A friend of mine from college spoke in the most interesting fashion because she could seamlessly weave Japanese and English together in the same sentence. She would say things like, \u300cMe\u306f\u884c\u304b\u306a\u3044\u3051\u3069\u3001You\u306f\uff1f\u300d, which amused me to no end.<\/p>\n
You see, she had attended American School in Japan<\/a>, a school filled with students completely fluent in both Japanese and English, so I guess there was no problem speaking in a hybrid language that only 1% of the world’s population would understand. I know, it sounds like a great school to send your kids to because they will become bilingual automatically. The only problem is, unless you’re a diplomat or simply rich, spending a little less than $20,000 a year for tuition<\/a> might be a bit tough on your wallet.<\/p>\n Anyway, to finally get to the point of this whole spiel, my friend and a bunch of us were chatting in the language lab when she suddenly realized that she had to leave. She promptly left the scene after saying (much to my delight) “\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b<\/b>\u3001I have to go.”<\/p>\n Now, what did she mean by \u300c\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u300d and why didn’t she just say, “I have to go” instead? How does adding that extra phrase change the meaning of the sentence? I previously discussed<\/a> how to use \u300c\u3068\u300d and \u300c\u3044\u3046\u300d to talk about the very thing itself. In this post, I’ll try to give you an idea of what \u300c\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u300d means and when to use it.<\/p>\n \u300c\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u300d attaches the question marker \u300c\u304b\u300d<\/a> to \u300c\u3068\u3044\u3046\u300d, so it’s reasonable to assume that a questioning element is being added here. In fact, \u300c\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u300d is used in order to indicate that you want to rephrase or express the same thing in a difference way. Literally, it means “I might say this or something else (in order to express what I’m trying to say) ” This expression is obviously the most useful in actual conversations when you might say something and want to rephrase yourself in mid-sentence. The order goes like this: [the first expression]\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b[the same thing rephrased].<\/p>\n \u305d\u308c\u306f\u3001\u826f\u304f\u306a\u3044\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b<\/b>\u3001\u3084\u3070\u304f\u306a\u3044\uff1f As you can probably tell, this phrase is great for when you’re not sure how to phrase something like the following example.<\/p>\n \uff21\uff1a\u307f\u304d\u3061\u3083\u3093\u306f\u3001\u3042\u3093\u305f\u306e\u5f7c\u5973\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\uff1f \uff22\uff1a\u3046\uff5e\u3093\u3001\u5f7c\u5973\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u3001\u53cb\u9054\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u3001\u306a\u3093\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u30fb\u30fb\u30fb That last example was very hard to translate but it should make perfect sense if you understand the fact that he is rephrasing how he defines Miki and adding the question marker \u300c\u304b\u300d to show uncertainty.<\/p>\n This phrase is especially useful for people learning how to speak Japanese because I’m sure you’ve experienced plenty of times when you didn’t know the exact word for something in Japanese. With this phrase, you can throw out several alternatives that kind of get at what you’re trying to say.<\/p>\n Going back to the original question, why did my friend add \u300c\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u300d when saying just, “I have to go” would have been perfectly fine? I think it’s important to realize that she was in the middle of a conversation at the time. Essentially, she wanted to rephrase what she was talking about in order to correct it into the fact that she had to go. In effect, this is equivalent to saying, “Hey, what am I talking about? I have to go.”<\/p>\n By using \u300c\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u300d, you can backtrack and correct things said earlier and at the same time imply, “Hey wait a minute, that’s not it!” This is especially the case when everything has already been said and you are starting a new sentence with \u300c\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u300d.<\/p>\n In other words, \u300c\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u300d can also be used to correct yourself or others by rephrasing what has already been said.<\/p>\n \uff21\uff1a\u4ed6\u306e\u5973\u3068\u4ed8\u304d\u5408\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3089\u3057\u3044\u3002 \uff22\uff1a\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b<\/b>\u3001\u305d\u308c\u306f\u5358\u306a\u308b\u6d6e\u6c17\u3067\u3057\u3087\u3046\uff01 This is the second of three posts discussing \u300c\u8a00\u3046\u300d.<\/p>\n The first post discussed “Defining things with \u300c\u3044\u3046\u300d<\/a>“. A friend of mine from college spoke in the most interesting fashion because she could seamlessly weave Japanese and English together in the same sentence. She would say things like, \u300cMe\u306f\u884c\u304b\u306a\u3044\u3051\u3069\u3001You\u306f\uff1f\u300d, which amused me to no end. You see, she … Continue reading Ok, to finally get to the point<\/h3>\n
\n– Isn’t that not good, or to rephrase, serious shit? (read about \u3084\u3070\u3044<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n– Miki-chan is your girlfriend, right?<\/p>\n
\n– Um, you might say girlfriend, or friend, or something…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u3068\u3044\u3046\u304b\u3001I have to go<\/h3>\n
\n– I hear that [he’s] going out with some other woman.<\/p>\n
\n– That’s just another way of saying [he’s] cheating!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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\nThe third post is about “Various ways to say \u300c\u3044\u3046\u300d<\/a>“.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"