Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The system

I just bought an iPhone (I know, the new 4G comes out here in Japan this fall, but it was free!). And being the Luddite I am, after three days, I'm already baffled by its 使い方. So I headed to the Softbank store. There, I was required to take a number and wait. Not having time for a long wait, I wanted to ask the 店員さん if making an appointment was possible. And while I could have said 「すいません、予約お願いしたいんですが。。。」 or 「予約は可能ですか?」, I instead went with something new.



This time, I used , a word I had learned a while back in the context of 奴隷度. Basically, can be used to mean "system," as in 会員, or club system. You tend to see that a lot at karaoke.
Anyhow, I asked the clerk at the Softbank shop if it had a 予約, or in other words, if appointments were possible. I'm not sure if this is technically correct, but you can see from these ALC examples, there is a precedent.

予約制

4 comments:

Deas said...

I think it means "subscription" rather than "appointment system" if you say it that way...maybe.

JLJZen said...

In terms of 会員制? I could see that. But I think "system," as a suffix, is a more all-encompassing term that may be easier for learners to wrap their head around, as in X-制.
Then again, 制度 basically means the same thing, so...

Blue Shoe said...

How did the Softbank employee respond to your usage of 予約制? If he understood you, then I'd venture it's correct, no? I've observed that when I experiment with word/grammar constructions and they prove to be incorrect, people tend to have no idea what I'm trying to say.

jljzen said...

He responded well. It's correct. I looked it up and checked with native speakers afterward. However, it's sometimes hard to tell, what with the gaijin factor, pronunciation differences, and the fact that many people in Japan have never heard a foreigner speak their language before. I guess what I'm getting at is that reactions can't always be a good gauge for correct Japanese.