Differences between「せめて」 and 「少なくとも」


I wanted to say "Stores are closed at least until April, 13th", and speaking
with two different Japanese people I had two different answers: one said that
「せめて四月の十三日まで」 was right, the other said that it sounds odd and 「少なくとも四月の十三日まで」
would be better.

I found that [they differ in
strenght/emotion](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/28482/is-there-
any-difference-
between-%E3%81%9B%E3%82%81%E3%81%A6-and-%E5%B0%91%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A8%E3%82%82),
but if that's the only difference both of them would be right depending on how
the speaker feels about the stores being closed.

I tried to do a bit of research, and it seems that 「せめて」 is more linked to
wanting/asking at least a certain quantity of something, like 「せめて一度は日本に行きたい」,
but I'm not sure if it can or not be used in the opening sentence.




せめて is linked to wanting/asking as you wrote. It is used when someone
asks/wants something that will still not be satisfactory even if it is
realised.

For example, in the situation where you say せめて四月十三日まで休業していただきたい, you actually
wanted stores to be kept closed longer but had to settle for 13 April because
it seemed difficult to request more, or only a shorter period seemed feasible
for some other reason.

"Stores are closed at least until April, 13th" does not look like a request
nor a desire, so せめて is not appropriate. Instead, we use 少なくとも, 最短で(も), 早くとも,
etc.




せめて is linked to wanting/asking as you wrote. It is used when someone
asks/wants something that will still not be satisfactory even if it is
realised.

For example, in the situation where you say せめて四月十三日まで休業していただきたい, you actually
wanted stores to be kept closed longer but had to settle for 13 April because
it seemed difficult to request more, or only a shorter period seemed feasible
for some other reason.

"Stores are closed at least until April, 13th" does not look like a request
nor a desire, so せめて is not appropriate. Instead, we use 少なくとも, 最短で(も), 早くとも,
etc.

