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I've encountered the following sentence in a game:

> 時には後ろを振り返ると案外役に立つ事が **コロッと転がってたりする** もんだ。

First, I'd like to understand why the "to" in コロッと isn't in katakana like the
rest of the word, why the dictionary writes it all in hiragana
(<http://jisho.org/search/korotto>). Maybe I got the wrong word?  
But regardless of that, how do I put that part of the sentence into words? I
seem to have it in my mind, but can't quite say it in english.
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2016-01-29T12:37:47.763
30808
2016-01-30T01:22:29.677
2016-01-29T13:47:16.000
10548
question
translation expressions particle-と adverbs onomatopoeia
How do I translate 「コロッと転がってたりする」 to english?
That 「と」 _**must**_ be written in hiragana because it is a particle. You have
_**no**_ choice here.

The 「と」 turns the preceding word 「コロッ」 into an adverb form so that it can
modify the verb phrase 「[転]{ころ}がってたりする」.

「ころっ/コロッ」 is a colloquial and onomatopoeic "word"; therefore, it is not very
important whether you write it in hiragana or katakana. You have a choice
here. Your preference can be fully reflected in its orthography.

My own TL attempt for:

> 「コロッと[転]{ころ}がってたりするもんだ。」

would be:

> "one might find (helpful things/items) lying about (unexpectedly)"
>
> "(to your surprise) you may find (helpful things/items) just scattered about
> "
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2016-01-29T13:08:59.343
30809
2016-01-29T14:30:31.880
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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This コロッと isn't really describing the quality of the thing itself, I mean, it
is, but much more reflecting the speaker's impression or observation.

In your example, 転がっている alone can fully depict the situation, "it's lying on
the ground". The remainder, コロッと and ～たりする both represent the speaker's mood.

コロッと implies (of course not round or rolling-ness here) something exists there
as casually, unattendedly as a roadside pebble. In other word, it's actually a
rhetoric attributing one's failure to notice to that innocent thing.

たりする is a worth learning colloquial idiom that derives from たり of probability
or exemplification. It means "sometimes could happen/do", "do -- or something"
or "things such like -- happen".
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2016-01-29T23:07:28.183
30819
2016-01-29T23:07:28.183
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It’s hard for me to translate 案外役に立つ事がコロッと転がってたりする into Japanese, but I take
it in the meaning of “You’ll find something lying before you just casually,
which turns out to be helpful to you later in an unexpected way.

コロッと is a colloquial variation of コロリと. コロリ is an onomatopoeia or ideo-phone
to describe the status of something / someone dropping, falling, or slipping
down, like コロリと転ぶ。

と is a postpositional particle to link コロリ and 転ぶ. It’s not a part of コロリ or
コロッ.

Onomatopoeias as a particle, like キャッキャ、ポキポキ、ドスンドスン are more often than not
described in カタカナ、but と used as a particle shouldn’t be described in カタカナ.
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2016-01-30T01:22:29.677
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answer