Hard, Medium, Easy, Very easy

Japanese translation: 難しい、普通、簡単、非常に簡単

01:29 Feb 3, 2011
English to Japanese translations [Non-PRO]
Social Sciences - Surveying
English term or phrase: Hard, Medium, Easy, Very easy
I am writing a software where people have to evaluate their previous answer, they can choose from 4 buttons: Hard, OK, Easy, Very easy.

How would it translate to Japanese? 難しい、OK、簡単、?

(For the curious: It is for the free/open source "AnkiDroid" memorization software. It is a smartphone application, so I am looking for rather short labels)
poly7
Local time: 00:54
Japanese translation:難しい、普通、簡単、非常に簡単
Explanation:
とても簡単 でもいいですね
Selected response from:

Miyuki Ueno
Japan
Local time: 00:54
Grading comment
Thank you!
I ended up using this (with とても簡単, which is longer than I would like, but no choice I guess).
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1難しい/やや難しい/やや簡単/簡単
JapanLegal
5難しい、普通、簡単、非常に簡単
Miyuki Ueno
4難しい、まま、優しい、とても優しい
Soonthon LUPKITARO(Ph.D.)
3難しい、普通、易しい、大変易しい
maisn
1難、普通、簡単、超簡単
Erina Oistad (X)


  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5
hard, medium, easy, very easy
難、普通、簡単、超簡単


Explanation:
I am just guessing. If it is a smartphone app, I think you can use something like I suggested. Good luck!

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Note added at 19 mins (2011-02-03 01:48:54 GMT)
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Yes, it is very casual, but it is for an app! I think it is ok.

Erina Oistad (X)
Local time: 10:54
Native speaker of: Japanese
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you! I thought about 超簡単, but I had the impression that it is too casual, am I mistaken?

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48 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
hard, medium, easy, very easy
難しい、普通、易しい、大変易しい


Explanation:
Please look at Q. 8. on the Web reference.


    Reference: http://www.center.fks.ed.jp/13ken1/h16/aoi-h/research_result...
maisn
Canada
Local time: 11:54
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Japanese
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5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
hard, medium, easy, very easy
難しい/やや難しい/やや簡単/簡単


Explanation:
I'm not sure if that's short enough for your purposes, but hopefully so!

http://w3fj.te.kyusan-u.ac.jp/miwiki/te/index.php?藤田研究室/Memb...


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Note added at 10 mins (2011-02-03 01:40:30 GMT)
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I also like Erina-san's suggestion for its brevity. You can also use some combination of the two. For example: 難・やや難・普通・簡単

http://www.shouhiseikatsu.com/消費生活力検定/出題内容一般コース/

It doesn't track the English exactly (nor does my suggestion), but it's a good way to communicate the idea of relative difficulty.

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Note added at 23 mins (2011-02-03 01:52:39 GMT)
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I think you can use とても if you're worried about tracking the English exactly (とても簡単), but I feel like most Japanese survey choices have symmetry that we don't really care about in English. So if you used とても簡単 you'd very likely also use とても難しい or something like that.

とても難しい/やや難しい/やや簡単/とても簡単
http://www.apec.aichi-c.ed.jp/shoko/98syuu/gaikokugo/05quest...

My instinct would be to abandon the English labels and go for a sensible scheme in Japanese that conveys the proper relative difficulty levels, I'd be interested in other people's thoughts on this question as well.

Just out of curiosity, is there any particular reason why "very easy" is important in itself, rather than just some word that means the easiest of all possible choices?

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Note added at 50 mins (2011-02-03 02:20:11 GMT)
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I think 最簡単 would be a bit unnatural. If you want to see an example of what someone else did with a five-option scheme, see 英会話基本1200語 on this page: http://www.app-list.net/iphone-free-education/ . They went with 簡単/普通/やや難/難/超難, so that's another option to play around with.

JapanLegal
Japan
Local time: 00:54
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in JapaneseJapanese
Notes to answerer
Asker: Is 簡単 as strong as "very easy"? It is meant to describe a really easy question, such as "How much is 10+3".

Asker: "go for a sensible scheme in Japanese that conveys..." → I totally agree :-) I am not attached to "very", it could also be something like 最簡単 if that exists.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  MariyaN (X)
1 hr
  -> Thank you!
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
hard, medium, easy, very easy
難しい、まま、優しい、とても優しい


Explanation:
I just align into "okurigana" version. See: http://www.google.co.th/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBcQFj...

Soonthon LUPKITARO(Ph.D.)
Thailand
Local time: 22:54
Works in field
Native speaker of: Thai
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
hard, medium, easy, very easy
難しい、普通、簡単、非常に簡単


Explanation:
とても簡単 でもいいですね

Miyuki Ueno
Japan
Local time: 00:54
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
Grading comment
Thank you!
I ended up using this (with とても簡単, which is longer than I would like, but no choice I guess).
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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