Hello,
1. This is a note on making requests:
話し手との人間関係に距離があるほど、また内容が頼み にくい場合、前置きと理由が長くなることが多いです。
My translation: "It is common for the preliminaries and the reason (for asking) to become longer the more distant the relationship with 話し手 and the more awkward the request."
Does 話し手 refer to the person making the request or the person receiving the request? The sentence only really makes sense to me as the latter, but wouldn't that be 相手?
2. 彼はもてる物すべてを失った。
Translation given: "He lost his all."
Is もてる = 持てる? Why is it potential form? Or could it be a typo for もっている?
3. These are two explanatory/introductory sentences about the same dialogue:
家庭教師を頼まれたが断るという設定の会話を聞いて.. .
足立さんが、先生に子供の家庭教師を頼まれます。
My translation:
"Listen to the dialogue, (which portrays) a scene in which (someone) is asked to be a home tutor but declines..."
"Mr Adachi is asked by 先生 to be a home tutor to 先生's child."
a) Is this correct? Have I got the right people doing the right things?
b) As far as I can tell, the person referred to as 先生 (片岡 in the extract below, as far as I can tell) is a corporate employee, not a teacher, doctor, professor, etc.. Is 先生 possible in that case as a general respectful term? 先生 and 家庭教師 are different people, right? I'm wondering if I may have got mixed up about who is who.
4.
片岡 has asked 足立 to tutor his son. 足立 is too busy and has suggested instead that a friend of his could do it.
片岡: じゃあ、私、太郎に一度聞いてからお返事して もいいですか。
足立: ええ。
片岡: 太郎はね「絶対に足立さん足立さん」って、こ の間もすごく言っていたもんですから。
My translation:
片岡: Well, is it OK if I just go and ask 太郎 [his son] and then let you know?
足立: OK.
片岡: 太郎 still keeps on insisting "I only want 足立さん, 足立さん".
a) I have roughly tried to capture the meaning of 一度 as "just". Is that reasonable?
b) I assume はね = は (topic) + ね (emphasis), right? Having previously been used to ね only at the end of sentences, in these dialogues I seem to be seeing it used a lot mid-sentence.
c) I am not completely certain about この間もすごく言っていたもんですから. Is "still keeps on insisting" reasonable? (Literally "kept on insisting", but present tense seems more natural in English.)
ent tense seems more natural in English.)
1. This is a note on making requests:
話し手との人間関係に距離があるほど、また内容が頼み にくい場合、前置きと理由が長くなることが多いです。
My translation: "It is common for the preliminaries and the reason (for asking) to become longer the more distant the relationship with 話し手 and the more awkward the request."
Does 話し手 refer to the person making the request or the person receiving the request? The sentence only really makes sense to me as the latter, but wouldn't that be 相手?
2. 彼はもてる物すべてを失った。
Translation given: "He lost his all."
Is もてる = 持てる? Why is it potential form? Or could it be a typo for もっている?
3. These are two explanatory/introductory sentences about the same dialogue:
家庭教師を頼まれたが断るという設定の会話を聞いて.. .
足立さんが、先生に子供の家庭教師を頼まれます。
My translation:
"Listen to the dialogue, (which portrays) a scene in which (someone) is asked to be a home tutor but declines..."
"Mr Adachi is asked by 先生 to be a home tutor to 先生's child."
a) Is this correct? Have I got the right people doing the right things?
b) As far as I can tell, the person referred to as 先生 (片岡 in the extract below, as far as I can tell) is a corporate employee, not a teacher, doctor, professor, etc.. Is 先生 possible in that case as a general respectful term? 先生 and 家庭教師 are different people, right? I'm wondering if I may have got mixed up about who is who.
4.
片岡 has asked 足立 to tutor his son. 足立 is too busy and has suggested instead that a friend of his could do it.
片岡: じゃあ、私、太郎に一度聞いてからお返事して もいいですか。
足立: ええ。
片岡: 太郎はね「絶対に足立さん足立さん」って、こ の間もすごく言っていたもんですから。
My translation:
片岡: Well, is it OK if I just go and ask 太郎 [his son] and then let you know?
足立: OK.
片岡: 太郎 still keeps on insisting "I only want 足立さん, 足立さん".
a) I have roughly tried to capture the meaning of 一度 as "just". Is that reasonable?
b) I assume はね = は (topic) + ね (emphasis), right? Having previously been used to ね only at the end of sentences, in these dialogues I seem to be seeing it used a lot mid-sentence.
c) I am not completely certain about この間もすごく言っていたもんですから. Is "still keeps on insisting" reasonable? (Literally "kept on insisting", but present tense seems more natural in English.)
ent tense seems more natural in English.)