Wedding Wishes

[bestman]

Hi all,

I'm in the midst of drafting the speech for my beloved japanese friend in this coming weekend wedding and I would like to include a short speech with japanese wishes. Can someone guide me with the following speech with Romaji Translation?

My wishes for the bride and groom are that they’ll have a continued loving friendship and partnership; that they enjoy success and laughter; that they are blessed with children; and that they always see and talk with their heart.

My greatest wish for the two of you is that through the years, your love for each other will deepen and grow. Years from now, may you look back on this day, your wedding day, as the day you loved each other the least. I wish you the very best. My love to the both of you.

Thanks in advance

[Nyororin]

I know this is probably not the type of answer you want... But...

If you do not speak Japanese, and are not really familiar with the language and it`s sounds - I highly suggest against giving a speech in Japanese. I would stick with giving the speech in English and then adding a word of congratulations in Japanese at the end. This will go over much more naturally and be appreciated by your friend and their family. If you were to give a long speech (which that would be for a language you do not know) you risk making terrible mistakes that can change meaning, embarrassing your friend, and making everyone else who doesn`t understand a bit uncomfortable.

If you do speak Japanese fairly well - put your attempt at a translation and you can get some help. Otherwise, really, I cannot express how uncomfortable this has the chance of making someone at a wedding.

[bestman]

Thanks for the advise. I have actually ended my original speech with "Go-kekkon omedetou gozaimasu". Thought of making my speech more interesting and meaningful, is there any short wishes in japanese in addition to my original wishes? Feel free to give comments.

My speech is as following:

Good Evening! I want to start by congratulating the bride and groom, and thanking all of you for coming here today.

I thought about the wishes that I'd like to give to the newlyweds and came up with this:

My wishes for the bride and groom are that they’ll have a continued loving friendship and partnership; that they enjoy success and laughter; that they are blessed with children; and that they always see and talk with their heart.

My greatest wish for the two of you is that through the years, your love for each other will deepen and grow. Years from now, may you look back on this day, your wedding day, as the day you loved each other the least. I wish you the very best. My love to the both of you.

Congratulations on your wedding.
Go-kekkon omedetou gozaimasu

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am honoured to ask you to raise your glasses for the newly-weds, .....

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by bestman

My speech is as following:

(cut speech)

I think this is a great speech as it is without the addition of anything more. The phrase you use is very clear and there is virtually no chance of anyone misunderstanding it even if your pronunciation or intonation are very far from the mark.

I say go for it as it is. When it comes to things like this, quality is far more important than quantity. One heartfelt phrase is all you need. To add more just brings the risk of spoiling it.

[MMM]

I think "omedetou gozaimas" (without "go-kekkon") is perfect. You will impress the Japanese there without embarrassing yourself.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

I think this is a great speech as it is without the addition of anything more. The phrase you use is very clear and there is virtually no chance of anyone misunderstanding it even if your pronunciation or intonation are very far from the mark.

I say go for it as it is. When it comes to things like this, quality is far more important than quantity. One heartfelt phrase is all you need. To add more just brings the risk of spoiling it.

I endorse what Nyororin said. I also want to criticize OP a bit: Do you really trust people you don't know on an Internet forum to translate something so vitally important for you from scratch? I smell a lack of common sense!

[bestman]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I've thought about it and is it possible to add in one heartfelt sentence: "My greatest wish for the two of you is that your love for each other will deepen and grow, wishing you two live happily forever"

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by bestman

Thanks for the suggestions.

I've thought about it and is it possible to add in one heartfelt sentence: "My greatest wish for the two of you is that your love for each other will deepen and grow, wishing you two live happily forever"

If you don't speak Japanese, you won't make it through this sentence without flubbing it. I honestly don't want to be a part of someone flubbing a speech on another's wedding day.

[GodForsakenSoul]

To be honest, i think you'd make yourself look like a total douche.
While my language is harsh, i strongly believe that if you do not understand the language, you should not attempt to speak it via translated material.
In my case, the israelis I meet on daily basis, who attempt to speak Russian with me... make me want to strangle them to death. I can not describe the feeling of someone unintentionally even making fun of your language, your culture. There is no feeling more dire then the need to kill that particular person at that point.

[MissMisa]

Originally Posted by GodForsakenSoul

To be honest, i think you'd make yourself look like a total douche.
While my language is harsh, i strongly believe that if you do not understand the language, you should not attempt to speak it via translated material.
In my case, the israelis I meet on daily basis, who attempt to speak Russian with me... make me want to strangle them to death. I can not describe the feeling of someone unintentionally even making fun of your language, your culture. There is no feeling more dire then the need to kill that particular person at that point.

Actually I think that's really rude, obviously this situation is different, because it's a wedding speech. As such, it would be insulting to use a language you are unfamiliar with for such and important thing.

But if people are trying to speak your language and they are trying their best to do so, as a regular thing, then I think that's it's much more polite than them just shouting at you in their own language in the hope that you'd understand. Obviously, not everyone can be an expert from the beginning, and if you made no attempt to practice you would never improve.

I can understand if it's people just reading translated material, but it can't be like that in every situation, right? Even if it is just translated, it's probably with good intentions and you don't have to be so agressive about it...