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わがままはもう言わない gets translated as "won't say anything selfish anymore." However,
this doesn't really make sense. If I google "say anything selfish," what I
find are sites that have translated わがままはもう言わない into English. It's not a
phrase that is normally used in English and the phrase itself doesn't even
seem to really make sense. I don't think that English speakers really
understand what わがまま is since they always translate it directly into something
that is grammatically correct but doesn't really make sense.

So what does わがままはもう言わない actually mean?

Can someone give some example sentences that exhibit わがまま?
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2011-06-28T10:51:26.973
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2011-06-29T12:01:06.257
2011-06-28T15:36:32.513
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translation phrases
What are some sentences that exhibit わがまま
How about "I won't be selfish." A more literal translation might be "I won't
say selfish things anymore."

It's one of those phrases that doesn't really translate to anything that is
commonly said in English. We'd change the entire thing up and say something
more like "I'm sorry for being selfish."
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2011-06-28T11:19:45.867
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We will probably need more background.

-わがままを言う can be synonym of 逆らう(さからう) meaning **to disobey or to defy**

-It can also mean " **to behave like a spoiled child** "

-わがまま alone meaning " **selfish** "
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2011-06-28T11:51:35.883
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「わがままを言う」 is a kind of Japanese aphorism; like "That's just my selfishness
speaking." The phrase above is a play on that.
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2011-06-28T14:10:14.813
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わがままはもう言わない does not mean "won't say anything selfish anymore." This is a form
often used by parents (mostly mothers) to young children as a gentler form of
prohibition than ～な. わがままを言う, while literally meaning "to say [selfish
things]*," is in usage much closer to "to be selfish."

* This is not exactly on topic, so while I have addressed it, my response is as a note, rather than the main body of the answer. Consider the following additional information.

As you said, "say selfish things" is not really commonly used English. This is
due to the nature of the word わがまま. As a na-adjective, it is a class of word
that does not exist in English: a noun which is used like an adjective. As
such, the "true" meaning of わがまま can probably be considered much closer to
"selfishness" than simply "selfish." However, "selfishnesses" is even less
English than "selfish things," which likely leads to this awkward translation.

All of that said, the better translation is probably something more along the
lines of "Stop being selfish," depending, of course, on the context.
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2011-06-29T12:01:06.257
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