Japanese Gollum

In my researching of the Japanese version of the Hobbit the other day, I was a little let down by the Japanese presentation of Biblo's Egg Riddle. Still, I did come across an interesting translational decision.

In English, the corrupted hobbit-creature Gollum is so named because of the "horrible swallowing noise in this throat." This is illustrated especially well in Peter Jackson's LOTR films, I think, wherein Smeagol periodically coughs out his more sinister moniker, "Gollum." This seems to happen when he is about to give in to his darker nature.

In Japanese, Gollum's name is translated as 「ゴクリ」, which is a gulping, swallowing sound. It's a little more literal than its English counterpart, as "Gollum" isn't a conventional word or sound in English and 「ゴクリ」 is in Japanese, but think this is still a nice way of rendering his name.

It appears that the Seta Teiji, who translated Tolkien's the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings into Japanese, got creative with a number of Middle Earth's proper nouns, and Gollum isn't the only name to have been adapted for Nihongo. 

Some of those other translations may be a nice topic to explore in the future.


Image Source: Wikipedia (Rankin & Bass animation)

A box without hinges, key, or lid...

Today I was thinking a bit about the Hobbit (because that is the sort of thing I think about); specifically about the novel and the old Bass and Rankin animation that had so much charm. Definitely worth a watch!

I've been a fan of riddles for a while now, and it may be that reading and watching the Hobbit as a kid played a part in that. There's one particular short and simple riddle of Bilbo's that I've always loved:

A box without hinges, key, or lid,

yet golden treasure inside is hid.

The answer, of course, is an egg. Or "eggses" might also be acceptable. I was wondering today whether the Japanese version of the riddle is a literal translation, or maybe something with a delightfully poetic spin. The English version rhymes, and rhyming can be quite challenging to translate satisfactorily. The meaning will come across, but the flair, the feeling, some nuance, will often be lost.

A quick Googling brought up an old Japanese Middle Earth blog post from a few years ago, before the release of the recent movies, in which the writer shares the text of the riddles bandied back and forth between the hobbit and the, er...Gollum.

The egg riddle is laid out as:

この箱には、ちょうつがいも、

かぎも、ふたも、ありません。

それでも、なかには黄金の宝ものが、

かくしてある。なんでしょう？

Alas, it turns out to be a literal translation. Functional, yes. But lacking that something.

At any rate, now I totally want to read the Japanese version of the Hobbit. I'll have to add it to the massive queue of J books I have yet to get through!

J-Word Play: Coffee of the Dead

It's been a while, but I wanted to share a new riddle that I came up with (I don't know how original it is; could be that this already exists in some other wording). I've decided to do away with the dual posts and just include the question and answer in one. This way those of you who just want to know don't have to wait a week. Here we go:

死んでからコーヒーを飲む所とは何でしょう？
(しんでからコーヒーをのむところとはなんでしょう？)

Answer: 冥土カフェ or 冥土喫茶
(Meido Cafe)

To figure this one out, you need to know a little bit about the Buddhist afterlife in the Chinese/Japanese tradition. The mythology says that after one dies, they go on to an underground gauntlet of sorts, where they have to endure all sorts of pains and trials as they make their way to reincarnation or hell. It seems that there are variations on the specifics of this journey and its exact nature, but this is the long and short. In Japanese, this purgatory is called 冥土 (Meido). As you're probably aware, there are also novelty cafes in Japan where one can find servers dressed as maids. These are quite aptly called "maid cafes." Both "maid" and "Meido" share the same pronunciation - 「メイド」.

J-Word Play #31 (Answer)

Whoops - a sparse amount of posts this month, but there's been a lot going on. I'll need to redouble my efforts.

Kudos to Cocomino for solving the last riddle, which was:

上がったり下がったりする野菜って何でしょう？

Our answer is...

かぶ (stocks, turnip)

Our December riddle asks "What vegetable goes up and down?" This one isn't so much tricky as demanding of your vocabulary skills. かぶ is the common pronunciation for both stock (as in the stock market, hence up and down) and the common turnip.

J-Word Play #31

It's been a bit, so here's a new one for you:

上がったり下がったりする野菜って何でしょう？
(あがったりさがったりするやさいってなんでしょう？)

If you know the answer, shoot me a quick email (blueshoe[at]jadij.com).

J-Word Play #30 (Answer)

I regret that I've been slow to post lately - what with the storm and a busy calendar I've been a little pressed to find the time. This weekend I'll be at a wedding in New Jersey, so I just wanted to bust out this overdue answer first.

A kudos to Cocomino (his wife this time, actually) for the correct answer.

Our riddle was:

食べると安心するケーキってなんでしょう？

(たべるとあんしんするケーキってなんでしょう？)

ホットケーキ (hot cake)

Our questions asks "What cake puts you at ease when you eat it?" Well, while「ホット」in katakana can mean "hot," it can also be written (usually in hiragana) to mean "relief" or "to be relieved" (ほっとする). Relief cakes!

J-Word Play #30

食べると安心するケーキってなんでしょう？
(たべるとあんしんするケーキってなんでしょう？)

As always, send your answers to blueshoe[at]jadij.com. Happy riddling!

J-Word Play #29 (Answer)

This one's out a little late - sorry!

Another kudos point to our riddle master, Cocomino, on this one.

夏の晴れた日に使うナビってどんなナビ？

花火 (はなび, fireworks)

This one is more straightforward than some of our recent word plays. The question asks "What kind of navigation system do you use on clear, summer days?" The trick here is that 「ナビ」 (navigation system) is also part of the reading for the word 「はなび」, "fireworks." So it's not a navigation system at all.

J-Word Play #29

September already! Although it may be considered autumn in Japan, we still have a tad bit more summer left in the U.S. Make it count.

Our riddle for today is:

夏の晴れた日に使うナビってどんなナビ？
(なつのはれたひにつかうナビってどんなナビ?)

As usual, please send answers to blueshoe[at]jadij.com. Good luck!

J-Word Play #28 (Answer)

First off, kudos to regular Cocomino for another riddle solved!

Last one was:

ナイスなスイカは、何になるでしょう？

いか (Squid)

Ok, so this one was a little tough, I think. If you change the Japanese a little, you have: 無い「す」なスイカは、何になでしょう？This riddle doesn't work in English, but in Japanese, 「すいか」is "watermelon." Figuring out what the question is asking is the main park of this one! It wants to know, "「すいか」without the 「す」becomes...what?" And in Japanese, 「いか」 is squid. So a watermelon without it's 「す」becomes a squid.

J-Word Play #28

Here's another one for you:

ナイスなスイカは、何になるでしょう？

Could be a little tricky, but think about it and email me if you have an answer: blueshoe[at]jadij.com.

Good luck!

J-Word Play #27 (Answer)

Last week's riddle was:

海にもいるけど、空も泳ぐ生き物はなんでしょう？

Kudos go out to Lukas, Rufus, and Cocomino (who came up with a good alternate answer).

たこ (Octopus/kite)

Our riddle poses the question "What creature is in the sea but also swims in the sky?" The answer lies in the fact that たこ is the word for both "octopus" and "kite." Cocomino's answer was 飛び魚 (とびうお; flying fish), which I thought was a clever answer that also seems to apply.

As a side note, keep an eye out for a score chart I am going to be placing somewhere on the right side of the page to keep tally for our riddle masters.

J-Word Play #27

Here's one that I hope won't be too easy for you:

海にもいるけど、空も泳ぐ生き物はなんでしょう？
(うみにもいるけど、そらもおよぐいきものはなんでしょう?)

If you think you know the answer, shoot me an email at blueshoe [at] jadij.com

J-Word Play #26 (Answer)

Last week's riddle was:

胡桃を逆さまにすると出てくる飲み物はなんでしょうか？

Kudos this time to Cocomino, Rene, and Vitor. I'm thinking maybe I should start a scoreboard for these...
All three of you guys mentioned how easy this one was. For those of you who didn't get the answer, here's why:

ミルク (Milk)

This riddle asks "When you turn a walnut upside down, what drink do you get?" The first time I saw one of these "upside down" riddles (can't remember which one it was), I had no idea what the answer was. The key here is spotting a Japanese riddle/language pattern. 「逆さまにする」 here means to invert or turn upside down、or to reverse. In wordplay terms, this means you need to reverse "a walnut" (literally the word 胡桃 [くるみ」). When you read it backwards, くるみ becomes みるく。ミルク. Milk.

J-Word Play #26

I like this one:

胡桃を逆さまにすると出てくる飲み物はなんでしょうか？

As always, if you think you know the answer, send it in to blueshoe[at]jadij.com.

J-Word Play #25 (Answer)

Our last J-Word Play was:

いつも何かにチャレンジしてる国はどこ？

A kudos goes out to Ollie of LinguaLift for sending in the correct answer!

朝鮮 (ちょうせん, Korea)

Our riddle asks "Where is a country that is always challenging itself?" (I think this is the smoothest translation. In Japanese people "challenge" something. In English we challenge ourselves to do something) The answer, as you might expect, is a pun. 朝鮮 （ちょうせん）means Korea; that is, the area including both North and South. The same reading with different characters gives you 挑戦 (also ちょうせん), which means to challenge or try.

J-Word Play #24 (Answer)

The belated answer to our last J-Word Play, but first some kudos:

This time Rene of Shojiki Shindoi and Cocomino of Life in Kawagoe were able to puzzle this one out (no surprises there, really - these guys are turning out to be riddle pros).

タバコをやめると何円？
（タバコをやめるとなにえん？）

禁煙 (きんえん; nonsmoking)

This one may not translate into English so well, but it's a great pun in Japanese. The question asks "How many yen does it cost to quit smoking?" Much like so many other riddles, to arrive at the correct answer you have to think outside the box. Another way to think of this question could be "What en do you get when you quit smoking?" The answer in that case would be 禁煙 (きんえん), the word most commonly used for non-smoking, which you may have heard or used yourself at restaurants.

J-Word Play #24

This one may be a little tricky...curious to see how many responses it gets:

タバコをやめると何円？
（タバコをやめるとなにえん？）

As usual, if you think you know the answer, shoot an email to blueshoe[at]jadij.com.

J-Word Play #23 (Answer)

Last week's riddle was:

犯人に間違われた人はマンションの何階に住んでいる？
(はんにんにまちがわれたひとはマンションのなんかいにすんでいる？）

Before the answer, some kudos. We had two correct answers this time. Our winners?

First, our Riddle Master Cocomino of Life in Kawagoe. Second, Brian of Fee's List. Brian may also be a Riddle Master for all I know, but this was his first time answering, so he's gonna have to earn that title.

And now the answer.

ごかい (the fifth floor)

This riddle asks, "Which floor does the man who was mistaken for a criminal live on?" The answer is another product of some clever word play. 「ごかい」 has multiple meanings in Japanese, one of which is "5th floor" (５階). Another possible meaning is 「誤解」, which means "mistake" or "misunderstanding."

J-Word Play #23

The first Japanese riddle of the new year, I believe. Here's one I just saw on a Japanese TV show...

犯人に間違われた人はマンションの何階に住んでいる？
(はんにんにまちがわれたひとはマンションのなんかいにすんでいる？）

As always, if you'd like to venture a guess, send it to blueshoe[at]jadij.com, and include a link to your blog or homepage.

Happy riddling!