ことをやります / に / 英語でも... / ではあります / 皆様のお力を賜りたく

Hiya,

1. 私は自分がやりたいと思ったことをやります。

Does this mean anything like "I think I'd like to do it myself?" What is ことをやります adding?


2. This is revisiting a sentence that I asked about previously, but with a new question:

日本人がアメリカ人によく聞かれて困る質問の一つに、 "How are you?" は日本語で何と言うか、というのがある。

My translation: "One of the troublesome questions that the Japanese are often asked by Americans is how to say 'How are you?' in Japanese."

What is the role of に in this sentence? I'm trying to make it mean something like "among", but of course in English we wouldn't say "among one of the...". Nevertheless, does it have roughly that idea in Japanese, in the sense that "... の一つに ... がある" is the natural pattern?


3. 英語でも、"Thank you for the other day" とか "It was good to see you the other day" などと言えないことはないが、日本語の「先日はどうも 」のような決まり文句にはなっていない。

My translation: "In English, it is also possible to say things like 'Thank you for the other day' and 'It was good to see you the other day', but in Japanese there are no fixed expressions like 「先日はどうも」."

a) I translated 言えないことはない as "possible to say", but what nuance does the double negative give in the Japanese? (I didn't simply translate it as "not impossible to say" because to me that implies that the English expressions are uncommon, which isn't really the case.)

b) I get a general idea that にはなっていない means that the thing can't happen, doesn't exist, etc. Is that right? Is there anything more than needs to be understood about this expression?


4. 浅学非才の私ではありますが、何とぞ皆様のお力を賜り たく、ここにお願い申し上げる次第です。

Translation given: "I may not have much to offer in the way of learning or ability but I want to do whatever I can for us all and humbly ask for your favor."

a) Is ではあります = であります? More humble/polite maybe?

b) I can't quite get 皆様のお力を賜りたく, or how it means "I want to do whatever I can for us all". According to the dictionary, 賜る means "to be given / honoured with", so it looks to me as if that phrase should mean "I want to be honoured with everyone's strength/power", or something like that...

You've missed #1 completely. Remember that 思った modifies こと and it should be more clear. You're mentally breaking up the phrasing at the wrong point.

[「やりたい」と思ったこと]を[やります]

Give it another try and I bet you'll get it.

1)
In addition to Mike-san's advice, 自分でやりたい is for "I'd like to do myself".

2)
Hmm, yeah, I think the meanings are quite the same between 質問の一つに and 質問に.

3)
Isn't it "but in English there are no fixed expressions"?

日本語の「先日はどうも 」のような決まり文句にはなっていない
These expressions, "Thank you for the other day" and "It was good to see you the other day", don't become fixed expressions in English, unlike 先日はどうも in Japanese.

a)
The possibility of 言えないことはない is lower than 言える, something like "possible to say but rare/not so common".

b)
In this sentence, it means "not become".

4) a)
ではありますが emphasizes the meaning, something like "Even though I may not have much...".

b)
Yes, the whole clauses 何とぞ皆様のお力を賜りたく、ここにお願い申し上げる次第です just means "humbly ask for your favor". "I want to do whatever I can for us all" seems like a loose translation to me. At least, this part isn't mentioned in the original Japanese sentence. The clause should be 皆様のために微力を尽くす所存でございますので or like that, if it's written.

Thank you both. I'm still not very confident about #1, unless it's more like "I do the things that I want to do"?

Yes, another mess-up with #3 I'm afraid, but I get it now.

Toritoribe said:

ではありますが emphasizes the meaning, something like "Even though I may not have much...".

Click to expand...

Ignoring the extra connotations, is ではあります basically asserting the existence of 浅学非才の私, like であります, or does it have an altogether different grammatical basis?

You got it!

---------

eeky said:

Thank you both. I'm still not very confident about #1, unless it's more like "I do the things that I want to do"?

Click to expand...

Yes, that's correct.

私は自分がやりたいと思ったことをやります。
"I do what I'd like to do."

eeky said:

Ignoring the extra connotations, is ではあります basically asserting the existence of 浅学非才の私, like であります, or does it have an altogether different grammatical basis?

Click to expand...

は is indeed put to add a certain nuance, just like 悪くはない vs. 悪くない, but であります is more close to just です（浅学非才の私ですが）.

Toritoribe said:

は is indeed put to add a certain nuance, just like 悪くはない vs. 悪くない, but であります is more close to just です（浅学非才の私ですが）.

Click to expand...

If I may slightly go off at a tangent here, I feel much less sure about these grammars than I ought to. Originally I had a simple model that だ (and variants です, である, であります) were for the basic pattern AはBだ meaning "A is B", and がある, があります were for the basic pattern Aがある meaning A (inanimate) exists.

Then I hit some exceptions where です seemed to be used in the "A exists" sense, and I think I asked a question here about it, but never really got my head around it. So now, if I see something like 浅学非才の私です or 浅学非才の私であります, I'm never completely sure if it can be an assertion of existence, or if I should always be looking for something else that is 浅学非才の私, in the "A is B" sense.

If this question is too complicated or muddled to understand then please ignore it, but if there are any words of wisdom you can shed on this topic then it would be much appreciated.

Probably you are talking about this thread? I don't have any idea about your 'I hit some exceptions where です seemed to be used in the "A exists" sense' example. 浅学非才の私で（あります）すが can be considered a variation of 私は浅学非才で（あります）すが.

eeky said:

SSo now, if I see something like 浅学非才の私です or 浅学非才の私であります, I'm never completely sure if it can be an assertion of existence, or if I should always be looking for something else that is 浅学非才の私, in the "A is B" sense.

Click to expand...

It is merely an expression of condition. "I (am (just) a man of) little learning and no talent."

I used this same construction today at a company whose office I entered for the first time. I called them yesterday and had already made arrangements by phone regarding my business there. So all that was necessary from me when I got there (besides 挨拶) was 昨日電話した者です。 That explained my "condition".

You sometimes see the personal pronouns used in this sort of construction but I think it tends to largely be in situations where the words are either written or given in a sort of literary/speechy way.

泳げない私ですが、溺れている子を見て水に飛び込みま した。

compare to:

私は泳げませんが、溺れている子をみて水に飛び込みま した。

In the first, the bit before the comma has a tone of merely being there to provide a bit of explanation that is very pertinent to what comes after, yet the last bit is clearly the main part. In the second, both bits seem to be getting almost equal billing.

Toritoribe, you have an uncanny ability at finding old threads of mine! Mike, thanks, your comments are helpful. "expression of condition", especially, seems like a useful phrase to remember for these です usages that don't have an explicitly stated "A is B" sense.

Toritoribe said:

浅学非才の私で（あります）すが can be considered a variation of 私は浅学非才で（あります）すが.

Click to expand...

Right, I see. Now, if I may ask one more question, going back to the original, does 浅学非才の私ではありますが "feel like" 浅学非才の私でありますが but with は inserted to provide the emphasis you described, or does it feel like は changes the whole grammatical structure?

No. The structure is the same, just like 彼に借りがある vs. 彼には借りがある. は has a nuance of "contrastive".