# それではどうぞ



## redsee

Hi,

I had a question about this usage of どうぞ that has been bothering me a bit. The text:

今晩はＴＶの収録がありますが‥‥大丈夫ですか？
ええ、大丈夫よ。予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。それが仕事ですからね。
はい、それではどうぞ‥‥大丈夫ですか、手を貸しましょう。

I was under the impression that it was him approving of her going to the TV station (or something to that effect), but that feels weird with the volitional in place here. I know that どうぞ by itself can be used to usher someone inside, but that seems impossible with the context as well. Is it possibly talking about 「手を貸しましょう」 here? The general context was the person (her subordinate) finding her after the aftermath of a protest outside their company building, with her clothes sullied and the area around her littered with placards and such.


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## luca53054

As far as I read this conversation, ｢どうぞ｣ put here, even for native Japanese speaker, does not "fit" both sentence and context. It makes sense if usage here is similar as ｢どうぞこちらへ｣ which, for example, a receptionist show the way to visitors.
Can I share the title and author of the text?


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## redsee

luca53054 said:


> As far as I read this conversation, ｢どうぞ｣ put here, even for native Japanese speaker, does not "fit" both sentence and context. It makes sense if usage here is similar as ｢どうぞこちらへ｣ which, for example, a receptionist show the way to visitors.
> Can I share the title and author of the text?


Thank you for the response. The dialogue is from an adventure game called YUNO. I considered the possibility that it could be an odd slip of the pen, but the much more likely and realistic possibility is I simply don't understand the broader context enough. The other possibility I thought of was him prompting her to grab his hand, but I imagine that can't really fit with how どうぞ is often used.


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## luca53054

welcome and thank you for the source. from my personal experience, texts generated in gaming industry may not be so carefully-worded when compared to those in authentic literature or academism.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

In the case of the manuscripts of video games, I agree that the writers might not be careful about writing correct Japanese.
However, regarding this specific context, I don't think it's unnatural or weird.
When I read the lines and thought of the context and background, I would interpret it as the followings:

部下の男：「今晩はＴＶの収録がありますが、*このような危険な状況下で予定通りに収録して*大丈夫ですか？」
女：「ええ、大丈夫よ。予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。それが仕事ですからね。」
部下の男：「はい、それでは*どうぞお気をつけてＴＶ局に御越しください。or　それではどうぞよろしくお願いします。*
（そう言っている途中で、その女性が軽く眩暈を覚えてその場にしゃがみ込む、または、よろめく、といった動作があったため、「どうぞよろしくお願いします」と言う言葉を途中で中断し、）大丈夫ですか、手を貸しましょう。

I believe that something must have happened between どうぞ and 大丈夫ですか, such as she tumbled down or lost balance, so the subordinate guy stopped saying in the middle of the sentence and said, "are you okay?"

_"Okay, then *please be careful.**.*.  Oh, are you okay? I'll give you a hand."_

You may see a lot of abbreviations of words in Japanese.
Saying all the words clearly might be too direct, too clear, too easy-to-understand-as-for-kids, arrogant, or unsophisticated, besides abbreviations may sound more modest and elegant.
Therefore, I (or Japanese people) are accustomed to guess what was abbreviated here and there.  I think it is a cultural difference or the difference of languages. Japanese love the ambiguity.
In the case of the Japanese, we're always trying to interpret the sentence in order to make sense, before deciding that sentence is just weird.
I hope this might be your help.


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## redsee

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> In the case of the manuscripts of video games, I agree that the writers might not be careful about writing correct Japanese.
> However, regarding this specific context, I don't think it's unnatural or weird.
> When I read the lines and the context and background, I would interpret it as the following:
> 
> 「今晩はＴＶの収録がありますが、*このような危険な状況下で予定通りに収録して*大丈夫ですか？」
> 「ええ、大丈夫よ。予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。それが仕事ですからね。」
> 「はい、それでは*どうぞお気をつけてＴＶ局に御越しください。or　それではどうぞよろしくお願いします。*
> （その瞬間に、その女性が軽く眩暈を覚えてその場にしゃがみ込む、または、よろめく、といった動作があったため、「どうぞよろしくお願いします」と言う言葉を途中で中断し、）大丈夫ですか、手を貸しましょう。
> 
> I believe that something must have happened between どうぞ　and 大丈夫ですか, such as she tumbled down or lost balance, so the subordinate guy stopped in the middle of the sentence and said, "are you okay?"
> 
> _"Okay, then *please be careful.**.*.  Oh, are you okay? I'll give you a hand."_
> 
> You may see a lot of abbreviations of words in Japanese. It may be a cultural difference.
> Saying all the words clearly might be arrogant and unsophisticated, besides abbreviations may sound modest and elegant.


Thank you. That clears things perfectly. I guess what caused a big part of my confusion was interpreting 「行きましょう」as "Let us go to the TV station", instead of it simply expressing her willingness to go ("I shall go to the TV station"). I should also say that I don't think there was an action between どうぞ and 大丈夫ですか, since the game seems to stylistically use ellipses a lot anyways, and she already tumbled down before that. I assume it was him asking if he could help her stand up or if he could help her clean the mess around her.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

I too think that there are two possibilities:
私は予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。
or
私たちは予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。

"Let us go to the TV station" and "I shall go to the TV station" seem both possible.


If she had already tumbled down, my interpretation would change a bit as the followings:
「はい、それでは*どうぞお気をつけてＴＶ局に御越しください。or　それではどうぞよろしくお願いします。*
（それを言っている途中で、*その女性がその場にしゃがみ込んだまま、未だに立ち上がれないでいることに気が付いたため*「どうぞよろしくお願いします」と言う言葉を途中で中断し、）大丈夫ですか、手を貸しましょう。」


>so I assume it was him asking if he could help her stand up or if he could help her clean the mess around her.
Yes. I think your assumption is correct. "Helping her clean the mess around her" is also possible, although I think 手を貸す here means "helping her stand up".

Maybe both: "asking if he could help her stand up AND clean the mess around her."


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## redsee

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> I too think that there are two possibilities:
> 私は予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。
> or
> 私たちは予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。
> 
> "Let us go to the TV station" and "I shall go to the TV station" seem both possible.
> 
> 
> If she had already tumbled down, my interpretation would change a bit as the followings:
> 「はい、それでは*どうぞお気をつけてＴＶ局に御越しください。or　それではどうぞよろしくお願いします。*
> （それを言っている途中で、*その女性がその場にしゃがみ込んだまま、未だに立ち上がれないでいることに気が付いたため*「どうぞよろしくお願いします」と言う言葉を途中で中断し、）大丈夫ですか、手を貸しましょう。」
> 
> 
> >so I assume it was him asking if he could help her stand up or if he could help her clean the mess around her.
> Yes. I think your assumption is correct. "Helping her clean the mess around her" is also possible, although I think 手を貸す here means "helping her stand up".
> 
> Maybe both: "asking if he could help her stand up AND clean the mess around her."


Thank you once again. What I was trying to get at with the determining the subject of 行きましょう was, if the subject was both of them, wouldn't it feel odd to have said formalities - like telling her to be careful in heading there - if he was going with her as well? I could simply be overthinking/misunderstanding things here, however.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

Oh, maybe I now understand why you were confused. And now I'm confused instead. haha
Maybe we are not on the same boat/premice.

First of all, we have to clear something about the context:


> 今晩はＴＶの収録がありますが‥‥大丈夫ですか？
> ええ、大丈夫よ。予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。それが仕事ですからね。
> はい、それではどうぞ‥‥大丈夫ですか、手を貸しましょう。


It is completely different from the following context, you know?:


> 今晩はＴＶの収録がありますが。
> ‥‥大丈夫ですか？
> ええ、大丈夫よ。
> 予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。
> それが仕事ですからね。
> はい、それではどうぞ。
> ‥‥大丈夫ですか、手を貸しましょう。



If you write/quote plural sentences in a line, I think the speaker is one person.
I mean


> 「今晩はＴＶの収録がありますが‥‥大丈夫ですか？」
> 「ええ、大丈夫よ。予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。それが仕事ですからね。」
> 「はい、それではどうぞ‥‥大丈夫ですか、手を貸しましょう。」.


Please be careful with 「　」marks, whose counterpart in English is "   ".
And there would be no ambiguity about who was the speaker.


> 部下の男：「今晩はＴＶの収録がありますが‥‥大丈夫ですか？」
> 女：「ええ、大丈夫よ。予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。それが仕事ですからね。」
> 部下の男：「はい、それではどうぞ‥‥大丈夫ですか、手を貸しましょう。」.


Is this clear with you?
I don't think it can be something like:



> 部下の男：「今晩はＴＶの収録がありますが‥‥大丈夫ですか？」
> 女：「ええ、大丈夫よ」    部下の男：「予定通り午後7時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。」    女：「それが仕事ですからね。」
> 部下の男：「はい、それではどうぞ」     女：「大丈夫ですか、手を貸しましょう。」


　
_"You should not think the subject can be different in each sentence when these sentences are placed in the same line."_

Do you agree with this rule?
And did you quote sentences from the video game following the rule?
If you didn't follow the rule, the context may become completely different, and I have to think about it from the beginning!


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## redsee

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> Oh, maybe I now understand why you were confused. And now I'm confused instead. haha
> Maybe we are not on the same boat/premice.
> 
> First of all, we have to clear something about the context:
> 
> It is completely different from the following context, you know?:
> 
> 
> If you write/quote plural sentences in a line, I think the speaker is one person.
> I mean
> 
> Please be careful with 「　」marks, whose counterpart in English is "   ".
> And there would be no ambiguity about who was the speaker.
> 
> Is this clear with you?
> I don't think it can be something like:
> 
> 
> 
> _"You should not think the subject can be different in each sentence when these sentences are placed in the same line."_
> 
> Do you agree with this rule?
> And did you quote sentences from the video game following the rule?
> If you didn't follow the rule, the context may become completely different, and I have to think about it from the beginning!


Sorry I didn't make the lines clear, but it is indeed in the format of:


> 部下の男：「今晩はＴＶの収録がありますが‥‥大丈夫ですか？」
> 女：「ええ、大丈夫よ。予定通り午後７時にＴＶ局へ行きましょう。それが仕事ですからね。」
> 部下の男：「はい、それではどうぞ‥‥大丈夫ですか、手を貸しましょう。」.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

Okay. That's good to hear.
Then, you don't need to get confused, I believe.


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## redsee

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> Okay. That's good to hear.
> Then, you don't need to get confused, I believe.


Yes. I think things are more or less clear. Thank you. My confusion was how if _どうぞよろしくお願いします _was used in the sense of "I'm counting on you", "I'm leaving that to you", or "I would appreciate it if you did so", then this sort of implies that he isn't going as well (which contradicts 行きましょう if it's referring to both subjects) the way I see it. It's not a big deal nonetheless.


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