己 (おのれ) as singular or plural

English translation: you (singular)/one

01:48 Dec 5, 2016
Japanese to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
Japanese term or phrase: 己 (おのれ) as singular or plural
Dear ProZ members,

I'd like to have a confirmation about the use of 己 (おのれ) for the second person.

I have this sentence in a cartoon:

己を誇示できるだけの力がなければ操られる弄ばれるだけの傀儡でしかないですよ. 飼い主である彼女にも、敵であるわれわれにとっても
If you don't have enough power to show off yourself, you're no more than a puppet to be operated and manipulated. For her, your master, of for us, your enemies.

The character is fighting against two people. One of them menaced him just before this sentence, so it isn't clear from the context if the speaker is answering only to him or if he's talking to both the opponents.

My guess is that an impersonal use isn't possibile in this case (due to the second sentence, that "confines" the first one into a definite context), and so this 己 has to be a "second person singular". But I'm not too sure about this.

Any ideas?

Thank you very much!
Riccardo91
Italy
English translation:you (singular)/one
Explanation:
I think the first sentence is mentioned as a general fact that "one (anyone) would be just a puppet if he didn't..." and the statement is somewhat relevant to the addressees and the speaker.
Selected response from:

Port City
New Zealand
Grading comment
So you think it's general regardless of the second sentence. I'll try to figure out what the best solution is, since it's difficult to keep the whole dialogue impersonal. Thank you very much!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +1you (singular)/one
Port City
4We or I
taipaku


  

Answers


41 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
you (singular)/one


Explanation:
I think the first sentence is mentioned as a general fact that "one (anyone) would be just a puppet if he didn't..." and the statement is somewhat relevant to the addressees and the speaker.


Port City
New Zealand
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 6
Grading comment
So you think it's general regardless of the second sentence. I'll try to figure out what the best solution is, since it's difficult to keep the whole dialogue impersonal. Thank you very much!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Minoru Kuwahara: I agree it talks about general people.
1 day 2 hrs
  -> Thank you!
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8 days   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
We or I


Explanation:
己is we or I in Japanese like 我、comes from 自己 the difference of 私and 己is that 己has more identity with will power. When we use 己 in the sentence, we talk about I metaphorically teaching others. In this case, it has a hidden meaning of 'I am not controlled by any parties' and in general.k it is the same to anyone if one doesn't have an identity (power).

taipaku
New Zealand
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
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