Quote:
Originally Posted by FlorenceArt
Oops, you're right, how could I forget about all those versions of "I". However, I do think (and hope  ) that what I said is true of anata (you), which is not all that frequent as you usually address people using their name or title. |
Yes, anata is almost never used in normal conversation, and I believe it may even sound rude in some cases. What I find really weird, is that it seems to be sometimes used by wife to husband as a term of endearment (or maybe it isn't the same word?). Japanese is so different from Indo-European languages, not only in structure but in the whole though process behind it, that I find it amazing that there are some splendid translations of japanese fiction out there. Mediocre translations, on the other hand, are extremely easy to spot, as they tend to repeat some sentence structures that, if they make any kind of sense in english at all, they sound stilted and awkward.