- Forum >
- Topic: Japanese >
- "The store is over there."
"The store is over there."
Translation:お店はあちらです。
38 Comments
"Over there" --- how do i know to use achira or sochira??? I think the translation should indicate some sort of distance to be able to guess, otherwise both should be correct no?
So you say the koko, soko, etc. are more informal than kochira, sochira, etc? Would that be why my answer, which uses asoko, was marked incorrect? Also, I had thought that kochira meant "this way", sochira meant "that way", and achira meant "over that way"? Is that wrong as well?
Actually that's a really good question. This dude that commented above about こちら, そちら, and あちら is weird, becasue, as you've said:
こちら -- this way そちら -- that way
And theoretically あちら should have a meaning of something along the lines of "over that way", but that's broken english, thus it translates as "over there".
That's where an actual problem appears. That problem being あそこ which also is "over there".
And as far as I know, ここ、そこ、あそこ and どこ are not informal. They're pretty much ok to use and have meaning of "here, "there" and "over there". You won't inconvinience anyone by using them.
The informal versions of こちら, そちら, and あちら are こっち、そっち and あっち.
So... eh I dunno, "お店はあそこです" sounds correct to me
201
(also in reply to Toshibako's comment) in some formal settings (like in fancy department stores) they might tell you that something is located こちらinstead of ここ. I guess it has a softer or less abrupt feel to it, but either will be well understood. I don't know if i would say that こちら is actually more formal, but it used in some formal circumstances. Kind of an esoteric difference that doesn't apply to duolingo.
More importantly, こちら etc. should be used instead of これ to describe a person.
When translating from or to Japanese the way they help you figure out which to use is through the way they write it in English.
So "Over there" tends to translate to あちら because it is not next to you. It's a place far from you and the listener.
"There" would translate to そちら because it is closer to the listener or farther from the speaker.
I hooe that didn't confuse you more.
そちら means "there [by you]" あちら means "over there [not by you]"
No distinction in English as to if "there" or "that" means near the listener or not, but in Japanese there is. If the listener could say the thing is right here, then you would tell them it's right there (そちら). Otherwise, if you both have to say it's over there, then you say あちら.
A helpful trick for me: ko-so-a are in increasing distance. ko- is here or close to the speaker. so- is there (close to listener). a- is there (close to to neither).
do- is for questions.
You can apply this in many ways: kore, kono, kochira, koko.
- 652
向こう - there has to be something between your place and the destination. So that you need to "cross" to go there. The "something" can be concrete or abstract. あちら is just the direction or destination where both the speaker and the listener is far from.
- 海の向こう ok but 海のあちら is not natural
- 銀行は向こうにある ok 銀行はあちらにある ok - 向こう implicitly says that there is something you need to cross, maybe an intersection, or a block of buildings etc.
- 向こうでの生活 ok あちらでの生活 hmm. 向こう means overseas in this case so it is ambiguous to use あちら
- 向こうとの取引 ok あちらとの取引 ok - 向こう and あちら can both mean "that counterparty"
- 597
How am I supposed to know when to use mukou or achira when they translante to the exact same thing on this app?
I translated this as: "みせはむこうです" and it was marked correct. Looking at the typical answer made me want to ask, is my answer similarly appropriate / what are the differences between this and Duo's suggested solution?
Edit: Looks like my solution is fine given another question in this set, but I'd still like to know if "むこう" conveys a different meaning to "あちら": "びょういんはむこうです".
achira,mukou＝over there Kochira,kocchi,koko＝here Sochira,socchi,soko＝there Dochira,docchi,doko＝where
- 652
お店 is customary お. It is more natural to say お店 than 店 and it does not bear any honorific elements. (It does not translate to "your store.")
Once again another question giving me both asoko and achira as possible answers and the one i choose happens to be marked incorrect when referring to over there.
I hope this is fixed soon. Using おみせ for a literal translation of "the store" bothers the heck out of me.
I think what you've written should be fine "literally". Just a guess, but it's probably because of the mix of polite constructs, honorific お店 + です, with あっち which is more informal / colloquial.
I got this correct without the "O" but would like to know in what type of situation you would want to use it , or if there is a better translation into English that would help me understand.
