渋い

English translation: old school

19:27 Jun 22, 2023

Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama

Japanese term or phrase: 渋い

Dear ProZ members,

I've spent quite a lot of time trying to understand the (many) implications of the word 渋い, but I'm still unsure, so I'm asking for your help.
This is the dialogue, from a cartoon. A guy sees his friend with a book in his hands and wonders what it is about.

A: 何これ。詰め将棋？シブッ
B: 結構面白いよ
C: えええ...？

Speaker A seems to be quite doubtful when he says シブッ, but I don't think he means it in a negative way.
Going through some occurrencies of 渋い本, my take is that it's about the book being somehow serious and classy, something that only people of a certain level would read. However, I don't get if the nuance is more about the book being "elegant/refined" or "solemn/austere", or even about the contents being usually read by older people.

Any hints about how to correctly define this word here?

Thank you so much!

Riccardo91
Italy

English translation:old school

Explanation:
I would say it's more in the sense that it's so old school here. 渋い is about things that are stylish, quaint, refined, even rugged (when pertaining to males). Younger people have been using this to describe a considerable amount of adjectives, so it takes quite a bit of detective work to solve it. Oddly enough, I found an English reference link that explains the meaning in a way that fits this context quite well.

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Note added at 50 mins (2023-06-22 20:18:45 GMT)
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シブッ
The ッ is actually used pretty often to have the same effect as the usage of an exclamation point, and it is the case here, I believe. The person was surprised and doubtful at the idea of something so old school (being fun/interesting/worthwhile. More context would be needed to know exactly), and person B then explained that it was a lot of fun, and person A still didn't seem very convinced.

Selected response from:

ZT-Translations
Brazil
Local time: 17:13

Grading comment

Thank you so much!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

old school

ZT-Translations

4 +1

classic

Erie Shim

Old

Gene White

Summary of reference entries provided

年寄りっぽい

Port City

Answers

46 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

old school

Shibui means timeless or old school. There are two ranges, Niigata and Okinawa, both named after regions from where the whiskies are sourced from.

https://www.firstfillspirits.com/product/shibui-pure-malt-whisky/

ZT-Translations
Brazil
Local time: 17:13
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Portuguese
PRO pts in category: 14

Grading comment

Thank you so much!

5 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

classic

Explanation:
In this case of 渋い means "old-fashioned" or "that is what elders do".
So the dialog could be translated as:

A: What is it? Tsume-shogi? Classic.
B: Believe it or not, it is interesting.
C: You sure...?

Erie Shim
Japan
Local time: 05:13
Native speaker of:

Japanese

32 days confidence:

Old

Explanation:
The word 渋い has multiple meanings. Which are elegant, tasteful, refined, or classic? From the context of a character reading a book and from the perspective of other characters, it could possibly mean that they were surprised that this person was reading a book that was so refined or old. (Implying the book was an old classic or elegant book.)

A: What's that? Tsume-shogi, wow that's old-fashioned
B: Well its actually interesting!

Gene White
Japan
Local time: 05:13
Native speaker of:

English

Reference comments

10 hrs

Reference: 年寄りっぽい

Reference information:
https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q14...

The speaker A thinks 詰め将棋 is for older people.
"What is it? Tsume-shogi? That's for older people".
"Actually, it's quite interesting."

Port City
New Zealand
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 6

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渋い

English translation: old school

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