52003
>
> イギリスの少女はキノコ雲をかき、「科学者は時にダメージを与える」、日本の少年の絵は髪やひげは伸びたままにしている科学者で、「仕事のことばかり考えている」というイメージだ。([source](https://www.docdroid.net/6ruXJ6r/img-20170802-0002-new.pdf)
> line 8-10)

First, my attempt at translation:

> The English girls draw nuclear mushrooms and the image says: “scientists
> sometimes cause damage”, and the picture of the Japanese boys is a
> scientist, in whom they made the hair and moustache long (=in which they
> elongated hair and moustache) and the image says: “In my job I must think
> all the time”.

Because the context is rather strong in this sentence, I didn’t have too many
problems understanding it. However, the translation required me to make quite
a lot of assumptions about either lacking or seemingly superfluous elements.
So I want to ask about them now:

というイメージだ This element could relate to both the first part of the full sentence
=> イギリスの少女はキノコ雲をかき、「科学者は時にダメージを与える」 And the second part:
日本の少年の絵は髪やひげは伸びたままにしている科学者で、「仕事のことばかり考えている」

The problem is that things get _really_ complicated if I wanted to incorporate
the というイメージだ in my translation of the full sentence. Just to give an example,
another more “bumpy” translation: “The English girls draw a nuclear mushroom
and it is an image which says: ‘scientists sometimes cause damage’ and the
picture of the Japanese boys is a scientist, in whom they made the moustache
and hair long and it is a picture which says: ‘In my job I must think all the
time’.

For that reason, I wanted to know whether my assumptions were correct, because
they imply quite far reaching, rather complex relations.

Besides that, another question centered both around this specific sentence,
but also touching the whole text: Is the text switching tenses? Line 1-2 and
3-4 (half) and 6-7 are in past tense. The rest seems to be in present tense. I
can’t really make out a contextual reason. For example, as we can see in line
6-7, whether the text cites the children's drawings or not doesn’t seem to be
of importance. In line 6-7, the “narrator” ultimately narrates in past tense,
although he always talks to us in present tense when citing the drawings in
all of the other cases in the text.

Do you see any contextual requirement for this? Or even a grammatical
requirement? Or is it just a stylistic phenomenon? For example, in fictional
literature this is often used to increase the suspense.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2017-08-03T09:46:52.370
51990
2022-02-14T19:28:30.727
2022-02-14T19:28:30.727
30454
20172
question
grammar
Syntax and peculiarities of this sentence/text
1. 仕事のことばかり考えている - Thinks only about his work all the time.
  2. というイメージ (イメージ = mental image, impression, artist's impression. This word doesn't mean "a picture".) doesn't mean something is written in the picture, it's just a description of an impression that the pictures are giving.
  3. というイメージ relates to both quotes, as they appear in a clear repetative pattern.
  4. Past and present tense can be used pretty loosely in Japanese. Usually when speaking about past events you use past tense in a few key points, and the rest can use present tense if the correct time can be unambiguously implied.

My translation would be "British girl drew a mushroom cloud, which is like
saying "scientists do damage", and Japanese boy's picture was a scientist with
long hair and a beard, as if he only thinks about his work all the time."
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-03T11:13:34.740
51993
2017-08-03T11:21:19.373
2017-08-03T11:21:19.373
25260
25260
51990
answer
> >
> イギリスの少女はキノコ雲をかき、「科学者は時にダメージを与える」、日本の少年の絵は髪やひげは伸びたままにしている科学者で、「仕事のことばかり考えている」というイメージだ。
>
> First, my attempt at translation: The English girls draw nuclear mushrooms
> and the image says: “scientists sometimes cause damage”, and the picture of
> the japanese boys is a scientist, in whom they made the hair and moustache
> long (=in which they elongated hair and moustache) and the image says: “In
> my job I must think all the time”.

「仕事のことばかり考えている」is also the word from the perspective of the students as
「科学者は時にダメージを与える」and other pictures are.

> 1) というイメージだ This element could relate to both the first part of the full
> sentence

You can read it as it is; don't apply the last predicate, というイメージだ, to the
first half of the sentence; that way causes you a confusion. The sentence
first says イギリスの **少女は** ～の絵をかいた, and then it changes the subject from the
drawer to the picture, and says 日本の **少年の絵は** ～というイメージだ。We can naturally
expect this イメージ to be used as the same sense as the one appears at the
beginning of the passage, どんなイメージを持っているのだろうか, though it's a little confusing
becuase it's about 絵. I wish it said というイメージを持っている, but then it may have
sounded a little too redundant.

> Is the text switching tenses? Line 1-2 and 3-4 (half)

I as a native speaker find everything is natural here. 持っているのだろうか is
questioning about the current status. 行われた is talking about something has
done. 分かった is also talking about something they have come to understand;
things that already happened. 子どもたちがかいた says children already drew.
紹介{しょうかい}しよう says they are going to show us from now, below it. 人々を健康{けんこう}にする
is talking about a **_present fact_** ; a general idea. 褒{ほ}めている is also
treated as a **_present fact/state_** ; we Japanese even say
彼{かれ}は十年前{じゅうねんまえ}ここで怪我{けが}をしている.

> In line 6-7, the “narrator” ultimately narrates in past tense, although he
> always talks to us in present tense when citing the drawings in all of the
> other cases in the text.

The descriptors of the drawings are not talking about past events, but are
describing what the idea of them or what they are doing in the picture. The
narration states past events as past events and present facts as present
facts.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-03T17:36:03.710
51999
2017-08-03T17:36:03.710
22422
51990
answer
I think the biggest problem of your translation attempt is that you tried to
use "say" to translate という. This type of という is used to describe the noun that
follows. I understand you want to translate it as literally as possible, but
using "say" would usually end up with extremely unnatural English sentence.

>   * 地球は丸いという事実  
>  the fact that the earth is round
>   * 美女が野獣に恋をするという物語  
>  a story where a beautiful woman falls in love with a beast
>   * 家族がいるという幸せ  
>  the happiness of having a family
>   * 入学試験に遅刻したという思い出  
>  the memory of being late for the entrance exam
>   * 科学者は時にダメージを与えるというイメージの絵  
>  a picture that gives an impression that scientists sometimes cause damage
>

というイメージだ at the end of the sentence relates to both 科学者は時にダメージを与える and
仕事のことばかり考えている. This is an example of [right-node
raising](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/17744/5010). To translate this
sentence into English, I would not hesitate to split it into two sentences. My
attempt:

> A British girl draw a mushroom cloud, which gives an impression that
> scientists are sometimes harmful. What a Japanese boy drew is a scientist
> who leaves his hair and beard grow, which gives an impression that
> scientists think only about their jobs.

The mixture of the present and past tenses comes from the mere fact that
"draw" is a past action but the pictures are things that exist "now". ("This
picture _is_ beautiful! Picasso _painted_ it!" It's not unnatural, is it?)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-03T19:34:50.627
52003
2017-08-03T19:34:50.627
5010
51990
answer