Pending moderation
I've come across this one song I really like, and found a subbed video. One of the verses goes like this: 昨日、パンを食べました。牛乳、ちょっとこぼしました。 I understand it as Yesterday, I ate bread. I spilled the milk a little. I know my Japanese is nothing extraordinary, but the subs in the video say Yesterday, I ate bread. With a little milk to gulp it down, and I can't help wondering about it. Which of these two translations is correct? Or are both?
Like you, my Japanese is nothing extraordinary (my Chinese is better, but that's not really saying much) but I think, depending on who is translating it, both could be correct.
It could be both, I guess. こぼす most commonly means to spill, and you could certainly make a case that that's what's happening here. However, another usage of こぼす is to fill some container with liquid (usually water) for the purpose of cleaning it out. Though I don't really see it used the way the translation suggests, I suppose you could use that meaning to describe washing down something you're eating.
Many thanks for the explanation. Helpful as ever. :) :) :)