Every month Phantom River Stone holds a poll among our patrons to choose a topic for the blog in the coming month. After tallying the votes (including accumulated votes from previous months), the winning topic that has been voted this time is:
"Years ago... I was Chinese" - Translation Analysis
In this post we will be looking at another phrase that is similarly often quoted.
It occurs with the owner of the Mary's Patches & Embroidery store on Dobuita Street, the elderly Itoi-san. He is always to be found hunched over his counter during the day, always ready for a spot of conversation
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Ryo approaches Mary's Patches & Embroidery, determined to extract a hint as to his next move from as many local shopkeepers as it takes
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Ryo wishes to learn more about something known as the Three Blades and loses no time in starting to interrogate Itoi-san regarding this.
It is then that Itoi-san declares: "Years ago... I was Chinese."
Itoi-san's quirky wording here in the English version earns this phrase a place in our "
Say What?" series of posts. We'll review his character's background and consider alternative phrasing that would sound more natural to English speakers.
Coming soon to the blog.
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