Even if, as long as

Damicci · 1 Jun 2007

So I was trying to figure out how to say to someone:
Even if you study for 15 minutes, as long as you study you'll get better.

checked the dictionary adn came up with.

１５分に勉強しても、勉強する限り（かぎり）、上手になります。
誰かはもっといいすすめがありませんか？

Elizabeth · 1 Jun 2007

Damicci said:
So I was trying to figure out how to say to someone:
Even if you study for 15 minutes, as long as you study you'll get better.

checked the dictionary adn came up with.

１５分に勉強しても、勉強する限り（かぎり）、上手になります。
誰かはもっといいすすめがありませんか？

I think it would be better to say "(even) if you study only fifteen minutes...."

Damicci · 1 Jun 2007

Well you get my point, even if X only/merely/for y

but what about the japanese grammar for this kind of statement, basically stating "even if the minimum is done Z results are possible."

Vagrant · 1 Jun 2007

How about something like「１５分だけでも、勉強すると上手になる。」?

You can probably replace すると with an alternate if/when construction, though that was the one that first came to mind for me.

Damicci · 1 Jun 2007

But think of the difference between these 2 statements:

Even if it is a day, I would be happy.
Even if it was for only one day, I would be happy.

Latter sounds more dramatic, more intense. That's the feeling I am going for with the sentence.

Elizabeth · 1 Jun 2007

Damicci said:
So i was trying to figure out how to say to someone:
Even if you study for 15 minutes, as long as you study you'll get better.

checked the dictionary adn came up with.

１５分に勉強しても、勉強する限り（かぎり）、上手になります。
誰かはもっといいすすめがありませんか？

This is the best I could manage...not feeling well so forgive whatever is off. It's the basic pattern that's there.

１５分しかないけど（なくても）、（すこしでも？）勉強さえすれば、上達をするでしょう。(Improve may work more naturally here than become good, hard won experience on that...).

Even if it's only 5 minutes, insofar as you study at all you will probably improve。

勉強さえすれば＝the only thing you need is to study/if you only study/if you just study/as long as you study...you will probably improve)

１５分しかなくても、勉強する限り（かぎり）、上達をするでしょう。

Kagiri is fine also as far as I know, 私が知っている限り。。。

JimmySeal · 1 Jun 2007

I`d go for a synthesis of Vagrant`s and Elizabeth`s:

１５分だけでも、勉強さえすれば、（上達する／上手くなる）のよ。

Elizabeth · 1 Jun 2007

JimmySeal said:
I`d go for a synthesis of Vagrant`s and Elizabeth`s:

１５分だけでも、勉強さえすれば、（上達する／上手くなる）のよ。

Yeah, I thought about だけ but the sense is that would be comfortably sufficient. I was considering it more as a minimum target.

Damicci · 1 Jun 2007

Elizabeth said:
Yeah, I thought about だけ but the sense is that would be comfortably sufficient. I was considering it more as a minimum target.

That's what I was thinking too. Just saying 15 minutes makes it seem like 15 minutes is fine and nothing else. I wanted to aim for "15 minutes could be the minimum to get results" amongst other time frames.

Elizabeth · 2 Jun 2007

Damicci said:
That's what I was thinking too. Just saying 15 minutes makes it seem like 15 minutes is fine and nothing else. I wanted to aim for "15 minutes could be the minimum to get results" amongst other time frames.

そうなんですね。勉強するからには、いい仕事をしなさい。ってことですよね。

If you study at all, do a good job. (If you kill yourself studying, at least you should have learned something first).

ところで、「さえ」のほうがもっと意味を強調しているようにも思います。
「限り」のほうが、少し硬い表現だという印象だけど。。。

どういう感じがするのかよく分からない。。。

Even if, as long as

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