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May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 09:16
How does one say "may I take a photo?" in Japanese?
by Gio1  

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 10:08
- Shashin wo totte mo ii desu ka? (Is it OK to/may I take a photo?)
by AK rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 10:10
"Shashin o tottemo ii desuka?" is common phrase.

Also they can unserstand if you say "Shashin ii desuka?" or "Shashin OK?".
by ajapaneseboy rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 10:25
Thanks both for your replies.

Say, any of you ever use the iTranslate app? Seems like a good app, but I always wonder how accurate translation software really is. Google translate often comes up with some real goofy stuff.

the result iTranslate is giving me for this phrase is:
shashin wo to ru koto ga a ri masu ka

is that also correct?
by Gio1 rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 10:51
No, "shashin wo to ru koto ga a ri masu ka" means "Do you take a picture sometimes?"

I often use Google translate but it sometimes mistranslate.

Now by Google translate.
"Watashi wa shashin o toru koto wa dekimasu ka?"
This means "Am I able to take a picture?"
Not good but not so bad...
by ajapaneseboy rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 10:55
Wow the software is really far off.

Guess I can't rely on it doing the job.
by Gio1 rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 11:03
Other variations of the phrase I would like to know are:

may I take some photos?
may I take your photo?
by Gio1 rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 13:22
"may I take your photo?"
anata no shashin o totte mo ii desu ka?

"(may I take) one more photo?"
mou ichimai (ii desu ka)?

Although in Japanese, not so caring about plural/singular form of a noun,
if you want to emphasise a number of photos,
"may I take some photos?"
nan mai ka shashin o totte mo ii desu ka?
by ajapaneseboy rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 20:13
By any chance, are you going to ask the maids in akiba for photo's, they don't take photo's, may be if you offer money, they might.
by kms899 rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 22:11
Thanks ajapaneseboy. very helpful.

km899 I'm not sure who may not want their photo taken so better to ask first :)
by Gio1 rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 22:17
I was just joking, a maid rejected my photo taking a few years back in akiba, I also seen some of the maids making sure that photo's were erased from a tourist's camera at one time.
by kms899 rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/4 22:21
I think cosplay girls in harajuku like posing for tourists. Not sure if that's always the case though.
by Gio1 rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/26 21:54
Regarding plural form in Japan, I would like to learn more about the distinctions such as in:

Shashin o tottemo ii desuka? - is that kind of a non specific quantity like "may I take photo?"

Say if I'm in a store and want to take some photos, if I use that phrase above (instead of "nan mai ka shashin o totte mo ii desu ka?") and then take a dozen photos would that come off like "he asks for one photo and then takes twelve"?
by Gio1 rate this post as useful

Re: May I take a photo? 2015/2/27 16:05
Wherever I go, I just hold out my camera and ask "Okay?" with a smile, the universal language :)
by Uco (guest) rate this post as useful

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