HOW DO I SAY "…." THREAD

[TanneMember]

Here’s a phrase that makes me stumble over my words constantly.

Sometimes I wanna buy several issues of the same magazine, to bring back home to Europe and give to friends. I want to make it clear that I want three of the exact same magazine. But how do I say “three of these, please”? Would it be みっつ or 三冊 or something completely different?

Also, what about “three of this, two of that, and just one issue of this one, please”?

[マーク・ウェーバーMember]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_counter_word
Provides a good explanation to things, and a very useful list ^^

[TanneMember]

I know about counters, I just wanna know how to say this very specific sentence. It’s hard for me to get across the idea that I want several of the exact same magazine.

Is it この雑誌三冊をください maybe?

[JoelMember]

Also, what about “three of this, two of that, and just one issue of this one, please”?

As the link Mark posted says, the counter for magazines is 部 (ぶ), but they probably wouldn’t be too perplexed if you used 冊 or -つ. So this line would be “これを三部、それを二部、これを一部、おねがいします”

Edit: Hah, ninja-posted again. ください would work too, but the sentence order is always “noun を number+counter verb”.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 11 months ago by  Joel.

[ElenkisMember]

Joel, it looks like you’re using Edict. I don’t see the “quickly, suddenly” definition in any professional dictionaries.

I’m pretty sure that 「パチリ可愛い」 is 「パッチリ可愛い」. Note the 3rd definition from the 大辞泉:

ぱちり
［副］
１ 固い物が強く当たってたてる音を表す語。ぱちん。「―と留め金をかける」「―と碁石を置く」

２ カメラのシャッターを切る音を表す語。また、写真を撮るさま。「事故の現場を―とカメラに収める」

３ 「ぱっちり」に同じ。「目を―と開く」

And then ぱっちり (using the 大辞林 dictionary this time as I think its definition is a bit more simple for people to understand):

ぱっちり
(副) スル 　　
［1］　目が大きく美しいさま。　(目の―した子)

［2］　目を大きく見開くさま。　(―と目をあける)

[JoelMember]

Yah, I use Kotoba. In my defense, my Kenkyusha is out of arm’s length. Plus, it’s under stuff.

That said, having checked it, neither パチリ nor ぱっちり are there anyway.

[ElenkisMember]

Kenkyusha has both of them, at least the “proper” Kenkyusha 5th Edition does anyway:

ぱっちり
ぱっちりした目 large bright [clear] eyes; wide-open eyes
目のぱっちりした子 a bright-eyed child
彼女は目がぱっちりしている。 She has large bright eyes.
目をぱっちりあける open one’s eyes wide
ぱっちり目をあけて起きている be wide awake

I’m not going to copy out パチリ as well, but it’s there and basically shows that it is the sound of a camera shutter clicking or objects hitting each other/closing “with a click” or “with a snap”. So pretty much what the J-J dictionaries say.

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

@Mark: Yeah, I managed to get the right lyrics eventually, but does “二重パチリ” really mean… “really/very/super”? Can’t find it in any dictionaries :/

Oh, didn’t see your post there, Elenkis. Thanks! :D Don’t really know if I’d understand enough to use a J-dictionary by myself, but it definitely appears to be pretty useful. I guess it would also help to know it was ぱっちり and not パチリ haha. So this girl’s big eyes are super cute, but does the 二重 refer to the “double eyelids” thing, or is it referring to how her eyes are twice as big as everyone else (or some mysterious third option)?

• This reply was modified 12 years, 11 months ago by  MisterM2402 [Michael].

[ElenkisMember]

I’m not sure here, so take it with a pinch of a salt. But I think 二重 is being used to mean “doubly” here. So “doubly cute”.

And again this is a guess, but I don’t think パッチリ可愛い is literally saying “the girls big eyes are cute”, but acting more as an intensifier. So she isn’t just plain cute, but she’s a big, beautiful eyed kind of cute. So then basically the whole of 二重パチリ would pretty much just be intensifying how cute she is. Which I guess is why they translated it to “super cute”.

That’s all just a guess though.

Personally I hate trying to translate songs anyway. They routinely ignore all normal rules of grammar and are often symbolic, which in my experience makes them pretty much one of the hardest things to translate as a learner. Even English song lyrics can be hard to interpret sometimes.

[MisterM2402 [Michael]Member]

Yeah, I hear what you mean about translating songs. It’d be hilarious to see a Japanese speaker make sense of something like a Red Hot Chili Peppers song :P I was just kinda reading along with the lyrics (in Japanese) as I listened, seeing how much I could understand, but even after wapping out a dictionary (online), I couldn’t really make sense of that bit, so I thought the English might give me a little more of an idea. Didn’t haha. English translations of ANYTHING in Japanese are usually sketchy at best, but they can still be useful for a general meaning.

[PencilMember]

I’ve got a vague understanding of what it means, but could you guys give me some examples of how to use 早く言えば in a sentence?

Would these be okay?

昨日は。。。じゃ、早く言えばすごい忙しいでした。 (As for yesterday, well, let’s just say I was very busy.)

早く言えば、大学生です。　(To put it simply, I’m a college student.)

Also, in Japanese, do you often pause after the phrase as we do in English with things like ‘to make a long story short’?

[Paden ClaytonMember]

Hey guys, for my passion list I have cook-out listed but can’t find the proper translation. Anyone know what the proper word would be in this instance: “We attended the Clayton’s cook-out.”?

[JoelMember]

I’m getting 芋煮会 (いもにかい), though that might be vegetables only. Alternately, バーベキュー.

I’m sure there’s another word, though. I’ve seen it happen often enough in anime…

[GigatronMember]

I was wondering, how would “How can I help/assist you?” be said in Japanese? Or rather, what phrase would be used in Japanese retail stores to correspond to that?

I’ve been trying to figure it out myself, but can’t really work out a way that sounds “right” to me. Plus, I wondered if there is a specific phrase that’s always used.

Part of it’s curiosity, and part of it’s me wanting to surprise the one Japanese customer that sometimes comes into my store by spontaneously saying it (yeah right, as if I had that much courage lol). XD

[JoelMember]

何かおさがしでしょうか. Are you looking for something?

Alternately, いっらしゃいませ will do the trick well enough if they approach you. =)

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