基本的にだけど

English translation: I generally don't like people, but there are some of them I do like.

17:05 Aug 25, 2020

Japanese to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama

Japanese term or phrase: 基本的にだけど

Dear ProZ members,

I'm uncertain of how to interpret 基本的に in the following dialogue. A boy is sketching the landscape, and his father asks if he would be willing to draw him too. This is the dialogue after that:

人間は書かない (I don't draw people.)

なんで？ (Why?

人間は嫌いだ基本的にだけど
(I hate people. Basically, though.)

I was wondering if 基本的に meant:
1) I generally don't like people, but there are some of them I do like.
2) That's the main reason why I don't draw people, but there are other reasons too.

Any ideas?

Thank you very much!

Riccardo91
Italy

English translation:I generally don't like people, but there are some of them I do like.

Explanation:
I'm with the first option here.
Given the context of the conversation, I think this one makes more sense. If he meant that there are other reasons why he wouldn't draw people, I think he would say "簡単に言えば" or something along this line.

Selected response from:

Hitoshi Taniguchi
Canada
Local time: 09:02

Grading comment

Thank you, I'll go with this. Since he's answering to なんで I believe it's the more convincing, but you're never sure.

Thanks again!
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +1

I generally don't like drawing people

Yuki Okada

I generally don't like people, but there are some of them I do like.

Hitoshi Taniguchi

Answers

20 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

I generally don't like drawing people

Explanation:
Just judging from the context you have given, I think the boy is referring specifically to drawing people, not that he does not like people, or father in this case. 基本的にだけど says there may be cases when he likes to draw people. He is not saying anything about if there are types of people he likes/dislikes or there are instances when he would not mind including people in his drawing.

Yuki Okada
Canada
Local time: 05:02
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 12

21 mins confidence:

I generally don't like people, but there are some of them I do like.

Hitoshi Taniguchi
Canada
Local time: 09:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Japanese

Grading comment

Thank you, I'll go with this. Since he's answering to なんで I believe it's the more convincing, but you're never sure.

Thanks again!

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基本的にだけど

English translation: I generally don't like people, but there are some of them I do like.

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基本的にだけど

English translation: I generally don't like people, but there are some of them I do like.

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