"長くないですか？"
Translation:Isn't it long?
26 Comments
Sharad is right. In English Isn't it long means it IS long, which is the opposite of what they mean.
14
I'm not 100% sure of it (I'll have to ask some native friends to confirm), but I'd say I've seen Japanese people using negative questions just in the same way than in English, so here the translation "Isn't it wrong?" should be perfectly correct
I think so, or maybe "it isn't long?"
"Isn't it long?" has the same meaning as "it's long, isn't it?" which I think would translate to ね at the end instead of か.
Can't the answer to this also be "Aren't they long?", for example, if your friend is trying some pants on?
"Arent they long" could be translated as 長いですね
I think 長くないですね is more natural. It would mean "these arent long, don't you agree?"
No. The か implies a question and makes this a roundabout way of saying something IS long.
So the thing to remember about Japanese is that it is usually very indirect. That's why the literal translation doesn't work here. They have the right translation for this.
Some of these phrases use incorrect English. This one should be: It isn't long, is it?
If you're doing a literal translation, yes, but translating the meaning behind it instead of the literal words is important when learning a language. Otherwise you talk like Google translate. In this case I'd support this translation. Though they do do some weird things some times.
With my very limited understanding of Japanese, i took this to mean, "Is it not long?" Which may not be real common in english, but makes sense.
It isn't long? seems more accurate an English translation. 'Isn't it long?' would be better expressed in English as 'It's long, isn't it?' or 'isn't it a bit long?' which would be 'nagai desu ne'.
What is this supposed to be saying. Is this meant as another way of saying that the thing in question is long, or is the person honestly asking about its length?
- 150
If you answered yes you’d be saying it was long. It could still be an honest question though if the questioner was uncertain.
