やさしい/やさしさ

[hiwa]

Could we safely say that gentle/gentleness is the English equivalent of the most generic, or most vague, version of yasashii/yasashisa?

For example what do you say in English for:

現代の若者はやさしさ指向だ。
and
彼のお父さんはやさしい人よ。

[Janiston]

For example what do you say in English for:

現代の若者はやさしさ指向だ。
and
彼のお父さんはやさしい人よ。

The first would be...Young people of today are getting more gentle.

The next would be...His father is a gentle man.

My English is not good. Can I get through,hiwa??

[vhcoffee]

Well, according to the example sentences in my dictionary, 優しい can also mean "kind." And, with a different 漢字 it can mean "easy." 易しい

So the second sentence can also mean "His father is a kind man."

[hiwa]

So, then, are gentle and yasashii interchangeable without any reservation, in their contextual connotations?

I used to feel English does not have yasashii equivalent in its broadest implication.

[vhcoffee]

I have found that very few words in Japanese have an "exact" equivalent in English. This makes me CRAZY!!!
One that I think has almost an exact equivalent in English is とにかく。 I think it is almost exactly "anyway" in all shades of meaning. Just a word of caution: I, like you, am just a learner of Japanese. Always be sure to consult an expert on these matters. I usually consult a dictionary or my resident native Japanese speaker (who almost always gets upset with my endless questioning)

[hiwa]

vhcoffee wrote:
> Always be sure to consult an expert on these matters.
That's why I have posted the question on this forum where I expect there are great people who has sufficiently deep and live experience and knowledge both in English and Japanese. I and you do not belong to them type, apparently.

[hiwa]

For example, could affable better represent the feel of modern Japanese yasashii than more common and traditional word gentle?

[trabia-wind]

hmm. but nobody uses affable when talking... so.. that would sound weird. my japanese is pretty bad but i think in general when "translating" stuff it's better to say a general meaning/same feel than the exact translation right?

[coco]

tenderness は?

[PeterSeaOtter]

現代の若者はやさしさ指向だ。:
Young people nowadays is fond of being fond, generous and/or friendly.

彼のお父さんはやさしい人よ。:
His father is (very) comprehensive, generous and/or indulging too much.

Read between the lines anywhere, because Japanese so much often use the softer words vaguely. It's interesting.

[Yudan Taiteki]

"gentle" and "kind" are somewhat different, but I don't know which would would be better for yasashii. And I have no idea what PeterSeaOtter is talking about.

[PeterSeaOtter]

Go out with some Japanese girls, or
listen to them carefully at least,
even if you have no idea what they are talking about.

Anyway, you had better to underatand that "やさしい" is not enough equivalent of "gentle" and "kind", though it often seems to be similar to them.

From my experience, "やさしい" is very similar to "loving me".

[shin1ro]

As for やさしい, I'm sure it highly depends on the context.

I once heard (maybe in a radio program?) several やさしい's in a single page in a Japanese literature work (...it's a shame to not remember, but I think its author was quite famous such as 夏目漱石 or 川端康成 or...) were translated into three or more different English words. They have to be gentle, kind, tender and...I don't know.

-shin1ro

[enpitsu00]

...........................................................................

[hiwa]

shin1ro wrote:
As for やさしい, I'm sure it highly depends on the context.

I once heard (maybe in a radio program?) several やさしい's in a single page in a Japanese literature work (...it's a shame to not remember, but I think its author was quite famous such as 夏目漱石 or 川端康成 or...) were translated into three or more different English words. They have to be gentle, kind, tender and...I don't know.

-shin1ro

Here's a terrible page
http://www.dictjuggler.net/yakugo/data/e38/284/e38195e38197e38184.html
that could be only augmentative of my confusion.

I saw adjective 'warm' was translated into やさしい somewhere in a translated novel.