What would be the correct translation of "Something in Japanese"


# Background

* * *

So before I start off I thought I'd give a little background as to why I want
to know this. So my mother is knitting me a sweater and asked what kind of
things should be on there. I thought it'd be funny if there was a Japanese
sentence saying "something in Japanese". This way when people ask what the
sweater says, I'd say "something in Japanese". Of course they'd think "Yes,
but what does it say?" Maybe not original, but it makes me laugh non the less.  
  

# What have I tried

* * *

I know a little Japanese, but I'm not very good at it or anything. First of
all I'm wondering if my word for "something", "なにか", is actually correct. I
thought something along the lines of the following might work:

  1. なにかにほんごです; I think this would roughly translate to "something Japanese"?
  2. これはなにかにほんごです; I think this would be something like "This is something Japanese".

The problem with these sentences is that I'm not sure if they would indicate
that it is something Japanese, or something _in_ Japanese.  
  

# Question

* * *

What is the correct translation for "something in Japanese". Preferably
without kanji, because I don't know those (yet). If it's not too much of a
hassle it would be interesting to see them non the less.

Sorry by the way, I know it's not supposed to be a translation site. But I
thought it might still fit the format because I guess it's more about grammar?

Thanks in advance.




While it is "easy" to translate the phrase "something in Japanese" into
Japanese, none of the literal translations would sound either natural or good
enough to sew onto a sweater.

Those would be 「にほんご **での** なにか」、「にほんご **による** なにか」、「にほんご **の** なにか」, etc.

These would look, on a sweater, more than just weird or nonsensical to
Japanese-speakers, trust me, if not to the rest of the world.

Your own attempts, 「なにかにほんごです」 and 「これはなにかにほんごです」, which are sentence-like
while being slightly ungrammatical, _strangely_ look even better than my
direct translations above (which are grammatical). I have thought about this
and reached the conclusion that in Japanese, with an ambiguous word like
「なにか」, a sentence would sound better than a noun phrase which is the
equivalent of "something in Japanese".

> "The problem with these sentences is that I'm not sure if they would
> indicate that it is something Japanese, or something in Japanese."

No problem, the only thing 「にほんご」 can mean is the "Japanese language" --
nothing else. It is not like the English word "Japanese", which can refer to a
few different things.

Here are some _ideas_ if not solutions. If anything, all of these are at least
grammatical and natural-sounding.

If you absolutely must use 「なにか」, you could say:

1.「なにかにほんごでかいてあります。」、「なにかにほんごでかかれています。」、「にほんごでなにかかいてあります。」 and
「にほんごでなにかかかれています。」, all of which mean "Something is written in Japanese."

  2. Place 「ここに」= "here" at the beginning of any of the four sentences above as an option.

If you do not have to use 「なにか」:

  3. 「これはにほんごです。」 = "This is (in) Japanese." 

  4. 「これはにほんごのぶんです。」 = "This is a Japanese sentence." 

  5. 「これがよめるひとはすごいです。」 = "You are awesome if you can read this." Literally, "A person who can read this is awesome."

I could go on if you were not a beginner...




While it is "easy" to translate the phrase "something in Japanese" into
Japanese, none of the literal translations would sound either natural or good
enough to sew onto a sweater.

Those would be 「にほんご **での** なにか」、「にほんご **による** なにか」、「にほんご **の** なにか」, etc.

These would look, on a sweater, more than just weird or nonsensical to
Japanese-speakers, trust me, if not to the rest of the world.

Your own attempts, 「なにかにほんごです」 and 「これはなにかにほんごです」, which are sentence-like
while being slightly ungrammatical, _strangely_ look even better than my
direct translations above (which are grammatical). I have thought about this
and reached the conclusion that in Japanese, with an ambiguous word like
「なにか」, a sentence would sound better than a noun phrase which is the
equivalent of "something in Japanese".

> "The problem with these sentences is that I'm not sure if they would
> indicate that it is something Japanese, or something in Japanese."

No problem, the only thing 「にほんご」 can mean is the "Japanese language" --
nothing else. It is not like the English word "Japanese", which can refer to a
few different things.

Here are some _ideas_ if not solutions. If anything, all of these are at least
grammatical and natural-sounding.

If you absolutely must use 「なにか」, you could say:

1.「なにかにほんごでかいてあります。」、「なにかにほんごでかかれています。」、「にほんごでなにかかいてあります。」 and
「にほんごでなにかかかれています。」, all of which mean "Something is written in Japanese."

  2. Place 「ここに」= "here" at the beginning of any of the four sentences above as an option.

If you do not have to use 「なにか」:

  3. 「これはにほんごです。」 = "This is (in) Japanese." 

  4. 「これはにほんごのぶんです。」 = "This is a Japanese sentence." 

  5. 「これがよめるひとはすごいです。」 = "You are awesome if you can read this." Literally, "A person who can read this is awesome."

I could go on if you were not a beginner...

