Here is the first bit of script from the first chapter of Full Metal Alchemist, you can use rikaichan to search the vocabulary, later we will try to find all the grammar points and figure out a homemade translation, here it is:
エド： 。。。大丈夫。。。完璧だ
N： 錬金術。それは物質の構造の理解し、分解し、再構成する、科学技術である。それは上手く用いれば鉛から黄金を生み出すことも可能となる。しかし科学である以上、そこには代自然の原則が存在した。質量が一のものからは一のものしか生み出せない等価交換の原則
T: 大陸暦１９１０年２月 リゼンブール村
T: 兄 十一歳 弟 十歳
N： 等価交換の原則は、なにかを得るためには、それと同等の代価が必要であることを示している。それは教訓なのだろうか
N: 人はなにかの犠牲無しになにも得ることは出来ない、と
エド： アル。。。アル。。。アルフォンスっ。。。くそっ、こんなことがあってたまるか！
エド： こんな、こんなはずじゃ。。。くそ。。。持って行かれた。。。
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Sometimes the script has little differences with the audio, there are two previous entries in the script, one from エド： よし。。。完璧だ。。。やるぞ、 アル
and the other one from アル that is a description of the scene, but they doesn't match.
This is what I understand from audio:
エド： てきだ、アル
アル： mmh
And here begins the part that matches, I've found other minor differences, but we'll comment that later.
According to jdic:
出来立て 【できたて】 (n) fresh; just made; ED [Partial Match!]
but I was searching できた hence the partial match, any ideas?
エド： 。。。大丈夫。。。完璧だ
だ is the plain form of the verb です (to be)
Ed: I'ts all right, it's complete (or perfect)
N： 錬金術。それは物質の構造の理解し、分解し、再構成する、科学技術である。
それは I'm not sure about this one, それ is a "kosoado", a determinant これ means this, それ that, あれ something far from the speaker and the listener and the do in kosoado is どれ that means which one, and は is the particle pointing the theme of the sentence, not the subject (take a look at Tae Kim), it's usually translated as "about". I would translate it:
"about that (Alchemy)".
の is the possesive particle, and it can be "anidated" in structures like the one in this sentence, materialのstructureのunderstanding, wich means "the understanding of the structure of matter".
The し ending according to my grammar dictionary is "a conjunction to indicate 'and' in an emphatic way, and translated as "and what's more; not only ~ but also ~; so
And finally する is the causes a state or action to take place and means "do, make,..."
So the complete translation would be:
N: Alchemy. [That is] The understanding of the structure of matter, his decomposition and reconstruction
で is a particle meaning way of doing something or means, ある is the verb to have or to be for inanimate objects, I'm not sure about this structure but my guess is:
"with scientific technique"
Ops, I was wrong about である, it is "a copula which is used in formal writing and formal speech" translated as "be"
ie: 先生である (be a teacher)
And I was wrong (again) about それは "an interjection wich is used when the speaker emphatically provides an expected response to a question" something like "of course"
It's strange because there is no question here, but considering that I hear 錬金術とは in the audio and the それは seems inexistent I'll leave this out of the translation, so with the である but without the それは:
N: Alchemy. It is the understanding of the structure of matter, his decomposition and reconstruction.
それは上手く用いれば
The それは again, I think it's some kind of expression, who knows...
上手く, うまい is an i-adjective, there are two kinds of adjectives in japanese, the ones ending in -i and the ones ending in -na, adjectives conjugate in japanese and the -na are the more regular ones, the -く ending is the adverbial form, so it's something like the -fully ending in english.
用いれば is the conditional form of 用いる, conditionals use to end in れば so beware :)
The meaning is "If used skillfully"
鉛から黄金を生み出すことも可能となる。
から means "from", it can be used with places too, まで is it's counterpart, ie: マドリドから東京まで (from Madrid to Tokyo)
を is a particle that marks the direct object, the verb 生み出す (to produce) is transitive, so を indicates what is produced.
So it means "to produce gold from lead"
ことも is another expression I can't find, but the final part means "to become possible"
My guess for the full sentence is:
If used skillfully it becomes possible to produce gold from lead.
A friend gave me an explanation about それは and ことも (thanks Mike!):
[quote]
それは is "That is" (i.e. sore wa). It takes some time before you start
seeing は as the "wa" particle correctly :-)
ことも is 事も。 In the text it says 生み出すことも。 In this case
the こと is a nominalizer -- it turns the verb into a noun (kind of
like adding "ing" on the end of an english verb). 生み出す means
"bring into existence". も is just the "mo" particle (i.e. also). So
the whole thing is "also bringing into existence" (in this case
gold).
[/quote]
しかし科学である以上、そこには代自然の原則が存在した。
である again, as stated previously 科学である means "it's science"
[mikekchar]
以上 - I'm not 100% sure, but usually when you end a sentence with 以上 it means, "that's it". So, for instance, if you are ordering
food, you'll list everything and end with 以上です.
[/mikekchar]
The choosen translation is: "but it's science, that's all"
そこには代自然の原則が存在した
looks strange to me but after deep consideration:
そこには, そこ there (place) it's another kosoado (ここ here, そこ there, あそこ over there, どこ where?)
に is a particle that marks a place, and は is the ever present topic marker.
[mikekchar]
The reason he is using
そこ is because he is thinking of science as an area, not a thing.
We do the same thing in English when we want to compare one
area to another. "In scientific medicine, there are certain ways
of doing things. Over there they perform studies. But in traditional
medicine anecdotal evidence is often used."
[/mikekchar]
代自然 means mother nature, rikaichan doesn't have a complete translation for this term.
の is the possesive particle so the term means "mother nature's principles (or rules)"
が is another particle, this one marks the subject, there are slight differences between は and が and it's hard to know how to use them but for now we will think of は as topic marker and が as subject marker.
And here comes the translation, I'll make this extra literal :)
Speaking of science, mother nature's rules existed
質量が一のものからは一のものしか生み出せない等価交換の原則
"From one thing" is the topic, the verb "to give birth, to produce" is in potential form.
Here the particle が can be seen as a direct object, a quick rule would be to use が instead of を with potential forms, it's easy to remember but it's not true, Tae Kim says that "potential forms do not have direct objects", I won't say more than take a look at TK ;)
しか means "only, nothing but" so:
From one thing only one thing of the same mass can be produced
The narrator makes a pause in the dialog so 等価交換の原則 is a sentence in itself, given the many times the subject or the existence verb is ommited in japanese this sentence makes perfect sense as:
It's the rule of fair exchange
update: a japanese told me that 一のもの is a hypotetical unit and it's used in physics
T: 大陸暦１９１０年２月 リゼンブール村
T: 兄 十一歳 弟 十歳
大陸 means continent and 暦 calendar, so literally it means continental calendar, but it's better translated as "European calendar"
"February 1910 European calendar, Resembool Village"
"Older brother 11 years, younger brother 10 years"
N： 等価交換の原則は、なにかを得るためには、それと同等 の代価が必要であることを示している。それは教訓なの だろうか
The explanation for this sentence is from japan forum (thanks Cyclamen)
[Cyclamen]
それ is referring to なにか, that "something" that is going to be "obtained (得る)" .
と is a particle used as a connector, in this case linking the two terms which are compared (that have the same value). In this case, the first term is the thing that is going to be obtained, the second one is the thing with the same price (同等 の代価のもの).
--> ことを示している
こと is used to nominalize a proposition (here, ......必要である)
を indicates the verb's object (in this case, the nominalized proposition)
示す means "to point out", "to show", "to explain". It's used here in -ている (continuative form)
That's why I translated this sentence as
"the general rule of fair exchange explains that ......"
--> 教訓なのだろうか
教訓 means "precept", "moral instruction"
なの emphasizes the noun (教訓)
だろう expresses a conjecture
か is a particle used to mark questions
A literal translation of それは教訓なの だろうか would be then "Would that be a lesson?". The subtle meaning of japanese だろう can be translated in many ways, depending on wheter the speaker knows the subject he's talking about ("that would be a precept") , he's making suppositions ("would that be a moral instruction?" / "could that be a precept?"), or is waiting for a listener's response ("that's a moral instruction, right?")
So, literally, translated, your sentence would sound like
"The principle of fair exchange points out that for the sake of obtaining something, something of equal value is necessary. Would that be a lesson?"
[/Cyclamen]
I'll be out the next week so don't expect new posts in a few days (just in case someone is reading the blog)
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