Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Japanese term or phrase:
mutter obsequies / murmur obsequies
English translation:
弔いの言葉を囁く
Japanese term
mutter obsequies / murmur obsequies
| 4 +1 | 弔いの言葉をささやく、弔辞を低く口にする |
humbird
|
Aug 25, 2005 00:06: humbird changed "Language pair" from "English to Japanese" to "Japanese to English"
Aug 25, 2005 07:01: Kazumichi Sato (X) changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"
PRO (3): KathyT, humbird, Kazumichi Sato (X)
When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.
How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:
An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)
A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).
Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.
When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.
* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.
Proposed translations
弔いの言葉をささやく、弔辞を低く口にする
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=66&q=obsequies
http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/glossary/obsequies.php
Funeral rite or ceremony, that is.
However, it appears obsequies are muttered/murmured by people on their way to grave. So the sentence is a description of part of the funeral ---- funeral procession in this case.
In some culture this is called "death song" translated to Japanese "弔いの唄tomurai no uta".
If this sentence is a description of Japanese funeral scene, it has to be conducted in either Shinto or Buddhism manner.
I never known, personally or in documented case, people murmuring in the funeral procession (excepting some anthropological records state they hire "crying man or woman"). Funeral is thus in general very quiet endeavor in that country.
In any event, two expressions I stated in the Target term is more likely in Japanese setting.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs 25 mins (2005-08-25 00:19:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
The obsequies is 葬儀(funeral). 葬儀の唄 could be another possibility. It's all up to your "translator instinct", I guess. I don't think there is one-size-fits-all translation.
Something went wrong...