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Hi everyone, Sorry to abandon the discussion. I went to New Zealand on Thurs and only just got back. Yoneda-san, thank you for pointing out my mistake. I thought that the picture in the link was actually a flower (and hypothesized that the name was "Karenna Shokubutsu" as the writer used parentheses). On closer inspection of the picture, I can see that it is not a flower. My apologies for leading the discussion awry...:-)
Marina Dolinsky (X)
ASKER
11:21 Mar 11, 2010
My dear fellows,
Thank you for the answers and participation is this discussion. I suppose that my client is 99% native Japanese however she didn't do any explanation regarding the sentence except of saying that 可憐な should be the name of a plant. So I have send her a request for more explanation with a link to this discussion. Now I am waiting for her reply.
No, the blog entry doesn't refer to it as the name of a plant; it is the motif for the sculpture. "We have a new sculpture in the garden! what is it? a piece of marble? No! the correct answer is 'a cute plant'. We are going to have two in the garden, try to find them "
Yumico Tanaka (X)
Australia
to lingualabo san
03:43 Mar 11, 2010
My point is that I don't know. It may be that or may not be.
Dear miridoli. Only way to clear this mess is to ask the client. Are you sure the client a Japanese? No Japanese native speaker would think any word ending with "na" is noun, i.e. name of a flower. What the original says, roughly speaking, "In surrounding, there are many "pretty" (here I am agreeing with Shannon) wild flowers too". BTW the sentence seems to be incomplete.
Marina Dolinsky (X)
ASKER
20:56 Mar 10, 2010
Thank you, Deborah.
But I don't think that the plant mentioned in the blog may be found in Japanese Alps.
In the text you posted, 周辺には可憐な高山植物も, it simply means "pretty" alpine plants. Your client may have it confused w/"lily," but in this context that's clearly not its meaning.
Without a color, shape or some sort of description besides "cute", there is no way to identify the flower. I'm sure you're aware that your client is asking the impossible. There is no way any one of us can identify a single "cute" flower from an entire range of mountains. You need to tell your client that there is something missing. With that said, here is a good reference to the flowers in that range, with Japanese names. http://blog.goo.ne.jp/ikeda625jp/c/498956e7174a91ea61618e9a6...
check it out. I hope that helps. But really, this isn't the job of a translator. Especially when the client is asking the absurd. (Damnit Jim, I'm a Linguist, not a Botanist!)
Marina Dolinsky (X)
ASKER
18:08 Mar 10, 2010
The client said that it is the plant that grows on the mountains Zao, Miyagi prefecture. 日本一高い場所にある湖・御釜は、直径３００ｍのカルデラ湖。コバルト色の湖面は太陽移動に伴って１日に何度か色が変わります。周辺には可憐な高山植物も。
I just went through my big botany book and can't find any mention of a flower by that name. The ~な would make it an adjective, making it even less likely that it would be a name of a flower. let me look up some more reference books, and see what I can pull up. I don't want to say this, but I'd have to say the client is wrong on this one. I'd be quite surprised to find that passage intends that word to be a name.
"Karen-na" is the name of the plant? Not in my life time knowledge. Your client must be mistaken. "Karen-na" is an adjective, modifying a noun, not noun itself.
Marina Dolinsky (X)
ASKER
17:32 Mar 10, 2010
I translate it as cute but my client said that it is the name of the plant. Please, help with the right term.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
20 mins confidence:
cute
Explanation: ...or beautiful. Either works, but it means something along the lines of cute and delicate.
yonedatransterp Local time: 06:47 Native speaker of: English, Japanese PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you so much.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you. I also translate it as cute but my client said that it is the name of the plant.
Explanation: Kenkyusha Dictionary says that 可憐な means "hyacinthine" or "hyacinthian" ie "like a hyacinth." Surely this is too great a coincidence to be overlooked...
(I'm not sure whether you will be able to access the link as I have a paid subscription to Kenkyusha)
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