Self Introductions and A Few Starter Questions

[terranearth]

Hi everyone! I'm a college student learning Japanese at the freshman college level. I have about a year's experience with Japanese, and I've joined this forum primarily as a means of improving my Japanese by conversing with native speakers. I just have a couple of preliminary questions I'd like to ask:

1. How would you say "don't waste my time" or "this is a waste of time" in idiomatic Japanese?

2. How would you say something like "X is so Y that Z"? For example, "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!"

3. Also, when someone says 皆で行きましょ or the equivalent, what use of "de" is this? Is it the copula de used to link sentences? In that case is the "de" used in それで良い　to express the next best alternative (I think) the same copula usage?

Thanks!

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by terranearth

Hi everyone! I'm a college student learning Japanese at the freshman college level. I have about a year's experience with Japanese, and I've joined this forum primarily as a means of improving my Japanese by conversing with native speakers. I just have a couple of preliminary questions I'd like to ask:

1. How would you say "don't waste my time" or "this is a waste of time" in idiomatic Japanese?

2. How would you say something like "X is so Y that Z"? For example, "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!"

3. Also, when someone says 皆で行きましょ or the equivalent, what use of "de" is this? Is it the copula de used to link sentences? In that case is the "de" used in それで良い　to express the next best alternative (I think) the same copula usage?

Thanks!

Hey dude!

1. 「時間の無駄（むだ）だよ。」

2. There is no exact equilavent of "so ~~ that ~~" in Japanese but you can say for the same meaning:
「馬一頭食べられるくらいお腹がすいている。」
頭（とう） is the counter for larger animals. 一頭 is read いっとう, not いちとう.

3. First of all, it is ましょう, not ましょ, but I admit that some people do say ましょ in casual speech.

This で means "in a group of ~~". It specifies the unit that performs an action. This is a weak point for many Japanese-learners, I might add. It does not link sentences in this usage.　
みんなで
３人で
クラスで
会社で

The で in それで良い is a little different. It is almost impossible to translate the particle by itself but phrase means along the lines of "It's good like that." in the sense of "That will do." You have found or chosen something and you are satisfied with it.

[terranearth]

Hey, thank you for your help! Although I would have posted this on the larger misc. questions thread if I'd seen it. Apologies.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by masaegu

2. There is no exact equilavent of "so ~~ that ~~" in Japanese but you can say for the same meaning:
「馬一頭食べられるくらいお腹がすいている。」
頭（とう） is the counter for larger animals. 一頭 is read いっとう, not いちとう.

Would 馬一頭食べられるほどお腹がすいている also work? Admittedly I'm not very good at using ほど. I always found ways around using ほど.

[julyegudt]

thank u for this. I just think what u have will be worth in your future

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

Would 馬一頭食べられるほどお腹がすいている also work? Admittedly I'm not very good at using ほど. I always found ways around using ほど.

Yeah, it would perfectly. Using ほど makes it sound a little more formal than using くらい.