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2週間前ぐらいから

Japanese translation: Since about two weeks ago

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:2週間前ぐらいから
Japanese translation:Since about two weeks ago
Entered by: tappi_k

07:05 Nov 24, 2004
English to Japanese translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
English term or phrase: 2週間前ぐらいから
Person A says;"I discovered the plesure of gardening.", Person B asks; "Since when?" Person A replys; "2週間ぐらい前から" How would you put it in English? Thanks.
tanina
Since about two weeks ago
Explanation:
;-)

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Note added at 18 mins (2004-11-24 07:24:33 GMT)
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actually, I might point out that Person B in the conversation is asking a wrong question - category mistake, it is called -. Because Person A is stating, ¥'I discovered the pleasure of gardening¥', simple past tense, the question should be ¥'When?¥' and not ¥'Since when?¥'. In this case, the phrase you want wouldn¥'t be 2週間くらい前から but simply 2週間くらい前 (about two weeks ago). If you are translating the whole dialogue you might want to take this in consideration ;-)



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Note added at 15 hrs 52 mins (2004-11-24 22:58:06 GMT)
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just to add that I¥'m finding this quite interesting - because to me, ¥'since¥' is definitely more natural than ¥'from¥', and I used to think it was (as Kurt does warn below) from the Japanese 〜から that some thought of ¥'from¥', but now I see that¥'s how Americans (well I hate to generalise but) speak then! I thought this was interesting and asked around but still, here in Britain most people seem to say ¥'since¥'.

but again, as conejo-san backs, it should have been ¥'About two weeks ago¥', and the question from the Person A should have been ¥'When (did you discover the pleasure of gardening)?¥'. o well.
Selected response from:

tappi_k
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:32
Grading comment
Thank you to all the people who took their time and asnwered my question. Since I live in Perth, Australia, I've selected this answer. Thank you.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +3"From about two weeks ago."
Kurt Hammond
5 +2Since about two weeks ago
tappi_k
4 -1since about two weeks
Eva Blanar


  

Answers


15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
2春間双ぐらいから
since about two weeks


Explanation:


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Note added at 18 mins (2004-11-24 07:23:41 GMT)
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weird: what happened to the title line?!

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Note added at 22 mins (2004-11-24 07:27:42 GMT)
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btw, I think there is a slight difference between nisshuukan mae gurai kara and ... gurai mae kara: since about ... / since about ...ago

Eva Blanar
Hungary
Local time: 10:32
Native speaker of: Hungarian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Maynard Hogg: "Since" is what Germans use.
1 hr
neutral  Kurt Hammond: Agree with Maynard. My German friends all say "since" and most (but not all) of my American friends all say "from".
1 hr
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
2週間前ぐらいから
Since about two weeks ago


Explanation:
;-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 mins (2004-11-24 07:24:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

actually, I might point out that Person B in the conversation is asking a wrong question - category mistake, it is called -. Because Person A is stating, ¥'I discovered the pleasure of gardening¥', simple past tense, the question should be ¥'When?¥' and not ¥'Since when?¥'. In this case, the phrase you want wouldn¥'t be 2週間くらい前から but simply 2週間くらい前 (about two weeks ago). If you are translating the whole dialogue you might want to take this in consideration ;-)



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 hrs 52 mins (2004-11-24 22:58:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

just to add that I¥'m finding this quite interesting - because to me, ¥'since¥' is definitely more natural than ¥'from¥', and I used to think it was (as Kurt does warn below) from the Japanese 〜から that some thought of ¥'from¥', but now I see that¥'s how Americans (well I hate to generalise but) speak then! I thought this was interesting and asked around but still, here in Britain most people seem to say ¥'since¥'.

but again, as conejo-san backs, it should have been ¥'About two weeks ago¥', and the question from the Person A should have been ¥'When (did you discover the pleasure of gardening)?¥'. o well.

tappi_k
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:32
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Thank you to all the people who took their time and asnwered my question. Since I live in Perth, Australia, I've selected this answer. Thank you.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Eva Blanar
5 mins
  -> cheers, Eva
disagree  Maynard Hogg: It may be the wrong question, but "Since when?" is such a common question. (But generally negative?)
1 hr
  -> I know it is a common way of speech (I don't think it is 'negative'), and my suggestion is answering the question asked. and to your comment to Eva below - English speakers DO use 'since' (as far as people where I'm from (the UK) are concerned!)
agree  conejo: My opinion: the natural English response would be "about 2 weeks ago." This question is a bit distorted because the "source" context is being quoted in English, not Jp. However, the question was "since when", so "since" sounds better to me than from
8 hrs
agree  KathyT: Also agree with tappitikarrassk and conejo's comments above and disagree with Maynard's comments about the negative connotation.
15 hrs
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10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
2週間前ぐらいから
"From about two weeks ago."


Explanation:
No explanation is required.

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Note added at 2 hrs 1 min (2004-11-24 09:07:34 GMT)
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From my neck of the woods (colloqiual west-coast American English) ¥"since about two weeks ago¥" sounds odd. ¥"From¥" may be gramatically questionable, but one could also say 2週間前ぐらいから　instead of 2週間ぐらい前から.

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Note added at 2 hrs 5 mins (2004-11-24 09:11:18 GMT)
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Also, is this a J-E question or an E-J question? if the person truly did say ¥"since when?¥" then the answer should be ¥"since about 2 weeks ago¥". It could be contextual. If from Japanese, immediately ¥"from...¥" pops into mind. And this is not because of usage of 〜から but that is how I and many American English speakers talk.

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Note added at 17 hrs 15 mins (2004-11-25 00:21:31 GMT)
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Agree with tappitikarrassk, this is turning into an interesting discussion. Let the asker pick the desired form. At the risk of losing Kudoz points, note that usually the British English form is more likely to be ¥'correct¥'.


Kurt Hammond
United States
Local time: 01:32
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 9

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mariko Kobayashi
48 mins
  -> See my additional comments. To my ear, "from" sounds more natural.
agree  Maynard Hogg: Germans learn to translate "seit" as "since", but 1:1 translation seldom covers all possibilities.
1 hr
  -> See my additional comments. To my ear, "from" sounds more natural.
agree  humbird: I agree. "From" is more natural in colloquial American English. By the way I never heard the expression "from my neck of the woods". Well you live and learn.
10 hrs
  -> Oops that should be "IN my neck of the woods". Too much talk about "from" :- )
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