Hi,
1. The text has been talking about doctor-patient interaction during consultations:
お医者さんによっては、「まったく素人の話はわからな い。わたしの尋ねていることにちゃんと答えなさい」と 腹をたてる人もいなくもない。
My translation: "It depends on the doctor, but there are even some whose attitude is 'I don't understand the layman's (i.e. the patient's) way of speaking. They should answer my questions properly.'"
Is this OK? I don't have great confidence that I've understood it correctly.
Is もいなくもない some kind of double negative?
2. Two people are talking about the use of 敬語.
特に先生と話す時には、「いらっしゃいますか」とか「 お読みになりましたか」とか言わないと、失礼になるな んて言われたから、心配しちゃったよ。
My translation: "Especially, when I was speaking to my teacher and didn't say things like 「いらっしゃいますか」 and 「お読みになりましたか」 (i.e. didn't use respectful language), I was told I was being impolite, so I ended up worried."
Is this OK? I'm not sure I understand who is the subject of the verbs. Is the speaker talking about a real situation that he experienced? Or a hypothetical situation? Or a situation that people in general might experience?
3. さて、一九四○年、大学三年生になって、私は正式に中 国語の勉強を大学ですることに決めた。
From this I get "Now in 1940, as a third-year university student, I formally decided to study Chinese at university." This seems to make little sense: the third year is rather too late to decide what one is studying at university! Where am I going wrong?
1. The text has been talking about doctor-patient interaction during consultations:
お医者さんによっては、「まったく素人の話はわからな い。わたしの尋ねていることにちゃんと答えなさい」と 腹をたてる人もいなくもない。
My translation: "It depends on the doctor, but there are even some whose attitude is 'I don't understand the layman's (i.e. the patient's) way of speaking. They should answer my questions properly.'"
Is this OK? I don't have great confidence that I've understood it correctly.
Is もいなくもない some kind of double negative?
2. Two people are talking about the use of 敬語.
特に先生と話す時には、「いらっしゃいますか」とか「 お読みになりましたか」とか言わないと、失礼になるな んて言われたから、心配しちゃったよ。
My translation: "Especially, when I was speaking to my teacher and didn't say things like 「いらっしゃいますか」 and 「お読みになりましたか」 (i.e. didn't use respectful language), I was told I was being impolite, so I ended up worried."
Is this OK? I'm not sure I understand who is the subject of the verbs. Is the speaker talking about a real situation that he experienced? Or a hypothetical situation? Or a situation that people in general might experience?
3. さて、一九四○年、大学三年生になって、私は正式に中 国語の勉強を大学ですることに決めた。
From this I get "Now in 1940, as a third-year university student, I formally decided to study Chinese at university." This seems to make little sense: the third year is rather too late to decide what one is studying at university! Where am I going wrong?
It would be the speaker's real experience. He was told 特に先生と話す時には、「いらっしゃいますか」とか「 お読みになりましたか」とか言わないと、失礼になる by someone, though it might not be the same word for word.
