7-Kakan Gentei Kanojo - Vol. 2 Ch. 10 - Sumie Nagi

[youkari]

Thank you for the feedback! I believe the original line もらしく自分を正当化する is “plausibly justify myself [to Manatsu]” (hence “make an excuse”) whereas “justify [my actions] to myself” would be 自分に正当化する unless I’m misunderstanding the issue you’re pointing out.

“take advantage of the situation” does sound more idiomatic to me than “take advantage of her situation” now that you mention it, but I’m not sure materially changes the story.

Read page 16 and 17 again. While one reading of 悪い案ではないと思った can be what you and Oddman11 translated as "That wasn't a bad idea. I thought."
悪い案 actually has another meaning, and that is 悪意のある企み. That's how I interpreted it when I first read it. That Nagi thought what she proposed wasn't malicious/ill intentioned. There are so many other ways to say something similar without the double entendre like 悪くない案 etc. so it's a rather specific choice of words.

So with the line もっともらしく自分を正当化して, it's not so much that Nagi needed to make up a plausible excuse to give to Manatsu. But instead it's that by her framing the fake dating as helping Manatsu, it makes what she is doing righteous/well intentioned in her mind. So while she did end up trying to use the situation to her advantage, she was only able to do it because she had justified it to herself.

[I crossed out my original suggestion and replaced it with this explanation btw, since I didn't get it quite right either]

Hope this makes sense. It took me a while to figure out how to say this because I didn't learn Japanese through English.

Would love to hear what you think.

 

[FionaWitch]

I don't justify Sumie-chan's cruel tactics of using Aki, I could say it's also terrible and I think she owes a huge apology and whole honesty to Aki, no one deserves to be used like that just because they resembles the person who hurt you.

 

[OddMan11]

Read page 16 and 17 again. While one reading of 悪い案ではないと思った can be what you and Oddman11 translated as "That wasn't a bad idea. I thought."
悪い案 actually has another meaning, and that is 悪意のある企み. That's how I interpreted it when I first read it. That Nagi thought what she proposed wasn't malicious/ill intentioned. There are so many other ways to say something similar without the double entendre like 悪くない案 etc. so it's a rather specific choice of words.

So with the line もっともらしく自分を正当化して, it's not so much that Nagi needed to make up a plausible excuse to give to Manatsu. But instead it's that by her framing the fake dating as helping Manatsu, it makes what she is doing righteous/well intentioned in her mind. So while she did end up trying to use the situation to her advantage, she was only able to do it because she had justified it to herself.

[I crossed out my original suggestion and replaced it with this explanation btw, since I didn't get it quite right either]

Hope this makes sense. It took me a while to figure out how to say this because I didn't learn Japanese through English.

Would love to hear what you think.

悪い案ではない is a common expression and is identical to the English "not a bad plan". Use Google to see many examples.

It turns out 自分を正当化する is more likely to have defensiveness connotation when compared to Xを正当化する which I didn't know. It can be used for convincing oneself but I looked up many examples and it is more typically about convincing others. Here's the ai response at the top of the Google search.

「自分を正当化して」は、「自分の行動や発言を、道理にかなっていると見せかける」という意味です。自分の非を認めず、自分を正しいと主張する状況で使われることが多いです

But ultimately this is a tiny difference and I disagree completely that this affects the story or characterization in any significant way.

 

[youkari]

悪い案ではない is a common expression and is identical to the English "not a bad plan". Use Google to see many examples.

I'm fully aware and am not contesting that. Doesn't mean there can't be a double entendre there especially when you take into account the surrounding pages. I was really just using these parts to explain p21.

Here's the ai response at the top of the Google search, which you should've just said at the very beginning.

「自分を正当化して」は、「自分の行動や発言を、道理にかなっていると見せかける」という意味です。自分の非を認めず、自分を正しいと主張する状況で使われることが多いです

But ultimately this is a tiny change and I disagree completely that this affects the story or characterization in any significant way.

Huh, that's weird. I don't get the same AI example. Google shows me that it's done as a psychological defense mechanism though. There's no mention here that it is necessarily about convincing others unlike in one of the definitions given by the AI example.

自分を正当化するワケなにかストレスや苦痛を感じたとき、不安をやわらげるために、無意識に自分を守ろうとする。 これを心理学の用語で「防衛機制」といいます。 目の前の現実をそのまま認めると、自分の心や精神が保てない。

Also, I'm not trying to prove that I'm right nor am I really critiquing you right now. You're an excellent translator. I do think that the nuance while not as significant as I initially suggested (which I retracted by the way), is still an important distinction to make as the psychological drama is half the fun in this chapter. 🙂

 

[OddMan11]

I'm fully aware and am not contesting that. Doesn't mean there can't be a double entendre there especially when you take into account the surrounding pages. I was really just using these parts to explain p21.



Huh, that's weird. I don't get the same AI example. Google shows me that it's done as a psychological defense mechanism though. There's no mention here that it is necessarily always about convincing others unlike in one of the definitions given by the AI example.

自分を正当化するワケなにかストレスや苦痛を感じたとき、不安をやわらげるために、無意識に自分を守ろうとする。 これを心理学の用語で「防衛機制」といいます。 目の前の現実をそのまま認めると、自分の心や精神が保てない。

Also, I'm not trying to prove that I'm right nor am I really critiquing you right now. You're an excellent translator. I do think that the nuance while not as significant as I initially suggested (which I retracted by the way), is still an important distinction to make.

It is used for both internal and external justification. So it's ambiguous ultimately.I'm changing it to "justified myself" because that's also ambiguous and then we can all go with whatever interpretation we want because I'm over it at this point.

 

[kreahleiser]

Man I came here to read comments about Nagi and I ended up learning something new about Japanese from you two. Unexpected bonus haha.

Thanks for the continued TL, Oddman. Really loving this series.

 

[yanderecoverl]

Smh, confess already. It shouldn't be akira

 

[BambiiLux]

plz of please dont bring that tutor back into the picture. YOU GOT A GOOD ONE NOW dont go back to that

 

[foxxreader66]

For a series with the erotica tag (not much of that) this is the freaking most wholesome and cute love story (albeit with angst and miscommunication interspersed throughout) I’ve read for a while!

 

[shittycoolusername69]

For a series with the erotica tag (not much of that) this is the freaking most wholesome and cute love story (albeit with angst and miscommunication interspersed throughout) I’ve read for a while!

Oh I'm just noticing this is tagged as Erotica? That's so stupid, I mean there is one sex scene that shows a bit of foreplay and very little of the characters' bodies...

 

[foxxreader66]

Oh I'm just noticing this is tagged as Erotica? That's so stupid, I mean there is one sex scene that shows a bit of foreplay and very little of the characters' bodies...

Yeah I’d say suggestive fits with the given content personally. I usually stay out of erotica and that tag popped up later. I guess we’ll see how the story progresses.

 

[Hyacyon]

love seeing it from nagi's pov! can't wait to see how they reconcile soon