A: How was your first day at work?
B: I got off on the right foot.
A: Glad to hear that! I might have got off on the wrong foot.
B: Really? But, I have a feeling your boss likes you.
In this situation, what should you say “I got off on the right foot” in Japanese?
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B:出だしは上手くいったよ
Note: This is not a word-for-word translation.
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A word-for-word translation
B:私は正しい足から出発しました
We don’t say that. We can say the following.
出だしで上手くいく
好スタートを切る
幸先がいい
滑り出しが好調である
In Japanese, we say “It was a good start.”
The variations of ”start” are
出だし、スタート、(幸)先、滑り出し,
and those of “good” are
上手くいく、好、幸、好調.
Some of these can be used in different combinations.
出だしがいい
出だしが好調である
滑り出しで上手く行く
滑り出しが好調である
We can translate “I got off on the wrong foot” for the following.
出だしを誤る
出だしでつまずく
スタートが悪い
滑り出しに失敗する
Among these, the expression related to a “foot” is 出だしでつまずく.
つまずく means stumbling.