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Do you prefer literal or literary translations while studying and why? I’m sure most would say both, but if you could pick only one, which would it be? I think your preference might change the more you learn, but lets say if you were/are a beginner/intermediate.
Literal translations tend to come out rather clunky in English. For example, the literal translation of こんにちは is “today is…”, while おねがいします comes out as a rather brusque “do my request!”. On the other hand, knowing that いただきます literally means “I humbly receive” can help with understanding.
To give a whole sentence example… um…
薬を飲んだ方がいいです = you should take your medicine. Translated literally, that’d be something like “if you drank your medicine, it’d be better”, which is downright clunky, but does help a great deal with understanding the grammar form.
Sooo. My answer is: both. =P
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