, again, I will mention my MONGOL800 blog. It's a great place to find about some other Okinawan bands, Okinawan culture, and of course, the translations to awesome songs!
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