# 當社は...



## dgwp

I'm working on translating and understanding the following sentence:

當社は本邦内燃機関製造工業界の先驅者として研究と改良の三十餘年の輝かしき歴史を有するものでありまして、其の製品の優秀性は己に斯界に 嘖々の好評と不抜の信用を贏得て居る次第であります。

Here is what I have so far:

"As a result of our company’s glorious history of more than 30 years of research and development as a pioneer in our country’s internal combustion engine manufacturing industry, it has enjoyed great popularity and unswerving confidence in the excellence of its products."
 
However, I'm not quite sure how the two instances of は work - are they highlighting two different topics, one after another (perhaps indicated by ものでありまして) or is the topic indicated by the second one (其の製品の優秀性) "nested" inside the first (當社)?


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## Wishfull

Hi.


> 当社は本邦内燃機関製造工業界の先駆者として研究と改良の三十余年の輝かしき歴史を有するものでありまして、その製品の優秀性はすでに斯界（しかい＝この分野）に嘖々（さくさく＝しきりに舌打ちしてほめるさま）の好評と不抜の信用を勝ち得ている次第であります。
> 
> ≒当社は本邦内燃機関製造工業界の先駆者として研究と改良の三十余年の輝かしき歴史を有するものであります。そして、その（当社の）製品の優秀性はすでに斯界に嘖々の好評と不抜の信用を勝ち得ている次第であります。
> 
> More literal translation would be;
> _Our company which has been a pioneer in our country’s internal combustion engine manufacturing industry has had a glorious history of more than 30 years of research and development, and the excellence of its products have already gotten/won an extraordinary popularity and confidence outclass others in this field.
> _


I hope this re-written Japanese and literal translation might be the answer of your question.

(This Japanese is written in old style and very difficult to me. I couldn't even pronounced it. I had to use 漢和辞典 many times.)


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## dgwp

Thank you so much for your help with this, it is really starting to make sense now. I just have a couple more queries about your translation if that's ok.

1. Would it perhaps be better to translate the first part as:

"_Our company has had a glorious history of more than 30 years of research and development as a pioneer __in our country’s internal combustion engine manufacturing industry_..."

assuming I have understood the function of として to mean "as" with regard to the information preceding it?

2. Is 嘖々の好評と some kind of adverbial expression, or is と used here in the sense of "and"? I can understand 不抜の信用 that follows it as meaning "unswerving confidence".

Many thanks again

David


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## Wishfull

dgwp said:


> 1. Would it perhaps be better to translate the first part as:
> 
> "_Our company has had a glorious history of more than 30 years of research and development as a pioneer __in our country’s internal combustion engine manufacturing industry_..."
> 
> assuming I have understood the function of として to mean "as" with regard to the information preceding it?
> 
> *Yes. Exactly. I too think this is better than mine.*
> 
> 2. Is 嘖々の好評と some kind of adverbial expression, or is と used here in the sense of "and"? I can understand 不抜の信用 that follows it as meaning "unswerving confidence".
> *
> "And", it is.
> 嘖々の好評 and 不抜の信用 *
> 
> *I don't think the adverbial usage ; 嘖々の好評として、不抜の信用　make any sense.
> *
> *I think the adjectives "嘖々の" and "不抜の" are difficult.
> They are rather old Japanese, and I've never heard them before. I don't know the nuance of them, but they both roughly mean that the degree of the following noun is high/excellent.*


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## YangMuye

> 2. Is 嘖々の好評と some kind of adverbial expression, or is と used here in the sense of "and"? I can understand 不抜の信用 that follows it as meaning "unswerving confidence".
> 
> "And", it is.
> 嘖々の好評 and 不抜の信用
> 
> I don't think the adverbial usage ; 嘖々の好評として、不抜の信用　make any sense.
> 
> I think the adjectives "嘖々の" and "不抜の" are difficult.
> They are rather old Japanese, and I've never heard them before. I don't know the nuance of them, but they both roughly mean that the degree of the following noun is high/excellent.


I guess this message was written by a Chinese. It's almost a 訓読み of old Chinese.Yes they are rather old Japanese.
嘖(old Chinese pronunciation may be tsak, tsiek) is a kind of sound. 嘖々 usually means "to click the tongue in admiration; to give an unceasing praise".
不抜 means "can not take it out, can not pull it out, can not extract it". It is used to describe something which is unwavering. I don't know why he use の not な, maybe it's just a directly translation of Chinese “嘖嘖的之”“不抜的之”. Chinese resist using “的之” no matter the word is an adjective, a verb, or a noun.


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## dgwp

Thank you again! One final thing is I am slightly unsure about is the meaning of 次第 near the end of the sentence. Is this a noun modified by the whole phrase 己に斯界に嘖々の好評と不抜の信用を贏得て居る? Does it translate as something like "circumstances under which" or "reason why", as in:

_The excellence of the company's products is the reason why it has already gained widespread praise and unswerving support in this field._


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## YangMuye

dgwp said:


> Thank you again! One final thing is I am slightly unsure about is the meaning of 次第 near the end of the sentence. Is this a noun modified by the whole phrase 己に斯界に嘖々の好評と不抜の信用を贏得て居る? Does it translate as something like "*circumstances under which*" or "reason why", as in:
> 
> _The excellence of the company's products is the reason why it has already gained widespread praise and unswerving support in this field._


日本人ではありません、初心者です。私の愚見でありますが、ご參考。
「次第 exactly means "circumstances", is a noun modified by 己に斯界に嘖々の好評と不抜の信用を贏得て居る.
"The circumstances of 己に斯界に嘖々の好評と不抜の信用を贏得て居る exist" is your comment on "其の製品の優秀性". It's not the consequence, but further description.
Since English don't have topic-comment structure, it can't be translated literally.」


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## Wishfull

My understanding about 次第であります　is different.

～次第であります。
＝I explain how it is; ~
=I think it is apparent that~
=It has become the matter of course that~

I'm not sure my interpretation is orthodox one or not, but this is what I understand.


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## YangMuye

Sorry for my ambiguous expression. "The circumstances of ~~ exists" is just a word-for-word translation.

I think "*I explain *how it is; ~""*I think *it is apparent that~" is the effect of は. は involves an explanation tone.
次第であります itself just means "It is like this ..." "This is how it is ..."
Just my understanding.


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## Flaminius

One small (but important) correction.
己に斯界に  —> 已に斯界に


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## mikun

Hi,
Some of the supplementary suggestion.
As yangmuye mentioned 嘖々is さくさく、means many people appraise, an old word and not used now.
次第 is literally means 'order of sequence', so I feel 'resulted in' will be more appropriate, though circumstance or sitution is also good.


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## dgwp

Flaminius said:


> One small (but important) correction.
> 己に斯界に —> 已に斯界に


 
Hi Flaminius

I can't see the difference between these two - am I missing something?

All the best

David


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## Wishfull

己 self
已 already
巳 snake
The point is the length of the third stroke.
"Already" is between "self" and "snake".


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## dgwp

Aha, now I see - thank you!!

David


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