課す

English translation: impose on myself

17:03 Dec 15, 2016

Japanese to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama

Japanese term or phrase: 課す

Dear ProZ members,

my last stupid question for today is about the verb 課す.

This is the sentence:
こんな老いぼれが課す役回りではないな

Is it correct to interpret it as "It's not a duty that can be imposed (to you) by and old man like me"? This is what I would think seeing the uses I find online.

However, I've also found this translation: "It's not a duty that an old man like me can take up". In this case, 課す would be used to say "impose to himself", but is this possible?

Thank you very much!

Riccardo91
Italy

English translation:impose on myself

Explanation:
Yes, it's possible to take it as 自分に課す / impose on myself.

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Note added at 7 hrs (2016-12-16 00:57:19 GMT)
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It is plausible to take it as 老いぼれが自分に課す, where 自分に is omitted. It is also possible to take is as 老いぼれた他人（or お前）に課す, where the object is omitted. The interpretation is all context-dependent.

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Note added at 1 day8 hrs (2016-12-17 01:52:13 GMT) Post-grading
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Oops 老いぼれた他人に ->老いぼれが他人に

Selected response from:

Port City
New Zealand

Grading comment

Thank you for your explanation! ^^
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

to impose s/t on s/o or s/t

julmace (X)

3 +1

impose on myself

Port City

Answers

5 hrs confidence:

to impose s/t on s/o or s/t

Explanation:
I'm siding with your first translation. When I read this sentence I see, "This isn't the kind of obligation/role that an old man like me can ask of you."
I feel like 課す carries a feeling of the speaker imposing something on someone or something else.
Also, because が is sued here instead of に I doubly think it's your first one.

julmace (X)
United States
Native speaker of: English

5 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

impose on myself

Port City
New Zealand
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 6

Grading comment

Thank you for your explanation! ^^

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課す

English translation: impose on myself

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課す

English translation: impose on myself

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