In search of KUSE NI

Hello! Is it time for another grammar point? Why yes! It is! And I get to talk about my favorite band once again! MONGOL800! Hoooooray!

We are going to do KUSE NI because I used to hate it, and really, the only way to un-hate something is force yourself to like it? Right? I mean, it totally worked with this guy:

Okay, maybe not... but hopefully, today's in depth KUSE-NI-a-thon is going to change that.

First off! Let me introduce you to the first song, which embarrassingly has my favorite photos from when I lived in Asia. Just bear with them, will ya? I made the thing because I was sad I was leaving, and I wanted to share some of the photos with my friends. Sadly, it still brings tears to my eyes!

The lyric in question can be found at 4:27.

何でもアリだな　 僕が思うより
転んでもアリだな　 君が思うより
答えは出てるんでしょう　相談するくせに
どこでもいいなら君もつれて行くよ 

Nandemo ARI da na boku ga omou yori
Korondemo ARI dana Kimiga omou yori
Kotae wa deterundeshou soudan suru kuse ni
Dokodemo ii nara kimi mo tsureteyuku yo

I felt the need to put the whole verse in because I thought it would be hard to explain. I've bolded the KUSE NI in question. 


KUSE NI means "although" but it has a very negative connotations.  The example sentence I really like in the book is:

• よく知らないくせに、あの人は何でも説明したがる。
• Yoku shiranai kuse ni, ano hito ha nandemo setsumei shitagaru.
• Although s/he doesn't know anything, that person wants to explain everything.

So, it can be pretty catty when you use it, which of course I LOVE. But, that is not always the case. For example, let's look at the lyric above.

It's  more than  I think. 
It's slipping more than you think
Although we talk about it, the answer is escaping us
Anywhere we go is fine, as long as you follow me

Isn't that nice? It's a very sweet lyric even if he uses the very negative KUSE NI. The image that doesn't translate very well is this: because they only talk about leaving, they never get anywhere. But that is something we tend to imply in English, whereas Japanese has a nice word for it


But, I suppose I must concede there are other things that are more pertinent to Japanese pop culture than my very obvious love/obsession/hard-on for MONGOL800. Well, there is! 勇者のくせになまいきだ! In English, the game is called "What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord?" which is not an exact translation, but it really is a million times better than any sort of translation I could come up with if I was limited to trying to translate it literally. Anyway, in this game, you play the villian, and you attempt to keep the hero away from your hideout by building booby-trapped mazes.

• 勇者のくせになまいきだ
• Yuusha no kuse ni namaiki da.
• Literal Translation: Although you're a hero, you're pretty cheeky/impudent.
• Prettier translations: You're pretty cheeky for a hero.

As I understand it, the game is not popular outside of Japan at all, nor was it that popular in Japan anyway. It was popular enough, though, to warrant a sequel. If you want to check out the gameplay, I very graciously provided you with a trailer here:





Well, that's it for me today! I think next will be a little post about the awesome writer, Banana Yoshimoto.

In search of HODO and TOTTE

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!