Should I go with "attempt" or "time" ?thx

Question

Suppose my friend sends me a video to watch, which is quite long. and I don't have enough time to finish watch it at one go (or in one time, which would be better here?)

And it took me three altogether three diffrent "pieces of time" to finish watching it.

How would I put the above sentence more natively ?

Is it

I only finished watching it on my third attempt

or is it

It took me three attempts to finish watcing it.

or perhaps

It took a third time to finish it.

or is it best put otherwise?

Looking forward to an "native" answer from any proficient speaker, native or not

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

'3 attempts' suggests that you started from the beginning 3 times and got bored or interrupted or you had something better to do. I can think of no pleasant way to put it. Why tell you friend any such detail? Just say this-- 'I finished watching your video last night, and....'

Altairrr · Answer

Your explanation to "attempt" is well understood and thanks a lot for that.

As for your following question,

I might have to say that such kind of "detail" indicate the inconviences I had when I was trying to meet his request or his requirement(if he's my boss or a customer,etc.), which could be quite useful in supporting at least two arguments:

a. He or she is important to me that I would waste no time in meeting his/her request.

b. Fulfilling such request or requirement is too inconvenient to me now, and I would appreciate it if there's no more of this from him or her.

Do those two scenarios justify my getting into this detail? If not, please conjecture up one for yourself, it's not difficult to do so, and I'm sure you could understand what I am looking for here after that

Mister Micawber · Answer

Do those two scenarios justify my getting into this detail? If not, please conjecture up one for yourself, it's not difficult to do so, and I'm sure you could understand what I am looking for here after that

No, in Western culture, that would be equivalent to whining. We do not complain about inconveniences to our boss; we simply do our jobs and continue looking for a better one. I still cannot think of a reason to complain in my culture unless you wish to offend or upset the recipient.

Altairrr · Answer

Mister MicawberI still cannot think of a reason to complain in my culture

Actually,"whining" or "complaining" makes kind of a quite "qualified" context for the expression intended, you can go a bit further with that, say, instead of complaining directly to the recipient, you are complaining to a friend as to how you were annoyed by such a request from someone from another culture, etc.

People complain in whatever culture, and I'm sure the western cultrue doesn't shut their people up when they are willing to do so.

Mister Micawber · Answer

What are you doing, answering your own question?  Feel free, then, to whine about your friend's video.  If he is a good friend, he will forgive you.  But he won't forget.

Altairrr · Answer

Mister MicawberWhat are you doing, answering your own question? Feel free, then, to whine about your friend's video. If he is a good friend, he will forgive you. But he won't forget.

Dear Mister Micawber,

People came here for language help as to how to express a certain fact or feeling, or hypothetic fact or feeling, to your taste or not, in the English language,rather than be lectured upon how to lead their life or how to let their friends forget or not forget what they say or do, which is in all likelyhood their own business rather than yours. I believe you can agree with me on that.

And I think you know better than me what the english word "suppose" means, so I won't bother to explain why I used this word as in my orginial post and what that was intended.

Only when one is unwilling or unable to answer such question as the one posted here, will he or she resort to funny excuses such as "Western Culture does" or " doesn't", which rudely shuts all the possibilities for further discussions and is thus arrogant and unfortunately uneducated.

I wasn't answering my own question, but getting you on the right track to solve my problem, which you clearly failed. It's a pity you didn't get it and intstead turn the whole discussion into some meaningless personal arguement.

The explaination to "attempt" is helpful and thus appreciated anyway.

Help people when you're ready, and don't when not.

Altairrr

Mister Micawber · Answer

No, I cannot. People like you come here because they don't know how to say something properly in English and sometimes suggest compositions that would get them ostracized if not punched in the nose. Part of our job is to help you avoid bloodflow.

Your original questions as posted:

How would I put the above sentence more natively ?

or is it best put otherwise?

I have carefully explained that it is better put otherwise in English. I have done my job.

You are free to accept or reject any comments you receive here, but you are not free to hurl invective at me. If you do not like any one's advice, just quietly ignore it. But if you cannot take advice graciously, then there is no point in your coming here.

Should I go with "attempt" or "time" ?thx

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