Can someone help me translate "she's my person"?


I'm not quite sure if this is right.

> 彼女は私の人です  
>  Kanojo wa watashi no hitodesu

I'm a little confused on the word for "she" as it can also translate to
"girlfriend." I've read that it can depend on the context, as well as
preference. I'm a little confused. Could someone explain and check?




The phrase you are using, to say that someone is "your person", is essentially
an expression in English. Expressions can be difficult to translate directly
between languages. I might take a direct approach and say 私には彼女だ which
literally says, "For me, it is her". But that doesn't really make sense. You
could expand that a little and say 私には彼女がいいんだ which is literally, "For me, she
is good". Which is basically trying to communicate the sentiment that, "She's
the one for me."

In general, I find that it's best to approach language from a native
perspective. That is, instead of starting with an English phrase and then
trying to figure out how to translate it into Japanese, I prefer to start with
a Japanese phrase in the beginning. Try to feel out the sentiment that you
want to convey from an emotional or abstract sense. Then immediately use the
Japanese parts of speech that you know in order to express the sentiment. The
more Japanese you know, the better you will be able to express yourself.

I find that it's best to pull directly from things that native Japanese
speakers say in normal, everyday life. I'm reminded of something my sister-in-
law said when she started dating a guy (whom she eventually married). She said
that she was really happy they were dating now because he was "私の憧れの人". You
can look up 憧れ in a dictionary if you need to. Basically, she was saying that
this guy is someone that she had liked for a long time (and also someone she
had respected and admired). So she was really happy that they had become a
couple.

So, you might choose to use that phrase to describe the sentiment of someone
being "your person": 彼女は私の憧れの人。 While it doesn't translate the English phrase
directly, the sentiment behind the two phrases is basically the same. And this
would definitely sound like a more natural thing to say in Japanese. When
translating between languages, you often lose some of the nuance in meaning. A
well-translated phrase is about conveying the closest possible meaning while
still sounding natural in the target language. It does no good to make a
direct translation that sounds strange or unintelligible in the target
language. There is a reason why the phrase "lost in translation" has become a
cliche!

