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I would like to know what the meaning of the expression やれやれ Yare Yare is? I hear it often said in anime.

  • some people said "that yare yare is another japanese onomatopoeia. Kind of like pera pera, gira gira, goro goro, etc.
  • some others think "it has to do with the sound a person make when he/she is tired, you know that sound when you are taking a break and you hear yourself breathe heavily. Yare yare doesn't have a direct translation... it is just an onomatopoeia that describes the sound of being relaxed. Japanese just hear that sound differently, they hear "yare yare"."

  • crunchyroll funimation hulu theanimenetwork nicovideo daisuki translated as boy oh boy or my oh my

  • Is that true?

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No, やれやれ is not an onomatopoeia but an interjection. It doesn't symbolize any sound or state, and cannot used like other onomatopoeiae:

× やれやれという音を立てて
× やれやれした様子で

But as you said, it's true that this word has no fixed translation in English.

For example, Haruki Murakami is known to use this expression repeatedly as one of his signature style, and his translators have taken several ways to transfer it to English. According to this page, 7 out of 8 appearances of it in A Wild Sheep Chase was translated (by Alfred Birnbaum) as:

Just great.

while the last one as:

Give me a break.

Further, in newer 1Q84 tr. by Jay Rubin & J. Philip Gabriel it's like:

Damn. What was the point of locking the place so securely?
Oh, great. Things really are not going to go smoothly. I knew it.
After the Queen video ended, ABBA came on. Oh, no.
“Oh, man,” Aomame sighed, pressing her temples.

PS

For its descriptive meaning, I think this answer would suffice. Note again that we certainly use this expression when English speakers likely to say *sigh*, but it's not a sound of sighing neither.

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やれ、やれ is an interjection often uttered when ① you are relieved from a burden or mental pressure, or ② when you have some burden or a little problem ahead, for example:

①やれやれ、一仕事ひとしごと終わった - Oh boy, I’ve finished this job.

やれやれ、やっと飯めしが炊たけた - Here we go! Rice is done.

やれやれ、借金も終わって肩かたの荷にが下おりた - Thank God. I settled the loans. I'm now free from the burden.

やれやれ、一安心ひとあんしん - Whew. Now I feel easy.

②やれやれ、まだそれをやらなければならないの - Oh boy, do I have to deal with that (task) again?

やれやれ、また電話か？ - Dammit, another (bothersome) phone call.

やれやれ、あのガキがまた悪戯いたずらした - By gosh! That naughty boy did that hoax again.

Just for your information, New Japanese-English Dictionary published by Kenkyusha carries 'Oh boy' and 'whew' as interjections equivalent to やれやれ. And Readers Japanese-English Dictionary provides 'Ohf!, Oh dear! Dear me, Dear,' as equivalents to やれやれ for expressing a surprise, and 'Ah! Thank God that over' for expressing a sign of relief.

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  • I'm assuming this is derived from やれ, a command form of the verb やる. You'd feel burden on your shoulder when you are not willing to do something, right? Then it makes sense to me a lot. Japanese also tend to like four moras, therefore, we say やれやれ. Just my assumption though. – nomithekid Jan 10 '16 at 8:01
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    nomithekid. I don't think there's any connection between 'やれやれ,' a sort of sigh and 'やる' a synonym of 'する,' a verb meaning 'do.' – Yoichi Oishi Jan 10 '16 at 8:28
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It's an interjection that mean kind like There you/he go again.... But as you said it's difficult to translate.

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It's literally "sigh!" but in a loving way, it denotes patience from the one using the interjection. It is usually uttered by males in response to either children or women being difficult. It's a positive and calm way of saying "good grief!"

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YareYare is like...boy oh boy...

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