Is my translation of "こちらから訊くより先に、低く呟くような声が返ってきた" correct? While working on a translation for the following Japanese sentence, my brain inexplicably spits out a translation without giving me a reason for each translated segment. > When I reflected on my/its reasoning, it gives me the following as its reasons for translating to produce the English sentence below. > (My brain's reasoning after the fact): 'the Japanese comma and the English comma are mostly the same in terms of placement. This word goes here, here, that one over there, here, and...' > > > > Translation: > > From me asking her directly, she brings down her voice back to a similar mummer. Question is, is my brain's random, possibly correct translation accurate, given the context of the 1st person POV character talking to a girl with the following dialogue? > POV: …… > > Girl: [] > >

* means "before" in this context. See: What is the difference between and when expressing order of events?
* is an intransitive verb, whose subject is .
* modifies (i.e., "a low and murmur-like voice"). This refers to what she said, "". You should review the basic grammar of ...



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> Before I asked (her name), a low murmur returned (from her).