Monday, October 23, 2017

toriaezu (とりあえず): anyways; for the time being

"anyways..."

とにかく is usually translated 'anyway', and just like 'anyway' in English, it's used to change the subject of the conversation.
とりあえず has a more specific meaning. It's often translated as 'for the time being', which is quite an accurate (if cumbersome) translation, since it's used only in cases where you want to tell the listener that you want to leave the issue at hand to later and move to something else.

“toriaezu nama beer” when you place the first order at a restaurant or izakaya

For instance, if you were talking with your friend about a letter you have to take to the post office, but then he told you that the post office is closed now, you can tell him "とりあえず、帰りましょう", meaning "Ok, we can't do anything with that for now, so let's leave it for later. For the time being, let's go home."

Also, many cases where とりあえず is being used cannot be counted as 'change of subject' at all, and there difference from とにかく is even more striking

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