Consider the following sentence:

> 軈{やが}て私がCEOの座を去ったとしても、此のスピリットは我がグループの最も大事な創業の精神として永続化して行かねばなりません.

I recently received a translation of the article containing the sentence above
where 軈{やが}て was originally translated as "soon". Precisely:

> **Soon** I will be stepping down from the position of CEO. However [...]

This made sense, to the extent of my knowledge and according to my
dictionaries.

However, a couple of days later I received a correction where the translator
apologized saying that it should be interpreted as "One day" instead:

> **One day** I will be stepping down from the post of CEO. However [...]

Now, in English there is quite a considerable obvious difference between
"soon" and "one day". So my question is: are there possible different nuances
of 軈て or simply it was a political move to avoid rumors or hide what's going
on at the "higher floors" of the company?

Note: to give more background, I'm talking of the translation of a speech from
the CEO of a large Japanese holdings. The English translation was sent to the
foreign employees (a large proportion of the total) of a subsidiary of such
group. It is assumed then that many of the recipients could not read the
original Japanese version. Also, the original translator is a Japanese native
speaker.
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2017-04-26T02:27:04.640
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2017-04-26T04:19:39.190
2017-04-26T04:08:57.230
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question
translation words nuances
Can 軈{やが}て mean "one day" rather than "soon/before long"?
First, 軈て is almost always written in hiragana. I could not read it without
googling.

In this sentence, やがて only means "one day", "in the end", "eventually", or
"somewhere in the future", "sooner or later". It does not mean "soon".

  * この赤ちゃんも、やがては大人になる。 This baby will eventually become an adult.
  * 人間はやがて死ぬ。 Human beings are mortal.

大辞林 defines this as:

> ③いつとはわからないが，将来においては実現すると予測するさま。事の行き着くところ。結局。 「日々の努力が－実を結ぶ」

* * *

Even in sentences like these, I feel "eventually" is closer, although "before
long" may be usable.

  * やがて日が暮れた。
  * やがて二人は愛し合うようになった。

I feel translating やがて as "soon" is usually misleading in modern Japanese. In
archaic Japanese it often meant "soon" or even "instantly".
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2017-04-26T04:19:39.190
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2017-04-26T04:19:39.190
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answer