@check translation

"Let's do this again!" works fine if the speaker/addressee are together. Could say "Let's meet again!" but it's fairly literal.

I'm new to the site, but I thought I read in the guidelines that the translations should be natural (i.e., not literal).

No native English speaker would reject this translation in context (e.g. when one speaker in a pair/group has enjoyed themselves and is suggesting they meet again). Whether the speaker is being sincere or just being polite is another matter.

Naturally, when a person is suggesting another meeting, there needs to be some a specific activity involved (e.g., tennis, lunch, coffee, karaoke). But in English, as in most languages, you probably don't need to say "Let's meet for lunch again." You can probably just say "Let's meet again" or, more naturally, "Let's do this again sometime," and you've covered on various types of activities.

If I'm off-base, let me know.

カラオケに行って「また会おう」と言ったとき、またカラオケに行くとは限りませんよね？ 今度はテニスをするかもしれません。

逐語訳をしないというのはその通りですが、2つの文が使われうる状況が十分に重なっていないと、訳とは見なせません。その意味で今回のはちょっとずれすぎている気がします。

Tommy-san,

To paraphrase, yes, if someone says "Let's meet again" or また会おう following a night of karaoke, they might just as likely be saying, in a general sense, that they'd like to meet again for any activity (i.e., tennis, etc. -- not restricted to karaoke).

But that doesn't really address the issue. If a speaker says "Let's do this again sometime" they are also, in the same fashion, just as likely to be suggesting another meeting of any type (i.e., not restricted to the current one).

So, I guess I miss your point. If the connotations of both translations differ in the same predictable way from a literal reading, how is this not regarded as having enough overlap in meaning? You may want to rethink that one. To reject the translation, you would have to explain how "let's do this again" connotes something different than また会おう in context.

I asked a native Japanese speaker (since I live with one) who said this is a perfectly acceptable reading. This is of course anecdotal. And if you, Tommy-san, are also a native Japanese speaker, then maybe this is just a case of style preference. As the site guidelines state, a native speaker level intuition is often the only way to judge.

In my view, as long as multiple sentence translations can be inferred as differing from the literal reading in the same predictable ways, there is a benefit to giving language learners a variety of word choice.

Thanks for the welcome to the site, guys (CK and Tommy-san). It's an interesting project. However, your approach is a little exhausting. There's a fine line between being rigorous and being petty.

I don't want this to sound petty, but for me, I don't think I'd ever say また会おう if I meant "let's do this again sometime." I also don't think I'd ever say "let's do this again sometime" if I meant また会おう. I'm still racking my brains to try to come up with a situation where I would. Perhaps you could suggest one or two examples. This might be one that needs a dialog to show its use. If so, you can submit a dialog and suggest to tommy_san that he translate it into Japanese using また会おう, Or, get your friend to create an account and submit the Japanese.

It's not petty to explain that you, personally, would phrase something differently. There are, after all, plenty of vernacular varieties (even within a country) that track to a lot of different sociolinguistic variables -- age, gender, race, geography. What is petty is to reject another native speaker's word choice without being able to explain how it disagrees in a meaningful way.

It's clear that you, personally, would never say "Let's do this again sometime" in a situation in which, when speaking Japanese, you would say また会おう. On the other hand, I personally would, and have, countless times in my life.

If you don't mind, what would you say in that situation? And how does your utterance connote something different?