This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
  1. KudoZ™ Top
  2. Japanese to English
  3. Linguistics

Goszaimashita

English translation: It was as though ......

01:50 Sep 18, 2004
Japanese to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Linguistics
Japanese term or phrase: Goszaimashita
What does this word mean??
English translation:It was as though ......
Explanation:
Explanation can be a bit long, but I keep it as short as possible.
The word can be divided into four parts:
1) Go
2) zai
3) masu
4) ta
Now 1) "Go". This by itself has no meaning. It is a type of prefex, so to speak.
2) "Zai" means "be", a state of existence. "Go" is a prefix for this.
They are always used together. Kanji for "zai" is "座い”which is almost same as "在". This meas a state of existence, or presence of something.
This is always in this combination, and "zai" cannot be replaced by any other action word like another answerer suggested. "Go" is a prefix of politeness.
3) 4) "Masu" is stem word of "mashita" as "ta" is past form of "masu".
Again masu does have no meaning by itself, but a perfect equivalent of "be" in English. Again it does not make any sense by itself.
Because there are two "be"s in this short word, it may sound redundant to you, but that is the way it is. You cannot fight with tradition of language expressions. By the way please spell it correctly. It is "Gazaimashita"...no s after Go.
Typical usage of this word in modern Japanese is "Arigatou gozaimashita -- Thank you for being so kind." Other than that you would use this after adjectives, but this usage is pretty archaeic.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 38 mins (2004-09-18 04:29:02 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Woops forgot something ........ My title is ¥"it is as though ...¥".
I must adjust it a bit. It should be something like ¥"That¥'s it¥".
Selected response from:

humbird
Grading comment
Thank you Susan:) That was what I was thinking as well. I am a Martial Arts instructor and own a school in Kentucky. But I had come across a word I have never heard before. You are very smart and I think probably HOT as well:o)

Thanks again:

Taz
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +2This phrase shows polite attitude of the speaker
Mumu Watanabe (X)
5 +2honorific past tense of "to be"
Dave REESE
5It was as though ......
humbird
5 -1Was/Existed
Bart B. Van Bockstaele


  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
This phrase shows polite attitude of the speaker


Explanation:
For example, "Arigato" maens "Thank you" and "Arigatoo gozaimasita" means "Thank you very much."

Mumu Watanabe (X)
Local time: 19:25
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  swisstell
11 mins
  -> Thank you very much for your agreement.
agree  Dave REESE: That's correct, but "gozaimashita" is past tense; i.e., "thank you very much for what you have done."
3 hrs
  -> Yes, "gozaimasita" is different from "gozaimasu." Thank you very much for your helpful comment.
disagree  humbird: Yes, it shows politeness, but the issue goes beyond that . You must be able to elaborate your point.
4 hrs
agree  Bart B. Van Bockstaele: absolutely. You may want to be more careful with the word "means". I think it is more careful to say "is usually translated as". But I do agree!
4 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
It was as though ......


Explanation:
Explanation can be a bit long, but I keep it as short as possible.
The word can be divided into four parts:
1) Go
2) zai
3) masu
4) ta
Now 1) "Go". This by itself has no meaning. It is a type of prefex, so to speak.
2) "Zai" means "be", a state of existence. "Go" is a prefix for this.
They are always used together. Kanji for "zai" is "座い”which is almost same as "在". This meas a state of existence, or presence of something.
This is always in this combination, and "zai" cannot be replaced by any other action word like another answerer suggested. "Go" is a prefix of politeness.
3) 4) "Masu" is stem word of "mashita" as "ta" is past form of "masu".
Again masu does have no meaning by itself, but a perfect equivalent of "be" in English. Again it does not make any sense by itself.
Because there are two "be"s in this short word, it may sound redundant to you, but that is the way it is. You cannot fight with tradition of language expressions. By the way please spell it correctly. It is "Gazaimashita"...no s after Go.
Typical usage of this word in modern Japanese is "Arigatou gozaimashita -- Thank you for being so kind." Other than that you would use this after adjectives, but this usage is pretty archaeic.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 38 mins (2004-09-18 04:29:02 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Woops forgot something ........ My title is ¥"it is as though ...¥".
I must adjust it a bit. It should be something like ¥"That¥'s it¥".

humbird
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese, Native in EnglishEnglish
Grading comment
Thank you Susan:) That was what I was thinking as well. I am a Martial Arts instructor and own a school in Kentucky. But I had come across a word I have never heard before. You are very smart and I think probably HOT as well:o)

Thanks again:

Taz

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Katalin Horváth McClure: Correct spelling: Gozaimashita.
15 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
honorific past tense of "to be"


Explanation:
"Gozaimasu" is the honorific form of "arimasu", therefore, in its simplist meaning, "gozaimashita" is the honorific form of "arimashita."

For example, "It is an apple" can be translated as such:
Standard: Ringo desu.
Polite: Ringo de arimasu.
Honorific: Ringo de gozaimasu.

Many times when I go to the supermarket and ask if they have a certain item, the response is, "Hai, gozaimasu."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs 6 mins (2004-09-18 05:57:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Susan, are you saying that \"Ringo de gozaimashita\" is grammatically incorrect, and that it doesn\'t mean \"It was an apple\"??

Dave REESE
Japan
Local time: 19:25
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  humbird: Bad apple example. An apple cannot be in past tense. Please read my answer. Your comment to another answerer shows typical limited misunderstanding Japanese as second language people make.
8 mins
  -> Well, maybe "apple" wasn't the best word to use, but it illustrates the point, that being that "gozaimashita" is the past tense of "gozaimasu" (to be). There could be situation where the question would be "What was it?" Answer: "It was an apple."
agree  Bart B. Van Bockstaele: It would be hard for me to disagree!
20 mins
  -> Thanks, Bart!
agree  Jorge Hernandez: While it seems that others have opted to write an etymological answer, I feel yours is the most satisfying. It clearly demonstrates the most common uses for this word.
8 hrs
  -> Thank you. Given the nature of the question and the way it was asked, I felt that a simplified answer was more appropriate than a detailed etymological analysis of the word. Greatly appreciate your agreement and comment.
agree  Minoru Kuwahara: i'm not a Japanese teacher, unfamiliar with grammatical explanation of Japanese, but hearing just "gozaimashita", i would ask "so what or for what is it?" it's a fraction, and no context, no sense. simply an honorific past tense of a verb "aru (be)"?
3 days 23 hrs
  -> You are right. It would depend on what word or phrase precedes "gozaimashita".
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Was/Existed


Explanation:
Gozaimashita is the past tense of a polite "verb" (depending on the definition of a verb, Japanese may or may not have verbs) that is translated as to be or to exist (gozaru). Hence, Gozaimashita is usually appropriately translated as "was" or "existed".


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs 10 mins (2004-09-18 06:01:25 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Gozaru is one those many words that have a profound meaning in Japanese and of which the full meaning is largely untranslatable (but not unexplainable) in English.

Finding out its ¥"true meaning¥" is basically impossible because its use is essentially idiomatic.

In Japanese script, it is written as 御座る.

The first character, the prefix, is pronounced ¥"go¥" and is called a honorific. It indicates politeness. It is often translated as ¥"honourable¥" in comics.

This same character is also pronounced as gyo (an imperial honorific) and as o, on, and mi (all honorifics).

At the same time, it is the Chinese character used in 御する which means so much as control, manage, drive, handle, govern, ...

The second character is pronounced ¥"za¥" and means so much as seat, cushion, pedestal, stand, throne, ... It is the Chinese character used in these ¥"verbs¥":

suwaru (座る): squat, sit, ...
zasuru (座する): be involved in, squat, sit down
iru (座る): a polite ¥"verb¥" for be, go, come

imasu is a polite present/future tense of iru.
imashita is a polite past tense of iru.

For all intents and purposes, gozaru, can be translated as ¥"to be¥" in English. To be complete and true to the source text, as translators, we have to make sure that we formulate the entire sentence or sentences in such a way that it becomes clear to the reader that politeness is expressely intended.

This is not particularly difficult to do, Western languages are just as rich in their ways to express politeness as Japanese. The problem lies in the fact that there is no one-to-one correspondence between Japanese and English words. This makes it very difficult for inexperienced translators who have often been taught to always use the first ¥"meaning¥" in a dictionary.

This actually explains why we often think that native Japanese speakers are very rude when they speak English or any other Western language. They are not, or at least, they do not intend to be rude. They simply do not master our polite language. Because our polite language is far less formalized than the Japanese polite language, it is even harder for them to master it than it is for us to master Japanese polite language. Everyone who has learned some Japanese knows how hard that already is. It should come as no surprise that we often sound very rude to Japanese speakers as well.

Also, when we look at the parts of gozaru and at their possible meanings, it shold come as no surprise that there are numerous meanings that we cannot derive from the meanings of its parts.

As Kurumi correctly states, gozaru (or gozaimasu) expresses politeness on the part of the speaker. It can, and is, used as a polite suffix and should in those cases be seen as entirely idiomatic.




Bart B. Van Bockstaele
Canada
Local time: 06:25
Native speaker of: Native in DutchDutch

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  humbird: This is not an action verb. It is "be" verb. You need to point that out clearly. [From here down is a comment to your addition] By the way your addition is pretty much a recitation of what I said. I just wonder why you don't simply "agree" with me.
2 hrs
  -> Thank you very much. "To be" is indeed a "be-verb", just as gozaru. I admire your deep insight. By the way, "be-verb" is a layman's term for "copula".
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

See also:
ProZ.com term search
Search millions of term translations
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search