かしたら / 何かして / 親不孝 / 実現

Hi,


1. 何年かしたら彼が帰国することも考えて・・・

I thought this meant "Bearing in mind also the fact that he will be returning to his home country in a few years, ...".

Is that right? Is かしたら = か + したら (as opposed to something to do with a verb かす)? If so, in what sense is したら used?


2. 余裕ができたら、両親にも兄弟にも何かしてあげたいとも 考えています。

My translation: "If there is any (money) left over, I think I would also like to give something to my parents and brothers and sisters."

Is 何かして = 何か + して, meaning, literally, "do something and (give...)"? Is 何かして a set expression?


3. A counsellor is giving advice to someone planning to marry:

「親不孝」とは、子供がなかなか自立できず、自分の幸 福を見つけられない状態を言うのではないでしょうか。

I am struggling with this sentence. Up to を言うの..., my guess is that it means "親不孝 is a circumstance in which children have difficulty gaining independence and cannot find their own happiness."

a) Is 見つけられない negative potential form?

b) By ～を言うのではないでしょうか, is the speaker suggesting that the preceding statement is true or isn't true? I have a note that ではない with か can mean either, but in this case I don't have much intuition about which makes more sense.


4. A counsellor is giving advice to someone planning to marry:

将来を考えて、そのために実現に向けて頑張っているこ と。何かがあっても自分で責任をとること。

I translated this as "You should think of the future and direct your efforts towards its realisation".

Is this reasonable? Is 実現 understood to mean a favourable future outcome?

1)
It's the same as 経ったら.

2)
It's not a set phrase, but 何かしてあげる is usually used as "to do something good for them". (This あげる is an auxiliary verb "to give a favor".) It would mean "to give a present" in the example sentence.

3) a)
Yes.

b)
～（の）ではないでしょうか/～（ん）じゃないでしょうか is almost the same as ～と思う.

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4)
Yes. 実現 means その将来の実現.

Thanks.

In (1), is the verb したら (usual したら from する) (i.e. as opposed to かしたら)?

3. Yeah, sorry, I know I ask these kinds of questions a lot! I have a particular blank spot with these patterns. So, is the speaker saying that he thinks it is said, or some people say, or one could say, that

"親不孝 is a circumstance in which children have difficulty gaining independence and cannot find their own happiness."

?

Do you have any idea why that statement would be true? I would have thought almost the exact opposite (i.e. too much 孝, not too little, would be more likely to prevent children gaining independence).

What comes before that line? I presume it's something about the person worrying about what happens to their parents after they marry (say, they support the parents at home, or marrying might mean moving away from their family), e.g. that it might be 親不孝 to prioritise their own future over the immediate needs of their family. The counsellor is saying that conversely, a child who doesn't become independent is more trouble/worry for the parents.

1)
Yes.

3)
言う doesn't mean "to say" here. ～とは･･･（のこと）を言う is a structure for definition/explanation, similar to ～とは･･･（のこと）だ.

nekojita said:

What comes before that line?

Click to expand...

That is the first line of the counsellor's response. It has previously been explained that the subject is a female student who wants to get married straight after graduating from university. Her parents oppose this. They say 「大学を出てすぐ結婚するのは親不孝」. After the counsellor has said 「親不孝」とは、子供がなかなか自立できず、自分の幸 福を見つけられない状態を言うのではないでしょうか, she goes on to suggest that the student's parents might want her to broaden her horizons and use the things she has learned at university, instead of getting married so soon.

I still don't really understand the logic of this... how 親不孝 can be 大学を出てすぐ結婚するの and also 子供がなかなか自立できず、自分の幸 福を見つけられない状態.

If the student's parents want her to broaden her horizons and use the things she has learned at university as the counsellor guessed, they might think that it's 親不孝 to get married straight after graduating from university without doing that. I think that the parents might just think she is too young to get married.

Why do you think 子供がなかなか自立できず、自分の幸福を見つけられない状態 is not 親不孝? It's obviously 親不孝 to me.

You probably – well, certainly – have a clearer idea of what 親不孝 means in the context of Japanese society than I do. I am going by the dictionary definition, which is "lack of filial piety" – in other words, children not honouring/respecting/obeying their parents.

I understand 子供がなかなか自立できず、自分の幸福を見つけられない状態 to mean "situation in which children have difficulty gaining independence and cannot find their own happiness", and I am unable to see any obvious connection between the two things. In Japan, is difficulty gaining independence and being unable to find happiness somehow indicative of a lack of "filial piety"?

The other possiblity is that I am somehow fundamentally misunderstanding the overall purpose of the sentence.

I see. Yeah, that's probably(certainly?) from the interpritation of 親不孝. 親不孝 has wider meaning, like "making their parents feel unhappy/sad". 子供がなかなか自立できず、自分の幸福を見つけられない状態 is no doubt unhappy for parents, isn't it? ;-)

Yes, thanks Toritoribe, that would explain it. I think "lack of filial piety" is too narrow a definition in this instance.