A “Big Care” Can Be a Nuisance

Do you know the term “double duty carer“? This term refers to those who care for their aged parents while raising their own children.

Child care + nursing care = double duty care

In Japanese, we have two different terms for these types of care, i.e. 子育て (child care) and 親の介護 (nursing care).

After a bit of thought, I came up with the perfect word that covers both.
世話 (sewa) – That’s the word for it!

Receivers of sewa (care) can be children, parents or patients (子供の世話をする、親の世話をする、病人の世話をする).

“世話” (Sewa) with its manifold meanings is sometimes very hard to translate.
E.g. the Japanese love to open a business meeting or e-mail by saying or writing

いつもお世話になっております (Itsumo Osewa ni natte imasu)

Literally translated, this means “thank you for your continuous support.”
To put it more simply, it just means “hi!”. It is a formal way of greeting somebody you’ve known for some time.

When used at the beginning of an e-mail, it can be omitted in translation or reformulated into a more non-committal set phrase such as “I hope this e-mail finds you well”.

I admit that the sense of gratitude hinted at in the original is lost in translation, however.

The same can be said for “おかげさまで (Okage sama de) “ – a word-for-word translation of which means “thanks to your kind support”.

It can be safely rephrased as “fortunately” (幸いにも). By translating it in this way, however, the original nuance of being modest and humble is lost.

We say, for example, that your kind support has helped us to pass an exam, get discharged from a hospital or get married (おかげさまで合格/退院/結婚しました).

❗ The idea behind this euphemism is the Japanese belief that we owe our existence to each other (all human beings are interdependent). ❗

Anyone who has read my post up to now might think everything that has to do with ”sewa” is positive. Well, not exactly.

A “big care” can be a nuisance.
大きなお世話 = None of your business!

#ダブルケアラー  #育児と介護の両立 #Translation #English #Japanese #German