Doo sureba yoroshii-deshoo—Asking for instructions
When Mr. Lerner was talking with Mi-. Mori, the director of the company, Miss Yoshida came in and asked Mr. Mori for instructions about how to type a part of his letter. She said
Koko-wa doo uteba yoroshii-deshoo. (How should I type this?)
and Mr. Mori answered, piece of paper
while writing it out on a
Koo-yuu fuu-nl utie-kureruto ii-gane. (Would you type it this way?)
While listening to this exchange, Mr, Lerner wondered if he had been using the right expressions when asking for directions; he usually said ... shinakereba narimasen-ka (Must I . . .?)
Using . . . nakereba narimasen-ka, as in Doo utanakereba narimasen-ka, can be understood, but it is not common in social situations. Answering a question with this form, as in Kbo utanakereba narimasen, is also uncommon in actual life; it is classroom Japanese.
Among several expressions used for asking for instructions, doo sureba ii-cleshoo (more politely, .. . yoroshii-deshoo) sounds the most humble because it implies that the speaker is interested in knowing what is the right way to do something. For instance, when you come across a kanji compound you do not know how to read, it is most appropriate to say
Kore-wa doo yomeba ii-deshoo. (How should I read this?)
The . . . sureba ii^teshoo form is also used when asking someone's; wishes politely, as in
Doko-e ukagaeba yoroshii-deshoo, (Where would you like me to come?) Nanji-ni omochi-sureba yoroshii-deshoo. (When would you like me to bring it?)
To mean "How should I do this?", the following expressions should be avoided in social situations because they sound like classroom speech.
Doo shinakereba narimasen-ka. Poo suru-beki-desu-ka. Yomikata-wa nan-desu-ka.
Saying Doo shimasu-ka is all right and Doo suru-n-desu-ka is also acceptable, but these are not as humble as Doo sureba ii-deshoo,
Eega-o nlhon mimashita.
rather than
When he met Miss Yoshida on Monday morning, Mr. Lerner wanted to tell her that he had seen a couple of movies over the weekend. He said
Shuumatsu-ni nihon-no eega-o mimashita.
meaning "I saw two movies over the weekend." Miss Yoshida looked rather surprised and said something admiring. After further discussion he realized thai she thought that he had seen Japanese movies. Everybody at the office was amused at this misunderstanding — namely taking nihon-no Uwo)
for nihon-no (Japanese).
* * *
This misunderstanding was caused by two things. One was a mistake in accent. To mean "two movies'" he should have said
ni
ho n no ~^~CD instead of saying
ho n no      E3;$;<£> ni
The latter accent pattern is used for the word nihon-no (of Japan), as in nihon-no hana (Japanese flowers) and nihon-no josee (Japanese women).
The other reason concerns the use of nihon. The counter hon is used for counting long, thin objects like needles, pencils, pillars and cigarettes. It is also used for films and tapes because they are long and thin. Mr. Lerner was right in using hon for counting movies, but he should have said
Nihon-no eega-o mimashita.
It is more common in conversation to say the number after the name of the thing. Thus nisatsu-no hon (two books) will be understood but it is more conversational to say
Hon-o nisatsu yomimashita.
In the same way, it is more common to say things like
Okane-o sen-en haraimashita. (I paid 1,000 yen.) Koohii-o nihai nomimashita. (I drank two cups of coffee.) Negi-o sanbon kudasai.
(Please give me three negi — Japanese leek.)
than saying sen-en-no okane, nihai-no koohii or |    sanbon-no negi.