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complicated sentence== need help

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urbanegloss2037
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Joined: March 9th, 2010 9:42 am

complicated sentence== need help

Postby urbanegloss2037 » June 21st, 2010 11:21 am

こんいちわ

みんあ さん!


can someone help me interpret the meaning behind this:

いやそげん固い言葉つかわんでよかばい

古い18てどゆこと??詳しくきかして??



I'm guessing that the person meant that he/she couldn't believe that the person is 18 yrs. old and he dislikes being communicated with formal words. ( perhaps it sounds snobbish to him/her?? )



pls. help! :cry:

Jessi
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Joined: November 25th, 2007 9:58 am

Postby Jessi » June 22nd, 2010 12:18 am

The person is using dialect, which is why it's hard to understand.

いやそげん固い言葉つかわんでよかばい = You don't have to use such formal language

古い18てどゆこと??詳しくきかして?? = What do you mean by Furui 18? Tell me more.

Without having any context, I don't know what 古い18 is referring to (something the other person said?) but this person doesn't seem to get it either.
Hope that helps!
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urbanegloss2037
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 26
Joined: March 9th, 2010 9:42 am

Postby urbanegloss2037 » June 22nd, 2010 9:57 am

Jessi san,


thank you for your reply.

dialect?! which one? there are a lot of dialects. :shock:

according to my dictionary, it says 古い= old (not person); aged; ancient

I'm thinking the person meant "he/she is 18 years old"

what is the correct way of saying " I am 18 years old" in Japanese? or in the dialect used by the person?

I hope you can reply pls! :(

QuackingShoe
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Postby QuackingShoe » June 22nd, 2010 11:59 am

古い is an adjective that means old, as in "an old shoe". It is not used to refer to a particular age. You do that with the number followed by 歳 or 才.

urbanegloss2037
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Joined: March 9th, 2010 9:42 am

Postby urbanegloss2037 » June 22nd, 2010 12:28 pm

QuackingShoe san,



thank you for the info.

Jessi
JapanesePod101.com Team Member
Posts: 822
Joined: November 25th, 2007 9:58 am

Postby Jessi » June 23rd, 2010 12:31 am

Like QuackingShoe said, 古い is not used to refer to age. Again, it looks like the person is quoting something someone else said, and they didn't understand what the person meant by 古い18 (old 18). They're not saying anything about age.

Is this a reply to something you wrote? If you want to say you are 18, that would be 私は18歳です.

And the dialect looks to be Fukuoka-ben from Kyushu.
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rodostajin1691
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Postby rodostajin1691 » July 2nd, 2010 10:08 pm

also in regard to saying old as used in a person's age, you could use.

とし(年) が うえ〔上)。  古い wouldn't be used as these other guys have indicated.

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