> 羨【うらや】ましい!
>
> You're so lucky!/ I envy you!/ I'm jealous of you!

As I learned it, 羨ましい as an exclamation does not carry much of a negative
context, so perhaps a combination of these three interpretations would be
best. However, in Western society, jealousy and envy are generally considered
negative. Though this same impulse is also present in Buddhist tradition, I am
interested in how this term takes on a (mostly?) positive nuance. Furthermore,
are there any opinions as to why this exclamation is so common in Japanese,
while an English (semi-)equivalent is not?

As a reference, here is a journal entry written by a Japanese native who is
puzzling over how to express うらやましい in english:

> 日本語の「うらやましい」の中には「ねたみ」とか「嫉妬」の部 分があまりない（全然ないとは言えませんが）ような気がする のです。
>
> だからこの場合、 ’They are lucky to travel to Korea." という軽いあこがれを 表現したかったのです。
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2012-01-11T22:52:38.420
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2012-01-12T20:42:24.307
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question
words culture
How to define 羨ましい?
I think you are mostly answering your own question:

うらやましい does not automatically have a "negative" slant (as in: implying
jealousy). A more accurate general translation than "I am jealous" would
therefore be:

> I envy you!

Which does not have any intrinsically negative meaning (although people might
often project one, perhaps for cultural reasons as you point out above).

I guess the gradation could be made between `Something good happens to you, I
wished it happened to me too` (envy) and `Something good happens to you, I'd
rather it happened to me than you, or not at all` (jealous)... but this is
more about nuances in English than Japanese. As you say yourself, うらやましい is
more toward the former... though it is very possible in some context or with
specific intonation/body language, to make it imply jealousy/anger...
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2012-01-12T03:56:15.557
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answer