help with phrase

[japchinman12]

I was watching a movie that is half Japanese, half Korean, and the the actress

says to him at the first time meeting 「韓国のかたですか。」

seems strange to me because I'm used to hearing 「韓国人」か「韓国語」、i was hoping that someone would be able to explain to me why it is said this way. what does 「のかた」 do?

[japchinman12]

theres this other thing too, i wondered about 「有り得ないっつの！」

i understand this means Unbelieveable, i wanted to know this conjunction at the end though 「．．．っつの」？

[Psy]

In regards to your first question, かた（方） is a formal equivalent of 人, and oftentimes in polite speech you'll hear stuff like どちらのかたですか？ (from what direction honorable person are you = where are you from?). 韓国人 isn't incorrect, but in this situation the language is more polite.

As for the second one, while I don't remember where it was from, I know it's bit of a catch phrase. As such, it doesn't really belong in standard Japanese as a piece applicable grammar. Still, if I had to guess, つうの sounds like a contraction of と言うの. Only a guess, though!

[gerald_ford]

Can't add much to Psy's excellent explanation, but I would like to point out that 方（かた）is part of "keigo" (polite, respectful japanese), while in situations where you're being humble toward yourself or those in your group (when speak to others outside your group), you might use 者（もの）too. 人（ひと）is kind of middle-ground, useful for most conversations, but not particularly polite or humble.

Japanese has lots of striation, lots of levels of politeness/humility for the same concept such as "people".

[kodafox515]

Some food for thought regarding っつの
It's basically a slang expression that's used a lot like how we use "I'm telling you, _____!!" in English.
So ありえないっつの！could be translated, "I'm telling you, that's impossible!"

You'll also hear similar expressions with just って on the end.
Again, basically the same nuance of "I'm telling you, ____!" or "I said, _____!"

ありえないって！　"I said it's impossible"
もう、うるさいって！　"(I'm telling you) shut up already!" or "I'm tired of hearing it already!"
This can sound forceful, or irritated, so you may want to be careful how you use it, but it can also be used playfully or jokingly as well.
Here's an example of a lighthearted use of this "って"
漢字(かんじ)のテスト合格(ごうかく)出来る(できる)かな？ "I wonder if I can pass the Japanese test"
君(kimi)なら出来る(できる)って！ "(I'm telling you) if it's you we're talking about, then of course you can!"

You could replace any of the って！ above with っつの！and it would have the basic same meaning with a slightly more slangy (maybe rougher?) nuance.


On a related side note: "って" at the end can also be used to signify that you're quoting what somebody else said. as in "He said", "She said", "They said".

Ex: 明日（あした）は雨（あめ）だって　　"They say it's gonna rain tomorrow."

in this case replacing って with っつの！　wouldn't make a lot of sense. Or at least it would have a completely different meaning:
明日は雨だっつの！＝ "I'm telling you it's GOING to rain tomorrow!!!"
It would be like you were sure it was going to rain tomorrow and you're telling the other person emphatically because they don't seem to believe you.

Ok now I'm going off on tangents so I'll leave it at that

[Psy]

What a great first post that is, kodafox. Welcome to the forum!

[kodafox515]

What a great first post that is, kodafox. Welcome to the forum!

Hi Psy,
Thanks I'm happy to be here
I used Japanesepod101 a lot when I was studying before going to japan. I never got too involved in the forum though. Now that I'm back I hope I can teach some of what I've learned and learn some from everyone in the proccess.
I'll try to check in every day or so.
よろしく〜