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Reading a story in Japanese, and there's a part that goes like this:

A: Ahh! It's dark! Is it the end of the world?
B: No way, C just turned off the lights.

The next line, by B, is "waza to yattenai?" which sounds like it'd mean... "It wasn't done on purpose?" or something, which sounds incredibly awkward and doesn't make any sense in the context. Anyone think they can explain what this little phrase is supposed to mean, and perhaps suggest an appropriate English equivalent?

And please, please don't respond if all you're going to do is link Babelfish or something. I want a human's opinion, not some computer-generated nonsense.

2007-02-03 10:26:55 · 2 answers · asked by Pazu 3 in Society & Culture Languages

2 answers

The translation would be;

A: "Ahh! Its dark! Is it the end of the world?"
B: "No way, C just turned off the lights."
A: "Did he (C, whoever he is) do it on purpose?"

A probably said it in a way/tone (incredulous?) as though asking B whether C did it as a bad joke.

2007-02-04 22:23:09 · answer #1 · answered by tammy 2 · 0 0

It's kind of a tag question. It's translated as "It was done on purpose, wasn't it?"

2007-02-04 12:49:37 · answer #2 · answered by Black Dog 4 · 0 0

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