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I sometimes find that when Japanese answer my questions, their answers are too
vague. For instance, I asked what つなぎ is in a given context. A Japanese person
told me it is 作業着の種類, "a type of work clothes." That's still too vague for me.
Is it a kind of cloth? What are the other types? What can I say to get more
clarification to get a better explanation of what exactly つなぎ is?
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2011-07-31T16:08:11.023
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2011-08-01T22:54:46.133
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question
phrase-requests
How to get clarification in Japanese
The best way to get clarification is to ask a question that illustrates what
exactly you're confused about. You've already asked these in English:

> "Is it a kind of cloth?" それは生地の一種ですか？ (Answer: no, it's a type of clothing,
> not cloth)
>
> "What are the other types?" 作業着といえば他にどんなのがありますか？

If you just ask "could you clarify?", your conversation partner is tasked with
guessing what you could possibly be confused about, since they probably don't
think that they said anything vague.
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2011-07-31T19:07:28.380
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2011-08-01T22:54:46.133
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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```

    ええと…もっと具体的に？それだけでは、よく分からないのです…
    
```

Which means something like "Hum… more precisely? I am not sure I understand
with such a concise explanation". This is quite oral, as you may guess.
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2011-07-31T23:54:29.677
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2011-08-01T03:07:18.270
2011-08-01T03:07:18.270
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