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Tutor Kyoko O. 's Column

「あれはなんだったんだろう?」 (´⌒`;)? ことばの複数の意味

Samstag, 7. November 2020, 22:01

*Some of my English should not be translated literally. I would be glad if it could be helpful for people to understand the context of my Japanese.
当時日本に住んでいた日本語学習者(Aさん)が道に迷ってしましました。そこでAさんは近くを歩いている人(Bさん)に道たずねました。
A learner of Japanese A-san who lived in Japan at that time got lost, so A-san asked another person (B-san) who was walking on the street how to get to the station.
 
A:あのーすみません。XX駅はどこですか?
B:あぁ…ちょっと…。
A: (「”ちょっと” 待てば教えてくれるということだな」と思いました。それでBさんの答えを待ちました)
B: (でもBさんは何も言わずに行ってしまいました) 
A:Excuse me, where is the XX station?
B:Ah…"chotto"(in Japanese)…
A: (A-san believed "chotto" meant "Wait a moment" in this case, so A-san was waiting for B-san's answer)
B: (However, B-san left there without saying anything)
 
さて、何が起こったんでしょう?
AさんはBさんの「ちょっと」の意味を「少し待ってください」だと思いました。でもBさんの「ちょっと…」の意味は「ちょっとわかりません」の意味でした。日本の文化では断る時にはっきり言わずにやんわりさせることが多いです。その時に「ちょっと…(←言葉が途切れる/声のトーンが下がる⤵)」ということがあります。もしBさんが「ちょっと、わかりません」とまで言えば、Aさんも理解できたかもしれません。「ちょっと」の意味は場面によって違ってきます。
日本人は子どもの時からそれぞれの場面と声のトーンや表情をたくさん経験しています。それでも、日本人同士でも行き違いはあります。だから日本語学習者が「あれはなんだったんだろう?」と疑問に思うことが他にもいろいろあると思います。
What happened at that time?
A-san thought B-san's "chotto" meant "Just a moment". However, B-san's "chotto" actually meant something like "Sorry, I'm not sure of it". In Japanese culture, when we say "no" or decline, we tend to avoid saying the negative answer so directly or clearly, and we try to say it vaguely. At the moment, we tend to say "chotto…" (← we would tend to cut off the negative parts (...) after "chotto"/ the voice tone of "chotto" would go down⤵)  If B-san had added "wakarimasen" to "chotto", A-san might have understood what B-san meant. The meaning of "chotto"/ a speaker's intention for "chotto" depends on each context/ case.
We Japanese had a ton of experiences in the various cases with different voice tones and facial expressions since our childhood, even though there are still some cases in which we misunderstand each other unintentionally.  Therefore, I could imagine there would be some or many scenes in which learners of Japanese might be wondering "What was that?".
 
みなさんの「あれはなんでだろう?/なんだったんだろう?」を私の会話のレッスンで一緒に考えてみませんか。レッスン後には学んだ単語や表現のサマリーをCafetalkのメッセージで送ります。
Why don’t we think of your "Why did it happen?"/ "What was that?" in my conversational lessons? I am going to send you a summary of the new words and expressions you would learn in our lesson.

If you have some topics to talk in Japanese, please check my conversation  lessons! 
Beside the conversation lessons, I have updated a few new lessons these past  few days.

This column was published by the author in their personal capacity.
The opinions expressed in this column are the author's own and do not reflect the view of Cafetalk.

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