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AnonymousHello everyone, thanks for last time. I do indeed apologize for having created unproductive discussion, so if you’ll forgive me for that.
Today I would like to do another mini-lesson, if you don’t mind. After looking through some past mini-lessons, I’ve decided that this time I will follow Koichi’s idea and present you a single sentence with a few questions. I hope you will find it beneficial for your studies.
Today’s sentence:
ではまず、こちらをご覧になってみてください。1) What does ではまず mean?
2) What does みて mean in this context?
3) How would you translate the whole sentence?
4) What level of politeness is this sentence?
Good luck!
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.Yay! But when did you create unproductive discussion?
1. “Well, firstly”
2. “Try”
3. “Well, firstly, please try having a look at this”
4. I’ma say level 7. =P But seriously though, it’s honorific-form sonkeigo. Definitely upper-level formal.Took me a while to realise this is Tsetycoon! I couldn’t remember a “Matthew” doing a mini-lesson before ;)
1) What does ではまず mean?
“Well, first of all”. Maybe では and まず have a slightly different meaning when combined as ではまず, but when taken separately, that’s what they mean… I think?
2) What does みて mean in this context?
“(Please) try to X”.
3) How would you translate the whole sentence?
“Ok, firstly, if you could look this way.”. I know there’s the “try to” bit in there but I’m not sure you’d say it exactly like that in English. There’s also “please”, but again, it doesn’t seem natural to say that in English (in this context, anyway).
4) What level of politeness is this sentence?
Pretty polite – sonkeigo, right? Sounds like a tour guide in an museum or something, “If you could look over here at this exhibit”. We don’t have a direct equivalent of keigo in English so translations are bound to lose a lot of the politeness if they’re to sound natural.
Edit: Damn, Joel, you beat me to it! I opened this tab a while ago and it looked like nobody had answered before I submitted mine :(
Took me a while to realise this is Tsetycoon! I couldn’t remember a “Matthew” doing a mini-lesson before ;)
Oh, is that who it is? I was thinking it was some long-departed soul from ages past. =)
Edit: Damn, Joel, you beat me to it! I opened this tab a while ago and it looked like nobody had answered before I submitted mine :(
Bwahaha. =P
Still, it’s probably better that way. Looks like we got pretty much the same answers anyway. =)
AnonymousHello you two, thanks for trying my mini-lesson again. And for all the questions, 正解です！
1) What does ではまず mean?
Indeed, ではまず is では(well then) and まず(first) put together to mean “well then first.”2) What does みて mean in this context?
Yes, みて comes from みる and means “try” when placed after the て-form of another verb.3) How would you translate the whole sentence?
Yes, your translations are correct. I would translate it as “well then first, if you would you take a look at this” or “well first of all, please try having a look at this.”4) What level of politeness is this sentence?
Correct, it is a moderate level of 尊敬語.I was hoping that some other people would try to answer as well, but thanks again. Your Japanese levels are pretty high compared to other people, though.
As a reference, I took the sentence of this mini-lesson from Death Note Episode 10.
http://youtu.be/Urvuum_03c4?t=7m17sYeah, I was wondering if I should maybe not answer – seeing an answer that looks generally right might make other people feel there’s no need for them to answer too. If you make another mini lesson, I’ll hold off for a few days to see if anyone else answers :D
It’d be awesome if tons of people tried answering but the forum just isn’t active enough for that. I’m surprised Aikibujin didn’t answer though, (s)he’s usually around quite often.
Yeah, I was wondering if I should maybe not answer
That thought had crossed my mind also. =P
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