A little while ago I was in a shop, and about 5 minutes after I left, they phoned me to tell me I had left my USB stick there. I said I would head back and pick it up.
I used 戻{もど}って行{い}く to mean "I'll go back", but I wonder if 戻{もど}ってくる would have been better, as in "I'll come back".
Japanese has always tripped me up a bit in terms of which point of view one refers to when describing direction. Am I coming to where they are, or going from where I am? Or are both okay?
Now that I think about it, English can be flexible on this as well, so perhaps there aren't strict rules. Maybe I'm over thinking it...?
In any case, does anyone have any pointers which can help determine when one comes to where the other person is, or when one goes from where the speaker is?
Answer
I'm not really answering my own question as much as I am relaying what I believe is the correct answer after polling a few Japanese people on this.
A simple 戻{もど}ります or 戻{もど}る would be the usual way to go.
戻{もど}って行{い}く is definitely wrong. However, 戻{もど}ってきます isn't totally wrong, and I was told there are some people who would use it. Specifically they said 「言{い}う人{ひと}もいるよ」.
However, possibly the best to say would have been:
取{と}りに戻{もど}る
Which is something like, "[I'll] head back to pick [my USB thingy] up".
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