Where Dragons Roam

As a passionate mystery enthusiast, I have purchased a copy of Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Speckled Band” as translated into Japanese by Akitsugu Domoto (Link). I am working through a side-by-side translation back into English as a way to study Japanese, using a free online copy of the original source (Link). My dream would be to have sufficient Japanese fluency someday to read some of the Japanese detective novels like those by Keigo Higashino in their original language; particularly those for which there is no present English translation.’

Feel free to learn alongside me!

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Original Text:  In glancing over my notes of the seventy-odd cases in which I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic.

Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Speckled Band”, Link.

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Note 1: I noticed that the Japanese translation breaks this long sentence into four separate sentences. One sentence is a lot for me, so here is part one!

Note 2: I alternated between red and black to show separate words / parts of speech.

Translation (for study):

七十 件 にも 上る 奇異 な 事件 簿 を 眺め ながら、 この 八 年、 友人 で ある シャーロック・ホームズ が いかに し て 事件 を 解決 し て き た か について、 この 私、 ワトソン は 研究 し て き た。

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Glancing over the records of as many as seventy strange cases,
Seventy	cases, matters, records	also	up to / as many as	strange, odd	事件event, incident ‘cases’ + 簿 record book	*marks object of a verb, after noun	to view, to gaze at
nana jū	ken	ni mo	noboru	kina	jikenbo	o	nagamenagara
七十1	件	にも	上る	奇異 な	事件 簿	を	眺め ながら

these eight years
this, these	eight	years
kono	hachi	nen
この	八2	年

about how my friend, Sherlock Holmes, resolved the events
friend	Sherlock	Holmes	*marks the subject of a sentence	how, in what way, the methods by which	to do, to cause
yūjindearu	shārokku	hōmuzu	ga	ikani	shite
友人 で ある	シャーロック	ホームズ	が	いかに	し て
Event, incident, ‘cases’	*marks object of a verb, after noun	resolution	to continue doing something	*marks an unknown (a question, either . . . or)	about
jiken	o	kaiketsu	shitekita	ka	nitsuite
事件	を	解決	し て き た	か	について

I, Watson,
this	I, me	Watson
kono	Watashi	watoson
この	私	ワトソン

Am studying
*marks the topic or theme of the sentence	study, research	to continue doing something
wa	kenkyū	shitekita3
は	研究	し て き た

1. Seven can also be pronounced as “shichi” in the on’yomi reading, but in this case it is part of a standalone (70) and uses the kun’yomi “nana”. Otherwise, I know ’70’ from months ↩︎
2. I know this character from doing the months ↩︎
3. It appears that by adding ‘kita’ to shite, it suggests that the verb is continuing. ↩︎

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With this sentence, I have learned to following particles / grammatical notes:

Japanese	Romanized	English
を	o	Particle Follows the direct object of a verb
か	ka	Particle Complicated, generally denotes a question (?) or an unknown (e.g., either / or)
が	ga	Particle Follows the subject of the sentence
は	wa	Particle Points to the main topic or theme of the sentence

Terms that repeated more than once:

Japanese	Romanized	English
事件	jiken	event, incident, cases
し て	shite	to do or to cause something to occur
し て き た	shitekite	to continue (kite) + to do or cause something to occur (shite)
この	kono	this, these denotes something nearby