昔からかれは面白いくらいにモテる男だった。

English translation: He as always been so popular that its amusing/funny.

00:01 May 3, 2008
Japanese to English translations [Non-PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Japanese term or phrase: 昔からかれは面白いくらいにモテる男だった。
This was used in a dialogue between 2 people, about a third party. Something about a guy being interesting from long ago? The grammar point I'm unsure of is the ~kurai used after interesting. Can someone please explain it? And why is the モテ in moteru written in katakana??
foureyes
English translation:He as always been so popular that its amusing/funny.
Explanation:
First of all, "omoshiroi" cannot be literally translated as "interesting", but in this case the speaker is actually stating that they find it amusing that the subject has been so popular, which is the meaning of MOTERU. This is in Katakana to distinguish it from the "can" form of MOTSU, and also because in pop culture among younger Japanese (partly due to MANGA influence), katakana words are thought to be more "cool" or stylish than their kanji and hiragana counterparts. Lastly, KURAI in this case means the same thing as HODO, literally meaning "to the extent that" or "to the degree that". If you were to parse this phrase into a totally literal translation, it would be something like: "From long ago he has been popular to the extent that I find it interesting". Thus, the natural English rendition of: "He has always been so popular that it's funny/amusing."
Selected response from:

David Higbee
United States
Local time: 09:08
Grading comment
Thank you ^^
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2He has always been ridiculously popular among girls.
Aogara
4He as always been so popular that its amusing/funny.
David Higbee
3He has always been very popular among girls.
Nobuo Kameyama


  

Answers


14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
He as always been so popular that its amusing/funny.


Explanation:
First of all, "omoshiroi" cannot be literally translated as "interesting", but in this case the speaker is actually stating that they find it amusing that the subject has been so popular, which is the meaning of MOTERU. This is in Katakana to distinguish it from the "can" form of MOTSU, and also because in pop culture among younger Japanese (partly due to MANGA influence), katakana words are thought to be more "cool" or stylish than their kanji and hiragana counterparts. Lastly, KURAI in this case means the same thing as HODO, literally meaning "to the extent that" or "to the degree that". If you were to parse this phrase into a totally literal translation, it would be something like: "From long ago he has been popular to the extent that I find it interesting". Thus, the natural English rendition of: "He has always been so popular that it's funny/amusing."

David Higbee
United States
Local time: 09:08
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
Grading comment
Thank you ^^
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9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
He has always been very popular among girls.


Explanation:
"面白いくらい" is used to give emphasis to verb or noun. Here are some examples.
あそこの釣りポイントで、面白いくらい魚が釣れた。(noun)
ラスベガスで面白いくらい勝った。(verb)
若い頃のカメヤマさんは面白いくらいモテた (verb) Unfortunately, it is not true....;-)

As for "-kurai" and "モテ," I agree with DaviH-san.

Nobuo Kameyama
Japan
Local time: 01:08
Works in field
Native speaker of: Japanese
PRO pts in category: 4
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12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
He has always been ridiculously popular among girls.


Explanation:
I agree with Kameyama-san that the term 面白いくらいに has a role of emphasis, and the literal meaning of くらいに is "to the degree/extent that"
like DeviH-san said.

Here, 面白いくらいに modifies モテる, expressing that the degree to which he is popular among girls is almost unbelievable and hilarious. So, this can be translated using the adverb "ridiculously".

As for モテる, it usually means to be popular as a love interest. So, it may be better to include something like "with girls". Obviously, depending on the context, you may need to change "girls" to "boys" or some other population.

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Note added at 13 hrs (2008-05-03 13:25:09 GMT)
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Regarding why モテ is katakana, I also agree with DaviH-san.

Aogara
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:08
Works in field
Native speaker of: Japanese
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nobuo Kameyama: "ridiculously"とは素晴らしい! 単に"so"や"very"のようなありきたり(plain)な表現よりも、"ridiculously"の方が「面白いくらい」という言葉から受ける印象というか、ニュアンスが出ていますね。小生の英文よりも「面白いくらい」良いと思います。
7 hrs
  -> どうもありがとうございます。

agree  AniseK
1 day 14 hrs
  -> Thank you.
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