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could you help me with this? I'm trying to say "If we call each other, will we be able to understand each other at all?"

so far I have come with this [僕らはお互いを電話すれば、お互いをわかりますかな?] What you guys think?

I'm not really sure if that's the proper way to say it, and also not sure about how to say "at all".

ありがとうございます!

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  • I think 少しは or 少しでも is a good match for the "at all" here. E.g. 「電話をすれば、僕ら少しは分かり合えるかな。」 「電話をすれば、僕らは少しでもお互いを分かり合えるかな?」
    – goldbrick
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 10:02
  • 少しでも indeed sounds really close to 'at all' , thanks! Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 17:33

2 Answers 2

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僕らはお互いを電話すれば、お互いをわかりますかな?

  • 僕らは is not necessary because it's safely inferred from the context.
  • Unlike call, 電話する is not transitive. The particle you need here is に. Or you can just use お互い without any particle because it also works as an adverb.
  • ~ますかな is a very pompous way of asking a question. I hear this only in fiction, typically from noble people and stereotyped elderly gentlemen.
  • Neutrally saying ~ますか is not a good way to ask a question like this anyway, because you are expecting a positive response. (i.e., You want to say "we do ... don't we?" or "Don't we ...", not simply "Do we ...")
  • 分かる is rarely used transitively. Use ~が分かる isntead.
  • Try using ~あう here. If you can use this the second お互い is redundant.
  • "At all" in a positive sentence can be translated as とにかく, ともかく, 何にせよ, etc.

Fixed version:

  • 僕らはお互いに電話すれば、お互いが分かるのではないでしょうか。 (still a bit clumsy)
  • お互いに電話すれば、とにかく分かり合えるのではないでしょうか。
  • 何にせよ、お互い電話すれば、わかり合えるのでは?
  • 電話で話しあえば、ともかくわかりあえるんじゃない? (casual)
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  • I don't know why, but i have a feeling that とにかく will make it sound rude, I don't really wanna sound rude, is it the case? Could you explain the [わかり合える], I didn't understand what you meant there. One last thing [ではない] is the "isn't it" on the sentence, right? Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 3:50
  • I understand the meaning of 合う but I don't get how the usage of it works Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 4:00
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    とにかく is not necessarily rude, but it may sound like you're persuading the other person. You can just omit it. 分かり合える is the potential form of 分かり合う, which means "to understand each other" without saying お互い. ではない is "is not", and asking a question in negative form is a very common method both in English and Japanese. See this for example.
    – naruto
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 4:03
  • Oh I see, it is also common in my mother language, portuguese, too! Thanks, that clears it up! Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 4:36
  • why [わかりあえるんじゃない?] instead of [わかりあえないの?] Commented May 19, 2017 at 18:52
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I would put the line you quoted - If we call each other, will we be able to understand each other at all?" in Japanese as;

「お互いに(電話で)話し合ってみれば、兎に角解り合えるのではないでしょうか?」

As you know, in Japanese, particularly in spoken form,the subject (I, we,) is often dropped.

In addition, 「お互いを」電話すれば sounds awkward, and its repetion - 「お互い」を電話すれば「お互い」を分かる is felt redundant.

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