o?

[danfernold7261]

I had a talk with my sister just now and a sentence that i thought i would translate came up. The sentence was
"I have only had sushi once"

Now, what i thought it was, after checking up "once" in your dictionary (although I should have from your lessons was "ichido") was 私はいちどだけすしをたべました but when I checked with google translate it was 私は一度だけおすしをたべ た

What I am wondering is what the "o" after dake is for.

事前にありがとう

Dan Fernold

[ericf]

Well, the お is just added to すし for politeness. You'll find it added like that to many other words...
お元気ですか。　　　　お＋げんき
おはようございます。　お＋はよう
お帰りなさい。　　　　お＋かえり
おやすみなさい。　　　お＋やすみ
etc.

You can have 一度（いちど）or 一回（いっかい）for "once". And the difference between 食べまし and た食べた is, again, just one of politeness.

If you wanted to stress some sort of regret that you've only eaten sushi once you could replace だけ with しか and negate the verb...
私は、おすしを一回しか食べませんでした。

[danfernold7261]

Of course. Stupid me. It slipped my mind completely.

ほんとうに どうも ありがとう

Dan Fernold

P.S.

I tried いっかい in the sentence in google translate and it became "mere" instead of once, so.... well, i went with 一度

but....

Why was it translated as "mere" in the sentence instead of "once"?

事前にありがとうございます

Dan Fernold

[ericf]

P.S.

I tried いっかい in the sentence in google translate and it became "mere" instead of once, so.... well, i went with 一度

but....

Why was it translated as "mere" in the sentence instead of "once"?

事前にありがとうございます

Dan Fernold

Because google translate is rubbish? :-)
No, I don't know. I get "once"; with the option (from the drop down) of "single, one, a single, one time".
http://translate.google.com/#ja/en/%E4%B8%80%E5%9B%9E

[community.japanese]

Dan-san, エリックsan,

Because google translate is rubbish?

I agree!!

The word いっかい in all hiragana can be understood as both "one time" and "first floor", and Google probably
decided to go for its at randum selfish choice which was "mere"?

Really...the mistery of Google Translate never ends....

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

Yeah, some of Googles translates makes me go: WHAT???? this can´t be totally right.

Can you recommend another translator?

Arigatou gozaimasu

Dan Fernold

[community.japanese]

Dan-san,
I wish I could, but as far as I know, there's no good auto-translator.
When the languages have similar syntax, it's easier for those automated translation function, but
Japanese is too complicated for that.
It might be better if you look for a dictionary instead of translation tool.
Since Google Translate does not seem to work correctly even on word by word basis, dictionaries would be
more helpful.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

Ok. Will do.

Hontouni arigatou gozaimasu

Dan Fernold

[team.relationships]

Hi Dan,

You are welcome!
Please stay tuned since every week we have new lessons for you! And if you have any questions, feel free to ask us.

Have a great day!

Cheers,
Gergő
Team JapanesePod101.com