How to say "How do you say..."???

[Kiyotsuki]

:? I am wondering how I can ask "How do you say..?" This will probably be the most useful Japanese phrase to me. That way I will be able to practice my language when speaking to without disrupting the flow, and... well lost of things.

Just for some examples, can someone translate for me...
~"How do you say 'hamburger'?"
~" '' ... in Japanese?"

Thanks in advance. :-)

[cacawate]

Hamburgerは日本語でなんて言いますか。
Hamburger wa nihongo de nante iimasu ka (pronunciation only)

From there, replace "hamburger" with anything else and you're set.

-Jeff

[Kiyotsuki]

Ok.Thanks
Another question. If I want to make it general (like not specifically Japanese), I would say ”HAMBURGERはなんて言いますか。”　right? Or would it be different?

[Exidez]

i would infact use HAMBURGERは日本語でなんと言いますか。
change the "te" to a "to"
this way seams more gramaticallt correct. Im not sure if the one mentioned above is wright or wrong tough...

if you want to make a general statment like "what is this?"
HAMBURGERって何ですか？
literal translation is "What is a hamburger"

[paper]

How about 何って? Does it sound ok? HAMBURGERは何って言うんですか.

[Brooker]

How about....

(hamburger) wa nihongo de nan to imasu ka?

[fixelbrumpf]

Broker: be careful, it's "iimasu", not "imasu". "Imasu" is used to say "there is/are" for living things.

paper: looks good to me, but I suspect that your variant is less formal. Isn't "tte" usually used as an informal variant of "to" used for citations?

[Glenn]

How about 何って? Does it sound ok? HAMBURGERは何って言うんですか.

That means "do you say 'what is a hamburger?'"*

I don't think that either 何て (http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/search.php?MT=%A4%CA%A4%F3%A4%C6&kind=jn&mode=0&base=1&row=1) or なんて (http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/search.php?MT=%A4%CA%A4%F3%A4%C6&kind=jn&mode=0&base=1&row=0) can be used to say "how do you say."

I would say Xは日本語でどう言いますか、 but 何と (http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/search.php?MT=%A4%CA%A4%F3%A4%C8&kind=jn&mode=0&base=1&row=1) works as well.

*The uses of って (http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/message/jpnDsaXtT7uDr4o7LuB.html)

[PaulTB]

That means "do you say 'what is a hamburger?'"*

I don't think that either 何て (http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/search.php?MT=%A4%CA%A4%F3%A4%C6&kind=jn&mode=0&base=1&row=1) or なんて (http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/search.php?MT=%A4%CA%A4%F3%A4%C6&kind=jn&mode=0&base=1&row=0) can be used to say "how do you say."

http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~t_asami/vpack20bbs/view.cgi?page=47&dir=message2

アドレスにフランス語をいれたいんですが、
何か単語でいい物があれば、教えてください。。。
０００が好き、かわいい（ペットなど）は何って言うん ですか？？

http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~t_asami/vpack20bbs/view.cgi?page=74&dir=message2

幸せがほしい…ってフランス語では何て言うんですか??
誰か教えてください!!お願いします!!

[Elizabeth]

　
I don't think that either 何て (http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/search.php?MT=%A4%CA%A4%F3%A4%C6&kind=jn&mode=0&base=1&row=1) or なんて (http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/search.php?MT=%A4%CA%A4%F3%A4%C6&kind=jn&mode=0&base=1&row=0) can be used to say "how do you say."
I guess I still don't see why 何て doesn't work based on this definition....:?

I use 'Nihongo de XXX wa nante iu no kana' all the time and have yet to be corrected.

〔「なんという」の転〕「なんという」のごくくだけた言い方。
「見たところ―こともないが…」「―名前だったかな」

[Glenn]

http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~t_asami/vpack20bbs/view.cgi?page=47&dir=message2

アドレスにフランス語をいれたいんですが、
何か単語でいい物があれば、教えてください。。。
０００が好き、かわいい（ペットなど）は何って言うん ですか？？

http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~t_asami/vpack20bbs/view.cgi?page=74&dir=message2

幸せがほしい…ってフランス語では何て言うんですか??
誰か教えてください!!お願いします!!

Hmm, not too sure what to make of this. Either my understanding of the definitions was wrong, or these people are misusing the word. Or maybe the dictionary needs to be updated. Still not sure, though, cause I don't have enough confidence in my understanding of anything that I read just now. :( As for the first example, maybe it was a typo? Eh, I guess I'm reaching here.

I guess I still don't see why 何て doesn't work based on this definition....:?

I use 'Nihongo de XXX wa nante iu no kana' all the time and have yet to be corrected.

〔「なんという」の転〕「なんという」のごくくだけた言い方。
「見たところ―こともないが…」「―名前だったかな」

That looks to me that nante takes the place of nan to iu, so the to iu part is included in it. I.e. the second sentence could be either nante namae datta ka na or nan to iu namae datta ka na. The first one I really don't understand. It looks like "it's not that I've just seen/watched it." ????????

As far as always using it goes, maybe it has entered the language and not the dictionary, or maybe I just didn't understand the definition correctly, as I said earlier.

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, it is confusing. I'm sure nante is colloquial nanto in their roles as adverbs with "n'darou/deshou" used purely for emphasis. "Nante/nanto" atsuin darou. How hot it is!
Although you also see variations on "nantte iu no...." as in do you say XXX? which is totally repetitious as tte is of course already a contraction of 'to iu no wa' so
it isn't much of a stretch to imagine nante following (falling into?) this same pattern.

As for the second line in this entry it looked to me initially like 「―名前だったかな] is maybe supposed to be an example fit in the prior blank space "The name (or whatever) you just saw isn't one often seen ?" so you need to ask how to say it. :p

[Glenn]

Oh, no, that's a seperate example. :) They mark them with the quotes. I thought it was something like, "what kind of name was that?"

[Elizabeth]

That's probably closer. With 'nan to iu,' I suppose the first one could be something along the lines of that's something not usually seen depending on the way tokoro is being used and the second 'I wonder what that name was' (?). I'm not positive, but will try to ask now that this has become such an intriguing thread. :)

[Glenn]

Yes, it does all seem to hinge on the use of tokoro. That word is one of my 苦手 words. Sometimes I just don't know how it is being used. :(

[cacawate]

:souka: Wow, in depth. 「〜は日本語でなんて言いますか」 was just the way my teacher taught it. I never really thought about it. Learnin'!

[Glenn]

Well, whatever the case, it seems that なんて言う is pretty standard. I'm just wondering what I missed. :clueless:

[PaulTB]

As for the first example, maybe it was a typo? Eh, I guess I'm reaching here.
You're probably right about 何って being a typo or possibly emphasised. (The numbers back you up) But 何て appears to be pretty standard for that usage.