自分の人生、自分で歩む。
Explanation:
自分の人生、自分で歩む。
Roma-ji: Jibun no jinsei, jibun de ayumu.
Read: Ji-bun no jin-say, ji-bun de a-yu-mu.
Literal translation: My life, I walk on my own.
Meaning: It is my life, so I will walk my own way.
I think 歩む(walk)sounds a lot better than 生きる(ikiru=live) in this context. And, "ikiru" has such a strong connotation that your message might sound like, "Leave me alone."However, if you want to make it STRONG, you can use "ikiru" instead of "ayumu." Then, the translation would be: 自分の人生、自分で生きる。（Jibun no jinnsei,
jibun de ikiru.)
| Yoko Emori
United States
Local time: 06:12
Native speaker of:  Japanese
PRO pts in pair: 16
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1 day 13 mins confidence:   peer agreement (net): +2 自分流儀で暮らす
Explanation:
How about
自分流儀で暮らす
"jibunryugi de kurasu"
jibun = oneself
ryuugi = way fashion
de = in
kurasu = live
To make this more appropriate for a tattoo you might abbreviate this to
自分流儀
jibunryuugi
which means "my way" (like the song).
If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion however...It seems to me that if you are indeed independent then there is perhaps no need to advertise this fact to others. I say this because I hear that tattoos are difficult to remove, we hear.
If you want an image of the characters then let me know.
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Note added at 2001-12-25 08:19:41 (GMT)
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The characters I suggested are a Japanese saying meaning
"(doing things) my own way." It is similar but certainly not exact.
The answer of the person above is closer to what you said, but
somehow it does not look like a tattoo and is more like a normal
sentence than a saying. And somehow it seems appropriate to tattoo
a saying rather than a sentence.
Another, shorter possibility along the same lines is
Garyuu
我流
Where "ga" is I/me/my and "ryu" is "fashion" or "way" (but literally
flow). Again this means something close to "my way" or "in my own way."
But this has a more negative connotation, also meaning "unauthorized."
However, since being an individual in Japan is inclined to have a negative
connotation, this may be difficult to avoid.
Both my suggestions are viewable here
http://www.mii.kurume-u.ac.jp/‾leuers/jibunryuugigaryuu.gif
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Note added at 2001-12-26 09:52:33 (GMT)
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Hi Nathan,
I am a bit biased, so I guess it would be best for you look at the comments of peers.
But having said that...trying to be fair
I think that the suggestion below mine is pretty similar to mine but, yes, a bit closer in meaning. The translator wrote quite a lot about Japanese youth that may also describe your situation but that does not mean that the third suggestion is a close as the paragraph about Japanese youth.
The actual translations are some thing like:
I walk my life on my own
My way (a Japanese figure of speech)
Go my own way
None of them get the double meaning of both "living life to the full,"as well as going ones own way. I think that the most literal of all is the one at the top.
In my opinion mine is the least close to your "live my life"
The downside of the the first and the third is that they use somethign called "hiragana" as opposed to ideograms (that were originally Chinese). Hiragana are more like english letters that have a sound but not a meaning. So in Japan the ideograms are generallly considered more aesthetic, and suitable for a tattoo, than the simpler hiragana. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And I think that the third suggestions is okay. The first is two long, and prosaic.
I will put the first and third ones on another file for you to see here. They are in order.
http://www.mii.kurume-u.ac.jp/‾leuers/jibunnojinsei.gif
AND AS FOR OTHER SUGGESTIONS
Since I still feel that it is better to use recognisable phrases written with picture characters I will limit my search to them.
I looked up all the four character words including live and life but there did not seem to be something along the lines you want
there but....I have another suggestions
独立独歩
dokuritu dokuho = literally "Independently walking alone"
or "Making ones way independently".
1st and 3rd chards are "doku" = "on ones own"
2nd is ritsu = "stand"
4th is ho = "walk"
The Japanese dictionary says
1) 他の物と異なり、はっきりした特色をもっていて、同じに扱えないこと
2)自分の力を信じ、他人を頼ることなく、いかなる困難にも立ち向かいやり遂げること。
1) Different to other things, and having its own character, cannot be treated in the same way as other things.
2) Believing in yourself, and not relying on others, you face every difficult and see things through to the end.
I think that I like this one best.
I have put it here in three versions. And there is another similar word "dokuritudokugyou," with the character for "go" (gyou) instead of walk at the end. This one only has the second of the two meanings. I have included one version at the end.
It still does not say the *live* ones life, but it is very independent. I am sorry that I could not find one to say "live my life" as in "Carpe Dium" or seaze the day.
I don't think that you can award two people points. Let the best translator win.
Cheers,
Tim
| | | Grading comment | tim took a lot of time and was very patient with my continuous questioning. he even set up online files for me to view the characters. he was also very prompt with his responses to my extra emails. he gave me several options to choose from and gave his oppinion in a way that didn't make me feel as though he was pushing his opinion on me. |
|
1 day 5 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +1 我が道行く
Explanation:
我が道=My own way
行く=go
Literally translated as "I go my own way/path", meaning I want everyone to respect my own autonomy (or my own space) and I respect other peoples' autonomy as well.
You read it "Waga Michi Iku"
I am so sure that this is the expression you would like to use in that kind of situation. There are a lot of young Japanese people who felt that their lives were controlled by parents, school, society etc. For example, if one goes home, that person will have limited allawance. If that same person decides to work part time to earn some money to make his life get better, parents would say no and plus if he gets caught,he would be kicked out from school. If he gets kicked out of school, then that could hurt his career. If he can't get good education and has a history of being suspended from school or kicked out of school, he would get bad references and would not be able to get a well-paid job. No matter how logically correct he is and even though he knows what he is doing and gives a good explanation, parents, school, society etc will say no. If he wants things to improve and decides to work part time, he is doing the right thing and he is actually helping to make everyone happy but everyone will say no, no matter what the reason is. I think this is one type of example of controlling peoples' life, which happenes a lot.
When I thought people were controlling my life this was the expression I used too.
I think a lot of people agree with you and it was a good thing that you provided a long explanation of your situation.
I hope the translation helps and good luck with your life.
| mimichan
Local time: 09:12
Native speaker of: Japanese
PRO pts in pair: 16
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