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Hey guys! Can someone help me translate a sentence, please? I basically know all the… - Feed Post by VanillaQiwi

Hey guys!
Can someone help me translate a sentence, please? I basically know all the words but somehow...I still don't get it....
"私は、書いたこともない、その日記の書き出しを知っている。"
Maybe I'm just too stupid to see the obvious? Anyway, thank you so much in advance!
posted by VanillaQiwi

Comments 13

  • washoku
    Translating verbatim, it looks weird. "I never wrote, I know the opening passage in that diary."
  • VanillaQiwi
    Hm...so I got it right more or less....still doesn't make much sense, does it? But thank you!
  • washoku
    It's probably more like "I do not recall writing the opening passage in that diary, but I know the opening passage."
  • VanillaQiwi
    Ahhh okay! That actually fits. Thank you!
    But it is not literally in the sentence, right? Or is it hidden in the "書いたこともない" part? Just so I understand it for future reference...
  • Kimbo
    With context, you can usually translate it into something a bit more English-friendly, but without more information an accurate translation that makes perfect sense would be difficult, well at least for me.

    "I know the opening paragraph to that diary, but I too have never written (one/inside it)." could perhaps be one way of translating it, but I'm not sure.
  • VanillaQiwi
    Hm...then, to give you some context; here the paragraph:

    机の上に開かれている日記を、ぱらぱらとめくりあげる音がする。それは、私の日記。
    私のすべてが記されている、赤い表紙の本。私は、まるで昨日の出来事のように、すべてを思い出すことができる。
    私は、書いたこともない、その日記の書き出しを知っている。
  • mog86uk
    I think 書き出し can mean more than just 'opening paragraph, beginning of writing'. I'm fairly sure it can be meant like:
    書き (writings) + 出し (put out) = 'put out writings' (i.e. 'put forward message' or maybe even 'claims'). I could be completely wrong though. :P

    I would translate it in my head as:
    "I know the put out writings of the diary, (but) (I) not also wrote (it)."
  • VanillaQiwi
    Thank you, too, mog86uk!

    I feel a bit better knowing that the sentence seems to be more difficult than I thought haha.
    It's just weird that it is her diary, but she didn't write it? This is only the prologue of the book and I'm already at a loss haha...
  • mog86uk
    Well, I think it's more like what washoku said. More like "I know what the diary says, but I have no knowledge of that I wrote it."
  • Kimbo
    Any chance it is like a ghost story? Maybe it is Tom Riddles diary? I dunno xD

    On the desk is an open diary, the flapping on the pages can be heard. That is my diary! Everything I wrote... my red book. Just like everything that happened yesterday, (I/it) can (recall/knows) it all.
    The things I did not write, too... the diary knows!! dun dun dunnn!
  • VanillaQiwi
    Ahaha Kimbo you are awesome!! :D
    And actually not too wrong! It's a horror story about a sick girl who made a pact with a black cat/demon :D
    (Anyone know the horror RPG game "The Witch's House"? Because that's the game the book is based on)
  • tom1960
    I would say "Even if I didn't write it, I know the beginning of this diary."
  • VanillaQiwi
    Thank you, that sounds good! :)
VanillaQiwi

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