Japanese Expressions of Family and Friendship
Posted on 03. Aug, 2008 @ 10:25 am by harvey in Culture, Language
I came across these two expressions while translating a wedding speech for a friend.
「良い妻は最大の宝」”yoi tsuma ha(wa) saidai no takara” “A good wife is the greatest treasure.”
and
「よい友人は生涯の財産」”yoi yuujin ha(wa) syougai no zaisan” “A good friend is a fortune for a lifetime”
They seem to be pretty run-of-the mill cookie-cutter expressions, but many Japanese speech sound-bytes are, and they’re nice nevertheless!
The translations are mine. Actually, “zaisan” usually translates into “asset”, but it just doesn’t seem right calling a friend an “asset”. Heh.
Anyone else have any nice ways to translate these? Do we have similar expressions in English for them already?
Language and culture. I love it.
- Harvey
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joe
Aug 6th, 2008
at 13:41
Hey japannewbie,
I remember hearing a Japanese expression once describing a man who’s dating/married to an older woman. It says that he is wearing “golden shoes” – but do you happen to know the exact wording?
yoroshiku na.