# "Lost In Translation" translation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2004, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-in-translation-translation/259023 "2004-08-09T14:31:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-in-translation-translation/259023/1 "2004-08-09T14:31:37Z")
Don’t know if this should be here or in GQ, but since it’s about a movie, here goes: Saw _Lost In Translation_ again last night, and I was wondering: Does anybody here speak Japanese? The scene where Bill Murray’s in the hospital waiting room and the old woman’s talking to him was funny, but it might be funnier if we knew what she was actually saying. Any clues? ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-in-translation-translation/259023/2 "2004-08-09T17:58:52Z")
The translation was posted here a few months before. A quick Google on the title, plus the words ‘director’ and ‘formal’ (which I recalled) provided me with scores of links. Either of the following should work. [link1](http://cgi.monjunet.ne.jp/PT/honyaku/bin/hksrch.dll?Q=motoko+rich&D=149296&I=2) [link2](http://www.emptybottle.org/glass/2003/12/lost_in_translation.php) ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-in-translation-translation/259023/3 "2004-08-09T18:09:49Z")
Those links take me to the translation of what the director was saying, not the old woman in the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-in-translation-translation/259023/4 "2004-08-09T18:18:06Z")
:smack: I am _so_ sorry. Read the OP to quickly, and immediately assumed (wrongly) which scene was asked for. :o Then, I’m stumped. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-in-translation-translation/259023/5 "2004-08-09T18:37:36Z")
[Well, this is what I have been able to find.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335266/trivia) > [@](#): > > In the hospital, the question that the elderly man with the cane tries to ask Bob (in Japanese) is: “How many years have you been in Japan?” Meanwhile, the diagnosis that Charlotte receives from the doctor (in Japanese) is that her toe is fractured, but taping is enough. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-in-translation-translation/259023/6 "2004-08-09T20:05:27Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > [Well, this is what I have been able to find.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335266/trivia) Hey, thanks! But now I’m even more perplexed: you mean to tell me that was a _man_? ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-in-translation-translation/259023/7 "2004-08-09T20:14:13Z")
This surprised me as well, but on IMDB he is listed as “old man” (at least I think that is the case, it is in the same section as the hospital sequence and I think that the list is in order of appearance. [Have a look](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335266/fullcredits) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-in-translation-translation/259023/8 "2004-08-09T20:38:21Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > The scene where Bill Murray’s in the hospital waiting room and the old woman’s talking to him was funny, but it might be funnier if we knew what she was actually saying. Any clues? You want a real laugh? Watch the extras behind Murray. I don’t know what they find so funny, but they absolutely lose it.