Does なかなか (with negative verb) mean "by no means" or "considerably"?


[WWWJDIC](http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-
bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1MUE@nakanaka) defines なかなか (with negative verb) as **by no
means**

But shouldn't it have been **considerably** ?

**By no means** means 100% not

**considerably** means like 85% not

So does なかなか (with negative verb) bends more towards **by no means** or
**considerably**?




Ah, なかなか. How often you frustrate my attempts to translate you!
「なかなか」はなかなか翻訳しづらいですね。

I will leave the discussion of inter-language correspondences to the
professionals and attempt to educe a definition. For my example sentences, I
will use the Chakoshi corpus from Purdue ([searchable
here](http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/chakoshi/public.html), but the interface
leaves much to be desired).

First, with non-potential verbs (these are from the conversational corpus, so
there are some really informal contractions here):

> …中耳炎 **なかなか** 治らなくってー、治ってはぶり返してぶり返しててー、病院通いも大変だし。 …my tympanitis just
> wouldn't get better, and every time it did it just kept coming back, and
> going to the hospital was a pain.
>
> お母さんにも、あれ **なかなか** わかってくれんかった。 I couldn't seem to get my mother to
> understand that either.
>
> メール **なかなか** 集まんないさー。 The e-mails don't really come in.
>
> でもねー、なんかバスが **なかなか** 来なかったりするじゃん… But there are times when the bus just
> won't show up, you know…

The first conclusion we can draw from these examples is that they **imply the
passage of time**. That is, a particular state (defined by the negative verb)
continues over some length of time.

The use of なかなか can also **imply an expectation on the part of the speaker**.
In the sentences above, なかなか hints that the speaker waited for and expected
something to happen (the tympanitis to get better, the e-mail to accumulate,
etc), but after some time passed, the expected result still had not come.

These two implications are present in sentences with potential verbs as well:

> あたし、でも、部屋が寒いと **なかなか** 起きられないからさあ。 But for me, when the room's cold I can't
> seem to get out of bed.
>
> 最近さー、眼鏡がどこにあるかさえ **なかなか** 見つけられないぐらい、目が悪くなってきたんだけど。 Lately my eyes have
> gotten so bad I have trouble just finding where my glasses are.
>
> 連休の間だったから、あの、宿泊が **なかなか** 取れなくって。 It was a long weekend, so, I couldn't
> really find a place to stay.

With potential verbs, なかなか **implies that the speaker put forth a good deal of
effort** (over a length of time) but was still not rewarded with the expected
result, or that **the speaker achieved the desired result only with
difficulty**.

A sub-category of なかなか deals with existence or frequency:

> だけどヤリイカの生が **なかなか** 売ってないんですよ、魚屋さんに。 But it's hard to find fresh spear squid
> at the fish market.
>
> そうだ、 **なかなか** 受けてくれる人いないもんな。 Right, there just aren't many people who would
> accept that.
>
> 緊張してるＡさんなんか、 **なかなか** 見れないから、見たかった。 It's not often you get to see A when
> he's nervous, so I wanted to see him.
>
> ケーキって、１人で住んでると、 **なかなか** 食べないからさ。 Since cake, you know, isn't something you
> eat all that much when you're living alone.

This use of なかなか merely **implies that the action does not happen all that
much or only rarely**. The implication of expectation is weakened or entirely
absent in this use.

As mentioned by others, there is no nice English translation for なかなか that
works all the time, so it has to be treated on a case-by-case basis. I hope
the examples and explanations here help you decipher なかなか the next time you
see it paired with a negative.




Ah, なかなか. How often you frustrate my attempts to translate you!
「なかなか」はなかなか翻訳しづらいですね。

I will leave the discussion of inter-language correspondences to the
professionals and attempt to educe a definition. For my example sentences, I
will use the Chakoshi corpus from Purdue ([searchable
here](http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/chakoshi/public.html), but the interface
leaves much to be desired).

First, with non-potential verbs (these are from the conversational corpus, so
there are some really informal contractions here):

> …中耳炎 **なかなか** 治らなくってー、治ってはぶり返してぶり返しててー、病院通いも大変だし。 …my tympanitis just
> wouldn't get better, and every time it did it just kept coming back, and
> going to the hospital was a pain.
>
> お母さんにも、あれ **なかなか** わかってくれんかった。 I couldn't seem to get my mother to
> understand that either.
>
> メール **なかなか** 集まんないさー。 The e-mails don't really come in.
>
> でもねー、なんかバスが **なかなか** 来なかったりするじゃん… But there are times when the bus just
> won't show up, you know…

The first conclusion we can draw from these examples is that they **imply the
passage of time**. That is, a particular state (defined by the negative verb)
continues over some length of time.

The use of なかなか can also **imply an expectation on the part of the speaker**.
In the sentences above, なかなか hints that the speaker waited for and expected
something to happen (the tympanitis to get better, the e-mail to accumulate,
etc), but after some time passed, the expected result still had not come.

These two implications are present in sentences with potential verbs as well:

> あたし、でも、部屋が寒いと **なかなか** 起きられないからさあ。 But for me, when the room's cold I can't
> seem to get out of bed.
>
> 最近さー、眼鏡がどこにあるかさえ **なかなか** 見つけられないぐらい、目が悪くなってきたんだけど。 Lately my eyes have
> gotten so bad I have trouble just finding where my glasses are.
>
> 連休の間だったから、あの、宿泊が **なかなか** 取れなくって。 It was a long weekend, so, I couldn't
> really find a place to stay.

With potential verbs, なかなか **implies that the speaker put forth a good deal of
effort** (over a length of time) but was still not rewarded with the expected
result, or that **the speaker achieved the desired result only with
difficulty**.

A sub-category of なかなか deals with existence or frequency:

> だけどヤリイカの生が **なかなか** 売ってないんですよ、魚屋さんに。 But it's hard to find fresh spear squid
> at the fish market.
>
> そうだ、 **なかなか** 受けてくれる人いないもんな。 Right, there just aren't many people who would
> accept that.
>
> 緊張してるＡさんなんか、 **なかなか** 見れないから、見たかった。 It's not often you get to see A when
> he's nervous, so I wanted to see him.
>
> ケーキって、１人で住んでると、 **なかなか** 食べないからさ。 Since cake, you know, isn't something you
> eat all that much when you're living alone.

This use of なかなか merely **implies that the action does not happen all that
much or only rarely**. The implication of expectation is weakened or entirely
absent in this use.

As mentioned by others, there is no nice English translation for なかなか that
works all the time, so it has to be treated on a case-by-case basis. I hope
the examples and explanations here help you decipher なかなか the next time you
see it paired with a negative.

