身の才にあったまちづくり

English translation: urban development that is appropriate to local conditions

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Japanese term or phrase:身の才にあったまちづくり
English translation:urban development that is appropriate to local conditions
Entered by: conejo

03:30 Dec 1, 2007
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Economics
Japanese term or phrase: 身の才にあったまちづくり
This document is about地域経済再生。

近年の町村部の過疎化は食い止めがかからない状況であり、都市部と町村部の地域間格差を是正するために、中心市街地活性化のみならず、町村部などの諸規模な行政単位で安定的・自立的な発展を目標とした身の才にあったまちづくりが実施できる地域活性化策を要望する。

Thank you.
conejo
United States
Local time: 04:00
"appropriate to local conditions" or "in-line with local abilities"
Explanation:
Conejo, I truly sympathize with you, as Japanese documents on urban regeneration and city planning are chock full of wayward phrases like this. In my experience, trying to stick to the original Japanese phraseology in documents like this is a great way to get a migrane.

The best you can do is swallow the sentence, then spit it back out in normal English.

I interpretted 身の才にあった as "appropriate to local conditions" or "appropriate to local capabilities"

身: one's self, one's "nearby body / constituent"...so in this case, just "local" or "local community" I think is fine.

才 is "ability" or "capability" but I think given the gist of the sentence, just using a catch-all phrase like "conditions" is fine.

So then, here goes:

--------------------
Faced with the recent issue of accelerated depopulation occurring our rural areas, it is up to us to try to address the income gap between rural and urban areas by aiming for regional revitilazation intiatives that seek to develop safe and self-sufficient communities on smaller administrative scales in rural districts that are appropriate to local conditions, without simply focussing on revitalization in urban areas.
--------------------

A run-on? Yeah, but I think captures what the author is saying without leaving anything out.

I hope this helps...I would like to hear the opinions of others.

Troy

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Note added at 2 hrs (2007-12-01 06:02:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Oops! I realize I was reading the kanji wrong. I thought it said "才" (さい) not ”丈” (じょう)...Sorry.

(I guess my answer is still more or less in the ball park, though.)
Selected response from:

Troy Fowler
United States
Local time: 02:00
Grading comment
Thanks everyone.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +5"appropriate to local conditions" or "in-line with local abilities"
Troy Fowler
3appropriate for (suitable for) the scale of the local area
Leochan


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


23 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +5
"appropriate to local conditions" or "in-line with local abilities"


Explanation:
Conejo, I truly sympathize with you, as Japanese documents on urban regeneration and city planning are chock full of wayward phrases like this. In my experience, trying to stick to the original Japanese phraseology in documents like this is a great way to get a migrane.

The best you can do is swallow the sentence, then spit it back out in normal English.

I interpretted 身の才にあった as "appropriate to local conditions" or "appropriate to local capabilities"

身: one's self, one's "nearby body / constituent"...so in this case, just "local" or "local community" I think is fine.

才 is "ability" or "capability" but I think given the gist of the sentence, just using a catch-all phrase like "conditions" is fine.

So then, here goes:

--------------------
Faced with the recent issue of accelerated depopulation occurring our rural areas, it is up to us to try to address the income gap between rural and urban areas by aiming for regional revitilazation intiatives that seek to develop safe and self-sufficient communities on smaller administrative scales in rural districts that are appropriate to local conditions, without simply focussing on revitalization in urban areas.
--------------------

A run-on? Yeah, but I think captures what the author is saying without leaving anything out.

I hope this helps...I would like to hear the opinions of others.

Troy

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2007-12-01 06:02:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Oops! I realize I was reading the kanji wrong. I thought it said "才" (さい) not ”丈” (じょう)...Sorry.

(I guess my answer is still more or less in the ball park, though.)

Troy Fowler
United States
Local time: 02:00
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks everyone.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  casey: 身の丈にあった, according to ALC means "realistic," so I think your translation works even if there's a typo as Leochan suggests.//"身の丈に合った"
47 mins
  -> Thanks, Casey. I tried it in ALC and didn't get a response. What did you actually enter?

agree  Leochan: Troyさん、「身の丈に合った」で検索してみてください~ //分相応の、背伸びをしない という意味です(^_^)//何度も失礼します。「みのたけにあった」と読みます~//「身の丈に合った生活をする」など日常会話でも使えます。が、他人の事を言う場合に使うと相手によっては失礼になるので、気をつけた方がいいかもしれません。
1 hr
  -> なるほど。『ミノタケ』で了解しました!ところで、普通の日常会話に通じますかね?

agree  Maki Ahn (X): I like it :)
4 hrs
  -> thank ya thank ya!

agree  Yuki Okada: I wonder why conejo keeps getting such "interesting" documents.
11 hrs

agree  Ruth Sato
1 day 9 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 day 23 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
appropriate for (suitable for) the scale of the local area


Explanation:
先程、troyさんにコメントした際に、答えを読み直して、なんとなく収まりが悪いような気がして、、、、もっとシンプルな意味ではないかと思いました。

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Note added at 1 day23 hrs (2007-12-03 02:52:25 GMT)
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該当の文章では、過疎化や町村部単位での街づくりについて言及しています。
身の丈に合ったというのは、ここでは、それぞれの規模に応じたという意味ではないでしょうか。
どこの自治体とはいいませんが、小さな町で、やたら立派な公共施設を作る傾向があった時期がありました。そういう派手なことをするのではなく、それぞれの「規模に応じた」という意味だと思いました。

また、本文で、「町村部などの諸規模な行政単位で安定的・自立的な発展を目標とした身の才にあったまちづくりが実施できる地域活性化策を要望する。」とありますが、諸規模ではんく「町村部などの_小規模_な行政単位・・・」だと思います。

Googleで見ていただいてもわかりますが、「身の丈に合った」とは、収入に応じたとか規模に応じたという、あまり複雑な意味合いを持たない文脈で使われている場合が多いです。
http://www.google.co.jp/search?hl=ja&q="身の丈に合った"&btnG=Google...


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Note added at 2 days5 mins (2007-12-03 03:35:37 GMT)
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向日市のサイトで、「身の丈に合った行政」という表現が使われていました。
こちらでは、「市の歳入に見合った」という意味合いのようです。
http://www.city.muko.kyoto.jp/shisei/actionplan/ap_jissi_5.h...


Leochan
Local time: 18:00
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 4
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