Will this machine-translated Japanese lead us astray?
August 6, 2014 4:17 AM Subscribe
After a trip to Japan, my partner brought back a number of fun things including this ramen stand model kit. We're not entirely new to building models, but this one turned out to be a lot more complicated. And the instructions are entirely in Japanese, which neither of us can read at all.
I'm pretty sure that I could figure out what to do with the pieces of the kit even without any instructions, but we scanned them in and google translated. If you can read Japanese, is there anything that jumps out at you in the translation which is likely to lead us far astray (besides, of course, the rather substantial comedic value)? I'm looking for e.g. if you see a passage that means 'don't put the paint on before the glue' which is translated as 'apply the paint before the glue'. I'm assuming the part headed 'Shall be YoKen' means the stuff we have to supply ourselves. Bonus question -- what is Ramen Seagull Ball Field? The name of the stand? What is on the awning? Thanks!
Original instructions: http://l.bitcasa.com/HaZiQJnc and original with google translation: http://l.bitcasa.com/NPA3t7x6
I'm pretty sure that I could figure out what to do with the pieces of the kit even without any instructions, but we scanned them in and google translated. If you can read Japanese, is there anything that jumps out at you in the translation which is likely to lead us far astray (besides, of course, the rather substantial comedic value)? I'm looking for e.g. if you see a passage that means 'don't put the paint on before the glue' which is translated as 'apply the paint before the glue'. I'm assuming the part headed 'Shall be YoKen' means the stuff we have to supply ourselves. Bonus question -- what is Ramen Seagull Ball Field? The name of the stand? What is on the awning? Thanks!
Original instructions: http://l.bitcasa.com/HaZiQJnc and original with google translation: http://l.bitcasa.com/NPA3t7x6
This thread is closed to new comments.
There are some confusing translations. For example, the entry "Scotch dryer" is actually two separate entries for "scotch tape" and "hair dryer". "Tan toothpick" is two entries for "salt" and "toothpicks".
For someone to go through each instruction to proof the translation is probably asking a bit much, but I skimmed them and didn't see any that would lead you astray when compared to the diagrams. There are lots of illustrations so it will probably be fine. "Beaten thin with water stains" was an instruction to thin your stain with water before staining the main body of the stand.
It appears that "Ramen Seagull Ball Field" is a translation of "ramen stand". I am befuddled how that came about. The awning says 味自慢ラーメン or "proud of our tasty ramen". The two other signs say 中華そば, another term for ramen. The standup sign with several entries is the menu.
posted by Tanizaki at 4:44 AM on August 6, 2014 [1 favorite]