English term
Japan
only really
Hi!,
I cannot understand the meaning of "only really".
I thought that "only" is used to emphasize "really".
Could you help?
| 5 +7 | only useful in any real or meaningful way |
Tony M
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| 4 +2 | in fact. exclusively |
Jack Doughty
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| 5 | really only |
airmailrpl
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Aug 8, 2013 11:16: Tony M changed "Field (specific)" from "Computers (general)" to "General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters"
Aug 8, 2013 11:16: Egil Presttun changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): Tony M, Ketty Federico, Egil Presttun
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Responses
only useful in any real or meaningful way
'only' is not emphasizing 'really', if anything, it's the other way round: 'really' is qualifying — in fact slightly reducing the strength of — the 'only'.
The writer was probably trying to avoid sticking their neck out and saying the these functions are ONLY useful to Chinese users — it is just possible that they might also be useful to someone elsse too, but the writer doesn't really think so.
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Note added at 4 hrs (2013-08-08 15:35:56 GMT)
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Perhaps it would be better to express it as: "In reality, only useful to..." (as Jack has suggested)
I instinctively read across the word order, since the two things are to my mind almost the same — but thanks to BDF for having pointed out the nuance of meaning conveyed by the word order.
| agree |
B D Finch
: They might be a teensy bit useful to other people, but are only really useful for Chinese users?
4 mins
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Thanks, B! :-)
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| agree |
Terry Richards
: Yes, others can use the functions but, in general, only Chinese users will find them useful.
9 mins
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Thanks, Terry!
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| agree |
Egil Presttun
: Useful for Chinese users, but not really useful for anyone else. Other users can use the functions, but they don't need to because the functions are not necessary or very useful to them.
12 mins
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Thanks, Egil!
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| agree |
Jessica Guimaraes
1 hr
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Thanks, Jessica!
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| agree |
Diana Alsobrook
2 hrs
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Thanks, Diana!
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| agree |
Jean-Claude Gouin
2 hrs
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Thanks, J-C! :-)
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| agree |
Charlesp
1 day 1 hr
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Thanks, Charles!
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United Kingdom
Translator since 1953
Native in: English
Works in: Russian to English, German to English, English
in fact. exclusively
| Thank you very much for kind explanation. Iappreciate it a lot. |
| neutral |
B D Finch
: Surely, that would be "really only useful"?/ But it isn't. In the absence of evidence, should one translate what one thinks the writer meant, or what s/he wrote?
2 mins
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Yes, that's what I think it should be.
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| agree |
Jenni Lukac (X)
: BD is grammatically correct, but I believe this is what the writer meant.
6 mins
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Thank you.
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| agree |
Tony M
: In fact, to be truly pedantic, it ought to have been 'really useful to only Chinese users'
7 mins
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Thank you. Yes, you're right.
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| neutral |
Jean-Claude Gouin
: I agree with Tony ...
3 hrs
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Brazil
Technical - Fast - good price - accurate
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
, Portuguese (Variant: Brazilian)
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, English, and 1 more.
really only
| Thank you very much! |
Discussion
The 'only needs to come as close as possible to the 'exclusive' element, either preceding or following it.