That is

[TheNikus]

I came across a phrase recently and wondered how one would express the same in Japanese.

"I used to be a lawyer. That is, until I made one little mistake."

The phrase I mean is That is, and I thought that another way to write this sentence would be, "I used to be a lawyer. At least until I made one little mistake."

I came up with すなわち and つまり. As far as I understand, these are used to clarify statements. However, "That is" and "At least" in the above sentences don't just clarify, but they also contrast, i.e., they reinforce the "used to be" part, as in "I was a lawyer. Now I am not a lawyer anymore, because I made one little mistake." I also thought about とにかく.

The context of the passage also suggests resentment and passive aggression.

Any suggestions?

 

[KLAUSED]

Literal translations will sound unidiomatic in this case but それは probably fits the context.

 

[Joschl]

Doesn't "that is" in that context mean something like "what I mean by that is"? If so, "that is" there can be considered to be comparable to "Das heißt, ..." in the sense of "Was ich damit meine ist, [...]", "damit soll gesagt werden, [...]" or "das soll besagen, [...]" in German, I think.
My suggestion would be, for example,

[...] つまり，何が言いたいのかと言うと，小さいミスを犯すまで弁護士でした。

 

[TheNikus]

It'd certainly be easier to translate into German ^^ In this specific case, I guess "Ich war früher Anwalt. Doch dann beging ich einen einzigen kleinen Fehler." Context requires the two sentences remain separate.

それは may be the solution I didn't think of on account of its simplicity. Studying Japanese has put me into a mindset of "the more complicated, the more Japanese" ^^

 

[Joschl]

Do you need Japanese sentences that are equivalent to the German sentences

"Ich war früher Anwalt. Doch dann beging ich einen einzigen kleinen Fehler."

In my opinion, the English sentences quoted in your post #1 are not at all equivalent to the German sentences in your post #4.

Which part of the original German sentences in post #4 do you think is semantically equivalent to "それは"?

 

[TheNikus]

The "doch" part would be my equivalent to "That is", to establish a contrast. Maybe "allerdings". As @KLAUSED said, literal translations don't always work. I could maybe see writing, "Ich bin Anwalt. Oder zumindest war ich das, bis ich einen einzigen kleinen Fehler beging." (I'm a lawyer. Or at least I used to be one until I made one small mistake.)

In light of thinking about it in German, I came up with, "以前は弁護士をしていた。でも、一つのささいな間違いを犯してしまった。" I don't know, maybe "だが"? How's that?

 

[Joschl]

The "doch" part would be my equivalent to "That is", to establish a contrast. Maybe "allerdings".

Really? In my opinion, "それは" in that position doesn't make sense.

I personally would say something like

以前弁護士として働いていましたが，後にただ一つの小さなミスを犯してしまい(or しまって)，今は弁護士ではありません。

in Japanese. I would translate "doch dann" in German into "[...た]が、後に (nochi ni)[...]"

 

[KLAUSED]

"That is" here is used in sense 2.

1. すなわち、換言すれば、つまり、～というのは
2. 〈話〉～ってことだけど◆【用法】補足の末尾に付けて
   ・"Can I really do that?" "Sure. If you have money, that is." : 「本当にそんなことができるのですか」「もちろん。お金があればの話だけど」

"I used to be a lawyer. That is, until I made one little mistake."

Here's a literal translation using それは:
元は弁護士をしていました。それは小さなミスを犯してしまうまでのこと/話です（が）。

Edit: It says "補足の末尾に付けて" but I still think it's used in sense 2 here as the sentence can be rewritten as "Until I made one little mistake, that is." without changing the meaning. Maybe @gengo can share his thoughts.

 

[gengo]

"I used to be a lawyer. That is, until I made one little mistake."

For what it's worth, here is my attempt.

かつては弁護士をしていました。まぁ、小さなミスをひとつ犯してしまうまでは。

I also like the use of それは.

It says "補足の末尾に付けて" but I still think it's used in sense 2 here as the sentence can be rewritten as "Until I made one little mistake, that is." without changing the meaning. Maybe @gengo can share his thoughts.

I agree that the meaning is the same both ways (at the start and at the end of the sentence).

 

[Joschl]

かつては弁護士をしていました。まぁ、小さなミスをひとつ犯してしまうまでは。

OK. That makes sense to me, too. That can be translated as "Nun ja" as an interjection in German.
--追記--

2.〈話〉～ってことだけど◆【用法】補足の末尾に付けて
Here's a literal translation using それは:
それは小さなミスを犯してしまうまでのこと/話です（が）

In my opinion, the main part of the Japanese construction here is "[...] tte (< to iu) koto da kedo" (see 2) or "[...] no koto/hanashi desu ga" in your version of it, not "sore wa" itself, which will help to refer to the preceding part but can be omitted. The example in the dictionary entry that you quoted also lacks "それは", which is not an obligatory part of that construction

「もちろん。(それは)お金があればの話だけど」

TheNikus, if you are looking for a German adverb, how about "jedenfalls" for "that is,"? I think, that will suite the context well.

[...], jedenfalls bis ich einen einzigen Fehler beging/begangen habe.

 

[TheNikus]

Thank you all so much

 

[Joschl]

Another translation of "that is" that I have found is

that is (to say) (2) [前言を正確に言い直して] 少なくとも
He never went abroad, that is, it is not recorded that he did.
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