This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
  1. KudoZ™ Top
  2. Japanese to English
  3. Cinema, Film, TV, Drama

まさかのとき

English translation: Unexpected

00:42 Dec 10, 2019
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
Japanese term or phrase: まさかのとき
Dear ProZ members,

I have a couple of doubts on how to interpret the following sentence.
In a movie, the American army has to arrest the leaders of a group of rebels. Some soldiers burst into the room where these leaders are, and a soldier shouts "Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition!", just like in the Monty Python sketch.

After the battle, the same soldier says to his partners:
聞いてたか 俺のまさかのときのスペイン宗教裁判の下り
(Did you hear it, my quotation from the Spanish Inquisition for emergencies?)


Two things:

- That 聞いてたか probably means that the soldier is asking whether they ever heard of the gag in their lives, right? Not if they heard him saying it on that particular moment (or it would have been 聞いたか);

- About まさかのとき: it's usually used to mean "in time of need", "in case of emergency"... but the soldiers have the upper hand in that moment, that's not an emergency for them. Could it simply mean something like "for when it's high time"?

Thank you very much!
Riccardo91
Italy
English translation:Unexpected
Explanation:
That sounds like quite the interesting translation!

That being said:
まさかのとき can simply mean "unexpected" or "when you least expect it", so I'd venture that it is an EtoJ translation of "[The Spanish inquisition] that nobody expects".
As for the 聞いていた, if it meant "have you ever heard of this gag" it would probably be "聞いたことある?", so a more reasonable interpretation is "Did you hear of my spanish inquisition gag?" as in "did anybody tell you about that gag, based on the spanish inquisition, which I did?"
Selected response from:

Marco Godano
Japan
Local time: 06:16
Grading comment
Thank you so much!

Linking まさかのとき to the Spanish inquisition makes far more sense, you're totally right.

And thank you for the other sentence too!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4Unexpected
Marco Godano


  

Answers


58 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Unexpected


Explanation:
That sounds like quite the interesting translation!

That being said:
まさかのとき can simply mean "unexpected" or "when you least expect it", so I'd venture that it is an EtoJ translation of "[The Spanish inquisition] that nobody expects".
As for the 聞いていた, if it meant "have you ever heard of this gag" it would probably be "聞いたことある?", so a more reasonable interpretation is "Did you hear of my spanish inquisition gag?" as in "did anybody tell you about that gag, based on the spanish inquisition, which I did?"

Marco Godano
Japan
Local time: 06:16
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in ItalianItalian
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you so much!

Linking まさかのとき to the Spanish inquisition makes far more sense, you're totally right.

And thank you for the other sentence too!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

See also:
ProZ.com term search
Search millions of term translations
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search