50 - Super Smash Japanese

I got a request from a reader earlier this week for translations of a few lines from the game Super Smash Bros. 4.

Specifically, I was asked to provide the meaning for these three lines by the character Cloud:

悪く思うな
waruku omou na

ついてないな
tsuite nai na

お前に俺は倒せない
omae ni ore wa taosenai

Studying Japanese via games and anime is kind of a double-edged sword--it's not boring material, but sometimes it's not very useful/practical, either.

That said, there is (almost) always a useful, acceptable way to express the meaning of a rude, rough-sounding line of anime-like dialogue.

So lets dive in and see what we can extract from these lines of Japanese!


#1 - 悪く思うな


First, the meaning:

悪く思うな
waruku omou na
Sorry it had to be like this. // Nothing personal. // No hard feelings.
(Literally: "badly + don't think.")

(Note: The nuance is almost "sorry," or "forgive me." The speaker probably is about to (or just did) do something bad [e.g. kill] his opponent, and he's saying, "Don't think poorly of me for this, because I didn't really have much of a choice." Or at least, that's the closest English I can think of.)

The problem is that, while you might hear that with relative frequency in a game or anime, people don't really say that in real life.

The reason is this 思うな (omou na), which is the negative imperative form. In other words, it's a command... which means that it's pretty rude to say.

We could, however, say...

悪く思わないでね
waruku omowanai de ne
No hard feelings. // It's nothing personal. // Sorry it had to be like this.

This is not as rude, because it's a negative te-form request, rather than the imperative form.

We could also (perhaps more commonly) just say:

許してね
yurushite ne
Sorry.
(Literally: "forgive [me], ね)

(Note: You could say this to a friend, for example, if you were late to meet with them, in which case it would get translated to "Sorry I'm late." The nuance, however, is that you're not all that sorry.)

That has a much lighter tone than 悪く思わないでね, by the way.

But we could put a dark spin on 許して (yurushite) by adding くれ (kure) to it:

許してくれ!
yurushite kure!
Forgive me!
(Literally: "forgive [me] + くれ!")

(Note: For example, if you accidentally killed your friend due to some dispute or problem, afterwards you could hold their lifeless body and yell this to them.)

Also, let's look at:

ごめんね
gomen ne
Sorry.
(Literally: "sorry + ね.")

(Note: A nice, friendly, causal way to say "sorry." You sound more sorry than if you had said 許してね [yurushite ne], but less sorry than if you'd said the polite ごめんなさい [gomennasai].)

Next up...


#2 - ついてないな

ついてないな
tsuite nai na
I have bad luck. // What bad luck.
(Literally: "not sticking [?] + な")

(Note: I originally just memorized this as a set phrase. I often hear it this way, in the negative [NOT having luck]. Adding な is common, because な is like the "inward ね," you're making this comment more to yourself than to anyone else.)

Translation Discrepancy Note! On this YouTube video page, they translated this as "Better luck next time." In other words, telling your opponent they have bad luck... kind of like saying, "You had bad luck getting me as your opponent." I didn't use this translation, only because 90% of the time, this phrase will be referring to yourself, not someone else... even if it does mean, "Better luck next time" in this specific case.

Another option for complaining when life doesn't go your way is to say:

最悪!
saiaku!
Just my luck. // Oh, great. // You're kidding me! // This is the worst.
(Literally: "the worst")

(Note: That "Oh, great" and "You're kidding me" are both angry and sarcastic. The rhetorical questions of one wallowing in self-pity.)

Let's say that you're cooking. First you cut your finger chopping vegetables. Then you drop an egg and it shatters on the floor. Then finally you go to turn on the stove--and it's broken!

For this height of frustration and disappointment, you could say the previous word, or you could add to it a bit, like this:

あー最悪!
aa saiaku!
Ah, just great!
(Literally: "ah + the worst.")

You could also say the following phrase, though I think it sounds a little bit feminine:

もう最悪!
mou saiaku!
I've had it!
(Literally: "already + the worst.")

(Note: It sounds like multiple bad things have been happening, but this last bad thing pushed you over the top. Again, it sounds a bit feminine.)

Next up, we have:


#3 - お前に俺は倒せない

First, the meaning:

お前に俺は倒せない
omae ni ore wa taosenai
You could never defeat me. // I'm out of your league.
(Literally: "You + に + I + は + can't defeat/knock down.")
(Note: The nuance, perhaps obviously, is that 'you' are too weak to defeat 'me.')

Now, we'll probably never need to say that (I hope). More importantly, let's hope none of us are ever told this.

Mainly, though, I want to look at this super-difficult level of particle usage. I started trying to explain this use of に and は... then I confused myself.

So then I went and started quizzing Rei about particles here... until I confused her, too.

Here's the conclusion I came to.

(Quick Note: I'm not going to write romaji for this phrase anymore, so memorize these readers - お前 [omae] に [ni] は [wa] 俺 [ore] 倒せない [taosenai].)

All of these are acceptable ways to phrase that sentence:
〇 お前には俺は倒せない

〇 お前には俺を倒せない

〇 お前に俺は倒せない

✖ お前に俺を倒せない

〇 お前は俺を倒せない

✖ お前は俺は倒せない

Ow, my brain. <(*_*)>

Upon discussing, researching, and thinking about that, I've decided to just wing it for particles! I could try to write an explanation of why we use different particles here than others... but I don't really know 100%. Ask me again in 25 years, please.

Also, a few interesting notes about using に(は) with potential verbs.

This one time, I messaged a Japanese co-worker to invite her to a party with some friends that weekend.

Her response was something along the lines of, "I can't. I have to go back to my hometown this weekend, because my [family member] died."

When someone tells me in English that a loved one died, I don't know what to say.

So I was pretty lost responding in Japanese. I did some research online, and the phrase I eventually settled on was:

何か俺に出来ることがあったらなんでも言ってね。
nanika ore ni dekiru koto ga attara nandemo itte ne.
If there's anything at all that I can do, please let me know.
(Literally: "something + I + に + can do + thing + が + is if + anything + say + ね")

(Note: For example, when trying to comfort someone that has had something really bad happen to them.)

I remember feeling that I had no idea why I would say 俺に出来ること.

I kept thinking, "I to can do things?" That doesn't make sense.

Later, I came to understand (a bit) that the nuance is "of / among / in the things I can do."

Similarly, saying to our enemy: お前に俺は倒せない (omae ni ore wa taosenai), I think this に has the nuance of "it's not in your ability to defeat me."

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