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- "This snack is not that delic…
"This snack is not that delicious."
Translation:このお菓子はあまりおいしくないです。
23 Comments
I had to actually look up 菓子 in the dictionary, because I've never heard it without the お. It's listed as a common word, so it seems you're right. I don't think it's commonly spoken, though.
Good to know, thanks! Jisho also has a page for お菓子 and it's listed as JLPT N5, whereas 菓子 is listed as JLPT N3, so that seems to agree with what you were saying. https://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%8A%E8%8F%93%E5%AD%90
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d3EUwb8Loo&t=499s
@1:43 Japaneseammo with Misa almost always avoids formal speech and will point it out. Here お菓子 is used in ordinary everyday speech.
おかし can refer to sweets in general, including baked goods. (Actually, I think "snack" is kind of an odd translation for it.) あめ is more like hard candy.
おかし can also refer to savory snacks like potato chips.
[Edit: Google Image Search of お菓子 brings up jagariko and potato chips, not sure why someone disagrees that okashi is not for savory snacks if you could please explain? I especially find when children get an "okashi" prize, it's usually umaibou, another savory snack.]
Perhaps because 和菓子 (わがし) only refers to japanese "baked" goods, such as taiyaki and daifuku mochi, people might have then inferred that お菓子 would be general confections. But nope, it really just means snacks.
QUESTION: If あまり means "not really," and おいしくない is "not delicious," how is the sentence not a double negative?
Wouldnt this be, " This snack is not really not delicious." Meaning it's not so bad tasting?
あまり is used with negative verbs/adjectives to mean "not really". It's the combination of あまり and おいしくない that makes it "not really delicious".
These sentences need some good rework with the translations. A better translation for this would be: このお菓子はそんなにおいしくないです。
Daft question - what exactly is a snack? In Britain we don't buy snacks as such. We talk about having a snack, but not buying one. A snack here is something to eat between meals. We might buy a roll, some crisps, an energy bar, etc, but will call them that. So I was wondering what the exact meaning is in Japan.
In American English, a snack can be as you've described, something to eat between meals, or it can be food itself that is suitable to eat as a snack. We would call things like crisps/chips "snacks" (I went to the store to buy snacks). The word お菓子 is closer to this second meaning. It's the kind of food you would buy to eat between meals or for dessert. To talk specifically about eating between meals, I think おやつ would be a better word to use (3時のおやつ, "the 3:00 snack" is something I hear a lot in Japanese).
Thanks. Is the 3 o'clock snack something you would eat while working, or would you take a break to eat something. In Britain we are very fond of our afternoon tea, which you would definitely sit down to have - often with visitors. It is a pot of tea, and something light, such as small sandwiches and/or cake. It was introduced in the 19th century by a duchess, I believe, and now it is a great British tradition. Unfortunately, for most of us it is during the working day, so not something to indulge in every day. Unless you are a duchess, of course!
Snack time at my workplace in Japan tends to be pulling some food out of your desk, sticking it in your mouth, and continuing to work. Afternoon tea sounds lovely!
このお菓子は余り美味しくないです。
Not accepted due to Kanji use from what I could see. Hate it when Duo does this. Or is there something wrong with it I'm not seeing?
Accepted answers aren't complete and the contributors rely on us to submit error reports to help add answers: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/38591435
I do think it's better to write あまり and おいしい in hiragana to follow official writing conventions, but of course some native speakers write them in kanji: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/37707647?comment_id=37760044
