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Originally Posted by Maxful
What you had written is fair in a certain way. But what if the thread starter doesn't understand Japanese at all and need help on translation and doesn't have enough money to seek help from a translator? Do you still expect him to make an attempt first?
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The tone of this post should be interpreted as matter-of-fact rather than haughty or mean-spirited.
For the most part, yes, barring extenuating circumstances like "this is from a letter a woman wrote to my grandfather; he just died; we're hoping to find out what it says."
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You wrote "Here, we expect a person to make an attempt before we help." but maybe you should alter the "We" to "I".
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What? I parroted standard JF policy. MMM, masaegu, Sashimister, NagoYankee, and others have said the same thing; I am definitely not the first.
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You should probably also flash back a little and remind yourself how difficult it was for you when you first learn Japanese and how you wish that there is someone there to guide you and help you.
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Me telling someone to try and translate something first is exactly what a student needs. Me giving a translation is what no student needs.
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Just because you are able to write and speak proper Japanese now doesn't mean everyone else here can.
I am sure you wouldn't had said the same thing if you are still a beginner 1 student right now.
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A beginner 1 student has no business trying to translate that,
let alone not try, and then ask someone else to without making any effort himself. You learn by doing, not by asking someone to do it for you. To just hand out a translation to OP, if it is to be used pedagogically, would be to hinder his education, not help it.
This is why in Japanese class you have homework assignments where you do translations yourself rather than just have the teacher give you the answers.
Let me point out here that I'm not being mean or rude. I'm doing exactly what a teacher would do if you asked him to translate a book for you: he would say "you try it yourself first; then I'll help where you need it."