Is this a wrong translation of the negative?


I found this sentence from Death Note with it's translation:

> "これなら私はあなたを殺せないし、あなたからしか警察はノートを奪えない。"  
>  "Now I can’t kill you and the police can only recover the Death Note from
> you."

Why is 奪えない translated as "can recover" and not "can't recover" since it's in
the negative form? Does it have something to do with これなら?




The translation is not wrong.

The key of your question is **「しか」** and " **only** ".

The usage of 「しか」 combined with negatives (here, 「ない」 in 「奪えない」) translates
into "only". Here, as 「奪えない」 is 「奪える」 plus 「ない」, 「あなたからしか警察はノートを奪えない」 is
equivalent to something like 「警察はノートを奪える only あなたから」.

So its translation would be "police can recover the Death Note _only_ from
you," which is equivalent to the original translation.

* * *

「これなら」 is translated to "Now" in your sentence and has nothing to do with your
question. The literal interpretation of 「これなら」 is "if this"; or "if _the
situation is like_ this". In this context the situation is already determined
to " _this_ ", so the interpretation is more like " _Now that_ the situation
is like _this_ ", which is condensed into "Now" in your sentence.




The translation is not wrong.

The key of your question is **「しか」** and " **only** ".

The usage of 「しか」 combined with negatives (here, 「ない」 in 「奪えない」) translates
into "only". Here, as 「奪えない」 is 「奪える」 plus 「ない」, 「あなたからしか警察はノートを奪えない」 is
equivalent to something like 「警察はノートを奪える only あなたから」.

So its translation would be "police can recover the Death Note _only_ from
you," which is equivalent to the original translation.

* * *

「これなら」 is translated to "Now" in your sentence and has nothing to do with your
question. The literal interpretation of 「これなら」 is "if this"; or "if _the
situation is like_ this". In this context the situation is already determined
to " _this_ ", so the interpretation is more like " _Now that_ the situation
is like _this_ ", which is condensed into "Now" in your sentence.

