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What is the correct translation for "indeed"? I found 実際{じっさい}に and 確{たし}かに.

If both are correct, what is the difference?

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  • What do you mean? Where is indeed in 実際に and 確かに? It is not even clear whether you want a Japanese translation for English or English translation for Japanese.
    – user458
    Feb 23, 2012 at 22:58
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    @sawa: Some people are too sloppy to write a question mark, a period, or a subject. The question should be read as “What is the correct translation for "indeed"? I found 実際に (Jissai ni) and 確かに (Tashikani).”
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Feb 23, 2012 at 23:02
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    @Ixx: Both are correct translations.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Feb 23, 2012 at 23:02
  • @sawa I don't know, I looked in google translation for "indeed" and found that. I want english to japanese translation.
    – User
    Feb 23, 2012 at 23:02
  • Ok, I added a question mark. Anyways I don't see why it's confusing without question mark. Does that deserve down vote ?
    – User
    Feb 23, 2012 at 23:05

2 Answers 2

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  • When you want to tell that you have a clear idea to agree with the proposition in question, then use 確かに:

    確かにあなたは怠け者だ。

  • When you assume (often falsely) that the origin of the idea is the second person, and you agree with it, use なるほど:

    なるほどあなたは怠け者だ。

  • When you want to temporarily accept an idea and continue with a statement pointing to the opposite direction, you can use the ones above:

    確かにあなたは怠け者だが、それはそれでよしとしよう。
    なるほどあなたは怠け者だが、それはそれでよしとしよう。

  • When you want to exemplify, or formally prove an abstract statement, use 実際. Unlike 確かに or なるほど, the first person is the one who is showing it to the second person.

    彼は怠け者だ。実際、彼の文には句読点がない。
    全ての人が怠け者というわけではない。実際、ちゃんとした文章を書く人もいる。

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    +1 for なるほど...!
    – istrasci
    Feb 23, 2012 at 23:30
  • Which do I use when I realize something I was incredulous about? In german at least people often use "oh, indeed" to show something like surprise. Reading your definitions, probably 実際?
    – User
    Feb 23, 2012 at 23:34
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    @Ixx If you want to emphasize the surprise, なるほど will be good. 確かに can also be used. 実際 requires that you are the one showing the fact (by examples or proof) to the other, so it might not be a good fit if you are the one who was noticed by the other person.
    – user458
    Feb 23, 2012 at 23:39
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    I thought 確かに was closer in meaning to: certainly or definitely.
    – dotnetN00b
    Feb 23, 2012 at 23:45
  • @dotnetN00b That is right.
    – user458
    Feb 24, 2012 at 0:00
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If you're looking for a translation to the (mainly British) interjection "Indeed!" which you seem to hint in a comment, you should neither use 確かに nor 実際に.

The below are common colloquial expressions:

へー　used a lot in Japan for expressing awe, surprise or disbelief etc. Has back-channel qualities as well.
本当(に)？ Really?
マジ(で)？ Seriously? (Slangy, but very common among mainly younger speakers)
う(っ)そー　You're lying!
まさか　You don't say... (expressing some level of disbelief)

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  • If まさか is acceptable, then wouldn't ばかな be as well?
    – dotnetN00b
    Feb 24, 2012 at 1:16
  • "back-channel qualities"? Anyway, I'm not aware of "Indeed!" being used as an interjection in English to express surprise, except perhaps when somebody is surprised to realize that they agree with something upon further reflection.
    – Karl Knechtel
    Feb 25, 2012 at 0:05
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    @KarlKnechtel Well, OP and dictionary.reference.com/browse/indeed seem to agree with me. I don't know what part of backchannel qualities you didn't like, but I'll post the link just in case en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backchannel_(linguistics)
    – dainichi
    Feb 26, 2012 at 15:51
  • Aha, I see. (looks like Markdown refuses to include the close parenthesis in your link, but that was trivial to work around.)
    – Karl Knechtel
    Feb 27, 2012 at 7:46

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