# Ore no yume wa mirai ni nanka nai. Ore no yume wa kako, sokoni shika nai.



## jyu

Hey, awesome forum! 

Ok, so, I've recently started to learn some japanese, and I need some help translating a phrase!

Ok, so it's... 

*Ore no yume wa mirai ni nanka nai. Ore no yume wa kako, sokoni shika nai.

*Here's my own translation(bear with me);* My dream is not in the future, it lies in the past. And their it remains.

*Is that a correct translation, or am I totally off? I mean, is it more "poetic"? 
Perhaps you guys have a better translation!

Thanks in advance,
Jyu.


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## Aoyama

Close jyu but  ...
"My dream has no future, it lies in the past, just there (nowhere else)".
Japanese with a capital J.


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## Flaminius

Aoyama said:


> "My dream has no future, it lies in the past, just there (nowhere else)".


Salut, *Ao*.  

Your translation is good but I'd translate "mirai ni" into "in the future."  So, a word-for-word translation of the first part should be, "My dream is not in the future".


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## Aoyama

That is true, if you take "ni" (in/inside) at "face value". But here, to me, the combination of *mirai ni nanka nai*  is a bit puzzling, especially the use of *nanka *(= kind of). So, the problem is to know whether this *nai* means "*is* not" or "*has* not" ...


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## Flaminius

Ah, I see it's a bit sticky to explain.

_Nanka_ is an adverb that emphasizes negation.  Syntactically (or how words and clauses are placed together), it looks as if _nanka_ modifies _mirai ni_.  Because of the position in the sentence, _nanka_ even looks like a noun but, then again, the sentence does not make a point: ?The future does not have something.

Now semantically (or how the words and clauses are organised to present a meaningful statement), this _nanka_ modifies the whole negative clause: _mirai ni nai_.  Granted that it is impossible to shift the position of _nanka_ to the end of the phrase which is the regular position of a modifying adverb (*mirai ni nai nanka), Japanese has a quite a few constructions wherein the adverb that semantically modifies the whole clause is positioned as if it modified a smaller constituent clause.

_Nanka_ is kind of a mundane rhetoric device, so I didn't translated it into English.  If I can try a more literal translation, _mirai ni nanka nai_ is, "It is not in the future at all."


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## Aoyama

Hum ... Sticky ...


> Granted that it is impossible to shift the position of _nanka_ to the end of the phrase which is the regular position of a modifying adverb (*mirai ni nai nanka),


..is it _really_ impossible to place *nanka* at the end of the sentence ...?
Nanka ...


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## Flaminius

Oops, a wrong comment here:


> the *beginning* of the phrase which is the regular position of a modifying adverb (**nanka** nai*)


"Nanka nai" and "mirai ni nanka" are identical just by the looks of a transcription.  However, there is a conceivable hiatus between _nanka_ and _nai_:
ore no yume wa | mirai ni nanka | nai


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## Aoyama

> Nanka nai" and "mirai ni nanka" are identical just by the looks of a transcription


my point was more regarding : *mirai ni nanka nai *vs *mirai ni nai nanka ... *where nanka would sound different, like in English "it seems", "it appears", "it looks like", "I guess".
*Ore no yume wa mirai ni  nai nanka *could then be rendered by : I guess my dream doesn't seem/look like to have any/to be in the/ future ...


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## Flaminius

*Aoyama*:
Hmmm, I don't think "*Ore no yume wa mirai ni  nai nanka*" is possible.

* jyu*, the sentence written in Japanese script is:
俺の夢は未来になんかない。俺の夢は過去、そこにしかない。


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## 123BEBE

This "nanka" is not exactlly same as "it seems" or"appears'. It is used to emphasize the word in a cynical/negative tone.

Such as, 

" Omae nanka daikirai ! " 
" kaze nanka heiki." 
" benkyo nanka kantan."


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## Aoyama

> This "nanka" is not exactlly the same as "it seems" or"appears'. It is used to emphasize the word in a cynical/negative tone.


Right . So that means that there are TWO _nanka_(s) and that the second one _could be placed at the end of the sentence ..._ ?


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## jyu

Flaminius said:


> *Aoyama*:
> Hmmm, I don't think "*Ore no yume wa mirai ni  nai nanka*" is possible.
> 
> * jyu*, the sentence written in Japanese script is:
> 俺の夢は未来になんかない。俺の夢は過去、そこにしかない。



Flaminius is pure love. 

Thanks!


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## 123BEBE

> So that means that there are TWO _nanka_(s) and that the second one _could be placed at the end of the sentence ..._ ?


 
Not really. Unless there is an invertion. 
"*Ore no yume wa mirai ni nai nanka*" will be wrong in structure.
It could be said "*Ore no yume wa nai. Mirai ni nanka*" (Invertion) though.


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