# 誰か知らないでしょうか



## Sheylabsb

Hi!!!!!!!!!

I need to translate something into English but I don't speak any Japanese, could anyone help me please? Thanks in advance, Sheyla


*誰か知らないでしょうか‥* 
名前：*らん*  日付：10月23日(日) 0時13分
米軍の海軍の (Name) さんという方を知っている方はいませんか？その方について問題をかかえているので情報お願いします。 
40．*Re: 隱ｰ縺狗衍繧峨↑縺・〒縺励ｇ縺・°窶･*


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## masatom

Hi.Sheylabsb

*Does anybody know about him?*
name:*RAN* Date:23th,Oct. (Sun)0:13
Does anbody know about (Name) who is the member of US Navy?
I have some problem with that person.
Please give me any information about him.


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## travis1085

Great translation, but with some minor mistakes fixed. Or at least what I think would sound most natural 

Doesn't anybody know about him?
Name: Ran Date: 23rd, Oct. (Sun) 12:13 AM
Does anybody know about (Name), who is *a* member of *the* US Navy?
I have *a problem* with that person.
Please give me any information about him.

I wrote "Doesn't anybody know about him" because of でしょう


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## masatom

Thank you very much, Travis1085.

Thanks to your correction, I can understand almost all of my mistakes.
I agree Doesn't is better.
23th →　I am shamed of comitting such a basic error.
I know 0:13 →12:13
I can understand why "the" , "a"is worng. 
Only one point:
I thought some problem was better in this situation. 
In my head, some problem and a problem are almost the same.
And using "some" is even better in this situation.
Because using "some" , I can emphasis the point that ある　of ある問題.

ある問題　means the talker has the specific problems with that person.
It may be about money, or about love affairs, or violence, or something else I can't imagine.
The talker knows what kind of problem it is. But he/she want to hide what kind of trouble to the readers or listeners.
So ある問題 is the problem which I don't want to say in detail but some kind of problem.

In this situation, I think natives prefer "some" rather than "a".

But hearing from you I've learned "a" is more natural to native's ear.
Thank you.

Edit: I am sorry to find that the original Japanese is 問題,  not ある問題.
I mistake it.  
And I know now that "a" is of course better.


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## Sheylabsb

Thank you very much, just a little question: "40．*Re: 隱ｰ縺狗衍繧峨↑縺・〒縺励ｇ縺・°窶･* ", is this what means: "Please give me any information about him"? Thanks


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## masatom

Hi. Sheylabsb,

"40．*Re: 隱ｰ縺狗衍繧峨↑縺・〒縺励ｇ縺・°窶･* "

If you see exactly the same letters with me, it is greeking ( or funny characters).
At least my computer displays greeking.
It is some kind of machine trouble.

So it is impossible to read unless the computer displays the original letters.

Thank you.


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## travis1085

If it was ある問題, it would be said as "some problems" just to let you know. Because you are having more than one problem and problem must be made plural.

I found out the text that is greeking originally said "誰か知らないでしょうか‥", same as the title of the original message.

I changed the time to 12-hour time because it is much more common for Americans.


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## masatom

Thank you travis1085
I appreciate you very much.

May I ask a question? 
Do you have politeness or indirect feeling or decency in negative question?

誰か知らないでしょうか？　Doesn't anybody know about him?
誰か知ってますか？　　　　Does anybody know about him?

The answer is identical to both questions. Yes or no.
I also think the questions are almost identical by its nature. Only the difference of expression.
Then what is the difference? What is the nuance?

As Japanese sentence, we think the former is a little more polite. Because the former have somehow the feeling of decency which comes from indirect expression. 
I don't know negative question have politeness or indirect feeling in English.


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## masatom

Thank you travis1085.

I have different opinion according to ある問題.

My Collins COBUILD dictionary says,
If you refer to some person or thing, you are referring to that person or thing but in a vague way, without stating precisely which person or thing you mean.
_If you are worried about some aspect of your child's health, call us...
           She always thinks some guy is going to come along and fix her life._
I think ある問題　is one problem but the asker don't want to sate precisely.
So "some problem " is more dicrect translation of ある問題　than "a problem" or "some problems"
I would like to ask you on this point.


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## bigdummy

masatom-san,

Doesn't anybody know about him?=彼の事、知ってる人いないのか　(色々と人を訪ねた後、まだ誰も何も教えてくれなくて、「もう、何だこりゃ」と言う気持ちを込めて、別に答えの要らない疑問になるのです)
Does anybody know about him?＝彼の事をご存知の方がいらっしゃるでしょうか、若しくは、彼の事知ってる人いる？

どなたか、彼の事を知らないでしょうか
に相当するのが確か、Might anyone know about him



役に立てたら、うれしく思います


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## travis1085

> So "some problem " is more dicrect translation of ある問題　than "a problem" or "some problems"
> I would like to ask you on this point.



From what I know, and according to my dictionary, ある問題 is meaning a certain problem or some problems. One can not say "some problem" as problem must be a plural, because some can mean more than one, in this case.



> I don't know negative question have politeness or indirect feeling in English.



The reason I used "Doesn't anybody know about him?" is because of deshou. Deshou makes the question a little bit uncertain. The asker is uncertain if there is anybody who knows about him, but still asks.

Unlike Japanese, English has much less formality and politenesses as used in speaking. Negative questions have an indirect feeling.

For example,

御前は肉を食べない
君は肉を食べません

The second is a more polite, but in English that would not be translated differently.

_You do not eat meat_

I find that's the problem with translating Japanese to English, the Japanese language is so great at expressing how you feel about somebody, or the personality of the person talking is just by the way they talk. That meaning is lost in translation to English. Such as with the use of omae and kimi are differentiated.

The Japanese language is really amazing!


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## masatom

Thank you, bigdummy
“Might anyone know about him?” is so much better, I think, too.
I forgot to use auxiliary verb to express the nuance of Japanese polite words(=敬語）.
 
And I also thanks to travis1085.
I had mistaken impression about negative questions.
And I am lucky to know that natives like you don't use "a problem."
 
We started learning English at junior high school.
At first grade, we learned”a + singular countable noun" and ”some + plural countable noun"
And at the second grade, we learned special usage "some + singular countable noun" expressing vague meaning.
So I thought it is a fundamental rule of English grammar for more than 30 years.
 I'm very grad to hear from you and thanks again.


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## Flaminius

travis1085 said:


> From what I know, and according to my dictionary, ある問題 is meaning a certain problem or some problems. One can not say "some problem" as problem must be a plural, because some can mean more than one, in this case.


If applied in this topic sentence, ある問題 is "a certain problem" in English in that it refers to a singular instance of the noun and that the speaker declares its details off limits for discussion.  In other words, the speaker exactly knows what his ある問題 is but is not going to disclose it to the audience.  The motives behind his ethos may be that the details are too sensitive or too trivial to discuss.  I think "some problems" is too indefinite, too unmeasurable or too unsizeable a translation for ある問題 but, before concluding prematurely that the form cannot refer to a plural, I shall prevail upon you to please provide more information from your dictionary.  An example Japanese sentence is most welcome.  



masatom said:


> And I also thanks to travis1085.
> I had mistaken impression about negative questions.
> And I am lucky to know that natives like you don't use "a problem."


Travis said he does not use "some problem".


In fact, I have checked a few instances of "some problem" since the thread discussion touched upon the form, including examples from a Collins dictionary (*masatom*: #9 _supra_).  However, they all refer to instances of problem that are unknown, unspecified even to the speaker.  The staff at the medical call centre do not know beforehand what problem a child would have, nor would the dreamy girl know who her Mr. Right would be.  I don't think it's a great translation in the sentence at hand since the speaker should be very aware of his problem.  If someone else says, "My friend has some problem with this serviceman," the sentence may become more acceptable with an implication that the speaker forgot or has not been told of the details.


The original 問題をかかえている can be translated as "I have problems".  The suggested "have a problem" is not wrong, so either will do in this (meagre) context.  Grootaers, a late linguistic geographer used to say that unmodified Japanese nouns are plurals by default.  He used to illustrate that with his encounters, while on research travels, with a lot of Japanese bookstores having <BOOK> on their signs instead of the correct English <BOOKS>.  I haven't been very wrong translating Japanese nouns into English plurals following his observation.


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## masatom

Thank you Flaminius.
From your advice, I have learned like this; 

When there is only one problem, which is recognized specifically by the asker, 
and the asker don't want to readers or listeners the detail, 
one should choose "a certain problem".

When there is only one problem, which is not known specifically by both the asker and listners, one may use " some problem" in stead of" a certain problem".

And in both cases, "a cetain problem" is better.　　

And furthermore under ordinary circumstances the posibility of problem(s) being more than one is much higher than only one, so plural expression is more natural in translation Japanese nouns. Am I understanding you correctly?

My mistake took place originally from my Japanese-English dictionaries.
For exapmle, Eijiro saids that 　ある→certain, some
新和英中辞典　ある→one; a; ｓome; a certain
They seldom show me the usages or differences.

Thank you for your advice! Today is very lucky day for me to be able to learn from you.


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## Flaminius

Hi,



> When there is only one problem, which is recognized specifically by the asker,
> and the asker don't want to readers or listeners the detail,
> one should choose "a certain problem".


Yes, that or "a problem" will do.  The indefinite article "a" can cover from the most concrete to the most vague, of referent nouns.  The adjective "certain" emphasizes that the article is used with a concrete understanding.  In contrast, "some" plus a singular noun is more unknown, unnamed and imprecise—whether it is intentionally or unintentionally so.



> And furthermore under ordinary circumstances the posibility of problem(s) being more than one is much higher than only one, so plural expression is more natural in translation Japanese nouns. Am I understanding you correctly?


The "plural by default" is a practical guideline, or rule of thumb.  If a given situation is more likely to use a singular noun in English, I'd prefer a singular.


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