Apololgies for not having done the required 'homework' on this, but it is a bit of a delicate and urgent matter and I'm asking on behalf of a close friend and I sincerely believe my Japanese skills are not anywhere near adequate to convey the subtlety and intent of the needed reply... And I do not think the level of subtlety or nuance can be conveyed through electronic translation or dictionaries.
I'm sure those native (UK) English speakers are aware that, when asked the question 'How are you doing?' or 'Are you allright?' (very English), the 'normal reply is "I'm fine, you?"' or "I'm allright, how are you?"
The kind of 'automatic' small talk. But sometimes you want to give a reply that is not expected, just to draw attention, to make a point, to be heard or listened to, to stress the fact that your reply is not the expected standard reply, yet is not rude or offensive. (Swear at me if I stop making sense..)
Well, you get what I mean, hopefully..
In Japanese it would be 0-genki desu-ka? (Again avoiding Hiragana/Kanji as copy/paste does not always get me there
)Or, in everyd day life, simply 'Genki?
So this here's a needed reply that seems to exceed the capabilities of online/electronic/paper dictionaries.
What if you want to express, in reply to a 'standard, conversational, set sentence' that, no, you are actually not allright, and you want to convey this point in a way that sounds respectful and polite but invites further conversation?
As if in (UK) English, in reply to the bog-standard every day greeting "Allright?" you really want to reply "Actually,. not really...."
Sorry I can't supply exapmle sentences for you to correct, this level of subtlety is way beyond me...
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