I'm working through translating となりのトトロ and I was doing ok until the Nanny starts talking. Going through her sentences and translating them piece by piece is an exercise in extreme patience. I find her lines very confusing.

Is she speaking in a particular dialect that I can reference?

Here's an example sentence that confuses me:

ニコニコしとれば 悪さは　しねえし いつの間にか いねくなっちまうんだ。

Which I've translated literally to say:

If smile wet, as for the bad things they will die and leave completely before you notice, you see.

So, "If you keep smiling the bad things will go away."

But the details escape me. What's up with the wet smile for instance?

(It's about 15 minutes in, if you have the video...)

  • 1
    しとる is clearly a contraction for している here. It's not the verb you're thinking of. – Ciaran Oct 29 '16 at 22:51
  • 5
    ^ しとる is a contraction of してる... – Chocolate Oct 30 '16 at 0:55


This is the same as the following sentence written in the standard Japanese.

If you keep smiling, they won't do bad things, and they go away before you notice.

The original sentence is not in a particular "dialect", but a typical role language of an old man/lady (aka 老人語).

悪さをする is a set phrase meaning "to do bad things", "to cause mischief". The verb 死ぬ is not used here.

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