1

「いかがですミズ＝マッキェネン。
素晴らしい人材とは思いませんか？
この少年は訓練を受けているわけではない。
戦術の心得もない。

I'm stumped as to what the もない ending means in the last sentence (research says it could be a negative emphasis on 心得) so I'm not entirely sure how to translate that ending part of the sentence.

Below is what I've got for the first three lines, in which a character is talking to McCunnen about a man lying on the floor in front of them.

How about this Ms. McCunnen.
Do you not think he has a magnificent talent?
It is not the case that that this young man has received training.

Toyu_Frey
  • 1,470
  • 9
  • 20
  • 1
    Why do your translations contain the words "would" and "should"? Honestly, I think you "should" properly study the Japanese grammar and idioms involved rather than using your imagination. – Will Jan 16 '19 at 04:25
  • The word Would is there as "not consider magnificent talented person" sounds wrong in English, in addition to "you not consider magnificent talented person" sounds dumb. Adding a "would" to the beginning of the question is how it works in high-class English to request something, such as "would you go....?" or "would you be so kind to....?". And the "should" is there for the same reason: it sounds weird in English without the "should". Of course, you could offer me your reasons as to where I translated this wrong, and why "should" and "would" would be better replaced with something else. – Toyu_Frey Jan 16 '19 at 21:11
  • 1
    "...とは思いませんか？" means "Don't you think ... ?", so that sentence translates as "Don't you think she is a splendid talent?". Next, "...わけではない。" literally means "It is not the case that ..." / "It is not because ...", so the sentence becomes: "She hasn't even received any training." (literally: "It [it = the fact that she can do that = her proficiency/skill] is not because she has received training."). Finally, the last sentence means simply "She is (still) clueless about tactics", implying that with proper training she would reach a much higher level than she already attained without any. – Will Jan 16 '19 at 23:28
  • So why is "would" wrong in sentence #2? Because it is asking/confirming an opinion ("don't you think"), which is fundamentally different from making a proposal/request ("won't you consider"). Similarly, in sentence #3 "should" is wrong, because the intent is to provide more information/clarification, which has nothing do with giving a recommendation ("should not receive training"). So yeah, my initial comment was based on the fact that you completely misunderstood all the grammar in those Japanese sentences, so whether your English is intended to be "high-class" is irrelevant at that point. – Will Jan 16 '19 at 23:42
  • The grammar itself is very simple, so I think OP has gotten the context wrong. The boy seems magnificent because he has not been properly trained yet. That is, he can already do a good job only by instinct, and he still has much potential. – naruto Jan 17 '19 at 02:15
  • @Will Thank you very much for the explanation as to my mistakes. I misread the とは in とは思いませんか as a particle, and had never encountered the "don't you think" translation before, and thus failed to recognize it. With your explanation, I agree that using "would" is wrong. The "should" is not really well explained, as you claim the intent is to provide more information/clarification... Would a better translation, in your eyes, be "It is not the case that this young man has received training/been trained." – Toyu_Frey Jan 17 '19 at 02:39
  • @naruto Do you mean the OP of the post or the OP commenter? I might have gotten the context wrong when translating, as I had to take a month-long break from my self-assigned translation project I'm currently working on, he heh.... – Toyu_Frey Jan 17 '19 at 02:41
  • Toyu_Frey, I thought OP always means the original poster (of the question). It appeared to me that you failed to understand why "this boy is untrained and has no knowledge about tactics" would mean "this boy is splendid" in this context. Being untrained means he can become even better via training. – naruto Jan 17 '19 at 02:54

1 Answers1

2

「いかがですミズ=マッキェネン。
素晴らしい人材とは思いませんか？
この少年は訓練を受けているわけではない。
戦術の心得もない。」

The も means "either".

「～～ない。～～もない。」= "~~ not ~~. ~~ not ~~, either."

The ～ている in 「訓練を受けている」 means "have done~~" (indicating a resultant state or experience), and not "is doing~~" (progressive action). For this usage of ている, see:
When is Vている the continuation of action and when is it the continuation of state?

素晴らしい人材と思う literally means "consider him (to be) a highly talented person". (≂ (彼が)素晴らしい人材だと思う "think that he is a highly talented person".)

"What do you think, Ms. McCunnen?
Don't you think he is a magnificent talented person?
It is not that this boy has received training.
Nor does he have any knowledge of tactics."

chocolate
  • 65,531
  • 5
  • 99
  • 204
  • When I first attempted to translate the final sentence, I came up with "Nor no knowledge of tactics" as a rough literal translation, so I'm a bit relieved to see that the first word is the same. – Toyu_Frey Jan 17 '19 at 04:30