Because Of You lyric question

[M_aria]

Which is a more accurate translation for the last line of this song?

"I can't think of anyone but you"

Or

"I'm useless without you"

I saw these at different sites, translated by different people.

[Ayunk]

I think "I can't think of anyone but you" is more suitable

[Ayumi_lover]

but in japanese lyrics "I'm useless without you" because in
"Kimi ja nakya dame de" word "dame" ="useless"

[ren0210989]

Originally Posted by Ayumi_lover

but in japanese lyrics "I'm useless without you" because in
"Kimi ja nakya dame de" word "dame" ="useless"

well actually dame can also mean can't, at least from all of the animes/dramas i've seen.
example: dame da yo = you can't do that

[Ayumi_lover]

i think this is not that case, because

"Kimi ja nakya" = if there is no you
"dame de" = [I am] useless

[Delirium-Zer0]

there's no subject though, so WHAT is useless is never specified. She could be saying "everything/life itself/etc. is useless without you".

"kimi ja nakya" could even be translated as "if he isn't you" or "if it isn't you". "it" could be interpreted a bunch of different ways here.

So it could be "if it isn't you i'm thinking of, everything is useless". Which would mean "I can't think of anything but you" is a somewhat accurate interpretation.

Or it could be "Anything that isn't you is useless."

There's alot about this line that's open-ended and up to the listener to interpret based on the context of the song & how they themselves feel.

All good poetry is like that, lol

[Keiichi_JPU]

Yes Japanese always leaves out a LOT of info, which translators will have to fill in and get out of the context, otherwise you'll get impossible English.

If you translate only the information that is literally given, you'd get:

"Kimi ja nakya dame de"
If you're not, no use.

Delirium's post explains it perfectly