Japanese translation help

[lamperouge_0]

I am having a little trouble with this phrase: 意思表示

The situation is that the character turns down his friends request, and then thinks　「このくらいの意思表示は許してほしい」

I looked up 意思 and 表示, and the dictionary says they mean 'intention' and 'display' respectively, so I guess the phrase means 'display of intentions,' or something. I translated the sentence to

Comments

[whswhs]

Denshi Jisho's page for 意思 has what looks to be that exact combination of characters and defines it as "declaring one's intentions." I suppose you could also treat it as a noun phrase, "declaration of intentions," or "statement of intent."

[lamperouge_0]

Oops, I didn't see that. Thanks.

[fencer_x]

Any chance it might be a typo of 意志 (which is pronounced the same way, and means "will/desire")?

[lamperouge_0]

Well, I suppose it could be, but I wouldn't know how to tell. It's from a comic.

http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff457/lamperouge0/boku49%20copy.jpg

[gemini_artemis]

Aside from "declaration of intention" from Jisho, I also found "gesture" on weblio (as in, a political gesture, a gesture of defiance, etc).

[lamperouge_0]

Thank you for your reply. I saw that on weblio too, haha. I interpreted the sentence 「このくらいの意思表示は許してほしい」as the character hoping his friend would forgive him for turning him down. Verbally turning someone down isn't what I'd consider a "gesture," so I don't think "gesture" would fit in this case.

The context is that the character's friend asks him, 「二学期からでもバスケ部部に入ってみませんか？」Then the character turns his friend down saying 「今は。。。まだ」.