English Translation
I’m really flattered to hear that.
is this an expression, or is there a grammatical logic to this sentence?
@ericaw
お褒めに「あずかり」光栄です or お褒めに「あずかりまして」光栄です is a very frequent idiom, so you just memorize it. And the original Japanese translation has two flaws: 1) using the wrong 漢字 and 2) wrong particle.
Re: flaw #1, お褒めに与る is the right 漢字, not 預かる. But pronouncing 与る as あずかる is an old complicated way, and the government chose it as 常用外漢字 (じょうようがいかんじ) or 表外漢字. Basically we don’t use 与る but spell it in 平仮名.
The pronounciaiton of 与る and 預かる is the same, so many Japanese native speakers misspell it as 預かる. But 預かる means “to deposit” or “to entrust” (e.g. 預金 is savings of your bank account). Using 預かる doesn’t make any sense in the phrase お褒めにあずかる.
褒め言葉 = compliment (lit. word to praise)
==> お褒め is transformed from 褒め言葉 by attaching お (丁寧語) and dropping 言葉
与る = to be given/to receive (usually from a senior ranking person)
The image of 与る is like this: A king gives a reward to his servant, and the servant receives it by kneeling down on the ground and bowing.
お褒めにあずかる therefore means “I am given a (wonderful) compliment from you, Sir/Madam”.
おこぼれにあずかる means “I (luckily) get small leftover of someone”.
光栄です means “I am honored”.
==> お褒めにあずかり光栄です = “I am honored to be given such a compliment”. It may sound very flattered and so serious, but we actually use this phrase in a light way. So, the nuance is closer to “Oh, thank you for your complement”.
Re: flaw #2, replacing あずかり with あずかって is grammatically incorrect. Maybe the original translator mixed it up with あずかりまして.
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