# would rather



## adexx

How'd you say "would rather" in Japanese?

E.g. "It's not a secret, but if it's OK I'd rather not talk about it".

I'd say: "秘密なわけじゃないけど、よろしかったら話したくない", but I'm not sure about 話したくない. How would you say "would rather do sth" in this situation?


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## bmaria81

adexx said:


> How'd you say "would rather" in Japanese?
> ＝「・・・するほうが良い、むしろ・・・したほうが良いと思う」などです。
> 
> ＞E.g. "It's not a secret, but if it's OK I'd rather not talk about it".
> 「それは秘密ではないけれど、もしそれがOKならそのことについては言わないでおくよ/言わないでおいたほうが良さそうだな。」


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## Strutter

adexx said:


> How'd you say "would rather" in Japanese?
> 
> E.g. "It's not a secret, but if it's OK I'd rather not talk about it".
> 
> I'd say: "秘密なわけじゃないけど、よろしかったら話したくない", but I'm not sure about 話したくない. How would you say "would rather do sth" in this situation?



That really depends on the sentence which "would rather do/not do" is used in. The Japanese English-teachers teach us that "むしろdoしたい/doしたくない" is a general translation for it, but I personally think "できればdoしたい/doしたくない。" is better.

By the way, translations I came up with for your example are,

in the polite way, 隠してるわけではないのですが、あまり言いたくはないんですよね。
in the normal way, 隠してるわけじゃないけど、あんま言いたくない。
in the literal way, 秘密ではないけれど、もし大丈夫ならむしろ言いたくない。


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## adexx

Thank you, I guess 言いたくない will do.

What about the first part? Is 秘密というわけじゃない OK?


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## almostfreebird

adexx said:


> What about the first part? Is 秘密というわけじゃない OK?



”秘密というわけじゃないけれど、出来れば話したくない。(conversational expression)” is perfectly good.


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## Flaminius

There is an omnipotent set phrase: ちょっと。
For a lot of cases, it means doing something that is obvious from the context, here, talking about theirs privacy, would inconvenience the speaker.  One may want to avoid even mentioning what exactly is inconvenient out of fear of being blunt.
- お仕事は何ですか。
- 秘密というわけではないんですが、ちょっとね。


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## Strutter

adexx said:


> What about the first part? Is 秘密というわけじゃない OK?



Yes, it is. I am just a person who is more likely to choice the word 隠してるわけじゃないけど for situations like that.


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## rukiak

adexx said:


> How'd you say "would rather" in Japanese?
> 
> E.g. "It's not a secret, but if it's OK I'd rather not talk about it".
> 
> I'd say: "秘密なわけじゃないけど、よろしかったら話したくない", but I'm not sure about 話したくない. How would you say "would rather do sth" in this situation?



Generally, 出来れば, or あまり for a negative sentence, seems bo be a good translation, but practically, it depends.

If someone ask you a question which seems necessary but is difficult or reluctant for you to do, such as a doctor asking you about a necessary but quite personal question, you would say "出来れば（or あまり）話したくないです", and it is natural.
On the other hand, if someone ask you a question which seems "not" important you think, maybe including impolite ones, you could say "秘密ではないけど出来れば（or あまり）話したくない", but that is not the most natural way. The most natural way of response in such case is either you take the inisiative or evade the question.

If you post more context, you could get more appropriate answer, I think.


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## adexx

I'm talking about a response when someone asks you about your salary/income.


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## almostfreebird

adexx said:


> I'm talking about a response when someone asks you about your salary/income.



Then, if I were you, I would respond like "About 600 million yen。(6億円くらいです。)".

It is one of the ways to evade the question like rukiak stated in #8.


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