Apr 17, 2022 00:35
2 yrs ago
47 viewers *
Japanese term
Italy
つぷんかぷんと
Japanese to English
Art/Literary
Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
Dear ProZ members,
Do you have any ideas about what つぷんかぷんと could mean? I've encountered it in a cartoon, and I'm finding nothing on the Internet, which is quite unusual. Here's the sentence:
嫁っ子は川で洗い物をしているとつぷんかぷんときれいな赤い椀が流れてきた
(The wife was doing laundry at the river, when ??? a nice red bowl came drifting.)
The story is set in Tono. Could is be some local word?
Thank you so much!
Do you have any ideas about what つぷんかぷんと could mean? I've encountered it in a cartoon, and I'm finding nothing on the Internet, which is quite unusual. Here's the sentence:
嫁っ子は川で洗い物をしているとつぷんかぷんときれいな赤い椀が流れてきた
(The wife was doing laundry at the river, when ??? a nice red bowl came drifting.)
The story is set in Tono. Could is be some local word?
Thank you so much!
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +2 | made-up onomatopoeia |
Yuki Okada
|
| 4 | sloshing (made up onomatopoeia) |
Jessica Ujiie
|
| 4 | Swish-swash bibbity-bo |
Muneharu Ota
|
Proposed translations
+2
1 hr
Yuki Okada
Canada
Canada
Native in Japanese
Canada
Engineering translator
Native in: Japanese 
Works in: English to Japanese, Japanese to English
Related KudoZ points
:
12
Selected
made-up onomatopoeia
I think this is a made-up onomatopoeia. The cartoonist is apparently alluding to the well-known story of Momotaro. It is donburako in Momotaro.
https://intojapanwaraku.com/culture/27134/
I think you can just make up your own onomatopoeia to "translate" it.
https://intojapanwaraku.com/culture/27134/
I think you can just make up your own onomatopoeia to "translate" it.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "That's really interesting! Thank you so much!"
1 day 3 hrs
sloshing (made up onomatopoeia)
Agreed that it is the cartoonist's own onomatopoeia to signal the sound the red bowl is making on the water.
1 day 17 hrs
Muneharu Ota
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in Japanese
Specializes in field
United Kingdom
EN - JP Interpreter&Translator
Native in: Japanese 
Works in: English to Japanese, Japanese to English
Swish-swash bibbity-bo
This text seems to be from a story called 'Issun-boushi' ('The Inch-High Samurai) and the word in question is definitely onomatopoeia. It is well-know that Japanese stories contain much onomatopoeia, many of which do not have English equivalent. I have never heard of the onomatopoeia of ‘つぷんかぷん’, but I guess this refers to the state of a bowl drifting down the river. I suggest it could be described as ‘the red bowl was drifting ‘swish-swash bibbity-bob' down the river.
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