Translation suggestions....?　(JA-EN)

[Fae]

Hi Guys ^^

I've lurked a little, and idk if it's appropriate but it didn't seem entirely unappropriate to ask for a translation suggestion.

 

For practice's sake, I've been working on little CM translations. I'm having trouble with the catchphrase 「牛乳ã«ç›¸è«‡ã ï¼ã€

 

So far I think it should be something like, 'Talk about milk' or 'converse about milk', but the 'da' makes me think it maybe should be a noun phase, and so like, 'it's milk talk!' (maybe the 'da' is just polite a bit like desu is following an i adjective...?)

 

SO, since the phrase follows 30seconds of a silly story about the results of drinking milk, I've gone with 'Milk Stories!', which feels awful ;____;

 

I also tried looking up 「ã«ç›¸è«‡ã ã€ as a grammar structure to see if it has a usual translation, but no such luck =/

 

TL;DR: I need a translation solution and I tried lots of methods

[Guest]

What's the context? It's hard to translate sometimes if you don't have a good context, but here it sounds like it's a joking phrase.

 

Like

 

A: "I think this milk might be expired."

B: "Hey.. don't ask me. Ask the milk"

 

Usually ã«ç›¸è«‡ã™ã‚‹ is to get advice from someone, or consult with that person about something, so it sounds like someone is getting advice from milk in your case

[Guest]

Edit: Lol actually, ignore everything I wrote up there and go read this article https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%89%9B%E4%B9%B3%E3%81%AB%E7%9B%B8%E8%AB%87%E3%81%A0%E3%80%82

 

It's like a club or association that campaigned to drink more milk... so it must be there as an inside joke sort of thing.

Edited July 10, 2015 by Guest

[Unie]

I don't know Japanese, but my proofreader senses are tingling and I'd change your catchphrase to, "Let's talk about milk!" even though that's not the direct translation. XD

 

I find that actually happens a lot. When a phrase is awkward in English, translators will use phrases that sound more natural to native English speakers but aren't direct translations.

Edited July 25, 2015 by Unie

[ayne]

Moved to "Help & Advice".

[unrelatedwaffle]

It was an ad campaign from the late 2000s to try to get kids to drink more milk in Japan:

 

The tagline literally means "talk to the milk," as in, have a heart-to-heart with it, get to know it, it'll help you out!

 

I wouldn't translate this literally. What is the context of the line? It's a trope in Japan, like in the U.S., that milk will help you grow big and strong. The ad campaign took it one step further and said "hey, milk will basically give you superpowers."

[lat]

hahah that advert is hilarious XD love it!