47051
If someone asks me if I speak Japanese, in English I would answer "I speak
very little Japanese", but what would be a proper way of saying this in
Japanese?
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2017-05-03T14:30:24.570
47048
2017-05-04T06:25:19.230
2017-05-03T23:35:24.337
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question
translation expressions
How can I say "I speak very little Japanese"?
If you really want them to understand that you are a beginner, better not use
anything too sophisticated. I think that a simple

> 私{わたし}は日本{にほん}語{ご}が下手{へた}です。  
>  Watashi wa nihongo ga heta desu.

would be good for this situation.

If you don't want to say that your Japanese is poor, you can dodge it with

>   * 私は日本語が上手{うま}くないです。
>   * 日本語が少{すこ}しだけ話{はな}せます。 (thanks Felipe Oliveira)
>
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2017-05-03T14:44:27.070
47051
2017-05-04T00:32:10.410
2017-05-04T00:32:10.410
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answer
There is something very peculiar about trying to find ever more elegant ways
of saying "I don't speak much Japanese." Learning a language is about coming
to understand what people say to you (without "thinking", or "translating in
your head"), and finding yourself being able to reply because you know what to
say (again, without calculation). My suggestion is:

> 日本語{にほんご}(は)、少{すこ}し(...)

You only need to understand (internally, really understand) three things here:
_nihongo_ and _sukoshi_ you probably do already, and は(wa) is a topic marker.
The topic here is not you, it is Japanese, since that's what we are talking
about; this means "With regard to the topic of Japanese, 'not much'".

Here's a transcript of an actual conversation which occurred the other day in
a local hospital:

> Doctor's assistant: 日本語{にほんご}は大丈夫{だいじょうぶ}ですか
>
> Me: 大丈夫{だいじょうぶ}です

This is much more natural for two reasons: No watashi-anata stuff, which is
not about learning Japanese, more about learning "translated English". And an
oddity of English: When we say "Do you speak German?" we really mean "Do you
understand German?" In Japanese (and probably many other languages) it is more
natural to say "分かりますか？", and if you really know almost no Japanese, the
following is more useful to memorise as a sentence:

> 日本語{にほんご}は分{わ}かりません
>
> Literally "I do not understand Japanese"; English "I don't speak Japanese"
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2017-05-04T06:25:19.230
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2017-05-04T06:25:19.230
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer