mutiple nationalities

[danfernold7261]

Konnichiwa:) Dan desu.

Just checking this, you canuse kei (or is it -ke?) with every country´s name when saying things like. I am american-japanese, (watashi wa amerika-kei nihonjin desu) right?

If not, oshiete kudasai. (Though I´ve pretty sure that you said it in one of your lessons, so....)

Yoroshiku

Dan Fernold

Ano... Tokorode, It´s now a little later, when I write this, but another thing popped up. how to say "it´s hard for me..."

For "for me" or whoever it is for, do you use "tame ni" i.e. "watashi (no) tame ni iu muzukashii desu" - (It´s hard for me to say)?

[community.japanese]

Dan-san,
usually, you can use "kei" for any mixed nationality by adding it to country name.
But we might also use katakana words which are English words adopted into Japanese, like
"japaniizu amerikan" for Japanese American, dipending on nationality.

As to "it's difficult for [someone]", it's usually "[someone] ni wa muzukashii desu", but again, this is the
most common way ONLY about this part. When it's used in a complete sentence, this might be changed.
We can't really figure out "how to say" in language just like doing puzzles, like I wrote in different comment.
Hope you understand.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

Natsuko sensei

Here´s how this came up,

I was listening on the chicago-song "Hard for me to say I´m sorry." and tried translating it. And what I came up with is "Gomen nasai" wa watashino tame ni muzukashii ni iu." as a close match while using first A wa B tame ni ADJ. VERB (yesterday) and A wa B tame ni ADJ. ni VERB (today)

example: watashi wa nattsuarerugi ga iru node, nattsu wa watashi no tame ni tabekiken desu - Since I´m allergic to nuts, nuts are dangerous for me to eat.

Lastly:

1. I hope this sentence is right
2. which pattern if correct should be used?

oshiete kudasai

Yoroshiku

Dan Fernold



Dan Fernold

[community.japanese]

Dan-san,
first of all, "for [someone" cannot always be translated as "[someone] no tame ni" and
actually most of the cases, it can't.
This fixed pattern "it's [adj.] for [someone] to [verb]" can't be translated literally if you
want to know the natural way in Japanese (= how we speak in Japan).

This is rather about "translation", not "language learning". I don't think there's a "pattern"
that you can use for any sentences in any situations. Since this came from song lyrics,
I can't give you the answer (I simply don't know what's the best to give you).

This kind of sentences in English would be translated in different ways depending on
the context and situation of coversation.
Hope you understand.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

Natsuko sensei

First of all, I know "no tame ni" is "for "someone´s" sake." That´s why I was a little confused

and

Jitsuwa, "Watashi niwa" almost worked in my sentence, as I wrote "watashi niwa "gomen nasai" wa iinikui desu" (first using "iimuzukashii desu") (iinikui = hard to say?, iimuzukashii = difficult to say?) and it became "It is hard/difficult to say "I´m sorry" to me."

Although "Kore wa watashi niwa muzukashii desu" becomes "This is hard for me" so my conclusion is that "watashi niwa" should work as "for me"

with this said, then, Isn´t it possible just to switch "watashi" with any other pronoun?

or, is it better to say "I cant say "I´m sorry, because it is hard for me (Watashi wa "gomen nasai" o itte koto dekinai node, watashi niwa muzukashii desu.") (or is it "watashi niwa muzukashii desu node, "gomen nasai" o itte koto ga dekinai")

And Lastly, Natsuko sensei, take a look at my "-naide vs. -nakute" post one last time onegai shimasu!. If I am wrong now, then... OK.

Yoroshiku

Dan Fernold

[community.japanese]

Dan-san,

First of all, I know "no tame ni" is "for "someone´s" sake." That´s why I was a little confused

And this is exactly why I've been trying to emphasise that English translation can confuse you and you need
to understand "how Japanese works" instead of applying translation.

Jitsuwa, "Watashi niwa" almost worked in my sentence, as I wrote "watashi niwa "gomen nasai" wa iinikui desu" (first using "iimuzukashii desu") (iinikui = hard to say?, iimuzukashii = difficult to say?) and it became "It is hard/difficult to say "I´m sorry" to me."

"Ii nikui" is correct, but "ii muzukashii" is grammatically wrong.

with this said, then, Isn´t it possible just to switch "watashi" with any other pronoun?

Attention: Japanese (and I believe any languages) doesn't work like puzzles. Something can work
this way, but it doesn't mean it works with any other words in the same sentence.

or, is it better to say "I cant say "I´m sorry, because it is hard for me (Watashi wa "gomen nasai" o itte koto dekinai node, watashi niwa muzukashii desu.") (or is it "watashi niwa muzukashii desu node, "gomen nasai" o itte koto ga dekinai")

Like I've written in other replies, I can't go into details because there're more basic grammar points you
need to master before going on to those details.
The part "watashi wa gomen nasai o itte koto dekinai" is grammatically incorrect (wrong conjugations and usages).

And Lastly, Natsuko sensei, take a look at my "-naide vs. -nakute" post one last time onegai shimasu!. If I am wrong now, then... OK.

I did. Hope you can understand my point.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

Natsuko-sensei.

Since I write the questions in english (while my native language is swedish) the word order is different. This I know.
That´s just the thing:

The sentence "This is hard for me" becomes "For me, this, hard is.

This I also know.

It is not the english translation that´s important to me, it´s the japanese equvialent. (that´s to say, the japanese translation.)

watashi niwa muzukashii desu node, kore wo yameru koto ga dekimasen.

Yoroshiku

Dan Fernold

[community.japanese]

Dan-san,
> watashi niwa muzukashii desu node, kore wo yameru koto ga dekimasen.
=> Now I'm confused. Does this mean "it's difficult for me, so I can't read this"?
We don't say "yomeru koto" anyway, so....
"watashi niwa, kore wa muzukashikute yomu koto ga dekimasen"?
(= This is difficult for me to read. Lit. For me, this is difficult and I can't read.)

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

No it´s I can´t quit (yameru) because it´s difficult for me.

Yoroshiku

Dan Fernold

[community.japanese]

Dan-san,
...so... "muzukashii desu ga yameru koto wa dekimasen"??

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

Natsuko sensei

Actually, What i tried to say is "I can´t quit because it´s difficult for me."

so therefore: 私には難しいので私はやめることができません。("reason" node "statement")

Yoroshiku

Dan Fernold

[community.japanese]

Dan-san,
it now sounds as if you're challenging me.
The sentence I gave you means exactly what you want to say and your sentence just doesn't make sense
in Japanese.

What's called "correct sentence" does NOT mean only grammatically correct. It must make sense as well.
Simple "[reason] node [result/statement]" doesn't solve all the cases.
You need to learn how things are said in Japanese and how things make sense in Japanese.
And to understand those points, you need to start from the beginning and go on with basics.

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[danfernold7261]

Natsuko-sensei.

No. I am not challenging you. The reason I wrote my sentence after you wrote yours is because of two things.

1. I didn´t understand ..... so ....
and 2. The reason I used "reason" node "statement" is because I learned that´s how that works from this page, http://thejapanesepage.com/grammar/chapter_four/node

that´s all.

I don´t mean to challenge anyone. Least of all any of you on J-pod101.com.

Yoroshiku

Dan Fernold