I need to make a call to a Japanese person and will need to know how to say these following phrases in Japanese:

"Hey, Ken. I can't make it back to town on Saturday, but I'll be back on Monday. We can meet and talk about our trip then. Is that cool?"

And he is definitely going to say something to me that I won't understand in Japanese at some point, so I also need to know how to say "My Japanese isn't good enough to understand." as well.

I'm also well aware that honorifics are present in Japanese just as they are in Korean, so please make all of this sound as casual as possible.

Reno(TE)

United Kingdom434 Posts

April 10 2008 21:34 GMT

もしもしケンサン = moshi moshi ken-san = hello ken
And thats all i know ^o^

pubbanana

United States3063 Posts

April 10 2008 21:42 GMT

I'm calling him, so he'd be the one saying "moshi-moshi". I guess?

I basically need him to think I'm a lot more fluent in Japanese than I really am. I don't feel explaining the fucking epic odyssey through which this circumstance came to be. But everyone and their mother and their dog can speak Japanese to near fluency these days (except for me), so I figured this wasn't such an outrageous request.

_ph0enix_

Canada41 Posts

April 10 2008 21:42 GMT

I am pretty sure this is how you say "I don't understand Japanese"

"watashiwa nihongoga wakarimasen"

Edit: Sorry I didn't realise you wanted to say I don't understand Japanese well enough...

Gokey

United States2722 Posts

April 10 2008 22:16 GMT

how do you say "give me back my money two bit swindler"

pubbanana

United States3063 Posts

April 10 2008 22:33 GMT

On April 11 2008 07:16 Gokey wrote:
how do you say "give me back my money two bit swindler"

Get the fuck out of here.

poilord

Germany3252 Posts

April 10 2008 22:42 GMT

zenzen wakarimasen(polite) zenzen wakaranai (not so polite) - I don't understand at all.
watashi no nihongo wa totemo warui desu - My Japanese is really bad.

But wait, don't pay any attention to me; since you want it to sound casual you should wait for somebody who speaks better Japanese than I do ...

FoieGras

Canada270 Posts

April 10 2008 23:23 GMT

watashi no nihongo wa jouzu ja arimasen (polite)- my japanese isn't very good
nihongo wa chotto (less polite)

Gomenasai/Sumimasen - both sorry, but sumimasen can also be used as excuse me.

Ken-san, douyoubi wa chotto kara, getsuyoubi ni kaeru. Getsuyoubi ni atte mo ii desu ka?

I've only been learning jap for half a year, so it might not be very good. That and I translated what you wanted to ask for in short form...

You might want to ask someone who's japanese or living in japan for a better opinion.

~~Kyo~~

United States97 Posts

April 10 2008 23:31 GMT

On April 11 2008 06:13 pubbanana wrote:
I need to make a call to a Japanese person and will need to know how to say these following phrases in Japanese:

"Hey, Ken. I can't make it back to town on Saturday, but I'll be back on Monday. We can meet and talk about our trip then. Is that cool?"

And he is definitely going to say something to me that I won't understand in Japanese at some point, so I also need to know how to say "My Japanese isn't good enough to understand." as well.

I'm also well aware that honorifics are present in Japanese just as they are in Korean, so please make all of this sound as casual as possible.

kensan, doyoubi wa isogashikute ie ni imasen, demo getsuyoubi ni kaerimasu. kaette kitara tabi no hanashiwo shimashou, sorede iidesuka?
that's the translation to the first part. i think it's pretty casual.

and as for the 2nd part,
boku no nihongo wa amari umaku arimasen, dakara dekirudake kantan na nihongo de onegaishimasu.
my japanese isn't very good,

and i added something after that..dunno if it'll help but use it if u need to.

so please use simple words in japanese so that i can understand, thank you.

Diude

Canada124 Posts

April 11 2008 01:35 GMT

#10

ケン、土曜日には戻れないけど月曜日にはもどるから戻ったら一緒に旅の事を相談しよう。

俺の日本語はあんまり良くない-> my japanese isnt very good

Ecael

United States6703 Posts

April 11 2008 02:16 GMT

#11

Haji missed this? Shame.

Pubbanana, can you elaborate on how close you are to the said person? It'll be a lot easier to create a sense of proficiency if the social distance between you two are known.

Without knowing anything, I'll suggest something similar to ~~kyo~~ suggested.

Ken-san, doyoubi wa sugoshi isogashikute, tabun ie ni modorenainode, getsuyobi ni sono tabi no hanashi wo shite mo kamaimasenska?

aa, sorede, watashi wa mada nihongo wo benkyoushiteirunode, muzukashiino wa mada yoku wakarimasen. narubeku kantan na hanashi wo tsukkatemo yoroshiindesho.

EDIT - The problem is that even if we give you perfectly canned lines, if your pronounciation is not good, it'll be pretty obvious after a point.

HyoSang

United States194 Posts

April 11 2008 02:31 GMT

#12

LOL i love how the majority of the people here have Japanese vocabularies derived from anime.