# A long way to go



## Underskin

Hi everybody,

I would like to translate "We still have a long way to go" to Japanese, and want the sentence to keep the "walking" idea.

Thank you in advance.


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## miharu

How about 「（我々には）長い道のりが待っている」　or　「（我々は）これから長い道を往く」？
「道のり」 implies the meaning of "the way that we will walk along", and 「往く」 implies "walking on".


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## Underskin

Great, thank you, I like 「（我々には）長い道のりが待っている」. The litteral translation of this would be : "We have a long way to walk along" right?


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## xiaolijie

Quite close. Try this:

（我々には）//  長い道のりが //  待っている
For us    //  a long way  //  is waiting


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## YangMuye

Maybe the structure is
我々には*長い道のり*が*待って*いる
I have *a long way* *waiting (**for me)

*Just like
道路に犬が死んでいる


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## Seikun

May I ask? I'm curious about 「道のり」  What does り mean?


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## YangMuye

みちのり→道程
I think this のり came from のる（乗）, which means “things on/inside”, “extent” or “degree”.


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## uchi.m

Seikun said:


> May I ask? I'm curious about 「道のり」  What does り mean?


Estás bromeando, verdad? みちのり no es michi-no-ri sino michi-nori. Un camino, o mejor, una jornada.


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## Seikun

I thought の was the particle. I have a limited knowledge of Japanese, but thanks for clarifying^^


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## almostfreebird

YangMuye said:
			
		

> I think this のり came from のる（乗）


No, this のり has nothing to do with 乗.

This dictionary says it comes from 矩 meaning length.

矩 comes from 矩尺

*矩 is not a commonly used word(kanji).


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## Flaminius

Seikun said:


> I thought の was the particle.


*Seikun*, it IS a possibility to be considered.  Of course it would be rejected but a rejecter could use a sound explanation.  Giving the more-or-less accepted etymology would do that, but there is a knack for shortcutting the way.

Very few Japanese words begin with R.  I expect that even fewer words are productive (having a lot of meanings, compounds, derivatives).  If you have to use a Classical Japanese dictionary or other reference materials, the chances are that you would do better by looking for のり (or the citation form thereof) than り (ibid.).

Now the etymology of _michinori_.  We cannot have a definite answer this time.  *almostfreebird* #10 pointed you to an opinion that のり of _michinori_ is a derived sense of のり or the law.  In my Ōbunsha Classical Japanese Dictionary, there is a subentry for のる (ride); 道にそって進む, to go down the road.  I have little problem assuming the nominalised のり (or the compounded みちのり) can mean the extent of the road travelled.  This is my unauthorised opinion, though.

This is getting messy, but I must add that the legal のり and the riding のり may not be necessarily mutually exclusive.  AFB's link allows for the possibility that the former may have been derived from the latter (emphasis mine):
動詞「の（宣）る」の連用形が名詞化したもので、神仏・天皇の宣告の意からという。一説に、動詞「の（乗）る」の連用形からとも

It's not the etymologists who are doing _bromear_ but the Japanese language itself with its notorious polysemy (a lot of homonyms).


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## uchi.m

Come on, Flaminius-sensei... There's no such word as り in Japanese hahaha　（擬音語ならましですけど　^_^）


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## almostfreebird

uchi.m said:


> Come on, Flaminius-sensei... There's no such word as り in Japanese hahaha　（擬音語ならましですけど　^_^）



Yes, there is. 
"理(り)にかなう" is a familiar phrase.

e.g. あんた（あなた）の言っている事は　理にかなっていない。
anata/no/itte/iru/koto/wa/ri/ni/kanatte/inai.(What you are saying is unreasonable.)


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