texts: Why does this sentence have so many words to describe its title?

texts:
I’m translating The Little Prince for fun and I have a question about the first part of this sentence.

その本の名前は『ほんとう にあった話』というタイトルで、原始のジャングルについて書かれていた本だった

Why do we have so many naming words in this? We have 名前 and タイトル AND タイトル has いう before it and I am confused.

Wouldn’t  その本の名前は『ほんとう にあった話』 be enough?

I’ve just started learning Japanese so I know very little about its grammar and structure.
I've tried to find other sentences with 本の名前 and いうタイトル but I can't find anything. It's either 本の名前 or 本のタイトル.


texts: I'm having trouble understanding what "開き直った、とも言いますが" means

texts:
I wish I could formulate this question in a better way because there's a million people on here who have posted similar "don't know what this means, please tell me" and I don't mean this to be low effort, but when I've plugged away with various dictionaries, it seems like the verb 開き直る is to become serious or defiant (also read somewhere mention it as to turn on / to turn upon?) and とも言いますが I think is related to declaring or saying something (I tell you / I say / etc?).

This is from something I've been (very slowly) attempting to read and the context immediately before this text is a lighthearted romance tinged scene that read something along the lines of "she withdrew a little from me but it doesn't matter, I won't pull away" assuming I read it right, if that context helps with matters at all.

Thanks in advance, apologies if this is blindingly obvious.


texts: What does this person mean by "doryo" in this context?

texts:
Two Japanese-fluent characters in an English novel I'm reading are talking about a specific heart problem one character concealed from medical exams. That character is requesting the second character keep this secret, lest they be kicked off the mission.

The second character drops briefly into Japanese:

  "Watakushi no doryo wa, wakarimasu," Nicole said kindly, changing into Japanese to show sympathy for her colleague's anguish.

Both characters are fluent, and I believe the writer was as well.

One of the problems here is whether "doryo" should be written どりょ or どりょう - this would help with translation. However, none of the translation services I've tried actually seem to translate this in any way which makes sense. The closest I've gotten from Google has been "magnanimity" - but I don't think this makes contextual sense.

What is the meaning of this statement, and how should "doryo" be written in hiragana?


texts:
たかだか[髪]{かみ}が[伸]{の}びたくらいで。

I'm thinking たかだか髪 means roughly "very long hair". If so, I imagine the sentence would translate to "Very long hair grew about to that point." But, that doesn't make sense. "Hair grown like that is very long."  might make more sense, but would be another pointless and obvious statement that a writer would be unlikely to write. The context, where the speaker is pondering the state of his friend's hair, would warrant something more like "His hair has grown quite long." I'm not sure, though, especially with the ending で.


texts:
What is the difference between 兄 and 兄上?
These two words both mean ‘older brother’, but is there any nuance in the meaning?


texts:
I'm referring to the following sentence, where I've placed the topic in brackets:

  （お婆は）溺愛する一人息子の又八が唆されて村を出たと思い込み、武蔵を激しく憎み命を奪うために旅を続ける。

I'm unsure as to who's actually doing the 溺愛：
お婆は息子を溺愛する？それとも息子はお婆を溺愛する？

Furthermore, would it make any difference as a past tense?

  溺愛した一人息子の又八が…


texts:
中国人で日本語が話せる方

I think it's traduction would be:

Chinese people who can speak Japanese

But I have searched for references of this で usage yet I haven't find anything.


texts: 分類{ぶんるい} / 種類{しゅるい} / 類い{たぐい} ～ "kind" / "sort" / "type"

texts:
I realized I didn't know the Japanese word for the concept which has three very interchangeable words: "kind", "sort", and "type".

By looking in my usual resources such as WWWJDIC, English Wiktionary, and Googling, I found three candidates for the Japanese word or words I should use for this:

分類{ぶんるい}
種類{しゅるい}
類い{たぐい}

Each has at least some other functions, just as each of the three English words do. But for this function are they equivalent, is one or the other not really this meaning, too rare or technical, etc, or have a missed altogether a better term for this job?

Here's some random uses I found via Google to illustrate the common sense I have in mind:

not that kind of girl
What kind of man are you?
These aren't the sort of things you imagine happening to someone like you.
The Bunker Diary is the sort of book you just want to talk about for ages.
This book will tell you what type of work environment you need.
The health care provider will choose the best type of insulin for you ...


texts: Possible idiom or grammar structure I don't understand

texts:
Taking the sentence below:

  食糧として狩る者たちが存在する…

The first part (食料として), I take to mean "as a food source".

The second part (狩る者たち), I take to mean "hunters".

Tying that together with the が, it looks like "Hunters __ as a food source...

The last part (存在する), I believe is "exist(s)".

It looks like the sentence says "Hunters exist as a food source..." However, this doesn't make sense in context. Does anyone know where (or if) I'm messing up on my grammar?


texts:
I hear the term サラバイ is casual speak sometimes but I have absolutely no idea what it means.

Example:

Me : <new information shared to team>
other person: 上記、承知致しました。
other person: サラバイ


texts: Where does the irregular reading of 迷子 come from?

texts:
迷子 is read as まいご, despite the on-reading of 迷 being めい (for example in 迷惑（めいわく） ).
Why is that the case?
I would assume that this is not a case of jukujikun.
What I do find interesting is that the kun-reading of 迷 is まよ (as in 迷う), starting with ま, so perhaps まい is a combination of めい and まよ? Though I have never seen that before.
Or maybe it comes from the い-stem 迷う　迷い? Though that would require both dropping the よ and irregularly attributing the い to the kanji 迷, which seems odd to me.


texts: How to respond to a compliment by a boss?

texts:
I have learnt a few ways to humbly accept or decline a compliment, including え、まあ...... (with the hand gesture), まだまだです and そんなことはありません. However when the compliment comes from a boss, I am afraid that these may be too casual or direct. Is there a usual method?

For example, if your boss compliments you on excellent work (よくできました、Aさん) or for being early to a meeting (早いね、Aさん), is there a general reply or are there at least some tips on responses?


texts: Can katakana ワ be used in official name?

texts:
My wife's last name in passport is Levadnia. When our marriage certificate was translated into Japanese it became レヴァドニャ.

To my taste having ヴァ in there is over-complicating. Also ニャ nya has a childish twist to it. I don't think there is a difference in pronunciation between ヴァ and ワ. Therefore, I would like to simplify it for the other documents like so.

レワドニヤ VS. レヴァドニャ

Maybe it is even more natural to have "ba" バ in there?

In my view this should decrease chances of people mistyping her last name and increase readability.

What looks more correct?


texts: ている vs てある in resultant states relating the trans/intransitive verb and が/を

texts:
I hope I already know the difference...

  彼を殺していない

I have not killed him.

  彼が殺してない(not the colloquial form of いない)

He has not been killed.

I heard that transitive verbs take ある while intransitive verbs take いる.

The classic example :

  ドアが開いている (The door is open)
  ドアを開けてある (I have open the door)

However it does not always hold true as 知っている is used. I have never seen intransitive verb + ある

Furthermore ドアが開けてある is also possible using が instead to imply the readiness of the state instead of the intention.

ある implies the resultant state of an intentional action. いる implies progressive state but when the verb only happen for a moment, it implies the ongoing resultant state.

The usage of が an を are also confusing.

Does that mean...

  彼を殺している and 彼を殺してある

Means "I have killed him"?

  彼が殺している

Means "He has killed (someone)"?

  彼が殺してある

Means "He has been killed"?

I think intransitive verb can only be paired with いる to show resultant state. 死んでいる : have died.


texts:
Once I have thrown an opponent to the ground and if I push his elbow outward, he will automatically lie face down to counter his pain.
相手は投げられてから、外側に肘を押されると、痛くならないように自動にうつ伏す。

Is it OK to promote an object as the topic and change all relevant verbs to passive forms?
Edit
The reason I promote the object as the topic is to make it easier for me to write this long sentence without having to repeat the pronoun "he/his".　The subject in this example is the writer who is implicitly specified.
Or is it possible to promote the object as the topic but keep the verbs in active forms as follows? For me it is unclear who are the subject and object in this case.

相手は投げてから、外側に肘を押すと、痛くならないように自動にうつ伏す。


texts: Shin Kanzen Master has a Chinese element?

texts:
I'm using the HelloTalk app. I posted a picture of my Shin Kanzen Master books (JLPT N3). This picture in fact.

Then I got this response:

  きっと英語圏、中国語圏むけのテキストなんですね。

and this response:

  怪しい本だなぁ。表紙の漢字は日本語じゃないよ

"The book is aimed at English and Chinese speaking countries"?
"The kanji on the front page is not Japanese"?

Why do these people think that there is some Chinese element to these books?

EDIT:

(Of course I know that Kanji was imported from China, I just want to understand why these comments were made)


texts: Sound mimesis (or 擬音語【ぎおんご】 or 擬態語【ぎたいご】) of ビ and シッ

texts:
Consider this panel:

What do ビ and シッ represent? I'm conjecturing ビ is the mimesis for the raised finger, and シッ is the mimesis for the scarf as she turns around.


texts:
I was watching an episode of One Piece, and while studying the transcript, I came across this sentence.

ルフィに　会いてえんなら俺が　教えてやるよ

Ace told the other pirates "If ya wanna meet Luffy, I'll tell ya where he is". In the word 会いてえん, what does the えん　part mean? Is it some sort of grammar construct? Is it commonly used in colloquial Japanese? Thanks guys!


texts: How would you ask "What makes your mouth water?" in Japanese?

texts: I want to ask "What makes your mouth water?" in Japanese, but I'm not quite sure what is the right way. I was thinking of saying: あなたは何でよだれが出る？


texts: If I am not wrong, the literal translation should be star moon night, right? How does it translate to Starry Night then? Isn't the 月 character useless in that case?


texts: Words for Ginkgo in Japanese: ぎんきょう and ぎんなん

texts:
I decided to read about the words for Ginkgo in Japanese (as in Ginkgo biloba).

I was surprised to learn that Ginkgo comes from Japanese!  According to
Wikipedia, Engelbert Kaempfer, while writing the Amoenitatum exoticarum, read the kanji 銀杏 as ぎんきょう.  He romanized this reading as Ginkjo, which was then unfortunately misprinted as Ginkgo, resulting in the spelling used in many Western languages today.

From the same article, I see that イチョウ is a common word for Ginkgo plants, apparently from the Chinese 鴨脚.  It seems that this word was assigned to the kanji 銀杏 as a jukujikun reading, and we can see that both readings existed 300 years ago, because Kaempfer also transcribed イチョウ (as Itsjo).

In fact, 銀杏 has a third reading, ぎんなん.  Similar to ぎんきょう, it appears that this reading was made by putting two on'yomi together: ぎん＋あん＝ぎんあん→ぎんなん.  But here's what makes me curious about the difference between the readings: 大辞林 and 大辞泉 only list ぎんなん, not ぎんきょう.  And 300 years ago, Kaempfer only transcribed ぎんきょう, not ぎんなん.

It seems that both ぎんきょう and ぎんなん mean the same thing (Ginkgo plants or seeds).  But what is the relationship between the two readings?

Did ぎんなん replace ぎんきょう, making the latter obsolete?
Or are both readings still used?


texts: How to say "Can I take a picture of / with you?"

texts:
If I'd like to take a picture with someone, how do I go about asking them?
And also, if I want to take a picture of someone, how should I ask them? Would it be something like

  写真を撮ってもいいですか?


texts: What is the difference between 鳥肉 and 鶏肉? A friend said that 鶏肉 is cooked chicken and 鳥肉 is raw chicken. That doesn't seem right to me since I've rarely seen 鳥肉 used.


texts:
Here is the sentence containing the phrase.

ちと 忠告【ちゅうこく】しにたちよったんじゃ。


texts:
I was studying the grammar for かもしれない and I found the following example:

  あなたでは間に合わないかもしれない。

The translation given for this sentence is...

  "You might not get there in time."

And then I got confused 'cause I thought that the meaning was:

  "He might not be with you on time"

why? Because of the で particle since it could also mean "with" (with you, with him, etc.) But maybe the person who wrote this put that で by mistake.
Because I can't understand what で does in this sentence.
Please help me


texts: Is there an equivalent phrase for "(enjoyed it) as much as we did"?

texts:
When sending a thank you message to a friend that showed me and my family around in her country, I wrote something along the lines of

  We had as much fun as we did thanks to you.

Later when I was trying to put that into Japanese, the closest I could get was

  （わたしたちは）あれほど楽しめたのは○○さんのおかげです。

which I think gets the point across, but I don't think I've heard a native speaker say anything like that and I don't want to be speaking English even though the words are Japanese.

What would be a more natural expression for this situation?

Is a phrase that more literally means "as much as we did" simply not used?


texts: What is the right word for existential goal?

texts: I am looking for a Japanese word that corresponds to life goal. It does not refer to getting a good salary job, marrying with dream S.O., buying exotic cars, or other materialistic/worldly targets. But there may be a philosophic and existence-questioning version of the goal, maybe purpose of living.


texts: Words that have been borrowed twice, with different pronunciations?

texts:
We all learn early on that hamburger can be translated into Japanese in two different ways:

ハンバーガー meat patty in a bun
ハンバーグ just the meat patty (or salisbury steak to be exact)

Likewise launder has been borrowed twice into Japanese, with two different pronunciations:

コインランドリー laundromat
マネー・ロンダリング money laundering

Notice the ランド／ロンダ distinction.

(Actually, the laundry example isn't "perfect", because laundry and laundering aren't really the same word. But it still amused me when I noticed it.)

Can anyone think of more examples?

EDIT

Not Chinese words, please. That would be too easy!! I prefer words that are rendered in katakana.


texts: Why not カザクスタン ? The Cyrillic word does have a k (but I am not sure whether is is actually pronounced).


texts: When in doubt between -chan and -kun what to choose?

texts:
I want to call one of my friend, who is not Japanese, by adding -chan or -kun to his name. The friend is a student of Japanese as myself from the same group. A male, not homosexual. I think he's about the same age as myself. We are friends but not extremely close friends, but friends during the classes and sometime chat outside.
Based on that do I use -chan or -kun?


texts: 「失敗、エラーの危険と裏腹のものです。」の意味

texts:
早稲田大学高等学院中学部の学院長からの挨拶（上から3番目の段落）にある文章ですが、意味がよく分かりません。

学校は皆さんの挑戦をサポートしていきます。一つは、皆さんの未知なる問題への挑戦を、伝統的な早稲田の学風－自由－がサポートします。これは、「寛容」と言い換えても良いでしょう。 答えの未だ明らかでない問題への挑戦は、リスクを伴うものです。失敗、エラーの危険と裏腹のものです。失敗が許されない環境では、挑戦も許されません。 リスク・テイクする自覚が、責任意識も自律の精神も生み出します。私たちは、自由の学風に裏打ちされた寛容をもって、皆さんの挑戦をサポートします。そして、エラーから学んでより大きな挑戦に進む、タフに挑戦し続ける皆さんを応援します。

「答えの未だ明らかでない問題への挑戦は、リスクを伴うものです。」の部分は分かりやすいですが、挑戦にはリスクがあるものだというなら、それは失敗するかもしれないからではないでしょうか？しかし、「 〔そのリスクは〕 失敗、エラーの危険と裏腹 〔正反対〕 のもの」という理解が正しいとしても、意味が分かりません。それとも、挑戦自体は失敗の危険の正反対という意味でしょうか？
まだ見えていない解釈が正しいでしょうか？教えてください！


texts: Just a "shower thought" I've had: is there any credence to the theory (mine) that ちゃん is a diminutive/"baby talk" form of さん (like when "ureshii desu" becomes "urechii dechu")?


texts: 「〜すぎる」と「〜まくる」はどう違いますか。

texts:
question: Is there a difference in feeling for the words? Like すぎる feels more negative with an emphasis on disagreement with the action taken, while まくる is more about the amount?

Examples I came across:

  食べすぎる食べまくるゲームをやりすぎるゲームをやりまくる

Both pairs can be translated as ‘eating too much’ and ‘binge-playing games’ respectively (in my understanding).

Steps taken already:
I tried looking it up on jisho.org , but all I got was:

  まくる:  (2) to do over and over again; to do relentlessly; to do with reckless abandon
  すぎる: to be too much, to be excessive

I also looked it up in my monolingual dictionary app and got this:

  まくる:〔動詞のあとについて〕︿しきりに＼さかんに﹀する。「書き—」
  すぎる:〔動詞・形容詞のあとについて〕 ①度をこす。「言い—・長—・しずか—・常識が無さ—・知らな—」②〔俗〕〔ほめて〕ひじょうに…だ。「かっこよ—・すご—・美人—」▽〔形容詞「ない」に続くときは語幹に「さ」をつける。「関心が なさ—」〕

These definitions seem different enough to not warrant much confusion. But I’ve seen まくる used as ‘too much’ also.

sources:
the jisho entry on まくる
the jisho-entry on すぎる
the monolingual dictionary I used (iOS)


texts:
I have the following line of dialogue

  されに視野を広げた「戦略」によっては戦いそのものの意味すら変わってくる

Two people have been talking about the changes needed to get to grips with potential future tech that might disrupt the currently established ways things are done. They might need to switch to more dangerous weapons and such.

I have a problem with above line because while 戦略 is supposed to mean strategy, it kinda IMO doesn't fit there. I get the impression this person is talking about something she read/heard about people who were looking at the big picture and have found that the meaning of fighting has changed/has been changing. But that's not excatly what is said here. So what would be your interpretation.

Changed/changing is also the issue. I think the normal translation of 変わってくる would be that the change has happened and this new state of affairs has been happening to now and will continue. But in context that doesn't exactly make sense, because change is supposed to happen in future. The only interpretation that would fit would be that this means that the process of change has (already) started happening in the past and is still happening now. So what would be the correct interpretation here?


texts:
Just learned 楽々 from this cat video on vine which says:

もう楽々にゃ〜

WWWJDIC 楽々:

楽楽; 楽々 【らくらく】 (adv,adv-to) comfortably; easily
ぼくは手が足の指に楽々とどくよ。 I can easily touch my toes.

Not really sure what adv-to means so I looked up to:
WWWJDIC と:

と (prt,conj) (1) if; when; (2) and; (3) with; (4) (See って・1) particle used for quoting (with speech, thoughts, etc.); quoting particle; (n) (5) (abbr) {shogi} (See と金) promoted pawn; (prt) (6) (kyu:) indicates question (sentence end); (P)
(1) このシャンプーを買うと素敵なヘアブラシがついてきます。 This shampoo comes with a nice hair brush.
(2) １２と２４と７と１１の合計は５４です。 The sum of 12, 24, 7 and 11 is 54.
(3) 私はあなたとお話ししてよかった。 I have enjoyed talking to you.
(4) 「美しい」とか「醜い」といった言葉は相対的な用語である。 The words 'beautiful' and 'ugly' are relative terms.

But, none of these definitions seem to fit.
「楽々と」の「と」: What does to do here?


texts:
There are some sentences where there are so many kanji present and it is difficult to read at all specially if you're just a beginner. So, is writing sentences in full kana instead of having a kanji acceptable?

(The sample I'm about to give is just a simple phrase that I know has a kanji in it)

For example:

：私はなつです

（watashi wa Natsu desu)

：わたしはなつです

（watashi wa Natsu desu)


texts:
There's a slang word "poo" in Japanese that means something along the lines of "unemployed" but does it describe a specific situation? For example "NEET" which is also used in Japan, ニート, means "Not in Education, Employment, or Training". In otherwords, NEET is not just unemployed, it's unemployed and not trying to find employment nor trying to better yourself through education.

So, does "poo" describe a specific situation? As in 「私はプーです」


texts:
I'm having trouble understanding the meaning of のに向かって in the following sentence:

  現れたのは、いつになく暗い表情をした１年生メンバーの真姫{まき}でした。笑顔の穂乃果{ほのか}が早く列に入るように目線でうながすのに向かって、大きく首を横に振ると、大げさな溜息をひとつつきます。

I know that に向かって normally means something like "towards", but I can't figure out what that would mean with a verb.


texts:
The いて I'm referring to is in the last line of the lyrics of a song called Don't you see!:

私をつかまえていて

So apparently つかまえて is the て-form of つかまえる. But why is there a いて at the end?


texts:
This is actually following a recently asked question on how to say "for."

I thought that saying あなたに私の愛 sounded perfectly fine - "toward you, my love."

However another user changed it to あなたに対する愛, or あなたへの私の愛.

My two problems are:

Why is あなたに私の愛 wrong?
When can I write への and can I equivalently write にの?


texts:
I would like to know some natural phrases for describing that a project is running along smoothly. This is what I can think of but there may be better expressions.

最近のプロジェクトは着々と進んでいます。
最近のプロジェクトはとても進歩しています。
最近のプロジェクトはうまく行っています。

Also, I'm looking for phrases that express there was a great deal of progress today.

　今日はプロジェクトがだいぶ進みましたよ。
　今日はプロジェクトがとても進歩しましたよ。

Any help on phrases, verbs, or adjectives (to express "progressed significantly") would be helpful!


texts:
I'm currently trying to read a japanese novel and I found this expression :

  一をいうと十返ってくる

It was meant to qualify a character, but I just don't get it. At first I thought it could mean "tell one and give back ten", so I thought it meant this character tends to do more than he was actually asked or intended to do...?
However, I tried searching on japanese sites and it seems it's a saying to qualify a very proud person...? Still I would like to have a more precise idea of what it could really mean and where it does come from, because I'm very interested by japanese idioms.
Does anyone have a more precise idea ?
Thank you very much.


texts:
I'm playing a video game called 善人シボウデス, and I noticed some grammar I'm not familiar with:

  ところでこのラジオ、電源ケーブルにつないだはいいが、この後どうすればいいんだろう？

This was said by the main character, who generally speaks in Standard Japanese.  But I didn't know you could say 〜た＋は like this in Standard Japanese, so I tried looking it up.  I mostly looked under た and は, but I couldn't find a dictionary that covered it.

Later, in another part of the game, I noticed the same character saying a very similar sentence:

  電源を入れたはいいが、こいつでなにをスキャンすればいいんだ？

So I started to wonder if this 〜たは was part of a larger pattern.  For example, is this 〜たは always followed by 良い and some kind of contrastive conjunctive particle like が・けど・ものの?  I searched online and saw similar examples:

  【子役事務所】に入れたはいいけど。。。どうしたらいいの？

Can anyone explain this pattern?


texts:
In Miyuki Nakajima's song "ファイト！" there is this line:

冷たい水の中をふるえながらのぼってゆけ

I don't understand the use of the particle を in this context.
Shouldn't it be に or even で?


texts: How to say that something is like nothing or not comparable to other?

texts:
How can I say that something is not comparable, or "nothing" in comparison to the other?
For example, in case of two rivals in a battle:

Comparing to my power level, your power level is nothing!
貴様{きさま}のパワーさは、僕｛ぼく｝のパワーさより (Don't know how to end the sentence) ！

Thanks


texts: In Japanese, what’s the difference between “Tonari ni” (となりに) and “Tsugi” (つぎ)? When would you use one over the other?

texts:
In Japanese, what’s the difference between “Tonari ni” (となりに) and “Tsugi” (つぎ)? Both mean “next”, but when would you use one over the other?

Please explain by referring to the following examples:

Tsugi no tōri = Next street
Tsugi no tsugi no tōri. = The street after the next.
Eigakan wa dono tōri ni arimasu ka. = What street is the movie theater on?
eki no tonari = Next to station
Hoteru wa eki no tonari desu. = The hotel is next to the train station.

Please note I am a beginner and would appreciate simplified explanations.


texts: Help me to understand やらなきゃいけない and やらなきゃならない

texts:
Need more clarity on short forms.

  やらなきゃいけない
  やらなければいけません
  やらなきゃならない
  やらなければなりません

As per my understanding all phrase will give same meaning. "Must do". I know this is very basic question but need to get more clarity on short forms, because in most of the conversion they are using short forms and not able to understand some times.

やらなきゃいけない is short form of やらなければいけません
やらなきゃならない is short form of やらなければなりません

Is my understaind correct?
Please also explain related short forms.


texts:
睨みあうサラスとユキを尻目に、平松がハンカチを差し出してくれた

Why isn't there a verb in going with the に in the sentence above? In fact, what does the first sentence even mean? (since there is not verb). Is the 差し出し verb shared between the sentences?


texts:
I've been absorbing Japanese through osmosis for years, but I just started learning it formally. The app I'm using presented these two sentences with the same translation, I think just to show that the interrogatives like どこ can't take は as their particle:

  病院はどこですか Where is the hospital?
  どこが病院ですか Where is the hospital?

My question is, when would you use the latter? (My understanding is that the first is more normal.) What's the difference in emphasis?

I think I get the difference for a different interrogator. If I understand correctly, 先生はだれですか is neutral/putting emphasis on teacher, so it could mean "Who (among us) is a teacher?" Whereas だれが先生ですか puts emphasis on "who," as in "Just who is that teacher." (I'm overemphasizing the distinction.) But I don't see how that applies to どこ.


texts: Why are some prefecture names written in hiragana on license plates?

texts: I noticed a license plate with hiragana characters written on it instead of Kanji. I had assumed that all prefecture names would be written in Kanji. Thank you.


texts: What is a good series of books/programs to start learning from, if any?

texts:
I started learning Japanese when I was in high school as a hobby but have limited time now that I am working full time, what books or programs would you suggest for someone wanting to learn Beginning/Intermediate Japanese.

Also are there groups that one can join that would allow me to practice with others so as to expand my understanding and help me retain the vocabulary?

Thanks for any input you may have it is greatly appreciated.


texts:
I would like to know if I'm not mistaken:

When having a series of の-adjectives, it is ok to perform an ellipsis
of the の particles and create a long kanji compound.

For example: 日本語基本文法辞典, or a sign on a building: 日本美術館。
As far as I know, this should have been: 日本語の基本の文法の辞典 and 日本の美術館。
Thank you.


texts: What is a euphemism for "slurred speech"?

texts: "Slurred speech" is not just a past participle modifying a noun. It is actually a casual way to say the medical condition "dysarthria". I was just wondering if there was a Japanese euphemism analogous to "slurred speech".


texts: Different nuances of interrogative phrases

texts:
何{なに}がXですか。
  Xは何{なん}ですか。

What are the different nuances associated with these two phrases?


texts:
In the ending for the anime "Kumamiko: Girl Meets Bear", there's a line where the backup singers (aka the residents of Kumade Village) say

いず　ぬっ　さん　すう　でーじぇーへーうぃーごー

Which I haven't seen translated, but it's pretty clearly "One, two, three, four, DJ here we go" to my ears. YouTube clip for reference

I'm curious as to what dialect they're using for the numbers - the show is set in a presumably fictional town in northern Honshu, so I would assume some variant of Tōhoku-ben or similar?


texts:
I was reading page 5 of my 上級へのとびら textbook, and in line 12, the following sentence caught my eye:

  日本は南北に長いので……

I cannot figure out why the に is used instead of が (南北が長い). Is に the 連用形 of なる here?


texts: What should I say when a senior colleague is leaving before me?

texts:
When leaving before a senior colleague does, people say お先に失礼します, and the senior employee responds お疲れ様でした or ご苦労様でした. お疲れ様でした is also usually said when a colleague of the same seniority is leaving.

However, お疲れ様でした seems like something to say to someone of equal or lower seniority while ご苦労様でした is for someone with lower seniority. It feels awkward (only my opinion, but please feel free to correct if this is a wrong notion) to say お疲れ様でした to someone of higher ranking.

If a senior colleague is leaving, what is the best thing to say?


texts: Is あたし seen as soft and girly like the particle わ is? Or can a girl just say it and not sound emotional or dramatic or soft?


texts:
I just need clarification of how it was used in this particular sentence

相対的になされるべきで 一部ではなく全体のバランスが対象に

I'm just confused why there is a に at the end I did check the video if the voice actor said anything else but this the ending of the sentence and how に is used in succession I seem to have a hard time trying to understand how it is used

分かるでしょ？→ 王子様はもっとこう　上目遣いで 恥じらいながら誘うように！→ 僕は　誘ってるの知りながら 意地悪するみたいに！→ もう１回　よろしく！ はあ…


texts:
Please read the passage:

  四山市のごみの捨て方をお知らせします。4つのごみ箱があります。そして、捨てる日が違います。また、捨てる所も決まっています。注意してください。

Why should we say 捨てる日 and 捨てる所, but 捨て方？（方 is a noun too, just like 日 and 所）

＋

Why don't they use 捨てるの日 and 捨てるの所？


texts: How and when to use せや and its variants in Kansai-ben?

texts:
Here in Kansai I hear せや, せやねん, and せやな everywhere. I was wondering if anyone could clarify the meaning and usage of these, as well as their equivalent in more standard Japanese?

Additionally, are there any other variations based on せや that are used commonly?


texts:
How to say or write
"A & B don't exist" in formal and informal form with involving the word 存在 ?


texts: Does 態々 derived from 態と? And does 態と derived from waza 「業 」and case-marking particle 「と」?


texts:
I had a look before deciding to post this, but nothing really answers what I am specifically looking for.

From my understanding the following is correct (let me know if I am mistaken):

  宿題をしてしまいましたか？ Did you finish your homework? - Bringing something to a
  close or finish

  宿題を忘れてしまいました。 I forgot my homework. - To accidentally do or not do
  something.

However I don't quite understand what it means when used with ば conditions. I think it may mean "All I have to do is ~" but I am not sure. For example:

  宿題をしてしまえばいい。(not sure if this is even grammatically correct) All
  I have to do is my homework.

  逃げてしまえばいい。 All I have to do is run away.

If someone could please explain this to me using some more example sentence that would be great. Thanks.


texts: What is the term for a wishy washy person?

texts: I used jisho.org and could not find the term. A person unable to make a decision. Thank you.


texts:
お百姓と、その息子を殺したヘビ

  　ヘビがお百姓(ひゃくしょう)の息子の方へはい寄って来て、噛み殺してしまいました。
  　お父さんのお百姓は、悲しくてたまりません。
  　それでオノを持ち、ヘビの穴のそばでヘビが出てきたらすぐに叩き殺そうと待ち構えていました。
  　そのうちにヘビが一匹、穴から出てきました。
  　お百姓は、
  「それっ！」
  と、オノを振り下ろしました。
  　でもヘビは頭を引っ込めてしまい、オノはそばの岩を二つに割っただけでした。
  　こうなると、お百姓はヘビに仕返しをされたら大変だと思って怖くなりました。
  　それでヘビに仲直りをしようと、言いに行きました。
  　しかしヘビは首を振って、こう答えました。
  「あなたもわたしも、今さら気持ち良くお付き合いする事は出来ません。
  　わたしはこの岩の裂け目を見るたびに。
  　また、あなたは息子さんのお墓を見るたびに。
  　嫌な事を思い出すのだから」

  　このお話しは、深い憎しみを持つ人同士が、仲直り出来る事はめったにないと教えています。

  おしまい

From
http://hukumusume.com/douwa/pc/aesop/08/15.htm

I found that I didn't understand the meaning of the grammar "~ようと　...." when I was reading children stories.


texts:
I can not understand very well the meaning of "になるほど" in this sentence, from a Japanese Dragon Ball Guide Book.

  (合体によるパワーアップは、)２人の戦闘力の合計ではなく、掛け算になるほどの凄まじさ！

Is it maybe something similar to the construction "The more... the more..."? Or does it have relations with "I see" なるほど?

And, in your opinion, can this translation be correct?

"The Power-Up of the fusion (context: by means of Potara earring), it's something impressive closer/more similar to multiplication rather than a sum of the power forces of the two warriors."


texts: Can polite and casual Japanese be combined?

texts:
What I mean is, is there any overlap? are you allowed to speak in a way that combines both forms of speech?
like are there words that, even if using formal speech, are typical to use casual speech for and vice versa?

I really struggle getting my head around it, like whether or not people are stuck with using one form or the other. (I know they can change depending on who they're speaking to, but I mean naturally within a conversation.


texts: Te Okimasu and sentence ending with Kara

texts:
I have some questions to asks on Japanese grammar.

What does

次{つぎ}の会議{かいぎ}までに何{なに}をしておいたらいいですか
tsugi no kaigi made ni nani o shite oitara iidesu ka

mean? How is this question conditional (oitara)? From my understanding this sentence means, "What should I do before the next meeting?"

千円、ここに置いておくからね。

For this sentence may I know what kara at the end of sentence means? As I understand, the whole sentence means "I will leave 1,000 yen here for you"

How do you say te-form, conditional form, potential form and passive form in Japanese? For eg. Futsukei is plain form. Teineikei is polite form.


texts:
I found this sentence in this link: http://watanoc.com/post-1608-gozira
So there's a part where it says:アメリカの映画だと思っていました but why to use the て-form instead of the ます-form?
The meaning wouldn't be the same if I use the ます-form?


texts: Is 「習得している」much different from 「勉強している」？

texts:
「日本語{にほんご}を習得{しゅうとく}する」means "to acquire the ability to use Japanese", right?
「日本語を勉強{べんきょう}する」means "to study Japanese", right?

So, in what ways are 「日本語を習得している」 different from「日本語を勉強している」？

Might a nuance be that 「習得している」 is optimistic? In English, something like "I am on the path to mastering Japanese."「勉強している」 is simply "I am studying Japanese."

Surely, 「日本語を習得した」 is completely different from「日本語を勉強した」. The former meaning "I learned (mastered?) Japanese." The latter "I studied Japanese.", right?

I assume that the comparison applies to 「習得していた」 and 「勉強していた」 in the same way.


texts:
I'm kinda new to this site so I'm not entirely sure how the format works.

In the sentence below, which I'm assuming I translated correctly as "When I was in high school, I studied often":

  高校のころ、僕は勉強した。

some people tend to add に after ころ when I looked it up. Is it necessary and is it wrong to have/not have the に particle in the sentence? I'm fairly certain that the に particle is used for destination/certain time reference among other things but I don't see why it's more common to not have it at the end of ころ while some people actually do

Also, I didn't know if I can include a separate question since I didn't really want to make a whole new thread for it but is it wrong if I were to say「高校でいるのころ」 instead of 「高校のころ」 to be more specific?


texts: To marry OR Marriage? Japanese と in context

texts:
The phrase runs thus:

  お[姫様]{ひめ・さま}と[結婚]{けっ・こん}して。

Is it literally "married the princess" or does the と affect the subject in any way?


texts:
From the song 四角革命 by 相対性理論

  四角カクカク革命前夜の

  長いあいあい間のロマンス

  近いカイカイ開戦前夜に

  やってくるくる車の行列

  兎角カクカク革命前夜は

  街のにぎわい恋のロマネスク

  奇怪カイカイ開戦前夜に

  迫りくるくる狂った結末

I'm translating this song and the bolded lines are confusing me.

Mostly, I'm not sure how to translate 長いあいあい間のロマンス.

Would it be "lengthy time of romance" or could it mean "long distance romance"?
The context of the song would lead me to believe 長い is referring to a long distance, but 間 is used for time, right?


texts: What's the difference between 上手い, 美味い, 旨い, and 巧い?

texts: All four of these words are read as うまい and have the same meaning in my dictionary so I was wondering, can these four words (上手い, 美味い, 旨い, and 巧い) be used interchangeably?


texts: What's the difference between 指摘する・指示する and 示す?

texts: I know these verbs translate to "pointing out", "indicating" or "showing". I was just wondering what the nuance between these words mean.


texts: How to ask "Do you want to be ...?" question?

texts:
I'm going through my elementary Japanese learning book and another question came to mind.

So, 欲しい｛ほしい｝ means "want" and 居る{いる} means "to be", "to have" or "to exist"

How does one combine the two to say "Do you want to be ...?"

Example:

  Do you want to be my team member (e.g sports team member) ?

I first thought:

  僕のチームのメンバーが欲しいですか。

But that sounds more like "Do you want my team member?"

Then my next thought was:

  僕のチームのメンバーがいますか。

However, doesn't that mean "Does my team member exist?"

:D

So...yeah, scratching my head at the moment.


texts: Is まで inclusive or exclusive when marking a range of dates?

texts:
I've recently received a notice from a library.  It says:

  あなたへの貸し出しは2013/02/13まで停止されています。

Should I visit the library on 13 or 14 of February?  To put it another way, does まで include the date before it or not?


texts: Can one noun be modified by both a clause and a の marked noun?

texts:
I have tried to create a sentence wherein a noun is modified by both a clause and の marked noun, but found it to be difficult with my current understanding:

Intended sentence: I stole the king’s treasure that the warrior hid.

王の戦士が隠した宝を奪った = I stole the treasure that the king's warrior hid. (warrior is modified instead of treasure)

戦士が隠した王の宝を奪った = I stole the treasure of the king who the warrior hid. (king is modified instead of treasure)

I expect the second sentence to be closest to the intended meaning, I suppose it may be as ambiguous as if it was phrased in English as: “I stole the treasure of the king that the warrior hid.”? I would say that what the clause in this sentence is modifying is up to interpretation in English, however, in Japanese...

Is it possible for modifying clauses to not be modifying the noun directly following it?
Are modifying clauses able to bypass a の marked noun and directly describe the noun after it?
Would doing so always be ambiguous?


texts:
I have come several times across the の particle just before a comma （、）but I could not figure out why の was use and for what purpose.
Here are some examples I have run across:

ex1: 今回はそのようなリスクを少しでも減らすための、チェックリストを呈してみることにする。
ex2: 普段はIT企業の役員を務める彼の、芸人としてのバイト代は……？　エンディングムービーも要チェック。
ex3:　※『未来篇』のBD-DVDの、劇場での販売の予定はございません。

For ex3, I would have expected something like the next sentence on the page (『過去篇』のBD-DVDは、未来篇上映劇場にて引き続き、販売いたします。)

I know that the particle の can be used to refer to something aforementioned like in the following example, but it does not seem to be the case in the examples I mentioned.

A: 誰の教科書ですか。
B: 私のです。


texts: Appropriate polite language when referencing yourself in a letter written on behalf of others?

texts:
Maybe this is a bit too hypothetical, but I thought it was an interesting question nonetheless.

I was writing a business email in Japanese, using pretty formal language, on behalf of someone who doesn't speak Japanese.

In this email I wanted to let the receiver know that future communication will happen in English as the person writing (me) won't be available in the future.

I'm the person writing it, but if I'm referring to myself as someone else, so what level of politeness is appropriate? I'm confused because:

Talking about myself using kenjougo would be odd because I'm writing as someone else.
Talking about myself using any form of polite language, even just kinbikoさん, sounds arrogant, and the receiver knows I am the one writing this on behalf of someone else.

Now, in the end I reworded this bit entirely to avoid mentioning myself, and I get that this is probably the best practical solution here. Just wondering if there's any right or wrong answer for what the appropriate level of polite language is when referencing yourself when writing on behalf of someone else. Maybe I'm missing something.


texts:
hope you can help me with the following.  It's a poem from a series from the 1970's in Japan.  There is some debate right now a to whether あのひと（テリィ）だと says He is Anohito (Teri) - he is that person (Teri) OR whether it says あのひと（テリィ）だと - where and who (Teri).  The person debating who claims it says where and who (Teri) is not a native Japanese speaker and seemingly uses a lot of free online translation tools (namely google translate).  Not sure they are a Stack Community member ^___^.

I am not a native Japanese speaker either, but the first translation was made by a native Japanese speaker who then traslated it to English.  Person number two questions the native person's translation from Japanese into English.

So I thought, why not put to the Stack Community?

So the request is to confirm  the translation of anohito as it is used in this poem, hence why I put the entire poem for context.

Your kind consideration and assistance is much appeciated.

Original Poem

森で　ふいに　だれかに後ろから
だきすくめられたの

・・・だれだ？

ちょっときどった声がして—

あたし　すぐに
あのひと（テリィ） だと
わかったけれど

わからないふりをしたの

目の前を からかうように
りすが 走っていったわ

胸の中で 噴水がふきあがる

このまま　ずっと わからないふりを
していようかしら・・・・・

First translation:

森で　ふいに　だれかに後ろから
だきすくめられたの
In the forest, suddenly,
someone hugged me from behind.

・・・だれだ？
…Guess who?

ちょっときどった声がして—
I heard a little genteel voice —

あたし　すぐに
あのひと（テリィ） だと
わかったけれど
I quickly found
He is anohito (Terry),

わからないふりをしたの
But I pretended not to know it.

目の前を からかうように
りすが 走っていったわ
A squirrel ran and passed in front of me
Like it’s teasing me.

胸の中で 噴水がふきあがる
Water is rising from a fountain in my heart.

このまま　ずっと わからないふりを
していようかしら・・・・・
Should I keep on pretending not to know who he is…?

Second translation:

In the forest, suddenly,
someone hugged me from behind.

.. . Guess who?-

In a bit pompous voice...

I knew immediately
There and who (Terry)
Alright

But I pretended not to know it.

As a squirrel that stare at your eyes and runs, I am teasing him

A torrent boils on my chest

For how long would I pretend not to know it is him...


texts: Is the の in this question seeking an explanation or changing the verb into a noun-like?

texts:
So in the question sentences:

誰が盗んだのか
キミが選んだことだろう?

In (1.), I thought that the の there is seeking an explanation.

But I found another sentence (2.) and I know that こと can follow a verb and 物 can follow an adjective to talk about them like nouns. Both can be replaced by の.

So if the の in sentence (1.) is not seeking an explanation and makes 盗んだ into a noun then what has the sentence become and how?

If the の is seeking an explanation then what has sentence (2.) become with 選んだこと(event of choosing)?

More specifically, I am confused with the structure of the following : (subject + が + verb/adjective + の/物/こと+ か/question). Please explain as detailed as possible.


texts: Sounds of 大体 (Approximately)　vs 代替 (Alternative)

texts:
Are the two phrases having the identical sound (including the accent)?

大体 だいたい　(Approximately) (Dictionary: OJAD)
代替 だいたい　(Alternative) (Dictionary: Weblio)

I could not look them up in the same dictionary but two, and the two dictionaries use two different notations for the accent.  Hence the question.  (I am only a beginner)


texts: How can I understand the meaning of cut phrase, like this "きみとずっと、はじめを...", in advertisements or movie trailers

texts:
I often hear cut phrases in movie trailers or I read it in advertisement posters of manga and I can't completely understand their meaning.

For example this phrase; きみとずっと、はじめを. Does this mean "Forever with you, beginning..."?
It doesn't make sense to me. Or does this really not necessarily have to make sense because it's just a trailer?


texts:
How does one say X to the power of Y?　　(i.e. X^Y)

XのY乗{じょう} ?


texts:
I am writing the following sentence:

サン・パウロに日本人がいっぱいいるから。。。よかったですね！

And I'd like to know if 幾人も could be a more respectful/more natural replacement for 一杯, and whether I should be using kanji.


texts:
My friend said:

  うたっちゃだめだから。

Is the っちゃ a colloquial replacement for っては　in this case?


texts:
I cant' believe this, but I'm having issues to understand だろう. I thought it meant "probably" or "maybe ", as in:

彼はたぶん行きたくなかっただろう
Perhaps he didn't wanted to go / he may not wanted to go

but then it may mean "will not"? Like this example..

私はあなたに結婚しないだろう。
I will not marry you

And then there's another meaning... would?

未来はもっと仕事が増えるだろう
In the future work would increase even more

And also would have been....?

彼も行きたかったろう
He would have liked to have been there.

I found this examples online, but I'm not sure when to tell which is which.
Am I missing something?

Thank you very much!


texts: How to construct a sentence that’s correct, using についての?

texts:
I know the sentence structure XについてのY, but I don’t know how to effectively use it. I know that what precedes it must be a noun or has to be nominalised, but still can’t figure out how to use it properly.

My best guess would be something like:

  ベルギー人はビールについての考え方とはベルギーのが一番美味しいと思います。 Belgian people’s views about beer are that Belgian beer is the best tasting.

Would that be a correct sentence? I wasn’t sure about how to use some of the particles with this construction.

(This is where I first learned about the construction.)


texts:
I found some adjectives ending in らしい seem to be the combination of "stem of an adjective" and "らしい," e.g., かわいらしい, きたならしい, にくらしい, and いやらしい (there are certainly more). What meaning does this kind of "らしい" alter an adjective (assuming we can view the pairs this way)?
EDIT1
Let me try to explain my question in another way. When a girl makes up and dresses up, would she ask everyone "どう、かわいい？" or "どう、かわいらしい?" (I bet the latter one is unnatural). Or, someone writes 未練の残る元カレが結婚するらしい、そのウワサを聞き、なんとなくショックのよ、憎らしいよ。(憎い in this case is too intense and doesn't fit well with former context なんとなくショック, I guess.) by using meaning difference I intended to learn "使い分け" and "-y/-like" description doesn't help me understand "使い分け" much.


texts: What does 八 have to do with [八つ当たり]【やつあたり】?

texts:
For the longest time, I had never seen yatsuatari written down. I always figured it was written 奴当たり, which I figured would have been derived from 「あの奴に当たる」 or something.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was actually written 八つ当たり! I found myself rather confused by the kanji here. What does 八 "eight" have to do with 八つ当たり "venting one's anger on other people"?


texts: Why is じどうしゃ (jidoushiya), jidōsha instead?

texts:
From what I understand, the hiragana characters above should make the word jidoushiya, but for some reason it is actually jidōsha.

Why did the word change this way even though the characters are:

  じ → ji, ど → do, う → u,し → shi and ゃ → ya?


texts: Question about 際 usage in Shinkansen Master N2

texts:
Studying for the JLPT N2, I came across the following question in the Shinkansen Master Grammar book.

( ) 際は、こちらのテーブルをお使いいただけます。
a) お食事の
b) ご飯を食べる
c) お一人様の

I thought that a) and b) are good enough as an answer but according to the answer sheet, the correct one is a). I was wondering if there is a particular reason for it. My hypothesis is that お食事 is on formal style, therefore, more appropriate for a sentence using 際, but aside from that, both sound logical to me.


texts: Is おにょみ a valid spelling/pronunciation of 音読み?

texts:
I assume the answer is no.
I am asking, because my IME (Mozc) converts おにょみ into 音読み (same with くにょみ→訓読み).
I think this is simply a matter of convenience to save the user from having to press [n] twice, but I can't think of any other word where this kind of feature is implemented.
So is there anything more to this?


texts:
This is a prayer uttered by someone who I presume is imitating archaic speech:

遍く邪悪より御身を守らん

What is the conjugation used in 守らん? It's doesn't seem like a negative which was my first thought.


texts:
Here is the full sentence I have come across.

せっかくなので　おまえさんにあやしの地下水道のダンジョンじょうほうを教えてしんぜようポ。


texts: I noticed the rare reading of メン contained in the word 雌鳥{めんどり} and I wondered how this unusual reading could have come about. I am not aware of any other words which use this reading for 雌. Is it simply that めんどり is easier to say than めすとり or めすどり ? If that is the case, shouldn't 雌トラ be めんどら? Or is there a different reason such as the reading being a relic from an archaic pronunciation?


texts: What does this mean in this context で、幽が引っ張っていくオチか >> So she is the one pulling the punch line?

texts:
context is You (MC-as Kensuke in this dialogue) is speaking with 2 subordinate of a general /shogun (一葉 Kazuha) about her strange behavior recently (Hifumi and Koi)They're secretly following Kazuha and her subordinate (幽) Yuu
Hifumi......確かにそれは、公方様にしては珍しい
相変わらず一葉たちに気取られない距離を取って尾行しつつ.俺の話を聞いたーニ三は、ふむ、と小さな声を上げてみせた。
Kensuke : 俺がいない時の一葉って、どんな感じなの?
Koi: 私たちが京にいる間だけの話ですが……剣丞さまがいらっしゃる時と変わらないと思いますよ。剣丞さまの所が双葉さまか、久遠さまに変わるだけで
Kensuke:で、幽が引っ張っていくオチか >> This is the part I don't understand ( my guess is "So she (Yuu) is the one who's pulling the punchline ?>)
Hifumi: まあ、公方さまにあそこまで出来る方なんてそうそういないだろうしね
If you can please show me your English TL at the part I don't understand thanks .I don't know my guess about the punch line is correct or not


texts:
「もちろんです。孤高な完璧さより不完全な美。お姉さまは、かのミロのヴィーナスのような存在なのです」

I came across this sentence and at first I have understand "不完全な美 is better than 孤高な完璧さ", but with the context it have to be "孤高な完璧さ is better than 不完全な美 ". Have I made a mistake in interpreting this sentence? より has a pattern with the first object (In this case, 孤高な完璧さ) is more than the second object (不完全な美)?


texts: I have stumbled across verbs such as 付けてる, listed as a conjugation of 付ける in takoboto. Is this equivalent to 付けている? Or what?


texts: くせに when the subject is the first person?

texts:
I'm quite baffled by what a character in a manga says. I'll try to explain the context as best as I can so you can get the picture:There are 2 characters, A previously said (in the last chapter of the manga) something very deep and ended with a question (directed towards B who was the only one there-also both characters are enemies if it helps, thus A was talking about his philosophy/his conviction.

  A: ...面白くないことを言った。「そうだね」という肯定以外受け入れる気がないくせに問いかけのように喋ってしまった。。。

This whole sentence thing at first, I translated it like this: "I said something boring...Although I'm unwilling to accept anything besides "Yes", I blurted out a question."
I'm sure there are mistakes (問いかけのように喋ってしまった also sounds very odd) but what I found strange is the usage くせに, because wouldn't のに work better in this case? Can it actually be used with the first person and I could have simply replaced with のに? That would be the only that it would make sense to me because A has a strong opinion and apparently won't accept anything other than yes and yet he slipped out a question but did not get a reply (from B who was there with him).


texts:
Here is the full sentence:

  夢を作っている僕の深層心理が、彼の顔を固定できない。

I gather that the main meaning of this sentence is "My subconscious can't fix this face into [itself/memory].", but the main question for me is what exactly 夢を作っている mean here? A few Japanese teachers I've asked were pretty confused, saying that 夢を作る　is not exactly a natural thing to say. This sentence is from a novel though, so no wonder it's not natural in the sense of being "ordinary".
Thanks. Any help is much appreciated.


texts: How many people does わたしが世界で一番愛してる人 refer to?

texts: In the sentence わたしが世界で一番愛してる人に。is there a nuance that indicates how many people it refers to? (one or several people).


texts: Is "I can eat a glass" a good translation of "私はガラスを食べられます"?

texts:
Google Translate gives

  I can eat a glass

for

  私はガラスを食べられます

The context is a file that can't be read because the filename contains Japanese characters. When a certain PHP function is asked to read the file bug69753私はガラスを食べられます.xml, it ignores all the Japanese characters and tries to read bug69753.xml instead.

I'm assuming the Japanese contains a self-referential joke, but I don't get it. Has Google Translate provided a good translation? What's the joke in the message?


texts: what nuance does ことがありますか add in this sentence?

texts:
Sentence 1: 先生、この歌をお聞きになったことがありますか。

I thought it can just be
Sentence 2: 先生、この歌をお聞きになりましたか。

Is sentence 2 wrong? If it's not, what's the difference in nuance between those two?


texts:
A few days ago when I was reading a manga that has chracters with super powers, there was a boy that had a power concerning his eyes, and like it's seen a lot in manga in anime, they shout out their powers, and this boy's power was called 「ハヤブサの目].
Now, of course I did a little research beforehand because I wanted to adapt these power names into English, and the first thing that I thought for this one was "Hawk Eyes", (rather than Falcon Eyes) something which I have heard in many contexts and I thought it would be fitting (for example if you know the character from FullMetal Alchemist- Riza Hawkeye). But, I wondered if it was ok to translate it like that.

Searching in the dictionary, ハヤブサ means falcon, more specifically peregrine falcon (I found out recently that the book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is called ハヤブサが守る家 in Japanese).
So, I want to know if ハヤブサ is just falcon, because, look I found this on weblio: オスのタカ、特にオスのハヤブサもしくはシロハヤブサ (male hawk especially male peregrine or gyrfalcon).For the adaptation I made, I named the character's power Hawkeyes, but if someone can tell me that falcon should is more appropriate, then I would greatly appreciate it so I could revise my translations.Thank you!


texts: Why is た form used instead of る form here?

texts:
するとその横で、耶倶矢がむうとうなる。
「ふん、本条蒼二が女だったとはな……我が目をたばかるとはなかなかやりよる」
「あ、耶倶矢も知ってたのか？」
士道が問うと、耶倶矢はこくりと首を前に倒してきた。
「当然だ。颶風の御子は大衆の娯楽にも通じておるわ」

耶倶矢 previously thought 本条蒼二 was male and just realized 本条蒼二 was female. And 士道 said “You know 本条蒼二 too?”
Why are 女だった and 知ってた used instead of 女だ and 知ってる? They are not talking about past things but current status, I suppose?


texts:
In today's endeavour to augment my ability to read onigiri labels I came across this in Naha, Okinawa:

  きざみ角煮

Google Translate does a terrible job:

  Boiled angle increments

WWWJDIC has an entry for 角煮:

  stew of cubed meat or fish (esp. pork belly or tuna)

But I'm stumped by きざみ. Google thinks it means increment and WWWJIC has "shredded tobacco; notch; nick", which doesn't help much.

I've also tried Goo, Wikipedia, Wiktionary. I wonder if there's a wiki or other resource specializing in Japanese food terminology as this is a particular interest of mine.


texts: The kanji for "YOMI": Word For "Reading the Mind of Your Opponent"

texts: "Yomi" is a Japanese concept used by game theorists and high-level, fighting game players. I came across it in February 2019 in a novel and it is quite hard to find information about it online. All I need is the kanji though...


texts:
I was reading some youtube comments and one of them were saying:

  日本語で他の動画を作成してください

I wonder why use の in this phrase? Since it generally means possession or gives to a certain object some characteristic, like:

  　それが岡さんの車です or これの県大会はあこじゃない


texts:
João is a Portuguese name which has a peculiar pronunciation that is very difficult for foreign people. It is the Portuguese equivalent to the English John, but the pronunciations are very different. If you see that Wikipedia page, it might help get a grasp of the correct pronunciation. However, I have no idea how this name would be represented in kana...

Does anyone know what might be the correct kana for this name?


texts:
So I have these lyrics:

...君が僕を忘れてしまっても ちょっと辛いけど… それでもいいから

I completely understand that line, but this one is troubling me

僕より先に どこか遠くに 旅立つことは 絶対 許さないから

I thought maybe it would parse like this

僕より先にどこか - Somewhere before me
遠くに旅立つことは絶対許さないから - The fact that you go away from me is unforgivable

And everything would be:

It's unforgivable that you go away from me, right before my eyes.

If i'm wrong and you can give some insight in why i'm parsing it wrong, if there's a "rule" I should follow, or something, when parsing. It would be great!
(i'm not sure if 先にどこか遠くに should be together or not)
Thanks.
Source: http://www.lyrical-nonsense.com/lyrics/aimer/kataomoi/


texts: The politeness level of 辞書形(ある／する) in replacement of ます form

texts:
こんにちは！
I'm just a beginner in Japanese (started my Japanese self-study from this March) but now I'm working in a Japanese company in Tokyo. Since most people in my company can't really speak English, I have no choice but to use Japanese for my daily conversation.
Until now I can somehow manage basic conversations with my co-workers, but I know my Japanese is very beginner-level. I follow the rule to use formal Japanese (ます/です) instead of (ある/する) mostly all the time to avoid being impolite. I know it makes my Japanese sound unnatural/strange but I think it's a safe choice, at least in the workplace environment.
But the more I'm familiar with the language, the more I feel the need to use less such honorifics. I try to listen to others' conversations to see if ある/する is used by juniors to seniors or not, and they do use it, much more than ます form, even with the boss.
I find it so tiring to go with such sentences like: 「昨日は大阪に行きましたけど、雨でしたから出かけなかったです。」
Just for example, how would you guys make the above sentence sound "more natural"?
Can I say like 「昨日大阪に行ったけど、雨だったから出かけなかったです！」when I talk to my boss?
I really need more time to be able to "sense" the language and its politeness, before that よろしくお願いします！


texts: 経由 - how would I use this in a sentence?

texts:
While learning vocab using the kanji 由、I came across the word 経由 which is translated on jisho.org as:

  Adverbial noun
  1. through; by way of; via

  Suru verb
  2. to go via; to go by way of

This left me confused as to the difference between this word and the particle で and whether it can be replaced by or used with this particle. If anyone could enlighten me to a context in which this word would be used and a few sentence examples, I would be very grateful!


texts:
It comes from the full sentence

The portion before the comma I translated as "I noticed that/a guy", as the character just woke up in a dark room and is hearing voices around him in the dim light. The portion after the comma I am confused about. Does it mean anything literally? I think it's basically a string of particles with a "questioning" {{JP:ねえ}}, an "inquisitive/forceful" {{JP:のか}}, and a determined {{JP:よ}}. With that I guess that it gives the reader the feeling that the character is uncertain whether to be happy or afraid that he/she has noticed this other person.


texts: 赤いのかばん or 赤いなかばん? Which one is correct? "な" is used to connect adjective and noun, "の" is a possessive noun, but it can also be an adjective.


texts: Value of が at the end of interrogative sentences

texts:
I know there are other questions on this site about が and けど at the end of a sentence, but I couldn't find one about interrogative sentences. Context: in a manga, person A said something that his friend (person B) interpreted as a joke. The dialogue continues as follows:

  Person A: だって８割はホントだもん。

  Person B: へぇー　８割本音を言わない男が？

I don' understand the meaning of the second sentence. In particular, I don't understand why there's a negative verb and the value of が. Was something left out? I feel like there could be a じゃなかった after が. Person A in the manga is a kinda reserved type, so I thought it could be translated as:

  "Weren't you the type that doesn't say 80% of his true feelings?"

Is my guess right? Thank you for your help.


texts: Is it true that all Japanese words end in a vowel when transliterated to English?

texts:
First off I know zero Japanese, so sorry if this is a stupid question.  I seem to remember hearing a while back that all Japanese words, when transliterated to the Latin alphabet, will end in a vowel.  From the few Japanese words/names I've seen this seems possible.

Is there any truth to this?  If true, does anyone know why that is?


texts: How to write "eastern Tokyo" (or "northern Hokkaido")

texts:
While chatting with a friend about meeting up in eastern Tokyo, I typed in ひがしとうきょう and my Mac dutifully sent 東東京 out the wire. I quickly clarified with ひがし東京 just so she wouldn't think I had made a weird typo or something.

But is 東東京 actually the correct way to write "eastern Tokyo," or is there a less ambiguous way to do so? Is there a uniform way to refer to directions inside of place names which feature directional kanji - could the same rule apply to "northern Hokkaido" and so on?


texts: 日曜日，the different meanings and pronunciations of 日

texts: I am not sure about the pronunciation rules of kanji in Japanese. I understand that there are several pronunciations for each kanji, and I am wondering how native speakers decide when to use which pronunciation. Example: In 日曜日, if I’m not wrong, the first 日 means SUN, pronounced as にち; the second 日 means DAY, pronounced as び. Is it the case in reality that when the same kanji expresses the same meaning in a word, it always has the same pronunciation? Referring back to the previous example, is it true that when 日 means Sun in a word, phrase or sentence, it always is pronounced にち？


texts: Partial ひらがな sentences (why ことし, きのう, きょう, あす?)

texts:
I was watching a news broadcast on YouTube and when it moved over to the weather report, I noticed that 「今日の天気」was actually written as 「きょうの天気」. Also 「明日の天気」was also written as 「あすの天気」. It wasn't just the weather report but some other parts of the programme such as the main stream headlines, 「きのう」.

Why are these sentences or should I say, just the start of the sentence written in ひらがな and not full 漢字? Does it depend on the news programme? I asked my Japanese friend and he said he didn't know or even realise it.

For reference, I was watching おはよう北海道 (16:15) when I first noticed it.

Thanks


texts:
Someone asked her friend (in a TV show) 「宿題の答え合わせも兼ねて　勉強会をやりませんか?」 in the sense of "Want to do a study session, and compare our homework answers while we're at it?". Would the meaning change if も兼ねて were replaced by を兼ねて?
BTW, I didn't find a lot of references to this particular meaning of 兼ねて in English-language Japanese study materials online. Is this a common way of using 兼ねて?


texts:
Here's the sentence :

  僕とした事が忘れてたよ。

What is the role of とした ?


texts: What is the correct expression of 10/20, 20/30, 30/40 etc?

texts:
On a news report, I heard the phrase 四五{しご}十{じゅう}メートル and it got me thinking about how to express other number approximations.  Are the following correct?

10 or 20 meters　じゅうにじゅうメートル
20 or 30 meters　にさんじゅうメートル
30 or 40 meters　さんよんじゅうメートル
40 or 50 meters　しごじゅうメートル
50 or 60 meters　ごろくじゅうメートル
60 or 70 meters　ろくななじゅうメートル
70 or 80 meters　ななはちじゅうメートル
80 or 90 meters　はちきゅうじゅうメートル
90 or 100 meters　きゅうじゅうひゃくメートル


texts: Is the ''yoi'' meaning ''ready'' when doing karate the same as the ''yoi'' which means nice/good?

texts:
When doing karate years ago the sensei would use the word ''yoi'' to instruct the students to take a ready/prepared stance.

I didn't speak any Japanese then but I remember the word.

Now I'm learning Japanese and I've come across the word ''yoi'' which means good/nice.

Are these two meanings for the same word or are they just homonyms?


texts:
Here is the sentence including the words.

このおっさんはな更{こう}生{せい}だとか　なんだとか　そんな　しゃれたことを考{かんが}えるようなおやじじゃねえよ
まあ　ごくかんたんにいうとな

Another question: Do the 「な」 in both words work as particle?


texts: Recently, I was reminded of 手ずから again and connected it to 自ら{みずか} and おのずから this time. I was wondering if the structure ずから is used anywhere else? Some research seems to indicate that might be related to つ+柄.


texts: Is chairo pronounced as both chai ro and cha iro?

texts:
The compound word ''chairo'' obviously comes from ''cha'' and ''iro'' so you would think that the ''a'' and ''i'' would be pronounced separately. But sometimes it sounds (to me) like they are pronounced as one sound similar to the ''ai'' in the word ''hai''.
Are they pronounced both ways or just one ?


texts: Was nihonshu (what English refers to as "sake") always called nihonshu, or was it only called that once western alcoholic beverages were introduced to Japan?


texts:
Is there a way to use 何 with the general counter ~つ to ask "how many..." in the same vein as in sentences like  "何歳ですか。" or "本は何冊買いましたか。"?

If not, how do you ask something like "How many ideas do you have", where (I think) one would normally use the generic counter? Do you have to resort to 何個?


texts: What's the difference between 今日{きょう} and 本日{ほんじつ}?

texts:
I also see both in different examples.
As in :

今日は暑い。
本日はおめでとうございます。

Both are translated as "Today", but when and how should I use either one?
Can we say : 本日はあつい。 And 今日はおめでとうございます。?


texts:
What is the difference between これから and いまから？ Both seem to have the meaning of 'from now on'.

  これから、食べます。
  いまから、食べます。

Do the sentences above carry the same meaning?


texts: Use of とは when there doesn't seem to be comparison

texts:
I've seen とは used for the first time and understand from the explanation given on this question, What are the uses of に and とは in this sentence? that とは is (or at least in one specific type of context) is used to mean to/from, and as such makes a kind of comparison.

However, I don't see how that applies to this sentence:

  人生とはなにかを考えた。

The most meaningful thing I can imagine this would means is something like: I thought of something relating to life - which is still a bit iffy to me.

Is there another use of とは when there doesn't seem to be comparison?


texts: Can Japanese words with kanji and hiragana in them start with hiragana characters? If so how common are they?

texts: Pretty much every word I've seen so far that contain both kanji and hiragana, always starts with the kanji character(s) first Like 大きい, 見る, 乗り物 and 話す. The only exceptions I've seen so far are お金 and ある日, but one of them isn't even used in conversational Japanese. Do like 99% of the words have this same format to them?


texts: Small Words on the side of Big Words. Is it a manga thing or a japanese thing?

texts:
I'm interested on learning Japanese and I was curious on how this works. I picked a japanese manga for curiosity and saw this on a balloom speech.

Why there is small words on the side of the big ones?


texts: "Arimasu" or "imasu" when mentioning both living and inanimate objects

texts:
For example, if I were to describe a room that contains a book and a dog, would I say

部屋に犬と本があります　or 部屋に犬と本がいます　？

Or would I perhaps have to find a new way to word this sentence entirely?
I know this is super basic level stuff, but it's weirdly difficult to find an answer.


texts: How to say Populations and Civilizations when talking about history?

texts:
Dealing with historical matters for a certain urban area, one would like to say the following:

  In this city we had many populations here: Normans, Greeks and French...

So what is the right term for: "Population" and "Civilization"? Thankyou

PS
I tried dictionary, but there I cannot find good exmples... probably my dictionary is not so advanced. I also tried denshi-jisho on-line... the same


texts:
I can't understand the role of し after 留学 in the sentence:

  来年、日本に留学しに行くと決めた。

I heard that it is supposed to be a conjugated form of する, but I don't know a conjugation ending in just し. Any ideas?


texts: Does V~たりする include the verb in a "perfect" sense or "varying" sense?

texts:
Does V~たりする include the mentioned verb in a "perfect" (specific) sense or "varying" sense?

For example, in the sentence 「映画を見たりした。」, is (1) or (2) a more accurate depiction of the meaning of the sentence? :

I did stuff such as watching movie/s etc. (I watched movie/s, and besides that, I did other stuff.)
I did stuff like watching movie/s etc. (I did stuff comparable to watching movie/s, and besides that, I did other stuff.)

As another example, does 「歌ったり、踊ったりした。」 mean (1) or (2)? :

I did stuff such as singing, dancing, etc. (I sang, I danced, and besides that, I did other stuff.)
I did stuff like singing, dancing etc. (I did stuff comparable to singing, I did stuff comparable to dancing, and besides that, I did other stuff.)


texts: What is the difference between 以外と、案外 and 割と

texts:
I've been having a bit of trouble differentiating between these 3 grammatical points as their usage is quite similar and can be interchanged at times.

Can someone explain the difference with some examples?

Thanks


texts:
I read a sentence in Naruto that challenged some of my ideas about how Japanese works, and I'd like to try and clear this up. I can only assume that アナタがピンチの時 means "when you're in a pinch".

First of all, it looks like a relative clause modifying 時, but why isn't there a verb? Usually, when something is marked with が, that thing is the subject (or something) of a particular verb. Here, there's a verbless subject. Is the copula implied?

Secondly, could you say アナタがピンチな時 instead? How is な used in relative clauses?


texts: How did Japanese obtain a unit of measure called a カップ that's 200 mL?

texts:
I've encountered a measuring cup which has units of カップ, 水mℓ (水ml), 米[unknown kanji]g and [three unknown kanji]g. 1 カップ corresponds exactly to 200 水mℓ.

According to Wikipedia, there's a Japanese cup that corresponds to 200 ml. By contrast, the US customary cup is approximately 237 mL, and an imperial cup (as in the British empire) is 284 millilitres.

How did Japanese obtain a unit of measure called a カップ which corresponds to neither the British or US unit of measurement?

This post on cooking.SE is about 合, which is 180 mL.


texts: What is the meaning of 振り切って in this context?

texts:
I'm currently translating this video -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMj_aFUjTwk

In the play, this actor is playing a boy, who has Chuunibyou.

At 0:15 he said

  しっかり、え、中二病をこじらせて振り切って演じたいと思います。

According to Jishou,

  振り切る = to shake off/ to swing completely

so I was wondering what does it mean here?


texts: Is "正午" precisely 12:00-pm? Does it feel different than saying "昼十二時"?

texts:
Doesn't "正午" mean 12:00-pm down to the last minute? Unless one needs to be extremely precise, "昼{ひる}十二{じゅうに}時{じ}" or "午前{ごぜん}十二{じゅうに}時{じ}" sounds better? Each means "12-pm" but the latter two have an implied leeway of 2 minutes (or so)?

btw, is there a word that means exactly 12:00-am (midnight)?


texts: What is the difference between 店{みせ} and 店{てん}舗{ぽ}? Both mean shop?


texts:
I want to say I am learning, but not in a study/classroom/teacher kind of way, but dictionary definitions have me confused.

習う　→　to learn (to take classes in)
覚える　→　to memorize/remember, (to learn?)
学ぶ　→　to study? take classes in something?
勉強する　→　to study

Until now, I've been using 習う、but based on how frequently 日本人 use 覚える、I just feel like that's probably the one to go with...but I don't know. The other two are definitely not what I want.

example sentence:

  私は仕事で色んなことを覚えてる。勉強になる。
  I am learning various things at work, its quite informative.


texts:
what does toko mean in this sentence?

tokyo ni ikitai
tokyo wa ii toko da yo


texts: 「誘います」は「招待します」とどう違いますか？

texts: What’s the difference between 誘いますand 招待します? Are they the same?


texts:
Hope someone can help me. I'm struggling with the exact usage of という in this sentence:

  会う約束をした友達から乗っている電車が止まっているというメールが来た。

Many thanks.


texts: Trouble with these sentences, subject-verb confusion and difficult words?

texts:
I'm a little clueless with these two sentences right here.

景気判断は前月のまま据え置き、消費増税後の駆け込み需要の反動減は「和らぎつつある」とした。ただ反動減が長期化すれば、「景気下押しのリスク」となる可能性を初めて指摘。
政府は７～９月期には自動車の生産・販売や住宅建設などが反動減から脱して景気が上向くことが、来年１０月に消費税率を予定通り１０％に再引き上げするのに欠かせないとみている。

Some of the words I've tried scouring the dictionary but to no avail, 消費増税後の駆け込み需要? I don't quite understand how 駆け込み relates to 需要 in the sentence.
Here's another one: 反動減
I know 反動 means reactionary, but what does the 減 do here? I tried looking up for it and nothing showed up. What does it mean in the sentence? How would you translate it?
Also, does the 政府 here correspond to 再引き上げする or みている? Or is みている simply a grammatical pattern I'm unaware of?
For context:

反動減の長期化懸念　景気判断据え置き　８月経済報告
　内閣府は２６日、８月の月例経済報告を公表した。景気判断は前月のまま据え置き、消費増税後の駆け込み需要の反動減は「和らぎつつある」とした。ただ反動減が長期化すれば、「景気下押しのリスク」となる可能性を初めて指摘。反動減からいつ脱するかが、景気回復のカギとなりそうだ。
　個別項目では、企業収益は上場企業の４～６月期の業績が伸び悩んだことを受けて、「改善に足踏みがみられる」と判断を引き下げた。
　個人消費は「一部に弱さが残るものの、持ち直しの動きがみられる」と判断を据え置いた。大雨など天候不順で百貨店や家電量販店の売り上げが落ちたが、景気全体への影響は限定的だとしている。住宅建設は「減少のテンポが緩やかになっている」と判断を引き上げた。項目によって、判断の上げ下げにばらつきが目立っている。
　４～６月期の国内総生産（ＧＤＰ）の実質成長率は増税の影響でマイナス６・８％（年率）と落ち込んだ。政府は７～９月期には自動車の生産・販売や住宅建設などが反動減から脱して景気が上向くことが、来年１０月に消費税率を予定通り１０％に再引き上げするのに欠かせないとみている。
　甘利明経済再生相はこの日の会見で、「７～９月期に力強く回復することが大事だ。反動減が底打ちし、回復に向かう動きをしっかりみていきたい」と述べ、反動減の長期化に懸念を示した。


texts: If somebody just says "暇か", what does that mean exactly?

texts:
The setting is 4 kids in a park in Japan. The kid sitting on the bench is Ageru-kun, who is uploading a video to the internet, which is illegal in Japan. His 3 friends go up to him and have the following conversation.

  あげるくん遊ばないの？
  Aren't you going to play, Ageru-kun?

  昨日の番組をネットに上げてから
  Ageru: I'm uploading yesterday's program to the internet

  またかー
  Friend A: This again?/ Not this again!/ Oh, not again! (Not sure which one exactly)

  暇か
  Friend B: spare time; free time; leisure (Not sure which one exactly)

  見られなかった人のために上げているんだよ
  Ageru: I'm uploading it for those who couldn't see it


texts:
時代の流れを感じずにはいられない。
  I can't help but feel time passing by.

  彼のことを同情せずにはいられない。
  I can't help but to feel sorry for him.

  私は、彼の才能を賞賛せずにはいられない。
  I can't help but admire his talent.

Would someone please explain in detail how "~ずにはいられない。" means "can't help but"?

Is the いられない a form of いる？ If so, which one?

Or is it related to this:
「～し（せ）ざるをえない」?


texts:
I would like to say "I don't mind that," or "That doesn't bother me," but I'm not sure what particles to use for 気にしない when I would like to specify both a subject and an object. These are the combinations that sounded plausible to me:

「それは私が気にしません。」
「それが私は気にしません。」
「それは私に気にしません。」
「私はそれを気にしません。」

Which (if any) of these is correct, and if multiple are permissible, what differences in nuance might exist?

(P.S. I understand that in many cases, the 私 or それ or both could be dropped, but let's assume my case really does call for them.)


texts: Why is there a noun at the end of this sentence?

texts:
From an article on ghosts:

  「私【わたし】は死【し】んだのですか？」と言【い】った直後【ちょくご】に姿【すがた】を消【け】した女性【じょせい】


texts:
I encountered this sentence.

  なめんなよ。てめえみていな雑魚、おれが本気をだしゃあ…

I believe the context is quite obvious: The speaker feels stronger than his enemy, the listener. From how I understand it, I’d translate the sentence something like this:

  Don’t make fool of me! Against a small fry like you, I don’t even need to fight seriously.

Still, I can’t figure out, how the ending works to carry this meaning. My guesses so far are:

The trailing あ is just an emotional prolongation – the verb form is just 出しゃ.
The しゃ is some kind of contraction like e. g. なきゃ. But what of? Perhaps something like 出しては?

If these guesses are correct, there is probably still a part of the sentence missing as an ellipsis.

Thus, my question is: What are the missing or contracted parts and how do they form the meaning inferred from the context? Or maybe I got it completely wrong and the sentence means something else?


texts: I've learned that we can express "if" by using 「と」,「なら」, by conjugating the verb such as in 「食べる」-> 「食べれば」, and by conjugating in the past and adding 「ら」 such as 「食べる」->「食べたら」. Wich one of this four is more common and/or is used more often? Wich one sounds more natural?


texts: what nuance does calling oneself "ふつつかもの" have?

texts:
In the context of chatting with someone whom you have never met before, Japanese always give you the courtesy of complimenting your language skills. In a non-business context, my response is sometimes 「いやいや、不束者{ふつつかもの}です、私。」That almost always gets a smile out of the person that I am addressing.

I'd always assumed that using the word 「不束者」 demonstrated that, while my grammar is extremely poor, I have made the effort to memorize strange vocabulary. It is a backhanded self-compliment (if your Japanese were poor, then you would not know such a word), and that causes the smile. But, now I am thinking that my usage of 「不束者」 is so wildly out of context, it just sounds ridiculous.

So, is saying 「いやいや、不束者です、私。」 a clever sounding way to decline a compliment? Or, does it just sound comical?


texts: Use of と in these two sentences + のぼる or あがる

texts:
I've got these two sentences:

  屋上にあがると景色がきれいです。

  駅の前に銀行ができると便利になります。

I understand the vocabulary, but I don't get the usage of と.

Also, I don't get why あがる is used instead of のぼる.  I think のぼる is used when the subject actively goes up, and あがる when it goes up without having control of it himself (kind of like the sun going up), so, I imagine the sentence means something like the views when getting up onto the roof are really beautiful, and to get up onto the roof you need to get there on your own means, so... why あがる?


texts: What is the function of の particle after Conjunction?

texts:
Here is the sentence: それなのにの言い換えや別の言い方。
Taking it apart: それなのに_Conjunction + の_Particle + 言い換え_Noun + や_Particle + 別_Noun? + の_Particle + 言い方_Noun。

This construction puzzles me. What is の doing right after "Yet" conjunction? Please correct me if I made a mistake.


texts:
First, I would like to let you know that I'm aware of a few topics already made regarding "try" here:
• Saying "try" in Japanese
• Different ways to "try"
But after reading those topics, I still feel unsure, therefore I write this question...
This is about when you go to Japanese Electronic Store or something similar, and you want to buy the appliance (in this case a hair straightener). Before you pick the item and go home, you want to make sure that it functions well... So we'd like to say "Can I test it?" (to see if it's not broken)
I come up with a few sentences... But I'm unsure if these are correct...

ためしてください (I want to test it)

ためしてみたい、いいですか？ (I want to try testing it, is it okay?)

使ってみたい、いいですか？(I want to try using it, is it okay?)

It's written in dictionary that ためして is to test, but I read in some comments that ためして is very rarely used in common daily life. And when it's used, it's being used for something serious like to test a new government law or something... Is this right?
Could you help to explain what is the best sentence to use in daily life for this situation? Thank you so much in advance :)


texts: 単語を十個 or 十個単語を - quantifiers before or after direct objects

texts:
I once read a Japanese sentence:

  仮に毎日単語を十個覚えるとする

Can I say this instead?

  仮に毎日十個単語を覚えるとする


texts: Can anyone confirm チックン is Kyushu-ben for チングイ and give its scientific name?

texts: In southern Kyushu, you hear people speak of a biting bug called チックン that lurks in shallow water near beaches. Researching the word a bit comes up with the more standard term チングイ, and it appears to be some kind of larval-stage arthropod. Whatever its biology, it's painful to be bitten by one. Are these terms equivalent, the one simply Kyushu-ben? Is anyone aware of any other variants? And can anyone provide a scientifically meaningful translation of the name? The best I've found so far is 'zoea', which is very vague.


texts: Why this verb isn't in the dictionary form?

texts:
The sentence is this one:

  おむすびがころころ転がり穴におちてしまいました

Why is it 転がり instead of 転がる?

Also for a bonus question, I read in this forum site that てしまう means to make emphasis on the ending of the action or for some embarrassing situation. Which is the meaning on that example?


texts:
I am reading a work of fiction by a Japanese novelist and I found an interesting phrase that I'm unfamiliar with, "訳あり"

In the story B launches a surprise raid on A's property. They talk a little bit and B says A is irritating him, and A says;

  (A)「いらいらしたついでに、これがどういう事なのかペラペラ説明して下さると手間が省けるんですけどね……」

  (B)「悪いけど、こっちも訳ありでね」

What is this 訳あり? I looked in a dictionary and it says:

  Expression, Na-adjective
  1. (having) special circumstances (e.g. problems, issues, advantages, flaws, defects, etc.)

Is that the correct definition for this context? I only know of the "sorry" "excuse me" sort of usage.

So what is B really saying? Can someone explain this sort of usage for 訳あり? Maybe with more example sentences?


texts: Reduction of the diphthong "ou" to "ō" in Middle and Modern Japanese

texts:
I noticed that in the word 子牛 both "o" and "u" are pronounced while in the word 格子 there is a long "ō" and they are, respectively, written in rōmaji (Hepburn romanization) koushi and kōshi.
What I'd like to ask you is if:
1) in Middle Japanese the diphthong "ou" was reduced to "ō" only when the two vowels were part of the same syllable (like in 格子)
2) the reduction happened only in kango and waseigo or it happened also in some yamato kotoba


texts: Looking for some examples of ambiguous sentences with compound particles

texts:
For writing a text book, I am looking for some ambiguous sentences with compound particles.

As an illustration, consider my attempt as follows.
Recall that when の and に are combined, it results in a new particle のに, so there is a possibility to make ambiguous sentences with のに.

の can be used to nominalize clauses. For example: お酒を飲まないの
Nに　can also be needed for some expressions.  For example:  アニメに興味がある

Now I have to find sentences with pattern XのにY such that they can be read in two ways:

Xのに、Y　--> Even though X, Y
XのにY

  タバコは吸わないのに興味がある。

It can be interpreted in 2 ways:

タバコを吸わないのに、興味がある。Even though I don't smoke, I am interested in smoking.
タバコを吸わないのに興味がある。I am interested in not smoking. (the speaker must be a smoker.)

Questions

Could you give me other better examples?


texts: Can one ever use an intransitive verb as a transitive verb?

texts:
Note from the OP:  The original phrasing of the question was very unclear so, after thinking this over a few times, I decided to rewrite this completely.
Please see here for the new question
In other words, is it ever acceptable to use the を particle with an intransitive verb? (**other than in the exception mentioned below)
For example, the verb "to run" is usually an intransitive verb (just like the verbs walk, sleep, jump, grow, etc.), but it has a direct object in the phrase "run a marathon" or "run a race".
So, in Japanese would it be correct to say 「マラソンを走る」　or should one say 「マラソンが走る」 or「マラソンで走る」 or something else?
There are other examples which (in English) might not be technically correct but could be used in casual speech, for example "to jump a jumping jack" (vs. "to do a jumping jack")
In Japanese, would, for example 「ジャンピングジャックを跳ねる」　(as opposed to 「ジャンピングジャックをする」)  be acceptable in casual speech or would it sound extremely unnatural?
**I know that there is a different meaning of を, where it doesn't indicated direct object but functions similarly to に or で,
for example:
公園を走る ~ run around in the park.


texts:
「四条がホントに恐がっていたのは呪いじゃなくておまえさんだったんじゃないかって話」
  「―――――チ、一撃だけじゃ足りなかったか。
  こう、蒼香みたいにそのままカカト落としに連携させて息の根止めてやれば良かった」

She kicked a girl down to the ground and the dat after that she is talking about what happened to her friend.

Why is the causative used here?


texts:
Yes, I do mean Madori and not Midori. I was told by my mother that it means 'angel of the sky.' I haven't found anything on this, however. In my research, I only found that it could be a variation of Midori and would therefore have the same meaning, but even that was only a guess.

Does anyone have any idea what my name could mean or was it just made up? I have come across many people with Madori as a last name, but never a first. Any help would be appreciated,thank you!


texts: Why 浴衣 is pronounced ゆかた, and why pronunciation ゆ and かた for kanji 浴 and 衣 are not listed in 国語辞書?

texts: 浴衣{ゆかた} is a very common word. Why is it pronounced ゆかた, and why the corresponding pronunciations for the kanji 浴 and 衣 are not listed in 国語辞書? Pronunciation of 浴 「yù」 is mentioned only in 中日辞書, but I cannot find pronunciation 「かた」 for 衣 explained anywhere.


texts:
For some reason I cannot seem to internalize は no matter what I do.
I received a great explanation 4-5 days ago on this site but I don't know why I can't internalize it no matter what.
While reading today I found と言えば and a question came into my mind.
If I used と言えば would the sentence change in meaning?

Example:

  あいつは　相手が強ければ強いほど 負けまいとして
  その強さに夢中で対応してきた

は somehow throws me off.

If I said:

  あいつと言えば　相手が強ければ強いほど 負けまいとして
  その強さに夢中で対応してきた

Would the meaning change?
Could I just use と言えば in my mind until は becomes natural or that would be a big mistake?


texts:
Why did the author use に in the following sentence?

  理解しかねて首をかしげる会場の様子に、司会役が「もう少し具体的に」と重ねてたずねた。

たずねる needs に but for animate objects such as human beings. In the above sentence, に is used after 様子 which is an inanimate. Asking to an inanimate object seems to be strange for me.


texts: Can I use only hiragana when writing words/sentences?

texts:
This might seem like a dumb repeated question but I need to confirm 100% so bear with me please.

I started learning Hiragana and I can now write the vowels + the K things. I'm really good at memorizing words and pronouncing and I know lots of Japanese words. I'm saying now, is it advised to try writing the words I already know only with hiragana? For example kako (past) koko (here) etc.. Is that a good idea? Or is it even ok to do at all? And is it correct to write a whole sentence with hiragana?


texts: What is the difference in meaning and usage between「と思います」and「かと思います」at the end of a sentence?


texts:
Suppose someone is about to do/say something dangerous/inappropriate. And I want to stop them immediately. In English and Spanish I say "no!" to them. It is an order to stop, short form of "don't do it/that". How can I do that in Japanese?

I do not think you can say いいえ in this case.

To stop a child from doing something, some book says to say だめ！. But I find it lacking, meaning "it is wrong/problematic to do that" and leaving the connection to "(so don't do it)" to the listener. I want a short direct, clear, unambiguous order. :-)

とまれ！[止まれ?] sounds to me more related to movement, less general. Also, だめ！ and "no!" are simpler for a child (to understand/process, and for me to think and say).

Would the answer depend on context or listener (adult/toddler/student/teammate)?


texts:
I know that しょくじします means "to have a meal". I have trouble understanding the bolded sentence in the following text:

たたみのへやでしごとをします。しょくじもします。

Does it mean that the person also has meals in a tatami room? Is it normal to "insert" the も particle like that between the noun and する?


texts: I saw a native Japanese speaker post this on Twitter, I believe that おやすみ means vacation or holiday, but I was unable to figure out the phrase from the context.


texts: It looks something like this, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.


texts:
I was reading a lesson in Japanese and they translated this phrase like this:

枝豆、いつできるかなあ。
= Edamame, itsu dekiru kanaa.
I wonder when I can harvest Edamame.

kanaa = I wonder
dekiru = be able to
itsu = when
Where is the "harvest" here?


texts: How to parse インターネットの手続きはお客様のほうで取って頂く形になります?

texts:
I asked the apartment agent about the procedure to have internet access in my room. The agent wrote in his reply as follows.

  インターネットの手続きはお客様のほうで取って頂く形になります。

I can understand this roughly:

  I must process the application (to get internet access) by myself.

I am not satisfied enough with my translation without knowing the underlying grammar in details because I believe that I will see this kind of expression again in the future.

Question

What is the subject of the above sentence?
Is で in お客様のほうで identical to で in 手で食べます?
How to decompose the sentence into smaller grammatical parts?


texts: Is there a Japanese word for the game "horseshoes?"

texts:
I'm guessing this will come across as two questions, but their interrelation is important...

Is there a specific word for the game where you toss a horseshoe at a peg (in English just called horseshoes)?

Obviously a literal translation would be 蹄鉄｛ていてつ}, but would a native speaker understand it in context of the game, i.e. 蹄鉄を遊ぶ or 蹄鉄やろう, or in an even more complex context such as "'close enough' only counts in horseshoes," even if they weren't directly aware of the English idiom, such as:

いい線とは蹄鉄と州榴弾しか関係ない。

("Close enough only matters with horseshoes and hand grenades")

Or perhaps:

「ほとんど」とは蹄鉄と手榴弾しか関係ない。

("'Almost' only matters with horseshoes and hand grenades")

Note that I'm not looking for a similar idiom in Japanese, I'm looking for a direct translation of the English, even if it sounds awkward, so long as the listener knows about the game horseshoes and that being close but missing still counts.

EDIT:

Based on the answers given so far, I've come up with the following dialog for two characters in a story and would like to know if it makes sense:

 「あのつちぐもにほとんど食われそうだったのにあんたいい機嫌だよね、カレン。」

 「アメリカではとあることわざがある。ほとんどって言葉はホースシューズと手榴弾の場合でしか関係ない。
　まぁ、翻訳で少し何かがなくしたかもね。。。」とカレンは頑張って訳試して見た。

 「骨子ぐらい分かったわよ。つまり、いくら惜しくても外れは外れ
   当たらなければ何にもならないってことか？」とのぞみは答えた。

 「そう、そう！何が起こったことでもあろうと、あの化け物に食われなかったら問題なし！」


texts:
I need some help with the grammar in this sentence:

  ボストンに居たらなら、何で会いに来なかったんだい。

I understand the conditional -たら form and the なら conditional alone. But I have not seen the two together.

Does the sentence simply mean If you were in Boston why didn't you come to see me? If so, why are both conditionals used? Is this for emphasis?


texts:
I think I've only seen this usage in anime and manga so not sure how common it is in real life. Sometimes に seems to be used as "and", usually (always?) with people, e.g. something like:

田中に黒田じゃないか!
Well, if it isn't Tanaka and Kuroda!

Is this one of the inherent (but uncommon) meaning of に, some remnant of old grammar like が/の reversal, or something else altogether?


texts: What is the proper term for a bug fix with respect to Software Development

texts:
In English, when dealing with Software Development we sometimes refer to the word "fix" in order to describe some code change which makes an attempt to fix a bug, or problem in the code. For example:

  I'll try to send you a bug fix which addresses this issue by the end
  of the day.

I'm a little unsure about what the best way to express this concept of "fix" in Japanese. My guess is 修正, but I haven't seen this used in this fashion often, if ever. My guess at a translation would be:

  今日中にこのバグに対応する修正を送ります。

Would this be the most natural way to describe this? If there is any other terms please let me know.

EDIT: It's very interesting to note that this post received over 1000 views in less than a day. This gives further proof to my theory that there is a strong correlation with English-speaking Software Developers and interest in learning Japanese (:


texts: If I heard correctly かけずほど当てにならない, then was it 書けずほど?

texts:
I heard the following phrase in response to someone claiming that he had researched documents about some historical figure. The person who had opposing idea commented with:

  かけずほど当てにならない

From the context I guess it must have meant something along "I won't argue with written things" (more literally "If it's not written down, it can't true"), but the use of かけずほど is a mystery for me.

Could it be 書けずほど? What would be a grammatical rule behind it? Or could I have misheard it?


texts:
Not sure what to make of this volitional (?) + rhet. question particle. For example:

  それなら一息入｛ひといきい｝れようか。

My gut feeling is to to translate this as "because of that, can (I) really take a breather?" (very strongly implying that I can't) or "I can't really take a break"- would that be correct?

Does it feel similar to:

  それなら一息入｛ひといきい｝れるまい。


texts: Is 二人の顔はそっくりだ a possible way to say "Both of their faces look the same"?

texts:
This is my attempt at translating the sentence "Both of their faces look the same":

  二人の顔はそっくりだ

Does it make sense or is it completely wrong?


texts:
Please watch this video first, and carefully hear what the teacher said.

Why does the aikido teacher spell 一 as "yetch"? Or I have to clean my ears?


texts: I want to verify if 行ってもいい is the correct term, or if another word(s) can be used.


texts:
I have the following translation.

名古屋市内に入ると、
工事中で、
一方通行が多くて、
曲がりたくてもまっすぐ行かなければなりませんでした。

The following is what I have so far.

When I arrived inside the City of Nagoya
it was under construction and
there was a lot of 1 way traffic and
... I had to go straight.

I think 曲がりたくて is the te-form of 曲がりたい (I want to turn). But I am not sure how the following も connects it to the second part of the sentence. The only te-form + も structure we've learned is permission (followed by いいですか or something similar).


texts: Does Japanese have a term for toilets that use a rubbish bin for toilet paper?

texts: In some countries near Japan, such as Taiwan and Mongolia, there are sit-down flush toilets where you have to put toilet paper into a rubbish bin. Is there a term for such toilets? Would 台湾式トイレ (Taiwanese-style toilets) work?


texts: Can this be expressed through an alternate construction

texts:
新聞にこんなことが書いてあった。最近の日本人は家族みんなで休日にコンピューターゲームを楽しむそうだ。
In the newspapers, the following is written. It is said that recently the japanese people are enjoying computer games in their spare time with the whole family.

What bothers me here is that it is practically impossible to preserve the active mode of the 書いてあった in the translation. I understand that things are like that and that I have to accept it, it's just that I guess that I will tend to use the following construction if I produce japanese myself:

新聞にこんなことを書いてあった。　→　In the newspapers, they've written the following.

or

新聞にこんなことが書かれてあった。　→　In the newspapers, the following has been written.

Are these constructions understandable or at least still grammatical?
I'm not sure whether my passive -て いる construction is still grammatical from a morphological or syntactical perspective. I've written it down like that to have it either confirmed or corrected by you :D


texts:
I noticed that sometimes the pronunciation changes when combining words. An other example is 不死斬り (ふしぎり) and 腹切り (はらきり); both  斬り and 切り are pronounced きり independently but only in 不死斬り is 斬り pronounced ぎり and not きり.

Is there a rule for that?

My assumption is that it depends on the ending sound of the first word. If it ends with a i sound (ni,shi,etc) then they lead to dakuten (") on the following syllable.


texts: How did this girl interpret this sentence?

texts:
Unsure of how Girl 2 (bold line) interpreted what was said by Girl 1. The reader learns shortly after that 鈴木 and 高橋 were both part of the same group, and in similar positions(いじられキャラ）.
Looking at the exchange below we can see Girl 1 clarify what actually happened which clearly wasn't what Girl 2 was expecting. I understand what Girl 2 is literally saying by 'キャラかぶってんもんねー' but I don't understand what she is implying that would lead to this happening(or her understanding of what happened).
Girl 1「ねえねえ、知ってる？　鈴木ってあのグループからハブられたらしいよ」
Girl 2「え、マジで？」
Girl 2「鈴木、あそこのリーダーから結構かわいがられたじゃん。何かマズったの？」
Girl 1「高橋を庇って対立しちゃったみたい」
Girl 2 「あー、キャラかぶってんもんねー、あるある」
Girl 1「いやそうじゃなくてさ、高橋が嫌がってると思ってマジギレかましちゃったんだって」
Girl 2「あ、そっちなんだ。それはまずいっしょー」


texts: What is the difference in nuance between using て form and から to express "so" or "because"?

texts:
As discussed in this post.
Example:
このカフェは安くて好きだ。
このカフェは安いから、好きだ。
Besides the relative context dependency of the first sentence, is there a difference in meaning? Is there a reason to use one over the other?


texts: When saying "was not a child" should I say 子供じゃなかった or 子じゃなかった?

texts: If the kanji for child is 子 why is 子供 also child? In which cases would I say one vs the other?


texts: Is the Japanese か more rounded than the Chinese 力?

texts:
Is the Japanese か more rounded than the Chinese 力 ?

It seems the Chinese character has a sharper corner there on the first stroke while the Japanese kanji seems to curve around the corner.


texts:
What is the grammatical relationship between these two words?

Are they just different words expressing the same concept, is one the derivation of the other or is a third option true?


texts:
住んでいるのが好きです is a fragment of a sentence that is incorrectly constructed - the correct way to say "I like living in [place] would be 住むのが好きです. But why is this?

In the present tense, the usual way to say "I live in [place]" is to use the state-of-being 〜ている, e.g., 私は日本に住んでいます。By that logic, "I like living in [place]" should really be "I like the state of living in [place]", or 住んでいるのが好きです. But this sounds weird to me - and the multiple native speakers I've asked have said this is incorrect. Can someone shed some light on the reason?

ているのが好き as a construction is definitely not forbidden, as a search on alc.co.jp shows.


texts: Fullmetal Alchemist "let's go" translation

texts:
In Fullmetal Alchemist season 1 episode 15 ("The Ishbal Massacre") at the 22:00 minute mark Person A says to Person B something that sounds to me like:

  ないぎましょう

It is translated as "let's go" in the subtitles.
Since I could not find a japanese transcription of said episode I want to know:

1.) Did I understand correctly?
2.) If not, what did she say? If yes, is this somehow related to 行きましょう or 行くin general?


texts: How does one analyze "N + を前に + V", where N is not an object of V

texts:
Note: This contains 3 parts but I think they are about 3 aspects of the same construct, hence I'm asking all 3 here instead of splitting into 3 questions.

I guess this construct is quite common in news, for example in this NHK News Web article

  インチョンアジア大会、サッカー男子の日本は、２８日の準々決勝の韓国戦を前に、最後の調整を行いました。

Here, 準々決勝の韓国戦 is clearly not an object to any verb coming after it that is present in the sentence. Judging from the context, it seems like を前に functions as "before", i.e. "the Japanese men's soccer team made some final adjustments before their quarterfinal match with Korea".

Additionally, from this post on Japan Reference forum and examples on ALC, I gather that を前に can mean "before" both spatially and temporally. Is this correct?
If を前に does mean "before", then how does it differ from の前に? Is it a matter of one being more common in written form, or is there any difference in nuance?
Now, according to the Japan Reference forum post and ALC examples linked above, を前に used in those ways is the same as を前にして, which makes sense - otherwise that を would be without a corresponding verb.

That brings me to the question, "How does one break down this を前にする" structure? What I know is that the construct 「AをBにする」 has a few common usages (reference: 大辞林 definition ❷ of する):

to raise/appoint A (where A = person) as B or to B (where B = position or profession)
to treat/consider/think of A as B
to change A into B
to use A as B

In any case, they give me a sense of being volitional (someone is actively doing something). Whereas を前にする - and equivalently を前にして - feels like it just is that way, without any volition involved.

Does it even make sense to break を前に(して) down this way? Or is it a somewhat fixed phrase that can't be broken down?


texts: Are there a kanji for マル and バツ (O and X, right and wrong)

texts:
AFAIK words マル and バツ are commonly used as short answers (right and wrong, 正しい・正しくない).
Are there any kanji for these words?


texts: How to introduce yourself as an Exchange Student?

texts: I'd like to know with which name an exchange student will be called (first name or last name), when he/she joins a class at an average Japanese school. On the one hand, it may be the case the "Japanese behavior" is adapted and the student is called by his/her last name, or the student decides themself how to get called.


texts: What is とう in 行きとうない

texts:
I tried researching it myself and came away with the possible meaning of ている in dialect. Is that right? If it helps, this is the line I happened upon the とう in question:

  私はもう行きとうない