How to say "I hope I can" in this situation?

Question

I would like to say:

"I'm not very good, but I hope I can help you."

My first thought would be to translate this as

「下手なんですが、手伝えるといいんですが。」

because in my Japanese class, we were taught that "hoping for one's self" should end in といいんですが. However, is it awkward to have the particle が at the end of both of these clauses?

Answer 1

Actually, I feel that the ですが。。。ですが。。。 does feel a little repetitive and awkward to me, but that's a pretty minor thing. You could remove the last が as one option to remove the repetition.

However, I think what's most important here is how you express the rest of the sentence. First, saying "下手" sounds overly blatant, especially with the なん after it to make it sound more factual. I would personally start with something like:

僕はちょっと苦手なんですが。。。

僕はあまり上手じゃないんですが。。。

Personally I would use ”〜ですけど”, but there is nothing wrong with "〜ですが”

For the second part, I feel that "手伝えるといい" doesn't sound like a very commonly used phrase. Instead, the expression "役に立つ" (to be of use to) or its more polite form "お役に立つ" jumps to mind.

So you can use this for the second part:

お役に立てれば嬉しいです。

Or, you can actually omit the 嬉しい part and use a common abbreviation for this:

お役に立てればと思います。

僕の回答が少しだけでもお役に立てれば幸いです　（＾＾）

Answer 2

It's definitely not awkward!

To wish good will onto someone else you use the verb in its short form plus といいです。

So for example　

「いい仕事が見つかるといいですね。」。
- ii shigoto ga mitsukaru to ii desu ne -
"I hope you find a good job."

When hoping for something good to happen to you use といいんですが。

いい仕事が見つかるといいんですが。
"I hope I find a good job."

I would say

「上手じゃありません。でも、 助けられるといいんですが。」
- Jouzu ja arimasen. Demo, Tasukerareru to iin desu ga.
"I am not very skilled. But, I hope to help."

It's really a matter of preference and either way the meaning still comes across the same!

Please check out this link!

http://www.jref.com/forum/threads/i-hope-grammer-point.36146/