Tuesday, 31 May 2016

words - How to say "at this rate"?


One of my friends has been making a real effort talking to me in Japanese every day. I wanted to say something like "If we continue at this rate I will be able to speak by Christmas". The dictionary thinks that at this rate is この分。


So my question is, is it natural correct Japanese if I say



この分に続いたら、クリスマスまで話せるようになるわよ



?


I suspect that not. It feels like there is a word missing like この分のスピードに or something like that.



Answer



There are many ways to say "at this rate" in Japanese but the more common ones are:




「この調子{ちょうし}だと/なら」、「このペースだと/なら」、「このままいけば」, etc.



Any one of these would fit your sentence with no problem.


Regarding 「この分{ぶん}」, you could use it by adding 「なら」 or 「だと」 to it, but not 「に」 as you formed it. You cannot say 「この分に続いたら」, though it was a nice try. You can say 「この分だと」.


Note: It is 「クリスマスまで」 and not 「クリスマスまで」.


~~まで = by ~~


~~まで = until ~~


Use 「まで」 and you will be saying that you are only allowed to speak Japanese until Christmas. You can speak Japanese after Christmas, too, you know.


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