Hungarian Translation
Miben segíthetek Önnek?
Is this translation correct? Japanese seems to be “What happened?” , Hungarian seems to be “How can I help you?”…
@sjfree
何かあったのですか？ is “what happened?”
どうされましたか？ literally means “what happened to you?” or “is there anything that bothers you?” — This Japanese sentence is usually interpreted as “how can I help you?” as a free translation.
A: I heard that Tom is resigning.
B: Oh, really. What happened? = 何かあったのですか？
(B may or may not be willing to help Tom or convince him not to resign. But apparently, 何かあったのですか？ doesn’t mean “how can I help YOU (= A)?”.)
A on a street: Excuse me, could you call an ambulance?
B as a pedestrian: Oh, are you okay? What happened? = どうされましたか？
(In this context, replying with 何かあったのですか？ sounds a bit socially awkward because it means that B is more interested in investigating the background/root-cause rather than understanding A’s current critical medical condition.)
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So, if I may clarify for myself, you would say that 何かあったのですか？ means “What happened?” and can also mean “How can I help you?” under some circumstances, like say, from a clerk in a store. It is a more casual question, whereas どうされましたか？is more focused on the other person with the assumption that there is something wrong, an expression of concern…
何かあったのですか？ sounds more serious than you might guess. A clerk at a store doesn’t say 何かあったのですか？ to a customer in a normal situation because it means “What happened? You look totally upset” and it sounds like the customer evacuating to the store.
何かあった = 何か悪いこと (bad/unpleasant thing) or 何か予期せぬこと (unexpected thing) があった is the connotation.
The difference between 何かあったのですか？ and どうされましたか？ is with and without the “(bothers) to you” part. 何かあったのですか？ is used when the speaker is trying to figure out the situation and its background/root-cause from an objective view. どうされましたか？ focuses on the (unpleasant) consequence happening to another person.
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