"北はあっちです。"
Translation:North is that way.
30 Comments
18
"There" generally refers to a specific location; since north is a direction, "that way" works better.
This sounds fine to me. "Over there" can be used for handwavey directions, at least in English. I'm pretty sure I've said something exactly like "North is over there" several times IRL while trying to navigate grid cities.
Jisho also supports あっち meaning "there", so I think it should be an acceptable translation.
In English, "the North" usually refers to a specific region rather than a general direction. If you mean the general direction, you usually just say "north".
"The North" is a specific region (of a country / the world), when simply "North" is a direction you can travel, from any location on Earth.
Sir, the scouts just returned! Enemies to the North are to the north, and Our Allies South of Us are south of us!
- 55
In Japanese no distinction is made between definite and indefinite objects. For my dialect of English both are used a lot due to us using them terms "The North" and "The South" a lot (up to on road signs).
In that case あっち is far away from both parties, そっち is near the listener, and こっち is near the speaker
あっち can't mean "over there" since "apparently" according to Duolingo, it's wrong in this sentence.
Think of it more like "This way" (by the speaker), "That way" (by the listener), and "THAT way" (away from BOTH the speaker & listener). We can't SEE the context of the conversation but we can INFER it by choice of words used.
- 18
The Japanese pronunciation of the letter H, short for 変態(へんたい), usually used to mean "pervert". (エッチ itself is sometimes used to mean similar things such as "indecent, lewd, sexy".)
あっち = (Over) that way そっち = That way こっち = This way
Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just making this to screenshot it :)
