texts: 「が」(ga) vs 「は」(wa) when it comes to specifically "this" object / referring to self

texts:
Learning particles and looking at wa vs ga. From what I have seen wa is the topic/general and ga is for the subject/specific.
I was watching this video which had the following example:

I like Van Gogh's paintings.
Gohho no e ga suki desu.

I understand they are talking about Gogh's paintings specifically so they used ga, but since there isn't plurals in Japanese from what I have learned so far and ga was already used to refer to Gogh specifically and not a specific painting, how does one express the following?

I like this Van Gogh painting.

Fumbling around with translators it appears the entire sentence changes to add this and I become the topic whereas before I was omitted.

Watashi wa kono Gohho no e ga suki desu.

Still learning the basic sentence structures, but is that correct? Because I added this/kono, the entire sentence must change to include myself as the topic? I was expecting to just be able to place kono somewhere in the original sentence. When do I know I need to use Watashi instead of just desu?


texts: How would you describe both "XX is the furthest I have traveled" and "XX is my favorite place?"

texts:
Now actually I already wrote both of these lines as so:

  カナダは私の家族が一番遠い場所でした。

and

  マクドナルドは私の場所一番好きです。

I want to say Canada is the furthest my family has traveled and McDonalds is my favorite place.

The thing is, I'm being told that the structure of these two sentences is incorrect, but I'm having trouble finding out what is incorrect about these, I was wondering if anyone here knows what the more "correct" way to say these two sentences in Japanese.


texts:
I found this sentence on Jisho.org recently:

  どーすんの、このお店{みせ}！完{かん}ッ全{ぜん}に閑古鳥{かんこどり}が鳴{な}いちゃってるじゃない。
  What happened to this place?! It's completely dead!

I am baffled as to why there is a small ッ in the middle of 完全. The furigana provided ignores it, and I would be surprised if it were a typo because it is in the middle of a word with kanji. I've never seen anything like this before.

Is the small ッ supposed to affect the pronunciation of the word? Why is it there?


texts: Trouble understanding のも in this sentence

texts:
I am having trouble understanding the significance of のも in this sentence:

そう考えるのも当然だ。


texts:
Japanese - English dictionaries translate both as "misunderstanding" or "wrong guess." Upon consulting dictionary.goo.ne.jp, I found:

誤解 - When the facts and the true intentions of a partner's words and deeds are shown to differ. Seems like when a fact was thought to do one thing and it does another.

勘違い - When the facts differ with one's understanding of the situation.　Seems to be when you think something looks some way and in fact it is another.

Both seem to be pretty similar and probably are just versions of the same. On Weblio both seem to have similar meanings and example. Is there any particular nuance or are they both basically the same, like 誤る and 間違える?


texts:
So I've been reading Tsukihime the past few weeks and I found this sentence.

  君の理論はわからんな。それでは命題たる永遠には程遠いぞ、蛇よ。

The fan translations says:

  I do not understand your reasoning. That is far from the thesis of eternity, serpent.

There are this 2 guys, one of them is serpent, who are discussing about eternal life.

I do not understand how come they translated this way.

Can someone help?


texts: What's the difference between いいえ and English's "no"?

texts:
In "Japanese for Busy People I" page 2 (kana or romaji edition) it says that いいえ is 'virtually the same as "no"'.

It sounds like there are some differences, but they want to omit mentioning them for the time being. What differences are there?


texts: こんな、そんな、あんな、どんな + na-adjectives

texts:
How do they interact with each other? I know that depending on the part of speech these words may have/have no particle after them, but what about na-adjectives? Do these pronouns have any particle in this case?

こんな + 猫(noun) ＝ こんな猫
こんな + 高い(adjective) / 急ぐ(verb) ＝ こんなに高い / 急ぐ
こんな + りっぱ(な) = こんな ? りっぱ(な)


texts: What's the difference between 工事 and 建設?

texts: What's the difference between 工事 and 建設, especially in the context of 工事中 and 建設中?


texts: What is the connection between volitional よう form and であろう

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I was wondering, what does the よう form of ある even mean? Does あろう act as volition of the object being spoken about? For example... if someone says 雨が降るでしょう(であろう）... is it the same as "It WILL rain" in that volition is being applied to the object being spoken about?
I'm not looking for ties to English, it's just a lucky example.
No matter how many times someone tries to explain でしょう to me it doesn't make sense... I've been trying to think of it as "It is my guess that"... but it doesn't work in some cases...
I still figure that there are two options:

The kinda iffy option based in someone telling me that the よう form is comprised of a "guess particle"... "う":
The よう form highlights your guess about the future... so saying 行こう means that you are placing your bets so to speak that "going" is what most probably will eventuate.

The way I think makes more sense:
よう form truly does equate to our "will" and thereby is used in the same sense as "I will go"”行こう" and "it will rain""雨が降るでしょう"


texts: Google translate shows "What's new?" as 新着情報？ Is it a commonly used expression?


texts: Does the tsu つ counter have a kanji associated with it?

texts:
I can't seem to find anything online or in any dictionary.
My conclusion is that there is no kanji but can anyone confirm this?
Is there an archaic version that has gone out of use?


texts: What is the difference between 「はずがない」 and 「わけがない」?

texts:
I know the following two sentences give implication that "not expecting me to understand (it)" but I have a feeling that they give different nuances that I just can't put my finger on:

それは分{わ}かるわけがないでしょう。  sore wa wakaru wake ga nai deshou.
それは分{わ}かるはずがないでしょう。  sore wa wakaru hazu ga nai deshou.

Would someone explain what is the difference of the two sentences, and also how to choose between using はず and わけ?


texts:
The following sentence is from a newspaper article
メレンゲ菓子は数あれど、これほど繊細なものは珍しい。

あれど　＝　あるけど makes sense to me in the context, and this seems to be supported by my searches so far - is it simply a written form?
The full phrase "は数あれど" appears extremely common on google - is 数 here read しばしば, and is this a set phrase?


texts: With 丁寧語, it's very possible - 僕が行きます is a perfectly normal thing to say. But what of 僕が参ります? Would that sound odd? 私が参ります would be more normal, I think, but is 僕が参ります possible at all?


texts:
Does this make sense and what does it mean?

そのあとで、日本語がとくいだことになったと思います。

Does this translate to: After that I think I became good at Japanese?


texts: what is the actual word looking similar to 戸感

texts: I've seen the word 戸感 (or something similar) in a few visual novels, and i was able to find it also in some lyrics when i searched for it on google, but i couldn't find it neither on jdic, goo nor alc, and trying to understand it by the meaning of kanji doesn't make much sense...


texts: What is the difference between 売女 vs 街娼?

texts:
After reading, What's the difference between 変態 and 痴女 (or 痴漢)?, I did a few word searches.

Jisho lists multiple words when searching for the term Whore:

売女 - prostitute; whore
街娼 - prostitute; whore; streetwalker

Can someone explain the difference?

See also:

Multiple common kanji for a word: which to use?


texts: Is there a situation where ここの can be shortened / changed to この?

texts:
Context: Someone in a group that I’m following asked a what the この in the following sentence stands for:

“わたしはゼルダ。このハイラルの王女。”

I was thinking: can’t it be possible that the この here essentially means the same thing as ここの.  So the latter one just got changed into the first? A possible reason for the change might be the lack of space, as you can see on the screenshot I provided along with this post.

So in short: is it possible for ここの to be changed into この given the right circumstances?

Screenshot taken from the game the person was playing.


texts: How to convey the image of the surrounding L.A. desert via translation of 愕然?

texts:
I'm trying to find a suitable word/phrase in English that will convey the image shown below while also being suitable for a translation of 荒野, as I want to properly convey the image of a.... rather vegetative desert?? (works perfectly as to conveying the image, but I wonder; is it a suitable translation?)

Sentence I am translating:

  僕は自分の目に映る、見渡す限りの荒野を見て愕然とした。

https://jisho.org/search/荒野を見て愕然とした has a okay translation; but none of them seem to fit quite 'right' in terms of conveying the image:

Would combining English translations for  荒野 work as a accurate translation, as when I bing image searched "vast deserted plain", most of the images convey the sense of a desert with vegetation. But seeing as how I am combining English definitions for the same word, I now wonder, is that allowed when translating a single word?

EDIT: Would "desert wilderness" work in terms of translation from Japanese to English?


texts: Need help understanding a sentence I came across. Possible ては

texts:
I came across this sentence while playing Hatoful Boyfriend. At first I had trouble with the 外見が鳥類では part. Would I be correct in saying that the use of では in 外見が鳥類では is an example of the　ては construction, and if not could someone please help me understand the grammar behind it?

  はーとふる彼氏では外見が鳥類では脳内再生が困難という方の為に,　登場人物紹介に擬人化版のカットインも御用意しました


texts:
I am having some trouble telling the difference between the two. Don't they both mean "myself"? And so does 私自身, right? I don't get the difference, when you would you use any of them and how to choose. I guess that 自分 doesn't necessarily point to "me" and therefore could mean "yourself" or "himself" depending on context, but then does the same apply to 自身?
Someone help me ~~ ;w;


texts: Why do さ and ざ look the same except for the little strokes on the side?

texts:
I am learning hiragana and I am looking at sa, shi, su, se, so, and za, ji, zu, ze, zo. The characters look the same except the "z" characters have little strokes on the side of the character. Why is this? And what is the difference? When do we use it, and how?

Example:

さ vs  ざ


texts: Polite way of asking if someone's received an email

texts:
What's a polite way of asking in an email if you've received a previous email?

In my case, "polite" means "I'm emailing the tourism information staff of a place that mainly deals with domestic tourists, and I don't want to be seen as a rude foreigner".


texts:
I came across the following sentence and I'm having troubles understanding the grammar:

  …一条君の事好きだった…

一条 stands for the person's name. That being said, I understand 君 is a personal pronoun like you, as for the phrase 君の事 means something like "yourself" or "the real you".

What I don't get is the gramatics behind adding the person's name followed by a pronoun that refers to that person: 一条君の事. Maybe it has to do with the fact that there is no は or が particle to denote topic/subject?


texts: Can I use (てform verb) repeatedly with different verbs to emphasize different actions, or is it just with one verb?

texts: If not, is there a structure that will grammatically allow for that? Like "I eat right, exercise, stay consistent about it, and yet I've lost no weight in weeks!"


texts: What does *mono / もの* mean in the sentence below?

texts:
わたしから隠れられるものか。
watashi kara kakurerareru mono ka.
You can’t hide from me.

The site that had it displayed it that way. But I don't see the not being able to hide part in it. So the word もの must contain some clue to understand it. And because the kanji isn't provided, it is difficult to pinpoint the meaning from the dictionary as too many words show up with もの in it.


texts: I assume that 死んでられない is 死んでる in the negative potential form, which means it would mean something like "I can't be dying" or "I can't be dead". Can anyone help me understand this better?


texts: Difference between ''ato'' and ''mo'' to mean more/another

texts:
I learned that ''another bottle (of beer) please'' is ''ato ippon kudasai''.
But I heard someone say in a Japanese drama ''mo ippon kudasai''.
I know ''mo'' from ''mo ichi do''.
What is the difference between ''ato/mo ippon kudasai ?


texts: I was reviewing my Anki cards and it said that 減少 and 増加 are antonyms. Now, for extra practice, I try to give at least one kunyomi reading to each kanji. Then it occured to me that ふえる and へる sounded similar. This question may sound crazy and naive, but could they be etymologically related, considering that some words spelled with え now used to be spelled with へ?


texts:
I've just started learning Japanese, and I'm very confused by how 困る is used. For example, we had a sample dialogue that went (in response to some bad news):

A:「全然良くないですねえ。」
B:「ええ、困りましたねえ。」

I'm confused because since the news has just been delivered to B, why wouldn't the imperfective 困ります be used instead? My reasoning is that B "has a problem" now, but there was no problem earlier. Even if there was a hidden problem earlier, it's still there now (i.e. not over/completed yet).
I asked the instructor, who said something about the problem itself occurred in the past, so either one could work; I'm not quite convinced because I thought ~ました referred to completed occurrences only.
Is there a clearer explanation for why they used the perfective aspect? Or is my understanding of 困る incorrect?


texts: For the number zero, [零]{れい} is a Chinese origin word that is pretty much familiarized in Japanese. Nevertheless, it seems more popular to use the Western origin word ゼロ, which probably appeared later. Why is that? They are both two morae, and I don't see any phonological reason.


texts: Do you use 投入 to mean any input for a thin paper?

texts:
I usually see the 投入{とうにゅう} on labels on ATM or train station gate. Is this kanji applicable to all flat input devices, or does it also include coin slot? I can only infer this means some sort of input because of the kanji 入. When I search this in the dictionary, it states investment or circuit. How do you define this word in general?

I also see 投入場, which seems to me to be describe receiving area.


texts: How to ask the 'looks like' or appearance of something?

texts:
Good day to everyone.

I've been wondering on how you say 'looks like' or 'appears like' but not on terms of similarity. It is asking for a description or appearance on an object.

For example:
"What does your sister look like?"
"What does your new home look like?"

I've been looking around and usually I only find the word ~みたい or よう, but I think ~みたい and よう is to express similarity or things that are still abstract or used in prediction.

I was thinking of using どんな見える but I'm not sure. Like あなたの新しい家はどんな見えるんですか。

Is that correct? Or is there any other preferred word to ask it? Thank you in advance.


texts: How to form the "chi" sound, and others?

texts:
I was looking at a chart of hiragana and trying to find the characters to form the name of a song Inochi no Namae. I started with i, then no, but there's no chi. I then started wondering where chu and cho are, among others. I'm guessing it has to do with the diacritic marks. Then I got "na," and the "mae" threw me.

Any help appreciated.


texts:
I just try to learn Japanese from a drama, however I get stuck in figuring following sentence:

  分かりやすすぎる

which more or less means:

  It is too easy to understand you.

I know 分かり comes from the verb 分かる which means "to understand (v)". And やすすぎる which literally means too cheap. But I do not know how a premasu verb 分かり can be an infinitive (to understand). Does every premasu verb on its own will become an infinitive? Why don't use 分かること or 分かるの to make the verb to an infinitive?

Thank you.

EDIT:

What I mean by an infinitive is a construction like below:

  to + plain verb

for example

  To read, To understand

However they are not used as a verb like below

  I want to read, I need time to understand you.


texts:
彼は自分の権利に執着する。

  利欲に執着する人も数多い。

I thought all する verbs are transitive so they should take the particle を. How come this one doesn't?

Thanks!


texts:
貴方は生物だから、鉱物の死を理解できないのよ。だから鉱物の死を『視る』ためには、まず彼らと同じ指向性を持つための回線に繋がらないといけない。

I really can't understand this
I know that

AのためのB　→　B for the sake/benfit of A

But it does not make sense here, at least to me.


texts: How to parse this sentence into smaller bits?

texts:
How would I parse this sentence into smaller and more understandable bits?

  これらはヘッジファンドを自分のリソースとは無関係の投資先とみなすことのリスク管理上の問題点を浮き彫りにしている。


texts: Does the "odo odo" in this question mean fearful?

texts: it is my first time posting here and I have very little experience with Japanese language. Recently, a Japanese user in this game I play posted on my wall: どうもフレンド申請はおどおど受け可能ですか？ Does "odo odo" mean fearful in this context? I can't help but think I did something wrong to scare the other person...anyway, thank you very much in advance :)


texts: Is "フリーマーケット" sometimes assumed to be derived from "Free"?

texts:
Is the term "フリーマーケット" sometimes assumed to be derived from, or meaning, "Free market", as opposed to "Flea market"? (That is, having a false etymology)

There is a phrase "Free market" in English, but it has an unrelated meaning to "Flea market". (To be fair, describing a "Flea market" as "Free" makes some sense, as it's outdoors and vendors presumably have fewer restrictions than if they had a store in a shopping centre)

I've come across some sites talking about this in Japanese, such as Wikipedia, and this Japanese-language site about Japanese English, but haven't found any info in English.


texts: How to say "I was/am annoyed with myself"?

texts:
So I did something stupid today and I wanted to tell someone about it and say that "I was annoyed with myself for doing X".

My best guess is something like

  Xして、自分にイライラしちゃったの。

and

  昨日Xして、自分にイライラしてるの。

But are these really a valid sentences? And if they are, do they mean what I want to say or do they mean something else?

  Please could someone explain to me how to say "I was/am angry at myself
  that I did X yesterday"?


texts:
Found it in the lyrics of BUMP OF CHICKEN - Answer

  想像つかない昨日を越えて　その延長の明日を抱えて
  小さな肩　震える今　それでも笑った
  迷路の奥のダイヤのような
  届かなかった風船のような
  気づけなかった流星のような
  涙をもらった

I googled a lot without a clue finally. Is it a reference of a game or something?


texts: Is it common to end the sentence with 事?

texts:
Is  it common to end the sentence with  事　?
(not the imperative case)
I have often encountered sentences such as

我が望みは、爆裂魔法を放つ事。
My only desire is to let off Explosion.

I understand that 事 is the 事 of nominalization and it could be followed by だ　or です。
What nuances does the absence bring (if any) when compared to

我が望みは、爆裂魔法を放つ事だ。

or

我が望みは、爆裂魔法を放つ事です。

Due to the usage of 我が, I would be inclined to think it gives more formality, but I am not really sure.


texts:
I came across this Japanese tv commercial. Video and transcript are given below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOuwA6rtKsM

http://www.suntory.co.jp/news/article/12494.html

My question is: what's the meaning of 最初にこれ飲んどけって…ありますか? I think the key is to break down 飲んどけ but I don't know how this comes about. Seems to me it's made from 飲む (past) + どけ, but I can find only どける in dictionary and the combined meaning doesn't make sense.


texts: 「というのである」 basically same as 「ということである」?

texts:
I was asked to nominalize 「傾聴」とは耳を傾けて熱心に聞く(--?--)。 These were the options:

  (1)「傾聴」とは耳を傾けて熱心に聞くということである。
  (2)「傾聴」とは耳を傾けて熱心に聞くというのである。

With regard to grammar, I'd think that というのである can be substituted for ということである and be grammatically correct and have the same basic meaning. I feel that というのである is a superset of ということである.

I found When choose の/こと or というの/ということ but the answer is not very good.


texts:
I don't understand the function of と when used with と続きます

From this sentence in my textbook:

  世界で一番インスタントラーメンをたくさん食べる国は中国で451.7億食、その次はインドネシアの137.0億食、日本の51.0億食、アメリカの43.2億食、ベトナムの39.1億食、韓国の33.4億食と続きます。

I also found another similar sentence online:

  トップのリーダーは犬の行動学では「アルファ」と呼ばれ、以下「ベータ」「ガンマ」と続きます。

When referring to these resources, I'm not sure under which meaning と takes:

 デジタル大辞泉

How is と used in these sentences?

If I had to guess, maybe it's used as a defining/quoting particle?

（文や句をそのまま受けて）動作・作用・状態の内容を表す。引用の「と」。「正しい―いう結論に達する」

If so, I'm not sure how it fits in to the definition above.

What function does と take in these sentences?


texts: Can 対 be used in Japanese where "Versus" would be used in English?

texts:
Let's say you were comparing/contrasting two concepts e.g. in a title of an essay/article.

  Concept A vs. Concept B - Which is Better?

The above is just an example.

Can 対 be used? Also, how would you put 対 in a sentence? I am guessing like this:

  ConceptA 対 ConceptB

So, is there a Japanese equivalent of "versus"? Are there different ones depending on the context?

Thank you in advance.


texts: I don't understand the premotification of the noun コ一ト

texts:
真冬みたいなふっかふかのコ一ト

Is the coat described above a winter coat?


texts:
I was listening a conversation where a guy said そろそろ 失礼します。
I also heard inflections like 失礼しました。

  Google translate : 失礼します == Excuse me.
  is it correct ?

What is the proper meaning and usage cases for  失礼します ?


texts: Is there a common etymology for the kanji 巳 and 己 and 已?

texts:
The three characters 巳    and 己 and 已 are visually very similar, but do they have a common etymology or any overlap in terms of semantic content?

Any information would be appreciated.


texts:
The context here is that an elevator fell and someone died in the fall

  ワイヤを止めてる金具が外れて落下という線には間違いないんだけどね

I understand the sentence but i can't wrap my head around 線's meaning here


texts: Understanding and grammar meaning behind "やったことないしなー"

texts:
I'm reading a Japanese manga and I found this "maybe" slang sentence. A female character is asked to perform as actress in a school movie and her answer is:

  "えーー女優とか、やったことないしなー"

My guess is "An actress? I've never done it" but the grammar meaning looks obscure. Maybe I'm wrong but two negations arise: "ない" and "しなー." I think it's a contraction coming from "しない" or "しなかった". Probably some particles have been omitted too.


texts: Use of Causative-Passive Form and ために in this example

texts:
I’m struggling to translate and understand this example dialogue from my textbook.

学生：先生、どうして私たちはこんなにたくさん漢字を勉強させられるんですか。

先生：だれも勉強させていませんよ。だれのために勉強しているんですか。

学生: 自分です。

My attempt at translation:

Student: Teacher, why must we study lots of these kind of Kanji?

Teacher: Not everyone has to study them…..

Student: Myself.

I’m not entirely sure why the causative-passive form is being used in the first sentence. Why not just causative? I also don’t understand how to translate だれのために and have it make sense – ‘In order for who’?


texts: Meaning of ちゃっかり in ちゃっかり口には入れてた

texts:
I found a definition for ちゃっかり:自分の利益のために抜け目なく振る舞うさま however I'm still not quite sure of the nuance of this word example below.

  「ムキィッ！　カズさんだけズルイよ！みんな、僕にも『あーん』してっ？」

  ジュー！

  ジュー！

  ジュー！

  「ぎゃあああぁぁああっっ！！？って、みんな僕になんか恨みでもあるの！？」

  「あ、ごめん……つい……」

  「ふ、ふぇ……」

  「わ、悪い……」

  「まったくもう……もぐもぐ……カズさんにばっか、もぐぐ……贔屓するんだから……もぐもぐ」

  「ちゃっかり口には入れてたんだな……」


texts: ことになっている vs ようになっている

texts:
The definitions do not help with an umabiguous separation.
So I put forward an example:
      どあはしめると,じどうしゃてきにかぎがかかるようになっている
Why would ことになっている too not be apt here?
Is this dependent on the speakers perception - whether he believes an event/activity happens as part of a previous arrangement/decision;or a natural/spontaneous phenomenon.
In the above sentence - the act of the key turning automatically on the closing of the door can be interpreted either way?


texts: What's the difference between 取り消す vs 取り下げる?

texts:
I was adding sample sentences to my flash cards when I noticed that 取り消す　means withdraw.

  前言を取り消す

  withdraw [retract] one's statement

This reminded of a sample sentence for 取り下げる

  告訴を取り下げる

  retract an accusation

It's clear to me how 取る and 消す　contribute to the meaning "to withdraw, take back" but I don't know what the role or the "semantic contribution" of 下げる is in this case. 下げる means to lower, right? Also, how do these two compound verbs differ in terms of nuance?


texts: Why Can't A Name Be Written Literally In Japanese?

texts:
My Japanese knowledge is very limited, so I am not good in Japanese alphabet.
With the help of an online Japanese name converter, I tried writing a name in Japanese, but the resulting name does not sound exactly as it is in English. It seems some characters turn into other characters.

The name is: Siavash Divani
The result is: シアバシュ ディバニ (shiabashu dibani)

As you see in the parentheses, it sounds different from the English spelling. Is it possible to write the name in Japanese in a way that sounds just the way it is written in English? If the answer is no, why? Wikipedia says that only the kanji system has over 50,000 characters. So, it seems it should support writing foreign names in a way that sounds the way you like.


texts:
The sentence is 逃げ出したくなるような事も時にあって , which is from the song キボウノカケラ.
What the word たく means here?  I tried https://jisho.org/search/逃げ出したくなるような事も時にあって but it failed to parse.


texts: How does a noun phrase translate into a verb?

texts:
Ok. The whole sentence is:

Person A bandages Person B's arm.

Person B says: ありがとう。ずいぶん慣れた処置ね？看護婦でもやってたの？

I get what the sentences are saying.

But! For the life of me I can't parse ずいぶん慣れた処置ね？ into that makes any sense to me. All I can come up with is: "You do very accustomed treatments." Which I know barely makes any sense (grammatical or otherwise).

Can someone please break this down for me?


texts: Is this the correct way to identify Group 1 verbs?

texts:
From what I have been able to find I came up with this:

Verbs ending in:

える ける せる てる ねる へる める れる  げる ぜる でる べる ぺる

いる きる しる ちる にる ひる みる りる ぎる じる ぢる  びる ぴる

but not these verbs:

かえる はしる きる いる はいる

I spent time looking at different web pages on verbs but from what I see none of them seem to give a really good way to identify Group 1 and also show all the exceptions. Can someone confirm if the checks I am making are  correct or let me know if they are aware of more exceptions that I should take into account?

Thanks


texts: Does the phrase "まるで爪のようだと鬼ホミコーシスから食べ物視される" have a sense in Japanese?

texts:
"鬼ホミコーシス" is a kind of wordplay on nail disease onychomycosis. I try to write "Onychomycosis looks at (and regards) your nails as if it's a food" in Japanese.
There is a meme in russian internet subculture. It is a photo of smbd. with scornful or contemptuous look and a caption "He/She looks at (and regards) you as if you are s... (カス)"


texts: Is there a difference between とろっとろ and とろとろ?

texts:
Please help me understand what mean とろっとろ in this sentense「あのとろっとろの猫撫で声で」. May I translate とろっとろ like "looking sleepy" or it's meaning only "soft / runny"?

Person A: 悪い男か何人泣かしとんねん
あのとろっとろの猫なで声で
Person B: とろっとろ?

The way I understand it like "You are villain who is bringing people to tears with in such a sleepy sweetest voice". But I am not sure.


texts:
I just found the word "狙いを定める"on weblio. I don't think I fully understand what it means.
To give context, guy 1 is pointing a gun at guy 2. Guy 2 then says this.

そんなにしっかり狙いを定めて
何するつもり

Does the 1st line translate to "You're focusing so much on one place."?
Does 狙いを定める always relate to focus or concentrating or does it just mean "staring at something"?


texts: Meaning of song title まるつけ from the anime Given

texts:
As the title suggests, I'd like to know the meaning of the ending song from the anime Given titled まるつけ.

Does the first part mean round/circular or more appropriately, calm, since this more of an emotion than "circular" is? I don't know what the second part means.

Below are the lyrics I grabbed from a site (with source info at the end) if it helps in interpreting the meaning.

  寂しさは凶器だ
  人を傷つけてしまう
  それに気付けなくなる
  愛しさは病気だ
  胸が苦しくなるよ
  治し方はないんだ

  この日々は奇跡だ
  でも何かが足りない
  埋まらない　空欄
  君は　不思議だ
  その存在が僕を
  強くも　弱くもする

  僕らはどうかな　上手いこと
  「人間」をできてるかな
  どうかな　どうかな
  深まりながら　まるつけ

  優しさは積み木だ
  積み上げれば高くなる
  だけれど　脆くもなる
  正しさは正義だ
  だけど人は踏み外す
  それを救うのは何？

  僕らはどうかな　上手いこと
  「恋愛」をできてるかな
  どうかな　どうかな
  答えもなく　まるつけ

  僕らはどうかな　ふたりで
  「人生」をやれるかな
  どうかな　どうかな
  願いを込め　まるつけ

  「人生」は天気だ
  晴れたり降られたりする
  どちらも起こりうる
  どうかな　傘なら
  僕が持っておくから
  ふたりでひとつになろう？

Source: https://www.lyrical-nonsense.com/lyrics/given/marutsuke/


texts:
Reading an article from the Asahi Shimbun using Rikaikun, I'm trying to formulate a good translation for the first sentence:

  ある所で起きたことを、地名とともに象徴的に表す言葉がある。　→　{Upon Waking?}, along with the place name, there is a symbolic meaning.

The writer goes on to talk about the events after the Great Kanto Earthquake and a group of kids that took the initiative to find shelter, and some guy's wife whom he thought was missing and it was hard to bear.

Most of the article is easy for me to understand, but I am having trouble with that very first half.  I usually see 起きた as "having woken up" or the like, does it mean here "to have happened" ?


texts:
一二三 in Japanese is read as ichi ni san to mean, one two three.

But it can also be read as hifumi. What does hifumi mean?

From http://quest-for-japan.com/others/one-to-ten-in-japanese-2/ , it says it could be a name.

There are also manga characters which abbreviated to hi-fu-mi too (http://change-123.wikia.com/wiki/HiFuMi)

But what does hifumi actually mean? Where does it come from?


texts: What is the difference between にしては and としては?

texts: I know they are both used for comparisons, i.e. "as X...", "for a X....", but I don't understand the difference between them.


texts: What is the difference between うちに and 間に?

texts: I understand that they both roughly mean while/during, but I don't understand the difference in nuance between the two.


texts: What is the difference between spellings of 組み付ける?

texts:
I'm reading some technical documents and have come across two spellings:

組み付ける
and
組付ける

Both are used in nearly identical situations and both seem to mean "assemble" as a directive. Is there a particular reason to omit (or include) み？

Thanks!


texts:
I am aware that there is another question that talks about sentence-ending で. But the example in that question is in an informal setting.

I have an example of a sentence-ending で in a newspaper headline:

  カウチシート初導入 全日空がＡ３８０型機就航 来年５月に成田発着で

I know what the sentence means, and I am guessing the ending で is somehow still a variation of します, as it was explained in the answer to the other question. Is this correct?


texts:
I have read in several sources that it is grammatically incorrect to use は (topic particle) in relative clauses. However, I am almost certain that I have seen constructions like the following:

  学生ではない男子は今自分で遊んでいる。

Is this technically incorrect? Should it be 学生でない? Or is this は not considered the same particle that is forbidden in relative clauses?


texts: So, I'm trying to construct a sentence along the lines of "After I do this action, I do that action," but I'm having the absolute hardest time figuring out what syntax and verb conjugations to use. Specifically, I'm trying to say "After I wake up, I feed my cat". Could I get some assistance?


texts:
長い髪をゆったりと一つに纏めた少女である。光に透けて紫紺に輝く、色素の薄い髪。
Hi. What is the function of the に in bold? See through the light?
Thank you.


texts: Is 必要なくない the same as 必要なくはない?

texts:
Is 必要なくない the same as 必要なくはない?
I know that なくはない is a double negative and it means "It's not that... [sth isn't]..."
However, I asked my Japanese language partner about the difference and she can't explain it well, but she says that they are different.
I'm confused because I can't find any entry on なくない.


texts: What is the meaning of "...が出ない " in this sentence?

texts:
Context: there are two professor that are talking to each other; one is a long career professor while the other is a novice professor. This one lack of dignity,    seriousness.

The long career professor say to the novice professor:

  "私は」いつまでたっても教師の貫禄が出ないあなたに戸惑っています。"

Now, in this sentence I can not figure out the meaning of "貫禄が出ない". Maybe it is similar to "貫禄がない"?

May be the translation something like "Is your incorrigible lack of dignity as teacher that leave me perplexed (about you)."?

EDIT: Or "No matter how much time passes, (your) dignity as teacher will not come out, so I have perplexities about you/your request" (note: see the comment below).

Thk U in advance.


texts: How to say that you need to do something?

texts:
What's the best way to say that someone needs to do something, as in "5 English slangs you need to know"? I found some ways

知る必要があるの5つ英語のスラング。知らないといけないの5つ英語のスラング。知るべきの５つ英語のスラング。

Which is more correct or in what context should each be used? Is there a better way to say this?


texts:
For instance：

  昔の日本は身分の差が大きく厳しい上下関係があります。

Is 大きく modifying 厳しい? But the way I understand this sentence is in ancient Japan, there were large social divides and strict social hierarchy, which is in effect 大きくて厳しい上下関係があります。

Thank you!


texts: Help with understanding quoting in this passage, and past events or future?

texts:
I'm reading a story in Japanese (a short novel in digital format) and here's two lines from the end of the chapter I'm reading:

後に、争乱の全てを知ったガーディアンの一人が口にした。
そんな彼だからこそ、健二郎というガーディアンだからこそ、世界そのものに臨む資格があったのかもしれないと。

Context - before these two lines, the author was describing the nature of a character (健二郎) by stating some of his shortcomings, especially compared to his fellow "ガーディアン".
My question is, A) is line 2 a quotation linked to line 1 and is basically quoting what "ガーディアンの一人が口にした"/ "one of the guardians […] said". I'm not sure if it's a direct quotation of "ガーディアンの一人" because there was white spacing between the two lines ( spacing between paragraphs) rather than being in one paragraph together. I'm not familiar with Japanese novels, so perhaps this is a normal formatting in novels?
And B) as for parsing the first line is how I would do it:

later on, one of the guardians who knew everything about the dispute spoke.

But is "後に" referring to something that will happen later or something that has already happened later? I know 口にした is past tense and I'd be more inclined to believe the latter, however from the general context, it makes me think this line is describing a future event. So perhaps it would be better parsed as "later on, one of the guardians who knew everything about the dispute would say it to him." And then insert quotation. Your help is greatly appreciated!


texts: What's the difference between 請求, 要求, and 需要?

texts:
Here's my take:

請求 is like a compensation demand which is naturally expected to be satisfied or maybe even based on the law. Most examples feature bills payments.

要求 is more like a strong demand from the other party without any implications, like a pay raise demand.

But what about the last one 需要? From the sample sentences I conclude this is a social/market demand, so the antonym in English would be "supplies".

Please correct or confirm my guess.


texts: I'm looking for slang that means something like "tough guy" in a complimentary way. If someone did something awesome like fight off a robber or save someone, to the point where women envy him and men want to be him... so now people might refer to him with this term when discussing him, or even yell it at him on the street.


texts: 「だといえども」はどういう意味ですか？~What does だといえども mean?

texts:
能力のある三公・摂政・関白が高齢だといえども辞めてはならない

I understand everything in this except for だといえども, and I'm kind of struggling to find a good explanation of what it means. Anyone have any ideas?


texts: I've come across this phrase (逢へさうな) and don't really understand what's going on grammatically. It's in the context of haiku poetry, I'm assuming the kanji reading is just "a" as in "逢う", but I can't find this form elsewhere online to know if it's an idiom or a particular conjugation of the verb. Any insight would be appreciated.


texts: what kind/conjugation of verb is used in this pattern?

texts:
In this pattern: Vばいいのに. (literally, it would be good if you ~).

What conjugation of verb should I use here?

Is this correct: お腹空いた時、お食事を食べればいいのに。?


texts: How do we tell whether two hiragana should fit in one mora or two?

texts:
How do we tell whether 2 hiragana should fit in 1 "mora" or 2?

For example, why is it that 四季 and 士気 are pronounced as "Shiki" 1 mora, whereas 式 and 指揮 are pronounced as "Shi Ki" 2 morae? N.B. Links bring to a dictionary.

What I meant is that according to the audio files I've linked to in the question, there is a significant difference in the "gap" between the two hiragana.

Why is it that although 式 and 四季 have the same hiragana (しき), 式 has both the clear sounds of "shi" and "ki" (2 distinct "sounds") whereas in 四季 the し and き are slurred to form a single "sound" ?


texts: I’m looking for a term in Japanese that conveys the same sense of repeated design with minimal or limited variation that is implied by the English phrase “cookie cutter”.  My particular interest is in trying to describe software project templates, but this could also refer to the design of houses, paintings or other work.


texts: According to a dictionary website that I use, the character 終 has multiple kun readings. Is there any reason for this? Are there other kanji characters that have a similar case? Do their definitions differ slightly from one another?


texts: What's the difference between 学科, 教科 and 科目

texts:
I've seen all three used in somewhat similar situations.
What are the differences between them, and in which cases should i use one over another?


texts:
Take the following sentence.
人は魚が好きだ.
I thought this meant "Person is likable fish" (I'm new at this)
I was told it meant "People like fish"
Why?


texts:
Apparently Japanese family names in most cases consist of two kanji. Do Japanese people associate a meaning with these?

Take for example a name like 栗山. Is a Japanese speaker conscious about the fact that the kanji mean "chestnut mountain" or is it just the sounds put together without additional meaning?


texts: What's the difference between 繁盛 and 隆盛?

texts: According to Jisho they both mean "prosperity; flourishing; thriving", but unfortunately it doesn't give any example for 隆盛 and a Google search isn't helpful, I wasn't able to find any discussion about how they differ. I tried Weblio too, but as far as I can understand it I wasn't able to find an entry for 繫盛.


texts:
私はとうとう焦れったいとでも云うような目つきで、お前の方を見返した。

I know there is という, but this is my first time to see でも after と, so I can't understand the uncommon grammar structure of とでも云う. I am wondering whether でも here has the same usage as that of コーヒーでも飲みませんか &避暑にでもいったら元気になるかもしれない


texts: What do repeated ８s mean in internet slang?

texts:
I was watching a live video stream the other day.  To my surprise, other viewers kept flooding the chat with the number eight!  My screen kept filling up with messages like these:

  ８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８８
  ➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇➑➇
  8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８8８

What do these messages mean?


texts: Are non-base-10 numbers ever written in kanji?

texts:
This morning I was thinking about the joke "There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't".  Considering if this would translate well to Japanese, I figured it would have to use 十 to represent the 10.  But 十 represents the actual value of 10, not just the digits '1' and '0' juxtaposed.  However, if you wrote it as just 一〇 (or possibly 一零), it (almost) completely ruins the joke.

So does Japanese mathematics even write numeric notation using kanji?  If so, how are radices greater than 10 handled?  Because traditionally, the symbols used are letters, starting with A=10, B=11, and so on.  Presumably Japan had mathematicians long before encountering (Latin?) letters, so how did they represent the >10 values?

Realize this may be too localized and not generally helpful.  Close if necessary.


texts: What does もの in the following sentence mean?

texts:
In the Wikipedia article https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%89%B9%E5%88%A4%E7%9A%84%E6%80%9D%E8%80%83#CITEREF%E9%81%93%E7%94%B02001, it talks about critical thinking and the details that come with it.

In one section, it talks about the guidelines to critical thinking. One guideline in particular says:

  利用可能なもの、最初の思いついた答えに固執しない。

I think it translates to something like “Available things, do not stick to the initial answer you came up with.”

But I think I am missing something here. Maybe もの has a meaning that connects the first part to the rest of the sentence.

Please help me.


texts: Word games in Japanese (similar to Newspaper games in English?)

texts:
I am a big fan of what I would call "word games" that are often found in English newspapers like crosswords, cryptograms, scrambled word games, etc.

Usually games like these somehow involve overlapping letters of perpendicular words, rearranging letters to form a word, or something similar.

I wanted to know if there are similar common games in Japanese, not necessarily found in a newspaper. I found  Shiritori which is kind of similar where the last (relevant) mora of a word is used to start the next word, and so on.

Does there exist a poem that uses direction to change its meaning?
The comments/answers in this post may point to these not being common.


texts: What reading would be used for "鮫" if it's a last name or a first name?


texts: What is the difference between 月々 and 毎月?

texts:
I wanna ask you abou these synonym words. Here are the sentences.
彼は家賃を月々ちゃんと払う. (He pays his rent regularly every month)
彼は毎月積金している(He lays by some money every month)
What is the different between 月々 and 毎月? Both are has same meaning 'monthly; every month'. I read those sentences above and has no idea where the different is.


texts:
Here's the sentence:

  「だから昨日も言ったろ、ボクもキミも怒られるタイプなんだって。」

だから as 'therefore' doesn't really work here so I'm going for "that's why".
However, I think 言ったろ means "did I not say". Putting it together I get

  That's why, did I not say yesterday that both you and me are the type who get told off.

But to make that work in English I need the comma or a pause for thought after "that's why" otherwise I get something non-grammatical.

Is the sentence grammatical in Japanese or is a pause needed like my English translation, or is my translation just wrong? Is there a better way to think about だから and 言ったろ?


texts: Translation Help with a HelloTalk Message

texts:
I'm new to Japanese, I've only been studying consistently for about a month. Technically I started two months ago but I was really busy for finals so I didn't do much for 3 weeks. Anyway, I heard HelloTalk was a good way to start using stuff that you learn to cement it into your memory. I did a self introduction message, and I mentioned that I'd been studying Japanese for two months, one of the comments was this:

  2ヶ月でこんなにできるなんてすごい！！

I get that the general idea is that she is impressed by my　Japanese　after　only　two　months　of　studying.　(This　totally　sounds　like　a　humblebrag,　doesn't it? Yet I want to understand the sentence structure better.)

  Nikagetsu de konnani dekiru nante sugoi!!

First question, am I right in assuming she is using で as a particle here? I thought you only used it after locations, however I've never heard of "dekonnani" before.

Second question, is なんて a typo? Did she mean to say なんで?

A full sentence breakdown would be awesome but any help would be appreciated :)


texts: Origin of seemingly opposite figurative meanings of 浮く

texts:
I've recently come across the following two definitions of 浮く in two different stories:

Being cheerful, happy (in context the character was happy about spending time with friend and telling her それでちょっと浮かれてるのかもね？)
Feeling out of place, unsteady (in context the character was feeling bad about being ostracized by others and his friend was asking what was going on because 見るから浮いてるもん)

What's the origin of these two seemingly opposite meanings?


texts: Significance of the kanji 茶 in the set phrase 滅茶滅茶{めちゃめちゃ} / 目茶目茶{めちゃめちゃ}

texts:
While having fun looking up random words in my dictionary software, I found out that the phrase "めちゃめちゃ", which is often used in colloquial sentences like "めちゃめちゃかわいい" has two kanji variants:

  滅茶滅茶
  目茶目茶

For the first variant, 滅茶滅茶, I can imagine the significance of 滅, which implies "destruction", but why with "tea"? The second variant is even absurd (or can I use "mecha-mecha" as a pun here :P), because it's from "eye" and "tea".

Does the kanji character "茶" has any significance in the phrase, or are they just ateji?


texts:
I'm dealing with some TV character's lines that speak in slang.

Speaking about a snob girl, she say this to another character near to her:

  名門かなんだか知らねえが、あのうえから目線が本当にむかつくぜ。

To me, the general meaning seems to be "I don't care if she came from a noble family, (but) that her haughty behaviour really piss me off!", but I can't figure out what is that "かなんだか", before 知らねえ.

May you help me to understand? Thks in advance!


texts: I was reading Abe Shinzo's twitter for some explainable reason, and I found a tweet where he says 心を無にする. It feels wonderfully Japanese to me given the fact that it involves heart and doing nothing, and while I can read it, I have no idea what exactly its actually trying to say, thus I ask... what does it mean?


texts:
This question is inspired by this question.
In English I can quote something in two ways:

  She said "Seeing you smile is better".
  She said that seeing me smile is better.

One uses quotes, and the other uses 'that'.
So what happens in Japanese?

This one I think I am happy with:

  彼女は「笑っているあなたを見ている方がいい」と言った。

I think this one is ok. I see things like it alot in the book I'm reading now:

  彼女は言った。「笑っているあなたを見ている方がいい」

What about this one with no quotes (more like the link and I've changed the pronoun):

  彼女は言った。笑っている俺を見ている方がいい。

Or do I need と on the end to connect it to the previous sentence (exactly like in the link)?

So, which of these variants are correct? Are there any more? Are some better in writing rather than spoken? Any wise words on this subject would be appreciated. Thanks.


texts: How do I say organize in Japanese as in organize an event?

texts: I am aware of the word for organizing a cabinet, organizing a room, but what is the word when one wants to say that a person organized an event, as in a person arranging an event or a gathering?


texts:
俺が疑問に思った一名の欠員について、皆も何かしら不審に思う点があるらしい。

For 疑問に思った does "〜に思うこと is equivalent to 〜に対して思うこと." apply? Or is it 疑問と思った?

For 不審に思う, is it mandatory to read it as the adverbial of 不審, or do you interpret it the same as 疑問に思った?


texts: Expressing doing something in case of/as a precaution for some other possible occurrence

texts:
I see that 「念のために」 is an expression that means "just in case" in general, but how does one express "I'm going to do A in case B happens"?

For example, "I'm writing in pencil in case I make a mistake." Would that be translated simply as 「間違えるから、鉛筆で書いています。」, or is there a better way to capture the nuance of doing something expressly for the purpose of insurance against some other possible occurrence?


texts: When angry we shout "F***!", but what do 日本人 shout?

texts:
I have to ask, when you kick a Japanese boy in the nuts or whatever, ignoring the obvious sounds a human makes when entering into such a state, what bits of language will they impulsively shout in their anger.

I ask this as in English we have a beautiful array of anglo saxon gems to choose from, but in Japanese what is the equivalent?


texts: Meaning of ブラック in this sentence about work

texts:
A Japanese friend that works as a teacher told me he wants to quit his job and come to work in Europe. I asked why and he answered:

  EUに行くのが夢。 あと、日本社会の中でも教える仕事はスーパーブラック

What is the meaning of ブラック in this sentence? I understand it has a negative connotation, but what does it imply actually? Is the job of teacher not respected in Japanese society? I spent one year in Japan and it didn't look like it to me. Does he mean that the job is tiring or underpaid?

In general, what is the meaning of ブラック when it does not refer to the color?
 Thank you for your help!


texts: How to split "をしていたとされ" to correct words? I try to split to words and query in dictionary but get nothing result

texts:
I tried to split and query をしていたとされ in https://tangorin.com/ but get nothing result.

  日本軍占領下の江蘇省で日本の特務機関ジェスフィールド76号に協力をしていたとされ
  https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B1%9F%E6%B2%A2%E6%B0%91


texts: Is there an online list of frequently used words in the news?

texts:
There are a few books with lists of words and kanji compounds found in the news. Like this one, this one, and this one.

However, unless one wants to spend a lot of time doing data entry, they don't lend themselves well to modern flashcard programs, both online and off.

I was wondering if there were web pages and sites that might have this kind of thing, so the words can copied more efficiently into one's flashcard program?

I suppose there are potentially two categories of words, ones that are perennially in newspapers (political, economic, and crime related terms), and ones that try and capture the current zeitgeist (popular people, recent incidents, names of places where things happened.) Both types would be helpful.

One with definitions and readings would be best. English would be ideal but not required.

On a related note, what would you search for on Google to find this kind of thing? I went along these lines:

  新聞の最近よく使っている言葉

... But it didn't get me much.


texts: あからさま: difference with 明らか and its connotation

texts:
I was working on a mock JLPT question requiring me to choose one best option where あからさま is used correctly:

１　お酒を飲んだので顔があからさまになっている。
２　あの勝負はあからさまな八百長だ。
３　言い訳をしても事実はあからさまだ。
４　この料理はあからさまに美味しい。

I think options 1 and 4 are off the table. I chose option 3, but the correct answer turned out to be option 2.
あからさま reminds me of 明らか but I fail to grasp their difference. I looked up the definitions:

あからさま　包み隠さず、明らかなさま。また、露骨なさま。
明らか　はっきりとしていて疑う余地のないさま。明白なさま。

Option 2 seems to say 'That match was an obvious/undisguised set-up.'
Option 3, if used 明らか instead, probably means 'Even you come up with excuses, the truth is clear/obvious.' Which also makes sense (to me), especially when the definition of あからさま equated it with 明らか, so I don't exactly understand why あからさま is wrong here. Must あからさま suggest something bad is out in the open, like option 2?
My questions:

Why can't あからさま be used in option 3, and can 明らか be used in options 2 and 3?
How do I properly differentiate between あからさま and 明らか?
Is there a positive, negative, or neutral connotation to あからさま and 明らか?


texts: What is the middle character in Todd (Katakana)

texts:
While learning Katakana, I was instructed to try and translate my name Todd. I ended up with トド.

When I look it up online, I see トッド everywhere. ッ appears to be 'tsu'.

I think I am missing something about combined characters. Can anyone provide some clarification?


texts:
What is the role of と particle in 「二度としない」? Is it quotative, adverbialisation, change of state or supposition?

Also, what extra nuances does it contribute to the expression compared to if も is used instead (二度もしない)?


texts: What is the difference between 美人 and 佳人?

texts: Both words mean "beautiful woman", but I guess the reason two words exist is because of some nuance. Am I right ?


texts: please help me break down this confusing sentence involving the usage of は and の particle and also ことにする

texts:
実のある話はしないことにしています。
I'm not going to tell you anything substantive.

I found this in a bio of an author. after finding the meaning with the help of an auto-translator
I had a several questions,

I think 実のある話 is a set expression but does it make sense grammatically? my problem is specifically with 実のある. I remembered that the の particle can replace an unidentified noun after an adjective so that we can talk about a general noun in a sentence; like for example 白いのは好き。
is something similar happening here?

why is particles は used along the verb しない here?
the use of は implies that there’s an action taken place that has to do with 実のある話. and that action should be talking, right? so why is しない used here instead of any other verb that conveys the meaning of talking; the first thing I can think of being 言う?

why did he chose to put it this way? this is the part that confuses me the most.
why not just say for example:

実のある話のことを言いません

he used しないこと just so that he can later say しています which sounds extremely odd to me. does 実のある話はしないこと imply a more specific meaning?


texts: Nuance of Aに甘えてしまう, to spoil A or to depend on A

texts:
I have the following passage:

S の…息子の時はあの子の自身の意志の固さもありましたが...
私もまだまだ未熟で……
正直、あの子に甘えてしまって今に至ります
その息子からも二人のことはよく考えて欲しいと
その機会を与えるようにお願いすると
強く…言われまして

Curetnly my translation of it is:

S…My son, even back then had an iron will…and I was also still too young, so...
Honestly, I’ve been relying on that kid, ever since.
Whenever I wanted to have a proper conversation about us whenever asked to be given a chance for that...I'd receive a... strong response.

The problem is the に甘えてしまって bit, because apparently Aに甘える can both mean to spoil A or to depend on A.
Context wise, S, the son of the speaker has always had a firm grasp on how things should be done and what he wants to do in life. And doing that he eventually joined the same organisation as his mother (speaker) and has been one of her most important employees. Therefore I'm assuming she is saying she has been relying on him, not spoiling or coddling him.
Then again as seen here, his behavior back then could not be said to be nice, but again it's not so much the behavior of someone spoiled. Like he isn't shrinking his dutues.
Also the passage is from a talk between two mothers. The other one has a child nearing the age where she decides what she wants to do in life, while speaker's child is a grown up so the other one was asking the speaker how was it when her kid was deciding on his path.
Sooo, what's your thinking on this to me strange duality of に甘える?


texts:
Ok, I have this word "構成".
If you look in translate it means
"constitution" or "configuration"
Also "composition" or "organization".

But I am reading a japanese technical document, where this word appears in phrases like
"システム構成”　”基本構成”　or ”ソフトウエア構成” and to me, this sounds more like
"System structure" or "Basic Structure" or "Software Structure"

My question is, is this translation possible? Am I understanding it wrong?
Somehow "Configuration" sounds really really wrong...


texts:
I'm writing a letter to my friend, and want to same something like:

  "While writing this letter, the air is grey and smells strongly of smoke" (discussing forest fires near my town).

I'm stuck on how to describe smell of the smoke.  The best I have so far is:

  手紙{てがみ}　を　かきながら、くうき　は　はいいろ　そして　かおり　は　とても　けむい　です。

It just doesn't sound right.  How do I describe this strong smell of smoke with the air?

EDIT: Spell-o　こうき　→  くうき


texts: Can the honorific お be used with a person's name?

texts: I have seen the honorific used in front of nouns and was wondering if it can be used in front of a person's name. Thank you.


texts: How to translate “ghosting” (the dating/social term)

texts: I’m summarising a film for class and there’s a pivotal scene in which someone gets “ghosted” by their lover, but I’m not sure how this concept translates in Japanese. I could use a workaround (“she stopped contacting him”), but I’m curious to know if a slang term exists for this in Japanese and what it is? Thanks!


texts: Could you help me to understand the difference between「湿る」「濡れる」?


texts:
Whats the difference between によって and で ?

Example:

台風によって屋根が飛ばされた。
Can I use で in this sentence?-> 台風で屋根が飛ばされた。

Thanks.


texts: Could someone tell me why is よう being used in this sentence?

texts:
From the context I think he meant: Why was that person so scared?

But what does this よう mean? Couldn't it be just 怯え?

  あの怯えようは何だ？


texts: Can you help me to understand how という is used?

texts:
I recently came across the following sentence:

  他人が悪い事をしているからといって自分もそうしてよいということにはならない。

I understand the sentence. It means that if other people do bad things and you also do bad things, it doesn't become a good thing (i.e. two wrongs don't make a right.)

However, I don't understand what という means, and what purpose it serves in the sentence.

I know that という can be used to refer to the name of something.

For example: これはというスマトフォン。（This is called a smartphone.)

What does it mean in the first sentence I gave?


texts: What does "genki desu" mean in Japanese?

texts: I know it is used to respond to someone or something, but i don't get the meaning of it?


texts:
I recently watched a Japanese drama titled 「おせん」. The title comes from the first name of the main character - the character's name is 半田{はんだ}仙{せん} who is a young お上{かみ} of a traditional restaurant.

My question is: is it common for the honorific お prefix (I guess it is used like that) to be added to names? How is it used? Other people in the drama often address this character as おせんさん. Is it normal to add both お and さん?


texts: What's the difference between oyogemasu and oyogu koto ga dekimasu?

texts: I know they both mean "I can swim". But when using the potential form of a verb is there nuanced difference between -emasu/raremasu and koto ga dekimasu or are they completely interchangeable?


texts: Is it appropriate to use [先生]{せんせい} when addressing a ski instructor?

texts:
Is it appropriate to use [先生]{せんせい}, either by itself or as an honorific after their name, when addressing a ski instructor?

I'm not sure whether it'd be appropriate because:

Using 先生 in this context may be disrespectful of other kinds of teachers, in that skiing instructor may be a less honorable profession than other kinds of teaching.
It may be too formal or cold or impersonal, and therefore not appropriate for a recreational activity.


texts: Sentence topic without grammatical function

texts:
From here:

  このスポーツは、海の上を走る水上オートバイから足に付けたボードにホースで水を送って、ボードから出る水の強い力で空中を飛びます。
  In this sport you fly through the air using the force of water ejected from a board attached to the feet. Water is sent to the board using a hose from a jet ski that runs along the surface of the sea. (Wow. I couldn't get that into just one English sentence.)

Sometimes I see a sentence where the topic appears to serve no grammatical function in the rest of the sentence. This seems to be one of those cases. Normally the topic serves as the subject or object of one of the verbs in the sentence, or sometimes it can be adverbial.

In my English translation I used "In this sport" so that the topic adverbially acts on 飛ぶ. If I'd tried to write this sentence in Japanese I'd similarly have begun with このスポーツでは. Would I be wrong to do that? Am I missing something in the way I think about topics?


texts:
Someone (Aさん) asks a question on a forum. Bさん provides an answer. I see the answer as incomplete, so I correct Bさん and provide some supplementary information. Aさん, the OP, replies to me:

あ、本当だ。完全に見落としてました。ありがとうございます‼

I thought that was the end of it. But then Bさん says back to me:

打ってなかった

I am thrown by this response. I don't know what Bさん is trying to say or if they are displeased because I corrected them (not the first time). What does 打つ mean here? "It didn't occur to me"? What's also off about that response is everybody is very polite on the forum, basically 敬語 all the way. Bさん too, except in this one repsonse to me.　えっため口？なんで？俺、何か悪いことした？ That's how I feel. So what do they mean?
A little more background: it is a math question. The correct answer includes two possibilities, and Bさん only gives a number based on one of the possibilities. I complement their answer by showing another possible option.


texts:
I recently found out that Jordan (the country) is spelt ヨルダン, not ジョーダン, which is how it's spelt in a person's name.

Is this based on how it's pronounced in Arabic and/or Hebrew, or how it's pronounced in a European language other than English?


texts: What is the meaning of 七五三 in the sentence, 七五三のしゃしんです。

texts:
I was looking at the following sentence under a picture that I unfortunately cannot provide:

  七五三のしゃしんです。

I believe the sentence reads "It's a picture of 753"... which doesn't make sense.

I know that we have the numbers here 七 (7), 五 (5) and 三 (3). However, I don't believe numbers are structured like this in Japanese, as far as I know. Methinks this sentence is trying to say the number 753, but in Japanese, wouldn't that be instead written as 七百五十三?

Am I wrong, am I merely interpreting this incorrectly, or is there another problem I am overlooking? May someone please help me and correct me if I am wrong?

ありがとうございます。


texts: "You and I both know full well" = 「二人ともよく知っている」?

texts:
I'm writing a section of a relay manga for Hokkaido University's Manga Research Society.

How you do you express "You and I both know full well..." and "our actual skills" in formal お嬢様っぽい Japanese?

I have translated it from:

"You and I both know full well that our strength isn’t physical fighting.  You really don’t want me to hurl such a heavy encyclopedia at such a pretty face, now, do you?  So instead of that, let’s compete by using our actual skills."

as:

  「運動能力には、私たちは運動が得意ではない、二人ともよく知っているでしょうね。こんなに重い百科事典を、そんなにきれい顔に投げ付けさせることをしたくありませんね。その代わり、実績のスキルでバトルしましょうよ。」

Is 運動競技 or 実戦 better than 運動能力?
Is another word more suitable than 実績?


texts:
残り僅かな命をご堪能

According to a dictionary, tannou can be used as an adjective or a verb (to enjoy, be satisfied, to be skilled, ect.) But I don't understand it here.

  ►残り僅かな命をご堪能
  手元に残す切り札のカード
  I know ここで引くなどご法度
  ギリギリで生きるのがスタンダード

This is the full line, which might help you with the context. It’s from a song I was translating. I don’t need help with the lines below it, and I just didn’t want to get deleted if someone thought I was asking for a bulk translation (because I'm not).


texts:
国土交通省は、港がある県や市などと一緒にクルーズ船のための岸壁をつくる計画です
  The ministry, together with cities and prefectures that have ports, has a plan to build wharfs for cruise ships.

If I strip the example sentence to the important parts I have

  国土交通省は計画です
  The ministry is a plan

I keep seeing sentences of the form AはBです which seem to mean 'A has B' rather than 'A is B'.

When and why is this possible? Is it incorrect to say:

  国土交通省は計画があります

What is the difference?


texts: What does 「ひざっこぞうをたたいてみるよ」 mean?

texts:
This is a line from the song 「結婚しようよ」by 吉田{よしだ}拓郎{たくろう} (youtube link)
Relevant piece of lyrics:

雨が上がって雲のきれ間に
お陽様さんが見えたら
ひざっこぞうをたたいてみるよ
結婚しようよMMMM

Source
When I googled it, I came across 膝を叩く which seems to be used when you "get" something (an element of surprise where you tap your knees to show it) but I don't think it has that meaning here.
Also, I could not find a proper meaning for ひざっこぞう but I could find a meaning for ひざこぞう (kneecap) which means the っ is probably used for emphasis.


texts:
I found the next sentence:

懐かしい。目を閉じれば、彼女との昔の事がまざまざと思い出せる

It's marked with a が because of the adverb? Or is it something else?


texts: How did わし etc. become stereotypical "old people" pronouns

texts:
After reading this answer about the pronoun あちし, I became curious about how certain pronouns came to be associated with older people. As I see it, there are four main possibilities:

People just decide at some point in their life to start using a pronoun that matches their old age. Seems unlikely.
The standard pronunciation of 私 becomes difficult to pronounce as you age, leading to the variant pronunciations. However, most men don't use 私 to refer to themselves in casual speech, and these pronouns don't seem to be associated with women...
Pronouns such as わし were common and fairly neutral, like 僕, about sixty years ago.
It's all a lie invented by Japanese media to easily characterize old coot characters.

Which of these holds the most true, if any?

(For what it's worth, I've never heard a real person call himself わし yet.)


texts: What are the special coins and notes used that honor the Olympics and the new Emperor called?

texts: I understand that some new Olympic and Imperial coins/notes are being introduced into general circulation. I just want to know what these special Olympic and new Emperor coin/notes would be called.


texts: Is there any further implication to be gleaned from this and how did this meaning come to be? Is there any suggestion that the male genitals are somehow an obstacle to enlightenment?


texts:
How do I use an i-adjective and na-adjective together to describe a noun? For example, how do I say "beautiful, red torii"?

  綺麗な鳥居 (na-adjective): beautiful torii
  赤い鳥居 (i-adjective): red torii


texts: Variations on sentence-ending 「〜だと!?」 (used when repeating something in surprise)

texts:
In a recent question, we talked about using sentence-ending 〜だと after a verb, quoting something you found surprising.  The example given in the linked question is as follows:

  Ａ「なんでもします！」
  Ｂ「なんでもするだと!?」

I'm curious what variations だと can take with this usage.  I can think of four, substituting です for だ and substituting って for と:

だと
だって
ですと
ですって

Which of these variations are possible with this usage?  Did I leave any variations out?

(Unfortunately, I'm not sure where to look this up.  For some reason, dictionaries don't seem to list だと, even though its usage seems to be different from a simple combination of だ and と.)


texts: In some song lyrics I was reading it said 飛んでけ; and I was curious as to what the け meant. The translation just says leap out.


texts:
I am struggling with the meaning of this sentence:

  「いい人そうな方ですが…いい人なだけに…ね」

(Context: Two students are walking down the hallway and are casually talking to each other, while a guard person or something mistakes them for making out and scolds them for that. After the guard introduces himself, one of the students says the sentence above.)

Consindering this: Meaning of "だけに"
 Could it mean: Because X is a good person, X is said to be a good person? (If X would not be a good person X would not be said to be a good person)


texts:
調べた会社は「ルールがなくなると、就職する会社を探すための時間が長くなって、一生懸命勉強できなくなると心配する学生もいます。...」と話しています。
  The investigating company says "If they get rid of the rules then the time to find a company who is hiring will get longer and there will be students who worry that they can no longer study hard".

1) Is the と in bold quotative or conditional? I feel as though this could be translated in two ways:
a) There are students who will worry if/when they can't study hard.
b) There are students who will worry that they can't study hard.

2) Does ための add anything important here, or can I omit it without changing the meaning/nuance?

3) Not sure about 就職する in 就職する会社. I translated this as "companies who are hiring", but 就職する means "to find a job" not "to find an employee" so I think I might have got it wrong.


texts:
I came across this piece of sentence in a jlpt n2 practice book.

"一度はあきらめたが、まだ可能性はあるような気がしてならなかったので、もう一度やってみることにした"

Which translates as this "Though I had initially given up, I still felt there was a chance so I decided to go ahead and give it another try"

I can't seem to understand why is ならない used nor its function in this particular sentence. "一度はあきらめたが、まだ可能性はあるような気がしたので、もう一度やってみることにした" should have the same meaning right?


texts: What does the て and た forms look like before 音便?

texts:
I learned that the reason why て and た forms conjugate the way they do is because of a phenomenon known as 音便. And I know that 音便 happens because it's easier to say the word this way.

However, what is easier to say with 音便? For example, 使って has been 音便される, right? S what would it have been if 音便 did not occur?

My guess is that it must be one of the six forms (連体、連用、終止、未然、仮定、命令) + て, with the 連体 and 連用 being the most probable. My guess would be something like 使いて or 使うて. Are my guesses right?


texts:
I am currently staying in Japan for four weeks. I learned to read & write kana and some basic Japanese (basic particles and sentence structure and some vocabulary), but as you can imagine I’m still struggling with a lot of day-to-day stuff ;-)

I noticed that, in shops, basically nobody greats me with こんにちは konnichiwa or こんばんは konbanwa. If I do so, I get greeted back the same way (probably out of courtesy). But of course I would like to greet people (in this case store clerks) the common way. But, for the life of me, I can’t understand what exactly they are saying when greeting me. I thought for a while for hello they say すみません sumimasen, but I couldn’t find any reference for すみません being used in such a way. For goodbye, I honestly have no idea what to say (or what they are saying). I usually say “ありがとう ございます arrigato gozaimasu” and leave.

TL;DR: What’s the common way to say hello and goodbye in stores in Japan? An answer with kana (no kanji) would be very much appreciated :-)

Edit: Thanks for pointing out the duplicates in the comments, they are very helpful. I still accepted bjorn’s answer since it was also explained what the clerks actually say when I enter a store and what to say when I leave. Bonus points for adding the section about restaurants, the answer really helped me :-)


texts: いいわけないだろ -- I'm not sure how to translate it properly

texts:
I came across the phrase which I wrote in the title while reading a manga and I don't get it very well. At first I thought it was actually 言い訳 and the author didn't want to use kanji but after reading a few examples when I searched sentences, it's actually 良いわけない, so it would roughly translate as "That's no good"? Let me give a little bit of the context.
It's about two teenage boys and they have magic powers. Let's call them A and B. Each boy can summon a magical weapon. A is a better magic user and can wield his weapon very well while B is less trained, but at least he can summon his weapon. B asks A to train him.
*B summons/takes out his magical weapon and A says the following:

  これ実家で保管してるやつでしょ？持ち出しちゃってよかったの？ (Is he saying "This the thing that is kept in your family, right? Isn't great that you can bring it out?")

I know it's a very rough translation...And now B replies with:

  いいわけないだろ。早く使い方教えろよ。

So, I get the last part ("Hurry up and teach me how to use it!'), but the first one, I feel like he wanted to say "this isn't good" or even 'good enough'. It's just this small part that I need to know to understand something in regards to their powers.
Can someone help me out, please?


texts: In MS Excel 区切り位置 is a label that corresponds to English "Text to Columns" functionality.  I understand that 位置 means place, but cannot find any translation of 区切り and cannot combine these two together to make any sense of it.


texts: Putting words like who and where together

texts:
In my text book I have a sentence I’m glad I came across. I’m not sure if Iv translated it correctly but if I have I’m happy I found this!
「いつ誰と来て何を食べたか覚えてない」
Does this mean “when and who I came with and what we ate, I can’t remember”
If you put いつ誰と来ましたか would this mean when and who did you come with?
Thank you!


texts:
I wonder if PPAP song by Kazuhito Kosaka actually has a secret meaning?

As far as I know, words in Japanese can mean several different things depending on their conjuctions or one's interpretation.

Question: Is there a secret second meaning in words like "Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen" when translated into Japanese language and/or written in a certain way?

P.S.: jokes aside, I am really curious


texts: How to say "One day at a time" in romaji

texts:
Good Evening,
I'm a beginner in Japanese and stack exchange. I'm probably going to ask you all very simple and phrase based questions, so I am happy to give any points or perks of appreciation that I can, as long as you teach me. Anyway, I know how to say one day in Japanese romaji (Aru hi), but I was wondering if someone could teach me how to say "One day at a time". Is there an extension of Aru hi, or is it just some other phrase. Please let me know. Thanks


texts: What does the use of a dash (instead of a character) to extend a sound mean?

texts:
I came across the sentence 混乱する気持ちもよーくわかる in my manga. I have translated it, but the use of the dash (which was vertical in the actual vertical text) stumped me for a bit (I thought it was よう at first, not よお). I was under the impression that a dash like that is only used in katakana, and in hirigana they use the character of the sound they want to extend. But that's not the case here.

So what does it mean when this happens? Is is a special case or exception, or is there some rule?

By the way, I ended up with よーくわかる all together meaning "I know you..." (thanks, Google Translate, for being more useful than a dictionary for once), which seems to be right in this context (In this case, "I know you're feeling confused"). That's why I think it might be a special case. (Searching よお on it's own ended up with "trouble brought on by sins of forebears"...)


texts:
I don't get why に is used in addition to は in the following sentences.

指示詞 に はコソアドで始まる規則的な体系があります。
Concerning the demonstratives, there is a regular system (of words, i guess) that starts by コソアド.
指示詞 に は二つの使い方があります。
There are two ways of using the demonstratives.

On a side note, is it always Xで that is used in combination with 始まる to mean "to start with X"?


texts: What's the difference between "biru hitotsu kudasai," "biru ippon kudasai," and "biru ippai kudasai?"

texts:
I'm a bit confused. The first sentence I learned was biru kudasai (ビールください).

But then I watched this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox-YMeYZSvs

And I found out there are so many variations. So I wonder what's the difference? And which one is the most colloquial one?


texts: Difference between くらいなら ～ のほうがましだ and くらいなら ～ ほうがいい

texts:
Both expressions seem to be related to show a strong opposition to do something by rather doing something else. But what is the difference between them ?

Additional question: both seem to express speaker point of view. Can we use those structures to express other feelings ?


texts: How can I say "female soldier" in Japanese

texts: I have trouble translating "female soldier" in Japanese: Is it 女戦士 or 女性戦士? Also is the particle の lacking between the two words?


texts: Formal linguistic term for a "prepositional object"?

texts:
examples:

  (1) The book is on the desk.
  (2) I went to my favorite cafe.
  (3) This present is for her.

the prepositional phrases / 前置詞句{ぜんちしく}:

  (1) ... on the desk.
  (2) ... to my favorite cafe.
  (3) ... for her.

the prepositions / 前置詞{ぜんちし}:

  (1) on;
  (2) to;
  (3) for;

the prepositional objects:

  (1) desk;
  (2) cafe;
  (3) her;

What is the formal linguistic term for a prepositional object in Japanese?

My native speaker sources suggested "前置詞句の目的語" and "前置詞句の補語", but they admitted to being unsure.


texts: What is the difference between Xの数人 and 数人のX?

texts:
"私の友人の数人が今年日本へやってきた。"

"部屋には数人の学生がいた。"


texts: Understanding Omitted Elements in the Body of a Newspaper Article

texts:
I have trouble interpreting the following sentence from an article about the yen exchange rate.

連休明けの１４日の東京外国為替市場は、北朝鮮情勢に対する警戒感からリスクを避けようと、比較的、安全な通貨とされる円を買ってドルを売る動きが出て、円相場は、ドルに対して値上がりしています。

I am aware that "obvious" particles, する (and its continuative form し), repeated subjects, etc., could be omitted in the body of newspaper articles. The following is my attempted interpretation of the above sentence.

連休明けの１４日の東京外国為替市場は、北朝鮮 （の） 情勢に対する警戒感からリスクを避けようと （し）、  比較的、安全な通貨とされる円を買ってドルを売る動きが出て、円相場は、ドルに対して値上がりしています。
(After a long holiday, the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market on the 14th attempted to avoid risks from senses of caution regarding North Korean state of affairs, and a trend started where yen, which was considered as a relatively safe currency, was bought and US dollars were sold, and the yen exchange rate against the US dollar increased.)

I decided on 「避けようと（し）」 because I know {volitional form}+とする could be used to describe someone attempting an action. Was there really an omitted し, or is there some function of the と particle (such as the one used for describing successive events) that I am not noticing?
Note: The duplicate question suggested by @naruto appears to be related, but if we consider the clause with と as an adverbial clause, then the sentence appears ungrammatical, because the topic appears as the agent of the intransitive verb 出る and the subject acts as some direct object. Please correct me if I am wrong.


texts:
In a manga, there was this conversation,

  「ギャハハー今度はまたすげードジしたな」

and I would like to know what the last part means, specifically ドジしたな.

Summarising, this is what I would like to have answered:

I think ドジ means something like clumsy. Then, is ドジした something like "did in a clumsy manner"?
Why is ドジ written in かたかな?


texts:
Do viruses あります or います?

Currently, I'm under the impression that animals and humans use います (though see this question), while plants and inanimate objects use
あります. Do viruses fall under the latter category?


texts:
So, I was just about to start to see a new anime, called

  「月がきれい」,

which I immediately translated to

  "The Moon is beautiful". (a)

Now, to my surprise, in the intro, the title is translated as

  "As the Moon, so beautiful". (b)

What I want to know is the following:

Is translation (b) correct?
If so, why would one translate it has (b) instead of (a)?


texts: How to use correctly ますます with a reduction in quantity or intensity?

texts: This site tries to explain that but I don't understand very well since it's in japanese and I don't find anything in english.


texts:
I didn't find any questions about this, except for this one, but it's not really the same thing.

I've seen the phrase 「知るか」 a few times in anime and manga before and I've always interpreted it as "as if I'd know!".

Recently I came across the phrase 「口が裂けても言うものか」. It confused me a bit because of the conditional that didn't seem to work in a word-for-word translation, but when I searched it on Google, 「口が裂けても言わない」 showed up as a set phrase that means essentially "to keep quiet (about something) no matter what".

So I would translate 「口が裂けても言うものか」 to "as if I'd say that/as if that's something I'd say!". Is that correct?

Finally, I was wondering: is 「知るか」 basically 「知らない」, and 「口が裂けても言うものか」 basically 「口が裂けても言わないもの」, but rude/accusatory? Is it the same for similar exclamatory phrases?

For example, would 「楽しいことか！」, in contrast to 「なんと楽しいことか！」, mean "this isn't fun!"?


texts: Confusions on usage of the past tense ていた and た to express an ongoing actions and states (namely, 'has/has been' doing something):

texts:
So, as far as I'm aware, the ていた ending can have these meanings depending on verb used:

a past continuous action and works pretty similarly to English:
(彼女がシャワーを浴びている間僕は勉強していた。）
a past state:
(お腹が空いていた)
had been doing something.

Now, these usages are confusing me and is something I've been seeing recently:

私は今まで続けてた仕事を、今年もちゃんと続けれればなって思いますね。

This is from a youtube video about new year's resolutions (will link below). I had expected to either find 続けている or 続けてきた here, based on the usages above. It seems like she is still doing her job and it is continuing into the now and future, so to speak. It was translated (and I think definitely correctly) as "well, I just hope I'll be able to continue the job I've been doing up to now".

Similarly, I don't understand an example like this:

前から興味があったからその仕事をやらせてください。(I've been interested in that for a while so please let me do it). Taken from my textbook.

I'm trying to think of this in terms of Japanese and not English but surely the speakers in both sentences are 1. still doing their job now, and 2. still have the interest. So I'm confused. This is not the first time I've seen things like this.

Video: https://youtu.be/7x2NBdoXuLk?t=188


texts:
AFAIK compound verbs (複合動詞) are formed by prefixing 連用形 (ren'youkei, or stem form) of one verb to another "full" verb, e.g.:

巡り合う＝巡る(めぐり）＋　合う
生み出す＝生む（生み）＋ 出す

And so on...

However, 引っ張る seems to not fit this pattern and feels like it was formed by combining 引く+張る, and not 引き+張る which would result in  引き張る.

Apparently there are compound verbs with 引き, e.g.:

引き出す
引き受ける
引き返す
引き止める

Even more interestingly, there is a verb that exists in both variations: 引き越す and 引っ越す, although I don't think I've ever seen the former outside of the dictionary.

So, is 引っ張る a compound verb? If not, is there a term for such verbs and are there others?


texts:
I came across the following question when preparing for the N2 exam:

マンションを買うときは実際に＿、心配だ。
a 見た上で b 見て以来 c 見てからでないと

I thought the answer is a but it's given as c.
That doesn't seem to be right since it's explicitly stated that for this construction,

後には、否定的な意味の文がくる

which 心配だ doesn't seem to fit.
Is the answer wrong or maybe I didn't understand the sentence.


texts: Is 感じる {かんじる} transitive or intransitive? Which particle to use?

texts:
Please consider 一段 {いちだん} verb 感じる {かんじる}. Sometimes I see particle に applied and sometimes particole を. In the Jisho.org vocabulary it is not specified if this verb is 他動詞 {たどうし} (transitive) or 自動詞 {じどうし} (intransitive).
The examples I found are:

生を感じる
私は幸せに感じる
将来に不安を感じる

My problem is, among the many examples, the fact that I found the second sentence, which is the only one using に.
So I was thinking... maybe 感じる always wants particle を. In that particular sentence, possible, I have particle に to make noun 幸せ an adverb. Is it correct?


texts: Is より used in superlative function here?

texts:
The following is an excerpt from a conversation between me and my language partner:
クジラ肉は規制があるので、食べる機会は少ないのですが、私が住んでいる地域では、馬肉より手に入りやすいです

My attempt at translation:
"Concerning whalemeat, because there are regulations, chances to eat (it) are few and concerning the prefecture I live in, horse meat is the easiest to go into your hand."
I've never before encountered より in the function of marking the superlative, only comparison (...のほう...より...) and in the function of "from". So I wanted to ask whether I got it right here ^^


texts:
I wonder if it is too formal to use the kanji for such a common expression like this.
However, I like to write most Japanese words with kanji since I write college documents.

Additionally, what do you think about using kanji this way in video subtitles?
Since I speak, if a rare kanji appears, I would pronounce it right away, thus, what do you Japanese speakers think about it?

I also write あなた as 貴方 so much and many others. Is it too hard?


texts:
Can anyone explain what does this idiom means ?
I read the English translation and googled it but I still don’t know what it really means and what does flower refer to .

見ぬが花

“Not seeing is a flower.”

Thank you guys.


texts:
I know that when in a sentence-final position が and けど can be used as softeners or to convey hedging, but in some situations understanding them as such doesn't feel right. Although my brain instinctively wants to interpret them as "though", I can't think of any reason that would be correct. Here's an example from a story, spoken from the point of view of the narrator:

彼は唯一の生き残り。無論、生き残ったのには理由があるからなのだが。

Would translating it as something like this be wrong:

"He is the sole survivor. Though of course, it's because there's a
reason he survived."

I can't understand how だが's usage here would indicate hedging or softening, but "though" doesn't make sense either. Could someone help me get this?


texts:
リビングが広いのはいいと思うけど、駐車場が付いてた方がいいんじゃないかな。

"Although I like it that the living room is spacious, I guess an attached parking space would be great." Do I understand the sentence right?

Why is んじゃない　used here?

Can we say "...駐車場が付いてた方がいいでしょう" to mean the same thing?


texts: Use of ら in 博士ら、 警察官ら

texts:
Typically ら is used to form plurals or groups of people in casual situations, when it is used pejoratively, or in set words such as 彼ら. たち seems to be prefered in other situations ○○さんたち、あなたたち、　私達, etc.
However, I have noticed that ら is also used a lot in news, such as 新宿警察署 新たに警察官ら５人の感染確認and in the science magazine Newton, such as 名古屋大学の田中実教授らは….
Here, ら　is neither casual nor pejorative, and is used towards those worthy of respect. How did ら develop such a divergent usage? How would the nuance change if we used たち　instead of ら here?
お願いします


texts: 「つきおうて」や「あいおうて」はどういう意味でしょうか？

texts:
こんにちは、

川上弘美著の「神様」の小説を読んでいます。
「河童玉」という章で、ある男河童が女河童についてこう言っています。

  三百年もつきおうてござりますから、些かのいさかいもありましたし気持ちが行き違うこともありました、つまりはまあ山も谷もあったということでございますが、三百年にしては波瀾は少なかったほうであるように思います。儂と女河童はなんといっても気持ちが寄り添ってござったし、それよりも何よりも、あちらの方が素晴らしくあいおうていたのです。

現在の日本語とは違った言葉がありますが、
以上の「つきおうて」や「あいおうて」はどういう意味でしょうか？

よろしくお願いします。


texts:
There is a line in the 「この涙 星になれ」, which  is a song of ZARD (Sakai Izumi):

  父なる砂漠 コイン投げて 明日を占おう

I don't understand the meaning of 「父なる砂漠」. It's quite strange to think of it as the desert that has been a father...

坂井泉水の大ファンなんです。今歌詞を整理しているので、理解出来ないところを問題にして、援助をお願いします。

Thank you very much.


texts:
There are a lot of post that describe the ambiguous scenarios when to use で vs に, but there are still many scenarios that are confusing, and sometimes I'm not sure if I should be using a particle at all.

Here are a list of simple questions where the usage of particles is uncertain.

１．春（に｜で｜NONE）たくさん雨が降る。

２．春（に｜で｜NONE）雨だ。(Any verb influence?)

３．雨の日（に｜で｜NONE）きれいだ。

４．今月の三十一日（に｜で｜NONE）日本に行く。

５．休み（に｜で）日本に行く。

６．一時間（に｜で｜NONE）食べた。

７．日本語（で｜を）おねがいします。(A different question, but I was still curious.)


texts: Can です be used attributively (as a modifier of a noun)?

texts: Goo dictionary lists the 連体形 (attributive) form of copula as です but does not provide an example of an attributive usage. Can です be really used attributively? I have problems finding any example of it.


texts:
I recently wrote something and has someone check it, and then had someone else look over it to see if it's natural. The text in question was this,

人間は生存を唯一の目的とする獣であり、これらの進化の衝動がなければ、他の目的はありません。
　君が金持ちになりたいのなら、自問してみて欲しい、それはなぜか？君は力が欲しいので、そして君が力を持っているとき、君は快適に生きることができ、君の生存と君の周りの人々の生存を確実にすることができます。
それは冷酷な世界であるが、その冷酷さを認め始める時が来た。
　我々の内なる悪を認めることによってのみ、私たちは動物的で利己的でない追求に向かって前進し始めることができる。

Why is it that the speech styles are allowed to be mixed here?


texts: Is there a difference between tomo and tomodachi?

texts: I was able to translate the terms as friend. Is there any difference in meaning between the 2 terms?


texts: Does 無理な戦 directly indicate a "lost war"?

texts:
I am pondering over the sentence:

  無理な戦をして、國を縮めてはならぬ。

This is a warning against going for a war. From the second part it clearly refers to a "lost war". Maybe not a "total defeat", but nonetheless indicating the result.

While 有利 is defined as both "advantageous" and "profitable" (利益のあること), definitions of 無理 which I have found so far, do not directly indicate the result, they only refer to conditions. I see no indication 無理 is an antonym of 有利 in the meaning of "profitable" (like could be inferred from the sentence above).

Not all wars fought in unfavourable conditions end up in a defeat (M. Gladwell suggested as much as 30% are victorious in "David and Goliath").

Is the phrase 無理な戦 a synonym of 負け戦 (including/especially when used a priori) or is this meaning only inferred in the above sentence?

Would the following reasoning sound natural in Japanese:

  無理な戦をして、勝ってもコストが高い。

Likewise saying a posteriori 無理だった: is it just admitting the result, or does it infer some insight that the conditions for a failed action were unfavourable? Or both?


texts: Why is the particle の placed after a noun and before ために

texts:
I am learning how to use the form ために and found many examples were the particle の is inserted just before it. I don't understand why.
今度の面接のために、このスーツを買いました。
'I bought this suit for my upcoming interview.'
健康のために、毎朝に走っています。
'For my health, I go running every morning.'
別に彼のために作ったわけではない。
'It’s not like I made this for him.'


texts:
I've been doing some research on おかげさまで and, not content with just memorising sayings, am wondering why  おかげさまで is used as a standalone/response.
Does it mean 'thanks to you',  'thanks to God and society and everything', or does it just have the nuance of 'thank you'?. I'm mainly wondering, therefore, who exactly is being thanked when this saying is used as a standalone. The classic example is obviously

「元気ですか。」
「ええ、おかげさまで。」

This then translates as: 'Are you well?'. 'Yes, thank you'.
Is the listener being thanked? Because surely that would imply 'Yes, thanks to your shadow (offering of some kind of support)'. And in the original example it is unlikely the listener has actually provided any support to the speaker meaning it is incorrect/insincere.
Also, in the opening of 「ハリーポッターと賢者の石」you see the line:

「おかげさまで、私どもはどこから見てもまともな人間です。」
"However you look at us, we are upstanding people, thank you very much."

But, literally, this would surely translate as 'With the support of X/by the grace of X, however you look at us, we are upstanding people.'
Again, whose かげ is being referred to that has provided the support the speaker is referring to? The reader's かげ? The かげ of society and their circumstances? God? Or does that saying just act as a standalone meaning 'thank you'?


texts: How would one go about romanizing Aynu Itak?

texts:
I've been casually studying Itak on and off in between my usual schoolwork and obvious Japanese studies. However, I've been more and more bothered by a particular issue as I've gone on: how does one go about romanizing Itak from standard katakana?

I'm aware that this site boasts a small guide, but that doesn't really work too well when the dictionary you're using doesn't follow those rules. I'm not sure if a standard guide even exists, but less how to go about transliterating this language to English characters. I've seen odd ones where people will write a name like "cup=kamuy", when I'll see others write as "Chupkamui". There are probably a ton of variations like with Japanese as well, but I lack the understanding of which ones are standard, which are more widely understood, and which are better to use overall.

Any and all advice one has on this will be taken into account and greatly appreciated. If further clarification is needed, feel free to ask. Thank you for reading this.


texts:
I'm confused. When I look at jisho.org it seems to give the kanji for this as:

一昨年

but it has two hiragana versions.

Can someone explain to me what Kanji would normally be used for this and why are there two different hiragana.

Thanks


texts: kanjis have 音読み{おんよみ}、訓読み{くんよみ}、and something like "人名読み{じんめいよみ}". But, what is the real term for "人名読み"?

texts:
sorry that I could not come-up with a better title...

The readings of the kanjis in a person's name, is theoretically arbitrary. But in reality, a kanji tends to have a set of maybe 3 or 4 probable readings when used in a name. For example: 伊, under the "Japanese names" header, has the following probable readings: "いと、これ、ただ、だ、よし". So, what is the official name for that set of readings?

a kanji has:
(-) 訓読み
(-) 音読み
(-) ??? 読み <--- set of the most frequently used readings in people's names.

what is the set name?


texts: Translating "I'm yours"; does あなたのもの work?

texts:
あなたのもの

I'm trying to translate the phrase "I'm yours" in a loving way. Or just "yours" as in I belong to you and vice versa.

I know a bit of Japanese but I'm a bit confused here. I know "anata no" is something belonging to "you". The "mo no" part is what confuses me.

Am I saying "your thing"?


texts: What is the difference between "Doko de benkyou shiteiru no desu ka?" and "Doko de benkyou benkyo shiteimasu ka?"

texts:
In Japanese, what is the difference between "Doko de benkyou shiteiru no desu ka?" (どこ で べんきょう している の です か?) and "Doko de benkyou benkyo shiteimasu ka?" (どこ で べんきょう べんきょ していますか?)

How does the different structure change the meaning? Please explain with reference to the two sentences.

Please note, I am still learning kana so please accept my apologies if there are errors in it. I am more interested in the meaning.


texts:
Here's the sentence :

  さてと・・・それじゃあ捜査を始めるとしようか。

I would have understood if the sentence was : "さてと・・・それじゃあ捜査を始めよう", but I don't understand the rest of the sentence. Is "としよう" some kind of grammar ?

As for the context, the characters were just about to investigate a murder.

Thank you.


texts:
I have problems understanding following sentence, especially the meaning of 人の手により

  新しいデザインを作るまで、多くの人の手により出尽くした感もあるけど、諦めません。

Does he speak here about other designers? Something like

  Until a new design is finished, I sometimes feel like as if all design options are exhausted, but I don't give up.


texts: Can't understand なら usage in this context

texts:
So I'm reading Genki II where they introduce なら. There's a dialogue which has the following context: a guy asks his female friend Kyouko to cover for him at work (he's an English teacher). The friend is hesitant and says:

私、英語を教えたことがないし、できない。
to which the guy answers:
大丈夫だよ。ぼくより英語が上手だし、きょうこさんなら出来るよ。

What is the literal meaning of this? "You're better at English than I am, so if it's you, you can"? This makes literally zero sense. So I suspect it actually has the meaning of "If there's someone who can do it, it's you" but even if my assumption is correct, I still can't see how なら logically fits into this.

Then there's also another dialogue example. Context: a guy and a girl are in a fitness store. They see a fitness machine and are discussing it:

Guy: このフィットネスマシンはどうですか。

Girl: 便利そうですね。

Guy: ええ、このマシンなら、家で運動できますよ。

I've read all I could find on the Internet about なら and while some examples make sense, I still don't understand it in actual, unadapted real-life sentences, even as simple as these ones. What does it mean in the above dialogue? "If it's this machine, you can use it at home"? Surely that's not correct.

Thanks in advance.


texts:
The kanji compound 場所 is bugging me. For the longest time, I did not know how to pronounce it, oscillating between ばどころ and じょうしょ. The correct pronunciation, however, is ばしょ. This is weird to me, because it is a kun-on compound rather than the more typical on-on or kun-kun. In my experience, the most usual case when characters are read ‘weirdly’ is those readings being ateji. However, in most cases ateji are uniquely Japanese but in the case of 場所, a Chinese compound of the same meaning exists which usually points to an on-on reading (compare e.g. 交通, a wholly random example that I managed to think of immediately, that has a direct Chinese corresponding word).
So how did the word 場所 originate and how did it acquire its pronunciation?


texts: Why is には used in this sentence instead of は?

texts:
It hasn't been answered. Please help.

  なぜ殺されたのか君にはわからないのですか?

Please help me understand why they use [には] in this sentence. Compare with [は], what is the difference it makes in that context ?

I have taken a look at this question that may be a duplicate, but however it does not help me resolve my question. That question seems to compare に with には while I am comparing は with には. I would like to find out the difference if は had been used in my example sentence instead.


texts: On this informational sign in ramen shop they use -i adjectives ending with め. I can understand plain かたい, 多い and such, but what purpose does ending an adjective in め serves?


texts:
The lines are taken from a visual novel and the translation as well

Example 1

  逃れるつもり ?
  逃れる? 違うな世界の終焉までに時間をくれてやろうというのだ

  What are you running away?
  Run? No. I'm simply giving you time to enjoy until the end of the world

Example 2

  でも彼らたちに悪感情もってくれたのは好都合かもしれないよね

  It might be good that we left them with such a bad taste in their mouth

Example 3

  許さんぞ
  そこに直れ. 成敗してくれる

  I'll never forgive you
  Prepare yourself
  I will defeat you today

So くれる is supposed to be used when someone is doing something for the speaker. When you're doing something for someone else you're supposed to use あげる.
So why is is that here  くれる is used ?  Does it have to do with the perspective ?


texts:
Could someone explain what this word means? It seems to describe a man who will do anything a woman he likes wants him to do but it is not that obvious from the E&J defintions and picture below, which I have borrowed from the book "Onomatopoeia."

The best clue from the definition is the word だらしない but the meanings of that do not seem to fit (slovenly?, womanizing?, weak?). The key English word, "spoony" seems to exist only in  Japanese dictionaries.

  態度、身なりなどにしまりがない様子。とくに、男性が女性に対してだらしない態度をとる形容に多く用いる。
  Describes a loose attitude or appearance. Often used to describe a man's spoony attitude toward a woman.


texts:
I was listened to Bump of chicken's song, Parade. I tried to figure out the grammar they used on each sentence and this phrase catch my attention.

忘れないで　忘れないで　心だけが世界。

Why do they use で here ? Is it　work as " です” or て form or what?


texts:
その表情から察するに魔剣を所持している人は少ないみたいだ。

I'm having trouble figuring out what に does here. Does it have the same meaning as と?


texts:
I saw it in this tanka that I'm trying to translate:

偽のある世にだにもふるさとの契りわすれず雁のゆくらん


texts: What kind of Japanese "dialect" is this?

texts:
In a Japanese translation of exerpts of the Lotus Sutra, there is kanji which is used that is to varying degrees still used today. Some of them are relatively common in normal speech or writing, whereas others seem to me to be more stilted or only used in formal writing (e.g. 無量 as muryō). Other times, there was kanji used that is still commonly seen in writing, but when one says it, there is a different name for it (e.g. 力 is used in the text and is written in katakana as "りき", but I believe that nowadays, its said, "ちから").

What is the name of this dialect (if there is one) and is it just a temporal difference that caused this contrast- similarly to how Shakespeare sounds weird to English speakers in the modern day. And lastly, is there a way to learn more about this type of Japanese?

Here is a link to a webpage that has the translation written in romaji. I couldn't find one that had just the Japanese and kanji on it, so I just have a sample photo below:


texts: Has anyone seen this word: 愛想薄い, and does anyone know what it means?

texts:
So I came across this in a doujinshi I was reading; the context was two people were discussing another character and basically it lead to a question asking if one of them was fine with 愛想薄い, in terms of personality, in exchange for a nice body.

I asked this on reddit some other time ago and I did receive an answer from a native but I only got like 3 answers so I figured I'd try asking on here to just make sure what they said was correct or if anyone else might have any other possible explanation.

Link to the reddit post and to a screenshot of the text, since I'm still unsure if I wrote the character down corectly since the text is very small:

https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/4qp8nt/translation_help_%E6%84%9B%E6%83%B3%E8%96%84%E3%81%84%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%86%E8%A8%80%E8%91%89%E3%81%8C%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86%E3%81%84%E3%81%86%E6%84%8F%E5%91%B3%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99%E3%81%8B/

http://puu.sh/pM55Q/07a6c3021f.jpg

Any input is appreciated, thank you.


texts: Can the honorific o be used in front of all nouns? I was thinking of sentence structures and wondering if o could be placed in front of all nouns. Thank you.