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いままでは、どちらかがきげんの悪い時は、どちらかがなだめ、うまくいって来たのだが、どうしたことか、議論になってしまった。
Until now, when either of them was in a bad mood the other would calm them and skillfully go and come back, but somehow they ended up getting into an argument.

I have no idea how to translate いって来た in this sentence. I'm assuming it doesn't literally mean "go and come back".

Also, have I correctly translated どうしたことか as "somehow", i.e. not the expected result?

chocolate
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user3856370
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1 Answers1

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Edited (again -_-)

In this case うまくいって来た means their relationship "had been going well" with their arrangement, so to speak, of one calming the other down, but something has happened and they are arguing now. Or you could say "they had been getting along."
Whether "somehow" is a good translation or not could depend on taste, but I do think it works the way you worded it. Another possibility might be "but something happened and ..."

By137
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    This isn’t what it means here... :-( (Not sure how to leave a more productive comment without answering) – Darius Jahandarie Jan 12 '19 at 14:41
  • Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully it's better now. – By137 Jan 12 '19 at 15:03
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    Better, but I don’t think there’s any ‘starting’ involved here. Using 来る has the nuance of “up til now” (reaching some point in time) and is there to match the “いままでは” – Darius Jahandarie Jan 12 '19 at 15:24
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    If you use “starting” in English it brings the start point into the conversation, which makes it feel like the relationship perhaps started recently, or started to get well recently, etc. But the Japanese sentence has no such nuance, they could have been getting along for years and years. – Darius Jahandarie Jan 12 '19 at 15:27
  • Crap! You're right. This should be the final fix. Thanks again. – By137 Jan 12 '19 at 15:45
  • @By137 Irrespective of the nuances, I now understand what's going on, thanks. I hadn't realised that うまく行く could mean that something was 'going well'. – user3856370 Jan 12 '19 at 15:47