Thursday, June 26, 2008

Succeeding

Third time's the charm.
三度目の正直

Example:
I tried beating my old TOEIC score twice now but I still haven't been able to do it. This time I'll do it though - after all, third time's the charm!

昔のTOEICの点数を二回も越えようとしたけど、まだ出来てへん。でもこんどこそ越えてやるよ、三度目の正直やで。

Comment:
This is a pretty common phrase, though I'm not sure what its origin is. Logically speaking, there's no reason the third time should be particularly effective...

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If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
最初は成功しなくても、何度も試してみなさい。←アルク日本語かな

Comment:
A saying that says that if you keep on working at something, you will achieve it eventually. A heartwarming saying, though you also should know your limits, and maybe...

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Quit while you're ahead.
有利なうちに、やめる。
痛い目を見る前にやめる。

Comment:
No point risking what you've got, or wasting time getting more than you need.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

> Third time's the charm
It's interesting because Japanese has the same saying as you say.
I also don't know the origin of Japanese one.
By the way, Japanese has the opposite saying 「二度あることは三度ある」and I google how to say it in English.
I found the same saying in English "Why only two without three?".
Interesting.

> 有利してるうちに、やめる。
Allmost all are good, but a little strange, I think.
In my opinion, this saying is translated to
有利なうちにやめる。
有利な状況にあるうちにやめる。
うまくいっているうちにやめる。
うまくいっているうちに切り上げる。
etc..

Miki said...

ちょっと意訳すれば、
「痛い目を見る前にやめる」
とかいう言い方もするかな。

Anuraag said...

I haven't heard of anything like "Why only two without three?" before. Are you sure it's not Japanese English? ;)

「痛い目を見る前にやめる」は詩的で面白い言い方だと思うけど、プラスよりマイナスな言い方だから、イメージはちょっと違うかな。