Hello everyone. Could anyone help to advise a natural phrase to give omiyage? It’s a business acquaintance but not a client relationship, just someone who knows each other.
I heard that つまらない物ですが sounds rude on such situation because you belittle the receiver, is it true? Any suggestion?
My Japanese teacher taught me to say たいしたものじゃないんですが… So, basically "this isn’t anything special, but… (here you go).
Either that or つまらないものですが. Lit. “it’s a boring thing, but…”
I can’t figure out in お土産 if it’s O - MI - YAGE, or O - MIYA - GE, and neither alternative is listed in wanikani. Does anyone know? I try to associate the alternative readings with each Kanji in my head, rather than just remembering it as a vocabulary word, but I can’t do it in this case.
The reading for this is of a type called 熟字訓, which is a reading posessed by the word as a whole that doesn’t come from the individual kanji. So yes, you’re right in that you can’t just associate the alternative readings with each kanji.
Other examples of 熟字訓 are 今日 and 七夕. It’s been hypothesised that the reading could come from 御上げ = a formal word for giving something to someone of a higher status.
Oh, wow! Didn’t realise that was a thing. That’s very helpful. I’d forgotten about 今日 and how it doesn’t work separately.
I really appreciate the response,
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