I had many answers answered and just as many questions risen from my homestay in Japan. One of them haunts me to this day though.

When I was there at the high school, I was wandering around the campus and a girl from my class ran into me and said "どこに行くの"

Since I was just wandering (and didn't know how to say that), I said "分かない"

I had read in Tae Kim's that 分かない could have a sort of "I'm not sure" meaning behind it.

That's what I intended.

However, I came to the realization that she also could have interpreted it as "I don't understand (your question)".

Do you think she thought that I didn't understand? Or did she get what I was saying?

Keep in mind my Japanese was very weak and I often didn't understand what the people were saying to me back then.

zachandhobbes Wrote:I had read in Tae Kim's that 分かない could have a sort of "I'm not sure" meaning behind it.

That's what I intended.

However, I came to the realization that she also could have interpreted it as "I don't understand (your question)".

Do you think she thought that I didn't understand? Or did she get what I was saying?

I'd definitely have interpreted わからない as "I don't understand". I'd understand what you meant if you said something like しらない or きめてない.

There's no way to know. Theoretically it should be OK because normally, native Japanese speakers do not simply say 分かんない to mean "I don't understand what you just said", that always means "I don't know the answer to your question". But foreigners say 分からない to mean "I don't understand you" all the time, so there can be confusion there.

yudan, that's what I thought.

Usually I said わからない when I didn't understand my host family and わかんない (thanks for the spell check) when I just meant "I'm not sure" and they understood me, but since the chick rarely talked to me I was wondering.

Well, I guess I'll never know. I hope she knew that I understood her.

Oh, just to clarify, there's no meaning difference between 分からない and 分かんない, the second is just a more casual spoken form. Neither are usually used all by themselves to mean "I don't understand what you just said", at least by native speakers.

I have read (in Nihongo Notes) about a similar situation, when the question "どちらへ" (Where are you going?) is used as a kind of greeting without an intention to know the specific answer (similar to "How do you do?" in English). The proper response to this kind of greeting-question would be "ええ、　ちょっと　そこまで"

Yes, apparently どこに行くの is just some sort of greeting, but if I had been in your position I probably would have said something like ぶらぶらしてるだけ。

You seem to be typing 分かない, which isn't a word. It's either 分からない or the more informal 分かんない.

She understood what you said about not knowing where to go.
If you didn't understand you would had said something like 今言ったことの意味がわからないが...or something similar to that.

The way you said it is also important. From your tone and reaction it should have been obvious whether you were answering her question or you didn't understand it.

That is a relief to hear, quincy.

I think I took a second then recognized what she said, so I went "ah!" before I said わかんない which kind of gives the tone that I understood.

どこいくの？ in such a situation is kind of a greeting. You can respond with the specific place you're heading for, the purpose or obscure meaningless phrases such as "ん、ちょっと用事でそこまで." Because this is not a full-fledged greeting, it still retains its literal meaning to an extent. So your answer should be at least "kind of true." Phrases like ちょっとそこまで can sound distant if used to a friend because you're kind of dodging the question.

As for the OP's question, わからない can be either way. It'd be clear that you mean "I'm not sure" if you put 自分でも, i.e., 自分でも分からない. This is like "I know I should be able to answer the question because you're asking where 'I' am going. But even I don't know where I'm going."

Personally I think the closest translation of "I'm not sure" in the OP's situation is 別に. The point is that both mean that you're just wandering without any particular purpose. Also, it's important to be careful about intonation and such when you use this kind of oft-used colloquial phrase. 別に could sound distant or cold if you say it with the wrong tone of voice/cadence.

知らない as a response to the greeting can be a little cold unless you're just following another person or something. 知らない is sort of like "I haven't heard or read the answer you want to know." And if it is used when you should know the answer, it could implicitly mean, "Why should I tell you?" Of course, you can say it to the girl in a humorous way or something. But this phrase wouldn't be the model answer in your Japanese textbook.

決めてない works. Probably "別に," "特にどこってわけじゃないけど," etc. are slightly more common for this meaning. But either is fine. You can also combine them, e.g., 別に決めてない.

About わからない vs. わかんない, the latter is better when you mean "I'm not sure" in a similar informal situation. This is the same as the difference between "I am not sure" and "I'm not sure." Technically they're the same. But you don't enunciate each and every word when you simply mean you're not sure in an informal conversation, especially when it's a response to a pseudo-greeting.

ぶらぶらしてるだけ is a perfect answer.

The wording like 今言ったことの意味がわからないが reminds me of the sarcastic male protagonist in a popular light novel about a high school girl who can unconsciously change reality.

Wooow!

Thanks for the really detailed reply! I really appreciate it and I learned quite a lot .