1

Trying to figure out how to say the word "everywhere" in Japanese, and I want to make sure I'm using the correct one. Usually there's some difference due to context or formality. Context of what I'm doing does not matter though, because I'd generally like to hear when and where to use each word.

beebus jeebus
  • 21
  • 1
  • 1
    I think context does matter here, because "everywhere" can be translated into a lot more than these three words, which together cover just a subset of the way the word is used in English. Some examples of what you wanted to convey might help. Otherwise, a good place to start for understanding "everywhere" constructions in Japanese would be here: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/13074/%e3%81%a9%e3%81%93%e3%81%a7%e3%82%82-vs-%e3%81%a9%e3%81%93%e3%81%ab%e3%81%a7%e3%82%82-vs-%e3%81%a9%e3%81%93%e3%82%82. – Mindful Sep 27 '23 at 23:23

1 Answers1

2

其処{そこ}ら is ambiguous between anywhere/any ordinary place and everywhere. So it overlaps with the other two mostly in the same way anywhere and everywhere overlaps in English. For example, そこらでみられる literally means can be seen anywhere or just common, which can be can be seen everywhere. It is similar to そのへん (cf this question). On the other hand, そこらで買った means bought around there. Since buying happened at one place and not everywhere obviously, it is different from そこら中で買った (which, being less likely, means bought things everywhere).

至る所 and 其処ら中 means everywhere/all over the place and are interchangeable as far as I can think of. The latter is perhaps more colloquial due to the nature of そこら.

sundowner
  • 36,445
  • 2
  • 19
  • 57