Port City Jun 26, 2015:

Literal translation doesn't work here >I don't understand, why in Japanese anyone would think, that 「誰、私？」is an unintelligent or slow response.

If you wonder why it makes the speaker sound a bit slow is because「誰、私？」doesn't imply denial as much as it does in English. Thus, it's a bit odd to respond to an accusation with「誰、私？」in its literal sense; a person of normal intelligence would deny the accusation directly or indirectly instead of asking the obvious (i.e., the question being addressed to him).

Apparently, literal translation doesn't work here. Lastly, let me mention that no one would sound slow if he uses 「誰、私？」 to convey its "literal" meaning.

bochkor (asker) Jun 26, 2015:

Attn: Port City "Who, me?" in English can definitely imply denial without anyone being slow or unintelligent, but denial in reply to an accusation is just one scenario, as I corrected myself before. It doesn't have to be a denial, but in English the most likely situation is a denial of an accusation. I don't understand, why in Japanese anyone would think, that 「誰、私？」is an unintelligent or slow response.

Okay, let's say, someone said this:
- There was a cake here 2 minutes ago. Did you eat it?
To which you would reply:
- Who, me?

Of course, the replier heard the asker say "you", so of course he knows, that the asker was talking about him. But exactly because it implies denial, he replies back with a question: Who, me?
This doesn't mean, that the replier really wants to find out, who was meant. Finding that out is unnecessary, because he already knows. That's, why "Who, me?" should rather be understood, as if saying "You don't possibly think, it was me, do you?" or "You can't possibly think, it was me!"

So as I said, it doesn't have to be a denial, but in most situations it would be. "Who, me?" is a protest. It's a declaration, that I'm not taking responsibility, that I didn't do it.

Port City Jun 25, 2015:

From what you wrote in the translation question and your first discussion post, we all thought "Who, Me?" needs to be translated to convey denial.「 誰、私？」hardly implies denial. That's why it won't be used by someone who is intelligent enough to understand the situation where the asked is being accused. As I wrote in the discussion, 「誰、私？」 simply is a question to ask that the speaker is the person in question.

Translation is content specific; if "Who, me?" is used to implies denial, 「誰、私？」sounds like the speaker is a bit slow. If the same term is used to ask "Are you talking to/about me?" without implying denial, I would translate it as 「えっ、私？」.

bochkor (asker) Jun 25, 2015:

Attn: Yuki Well, being accused or suspected of having done something, that was actually only an example, but not the only case, in which this expression occurs. So the person asked is not necessarily a suspect and what he's done, is not necessarily something bad.

So the asker just wants to know, for example, whether the asked was the one, who moved the coffee pot or somebody else. Perhaps there are even several people in the room, so the asked is not sure, whether the question is directed at him or the person behind/next to him, so he simply asks back: Who, me?

Now why did you say, that people of normal intelligence won't say 誰、私? Why, is it rude or something? It's not rude in English. It's just a question about who did you mean, did you mean me or somebody else? But it's a short form of saying that, because so many words are really not needed, so he just says: 誰、私? Is that bad in Japanese? If so, why is it bad? It's not an unintelligent question. It's actually a very intelligent question!

Yuki Okada Jun 25, 2015:

私にきいたんですか？ I didn't realize you asked me till now.
誰、私？may be spoken in some cases. What you need to do is to think what a Japanese speaker might say in the same situation as the original English speaker. Forget about word-for-word translation, especially for such informal expressions.

Port City Jun 25, 2015:

Not by people of normal intelligence People of normal intelligence probably won't say 誰、私? It sounds like the person only understands he is being "talked about" but not as a "suspect" and is asking for confirmation that the person people are talking about is him, not others.

bochkor (asker) Jun 24, 2015:

Attn: Yuki Well, I see many interesting suggestions, but your え、オレ？ and 何、私？seems to be the closest to what I need. However, both え and 何 fail to express 誰. So my question is:

Is it really so unheard of to simply say 誰、私？
Whether you pronounce it "dare" or "donata", but is this never used just like this: 誰、私？

It's important, because the reason to ask, who 誰, is to establish right from the beginning, that we're talking about people, not things like 何. So it's asking the replier to make a choice between people, not between things, ideas or adjectives.

And the reason for the 私？ part is, that the asker is looking for a confirmation of hopefully not him being at fault. So the asker is hoping, that the reply will be, that someone else, but him did something wrong. Not him. Not the asker, who is asking "Who, me?"

So is 誰、私？ never used? Never ever???