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I’ve always been intrigued by the heavy use of “let’s” in texts translated from Japanese and Korean in the past. I didn’t understand if it was a stylistic choic
by GuiA 7y ago
I’ve always been intrigued by the heavy use of “let’s” in texts translated from Japanese and Korean in the past. I didn’t understand if it was a stylistic choice by translators, or if those languages did actually use it that much? It sounds so stilted in English, what linguistic mechanics make it not so in those languages?
Turns out it’s its own verb tense! It’s called the “volitional” and you use it when you want to emphasize that you want to do something, typically with the person you’re speaking to. The best way to render it in English is by using “let’s” (“let’s go eat”).
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete/desire_volition#Volitional_Form http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete/desire_volitio...
- dannyw 7y ago“Ba” in Chinese, which is appended to the end of a sentence :) “Eat dinner” + “ba” = “let’s eat dinner?”
- crehn 7y agoAnd in Korean, 자 (cha) is attached to a verb to make it "let's ...". 먹다 (to eat) + 자 = 먹자 (let's eat) However for questions, 먹을까? (shall we eat?) and 먹을래? (want to have a bite from this thing I have?) are appropriate.
- yorwba 7y agoKorean and Japanese are quite different, so any insights about grammar do not necessarily transfer. The verb form in the title is listed as the "formal non-polite hortative" in this conjugation table: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%ED%95%98%EB%8B%A4#Conjugation https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%ED%95%98%EB%8B%A4#Conjugatio... The equivalent Japanese verb is conjugated like this: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B#Conjugation https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B#Conjugatio... Wikipedia on hortatives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hortative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hortative
- OJFord 7y ago> ['let's'] sounds so stilted in English It sounds perfectly normal and commonplace to me (British). - Let's see... - Oh yes, let's! - Uh, no, let's not. - Let's think of another example... - Let's stop there. Google Ngram Viewer does put it at about 8x more common (contemporarily) in British English than American English though, and with a shorter history in the latter.
- ben509 7y agoI think GP is referring to the usage in translated material, not its usage by native speakers.
- OJFord 7y agoBut if it's in common usage by native speakers, surely it makes it a good translation; not 'stilted'?
- GuiA 7y agoSome additional examples if you’re interested in getting into it: https://legendsoflocalization.com/japans-mysterious-love-of-the-word-lets/ https://legendsoflocalization.com/japans-mysterious-love-of-...
- OJFord 7y agoOh wow, I didn't realise you meant embedded into Japanese, I thought we were talking about <some Japanese word> being translated to 'let's'. That really is weird/interesting!
- asveikau 7y agoIt's strange in the title of this article because there is not really an "us" that makes sense for a phrasing like "let us". "Let's trim our hair" sort of implies a small informal social grouping, likely physically present, deciding to get haircuts, or maybe even cut it at home together. Not on the scale of an entire nation.
- rdtsc 7y agoIt is a typical propaganda slogan pattern. "Let's fullfil our 5 year plan commitments!" It shouldn't be a command "do this...!" as if coming from a dictator, but a request to work together as if coming from a worker comrade. Because it is a Democracy. It's right in the name -- DPRK ;-)
- gumby 7y agoLatin has the hortative too.