17879
This is something that is often said in English to politely ask a question
while avoiding sounding overly intrusive. For example,

> What do you do for a living, if you don't mind my asking?  
>

The way that I would think to translate it is:

> 聞いてもよろしければ、何の仕事をしているのですか。

But I'm not entirely confident, because that's a literal translation, and
there may be a more natural sounding set-phrase for it. Is my translation
correct? Or is there a better way to say it?
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2014-07-19T19:48:29.347
17877
2014-07-20T01:13:01.130
2014-07-20T01:13:01.130
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question
translation politeness phrase-requests
How would you say "if you don't mind my asking"?
I would probably say

>   * [失礼]{しつ・れい}ですが、～ → I'm sorry to be rude, but ～
>
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2014-07-19T20:26:06.613
17878
2014-07-19T20:26:06.613
78
17877
answer
A very common (and mature-sounding) phrase would be 「[差]{さ}し[支]{つか}えなければ」.
「差し支え」 means "obstacle", "inconvenience", etc.

> 「差し支えなければ、ご[職業]{しょくぎょう}をお[聞]{き}きしてもよろしいですか。」
>
> You may add a 「もし」 at the beginning as well.

Other natural expressions would include:

> Polite:「（もし）お[尋]{たず}ねしてもよろしければ」
>
> Less polite:「もし聞いてもよければ」
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2014-07-19T22:39:15.057
17879
2014-07-19T22:39:15.057
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer