でも私には言い訳があります

heatedcanine

Sept. 4, 2024

でも私には言い訳があります

I happened to read でも私には言い訳があります.
I thought that was not the way people would say in Japanese.
They might say でも私には正当な理由があります.

In Japanese, 言い訳 (an excuse) has a negative connotation.
If you do something bad, you may want to justify yourself. Then you should say, "However, there was an unavoidable reason I had to do that."
When you say something to justify your mistake but the reasoning is too weak to persuade others, the excuse is called 言い訳.

If that 言い訳 is good enough to persuade others, then it is not 言い訳 but 正当な理由.

In other words, 言い訳 is a weak reason for an attempt to justify oneself, but not persuasive. Whereas, 正当な理由 is a good enough reason to persuade others.
Do you understand the nuance?

On the other hand, "an excuse" in English seems to be neutral. It can be both persuasive and not persuasive, right?

私は「でも私には言い訳があります」という表現を読んだことがありますが、それは日本語ではあまり自然な言い方ではないと感じました。普通は「でも私には正当な理由があります」と言うかもしれません。

日本語では、「言い訳」にはネガティブな意味合いがあります。もし何か悪いことをしてしまい、それを正当化しようとする場合、「しかし、それをせざるを得なかった正当な理由があります」と言うべきです。

自分の過ちを正当化するために何かを言っても、その理由が弱くて他人を納得させられない場合、それは「言い訳」と呼ばれます。

しかし、その「言い訳」が十分に他人を説得できるものであれば、それは「言い訳」ではなく「正当な理由」となります。

このように、「言い訳」は多くの場合、自分の行動を守ろうとするが、十分に納得させられない理由を指します。一方で、「正当な理由」は、その行動を正当化するための十分な根拠を持つ理由を指します。

違いがわかりますか。

一方英語で、an excuseというと、それは良い意味でも悪い意味でも使われていて、「説得力のある言い訳」の場合にも「苦しい言い訳」の場合にも用いられると思います。違いますか？

en 2

Correct

Corrections

thealchemist

でも私には言い訳があります

I happened to read でも私には言い訳があります.

I thought that was not the way ~~people~~native Japanese speakers would say i~~n Japanese.~~t.

They might say でも私には正当な理由があります.

In Japanese, 言い訳 (an excuse) has a negative connotation.

If you do something bad, you may want to justify yourself.

~~Then~~If that's the case, you should say, "However, there was an unavoidable reason I had to do that."

When you say something to justify your mistake, but the reasoning is too weak to persuade others, the ~~excuse~~"reason" is called 言い訳.

If that 言い訳 is good enough to persuade others, then it is not 言い訳 but 正当な理由.

In other words, 言い訳 is a weak reason for an attempt to justify oneself, but not persuasive.

Whereas, 正当な理由 is a good enough reason to persuade others.

Do you understand the nuance?

On the other hand, "an excuse" in English seems to be neutral.

It can be both persuasive and not persuasive, right?

Feedback

In English, I feel like excuse also has negative connotations. "Excuses, excuses" is a phrase people use when they are dismissing the weak reasoning of someone who is trying to avoid a punishment of sorts. Though it can also be used jocularly.

kiochan

I happened to read でも私には言い訳があります.

I thought that was not the way people would say it in Japanese.

They might say でも私には正当な理由があります.

In Japanese, 言い訳 (an excuse) has a negative connotation.

If you doid something bad, you may want to justify yourself.

Then you should say, "However, there was an unavoidable reason I had to do that."

When you say something to justify your mistake but the reasoning is too weak to persuade others, the excuse is called 言い訳.

If that 言い訳 is good enough to persuade others, then it is not 言い訳 but 正当な理由.

In other words, 言い訳 is a weak reason for an attempt to justify oneself, but not in a very persuasive way.

or "but not very persuasively"

Whereas, 正当な理由 is a good enough reason to persuade others.

Do you understand the nuance?

On the other hand, "an excuse" in English seems to be neutral.

It can be both persuasive and not persuasive, right?

Feedback

勉強になりました！ありがとうございます！

"excuse" often has a negative connotation associated with blame or fault. This is because "excuse" is often used specifically in the context of someone doing something bad (like not doing work well). It often implies a desire to avoid punishment.

"excuse" can be persuasive, but most of the time it is not persuasive.

Like in Japanese, we would say "I had a (valid) reason" for actual persuasive reasons.

It can be both persuasive and not persuasive, right?