# Life is the cost of living



## joseluisblanco

Could anyone, by chance, translate this into Japanese?

Or, may be this one

_to live only costs life_

Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## kamome

_...waiting for some native to say it correctly, I dare try...:_
 
生きることは人生が要する　
_ikiru koto wa jinsei (a MAN's life,  _「人・_hito_・_-jin_」_) ga you suru_
__ 
かもめ


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## Flaminius

生きるためには命がかかる。 ikiru tame-niwa inochi-ga kakaru.

Or in a freer translation:
生活は命がけ。 seekatsu-wa inochi-gake.


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## kamome

_I also thought possible something like that:_


人生の値段は生きることのだ。
jinsei no nedan (price, value) ha ikiru koto no da

_I do naturally invite and ask our common native friends to correct me, too..._どうも有り難うございますお友達皆様、

かもめ。​


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## Flaminius

Quoting the Italian seagull,
生きることは人生が要する > 生きることは人生を要する。 -suru verbs require object nouns to be in -o accusative.
 
人生の値段は生きることのだ。> 人生の値段は生きることだ。 koto and no cannot coexist here.
 
どうも有り難うございますお友達皆様 > どうも有り難うございます、お友達の皆様。 if you really really want to be overly protocol-conscious!

Flaminius


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## kamome

お世話に成りました、_flamini　_。　どうぞよろしく御願いします。

かもめ。

_(ps:...although I may not_ _give this idea of me,_ _I'm very sorry for this "proposing myself" as sort of japanese speaker: really, I have been studying no more than one - and often less - hour per night, ONLY online, and since some two years...and I happened to speak nihongo LIVE only thrice, with occasional tourists I met in my area, and only once with my japanese dear friend and main _先生, _Mrs. Shindo Kazuyo_様..._my being here on WordReference is for me just one more way to "study", so I apologise with all the native speakers and their patience.)_


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## toscairn

、、、生活費？（＞命）


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## frequency

toscairn said:
			
		

> 、、、生活費？（＞命）


 
Good    I like it.
人生は生活費だ!?


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## erick

This is the real cost of living in Japan!


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## toscairn

生きるっていうのはね、金がかかるものなんだよ。
生きるのは金がかかるんですよ。
生きるのはお金がかかります。


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## joseluisblanco

Thank you all very much!


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## jp_fr_linguaphile

joseluisblanco said:


> _to live only costs life_
> 
> 
> 
> I think "life is the cost of living" sounds more like natural English to me.
> 
> My question, though, is how do you mean it?  Depending on the meaning it can be translated in different ways.
> 
> Here are my interpretations of some of the suggestions made in the thread thus far.
> 
> 生活は命がけ。   Life is risky business.
> 
> 人生は生活費だ。  This is the literal translation of "life is the cost of living."   (cost of living meaning all the expenses necessary to live: car payment, house mortgage, utility bill, water bill, etc.)
> 
> 人生の値段は生きることなのだ。　The price of life is living.  (かもめ、please note another suggestion on a correction to your sentence.)
> 
> 生きることは人生を要する。 Living requires having life.
> 
> What meaning are you aiming towards in your statement?
Click to expand...


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## SpiceMan

Hmm... 
¿"Vivir sólo cuesta vida"  de Los Redondos?

Hmm... I would translate that as ikiru koto wa jinsei shika kakaranai
生きることは人生しかかからない


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## joseluisblanco

SpiceMan said:


> Hmm...
> ¿"Vivir sólo cuesta vida" de Los Redondos?
> 
> Hmm... I would translate that as ikiru koto wa jinsei shika kakaranai
> 生きることは人生しかかからない


SpiceMan, I hope your translation is close to the meaning (yes, de los Redondos) and thank you.


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## cheshire

Money or its equivalents が　かかる。
例：お金がかかる、費用がかかる、コストがかかる、養育費がかかる、人件費がかかる

よって、「人生がかかる」は誤り。


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## jp_fr_linguaphile

But there is also 時間がかかる. By extension, it would be fair to make an argument for 人生がっかる, don't you think? もちろん、僕は日本人じゃないから、断言する立場ではありませんけど。


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## cheshire

In English you may be able to "spend life" but in Japanese you can't say 人生を使う (exception: 人生を費やす <spend one's life...ing>). 
To say Aがかかる, A has to be something you can spend or use.
時間 is something you can spend to do something.


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## SpiceMan

In Spanish is just like Japanese, you can't "spend life", however that's what the lyrics say, and that's why I chose かかる.


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## jp_fr_linguaphile

SpiceMan said:


> In Spanish is just like Japanese, you can't "spend life", however that's what the lyrics say, and that's why I chose かかる.


You can't simply say "spend life" in English either.  The lines of a song are like poetry.  Composers of music and poetry take what is called "poetic license" to say things that would not be acceptable in everyday language.  "Life is the cost of living" is precisely an example of poetic license.  In this vain, I think it is fair to take the same liberty (which is what license means in this context) in translating Japanese.  The trick is to do it in such a way that it doesn't seem too far-fetched.  That was where the advise of a native Japanese comes in.  Natives instinctively knows what "works" in their language and what doesn't.  On the other hand, it is important to have a "poetic sense" also.


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## joseluisblanco

Hello again, everyone.
Thank you very much for your help, but I feel that I was not clear enough with my question.
SpiceMan hit the nail, it is a verse of a song by Los Redonditos de Ricota, from Argentina. A friend of mine wants to paint the phrase, in japanese, over a piece of cloth to obtain a sort of banner, and hang it on the wall. I like very much 書道, _shodō_, and I tried and practiced it over time. So I could try to paint the phrase.
I took SpiceMan's 生きることは人生しかかからない (strange to me the few kanjis), because he got the original meaning. If we say in Spanish
"vivir sólo cuesta vida"
which is the starting point, I believe it does not sound very strange. In fact it is meaningful and self explanatory. I had problems trying to translate this into English, perhaps because there are some sayings which get close, but are not the same than the original. jp fr linguaphile said:I think "life is the cost of living" sounds more like natural English to me. I am afraid that something gets lost in the translation, even though it is quite close.
Some other attempts:
Life is the cost of living
Life is the only cost of living
I understand that if we start from the Spanish form, there will be less difficulties.
But, since I could not understand the latter posts, I repost my question again.
This is not urgent to me, if someone, sometime wants to answer, I will be very thankful.
I hope I did not bother you with my writing.
Best regards,
José Luis Blanco


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## joseluisblanco

生きることは人生しかかからない                      SpiceMan
生きるためには命がかかる                              Flaminius
生きるっていうのはね、金がかかるものなんだよ
生きるのは金がかかるんですよ
生きるのはお金がかかります                           toscairn

Forgive my joke, but it seems like Japanese to me! (no entiendo nada, me están hablando en japonés)
Siempre me meto en camisa de once varas. I'm always getting myself into a mess.
Regards


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