# I would be happy to help you learn English if you want to



## lrosa

こんにちは

この文を日本語に翻訳したいです。　私の試みは:

「あなたが英語を習いたければ、私は助けて楽しいです。」


よろしくお願いします。


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## wathavy

lrosa said:


> i would be happy to help you learn english if you want to.
> 「あなたが英語を習いたければ、私は助けて楽しいです。」



私は助けて楽しいです。->私は喜んでお手伝いします。
のほうが、自然な日本語になります。

いかがですか？


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## Morrow

lrosa said:


> あなたが英語を習いた[ければ/いなら]、私は助けて楽しいです喜んでお手伝いします(formal)。



"Be happy to _do_" here means "喜んで...する" in Japanese.

It might be better to leave "to" out or replace "want to" with "like," as shown in (1).

(1) I'd be happy to help you learn English if you [want/like].

Considering the situation, the "wanting me to help you learn English" version will work better than the "wanting to learn English" one.

Then, the Japanese counterpart will be:

(2) a. [ご希望なら/ご希望でしたら]、喜んで英語の勉強をお手伝いします.
      b. [お望みなら/お望みでしたら]、喜んで英語学習のお手伝いをします.

The problem, however, is that neither is a casual way of saying it.

And if you stick to "want to,"  this might be interesting to note.
In my view, it would sound idiomatic or more natural in Japanese culture if you chose something like "if you will," or "if you [are eager/make a determined effort] to."   The offer depends on how serious you are about your learning of English: やる気があるなら喜んで[力になるよ/付き合うよ].  Now this is casual-sounding.
(You should omit the "learn English" part, which is something understood, because you'd sound like you're fishing for something: for example, "Do you know that this is a BIG favor?")  

Do you have something you can think of that represents "having a STRONG desire for something"?

Morrow


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## lrosa

Thank you very much for your help and corrections, wathavy and Morrow!　Morrow, you have raised some very interesting questions. So what kind of context do you think 2a and 2b could be used in? A formal context? I am indeed looking for quite a casual way to say it, since I am writing it on a website profile. 

When you ask how serious I am about the learning of English, are you referring to how serious I expect the correspondent/learner to be?



Morrow said:


> Do you have something you can think of that represents "having a STRONG desire for something"?



I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand. Do you mean in English?


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## Morrow

lrosa said:


> I am indeed looking for quite a casual way to say it, since I am writing it on a website profile.



Then you should leave the _if_-clause out (or at least make the condition less salient).  Japanese people are generally less likely to offer you something based on conditions. (Remind yourself that "contract", "terms" and "compromising" are all new ideas to them.)

If it is (3a) or (3b), you may succeed in finding a more casual counterpart.

(3) a. Do you want to learn English?  Well then I'll be happy to help you.
      b. I'm here and most happy to help anyone who wants to learn English.

But you might want to give up trying to translate it into Japanese.  When something is about interpersonal relationships, the translation method often fails.
As with subtitles in movies, you may need to put the emphasis elsewhere.  You could, for example, use (4a) and (4b), both of which sound just "casual,"  to mean (3a) and (3b) in this order.

(4) a. 英語を学びたい(って)?　(それ)なら、[僕/私]に[任せて/聞いて]!
      b. 英語を学びたい人なら誰でも歓迎!

Morrow


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## lrosa

Ok, thank you for your very helpful advice!


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## rainicornsan

I'm sorry for necro-posting, but I really need advice and opening a new thread isn't allowed...
Am I getting it wrong if I translate the expression 'be ... to do something' with た form + ければ followed by the する clause?
Thank you very much


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## 810senior

@raincornsan, I'm sorry I can't catch a sentence.
Would you mind giving us some example?


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## rainicornsan

810senior said:


> @raincornsan, I'm sorry I can't catch a sentence.
> Would you mind giving us some example?


You're right, sorry
Something like "I'm happy to be your friend"


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## 810senior

I have no clue how I should say したければ in that case, because したければ means if you(I/he/they etc.) want to and it doesn't seem to fit in.
I'd translate it like あなたとお友達になれて嬉しいです。（あなたと知り合えて嬉しく思います/あなたと友達でいられて幸せです or any others）


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## karlalou

rainicornsan said:


> Am I getting it wrong if I translate the expression 'be ... to do something' with た form + ければ followed by the する clause?





rainicornsan said:


> Something like "I'm happy to be your friend"


Yeah, actually for the above example also, we don't really prefer to say "If you want to もしあなたが～したいなら".　～したければ sounds even more rude...

We usually say something like もし良かったら、お友達になりたいです (If you are ok with it, I'd like to be your friend). 

Or when somebody asked you to be friends with you, something like just 喜んで！would work.


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## rainicornsan

810senior said:


> I have no clue how I should say したければ in that case, because したければ means if you(I/he/they etc.) want to and it doesn't seem to fit in.
> I'd translate it like あなたとお友達になれて嬉しいです。（あなたと知り合えて嬉しく思います/あなたと友達でいられて幸せです or any others）





karlalou said:


> Yeah, actually for the above example also, we don't really prefer to say "If you want to もしあなたが～したいなら".　～したければ sounds even more rude...
> 
> We usually say something like もし良かったら、お友達になりたいです (If you are ok with it, I'd like to be your friend).
> 
> Or when somebody asked you to be friends with you, something like just 喜んで！would work.



You helped me a lot 
ありがとうございました!


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