[Serie: All About Japanese Particles]
1. Emphasizes a negative action or state as against the impossobility of a contrasting positive action or state: “It is out of the question, unthinkable, far from.”
この頃は仕事が忙しくて、旅行に行くどころではない。
Konogoro wa shigoto ga isogashikute, ryokō ni iku dokoro de wa nai.
I’ve been so busy lately, taking a trip is unthinkable.
あの人は秀才どころの話じゃなくて、まるで天才ですね。
Ano hito wa shūsai dokoro no hanashi ja nakute, maru de tensai desu ne.
It is not a matter of his being brilliant; he is an absolute genius.
2. In the form dokoro ka, negates the first of two parallel nouns: “far from; not merely.”
普通は1時間ぐらいかかるが、昨日は道が混んでいて、1時間どころが3時間もかかった。
Futsū wa ichi-jikan gurai kakaru ga, kinō wa michi ga konde ite, ichi-jikan dokoro ka san-jikan mo kakatta.
Ordinarily it takes an hour, but yesterday the roads were so crowded that, far from one hour, it took three.
あの人は英語どころか、フランス語もよくできますよ。
Ano hito wa Eigo dokoro ka, Furansu-go mo yoku dekimasu yo.
He is good not merely at English, but at French as well.
– Source: All about particles – A handbook of Japanese function words –
