TAKOBOTO

leaving A aside, B is ...
price aside, its great.

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あのみせはふんいきはともかくあじはいい。

at that restaurant the taste is good but the atmosphere is another thing.

いつにするかはともかく、どこにしましょうか？

Leaving aside the date, where shall we do it?

じょうだんはともかく、あたまがいたいのならいしゃにみせるべきだ。

Joking apart, you ought to see a doctor about your headache

わたしははなすことはともかく、かくことはにがてだ。

Setting aside the speaking ability, writing is my weak area.

すうがくはともかく、テストはまあまあだった。

Setting math aside, the results of the tests were not so bad.

Aはともかく、( Bは良い）
　　= leaving aside A (B is good)
　　= A is another thing but B is great.

usually it is used for two contrasting things.
　　A hatomokaku B ha ii
　　= A is bad but B is good.

　　味はともかく、値段が安い
　　The taste is another thing, but the price is good

But this can also be used just for asides
　　費用の問題はともかく
setting aside the question of expense

dc

kuroi kaoiro wa tonikaku, kare wa shinsetsu na hito desu
gvramachandran

gvrchandran

'tomotaku' (ともかく) is also used apart from は ともかく. For example at the start of sentences meaning "at any rate"

Amatuka

Changed the 2nd example.

bamboo4

頭脳 zunou is brain, not headache. headache is 頭痛 zutsuu.

Miki

ともかく ＝ とにかく　？
anyway, ... blah blah

dc

頭脳 zunou is brain >> but we dont tell people in english to see someone about their brain. if they need that instruction, usually they are too far gone to listen!
miki > what is the unliteral meaning?

dc

>> For example at the start of sentences
I'm not sure about that or if you're getting confused with [tonikaku]

dc

Is this always used where the first thing is bad? eg can you just use it for an aside
月日はともかく、どこにしましょうか？
Leaving aside the dates, where shall we do it?

dc

If Englis comes first, Japanese translation would be
頭痛を医者に見てもらうべきだ。

Miki

日時はともかく、どこにしましょうか？ is ok.
(月日 is not used in this kind of sentence.)

Miki

Bad thing can comes after ともかく。　
あの作品はともかく、これはひどいできだ。

Miki

日時はともかく、どこにしましょうか？is weird. It should be something like, いつにするかはともかくとして、どこにしましょうか

bamboo4

bamboo4 is right in a way. What I meant by 日時 is more specific date and time. I use both expressions in daily life.

Miki

dc, as for headache and 頭脳, I don't know unliteral meaning of headache if it literally means brain.
bamboo4, if you have any idea, pls help.

your name

I think you mean universal. unilateral is more like "The US unilaterally decided to invade North Korea"

dc

hmm Which did you mean,"universal" or "unilateral"?
Whichever it is I have no idea. 医者に行ったほうがいいのは、頭痛がするからでしょう？ 頭痛の原因を診てらったほうがいい is closer to what you meant??

Miki

oops, above i wrote un-literal - as in not Literal.
Unilateral is a small spelling difference!

dc

ともかく can be replaced with さておき

Miki

Pls see [sorehasateoki]

Miki

If you meant "you should get your head examined," that would be 医者に頭をみてもらえよ
If you meant "you should get a doctor to see about your headach," that would be: 頭が痛いのなら医者に言った方がいい.
In any event, scrap 君の頭脳は医者にみせるべきだ.

bamboo4

Sorry, 言った方がいい should be corrected to read 行った方がいい.

bamboo4

In response to a partner's statement you can use 'それはともかく..'　to mean 'Setting that aside....'
この店はすごく安いよ。
それはともかく味はまずいよ。
In my English I would say 'yeh but..'

CrayonShin

I was going to include some examples but, in most cases, tomokaku could be translated as ”in any case", "at any rate" or "just" and I was not sure if this examples were right for this entry...

karekano