# Last year I told myself that I would try harder



## TunS

皆さん、こんにちは、

I'm trying to translate everything I say today into Japanese, and I'm having a little difficulty in saying the following... 

*Last year I told myself that I would try harder*

My attempt (I'm only a beginner):
*私は去年我を「よく頑張ります」と言った。*

How do I express the reflexive in Japanese?

ありがとうございます。


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## Starfrown

I don't think 我 (われ) is the way to go for you.

The typical reflexive in Japanese is 自分.

I think perhaps you should have:

私は去年自分に「よく頑張ります」と言った。


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## TunS

ありがとうございます、Starfrownさん

Ahh, I completely forgot about 自分! I even know the kanji for it...  At least the rest appears to be right.


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## Morrow

TunS said:


> *Last year I told myself that I would try harder*:
> *私は去年我を「よく頑張ります」と言った。*



Virtually, it was a promise you made to yourself, so you could try this:
(1) 去年、私は「もっと頑張[るぞ/ろう] _or _もっと努力[するぞ/しよう]」と心に誓った。

The Japanese counterpart of "told myself" depends largely on the content of the embedded sentence.  Compare:
(2) a. I *told myself* that I have to try harder.
        「もっと頑張ら[なければならない/ないとダメだ」と*自分に言い聞かせた*. 
     b. I *told myself* that I had tried my best.
        「やれるだけのことはやった」と*思った*。

I think it might be better not to be so nervous about the reflexive.  You have to deal with it case by case, and you need to tell yourself that it takes time.

Let's look at a couple more examples.
(3) a. Look at *yourself* in the mirror. (_LDCE_)
     b. 鏡を見たら/鏡で*自分の顔*を見たら.
(4) a. You don't seem *yourself *this morning. (_LDCE_)
     b. 今朝のあなたは、*いつものあなた*らしくない.

There are also some cases where you can't find anything corresponding to the English reflexive.
(5) a. None of her books really lends *itself *to being made into a film. (_LDCE_)  *lend oneself to=~に適している
     b. 彼女の作品は、どれをとっても、映画化が難しいものばかりだ.

The two languages seem to treat the reflexive differently, and that may be a reason you find it difficult to find a good Japanese pair.
This is a real challenge.  (6) tells us how different the Japanese and the English language are.

What is your attempt?
(6) You *tell yourself* everything's all right but you *know *it's not really. (_CALD_)

Morrow


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## TunS

Wow, thanks Morrow, thats a really informative answer! I'm learning Japanese by myself, so I usually have no idea what to expect when I encounter new grammar... answers like yours are greatly appreciated.


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## Morrow

TunS said:


> I'm learning Japanese by myself


I think I should have been more careful and elaborate.
Before we are back to your earlier question, I think, if you don't mind, that you might want to avoid using "oneself" as much as possible.  In other words, your attention should only be paid to the representation of "oneself" in the Japanese language if the choice of "oneself" is your last resort.  You could then avoid many unnecessary hardships and find it more fun to learn Japanese (and your own first language).

(7) もっと頑張り*ます*.
When you use "ます" to refer to your own action, you're most likely to be telling _somebody _your willingness or determination.   But "I would try harder" is what your inner voice said to you (but not what you said to somebody).
That's why "もっと頑張ります" sounds strange in the intended Japanese translation.
And if you want to make it clear that your willingness or determination is solely oriented to you and nobody else, you need to say something like this:
(8) もっと頑張ろ*う*/もっと頑張る*ぞ*.
You can either choose the volitional form(意向形) of the verb "頑張る" (that is,"頑張ろう") or add "ぞ" to the dictionary form (辞書形) of "頑張る."

Incidentally, in order to mean "頑張る," you can also use "try one's best" and "work hard" among others.

And for the "oneself" problem, "told myself" is close in meaning to "thought."  
If you switch to "thought," your problem will disappear.
(7)  a. I thought (that) I would try harder.
         「もっと頑張ろう」と*思った*.
      b. I thought (that) I have to try harder.
         「もっと頑張らなければならない」と*思った*. 
　　　c. I thought (that) I had tried my best.
         「やれるだけのことはやった/ベストを尽くした/自分なりに頑張った/自分は頑張った」と*思った*.

So said, I must admit that there is another problem that will surface when we translate "try one's best" as "頑張る" as in (7c).  

How do you translate the sentence #8 if "Ken" and "he" are coreferential (both nouns are used to refer to the same person)?
(8) *Ken* said that *he *was not guilty.

Actually, you can choose (9a) or (9b) to mean (8).
(9) a. ケンは「無実だ」と言った.
　　　b. ケンは「自分は無実だ」と言った.
     cf. ケンは「*彼*は無実だ」と言った, where "彼" refers to someone other than "ケン."

Now you know that you can use "自分" also to make it clear that someone in the embedded sentence is coreferential to someone in the main clause.

Morrow

NB1 
In relation to (7c), "「頑張った」と(私は)思った" is less natural because it sounds like there is something missing: Whoが頑張った？　So you need to mention "自分," which correctly refers to the speaker in this case.  
NB2
Japanese learners of English have difficulty understanding the usage of "he" in (i).  
(i) As soon as he came home, John took a bath.
Beginners tend to translate it wrongly as "*彼は*家に帰るとすぐに、ジョンは風呂に入った."   Generally[=Unless it is necessary to avoid ambiguity], you have to "drop" the English pronouns in the resultative Japanese sentence:家に帰るとすぐに、ジョンは風呂に入った.
NB3
More often than not, the "oneself" you face in everyday use is related to a fixed expression as in (ii).
(ii) Please make yourself at home. どうぞ楽にしてください.
It's a good strategy to take it as such.


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## Starfrown

Morrow said:


> (7) もっと頑張り*ます*.
> When you use "ます" to refer to your own action, you're most likely to be telling _somebody _your willingness or determination. But "I would try harder" is what your inner voice said to you (but not what you said to somebody).
> That's why "もっと頑張ります" sounds strange in the intended Japanese translation.


Ahh...I completely missed that above, and I should know better by now!


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## TunS

Morrow said:


> You could then avoid many unnecessary hardships and find it more fun to learn Japanese (and your own first language).



Thanks again Morrow, I see what you mean, if there's a less awkward way of saying something... then use it! I don't _really_ mind learning grammar, I want to have a good knowledge of the complex aspects as I'm planning to try to read some Japanese literature soon  , I bought a parallel-text of miniture stories).




Morrow said:


> And if you want to make it clear that your willingness or determination is solely oriented to you and nobody else, you need to say something like this:
> (8) もっと頑張ろ*う*/もっと頑張る*ぞ*.
> You can either choose the volitional form(意向形) of the verb "頑張る" (that is,"頑張ろう") or add "ぞ" to the dictionary form (辞書形) of "頑張る."



I find the volitional form confusing sometimes... is ぞ a sentence ending particle or a more colloquial volitional?


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## Starfrown

TunS said:


> I find the volitional form confusing sometimes... is ぞ a sentence ending particle or a more colloquial volitional?


ぞ is a sentence ending particle primarily used by men to add force to a statement.

ぜ is another particle used in a very similar manner.


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## TunS

Ahh I see, thanks Starfrown.


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## Morrow

TunS said:


> I want to have a good knowledge of the complex aspects


The use of "oneself" may shed light on a different aspect of how people see and express their own decision.
You may have no trouble coming up with the Japanese counterparts of (10a) and (10b).
(10) a. I taught myself Japanese. (日本語を独学した)
       b. His spare time was devoted to the study of Japanese culture.
          ((彼は)暇さえあれば、日本文化の研究に打ち込んだ) *devote A to B=AをBにささげる/あてる/そそぐ
The real problem starts with something like this:
(11) a. He dovoted himself to the study of Japanese culture.
       b. He was devoted to the study of Japanese culture.
Japanese learners of English will say that "彼は日本文化の研究に身をささげた" covers both (11a) and (11b).  And (not surprisingly) most of them will wrongly choose (11b) even though it was his own decision to study Japanese culture.  
This may be largely due to the interference of their mother tongue, or their culture.　Culturally, they are not trained to express their own decision explicitly.  So you will hear a Japanese say, for example, "こんど、結婚することに*なり*ました.(our marrying is a _natural _matter of course)" rather than "こんど、結婚することにしました, " inspite of the supposed English counterpart of "We're going to *get *married." (cf. He *got* run over by a truck.(being run over by a truck was a result of his carelessness))  Actually, there are not many Japanese who can rightly use "oneself" as in (11a).



TunS said:


> is ぞ a sentence ending particle or a more colloquial volitional?


You may hear "いつ*ぞ*やはお世話になりました."
This kind of use is not obsolete, but you could only find it in fixed expressions.  So you can safely say that the particle is a 終助詞/sentence-final particle (, together with "よ," "ね," "わ," "ぜ," and　"さ").
One last caution:
Even women can use "ぞ" (that is, "ぞ" is gender-neutral) when they say something to themselves:
(12) a.　今度こそ、ダイエットに成功するぞ.
       b. 今年こそ、いい男を見つけて結婚するぞ.
If you change "成功するぞ" and "結婚するぞ" to "成功しよう" and "結婚しよう" respectively, the resultative sentences will be ambiguous (though they are intonationally distinguishable): You may say it to yourself or mean "I'll make it and I hope you make it too."
If the former is what you mean, you can use "成功しようと思う" and "結婚しようと思う"  but "ぞ" is the best signal that says you're strongly determined to do everything to make it.

Morrow


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## TunS

Thanks again Morrowさん



Morrow said:


> The real problem starts with something like this:
> (11) a. He dovoted himself to the study of Japanese culture.
> b. He was devoted to the study of Japanese culture.
> Japanese learners of English will say that "彼は日本文化の研究に身をささげた" covers both (11a) and (11b).  And (not surprisingly) most of them will wrongly choose (11b) even though it was his own decision to study Japanese culture.



That's very interesting, but I can understand how so many Japanese people can get confused．




Morrow said:


> (12) a.　今度こそ、ダイエットに成功するぞ.
> b. 今年こそ、いい男を見つけて結婚するぞ.
> If you change "成功するぞ" and "結婚するぞ" to "成功しよう" and "結婚しよう" respectively, the resultative sentences will be ambiguous (though they are intonationally distinguishable): You may say it to yourself or mean "I'll make it and I hope you make it too."
> If the former is what you mean, you can use "成功しようと思う" and "結婚しようと思う" but "ぞ" is the best signal that says you're strongly determined to do everything to make it.



I think I get it:

-今年こそ、いい男を見つけて結婚するぞ.- Next year I'm going to find a good man and _get_ D) married, (there's no doubt about it).
-今年こそ、いい男を見つけて結婚しようと思う.  (hopefully). {As if she really wants to, but there's sufficient doubt}
-今年こそ、いい男を見つけて結婚しょう- Next year I'm going to find a good man and get married. {sort of an objective, but there's an element of uncertainty}...

How about this combination? Just to test my new knowledge on 'myself'!
今年こそ、身にいい男を見つけて結婚するぞ　Next year I'm going to find _myself_ a good man and get married.


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## Morrow

TunS said:


> -今年こそ、いい男を見つけて結婚するぞ.- Next year I'm going to find a good man and _get_ D) married, (there's no doubt about it).
> -今年こそ、いい男を見つけて結婚しようと思う.  (hopefully). {As if she really wants to, but there's sufficient doubt}
> -今年こそ、いい男を見つけて結婚しょう- Next year I'm going to find a good man and get married. {sort of an objective, but there's an element of uncertainty}...
> How about this combination? Just to test my new knowledge on 'myself'!
> 今年こそ、身にいい男を見つけて結婚するぞ　Next year I'm going to find _myself_ a good man and get married.


This may be disappointing to you but, whichever you choose among the three alternatives in (13a), I think the sentences all work for the English version of (13b).
(13) a. 今年こそ、いい男を見つけて結婚[するぞ/しよう/しようと思う].
       b. This year, I'm going to find a good man and get married. 

And it may make a difference in English if you choose (14a) (or for that matter, (14b)), but as far as Japanese is concerned, (13a) can also cover both (14a) and (14b) (because "いい男を見つけて結婚する" implicates that you're going to do something good_ for _you).
(14) a. This year, I'm going to find *myself* a good man and get married.
       b. This year, I'm going to find a good man *for me *and get married.

("Find myself" does make a difference as in (i) below though:
(i) _I found *myself* shouting_. 
I was surprised at myself shouting because I had thought shouting in a situation in which I acted as I did would happen to somebody else but not to me.  But the idea of surprise or unexpectedness is *filtered out*, and all that is left out is the idea of spontaneity when you have put it into Japanese:思わず[叫んでしまった/叫んでいた].)

In terms of Japanese women, they might favor "nice guy" over "good man."
And instead of "find a good man and get married," they would prefer "find a nice guy to marry."  To them, the toughest part is "finding" and the rest is a piece of cake, because "getting married" is a natural matter of course in their minds' eye.
Finally, "いい男" might not be "a good man/nice guy."  For them, just any good man/nice guy is actually not good enough.  Probably, seen from Japanese women, "いい男" should be "the best (possible) man/guy."

Morrow


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## TunS

Thanks for clearing that up for me Morrow.



Morrow said:


> This may be disappointing to you but, whichever you choose among the three alternatives in (13a), I think the sentences all work for the English version of (13b).
> (13) a. 今年こそ、いい男を見つけて結婚[するぞ/しよう/しようと思う].
> b. This year, I'm going to find a good man and get married.



No, not disappointing at all! In fact, knowing that makes it a whole lot less confusing! 

P.S. Morrow your English is astoundingly good!


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