Q-Eng

One of my friends found an article about Frank Lampard’s disallowed World Cup goal on a Japanese online newspaper, and he doubts if it is properly translated.

Quote
　メルケル首相は「ランパード選手のシュートは明らかなゴール。ごめんなさい」と、失意のキャメロン首相をいたわった。
Unquote

According to the word “ごめんなさい,” Ms. Merkel definitely apologized to Mr. Cameron.
Is it true? He doubts it and so do I.
Then I looked for the original article in English and found it.

Quote
“Angela Merkel conceded that the second goal was definitely in and said sorry,” reported the source.
Unquote

As two of us imagined, “ごめんなさい” seems to be a translation of “sorry.”

I know you can say “I am sorry” when you want to apologize to someone, but it doesn’t always mean apologizing.
That often confuses me.
When my American friend said to me, “I am sorry,” and I replied, “You don’t have to apologize for that.” However, he seemed to be surprised and said, “I am not apologizing.”
Maybe he was just feeling sorry, he was a little disappointed, or he was not happy to hear that.

How can I tell the difference while Americans say the same word, “sorry?”

The English article:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/german-chancellor-merkel-sorry-over-lampard-lsquogoalrsquo-14857469.html#ixzz0s89ICc7f
The Japanese article:
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/soccer/100628/scr1006280749012-n1.htm

I wrote this article on Lang-8 as well.
http://lang-8.com/43673/journals/536435/Did-German-Chancellor-apologize-to-the-British-Prime-Minister%3F

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_先日のW杯、イングランド対ドイツの試合での「疑惑のゴール」についてです。
産経ニュースでは、ドイツのメルケル首相が英国のキャメロン首相に「ランパード選手のシュートは明らかなゴール。ごめんなさい」と言ったと書いてあります。

towarさんがまずこれに疑問を持たれました。
「Ｗ杯大誤審に独首相が英首相に『明らかなゴール。ごめんなさい』」（産経新聞）この発言、誤っぽいなあ。sorry を単純に「ごめんなさい」に置き換えたんじゃないかしら。ソースがわからないから何とも言えないけど。」

それで私なりに調べて、上の記事を書きました。Lang-8の方でもコメントをいただいていますが,
smart.fmのstripmahjongさんに直接おたずねしたところ、次のような丁寧な説明をいただきました。
_
******stripmahjongさんより********************

Hmm, I’m not sure if you just want my opinion on “sorry” or the whole article, so I’ll give my opinion on all of it. Sorry if you only wanted one or the other and have to listen to me babble, haha. (^^)

~ The different meanings of “I’m sorry”

Besides apologizing, the other primary meaning “I’m sorry” has that I can think of off the top of my head is to express sympathy to someone. For example, if you know someone who has a death in the family, a common thing to say is “I’m sorry for your loss.” You aren’t apologizing for anything, but you are letting them know that you are sad about what they are going through and are sharing their pain a little bit. Or, let’s say that somebody crashed into your friend’s car when they were parked on the street. You could say, “I’m sorry to hear about what happened to your car.” or just “I’m sorry to hear about your car.”

You can also say “I’m sorry” the lessen the impact of telling someone they are wrong about something. If you were trying to convince someone that the English goal was real, and the other person was trying to convince you that it wasn’t, you could show them the replay (which clearly shows it was a goal) and say, “I’m sorry, but that’s obviously a goal.” or “I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. That’s obviously a goal.” Depending on the tone of your voice, though, this might sound a little arrogant, so you should be careful if you use it.

~ How can you tell which is which?

I’m not sure if there is an easy way to know since a lot depends on context, but I suppose one thing to keep in mind is that if the person saying “I’m sorry” has a reason to apologize for something they did personally, then they are probably apologizing and not expressing sympathy, etc.

So, if someone breaks your car window and says “I’m sorry”, they are probably apologizing for breaking your car window. However, if you are telling someone that your car window was recently broken and the person says “I’m sorry”, then they are probably expressing sympathy.

~ Did the Chancellor apologize?

Based on the quote “Angela Merkel conceded that the second goal was definitely in and said sorry,” reported the source.” I would say that the Chancellor did apologize in the sense that she was expressing sympathy or regret for what happened. Obviously she can’t apologize for what happened in the sense that she wasn’t personally responsible for it, but she is saying, essentially, that she regrets what happened and wishes it hadn’t.

Of course, she probably doesn’t <span class="caps">MIND</span> that it happened, but it would be rude to say that, haha. (^_-)

One thing to keep in mind, though, is what language was being spoken by the Chancellor. I don’t know if she can speak English or not. If she were speaking in German, then that quote is English translated from German, so something could be lost in translation. Plus, it was “reported by a source”, so we don’t know if this is really a direct quote of what the Chancellor said or not.

...WOW this became really long! (O_O) I’m sorry! (^_-)

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コメントは大歓迎です。
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