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I'm working through translating となりのトトロ and I was doing ok until the Nanny
starts talking. Going through her sentences and translating them piece by
piece is an exercise in extreme patience. I find her lines very confusing.

Is she speaking in a particular dialect that I can reference?

Here's an example sentence that confuses me:

> ニコニコしとれば 悪さは しねえし いつの間にか いねくなっちまうんだ。

Which I've translated literally to say:

> If smile wet, as for the bad things they will die and leave completely
> before you notice, you see.

So, "If you keep smiling the bad things will go away."

But the details escape me. What's up with the wet smile for instance?

(It's about 15 minutes in, if you have the video...)
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2016-10-29T21:54:48.947
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2017-02-08T13:30:22.063
2017-02-08T13:30:22.063
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question
translation contractions anime role-language
Any hints on how to translate the 'Nanny' in Totoro?
> ニコニコしとれば 悪さは しねえし いつの間にか いねくなっちまうんだ。

This is the same as the following sentence written in the standard Japanese.

> ニコニコ **していれば** 悪さは **しない** し、いつの間にか **いなく** なっ **てしまう** んだ。  
>  If you keep smiling, they won't do bad things, and they go away before you
> notice.

The original sentence is not in a particular "dialect", but a typical role
language of an old man/lady (aka 老人語).

  * しとる is short for しておる, and おる is the same as いる in this context: 
    * [what does てはいる in this sentence mean?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/39006/5010)
    * [おる in honorific contexts](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/26091/5010)
  * ない → ねえ, いなく → いねく: 
    * [Changing of diphthongs at the end of words to え in exclamations](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/29099/5010)
    * [What does the word 「ありゃしねえ」mean?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/24037/5010)
  * てしまう → ちまう: 
    * <https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/18159/5010>

悪さをする is a set phrase meaning "to do bad things", "to cause mischief". The
verb 死ぬ is not used here.
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2016-10-30T03:08:14.103
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2016-10-30T03:13:20.323
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answer