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I have done my best to research the meaning of しかたない and I have discovered "It can't be helped", "It is unavoidable" and "Oh well".

These are all expressions of resignation in the face of inevitability, and I can't see when you would answer in that way when asked your opinion about a product feature.

Is there another interpretation that I haven't been able to find?

Here is a scan from the original document:

it cant be helped as an opinion about a product feature

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    If your TV does not work properly anymore, is it really that strange that you say "oh well"?
    – Blavius
    Commented Feb 16, 2019 at 23:57
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    As you already put forth 'C'e la vie' as a translation, I would suggest that that is a good way of looking at it. 'Troublesome, but not worth the stressing about or making the effort of doing anything about', as many things in 'la vie' can be.
    – BJCUAI
    Commented Feb 17, 2019 at 1:11
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    To me, this doesn't seem like a question about a "product feature." It's about how people react to their TV getting old (or breaking), which is indirectly related to how likely they are to buy another TV.
    – Leebo
    Commented Feb 17, 2019 at 1:55
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    @GrahamHorton: "A better example would be „How would you feel if your TV reacted to voice commands?“" -- that example would not include しかたがない as an option for an answer.
    – Eiríkr Útlendi
    Commented Feb 17, 2019 at 7:02
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    As others say, unlike autopilot or voice commands, ものが二重にうつる (known as ghosting) is not a product feature in the first place. This is asking "How much can you accept bad image quality of a TV". Just like new exciting features, bad points of the TV you already own can be a motivation to buy a new TV.
    – naruto
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 6:44

1 Answer 1

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もし、あなたのテレビの画像が状態が悪かったならば(二重に映るなど)、どうかんじますか = What do you feel if the TV doesn't display properly (e.g. Some ghost makes the double images)?

This is a survey. (Most of Japanese people say "Enquête" due to the French word of this introduced before English.) You can select your answer from the options:

  1. 気に入る Still like it.
  2. 当然である It has to be a matter of course.
  3. 何も感じない Feel nothing.
  4. しかたない Have no choice.
  5. 気に入らない Don't like it.
  6. その他(...) Other (...)

The electrician or the radio station engineer and the same kind of the tech savvy fellows would choose, しかたない by the reasons such as the house is in the forest, skyscraper or far away from the station.

When we have an ordinary television (non-digital), sometimes it wasn't clear by a slight delay of radio wave echos from mountain/building reflections.

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  • I think your answer is helpful. I don't understand the downvotes. Your English isn't perfect, but it is understandable.
    – user3856370
    Commented Feb 17, 2019 at 7:05
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    @psw1747 回答を改善するために、他のユーザーさんたちが指摘コメントすることはよくありますし、そのためのコメント欄でもあります。善意によるものとご理解いただき、攻撃的な応答はお避けください。Be Nice Policy もご参照ください。
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented Feb 17, 2019 at 7:59
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    @Leebo I think what he's saying is that if you understand how TVs work and you see ghosting because you're in an area with bad reception, you'll say "Oh well! It can't be helped". Whereas, if you don't understand that the problem is due to bad reception, you'll get angry and complain to the TV manufacturer.
    – user3856370
    Commented Feb 17, 2019 at 9:34
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    @Chocolate, I did take the word choices and grammar errors as a suggestion and good ones, but it came with -2 down votes then I thought just I was useless. I am an old man and I do not accept "@。。。。。" post as polite ones. You should remember people are here for unpaid work, volunteering.
    – user20428
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 4:17
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    Well, I would expect regular people to say 仕方ない in such case, but not an engineer. Wouldn't an engineer come up with a technical solution for the problem? That's precisely their job, they solve problems.
    – jarmanso7
    Commented Oct 18, 2019 at 23:18

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