# I don't speak much Japanese



## doodoo11

Can anyone help me with the phrase: " I don't speak much Japanese" in Japanese? 

Thanks in advance.


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## Jana337

doodoo11 said:
			
		

> Can anyone help me with the phrase: " I don't speak much Japanese" in Japanese?
> 
> Thanks in advance.


Before natives reply, here's a similar thread - maybe you could give it a try now? 

Jana


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## doodoo11

Thanks, I looked at that already 

But I'm not wanting to say I don't speak any Japanese, I want to say, I don't speak much Japanese.

Thanks anyway!


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## Flaminius

私はあまり日本語がしゃべれません。
Watashi-wa amari nihongo-ga shabere masen.
I-Topic soMuch Japanese-Acc ableToSpeak NotPolite.


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## doodoo11

Thanks a lot!!


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## Flaminius

Hmm, I have been taking liberty of using a very unusual notation to give out the gross of Japanese sentences.  Am I making myself successfully understood?


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## linguist786

Flaminius said:
			
		

> 私はあまり日本語がしゃべれません。
> Watashi-wa amari nihongo-ga shabere masen.
> I-Topic soMuch Japanese-Acc ableToSpeak NotPolite.


can you tell me how that would be pronounced please?


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## Xaphirezst

linguist786 said:
			
		

> can you tell me how that would be pronounced please?


 
The sentence under all those kanji is the way to pronounce it.


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## kamome

済みません、「私は」　日本語が少しだけ出来ます。
 
_「sumimasen, (watashi wa) nihongo ga sukoshi dake dekimasu」_
_"sorry, ( I ) can manage only a little with japanese"_

かもめ


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## kamome

_please, Flam, would you mind helping me __to understand the difference between_ 「話す」　_and _「しゃべる」 ?

どうも有り難う。

かもめ


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## Flaminius

From semantic point of view, しゃべる seems to refer to an act of speaking that is less consistent and intentional than はなす.

A verbal modifier -chirasu means, "doing something away."  It can combine with しゃべる to mean "chattering away" but はなしちらす sounds odd.  The two verbs can derive nouns with o- prefix (signifying respect or endearment).  The former yields おしゃべり, meaning chatter or a talkative person, whereas the latter, おはなし which only means a story.  Such usage as above may contribute to the fact that しゃべる is regarded as a lower register than はなす.

In terms of syntactic difference, I am under impression that しゃべる is not very good at taking a direct object noun governed by -o.  Here are some contrasts:
To tell the truth
OK 真実をはなす
* 真実をしゃべる

To tell the reason
OK わけをはなす
?* わけをしゃべる

To speak Latvian
OK ラトヴィア語をはなす
* ラトヴィア語をしゃべる

In my post above, I used しゃべる in context of speaking Japanese.  The example is grammatically okay since the verb is suffixed with -reru suffix that denotes potential sense.  Come to think of it, however, 日本語がしゃべれる is less acceptable than 日本語が話せる, not only because of the register issue but also due to some syntactic constraints.

Before making any more fatal faux pas, I entrust our fellow Japanese posters with the task of refuting or augmenting my points.  qui tacet consentire videtur.

Flaminius


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## kamome

・・・いつも貴重な と配慮された、_flam_ 様：　お世話に成りました、

かもめ。


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## Flaminius

disco docens.


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## kamome

そうです、御友様・・・教えて習います、賢明なことね・・・！

かもめ



			
				Flaminius said:
			
		

> disco docens.


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