というか・
You say a word, it isn't quite right, and you try a closer one: "or rather", "I mean". Said twice, AというかBというか, you waver between two words and keep both.
or rather
He's kind, or rather, he just can't say no when he's asked.
A, or maybe B
I'm happy, or relieved, or something. It still hasn't sunk in.
How to form it
Plain form + というか（+ plain form + というか）
A noun or a な-adjective goes straight on, usually with no だ: 友達というか, 慎重というか.
In conversation
っていうか・てか
The shorter, the more casual: てか is for friends and messages. In polite talk it is といいますか.
- Before it
- The word you tried first, or what the other person just said.
- After it
- A closer word, a fuller explanation, or nothing: people trail off on というか….
- Where you'll meet it
- Conversation, all day long, and chatty writing. Not in a report or anything formal.
Once: or rather
This is the common one. The first word isn't thrown out. You just reach for a better one, so it is a soft way to adjust what you said, or what someone said to you.
More like sleepy.
How shall I put it… it's a bit hard to say.
The pause while you look for the word. Also 何というか.
Wait, isn't the test tomorrow?
At the start of a sentence てか often corrects nothing. It just changes the subject.
Twice: wavering between two words
Both words are partly true, and neither is dropped. It is also how people soften a criticism: the kinder word often goes first.
He's careful, or maybe a worrier. Anyway, he takes a while to decide.
That film is scary, or eerie, or something. It has an atmosphere I can't quite describe.
といおうか
The same thing in a literary voice, once or twice. You will read it in essays and novels and almost never hear it.
Joy, or should I say relief: something welled up in me.
Close neighbours
というよりN3
"Not so much A as B": the second word wins and the first is dropped. It comes once, and is at home in writing too.
It's not so much that he's kind. He just can't say no when he's asked.
Check yourself
1A asks 怒ってる？ ("Are you angry?"). What does B's answer mean?
って
Choose an answer to see why.
2The same word goes in both blanks.
彼女の
Choose an answer to see why.
More sentences
Those two are friends, or colleagues, or something in between. It's an odd relationship.
Now the trip is over I feel sad, or sorry to let it go, or something. It's complicated.
This town is lively, or you might say noisy. People either like it or they don't.
It's difficult, or rather, to be honest, I think it is still beyond me.
There was a confidence in his manner, or rather a stiffness that kept other people's opinions out.