domokun1134
Member
From: Staten Island NY
Registered: 2009-11-10
Posts: 70
I'm writing a short story for the hell of it. It helps me exercise the grammar I've learned recently, but have yet to have the opportunity to use. It really makes me think and learn on the fly, but sometimes I come across something I cant figure out. Here's what I want to say.
"What's funny is, I don't even like ramen." (which isn't true I LOVE ramen, but my character doesn't).
I scratched my head for a little while and then gave up and ran it through Google translate to see what it might say.
何おかしいですが、私でもないラーメンが好きです。
This is beyond my scope I think, but it just doesn't seem right to me. I looked for examples sentences containing でもない and nothing seems close. That and does 何おかしい mean "What's funny is..."? Just doesn't seem right to me. HALP!
ta12121
Member
From: Canada
Registered: 2009-06-02
Posts: 3190
何おかしい=what's funny. なに おかしい (direct translation), not in context.
(it's right)
If you're having trouble formulating what to say, then your not there at the moment(in the language, just need more vocab+context)
Don't worry, i still suck in japanese. I can understand it really really well and read it, but my output is lacking.(Going to put a lot of effort into output this summer)
Last edited by ta12121 (2010 April 13, 11:53 am)
Asriel
Member
From: 東京
Registered: 2008-02-26
Posts: 1343
ta12121 wrote:
何おかしい
(it's right)
not it's not. "何かおかしいですが" -> "something is funny, but..."
"何おかしいですか" ->"What's funny?"
でもおかしいのは、ラーメンなんて好きじゃないんだ！
"But what's funny is..." or "The funny thing is..."
"[it's that] I don't like ramen!"
It's not necessarily "don't even" but on the fly, this is probably what I would say.
Unless "liking ramen" is a standard, then
ラーメンさえ好きじゃない
I don't even like ramen!
Kind of like..."I don't like any food. Not even ramen!"
But I'm guessing yours is more like "I was served a huge amount of ramen. And I don't even like ramen!"
Last edited by Asriel (2010 April 13, 11:52 am)
Asriel
Member
From: 東京
Registered: 2008-02-26
Posts: 1343
wccrawford wrote:
Can you explain what the なんか is doing there in the middle? I hear it daily, multiple times, and I've never been able to puzzle it out.
"Emphasis of an unexpected feeling or a negative feeling."
-- http://www.jgram.org/pages/viewOne.php? … a;%20nante
Also:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/forum/vi … hp?id=2430
Post #4, by pink~hime has some excellent example sentences
However!
If I were to give a definition to it, I would say it's similar (although not exactly the same) to:
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"
It adds a similar feeling to the sentence as the "Frankly"
"My dear, I don't give a damn" <-- Just factual information
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" <-- Adds more emphasis or, almost, a condescending tone to it
domokun1134
Member
From: Staten Island NY
Registered: 2009-11-10
Posts: 70
Thanks Asriel. That clears it up a bit. The reason why him not liking ramen is funny or ironic is because he works at a ラーメンや and has so for years because he has no ambitions to do anything greater with his life and yet he doesn't even like the thing he prepares every day.
In your example sentence:
でもおかしいのは、ラーメンなんて好きじゃないんだ
のは I understand, it just never occurred to me to use it.
なんて though, I'm having trouble understanding it's function in this sentence. Rikaichan says it means "such as" or "things like". Does it mean "I don't like things like Ramen."?
Last edited by domokun1134 (2010 April 13, 12:18 pm)
wccrawford
Member
From: FL US
Registered: 2008-03-28
Posts: 1551
IceCream wrote:
its a sort of filler, that puts the word to the left in a bad light. Or, it just works as a kind of "sort of", that makes the statement less strong. i think the best translation i have for it is "sort of" or "somehow". The translations aren't that good though, actually.
Wow, yeah, I'd have been years coming up with that. I had a feeling that it didn't translate well, since I can usually figure out what things mean when they do.
Thanks a ton!
Edit: This thread has been educational gold. Thanks everyone!
Last edited by wccrawford (2010 April 13, 12:22 pm)
Asriel
Member
From: 東京
Registered: 2008-02-26
Posts: 1343
Reading the responses in the thread so far, I think that IceCream's なんか may or may not be better than なんて
Either way, it's the same basic idea, just depends on how much you want him to not like ramen.
なんか -> actually, I don't like ramen!
なんて -> Ramen? Why would I like that?!
(terrible translations, but whatevers)
As for what it means, check out IceCream's and my posts a little while ago.
