Kotoba no Hibiki

It’s a long story.

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A: I heard you’re leaving the company.
B: Yeah, I’m starting to look for another job.
A: What made you decide?
B: It’s a long story.

In this situation, what should you say ‘it’s a long story’ in Japanese?

Casual

B：まあいろいろあってね

Note: This is not a word-for-word translation.

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A word-for-word translation

B：長ながい話はなしなんです。

This is grammatically correct, and you can use a similar expression when you want to tell the reason to the person asking the question though it’s a long story.
In that situation, If you’re worried that they’ll get tired of listening or if you want to be mindful of their time, you can say something like the following:

  1. 話はなせば長ながくなるから
  2. 話はなせば長ながいんだけどね
  3. 長ながくなるけど
  4. 長ながい話はなしなんだけどね

These can be used as a preface.

On the other hand, if you don’t want to tell anyone the exact reason, まあいろいろあってね is a convenient expression.
When people hear that, they usually don’t ask any more questions.
In this case, you can also say the following:

  1. まあいろいろね
  2. いろいろとね
  3. まあいろいろありまして