Quote:
Originally Posted by TBox
I never suspected there were mistakes in it, and I'm very sorry if I implied I thought there were. It's just not a writing style I'm used to. I had two choices: It's simply everyday formal writing, or it's slightly old fashioned writing, either way would suit the character delivering it. I'm constantly embarrassing myself by making guesses and being corrected, I was hoping to word my question as neutrally as possible, but have failed. In retrospect I see I shouldn't have used the word odd. It is different from what I'm used to. I apologize.
If this is normal, everyday, formal Japanese, I love it. It's been some of the least frustrating translating I've done in a while. I don't see a lot of formal writing. They never teach formal writing. While it's true I only took two semesters of Japanese, I'm confident I could've taken two more and never seen anything like this. It's odd to me because they teach Japanese strangely in the US, not because it's odd Japanese.
Thank you for your help in this.
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The writing style used is not "old". It reads like it has been written within the last few decades. People write like this today and people wrote like this 30-40 years as well. It may well be a story from long ago as suggested by the use of the words 「寺子屋」, 「妖怪」 and 「妖精」, but the writing style itself is something any average contemporary junior high school student could read with ease.
Regarding the formality, it is not too formal or informal. It is right down the middle even though only three lines have been given. It is very concise and clear if anything.
I have already discussed the tenses used in stories with you, so I will skip it this time.