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This topic contains 8 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by  Sheepy 12 years, 5 months ago.

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  • November 24, 2011 at 5:54 am #21268

    Sheepy
    Moderator

    Hey guys, a fellow Japanese learning friend of mine is in Japan at the moment and he showed me this photo. I thought It’d make good practice as its not too difficult and it’s interesting!

    http://i.imgur.com/lmOEu.jpg

    Can you read it? If you can, don’t say the answer yet, but tell me what you think of it, or if you have seen this type of sign before. I’ll be able to break down any part of the sentence later for people who have any problems.

    November 24, 2011 at 6:18 am #21271

    missingno15
    Member

    lol. Why dont we have signs like that

    And I seriously thought you made a thread about sign language for a second

    November 24, 2011 at 7:24 am #21272

    missingno15
    Member

    どちらにしようかな天の神様の言うとおり

    • This reply was modified 12 years, 5 months ago by  Sheepy.
    • This reply was modified 12 years, 5 months ago by  missingno15.
    November 24, 2011 at 7:32 am #21275

    マーク・ウェーバー
    Member

    Nope, never seen anything like this before, though I wonder if it would actually be of use to me if these signs were in Denmark。
    Fun little practice.
    Thanks for the help though :D

    November 24, 2011 at 9:52 am #21279

    yani
    Member

    Hm, I only understand the obvious to understand part.. :/

    November 24, 2011 at 12:59 pm #21283

    MisterM2402 [Michael]
    Member

    I can tell what it says, but I don’t understand every part of it :)

    November 24, 2011 at 2:05 pm #21288

    Anonymous

    As if anyone would actually ring.

    November 24, 2011 at 3:32 pm #21290

    yani
    Member

    Oh I think I get it now..

    November 25, 2011 at 7:27 am #21297

    Sheepy
    Moderator

    Ok, haven’t gotten any more posts so here’s the answer. I’ve made it long just to be thorough, however you don’t need to read it all, just flick through and use what you need.

    ★日本語★
    トイレットペーパーがなくなりましたら
    お手数ですが０４２２２３８２６０まで
    お電話くださいませ

    ★英語★
    If the toilet paper runs out, its troublesome but please call 0422238260.

    ★単語★
    トイレットペーパー ・ Toilet Paper
    お手数 (おてすう）・ Trouble/Labor
    電話 （でんわ）・ Telephone

    ★文章★

    トイレットペーパーがなくなりましたら

    なくなる is the negative grammar point which means “to change from one state to another”. So something was there and now it is not. In this case the toilet paper. なりましたら, たら is conditional so “if” essentially. NOTE: 亡くなる (なくなる) means “to pass away”, however, this is a different なくなる.

    お手数ですが

    お手数’s meaning seems a little hard to translate accurately, but “troublesome” or “a pain” seems close. ですが means “it is , BUT” the が adds that but.

    ０４２２２３８２６０まで

    まで sometimes marks phone numbers in Japanese. In this case the usage is identical to the particle に to make the destination/location and に is often used in its place.

    お電話くださいませ

    電話, telephone. くださる is the honorific （尊敬語） version of ください and くださいませ is the imperative form (命令形）. So a quite polite way of giving an order :). You may recognise pattern in いらっしゃいませ！which is an honorific of 来る, its regular form being いらっしゃる.

    If anyone would like some more information of those honorifics check here. http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/3829536.html (Japanese only)

    • This reply was modified 12 years, 5 months ago by  Sheepy.
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