"I don't want to go all the way to New York only for her to end up being with someone else"


> "I don't want to go all the way to New York only for her to end up being
> with someone else"

I've been trying to translate this sentence from a book as practice and I am
at a loss on how to translate the grammatical nuances

`"I don't want to go all the way to New York"` may somewhat correspond to
`わざわざニューヨークへ行ってしまうとはやりくない`

I'm not sure how to phrase `"end up"` in `"end up being with someone else"`
besides `てしまう`. Also in this case I've been eyeing the phrase `交際中` as "being
with someone else" but I don't really have a native speaker's perspective on
this.

I also can't figure out how to link the two phrases because of the linking
word "only" in English. An equivalent literal translation might be something
like `"If I go all the way to New York and she is already in a relationship,
that won't be good,"` in which case `わざわざニューヨークへ行ってしまったら彼女はもう交際中だとまずいなー` would
be my attempt.

How would you guys translate the nuances of this sentence?




My best attempt is:

>
> わざわざニューヨークまで[行]{い}って[結局]{けっきょく}[彼女]{かのじょ}は[他]{ほか}の[人]{ひと}と[付]{つ}き[合]{あ}ってましたなんてのは[御免]{ごめん}だ。

Note that it is a kind of casual wording, which I think perhaps is what you
want.

* * *

I used 「御免だ」 to express "I don't want to". I think 「御免だ」 is stronger than
「嫌だ」. The words 「のは」 and 「御免だ」 often come together in casual speaking, so
「～のは御免だ」 sounds a bit more natural than 「～のは嫌だ」.

Your word choice of 「わざわざ」 for "go all the way to" is good. Also I said
「ニューヨーク **まで** 」 instead of 「ニューヨーク **へ** 」. Using 「まで」 emphasizes the whole
path from here to New York, which matches the English phrase "all the way."

I put the nuance of "only" and "end up" into 「結局」. More literal meaning of
「結局」 is something related to "result". So the nuance of 「結局」 here is "all what
I found is the fact that...".

The point of 「彼女は他の人と付き合ってました」 is the word 「ました」. Actually this part forms a
standalone sentence. So 「なんての」 after that is taking a whole phrase. 「の」 is a
nominalizer. The effect of 「ました」 instead of simply 「た」 is to make the sub-
sentence sound more objective. Here, actually the nuance of 「と分かる」 ("I find
that...") is hidden after 「ました」. But I think it is more natural when it is
omitted.

* * *

So the literal meaning of the sentence above is like:

> I don't want to end up only finding her being with someone else after
> travelling all the way to New York.




My best attempt is:

>
> わざわざニューヨークまで[行]{い}って[結局]{けっきょく}[彼女]{かのじょ}は[他]{ほか}の[人]{ひと}と[付]{つ}き[合]{あ}ってましたなんてのは[御免]{ごめん}だ。

Note that it is a kind of casual wording, which I think perhaps is what you
want.

* * *

I used 「御免だ」 to express "I don't want to". I think 「御免だ」 is stronger than
「嫌だ」. The words 「のは」 and 「御免だ」 often come together in casual speaking, so
「～のは御免だ」 sounds a bit more natural than 「～のは嫌だ」.

Your word choice of 「わざわざ」 for "go all the way to" is good. Also I said
「ニューヨーク **まで** 」 instead of 「ニューヨーク **へ** 」. Using 「まで」 emphasizes the whole
path from here to New York, which matches the English phrase "all the way."

I put the nuance of "only" and "end up" into 「結局」. More literal meaning of
「結局」 is something related to "result". So the nuance of 「結局」 here is "all what
I found is the fact that...".

The point of 「彼女は他の人と付き合ってました」 is the word 「ました」. Actually this part forms a
standalone sentence. So 「なんての」 after that is taking a whole phrase. 「の」 is a
nominalizer. The effect of 「ました」 instead of simply 「た」 is to make the sub-
sentence sound more objective. Here, actually the nuance of 「と分かる」 ("I find
that...") is hidden after 「ました」. But I think it is more natural when it is
omitted.

* * *

So the literal meaning of the sentence above is like:

> I don't want to end up only finding her being with someone else after
> travelling all the way to New York.

