A few days ago, fellow blogger Octavia got a strange message from an unknown person on Facebook. Since the entire message was in Japanese, I did a brief translation of the message. But well… why not take that opportunity to learn some Japanese? And so here it is!
Here’s a look at the message in full. With sensitive information removed for obvious reasons.
いきなりのメッセージすみません(´;д;`)
この間友達とフェイスブック見てて、友達がOctaviaさんに興味持ったみたいで…
メアド貼っておくので、もし良かったら連絡してあげてもらえませんか…?(人・∀・*)
[email protected]もし御不快でしたらスルーしてください…(●´Д`●)
Let’s examine it more closely. (I will only provide romanji for the kanji characters)
いきなり – suddenly
の – particle indicating possession
メッセージ – message
すみません- sorry
Putting it together, and rearranging it properly, the first sentence says:
Sorry for the sudden message.
この間 – kono aida – recently
間 (aida) = time, period etc etc etc
友達と (tomodachi to) – with a friend
フェイスブック – facebook
見てて – looking at
友達がOctaviaLaoさんに興味持ったみたいで… – because my friend seems to be interested in OctaviaLao-san…
興味 – kyoumi – interest, curiosity
持った – motta – hold, process etc
メアド – short of mail address
貼っておくので- has been pasted
貼って – hatte – pasted
もし良かったら
もし – if
良かったら yokattara – if you like
連絡してあげてもらえませんか…?(人・∀・*) could I get you to contact her?
連絡 renraku – get in touch, contact
もし御不快でしたらスルーしてください… if if makes you uncomfortable please ignore
不快 fukai – unpleasant; displeasure; discomfort
スルー – ignoring; looking the other way; letting pass (Colloquialism)
Overall translation:
Sorry for the sudden message.
Recently, I was looking at Facebook with my friend, and it seems like my friend is interested in Octavia-san…
I’ve given you the email address, if you wish, could you contact my friend…?
If it makes you uncomfortable, please ignore this…
What a strange message to receive… Octavia duly ignored that message, but I can’t help re-read the last sentence and think about how polite the Japanese are.
Thanks for sharing this! I think, it’s really helpful to break dow the sentences and explain the particular parts. Looking forward to more ^^/ 頑張って!
Thank you! Glad you find it helpful! I’ll definitely love to share more of these… the problem is finding non-copyrighted text to translate and share… any ideas? XD