会話の相手 / 何かない / 感じていた / 忘れられなかった / とにかく

[eeky]

Hi,


1. 個人レッスンなら、会話の相手をしてあげるだけで、け っこういいお金がもらえるはすだけど。

My part translation: "If it's a private lesson, you should be able to get pretty good money just by ... ???"

I am not sure how 会話の相手をしてあげる works. I thought 会話の相手 meant "conversation partner", and してあげる meant render some service, not explictly stated but assumed from the context to be English conversation practice. But then why would を be used...?


2. 実は、お金が少し足りなくなってきたので、アルバイト をしたいと思っているんですが、何かないでしょうか。

My translation: "Actually, I'm getting a little short of money, so I think I'd like to find a part-time job. Is there anything (I could do as a part-time job)?"

I'm trying to make sense of 何かないでしょうか as:

でしょうか = "I wonder whether..."
何かない = "there isn't something (I could do)"

which, as in English, means essentially the same as "I wonder whether there *is* something (I could do)."

Is this interpretation correct?


3. そのころ幕府にはオランダ語のできる通訳はいたが、英 語のできる通訳がいないため、大変不便に感じていた。

My translation: "At that time the Shogunate had interpreters who could speak Dutch but none who could speak English, which caused great inconvenience."

a) Is 幕府 the subject of 感じていた?

b) Is 大変不便に adverbial, modifying 感じていた?


4. 彼は、一生日本のことが忘れられなかったらしく、...

I'm hoping that 忘れられなかった is potential form ("He could not forget about Japan his whole life..."). Is that correct?


5. An American visitor has been invited to a Japanese wedding reception and isn't sure what to do:

A: 何が分からないんですか。
B: とにかく、日本で披露宴に呼ばれたことがないので、何 を着ていったらいいのかも分からないんです。

My translation:

A: What don't you understand?
B: Well, I've never been invited to a Japanese wedding reception before, so I don't even know what to wear.

a) I can't quite pin down the meaning of とにかく here. What would be a good translation in this context?

b) Is it OK to translate も as "even"? (I figure it can't mean "also" since this is the first thing he's said he doesn't understand.)

 

[Toritoribe]

1)
相手をする means "to play/deal/work with~".

2)
Yes.

3) a)
Yes.

b)
It indeed is adverbial, but the true function would be more close to "object".

不便に感じていた ＝ （通訳がいないのは）不便だと 感じていた

These are obviously different from common adverbial usages like 素直に感じる "to feel something straightforwardly". "Straightforwardly" describes the way of feeling, whereas 不便に感じる doesn't mean that the way of feeling is inconvenient.

4)
Yes.

5) a)
in the first place

b)
Yes.

 

[Rei Yahya]

Sorry to interject, but I noticed 呼ばれたことがない, 'have never been invited'. Must it always be potential form for that construction? Would 呼んだことがない suffice?

 

[eeky]

Sorry to interject, but I noticed 呼ばれたことがない, 'have never been invited'. Must it always be potential form for that construction? Would 呼んだことがない suffice?

The way I understand it, 呼ばれた is past passive ("was / have been invited"). Past potential would be 呼べた.

---------- Post added at 00:48 ---------- Previous post was at 00:44 ----------

Thanks Toritoribe.

1)
相手をする means "to play/deal/work with~".

OK, so I think I get 相手をしてあげる ("do the service of working with"), but now I can't see how 会話の grammatically joins to this. Shouldn't we have a noun after 会話の?

 

[Rei Yahya]

The way I understand it, 呼ばれた is past passive ("was / have been invited"). Past potential would be 呼べた.

Ahh! To what I know, then, as far as ichidans, 食べられる the passive is the same as 食べられる the potential, while with godans, 呼べる the potential is different from 呼ばれる the passive. I had forgotten this.

 

[Toritoribe]

OK, so I think I get 相手をしてあげる ("do the service of working with"), but now I can't see how 会話の grammatically joins to this. Shouldn't we have a noun after 会話の?

相手 is a noun. の can indicate both the partner and what kind of work it is.

子供の相手をする
play with kids

おじいちゃんの将棋の相手をする
play Japanese chess with my grandpa

 

[eeky]

相手 is a noun.

Sorry, I understand that, I wasn't very clear. I was thinking that if 相手をする is the unit of meaning then we would have 会話の[相手をしてあげる], which seems not to make sense. Should I be thinking of it as [会話の相手]をしてあげる?

 

[Toritoribe]

Right.