texts: Understanding adjectives with noun phrase eg 髪がきれいな女性

texts:
I am trying to complete my understanding of adjectives, and I came across this example phrase from the wasabi-jpn guide:

髪がきれいな女性 - A woman with beautiful hair.

I would have thought this would mean something like "as for the hair, beautiful woman" since the きれいな女性 part acts as one unit connected by the な meaning 'beautiful woman', and then the 髪 acts as the focus of the clause since it's got the が marker.

I'm not sure what I should be searching for/reading up on to understand this better, and the related questions all seem to be constructed slightly differently, so any help would be appreciated.


texts:
I have a sentence (jlptN4):

その花屋はいつもきれいな花でいっぱいです。

Could someone please explain why it needs で here, not が?


texts: Are these two noun phrases attached to one noun? Also what is とは doing here?

texts:
あの手は現代とはルールのちがうコミのない時代だから好手とされたのだ

(Panel this phrase comes from)
(Komi is a rule in go that exists in the modern era, but did not exist in the Edo period. This kid appears to be using a style of play from the Edo period.)
My attempt to translate:

That move, since it was a time when rules were different from the modern era and there was no Komi, was considered to be the best move.

At first I thought ちがう was attached to コミ ("different komi") which did not make sense to me; so I think it was actually attached to 時代 making it a noun with two phrases attached to it, but I could be wrong about that, so
Parse attempt:

あの手は  "That move" (topic)
現代とはルールのちがう[時代] "[time] when rules were different from the modern era" (first noun phrase. actually this phrase confuses me, what is とは doing here)
コミのない時代 "Time when there was no Komi"　(second noun phrase) (I think の replaces が here?)
だから "because it was" (creates dependent clause)
好手されたのだ "[it's the case that] it was considered the best move" (main comment)

So I guess I have two questions:

What is going on in 〜とは〜のちがう phrase and why is it arranged that way?

Is it correct to parse this as two noun phrases attached to one noun or am I on the wrong track?

Fake Edit: ran のちがう through eow.alc.co.jp and realized it's just parsable as 'different' but I am still confused about とは and not sure if I'm right that のちがう is attached to 時代


texts: What verb does the conjugation 満つる come from and what does it mean?

texts:
In the Tales series this verb is used as a spell chant:

  天光満つる所に我は在り。

But when I type in みつる　＋　Ｓｐａｃｅ　I get only 満. When I search 満つる in the dictionary it doesn't recognize it as a conjugation： https://jisho.org/search/満つる . Is this something archaic?


texts:
「今から」 means "from now on" and 「これから」 means "from here on" or "from here". So, これから actually has 2 meanings.

So are the "from here on" meaning of 「これから」 and "from now on" meaning of 「今から」always interchangeable in Japanese? In english I guess they almost everywhere are but "from now on" is used more because "from here on" can also be used to signify place.

Please provide examples if they are different in usage.


texts:
All of my studies so far have suggested that i-adjectives never take だ (です can be used to make the sentence polite). Then I came across this sentence:

私が世界で一番偉いだって？？
I'm the greatest in the world??

I'm not really comfortable with what the って is doing at the end here and I don't understand why だ is needed. How does this grammar work and how does the nuance differ from

私が世界で一番偉いか？？


texts: ちょっとぐらい　/　ちょっとくらい　meaning

texts:
I've found a sentence like this:

  私がちょっとぐらい 自己中で 常識がなくても　許してくれる

Which I've parsed as:

  Even if I'm selfish and lack common sense, he'll forgive me, to the extent that it's just a bit.

or more naturally,

  He'll tolerate even my selfishness and thoughtlessness, at least for a little while.

But I'm pretty uncertain about the ちょっとぐらい in particular. Both words can perform several functions, and I assumed their combination would be a common idiom, but none of the dictionaries I've checked have examples. What does the combination ちょっとぐらい　mean? Can it mean different things in different contexts?


texts: What are these marks that sometimes appear above kanji/kana?

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I've seen these comma-like marks above kanji/kana in Japanese novels a few times, but I have no idea what they're called or their purpose:

I tried looking online and I haven't found anything (it's pretty hard to find out when I don't even know what they're called).

I've seen them appear in various contexts before, once I saw it in a novel where the speaker was announcing someone's name (in a formal setting), another time I saw it in a different novel when the speaker was in despair and they were talking about giving up on everything.

I'm very curious about this, can anyone explain what these marks are?


texts: Can I say 「うれしかったことは ○ ものです」 where ○ is not in past tense?

texts:
I came across the following exercise in my Japanese textbook:

As regards the point ③, I wonder whether I can answer things such

とてもうれしかったことは日本は給料が高いものです。

If not, there would be any other expression in present tense to be used right before ものです in the sentence above? What I came up with sounds really clunky to me, to be honest.

The point is that so far, the textbook I use has not introduced any other grammar point with 〜ものだ aside from the following one which uses present tense sentences and, moreover, this grammar point is presented in the same chapter than the conflictive exercise:

But, searching the Internet I came up with the following grammar point to express "used to do 〜" by using Verbた + ものです that I think fits in ③ much better, as it is used to express a past situation and うれしかった is also in past tense. Is it correct to say something like the following sentence?

  とてもうれしかったことは子供の頃ホッケーをしたものです。

However, if that's the case, how come I am expected to use a grammar I have not been introduced to before in my textbook? It makes me feel I am missing something here. Maybe another use of 〜ものだ different than the two presented above?

Thank you.


texts: けど usage in ”魔石灯”がいい例だけど、”魔石”は…

texts:
I know that けど is a colloquial form of けれども and that is used to connect two sentences with the meaning of "but, although" but in the following sentence I cannot understand its usage.

僕達のホームにあった”魔石灯”がいい例だけど、”魔石”はヒューマンの技術で加工することで色々な方面―発火装置だとか、食糧を保存する冷凍器とか―に活用できるから、貴重な資源扱いになっている

The following sentence is my translation:

The "magic stone" is used as a valuable resource, because it can be used in different fields, such as in incendiary devices, in the freezers to store the food of first necessity and a good example is the "light at the magic stone" that we had at our home.

In this sentence is it used with a different nuance?


texts: What is the relationship between "Fuchs du hast die Gans gestohlen" and 「こぎつねこんこん」?

texts:
There is a German children's song named "Fuchs du hast die Gans gestohlen" about a fox stealing a goose. According to Wikipedia the melody comes from another song named "Wer eine Gans gestohlen hat" which is about geese but not about foxes.

There is a Japanese children's song named 「こぎつねこんこん」 (judging by the YouTube title) with a very similar melody that is also about foxes. I found a Wikipedia article that may or may not be about the song. (I don't speak Japanese.)

What is the relationship between the two versions?


texts:
Xは、この学校で日本語を勉強したんだって。

Is this the -te form of the copula?
Haven't encountered it so far.


texts:
I'm really new at this but I'm a big fan of the Japanese language. I found a list on Quizlet with the most used vocabulary such as to go, to see, etc to learn with their Kanji (I already learned Kana). My question is since there's always a Kunyomi and/or Onyomi pronunciation, which one am I learning right now?
For example, いく （行く）= to go   (this is how Quizlet teaches it). Is いく one way of saying to go or is there like a basic pronunciation or does it depend on the word?


texts: Can 所{ところ｝ in 「日{に}本{ほん}の良{い}い所{ところ}」 have two possible meanings: places or points?

texts:
Context:

記者{きしゃ}：　こんにちは。えっと、今日{きょう}はですね、日本{にほん}について、日本{にほん}の良{い}い所{ところ}について、（はい）、お聞{き}きしてるんですけど。
翻訳{ほんやく}： Hi there, today I'm asking people what's great about Japan.

The English official version says that it means "what is great about Japan" instead of "great Japanese places". I really thought the reporter was asking for a place in Japan, but instead the interviewee answered and he said that fresh fish was 日本｛にほん｝の良｛い｝い所｛ところ｝.
Of course, by the context, it is pretty obvious the meaning is "points". But if the context was different, could it be about a place or is 良｛い｝い所｛ところ｝ an expression specifically related to good points or what is good about something?


texts:
Inspired by this question, I asked myself how I would say "Everybody but me..." e.g. "Everybody but me ate fish".

At first I thought of 私以外の人はみんな... which is a phrase that seems to occur often on Google. Then I thought that maybe I could contract it to 私以外のみんなは...which does appear on Google but is much less popular.

1) Is 私以外の人はみんな...natural in this context

2) Is 私以外のみんなは... wrong? And, why? If it's not wrong is there a difference between the two?


texts: Is 「意味の分からなさ」 strange?

texts:
Since my recent question about 〜く＋ある,  I've been trying to learn more about the differences between 形容詞「無い」 and 助動詞「〜ない」.  In other words, I'm trying to learn how the independent adjective nai and the negative verb suffix -(a)nai are different.

We have a question about whether verbs ending in 〜ない are adjectives already, and in one answer, a user writes that the negative verb 食べない can't take the suffix -さ, so *食べなさ is unacceptable.  I was curious whether that was true of all verbs, so I decided to search for なさ in the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ).  Unfortunately, this had a lot of false positives due to forms like 〜なさい, 〜なさそう, 〜なさすぎる, and verbs like なさる, and so on.

To filter out false positives, I decided that I needed to search for a more specific example.  The form I chose was 分からなさ, because regardless of whether it's correct or not, it made sense to me.  I was able to find only one example in BCCWJ, and it was taken from the web portion of the corpus:

  泣きました・・・。もうダメだ・・・。　意味の分からなさで言えばきっとハウルなんかと大差ないんだろうけど・・・。ヤバい・・・。

This example seems very informal, and I suppose the author wasn't worrying about writing "properly". I was able to find more examples on Google by searching for 意味の分からなさ, some of which seemed a little bit less informal:

  もはやその言葉の意味の分からなさは、僕らの常識をはるかに上回っております。 (link)
  しかし、この、石の意味の分からなさこそが、最も素晴らしい点だと思います。 (link)
  ここから、「意味の分からなさ」ということを考えた。 (link)

I'm not sure if I can draw any conclusions from these examples.  My guess is that using -さ like this is only acceptable informally, judging by how I can find results online but not in published books.  But I suppose it's also possible that the results I've found are very unusual, or that I've misunderstood what -さ is doing in these examples.

So, is 意味の分からなさ strange?


texts: Why is this guy hesitant to call and ask her out on a date?

texts:
This is a section of text from my JLPT textbook on page 33:

  電話を前にして、彼女に僕の恋心を告げるべきがどうか非常に心が揺れていた。昔の僕だったら、ためらいもせず告白しただろうに。今日ほど断られることが怖いと思うことはない。電話番号を聞く勇気はあったじゃないか、軽く映画にでも誘えばいいじゃないか、と言い聞かせながら、今日もまた時間が過ぎていった。

I think (or hope) that I understand it in general, but I can't quite get the very last part.

My loose translation would be something like, "Before calling, I'm extremely nervous about telling her that I'm falling for her. Back in the day, I wouldn't hesitate to confess my feelings. Now, it's not the case that I'm afraid she'll reject me. While I ask myself, didn't I have the confidence to get her number, couldn't I just casually ask her out to a movie or something..."

And then the last part, 今日もまた時間が過ぎていった, I'm not sure about.

Is it, "... and still, it's getting late"? As in, the author is not specifying exactly why he is nervous, he's just saying how it's getting late while he waffles about calling?

Is it, ".... and still, a lot of time has passed until today"? As in, it's been a while since the author got her number, and so he's worried she's forgotten about him or something? My read on this paragraph is that he has not asked her out yet so this is after his first meeting, and before the first date.

Is it something else?


texts: 「やっぱいや」とどういう意味はなんですか

texts:
Is the meaning of this word something like "Whatever..."?
If so, can you please give me an example of how I would use it? :-)
Cheers!


texts: Role of で in 勢いがさかんで、かがやかしいようす。

texts:
I stumbled on NHK Easy Japanese upon an explanation of 華{はな}やかな ~　splendid, gorgeous, glorious in Japanese, which is:

勢{いきお}いがさかんで、かがやかしいようす。

Is the で in this case the copula or the particle?


texts:
I've noticed that the microwave minute dials often use 切 instead of 分 for minutes. Why is this the case?

When I look up 切 on jisho, I get nothing about time or minutes, so I'm naturally confused as to why I always see this.

Here's a picture:

Thanks!


texts:
I have the following sentence from a subtitle

  本日は この記念すべき日を迎える事が できた事に 感極まる思いであります｡

I also have the translated subtitle.

  Today we are able to celebrate this memorable day, a day filled with emotions.

First of all, is that translation accurate and complete? Because I'm having trouble understanding what 「記念すべき日」 means. My best guess is 'day we should celebrate'. But if that's it, I can't really figure out how to fit it into the rest of the sentence. And 「迎える」 having about 15 meanings in the dictionary is making things even more difficult.


texts: How to say "if you eat too saltly, it is unhealthy to you" in Japanese using"塩辛い(しおからい)"

texts:
If you eat too saltly, it is unhealthy to you

using"塩辛い(しおからい)"

？：
あなたがあまりにも塩辛い食べるなら、それはあなたに不健康です

？：
もしあなたが食べるのが塩辛いなら、体によくないです。


texts:
Earlier today I saw this sign:

  煙{けむり}の行方{ゆくえ}。本人{ほんにん}だけが、他人{たにん}事{ごと}だった。

The English is different enough that I think we can mostly ignore it for the purposes of this question. It helpfully conveys the message, but I'm wondering about the grammar of the Japanese, from which the provided English is quite different.

In particular, I'm wondering about the use of だけが. だけ is "just" or "only", and が is "but", so my reading of this is "Other people's problem, but only/just the person themselves." That's not merely deliberately ungrammatical English to convey my confusion, it also seems to convey the opposite message than intended. It seems to be saying that the smoke is only just the smoker's problem, no one elses.

From the context and the English provided, I know it's supposed to say, "not just the smoker, it's other people's issue as well."

But I just don't see how だけが means "not just", instead of "but only."

What am I not understanding about だけが?


texts:
I was talking to one of my friends, and at one point they said

  ドイツ雪ってるはず

Am I right in thinking that 雪ってる means snowing?

I'm aware this is clearly not formal Japanese at the very least, but I've also never seen it used before at all. Can 雪(る) even be used as a verb?


texts: I was watching this video when I noticed that ?! was used in the top right corner of the screen. This interrobang is regarded as poor style in English. How about in Japanese? It appears to me that it's more commonly used in Japanese than in English. (I even told one Japanese that I find using ?! a bit offensive because it's like forcing an answer out of someone.)


texts:
戻ってくると、千波が我先にと駆け寄った。

once we came back, chinami was the first to run up to (us).

how does this sentence change without the と after 我先に? Doesn't seem to quotatitive or conditional.

thank you


texts: までvsにかけてのちがい全くわかりません

texts:
までvsにかけてのちがいは何でしょうか？
教えてくれてありがたいです。
返事待っています。


texts: Making a sentence that ends in なかった polite

texts: What are the different ways to make a sentence that ends in なかった polite?


texts: 湿気る is both godan and ichidan. Are there other verbs like this?

texts:
I recently noticed in passing that 湿気る is classified as both a godan and an ichidan verb.
For example, the past tense could be either:

しけった (godan)

or

しけた　 (ichidan).

This strikes me as being fairly unusual. Offhand, I can't think of any other verbs that have this feature. Perhaps someone knows other verbs which are classified as both godan and ichidan? Maybe someone even knows why...


texts:
When I Google translate the sentence it says "it will happen very naturally".
If I break down the sentence into parts:
Goku: very (adverb)
Shizen: naturally (adverb)
Ni sou: ???
Naru: to become
Can someone help explain what the "ni sou" part means?


texts:
What does 日にち会うかな？ means in the excerpts below?

1:

  太巻きのお題は来年にしようかな？
  日にち会うかな？
  まぁ今年は、太巻きは買ってきて、豚汁作って食べますか。

2:

  A: テニスやろ
  B: みんな日にち会うかな？(^^;)笑

3:

  それ見たいんだけど日にち会うかな…_|￣|○

4:

  2日に帰る予定だから、日にち会うかな？

Despite my efforts I have failed to grasp a meaning that would fit all cases. My guesses so far:

Maybe 会う should actually be 合う?
3 seems to imply "Sorry I can't go", while 4 sounds optimistic.


texts: What is the difference between 希望　要望　志望　野望?

texts:
I'm trying to understand the difference between the those words. After looking up in a dictionary, there entries list (roughly) "to wish" .
But I think, that's because they are all written with the kanji 望 (desire?) right?

Can someone explain me those words more in detail?

Feel free to use example sentences.


texts: When is it appropriate to use [v] ないでくれ instead of [v] な?

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Initially I wanted to compare the rudeness level of [v]ないでくれ。 and[v]な。 but since that may be a rather vague question:

In what situation is it appropriate to use [v]ないでくれ。 but not [v]な。 ?
In what situation is it appropriate to use [v]な。 but not [v]ないでくれ。 ?

I mean I'm not asking for a list of examples when it is appropriate to use 1) or 2), but rather one example on when it is appropriate to use  [v]ないでくれ。 but not [v]な。 and explanation on why it is so, and another example on when it is appropriate to use [v]な。 but not [v]ないでくれ。 + explanation.

PS: as for the くれ i'm referring to the short / abrupt / manly くれ and not the くれ in 勘弁してくれよ~


texts:
I'm looking at JLPT4/5 grammar list and see such grammar point. But I can't find any information about it (truthfully I don't know how to).

Though I found some examples:
1 shuukan ni ikkai - once a week
1 nen ni 3 kai - 3 times a year

Can someone explain this or point me to where I can get that information? Thanks.


texts: The difference between "follow" using についていく、「あと？」をつける、「あと？」をついていく

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What is the difference between and how can we explain the grammar in the expressions for "follow" in the examples below?

子供が母親のあとをついていく

 (A child is following his/her mother)
母親の買い物についていく (go shopping with mother)
彼の考えにはついていけない
 (I can't go along with his idea)
彼の後をつける (I follow/tail him-see also * below)

I wondered if this was because:

についていく　allows the subject to "attach itself to the object" and move after it (grammatically this works well because both are intransitive)?
後をつく and 後をつける　are both idioms　whereby:
つける　can only be used with あと ("mark left behind") and as a transitive verb takes を to mark the object？
つく　is intransitive so grammatically を is used "spatially" as in 信号を曲がる
〜ついていく can only be used when there is continuous movement/"one journey", as opposed to say a child following its mother 24 hours a day who will start and stop/"make several journeys"?

References/notes on examples 1-4:

All can be found in 総まとめ　語彙　N2-p132 (ex1-3)   N1-p100 (ex4);
*Example 4 also appears in the Apple dictionary as: こっそり人 (の後) を付ける｜follow a person secretly / shadow [stalk / ｟口｠tail] a person

Or (long shot suggestion):
- Is the つく verb the same in all cases? (last week I noticed that 付く　is intransitive but  吐く as in うそをつく is transitive.)

Update to reflect two answers received as of 28 Aug 12:

To summarise answers received, there are two explanations:

Explanation 1:

The main difference b/w the examples can be explained by the difference b/w あとに & あとを:

後に is a temporal/spatial use of を. Essentially the follower is following the same course as the object but not necessarily at the same time.
跡を　is a physical (or if emotionally used, metaphorical) use: the followers moves behind the object of its pursuit in "lockstep", speeding up and slowing down to maintain the same distance.

Regarding use of つくvsつける： 後をつく is ungrammatical because つく is intransitive but the ついていく in 後をついていくis thought of as independent transitive verb, taking 後 as object. (つける is a transitive verb and can take the object あとを）

Explanation 2 (Revised):

The main pts of this explanation was proposed after referring to the explanation 1 (above):

（～の後を）ついて行く is defined as "trail", and it classifies this usage with を as being intransitive (【自動】). It might literally be "follow someone's behind".
(人）の後について行く is defined as "tread in someone's footsteps"/"tread in the steps of", and ～の後について行く is listed as "follow" and classifies this usage with に as being transitive (【他動】).
後をつける is used for shadowing/tailing and 跡をつける leaving traces,

Explanation 3 [Original Explanation 2]:

When the particle に is used the person being followed is the main actor in the sentence.
When the particle を is used the main actor in the sentence is unchanged.

This is similar to the difference b/w に伴う and を伴う

(Although this was explanation was replaced, I have kept it here for reference as I think it still has credibility.)

Any further comments or input are welcome.


texts: Is there a Japanese phrase equivalent to the English phrase: "Guilty Pleasure"?

texts:
I am at a loss of words to describing to my host family why I sometimes listen to "bad" or embarrassing music.

Is there a japanese phrase that can help me tell them it's a "guilty pleasure" of mine?


texts:
I'd like to ask how emotionally loaded 会いたい【あいたい】 is.

For example, if I were to (neutrally) convey the sense of "I'd like to meet you" by using 会いたい, would it carry an emotional expectation in the sense of missing the person, as compared to simply conveying a want to meet?

How would I convey a want to meet (neutrally)?

How would I convey the varying degrees of emotional tones? I.e. how would sentences with more emotional loading be constructed?

Some examples I can think of are:

to an acquaintance
to a friend
to a (general) romantic interest
to an already intimate romantic interest


texts: Topic seems unrelated to the rest of the sentence

texts:
From this article:

  学校を経営している会社は、教育と関係がある会社のほかに、不動産や介護、建設などの会社も増えています。
  [companies that run schools] Besides companies related to education, companies involved in real-estate, nursing and construction are also increasing.

I cannot parse this sentence. The topic 学校を経営している会社は seems to be unrelated to the rest of the sentence.


texts:
今はもう過去を振り返るな。ただ前進あるのみだ。
入学試験に合格するにはただ練習あるのみだ。

I would like to ask if I can replace the bold part with "練習のみ" or "練習するのみ" /  "前進のみ" or "前進するのみ" (and if the substitution changes the meaning), and a more puzzling question to me, what does "ある" mean and/or why "ある" is acceptable there?


texts:
I'm very confused about the role of「の方」in「(あなたは) 何県の方ですか」. Based on what I know,「の方」can either refer to a person or makes the noun「県」more polite.
If I interpret「の方」as a person, the question would mean "What prefecture person you are?" I'm not sure if it makes sense in this context.
If it's a politeness marker, I think the whole question makes sense because it would literally mean "What's your prefecture?"
Which of the two interpretations of「の方」is correct?


texts: What does "しまの入り具合など品質は例年並みだということです。" mean in this sentence?

texts:
農家によりますと、ことしはスイカが成長する５月中旬から下旬にかけて寒暖の差が激しかったことから数は少なめですが、しまの入り具合など品質は例年並みだということです。(source)

1)I'm not sure if しま means "island" (because it is written in kana and I don't think this word is generally written in kana but maybe I'm mistaken )

2)I don't find 入り具合 in the dictionary(and jisho.org tells that it can be a suffix but not a prefix so I don't think it is a word that is not supposed to be in the dictionary), I think it means the general conditions (of the cultivation) but it doesn't make sense because apparently 品質 is only used for talking about things that are in the 品物 category.

(I consider "しまの入り具合など" as a relative clause of 品質, maybe it is wrong)


texts:
ALC can give several examples of this, not only in 連れてって:

  いつ私たちを湖に連れてってくれるの？ When are you going to take us to the lake?
  これ、帰りに叔母さんとこ、持ってってちょうだい。Will you take this to your aunt on your way home from school?

The first て should be the one used after 連用形 of verb. But what is the って in the sentence?


texts: Collocation for getting a dental filling

texts:
I wanted to tell a friend about a time when I had to get a dental filling. My instinct was to use 受ける or もらう, but Google tells me this is incorrect. Would I simply say:

  去年、歯が詰め物した。

or perhaps

  去年、歯が詰め物してしまった。

Furthermore, what actually happened was I had to have a filling replaced. Is this correct?

  詰め物した歯を交換してくれた。

(Edit: I just realized this means I'm replacing the tooth, not the filling. 歯の詰め物, not 詰め物がした歯, right?)

And is 歯 required? In English, "I got a filling" clearly implies "dental filling," but I get the sense that this is not the case in Japanese. Thanks!


texts: Structure of だから地味になっているかというと、そんなことはなかった

texts:
I've studied Japanese a long time ago and decided to pick it up again. I'm reading from this novel but I want to make sure if I'm reading this sentence right. I having issues when sentences are long.

  ただ、だから地味になっているかというと、そんなことは全くなかった。
  However, so having said that it comes out modest, that sort of thing is not entirely so.


texts:
I'm translating a song and there's a certain part that's confusing me.

もしあたしが日本の
一番偉い人になれたら
即座にヤツをクビにします

(The singer is female, hence あたし)
So far, I can gleam the meaning of the first two lines to be "If I were the most powerful/influential/important person in Japan..." the issue is with the third line. Reasonably, it'd be "I'd immediately fire that guy." But within the context of this song, I really don't think it makes sense.
The lines before it talks about the singers dislike of alarm clocks. As well, when the line "即座にヤツをクビにします" is spoken, it's accompanied by a visual of an alarm clock with an X over it. This makes me think the line is referring to the clock, and ヤツ here is being used to mean "object/thing" rather than person. The only issue it then becomes, however, is that I can't find any meaning for クビにします outside of firing somebody from their job, and that doesn't quite fit...which is why I ask, is there a meaning, perhaps slang, with this word that would mean something along the lines of "destroy" or "get rid of"? Or do I have this all wrong?
Link to the song I'm referring to, the lyrics I listed appear at 0:30.
Thanks in advance!
edit: the song in the link contains flashing lights in the music video!! Just a heads up!


texts:
What would be the counter for train stations?

For example, "two more stops" would be 後駅を二つ...?
It seems a bit unnatural.


texts: Does this kanji for "village" have 2 different meanings?

texts: In a jōyō kanji list I read, there are 2 kanji for village. One of them 里 is just mentioned in the jōyō kanji list to mean "village", it is mentioned in another book to mean a measure of distances that is about 4 km or 2.5 miles. Does it have 2 meanings? Is one of the meanings obsolete or wrong?


texts: The meaning of words from an image パシヤ （or パシャ） and しみる


texts: How would I translate ’期待されとっても倒れたら’ in this sentence

texts:
Here's the full sentence:

’なんぼ期待されとっても倒れたら元も子もないんやから。’

And here's where I ended up:

'Because no matter what you say, even if you have hopes, you'll lose everything if you burn out.'

The context is, this is something the main character's mother (who lives in Kochi prefecture in the Shikoku region), is saying. I decided that とって could be a contraction of とる (to have) but then I realized that means more like 'to have lunch' or 'to have a nap'. So does this make my translation wrong?

Here's another theory. So I found out that 〜んやから at the end of the sentence is colloquial Kansai-ben which could be characteristic of the Shikoku region with it's proximity to Kansai. So I decided to research colloquial contractions. I found that the contraction 〜てあいて changes to といて in Kansai-ben. I thought I saw somewhere on google that といて sometimes is とって. So if that's the case, could the translation be:

'Because whatever the circumstances, if you're expecting to burn out, you'll lose everything.'

Last theory is that it's とっても. I've just never seen とっても inserted mid-contraction like this. If this is grammatical, I suppose the translation could be:

'Because whatever the circumstances, if you're expecting to really burn out, you'll lose everything.'

Thanks for taking the time.


texts: I don't understand て-form + おくれ structure

texts:
I am reading a manga and I happened to read these sentences:

お前さん、起きておくれよ。

遅くなるといけないから、早く商いに行っておくれ。

What does the structure ～ておくれ mean?


texts: How to translate "希望し　努力し　感謝して生きる" into English?

texts:
A Japanese Drum (Taiko) band has a motto:

  希望し　努力し　感謝して生きる

The band members have intellectual disabilities but strived to become professional drummers. In a few weeks, they are going to France to play at a cultural event for the disabled. They need to bring a business card with this motto in English. I don't know how to translate it other than "We live our lives by hoping, striving and appreciating" or "Our life is to hope, strive and appreciate." Please help to do it better. Thank you.


texts:
I'm watching the anime ひぐらしのなく頃に. There's a character in it who greets people with おはようです. At first I thought it was just a cute affectation, but then I wondered, if おはようございます is okay then why not おはようです?

There seem to be quite a few hits on Google for this phrase. Is it a different level of politeness? Is it a regional thing or is it just weird?


texts: Do I have the right idea with ～てきた here?

texts:
「日記を書いていたらまさにお腹がすいてきた」

That's the sentence. I believe it'd be, "I am certain to get hungry when I write in my diary."

I'm just not entirely sure I'm right simply because the it is きた instead of くる, which has me thinking I don't understand something with this grammar...

I understand ～てくる as a way to express something has happened and continues to be happening. So, in this case, the person becomes hungry when they write in their diary and won't stop being hungry until they do something, like eat.

Aye, the more I think about it the more convinced I am I'm missing a point. Help me figure this out once and for all, haha.


texts:
「おれは...」と田中が言えば、「おれは...」と吉田が言った。

Literally, "if Tanaka could say ... then Yoshida said ...".

What is the meaning of this structure? I've seen Aと言えば to mean "speaking of A", but that doesn't seem to work here.　Also Aと言えばB "When you think of A, then B"
 doesn't make much sense either.


texts:
The original sentence is:

  俺が呆れてものを言えないでいると、ハルヒはディジタルカメラを手にして、記念に写真を撮っておこうと言い出した。

I don't think the で in ～ないでいると～ indicates て形 but rather I have the feeling that ～ないでいると～ shows two situations that almost occur at the same time.

I would translate the above sentence as:

  While still in daze that I could not say/reply anything, Haruhi took a digital camera and said 'Let's take some photos as souvenirs'

or literally as:

  While I was in a situation where I could not express my astonishment, (before I could do anything), Haruhi took a digital camera and said "Let's tale some photos as souvenirs."


texts: Is there a difference between すみません (sumimasen) and すいません (suimasen?)

texts: I'm at the proverbial izakaya and my friend tells me one is more polite. I think theyre the same. Who's right? When can I use one or the other?


texts: Need help transcribing handwritten characters

texts:
Preface: I only have a very basic understanding of Japanese writing (and virtually zero actual vocabulary), and this is my first time posting here, so please bear with me.

I'm trying to translate some handwritten text I saw on a decorative print (linked instead of embedded because it is a massive vertical image), and I'm having trouble figuring out some of the characters (not the translation, I understand this is not the site for that).

I managed to clumsily handwrite characters 2 through 9 into Google Translate:

花九九年肖二ナ日

This translates to "Flower of 1992", which makes sense, since the print is of a flowering cherry tree branch, and could have reasonably been printed in 1992. However, I cannot even begin to decipher the first character (as the strokes blur together), and I can't seem to get the last 4 characters right. (The 3rd and 4th characters from the bottom look like they might be 王金, but if I add those to the translation, it becomes 花九九年肖二ナ日王金 - "Flower of 1999 Ninja king money")

The characters in the red square at the bottom completely baffle me. I'm guessing they're kanji, or maybe some decorative variant.

Again, I'm not asking for a translation, just the Unicode equivalent of these handwritten characters. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Here's the entire print, in case it helps.


texts:
For full context:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10011249481000/k10011249481000.html

The sentence in question:
２つ目のオリンピックの案は、客がたくさん来るように飾る「招き猫」ときつねのデザインです

My attempt at translation:
"Concerning the second idea for the olympic games, in order for many guests to come, it is a design of a decorative (="decorating") beckoning cat and a fox."

Since my literal translation is at the very edge of being comprehensible, I wanted to ask for confirmation wether I understood the use of 飾る, which probably is an attribute to 「招き猫」ときつね which itself is again an attribute to
デザイン, correct or not.


texts: How do Japanese speakers transition from polite to plain form amongst friends?

texts:
When you first meet somebody, polite language is, on the whole, the most commonly used form of Japanese. Children may differ, and I understand that not everyone will use plain form, but regardless a majority of people do.

At some point in a friendship, inevitably friends will switch to plain form. Again, different people are comfortable to do this at different times, but how do people make the transition from polite to plain language? Do they just start using it, and the other person just plays along? Is it a gradual thing, where you switch in and out of plain form and then just stick to it after a while after using it more and more?

Personal experiences and examples are welcomed


texts:
I want to tell someone that they "looked cool" today.
Normally I would write:
"今日OOさんはかっこよかった！"
But I don't want to mean just that they are cool more specifically I mean their outfit and styling.
Would "今日OOさんはかっこいい見えました！" work better for this feeling?

Thanks!


texts: For some reason I can't remember how to say "try to _" or "have to (must) _" in Japanese. How can I say this?  Any variations you can include would be appreciated.


texts: この本は貸し出し中です　What is the meaning of "中" in this?

texts:
この本は貸し出し中です

I don't know if i should understand :

  Is it "not available", because it is in the "the process of~"
  being already loaned to somebody else?

  Or is it "to be available for loan"?

And  あの本は貸し出し中です is read like かしだしちゅう or なか?

Thanks!


texts:
I was sure about translating "火の玉" as "fireball", but Google Translate suggests another meaning - "falling star".

Can it really be translated like that? If it's true, then in what contexts?


texts:
I was listening to an English conversation yesterday and had a question. The speaker was having a conversation, and then suddenly made a comment that didn't seem to relate to the previous topic.

I wanted to say, "I can't follow her train of thought" or "that conversation doesn't seem to follow any train of thought.

I know that train of thought is 思考回路　but what very would you use for "follow"?  Not 従う right?


texts:
This is from a visual novel.

A dude is talking to his underlings:

  さって本日よりきさまらに新たな命令が下されるわけだが

It translates to

  "Well now I’m calling you to give new orders"

I was under the impression that the passive form works like this:

  A が/は B に passive form

Which means: A is affected by B’s action (directly or indirectly depending whether it's a transitive or intransitive verb)

However I don’t see how that works here.
From what I can tell the sentence is constructed like this:

  A が/は B に passive form

So the speaker should be the one being adversely affected by the verb (orders) however in this case he is the one doing the action (verb).

A should be affected by B's action. However A is the one doing the action towards B.

Can someone help?


texts: ‘I saw that he killed your friend’, I am puzzled before I translate it when considering the expression of verb tense.  I will give two translations,   '私は彼があなたの友達を殺したのを見た' VS '私は彼があなたの友達を殺すのを見た '、Which one is correct and Why??


texts: How can 若い時 and ずっと work in this sentence?

texts:
I'm trying to write

  "I have wanted to study Japanese from a young age"

And I have

  "若い時に私は日本語をずっと勉強したいです."

Does this work? How can I make it more correct?


texts: Does Japanese have free indirect speech?

texts:
In English (and, I assume, its relatives), there is a style of narration called free indirect speech, some examples of which are given in the linked article.

I'm having trouble figuring out whether or not Japanese supports something similar. Clearly, Japanese has direct speech (直接話法):

  A: それはリンゴだ。
  B: 「それはリンゴだ」とAは言った。

Japanese also has some sort of indirect/reported speech (間接話法):

  A: それはリンゴだ。
  B: Aによると、それはリンゴだそうだ。

Can Japanese do free indirect speech (自由間接話法, I guess)? What would that look like? I get the feeling that Japanese might not have a strong distinction between free and ordinary indirect speech, but am having trouble figuring out what the correct mapping between English indirect speech and Japanese indirect speech is.


texts: Meaning of 場所あけて in the following sentence

texts:
In a manga called Samurai Drive, Makio and Ren are best friends. They always fight together and Ren often protects Makio. Now Ren has just died during a battle, so Makio says:

  なあ恋【れん】　俺はお前に幾度となく助けられたけど　その度いつも　[その場所]{・・・・}あけて　待っててくれたろ　だから　俺にも　最後まで俺の場所守らせてくれよ

What is the meaning of その場所あけて in this context? In the dictionary I found that 場所をあける means "to make room, clear space", but I don't understand how it could fit the context. Since it is emphasized by dots, does it mean it has to be interpreted in a metaphorical way?
Here you can see the whole page. Thank you for your help!


texts:
These two sentences seem to use the same pattern, yet differently:

  親族間で複雑な対立関係がある。

  使用人たちの間でも、そう囁かれています。

I found that 間 could mean ''among'' in this case, but what is the difference between the first usage of 間 and the second? I also presume that in the first sentence, 間 is read 'かん', isn't it?

Would 親族の間で and 使用人間で work as well?


texts: Can we use 学生 to represent a person who learns martial arts?

texts: Can we use 学生 to represent a person who learns martial arts such as 合気道?


texts: だって, なんだって and some other interpretation questions

texts:
I have couple of issues/questions about a certain piece of monologue from a manga. Because it's from a manga I will be separating the lines based on boxes in which they are in, and using / to separate columns (where I think that information is needed), because I'm not entirely sure they even use punctuation in places where they should but can simply split the text into another box or column. So that's the question 1:

1) Do manga dialogues even use punctuation? Because I have been reading this one issue and I have yet to see a single comma or full stop. I have a feeling they tend to simply skip to the next column when they might have placed a comma or skip to the next box where a sentence ending full stop might be?

  私は絶対に諦めない

  この星も諦めない  /
  パパだって諦めない

  お行儀よく諦めてなんかやらない

  そう……

  その為だったらなんだって…っ

Most of it is rather clear and is here for context. If additional context is needed, a planet is facing disaster and it is right now pretty certain it's doomed. Also narrator's father has been trying to avert it but he is now ill and isn't likely to live long.

So, question time:

2) what purpose do も and だって serve in この星も諦めない / パパだって諦めない? As it was at first I read it as

  Because of papa, who didn't give up on this world (too?/even?), I won't give up

that is I'm assuming the この星も諦めない is a descriptor of her father. BUT, I have searched some, and it seems, (based on a previous answer) if だって is used after a noun it means even? So in that case is it:

  Even my papa didn't give up on this world, so I won't

OR these two are separate fragments and there should be a full stop or a comma at least between them. So it's actually:

  I won't give up on this world, and I won't give up on papa either!

And yeah, what does も do here. Because I don't really see anything to too at that point, unless it's chaining into that だって down there?

3) Finally I have this line: その為だったらなんだって and I'm wondering if I'm right in assuming なんだって means ANYTHING here so the translation is:

  If it's for the sake of that/them, I'll do ANYTHING...

I'm wondering because I feel that I might be wrong there...


texts: How do you translate 作ってみたら in 妹がチーズドックを作ってみたら兄がwwww?

texts:
It would seem to me the sentence says "little sister makes cheese dokku (whatever that food is) and .. big brother ... ?

I can't understand 作ってみたら . Is みたら the tara conditional form of 見る? Is it another thing? By intuition I would guess he's trying to say that she makes the cheese dokku and he uploads it to internet (youtube) to be seen? perhaps? but I can't make literally sense of the phrase. If みたら is a verb in conditional form, which verb it is and how does it fit in the sentence?


texts: Nuance of ね vs よ in the phrase "I miss you"

texts:
I've been told that the common English phrase "I'll miss you" would be best said in Japanese by:

  寂しくなりますね

What I feel from this ね is that there is a sort of mutual acknowledgement assumed by the speaker.

My question is whether ”ね” can be replaced by for "よ” in this sentence. I thought  it could, and if so would provide more of an emphasis (like maybe the other person didn't expect you would miss them). In fact, based on my (possibly incomplete) sense of ね vs よ I almost feel that よ matches up better with the common phrase "I'll miss you" (though maybe an exclamation would be required when written to match more closely".

Can someone please tell me whether よ (as in 寂しくなりますよ) would be appropriate, and if not why?


texts:
I found となる in

いまから約1世紀前となる1929年

and the English translation was "Almost a century ago in 1929," How does となる which means "become" fit in this sentence?


texts: Basing on~ the differences of these similar meaning words

texts:
試験の成績_____、合格か不合格かを決める。
A. に伴って B. に基づいて C. 次第で D. のもとで E. に応じて

Which of the following fits the blank space best? They all have similar meanings from how I see it (but definitely different usages) : to base on something.


texts: Dating slang question based on a Murakami story

texts:
In the New Yorker there is an English translation of a story by Haruki Murakami, called Yesterday. I was reading the first part of it to my wife, and the young man speaking asked, "Did she let you go all the way?" referring to the extent of the other young man's sexual experience.

My wife immediately asked whether the common English expression "to go all the way," referring to sexual intercourse, would be that similar in Japanese. I answered that I didn't know, but that it might be a fairly universal concept. I assured her that more detailed American English slang on that topic would not be mirrored word for word.

Well, of course the next sentence mentioned "third base" in the same context. Now I didn't know what to tell her! So I am asking here:

In the US, young people say, using baseball terminology, "first base," meaning  kissing, or "second base," touching the girl's breasts, or "third base," "home plate," or "all the way", meaning the same as home plate or sexual intercourse.

Is there some sort of analogous slang used by young people in Japanese?

Thank you very much, especially for not making fun of my silly question!


texts: What is this archaic female honorific form called, and what relationship does it describe?

texts:
I stumbled upon this way of referring to women that was apparently used in pre-war Japan。I can't remember where I found it, or what was said about it's name or purpose, just that it went something like this:

1) Take a girls name, let's say 柿子(カキ・コ)。

2) Remove the suffix syllable, in this 子、making 柿(カキ)。

3) Lastly, append a prefixing お、making お柿(オ・カキ)。

Not 100% sure if I got that right, but if I did: what exactly is this form called? When was it used? And, what kind of relationship does it describe?

Also, would 日本人 today know about this form, or is it quite niche?

Update: Found the reference I originally got this from, go to the 'female names' section of this wiki page, near the bottom; also, it's pre-war Japan, not specifically 江戸時代。

With this, could ya'll elaborate on what it's describing, as the article in question gives no names, and only a rough, un-nuanced explanation.


texts: Can anyone help identify this character 僮?

texts: I found this character on a website and the only associated meaning was "child, servant." Can anyone elaborate on when it may be used and why?


texts: Using ていく to express doing something deeply/longer/strongly and tense agreement with ていくうちに

texts:
While trying to understand how to use ていくうちに in this sentence: (from https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/55251/17515)

  子どもの頃から使っていくうちに、身についてきたものだからです。
  (The て form) is something we master after using it again and again from childhood.

I found other sentences like this one (from here)

  考えていくうちに、私は間違いに気付いた
  While/as I'm thinking further, I noticed that mistake(?)

And the explanation for 考えていくうちに is 'to think longer/to think further'. But then I found this page where it says to not use the past tense in the later part after うちに and that that part should express supposition/prediction.

  ○勉強しているうちに、意味がわかった。
  ×勉強していくうちに、意味がわかった。

  ○勉強しているうちに、意味がわかるだろう。
  ○勉強していくうちに、意味がわかるだろう。

My questions are:
1. Is 考えていくうちに、私は間違いに気付いた incorrect?
2.Does 使っていくう mean 'To use something from now on to the future' or 'using something repeatedly/deeply' like in 考えていく(to think longer/to think further), 見ていく(事情や状況などをまとめたものを確認していくこと), and 確認していく(一つ一つをよく見て確認するさま)


texts: what is the use of で in 日本料理は京都の料理でたいへん美味しい

texts:
found it at the kanji workbook of shin nihongo no kiso.
would it be something like "among the japanese cuisine, kyoto's cuisine is specially tasty"?
I know that で is used to say "among" but the only example I know is using SでいちばんAdj


texts:
I have heard both of these in several contexts and I have having trouble understanding the difference in meaning and connotation.
I would like to know the difference between 様々 and 色々and when to use each one.


texts: How to say 'Exercise is also very important' (Hontō ni)

texts:
In context, I'm attempting to say 'For the sake of a long life, eating well is important but exercise is also very important'.
So far I have:

  長生きのために　よく食べることが大切ですが、運動も本当に大切です。

Is the usage of hontō ni in this passage correct? If not, how can express this without too much deviation from this sentence?


texts: How does "ほじくり返す" work in this sentence?

texts:
I was reading Nagatoro where this girl is teasing her senpai. But she says this line that confuses me.

  我慢するなら初めからほじくり返すからね

From what I've learned, I understand this goes like "If you endure, I'll disclose (it) from the beginning." Though, that sentence doesn't really make sense to me. Which is why I"m here.


texts: Trouble understanding the meaning of 怒った肩 here

texts:
The man is about to commit harakiri:

刀を前へ廻し、腰を持ち上げ、上半身が刃先へのしかかるようにして、体に全力をこめているのが、軍服の怒った肩からわかった。

What is understood here by "pointy shoulders" (if I'm understanding 怒った肩 correctly)? How can pointy shoulders (which I assume to be part of his uniform) show that he was gathering his strength?


texts: とまらない in One Punch Man OP meaning とまれない (negative potential)

texts:
The negative form of 止{と}まる (to stop) is 止まらない, and the negative potential form is 止まれない.

However, I've noticed that 止まらない can be used in the sense of 止まれない. For example, the OP for One Punch Man goes like this:

  ONE PUNCH!

  (Three! Two! One! Kill shot!)

  参{さん}上{じょう}！　必{ひっ}勝{しょう}！　至{し}上{じょう} 最{さい}強{きょう}!

  なんだってんだ？　フラストレーション　俺{おれ}は止まらない (meaning: Nobody can stop me)

  http://www.lyrical-nonsense.com/lyrics/jam-project/the-hero-ikareru-kobushi-ni-hi-wo-tsukero/#page=Japanese

Other examples:

"Help! I can't stop!" = 「助{たす}けて。止まらない。」http://japanese.about.com/blpod021101.htm
The song 涙{なみだ}が止まらない放{ほう}課{か}後{ご} is translated as "Unstoppable Tears After School". Wouldn't "Unstoppable Tears" mean 涙が止まれない? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namida_ga_Tomaranai_H%C5%8Dkago

Why is this so? Are there other verbs that behave like this?


texts:
Below are the 2 forms of similarity expressed for (V) ~nai and (N).
Do I summarize these forms correctly?

Self-deduction:

(negative verb)  ふらなさそうだ
(noun)           かのじょ王女みたい

hearsay:

(negative verb)  ふらないそうだ
(noun)           かのじょ王女だそうだ


texts: 「砂を噛むように味__ない。」: Which particle(s) to use best, and how do the meanings differ?

texts:
The sentence I encountered was originally:

  「砂を噛むように味のない。」

Which I would translate as follows:

  (Something) lacks taste so much that it is just like chewing on sand.
  *Don't try this at home.

I began to wonder if I changed the particle の with a different particle, when would the meaning actually change, and when would it become ungrammatical.

Below are the variations I can think of, and that which appear grammatical to me,  along with the meanings I think they have. The translation may well be unnatural.

  砂を噛むように味がない。
  (There is / This is) no taste like chewing on sand.

  砂を噛むように味がある。
  The taste that is like chewing on sand exists. This has the taste like chewing on sand.

  砂を噛むように味である。
  This taste is like chewing on sand.

  砂を噛むように味　では/じゃ　ない。
   This taste is not like chewing on sand.

Again, I try to retain a more literal translation irrespective of naturalness, because I think this helps comparing the difference.

I believe this may be an issue many beginners such as yours truly encounter. I would really appreciate it if anyone could take a stab at this for me. Thank you so much!


texts:
弱い冒険者からは階層主という名で恐れられているように、.....

Is で marking the agent of the passive sentence? I thought you had to use に.


texts:
I have heard people replacing 私、俺 with こっち in casual speech. For example:
こっちは忙しいんだ instead of 私は忙しいんだ. The question is, under what circumstances can one use こっち instead of 私. I know that そっち can mean "my side", which might imply that there may be more than 1 person on my end

Similarly, in using そっち instead of あなた (or the person's name)、are there any differences besides そっち meaning "you and anyone on your side" whilst あなた meaning just you(and no one else)?


texts: Why is it お[腹]{なか}が[空]{す}いた but [腹]{はら}[減]{へ}った?

texts:
Is there any particular reason why the noun おなか goes with verb すく while the noun はら goes with the verb へる? Would it be weird if I use おなかへった or はらすいた?

While on the same topic, does the 'starving' onomatopoeia ペコペコ go with both おなか and はら?


texts:
What does 名乗る mean when used with the particle を, as in this sentence?

風評は目撃者を名乗る

I can only seem to find the intransitive on internet dictionaries.


texts: Please help with deciphering the meaning of this sentence

texts:
お見合いの相手は、理想を絵に描いたような男性だった。

First part is something like: since he/she was/is an omiai partner or since they met in omiai . I’m having difficulty in understanding the second.

Explanation says:

  理想を絵に描いたような  is an idiomatic usage for one or something that suits something to a tee, that is “the very picture of~..”

I’d highly appreciate if you could help me with any simpler explanation.


texts: Grammar explanation for '...ことができなくなります'

texts:
Is 'できなく' converted from 'できない'?
I've learned adj. '..い' can convert to '..く' in this case.
Does verb's 'ない' form also have such transformation?


texts: For すっきり, Jisho gives six possible translations that don't seem to have much common ground, so I have a hard time forming a general idea of what the word means, or knowing which meaning to pick when seeing the word in the real world. Can somebody help?


texts: Meaning of というか and 手伝って in this sentence

texts:
The sentence is from Dragon ball, Mutenrôshi, the teacher of Gokû and Krilin, is telling someone about how good his pupils became. He then says this :

  とくに悟空はもともとの野生というか天性の強さもてつだって信じられんようなパワーを秘めておる。

I believe てつだって means something along the lines of "in addition", therefore I believe the second part of the sentence means :

  In addition to his natural strength, he is hiding an incredible power.

Am i right so far?

Regarding というか, I found that it means something like "in other words", "or rather"... the idea behind being rephrasing what has been said in another/a better/a more accurate manner. Doesn't seem to fit here though...

Thanks for your time.


texts: What does ミラー and 光が飛んで mean in this passage?

texts:
Can anyone help me understand what ミラー(mirror) is referring to below and how it relates to 光が飛んで. Is this related at all to 白飛び https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/113080/meaning/m0u/
Or does it mean something else?

「よし、んじゃカメラはそこな。あとは小道具のセッティングだけど」

「え？　もうやってくれたのか！　さすが頼りになる部員たちだぜ」

「んじゃ、青空をバックに小鳥が飛ぶシーンから撮るぞ～」

「そーそーそのアングル。けど、それだとちょっと光が飛んでんな……ミラーある？」


texts:
How can I conjugate na adjective to say "want". For example:
I want to hate - 嫌い　+　たい？
I want to not hate 嫌い　＋　たくない？


texts: What is the term for not making eye contact?

texts: I have read in numerous publications that making direct eye contact can be considered rude and offensive but I am unable to identify a term associated with it.


texts: Which of the Japanese scripts should I learn first?

texts:
When do we use kanji, katakana and hiragana?
Which of these should I study first?


texts: About を in 再稼働をてこに収益改善

texts:
Can anyone please tell me what does を in 再稼働をてこに収益改善 in the sentence below indicate? I know that を is followed by a verb, but how come in this case it's followed by a noun てこ?

  広島高裁による四国電力伊方原発３号機（愛媛県、定期検査中）の運転差し止め命令は、再稼働をてこに収益改善を見込んでいた同社にとって想定外の衝撃だ。


texts: Why is the passive form verb 「おられる」used in this sentence?

texts:
Here is the sentence.

白木葉子さんは非行少年問題にご理解がふかく学生劇団を組織して日曜日ごとにあちこちの少年院を慰問してまわっておられるのだ

In my understanding, the objective for the verb is 「あちこちの少年院」.

Is the verb used in passive form because of showing politness or respect to 「白木葉子さん」?


texts: The usage and meaning of the ending ～なんですけれども

texts:
I heard the sentence

大好きなんですけれども.

So my question is about the ending ～なんですけれども. What is the meaning of this ending, and when it should be used?


texts: What's the purpose of "し" after "買い物" in this sentence?

texts:
昨夜スーパーへ買い物しに行きました。

I understand the purpose of the "ni" particle, but why does it need the "shi"?
Did I miss something?

Thanks.


texts: Correct way of saying 'I did not see people in the library'

texts:
人々をライブラリで見なかった。

Is this the correct way of writing 'I did not see people in the library'? I'm not 100% with the particles but 'wo' seems right attached to people.

I use ライブラリ just for the sake of attaching a location.


texts: How many Joyo (and perhaps Jinmeiyo) Kanji have only one onyomi?

texts:
I feel this is really beneficial to have a list for in my studies. The reason is if I see an unknown word that I'm reasonably sure has onyomi readings, if the kanji in question have only one possible reading, I can automatically read the word. Score! But if there are multiple onyomi per character, I'm going to have to consider which reading applies. Single onyomi Kanji make for smooth reading and learning.

As for the multiple-onyomi Kanji, I'll be wanting more careful practice, so I'd like to know the list of them.

I could find all this out manually by looking up thousands of characters, but is this a known thing?


texts:
I'm a bit lost on all the ways to say "to buy". Can anyone help me understand the difference? According to my research it seems that 買い取りする and 買い取る are used when the shop buys something for the customer, like a notion of trade, but I'm not sure of that and I don't understand the difference between the する version and the non-する one. If you can give me some examples to understand it, it would be nice :)
Thank you


texts:
「あはははは、こんなもの慣れよ慣れ。ほら、じっとしてな、払ってあげるから」

  「い、いーですって、先生、自分でしますから」

  「いっちょまえに照れちゃってもー。いーからいーから、自分じゃわかんないでしょ。ほら、頭の上とか」

I don't quite understand how 一丁前に  modifies 照れちゃっても in this context. I understand that 一丁前に has the ideas of becoming an adult associated with it, but how does that come into play in this context? (She threw a snowball at him, and he hates the cold.)


texts: Expressing desire of a third party using したいそうです

texts:
姉は学校を卒業後は海外留学したいそうです。
ane ha gakkou wo sotsugyougo ha kaigairyuugaku shitai sou desu.
My sister says that she wants to study abroad after graduating from school.

I found this sentence on http://www.mahou.org
If it is correct, would I also be able to write the same sentence (expressing the same meaning) in the following manner? I am specifically wondering about expressing desire of a third party subject using したい as opposed to したがっています. (also, is the translation's use of "says" problematic?)

姉は学校を卒業後は海外留学したがっているそうです。


texts: Foreigners are 外国人。Can a Japanese person, living in Japan, be referred to as a 内国人？


texts: What's the Japanese for 'er...' - a pause or uncertainty in a sentence?

texts:
I was in Tokyo earlier this year and one thing I noticed people saying a lot was something that sounded like anno.

It sounded to me like an uncertain pause in a sentence, like:

I'd like, er... (anno) one of those please

Is there an equivalent in Japanese of the English 'er...'?

If so, how would I use it in a basic Japanese sentence such as ordering drinks?


texts: Sentence structure of 戦争で敵兵になぶりものにされて殺されたんだ

texts:
「うーん、君が納得する話が出来るかどうか。そうだね、例えば……」

  「僕は両親の顔も知らない。戦争で敵兵になぶりものにされて殺されたんだ」

  「それで、叔父に引き取られたんだけどさ。...

In this hypothetical, the parents are killed in war but the bolded section is unintuitive to read.

嬲る can't take 敵兵に directly as a transitive verb, but 敵兵に is the only thing that can do the ものにされて殺された to his parents.

would appreciate clarification, than you


texts:
I assume it's always　a (vs)noun, so 開始三秒 must be a noun composed of 開始｛かいし｝ and 三秒｛さんびょう｝? If that is true, does it mean "before 3 seconds have elapsed?" (it would seem so from the context), but given that 開始 usually means something to do with beginnings I am probably wrong. This came up in this sentence:

  二度寝｛にどね｝の誘惑｛ゆうわく｝を開始三秒でノックアウトして、姿見｛すがたみ｝の前で軽く全身をチェック。

As I understand it so far: "Within 3 seconds / before 3 seconds have elapsed [?] I beat the temptation to go back to bed again. I then check on my body in the mirror　[without too much fuss]."

お助けください


texts:
I'm writing my thesis on the newly perceived generation of さとり世代.
My Japanese reading is fairly good but I have this one article that I cannot crack.

My question is regarding the meaning of a word in context, and an expression in context:
矛先 and 逃げ切る

So far I get that the first means arrowhead, and the second, according to jisho.org means to either "get away" or "manage to hold on".

The context:

the article is about generational differences in behavior and the forseeable demografic crisis, when the number of old people will be relatively too high in proportion to the workforce. The article uses the notion of generations to further elaborate on the differences facing young and older people now, in Japan.

The article especially focuses on the babyboomers 団塊世代and the さとり世代.

I'm gonne quote some passages from the article, and hopefully someone out there can tell me what 　矛先 and 逃げ切る means in this context.

the title of the article is:
若者のエネルギーが小さく矛先見えない「さとり世代」The writer probably means something like "the young peoples initiative is pretty much invisible", but I'm just not sure. what is the meaning of this phrase?

the following first line of the article then goes:

本当に「団塊世代」は「逃げ切り世代」に入るのでしょうか。
what does nigekirisedai mean?

is it because the generation is running away from their responsibilities by not leaving the same work conditions, that they themselves enjoyed, to the next generations? Or is it that "they simply will not die?"

another sentence that uses the arrowhead thing:

ところがさとり世代になった途端、エネルギー自体が小さくなり　”矛先すら見えない”　状態です。「同世代の若者はエネルギーの矛先が同じ一方向」が前提の世代論ですが、戦後初めてかなり特殊な若者が出てきたという意味では、特筆すべきです。

the whole "energy getting small", is just not reading well with me. What does it all mean?

Hope you can help me, my professor went on holiday already and the deadline is approaching ¯_(ツ)_/¯


texts: What's the difference between による, により and によって?

texts:
I don't understand when you use them and what the difference is between the three.

For example, when you say:

  火事によって多くの森林が焼けてしまった。
  今回の地震による津波の心配はない。


texts: Confusion about possible double condition in article about fires

texts:
I'm reading this article about how air conditioning and electric fans turn into a lot of fires. The final sentence has put me in a little loop though. I cannot tell if there is a double conditional being used here or not.

There is a と but then a little later on there is あったら. I am not really sure what is intended by the と. I know that と has multiple meanings, but I am unsure if it should be translated to a 'if' or a 'when'. Also another major bump for me is the あったら as I have only seen the たら-form being used as a conditional marker. It seems really strange to me to have a double conditional, but ultimately I am unsure

  特に２０年以上使っている古いエアコンや扇風機を使うときは、変な音がするなどいつもと違うことがあったら使わないでほしいと言っています。

  My translation: The case for old air conditioning units and electric fans that are in use for at least 20 years, which (if they? [based on と]) are always making strange sounds and (if? [based on たら-form]) they are unusual, these are the ones you do not want to use they said.


texts:
I have trouble understanding the second and the last paragraphs from this short text.

I just couldn't parse the second paragraph at all. And the only thing I can glean from the fourth paragraph is that "It's more efficient to treat city and prefecture library as a fall-back option" but this is incomplete and probably wrong too. A detailed explanation would be much appreciated.


texts: Standard mathematical operations, expressed in Japanese

texts:
First-time poster on this channel, so please forgive me if I screw anything up...

I'm currently writing a "Japanese Calculator" program as part of a personal project I'm working on which takes rōmaji input and converts the phrase, determines the mathematical expression and spits out the answer in decimal format... Numbers will be written in upper case for example:

ICHI purasu GO mainasu YON purasu ROKU

1 + 5 - 4 + 6, in this case, which will spit out 8 as a final answer...

In my program, if I use a comma after a specific operation and value, the intention is that it will store the value in an interim memory and then the next operation will be acted upon the next value... For example:

ICHI purasu GO, mainasu SAN which could be interpreted as (1 + 5) - 3.

My focus in this question is in the legibility and grammatical correctness in whatever input I give it... I'd like consistency as well as ease of grammar...

Now I've been happy to use プラス and マイナス in their rōmaji forms... but I've been stuck on how to get some sort of suitable legibility with things like multiplication and division... I want to use the equivalents of "multiplied by" and "divided by" but have found that:

With multiplication, for example, "x multiplied by y", I get: x ni y o jōjita

And with division, for example, "x divided by y", I get: x o y de watta

Would these be considered suitable equivalents?

For example, if I wanted to do (3 + 1 - 2) * 6 / 2, and using these two other phrases, and the comma concept I mentioned above, and still make it legibly correct Japanese, would the following be considered a sufficient and legible translation?

SAN purasu ICHI mainasu NI, ni ROKU o joujita o NI de watta

If not, I would appreciate any way of improving this kind of input, so I can implement these into my code and still retain some legibility.

Thanks, or rather... arigatou.


texts: The usage of ので etc to leave sentences "hanging"

texts:
This is a question I've wanted to ask Japanese natives for a while but have never gotten the chance. In Japanese there are many more "sentences" that end unfinished(at least if we are comparing to English). Sometimes these just end in particles like を、に etc and are very clear(at least to me) as to what is implied afterwards. Although sometimes I struggle to see exactly what would come after particles like から、ので etc. How do Japanese natives "think", perhaps unconsciously, about exchanges like this?

「これは？」
「どうした，サイエ？」
「いえ、どこからかピンク色の萌え電波受信したので」
「？」

Pardon the example but it was the most recent thing I was reading. In this situation he and サイエ are both on the battlefield and she "picks up" a signal and then this very brief exchange leaves our friend confused. Now, how does one actually look at what this ので is doing?

1) Is it used by her to explain to him why she spoke?
2) Does it have an obvious bit afterwards that is implied (Even if one wasn't on the battlefield I'm sure one would find that picking up a ピンク色の萌え電波 would be interesting/surprising)
3) If it's not one of the above how would a native think about this?


texts: Does "シャッターチャンス" have the same connotations as "photo op" in English?

texts: In English, the term photo op, short for photo opportunity, can mean an opportunity to take a photo, but in politics and PR, it can also mean an event staged for photos. Does "シャッターチャンス" (wasei-eigo based on "shutter chance") have the same connotations? If not, how would I refer to a photo op in the politics/PR sense?


texts:
So, I recently was reading something and I found the structure そのものだ, which at first glance it is not quite mean "that thing" as I thought, and the best explanation of it that I could find was in the "A dictionary of Advanced Japanese grammar", and from what I saw, after a noun, it is translated as "itself" or "the picture of/the embodiment of~ (health, beauty etc.)The book said that after a Na-adjective such as in the examples taken from the book

  温厚そのものだ (s.o is very gentle)
  温厚そのものの人柄 (a very gentle personality)

In these examples, 'sono mono' is just used to place more emphasis? (If you could provide me with more examples it would be great, because most of the ones that are in the book and what I saw on websites, they are usually translated with the meanings itself" or "the picture of/the embodiment of~ like I mentioned.My sentence was like this:

  さくらが捨てた感傷そのものだ

(someone is narrating and holding an object that belonged to Sakura, which the narrator knew she was attached to it, but after a painful event, Sakura abandoned it, a metaphor for throwing away her sentimentality)and I think here it could translate as:

  "Sakura threw (this-the item) the very embodiment of her sentimentality"

I hope I could explain well enough!


texts: How to transliterate 中文 in Mandarin pronunciation to Japanese

texts:
I am working on an art project that I would like to collect the hundreds of different transliterations of 「中文」 zhōng wén in Mandarin Chinese. (Pronunciation available here: https://translate.google.com/#zh-CN/de/中文)

How can I transliterate zhōng wén in Japanese? (For example, "zhong wen" would be the closest pronunciation in English.)


texts:
こんにちは, みなさん!

I was just wondering if this sentence structure is correct when asking 'what (thing) is popular in (place)?'

The example I've chosen is 'what sports are popular in Japan?'

My attempts:

どんなスポーツは日本で人気がありますか。
日本ではスポーツが人気がありますか。
(Not sure about repeating the 'が' particle)

Also, could you use this structure for questions like:
'What bars are popular in Tokyo?'
'What food is popular in Spain?'
Etc.

Thanks in advance guys!

よろしくお願いします!


texts: たくさんの本を読んで versus 本をたくさん読んで

texts:
What is the difference between たくさんの本を読んで and 本をたくさん読んで?
Is たくさん an adverb in this case?

Another example, 多くの食料が輸入される and 食料が多く輸入される where 多く is an adverb here.


texts:
I have a quick question about a piece of dialogue I'm confused about:-

  誰かが止めようと思って止まる程に小さな流れでもない

I think it probably translates to something like "It's not even a small set of events someone can try to stop."

I read that 止める means "to stop something or someone", whereas 止まる means "to stop" more generally, but if my translation is accurate, why is there a need to use both  止める and 止まる in the same clause? My guess is "止めようと思って止まる" could be an expression that has a broader meaning.

I hope someone can shed some light on this for me, thanks!


texts:
Jumping straight to an example:
あなたはずっと大切で忘れない
Does the ずっと belong only to 大切？ Or does it also belong to 忘れない?
In other words, does the sentence mean "You are forever precious and I'll never forget you" or does it mean "You are forever precious and I will not forget you"?


texts: The meaning of and difference between ～を中心に and ～をめぐって

texts:
What is the meaning of and difference between ～を中心に and ～をめぐって?

Space ALC defines ～を中心に as "with a focus on" and ～をめぐって as "centering on", but I'm having trouble figuring out the meaning and difference in usage of the two.

I saw the following example sentence for ～を中心に in the (old) JLPT2 完全マスター, which JGram interpreted slightly differently to me:

  駅を中心に沢山の商店が集まっている。

  My first interpretation: "In the station there are lots of stores grouped together."
  JGram's interpretation (which I now think is more accurate): "Centered around the station there are many stores."

The way I now understand it is that ～を中心に means more "([focused/centered/revolving]) around" rather than "in the center of something". Would this explanation be accurate?

I've also encountered ～をめぐって a couple of times. The following example I read today in the April 2012 edition of 中央公論:

  政党というものは、単に選挙をめぐって候補者をリクルートし、有権者へ働きかけて動員するための組織ではない。
  My attempted translation: "A political party isn't an organization which is simply about recruiting candidates focusing on elections and encouraging mobilization of voters."

If I switched をめぐって with を中心に, would it have the same or similar meaning? What would the differences in nuance be between the two?


texts:
Full sentence:

そういうヤツら　もう　どんどん死んでく　から　よくない？


texts:
Consider the following sentences:

  A: 七時に学校へ行きます。

  B: 今日学校へ行きません。

I think both 七時 and 今日 are nouns.
What I don't understand is  why 七時 (as in A) needs に but 今日 (as in B) does not.

Can anybody here explain the reason? One more question, does 七時に become an adverb?


texts:
I want to say:

  I don't think cats are ever friendly.

The only "ever" I know is using ことがある　but that doesn't seem appropriate. My attempt without the "ever" is:

  猫が友好的じゃないものと思います。

Btw, have I used もの correctly to make this into a statement about cats in general?


texts: What is the difference between 口元 and 口?

texts:
When talking about the body part (not, for example, entrances/exits), what is the difference between these two words. Based on looking at these two pages (for 口 and 口元) I'm guessing that the difference is that 口元 deals with the outside part of your mouth, i.e. the lips, the shape of the mouth etc, while 口 deals with the "whole package" so to speak (the inside of the mouth, the tongue, the words/language one uses).

Am I right on this? Can these two ever be used interchangeably? Are there other parts of the body that work (grammatically) the same way?　(I tried 鼻元, but I got "root of the nose", which doesn't make sense to me...)


texts: Do any of these names/kanji have any negative connotations?

texts:
A martial arts (Aikido) organization I am part of wants to make an in-house newsletter. Our sister organizations have typically names relating to zen or martial arts, and we found the following candidates in a glossary:
Chōsoku 調息
Dokusan　獨參
Sanzen　參禪
Kenshō　見性
Mondō　問答
Do any of them have other potentially negative meanings or connotations which would make them unsuitable?


texts: What's the usage of ばかり in "見たこと無いものばかりだわ！"?

texts: I've got a feeling it's an intensifier for the statement, but I want to be certain about the grammatical stuff behind it, since I've only seen one mention of that in all of my materials and research


texts: Translation of phrase 「留守を預かる者として、主の家を汚した蒙昧」

texts:
Could somebody help me with translation of the following sentence.

  留守を預かる者として、主の家を汚した蒙昧――八つ裂きにされようと文句は言えぬ。

Text:

  理屈など通用しない。 ただ一人でも、どんなに卑小な者だろうと、名誉と忠誠に反した愚者を、黒円卓に存在させた罪は罪。 故に罰。
  留守を預かる者として、主の家を汚した蒙昧――八つ裂きにされようと文句は言えぬ。

Some sort of translation:

  An ignorance of staining master's house, as a person taking a charge
  of it during his absence --

Context: The master of a some sort of group is not present for some long period of time, so he entrusted the control of the group to his subordinates. However one of them done something bad, so the master is punishing all of his subordinates.


texts:
The other day when I was having a brief conversation in Japanese I meant to say "I have always been living here" so I said いつも(the name of my home province)に住んでいます。 The Japanese person I was speaking with however said this was incorrect, and told me the more appropriate word to use in this situation was ずっと such that the sentence would be ずっと(the name of my home province)に住んでいます.

From my interpretation both of these words mean always, however there are clearly some nuances that I'm misunderstanding. If someone could clarify the meanings of these two words and why ずっと is more appropriate here and what kind of situations I would use ずっと vs いつも I would be very appreciative.

Thanks!


texts: How can I express that X is as big/small/fast/... as Y?

texts:
I would like to know how to express that something is equal in some aspect to another thing (or person, if that makes a difference), as you would express in English by saying:

X is as (adjective) as Y

for example: This car is as fast as that car.

It would also be interesting for me to learn how to say:

"is not as (adjective) as"
"is nearly as (adj) as"
"can/might/will be as (adj) as"
"want to be as (adj) as"

Thank you very much for your help!


texts: 「これくらいで」 whats the grammatical purpose that で has here?

texts: Googling around for that particular phrase pretty much leads only to a song これくらいで歌う or it's use with の as in これくらいの塩で充分だ. I have a sneaking suspicion it may be related to the adverbial usage of これくらい, but not entirely sure.


texts:
What are the differences among the following two-kanji words that seem to mean "eternity":

永遠 {えいえん}
永久 {とわ}
永世 {えいせい}
永代 {えいたい}
永劫 {えいごう}
永永 {えいえい}
久遠 {きゅうえん}
悠久 {ゆうきゅう}
恒久 {こうきゅう}
恒常 {こうじょう}
長久 {ちょうきゅう}
無窮 {むきゅう}

Please include any other related words (preferably two-kanji only) but please exclude those that make use of period of a lifetime like 一生, 末代 etc, or big number of years/era like 千代, 万古 etc.

p/s: I noticed that the first two 永遠 and 永久 are the most commonly used; is it true and why them instead of the others?


texts:
I am currently facing an exam in beginner Japanese where I will have to describe a picture of a person's entire day.

I've prepared a list of conjunctions I can use to go from event to event, but I am unsure of how many of them sound natural, so I'd like to get a second opinion.

For example, say the character I'm describing wakes up and then eats breakfast. Which of these sound natural? And are there any handy ones I've forgotten?

初めに、彼が起きました。次に、朝ご飯を食べました。
初めに、彼が起きました。そのあと、朝ご飯を食べました。
初めに、彼が起きました。起きたあとで、朝ご飯を食べました。
初めに、彼が起きました。起きてから、朝ご飯を食べました。
初めに、彼が起きました。そして、朝ご飯を食べました。
初めに、彼が起きました。それから、朝ご飯を食べました。
初めに、彼が起きました。そして、それから、朝ご飯を食べました。

Looking forward to your suggestions.


texts: Can どれ mean plain what/who without selection?

texts:
In a comic book (犬夜叉) I found a plain

  どれ…

in a situation when a person sees that something bad happened. Somebody got injured and the spectator apparently asks, who could have possibly done this. I am just wondering why it’s どれ and not だれ or なに. It is a completely unexpected event and there are no offenders to be picked from.

Is どれ used this way? The closest I could find was an example in a dictionary

  「缶を開けて。」「どれで。」

But that didn’t satisfy me enough.

Another option is that I got the meaning completely wrong or that it’s not the same „what“ どれ.


texts: What is the purpose of the renyokei form + ni part of this sentence?

texts:
In the light novel that I'm reading, the protagonist is creatively arguing with his friend to obtain more sleeping time.

However, I'm a bit confused about how to handle the 起こしに in this sentence.

  だからもう無理して起こしに来なくてもいいよ

According to my research,

起こし is the renyokei form of 起こす, meaning to wake up.

に is the particle Ni and it's used to indicate purpose.

来なくて is the negative -te form of come, so don't come.

I know that the sentence means,

  Since it would be more unreasonable otherwise, it is okay if you do not come and wake me up.

The problem that I'm having is in the translation process.

Most of the time, when I see a verb before a -Ni, it'll be in the -te form.  If that were the case here, like 起こしてに来なくて, I'd be able to translate that part as don't come to wake up

However, whenever I see the renyokei form of a verb, I'll insert an "and", and that's where my translation falls flat.  My problem right now is that, for 起こしに来なくて, I get a literal translation, "don't come to wake up and"

I understand that it shouldn't be taken literally, but it does suggest that "wake up" needs to be connected to something else like もいい. The problem is that this doesn't fit with any grammar that I've learned so far -- especially because the link in the middle of a subordinate clause extends out it -- so I'm not confident at all in this leap of logic?

I wish to request clarification because I've searched and could not find any examples explaining why the Renyokei form is being used here.


texts:
What is the difference between にかんして and について?
Example usage would be much appreciated!


texts:
I'm playing through Phantasy Star right now, and there's a scene where mercenaries are hired to gather in some ruins for treasure. One says:

「場所が場所ってこともあって腕利きを集めているのかもな。」

Supposedly, this translates along the lines of "A place like this is bound to draw the best."

I'm not sure how accurate that translation is, as the company who translated the game is not known for having the "best" translations.

I understand 「腕利きを集めているのかもな。」which translates to "gathering the able/skilled" (with doubt), but I'm unable to understand the grammatical structure of the first part, mainly こともあって and the recurring 「場所」.

My guess is that the first part is supposed to emphasize the current location.


texts:
What is the idiom "in the blink of an eye" in Japanese?

I want to use it to say that two years will be over in the blink of an eye or "before you even notice".

(For a detailed discussion and examples of the English idiom please see e.g. here)


texts: Meaning of 以上 and 以下 according to water depth level

texts:
Reading a text like:

  海の深さが200m以上{いじょう}

The first thing that came into my mind was:

  Above a level of 200m depth

But then I realized that my understanding can be wrong and it may mean something like:

  At a depth over 200m

Which interpretation is correct?

It can be associated with this question but the answer may be different in this particular context.

Source for an example usage: NHK Easy News


texts:
違和感を感じる

Most Japanese say that this phrase is redundant because 感 and 感じる have the same meaning, and that 違和感を覚える is correct.
I have two questions here.

Why using 覚える is correct?

As far as I know, 感じる and 覚える here mean the same(to feel), so I think both of them are correct or incorrect. Are there any difference I do not know?

Is 違和感を感じる really wrong?

I think 違和感を感じる is a right expression. It is because 違和感 does not indicate that I 感じる, and 感じる does not mean to feel 違和感. I have heard 違和感を感じる said many times so I believe that some think it is natural. So Is it really redundant?


texts: Usage of "sensei"/"先生" when the recipient is a peer?

texts:
In a professional setting, would two professors/doctors/lawyers—who would normally be addressed as "sensei"—refer to each other (as peers) using "sensei"?

Note: This question used to be asking about Japanese formality in English.  Now I'm just interested on how sensei would be used in this context in spoken Japanese.


texts: Help me understand this sentence about film

texts:
I have a problem understanding this sentence.

  ヒットした映画の続編・続々編が制作されるのも、単に興業収益があがるというだけではなく、2時間程度の映画ではあがるきれないものが多すぎて、その部分を埋めてほしいという観客の要望も背景の一つになっています。

From my understanding the first part:

  ヒットした映画の続編・続々編が制作されるのも、単に興業収益があがるというだけではなく、

Means something like:

  Sequels of popular movies are not only produced to increase the profit,

For the next part:

  2時間程度の映画ではあがるきれないものが多すぎて、

does it mean?

  movies with a 2 hour format　missing a lot(because it is to much)

and then the next part is also tricky

  その部分を埋めてほしいという観客の要望も背景の一つになっています。

i came up with something like:

  the desire of the viewers to fill this gap is becoming one with...

but i have the feeling that i get it totally wrong after the second comma starting with 2時間程度...


texts: How to express "being sorry" as a sympathetic feeling?

texts:
I'm surprised this question hasn't been asked already so in case I just missed it in my searches please point me to it.

Is there a general way to express "being sorry" not when apologizing of course, but rather when you want to convey sympathy towards someone's unfortunate circumstances.

I am sure that in certain specific situations there would be standard sentences for this, e.g., "I'm sorry for your loss".

However, I'm interested in more general situations. How to answer "Oh, I'm sorry about that" when someone tell's you about something unfortunate they are/have been going through?

Random examples:

  A: I lost my wallet with all my documents in it.

  B: Oh, I'm sorry about that...

  A: I didn't get the scholarship and I won't be able to go study abroad.

  B: Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that...

  A: I got fired.

  B: Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that...

I tried on purpose to think of situations with different degrees of severity. Also suppose that A and B are quite close, but I think regardless of A and B's relationship in English one would say something on the line of "I'm sorry" (the difference stands in how much A means it).

One thing I could think of in Japanese would be

  B: "あ、それは残念/大変ですね..."

However, this to me sounds more like an objective acknowledgment that something is bad/unfortunate rather than a subjective expression of one own's sympathetic feelings. Something like in English maybe would be "Ah, that's too bad/that sucks...".

So is there something in Japanese closer to the English "being sorry" in this kind of situations? Or very simply people just wouldn't use anything like that?


texts:
Some people use the word エンターティナー to mean 'entertainer'. I suspect this word comes from the English word entertainer. But the accented vowel is "ei", rather than "i". It would be a better approximation to transcribe it as エンターテイナー. Although the latter form is used, the former one is also used. How did ティ arise in place of テイ?

I had once thought of a possibility of hypercorrection, but am not sure.


texts: I'm wrestling with the first って in 借金が雪だるま式に増えてってるって噂だよ

texts:
The sentence in question:

  借金が雪だるま式に増えてってるって噂だよ

My best guess is that the first って is a contracted from of いる. Whatever it is that we're addressing seems to be suffering from a financial crisis. Then why not put it like 「増えているって噂だよ」, rather than what it is?


texts: How to express two of the same object, but different colors?

texts:
For example, I would like to say, "Please wash the white and blue plates."
Meaning that there are white plates and blue plates to be washed. (Not plates that contain both the colors blue and white)

I know you could say 白い皿と青い皿, but is there a way to express the same idea without having to repeat the noun (in this case 皿) and not sound unnatural?

I wasn't sure if 白い皿と青い皿 could be expressed to something like 白いと青い皿。(Which doesn't look right to me)

My attempt:白いか青い皿を洗いなさい。(This still sounds kinda strange to me)

And to my understanding,

白い青い皿＝Plates that are colored both white and blue

白くて青い皿＝Same as above? Plates that are colored both white and blue? (I'm not sure if the くて gives a different meaning. I looked at this, but I'm still a little unsure.


texts: Can フラれて be used in any non-romantic sense?

texts:
Something like “shocked” or “deceived”. Or rejected by friend, not by lover. Or in the situation where the person ignored someone’s problem.
Really, any non-romantic meaning, even it’s not common.


texts: What's the difference between these words?


texts:
While reading a manga, which takes place during the samurai era, I came across the statement:

  弟の鉄之助は中岡隊長の言うちょった犯人の特徴とピッタリ合うちょるきに…！

I'm pretty sure it translates roughly to something like

  The younger brother Tetsunosuke matched the description of the culprit given by Captain Nakaoka perfectly!

My question is the meaning of the "ちょった/ちょる" following the verbs as well as the "きに" at the end.


texts:
心のスキマを埋めるには―恋がいちばん！

The context is the following: The girl is explaining to the guy that in order to free the victim from a "ghost", he needs to fill their heart "void", so shes saying that "The best way to do it is with love".

I've read "all" the uses of particle に and can't figure out what is it doing there, "心のスキマを埋める" don't seems to me like the "location of existence" of something, nor the "direction of the action" (there's not even an action in that phrase right??, is not the "object of the verb" either, etc etc...

I know that the は particle here is doing like a "contrast" nuance, saying something like "as compared to other methods", just not sure about the に particle.

Thank you beforehand, and sorry if its a hard to explain question.


texts: Why are Japanese fonts different to Chinese?

texts:
I’ve noticed that Japanese and Chinese writing tends to use different fonts. Japanese fonts tend use wider lines and more curves. Chinese fonts tend to use narrow angular lines and there are differences at the end of strokes as well.

I’ve noticed this even in Japanese where there are multilingual translations. There are differences even when the Chinese (traditional or simplified characters) text uses the same character as the Kanji. This seems to occur everywhere, from train stations to store menus. Often the different fonts will be displayed together on the same screen, page, or sign.

Is there a specific linguistic, cultural, or historical reason for this? Are Japanese and Chinese fonts different internationally or is this only in Japan?

It does make it easier to distinguish Japanese and Chinese texts but I suspect this is incidental and there’s another reason for it. Japanese and Chinese texts can be differentiated due to differences in vocabulary and whether they use Kana. We don’t use different fonts for other languages that use the same writing system (for example we write English and Italian in the same fonts). This is different to using foreign words in italics (Latin in English) or Katakana (English in Japanese) as these fonts are used entirely separately for translations and are not intermingled.

For a recent example, this is a calendar produced by a Japanese company. Chinese and Japanese versions clearly have different fonts whereas English, French, and German have the same font for the same characters.


texts: Meaning of ポケモンをねかしつけていません

texts: Could somebody tell me what the Japanese text in the screengrab below says? Unfortunately, I do not know how to type it, so I've got it only as an image.


texts: difference between 妥協｛だきょう｝and 歩｛あゆ｝み寄｛よ｝り　(compromise)

texts:
I often confuse 妥協｛だきょう｝(compromise; giving in) and 歩み寄り｛あゆみより｝(compromise, concession). Can someone explain the differences, when to use one over the other?

It seems that there are a lot of other variants as well: 折衷｛せっちゅう｝、和解｛わかい｝、譲歩｛じょうほ｝、折｛お｝り合｛あ｝い、互譲｛ごじょう｝、着地点｛ちゃくちてん｝, etc. Would be great to get some details on those words as well.


texts: Can adjectives in Japanese "stack" like in English?

texts:
Are both sentences below grammatically correct, and are they both used equally in conversation?

Stacked adjective:  あそこの奇麗な面白い人は、誰？

Non-stacked adjectives:  あそこの奇麗で面白い人は、誰？


texts:
Here is the sentence including the word. It is said by an old man who is cooking some food and planning to give it to a younger person who is in jail.

ようし　わしゃあやったるぜ

I am not sure if it is a shorten form of 「やってやる」which means "Doing something for someone who is below than the speaker"

Is it still used nowadays in Kantou area?


texts: Usages of Kanou and meaning of shitsudou

texts:
So recently I've been interested in quotes from the Japanese version of LoL.
Blitzcrank's quote is "起動完了、しつどう可能"

The English version is "fired up and ready to serve"

https://youtu.be/kZ5LyBQAT0E?t=28

Firstly, I understand 'kanou' means possible or feasible and usually states that something is available for something to be done to it such as 購入可能 meaning now available for purchase. But the usage in this case has confused me a bit. Can it mean 'ready' as well.

Secondly, i can't find the meaning of shitsudou anywhere, (have i herd it wrong?).

Or have i completely misunderstood the meaning of the second half of the quote?


texts: What is the difference between meaning and usage of 意味 and わけ?

texts: I am aware that 意味 is "meaning" in Japanese. However, わけ while being of similar nuance seems to be a different word.


texts:
昨日のレースは抜きつ抜かれつで面白かったね。
旧友と再会し、差しつ差されつ朝まで楽しんだ。
世の中は持ちつ持たれつ、困った時はお互い様ですよ。
追いつ追われつで、どちらが勝つか予想がつかない。

Sometimes I find つ is followed by で, but I am not sure the purpose of this で. Could you tell me when it is compulsory to add/not to add で and  when it is optional?


texts: How to say that an inanimate agent makes something happen

texts:
I'm guessing that the causative form only works with animate agents, so how would I say something like:

  Learning Japanese makes life interesting.

This is my attempt, but I'm not at all convinced by it:

  生活が面白くなるから日本語を勉強している。

Is it correct? What better ways can I express the phrase "X makes Y" where X is not a person?


texts:
mc misread the time and thought he was late so he ran as fast as possible to school even though he had plenty of time. His friend makes fun of his frantic behavior as he entered

  まだ本鈴まで５分あるんだから、なにもそんなになるまで全力で走らんでも、良かったんじゃないのか？

there's still 5 min before the bell rings, even if you run with all your might like that... that was a waste of effort wasn't it(?)

logically "... was a waste of effort" makes sense, but what is actually written is more like "that's good isn't it? How does なにも at the start fit in with this?

Thanks


texts: Meaning of 離れている間 and how do I read it, please?

texts:
I'm reading a japanese manga and the boy didn't want to get away from his senpai, he told senpai that and senpai thought was having a monologue "離れている間".

Thankyou for taking your time reading this.


texts: Use て form to talk about two or more activities you like?

texts:
If I want to list two or more activities I like to do in one sentence, do the verbs preceding the last one that comes before のが have to be in て form, as in this sentence:

旅行をして、映画を見るのが好きです。
I like to travel and watch movies.

Or should the verbs be in dictionary form?
I am not sure whether the sentence above should be similar to listing two or more actions in a sequence, as in this sentence:

旅行をして、映画を見ました。
I traveled and then watched a movie.


texts: What's the appropriate 挨拶 for e-mails to a friend and for e-mails to customer service?

texts:
Most of the time when I'm composing e-mail in Japanese it's either:

A friendly, informal e-mail to a friend
A request for tech support or similar customer service

When composing these e-mails I tend to want to use 拝啓 and 早々, as I was taught for regular letters in class, but they feel far too formal or stilted.  I've occasionally used こんにちは as an opening, but due to the nature of e-mail that feels like it may or may not be appropriate depending on the time it is received.

What is the typical practice for phrasing openings and closings in these e-mails?

Note: Saw this when prepping, but it doesn't cover what I was looking for.


texts: JLPT question - what does のには mean in this sentence/

texts:
母親は嫌な顔ひとつしなかったが、娘の食生活がどんどん変になっていく　_______　困っていた。

And answers are:

のには
 のから
 のでは
 のとは

The correct one is のには, but I don't understand why.


texts: What may be the difference in the usage of 自尊心, 誇り and 自慢?

texts:
I read a paragraph and it contains the word 自尊心.
I want to know the meaning of 自尊心.
Dictionary says 自尊心 = pride.
Is it the same with 誇り? or 自慢?

What may be the differences in the usage of these words?


texts:
When you left-click an image on the internet using chrome you are presented with, amongst others, this option:

  名前を付けて画像を保存...

which I imagine is, in its full form

  名前を付けて画像を保存する.

In this sentence, we have two を particles. Can someone please explain the details of this sentence grammar?

Thank you very much.


texts:
I have the following line (separated as it's divided into word bubbles):

今日のもさーこう…理由がないと呼び方とかイロイロ
悩んで悩んで逃げちまうからなんだよねぇ

They are talking about a girl that was adopted into a familly and about has she started calling her new mother, well "Mother".
EDIT: Further context: Girl's real mother was abusive towards her, and even though she is dead and gone, her feelings about her are still...complicated. Her new adoptive mother is someone she has known for over 2 years now, has lived that time with that family and has been officially adopted for about 6 months. So girl is no longer uncomfortable living with her new family and such. And is the reason I am/was confused by use of "to flee" verb, because I don't think she would actually flee. The question posed, to which this is the answer is seemingly a general one asking if the girl has reached the level where she would call her adoptive mother Mother normally. The following conversation reveals that the girl is trying to fix that, get used to it too. And yeah, there really was no episode or event today that they might be referencing.
There are quite a few things that confuse me here.
First of all is that beginning bit 今日のもさーこう... I'm not really sure what is going on. The 今日 or even 今日のも is simple enough, it's these days. But I'm not sure what さーこう is?!? I'm assuming of course that さー is さあ but since this person tends to speak colloquially and slangy, I guess it also could be her just stretching that さ.
So question 1: is what is 今日のもさーこう supposed to mean?!?
Next bit:

理由がないと呼び方とかイロイロ悩んで悩んで逃げちまうからなんだよねぇ

The 理由がないと呼び方とか is probably

There is no reason yet to call her something like that

I'm assuming that いろいろ concerns the following bits. イロイロ悩んで悩んで逃げちまうから would probably mean literally:

Because various worry worry and run away (completely/unfortunately).

So the person is worried the girl might run away, which doesn't really feel likely given the girl in question. Then again it occurs to me that this might also be:

Because if we worry her too much/if she gets spooked, she might run away.

The bit at the end, the なんだよねえ is just making a statement and such.
Question 2: Soo, what am I missing here with the second bit, because neither of my interpretations seem likely given the characters in question, that is I doubt the girl would run away from her new home. Unless the 逃げる here has some other meaning.
Question 2a: Any particular reason for doubling of 悩んで unless it's just there to put emphasis on how this is worrying.
Question 2b: Various is related to the following bit right? In the way of various worries. Coz it doesn't really fir anything else.
EDIT 2:
Since this sentence is immediately precedeed by one where the same person says the girl is working on it (on being able to call her new mother Mother), the から might be explaining the reason for that.
Second, the 理由 might be referring to pretext to call the new mom Mother fir the first time...
So

理由がないと呼び方とかイロイロ悩んで
She has been really worried about lacking a pretext to call her that way

So the line is trying to convey the idea that the girl is trying to find the right time to start calling her Mother, and has been worrying about it. Since she is worrying she is then avoiding the issue. Because she is aware of it she is really trying to fix it. The more she is trying to fix it she is building it up more and more in her mind, hence more avoiding. -> never ending circle.
Which would fit her. Only I don't know if it's anywhere close to the meaning of the actual sentence.


texts: When is using "陳{の}べる" and "知{し}らせる" in place of "教{おし}える" ok?

texts:
Is it ok to substitute "知らせる" for "教える"? I do it all the time and it seems to work-out. But, maybe "知らせる" does not even mean "教える" at all? I've never asked. If the meaning is close, then when might it be natural to say "知らせる" in place of "教える"?

"陳べる" seems like a really strange word? I've never heard it used. The kanji looks weird. Even so, sometimes I'll say it when I should say "教える". When is it ok, not ok, to do this substitution?


texts: Using declarative だ with negative i-adjectives

texts:
I am complete beginner and I've got a question that I wish to ask you: When negating an i-adjective (-くない), should we, as in the affirmative form, omit the declarative "だ"? For example, is it "あのゲームは楽しくないだよ！" or "あのゲームは楽しくないよ！".

Thanks!


texts: How do you say "Please tell your wife to get well soon"?

texts:
How do you convey that you wish someone's wife (or husband, mother, brother, etc.) to get well soon? I understand that you say お大事に if the person you speaking to directly is the one who is not well. What if there's a degree of separation, do you simply say "お大事にと伝えてください"?

宜しくお願いします。


texts:
Taking this sentence as an example:

  納入した学費は、理由の如何｛を問わず/に関わらず｝返却しません。

I always have a hard time knowing how to read 如何; いか, いかが, even どう or いかん sometimes..

I've checked if the question was answered previously, I hope I didn't missed it!


texts: Conjunctions using stems, and its conjugation

texts:
While working through the Tobira textbook, I came to a grammar point Chapter 1 - #5. This stated verb stems and adverbial い-adj form could be used to combine sentences as in:

昨日は友達とレストランで晩ご飯を食べ、その後、映画を見に行った。

この地方は冬は雪が多く、夏はとても暑い。

It doesn't give English translations but I take these sentences to mean:

Yesterday I ate dinner with my friend at a restaurant, and after that we went to go watch a movie.

In this region, the winters have a lot of snow and the summers are very hot.

My question is whether this grammar structure can only be used with non-conjugated phrases. This mostly concerns negative vs. affirmative sense, since the 1st example shows that the first phrase will have the same past/non-past sense as the following phrase.
For example, (following the pattern of い-adj --> て-form w/out て) do these make sense/sound idiomatic:

姉は高くなく、まだ早くジョギングができます。

My sister is not tall, and still she can jog quickly

今日お昼ご飯を食べなく、4時よりおなかがペコペコになってしまいました。

Today I did not eat lunch, and from 4 o-clock on I became hungry

If these do not make sense, is there a similar grammar structure to use? Or would just a word with the opposite sense be used instead?