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When someone starts speaking to me in English I often want to effectively say "Japanese is fine".

I usually blurt out 日本語でもいいです which I thought would mean "in Japanese is also ok" but someone once told me I should say 日本語もいいです "Japanese is also ok".

I interpret the first 日本語で as "in Japanese". A longer sentence might be

英語で話しているけど日本語で話してもいいです
you are/I am speaking in English but speaking in Japanese is also ok

which seems like it can be shortened to

英語で話しているけど日本語でもいいです
you are/I am speaking in English but in Japaneee is also ok

vs

英語で話しているけど日本語もいいです
I am/you are speaking in English but Japanese is also ok

dropping the で just seems to remove the "in" as in the "way" of speaking.

is でも ok here or not?

Earthliŋ
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gman
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    Did a native tell you that? I feel like 日本語でもいいです。 is better, but I might be wrong. – stack reader Jun 22 '17 at 04:12
  • The で in 日本語**で**もいいです is not the same で in 日本語**で**話す. (So 日本語でもいい is not a shortened form of 日本語**で**話して**も**いい) https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/39922/9831 The で in 日本語でもいい is the continuative form (連用形) of the assertive auxiliary (断定の助動詞) or copula 「だ」, whereas the で in 日本語で話す is the case particle (格助詞)「で」. – Chocolate Jun 22 '17 at 06:02
  • So the reason you use a で in 日本語でもいい is not that there's a で in 日本語で話す. You'd still say for example 塩**で**もいい not 塩もいい to mean 醤油を使っているけど塩を使ってもいい – Chocolate Jun 22 '17 at 06:32
  • Yes it was a native speaker that told me でも was wrong – gman Jun 22 '17 at 09:51
  • you see my point though? ”どの言語で話しましょうか？”、”英語でも、日本語でも、ドイツ語でもいいです。” Those all *seem* like で as in the means to accomplish talking vs just naming languages. Not arguing, I see my understand is wrong, just pointing out how it feels. "どの方法で行こうか？”、”車で、バスで、自転車で、どの方法でもいいです” vs ”車でも、バスでも、自転車でも、どの方法でもいいです” – gman Jun 22 '17 at 10:02
  • @Chocolate I've never read that that way before. I've always assumed that when someone said 日本語でもいいです the parsing was 日本語　でも　いい　です　as in "It's alright (to speak to me) even in Japanese" where でも = 'even' or 'as well' – psosuna Jun 22 '17 at 19:13
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    `日本語　でも　いい　です` Yes, I'd parse it that way, too. I just meant to say that the でも here is not で(with/in) + も. The でも is a 副助詞 meaning "even though/even if" – Chocolate Jun 23 '17 at 00:08
  • This is not direct answer though, I prefer "大丈夫" instead of "いい" in your context. This way I think you can use both "でも" and "も" as a native Japanese. – yuutayamada Oct 09 '17 at 10:27

1 Answers1

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  1. 英語で話しているけど日本語でもいいです
    vs
  2. 英語で話しているけど日本語もいいです

Only the first phrase is corrent for your intention. The second one means quite another like: You are speaking in English but your Japanese is also good, you can also speak Japanese well or your Japanese also sounds good.

日本語もいいです makes sense somehow, but it is not so natural. We don't use it to others.

mackygoo
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