Questions on the use of 動物 in reference to mankind/humans


I got this quote from a journal an online associate writes. I provided the
translation. Some of the wording in Japanese struck me as strange, so I am
wondering about whether in fact this quote is a little strange in tone or is
this just a normal way of expressing these kind of sentiments?

> 牛乳は牛の乳であるが、人間は牛の肉も食ってしまう動物なので、牛にはたいそう世話になっていると言える。
>
> Not only do we drink cow's milk, but humans also eat the meat of cows; we
> could say that we are reliant on cows for our living.

I thought the use of 動物 to describe humans as animals was somewhat strange,
and wonder if this emphasis needed to be included in the translation to be
faithful to the original sentiment.

Compare:

> 人間は牛の肉も食ってしまう動物なので
>
> Humans are an animal that consumes the meat of cows

or maybe

> Mankind is just another animal eating the meat of cows

Is the aspect of man being "just another animal" something emphasized in the
japanese, or am I reading too much into it?




Like you inferred, describing humans as animals is not a neutral statement
here. Humans are described as animals, which, whilst drinking breast milk of
cows, devour/consume cow meat.

This animalistic view of the humans is supported by the use of 食う instead of
食べる, which carries a more primal nuance.

The fact that they 食って **しまう** implies that the humans are not quite conscious
of their action, again emphasizing the animalistic view of humans.

世話になってる is "reliant on" but also carries a sense of "being indebted to" and
would probably be the way to describe karma in a native Japanese way...

The translation you give is fine, but trying to cram in all the points above,
one by one, one might get something more along the lines of

> We get cow's milk from the cow's breast, but we also consume cow's meat like
> animals, which makes us owe a great deal to (the race of) cows.

(Now I feel like a high school student, just having finished a text
interpretation exam.)




Like you inferred, describing humans as animals is not a neutral statement
here. Humans are described as animals, which, whilst drinking breast milk of
cows, devour/consume cow meat.

This animalistic view of the humans is supported by the use of 食う instead of
食べる, which carries a more primal nuance.

The fact that they 食って **しまう** implies that the humans are not quite conscious
of their action, again emphasizing the animalistic view of humans.

世話になってる is "reliant on" but also carries a sense of "being indebted to" and
would probably be the way to describe karma in a native Japanese way...

The translation you give is fine, but trying to cram in all the points above,
one by one, one might get something more along the lines of

> We get cow's milk from the cow's breast, but we also consume cow's meat like
> animals, which makes us owe a great deal to (the race of) cows.

(Now I feel like a high school student, just having finished a text
interpretation exam.)

