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Translation help with a sentence

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infiny_omega_499506
New in Town
Posts: 1
Joined: May 23rd, 2014 11:48 am

Translation help with a sentence

Postby infiny_omega_499506 » May 23rd, 2014 11:54 am

My hobby is trying to translate comics, but while I usually am pretty solid with translating dialogue, I get confused while reading prose and longer sentences...

This particular one is driving me crazy.

「兄さん、生まれてきてくれてありがとう」 音なら自分にも選べるから、とプレゼントされたオルゴールの音色を聞きながら。 

I think I understand the rest of it, but the 音なら自分にも選べるから part is really throwing me for a loop. Could someone help me out? Are there any good strategies you guys use for breaking down long sentences with multiple parts?

Thank you so much!

community.japanese
Expert on Something
Posts: 2704
Joined: November 16th, 2012 8:54 am

Re: Translation help with a sentence

Postby community.japanese » May 24th, 2014 6:43 am

infiny_omega san,
Yes,I think manga is interesting and shows the Japanese culture well.
Regarding the sentences,
I am not sure the context however, I guess the older brother has great talent as a musician (is good at music). However, he might be a disabled person or can’t do other things unlike the younger brother.
音なら自分にも選べるから mean “because I can only choose good sounds (know good music)/ because the only thing I can do for you is choosing good music”.
Learning grammar and vocabularies helps you to find word boundaries.
がんばってください。
Yuki 由紀
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