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精神の伴わない空手家は狂人と同じである

English translation: Practicing karate without proper control creates a loose cannon.

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Japanese term or phrase:精神の伴わない空手家は狂人と同じである
English translation:Practicing karate without proper control creates a loose cannon.
Entered by: KNielsen

16:20 May 5, 2005
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Sports / Fitness / Recreation / Martial Arts
Japanese term or phrase: 精神の伴わない空手家は狂人と同じである
Sorry to make the term so long. This is, again, one of the karate dojo rules that karateka recite before practice. And again, in Japanese it's quite colourful, but I need to tone it down in English. Any good ideas? Sorry to bombard you with so many karate phrases and cheers for your help.
KNielsen
Japan
Local time: 04:48
Practicing karate without proper control creates a loose cannon.
Explanation:
Sorry to change metaphors in midstream, but the Japanese is tough. Alternatively, how about something like "a karateka without mental strength/control is like a tank without a driver."? Runaway train?

Note that I had to suggest "loose cannon" because 狂人 appears on many 放送禁止用語 lists. Note, however, that I'm not necessarily endorsing the 言葉狩り extremes evident on so many of those lists. I have yet to find any explanation of why 床屋 is on the list, for example.
Selected response from:

Maynard Hogg
Canada
Local time: 12:48
Grading comment
Thanks everyone for your ideas. I liked the phrases "sound spirit" and "spiritual discipline" as well. Also the kinshi lists were kind of illuminating...thanks for including them. In the end I translated the phrase as "Practice karate with self-control"--and skipped the madman stuff altogether. Oh, and btw, yes this is a real dojo--mine!! Thanks again everyone.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4A karate expert without sound spirit will be the same as a mad man.
Kazuo SAWADA
4A soulless Karate-freak is a mere mad man.
kokuritsu
3Karate without spiritual discipline is a mere tool of violence.
humbird
1Practicing karate without proper control creates a loose cannon.
Maynard Hogg


  

Answers


5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
精神の伴わない空手家は狂人と同じである
A karate expert without sound spirit will be the same as a mad man.


Explanation:
Karate is a martial art and can kill people instantly, like a weapon.
If you do not have a sound spirit and self-control, a Karate expert will be a mad man.

Kazuo SAWADA
Local time: 09:48
Native speaker of: Japanese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Maynard Hogg: You're translating words. The asker has already pointed out that that's simply not acceptable in English.
26 mins
neutral  tappi_k: I agree with Maynard, and also think 'karateka' doesn't necessarily mean a karate 'expert'.
10 hrs
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5
精神の伴わない空手家は狂人と同じである
Practicing karate without proper control creates a loose cannon.


Explanation:
Sorry to change metaphors in midstream, but the Japanese is tough. Alternatively, how about something like "a karateka without mental strength/control is like a tank without a driver."? Runaway train?

Note that I had to suggest "loose cannon" because 狂人 appears on many 放送禁止用語 lists. Note, however, that I'm not necessarily endorsing the 言葉狩り extremes evident on so many of those lists. I have yet to find any explanation of why 床屋 is on the list, for example.


    Reference: http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=lang_en&as_qdr...
    Reference: http://page.freett.com/storyland/kikaku/kinshi/
Maynard Hogg
Canada
Local time: 12:48
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Thanks everyone for your ideas. I liked the phrases "sound spirit" and "spiritual discipline" as well. Also the kinshi lists were kind of illuminating...thanks for including them. In the end I translated the phrase as "Practice karate with self-control"--and skipped the madman stuff altogether. Oh, and btw, yes this is a real dojo--mine!! Thanks again everyone.
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
A soulless Karate-freak is a mere mad man.


Explanation:
I wonder if it's a motto of a real
Dojo, because such a term as ”狂人”
cannot be supposed to appear in Dojo rules. It may appear in a fictious world. Practitioners of the Dojo I belong to would not recite this line of funny motto.

Anyway, let me make it very short and simple, Nielen.

kokuritsu
Local time: 04:48
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
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1 day 12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
精神の伴わない空手家は狂人と同じである
Karate without spiritual discipline is a mere tool of violence.


Explanation:
I do not think literal translation makes sensible English.
This is my attempt ... so don't tell me I didn' try.

humbird
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese, Native in EnglishEnglish
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