Is there a less literal translation? What would this actually mean?
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This Japanese sentence sounds quite unnatural to my native ears. I looked it up in the original source (Tatoeba), and it turned out that the author of the Japanese and the English sentences is a Brazilian Portuguese native speaker… It may mean something special in a Brazilian proverb, but both the Japanese and the English sentences don’t make sense…
The only interpretation I can deduct from it is “I decided not to undergo any surgery. So, I don’t need a heart for organ transplant. Please opt me out of the waiting list” – i.e. a “heart” means a physical organ, not emotional one. If the author meant so, I would propose:
- 私にはもう心臓は必要ありません。or
- 私にはもう心臓移植は必要ありません。
Even if the original sentence with 心 (こころ) is replaced with 心臓 (しんぞう), 私はもう心は必要ありません is still grammatically awkward because of the reduplication of は twice. It should be inserted に after 私.
XにYは必要ありません is “Y is not needed for X”. Therefore, X is not a subject (doer). に is a particle to mean “for/to/toward” (beneficiary of something). You can say both 私「に」必要ありません and 私「には」必要ありません. The latter (with は) implies that “other ordinary people need a heart, but I don’t”. Particle は is often used to highlight and compare two different (invisible) situations.
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English Translation
I don’t need a heart anymore.
Suggested interpretation of sentence meaning:
Though not a normal statement, the English is alright. I think I have even heard almost the same line in a movie. For someone who has been say jilted or is generally world-weary you could imagine saying, facetiously, “Oh yea, I do not need a heart anymore.” as in, I am going to look out for number one, no more Mr. Nice Guy/Gal sort of thing…
Now that you mention it, the sentence could use some tweaking like that, even if it’s just to change は into に to be more grammatically correct. The English sentence sounds like something you’d hear in a jrpg like Final Fantasy or even in a villain’s dialogue in a Kirby game.