texts: Interpretation of この人の家族『は』一体どんな気持ち『で』100万円出したんだ...?

texts:
I would like to know if my analysis and interpretation is accurate or not.

この人の家族『は』一体どんな気持ち『で』100万円出したんだ...?
Source

Interpretation

この this → 人(person)の(possessive marker)家族(family)『は』(topic marker):
This person’s family is the topic of the sentence, what the sentence is about.

一体(what the hell)どんな(what kind of)気持ち(feeling)『で』(manner of action):
How the heck do they feel (the family of the person)

100万円(100x10,000 yen) 出した(to take out) んだ (casual of のだ, used for emphasis):
to have paid 100万円.

Full sentence:

How the hell does that person’s family feel about having paid 1000000 yen?

P.S.: Is there a difference between 気持ち and 気持? I have two separate entries in my dictionary but as far from I can tell they are identical.


texts:
Recently I've been reading a light novel and at the beginning, there seems to be some sort of silly joke-ish "personality test" with a couple of nonsensical questions completely irrelevant to the rest of the book. One of them caught my attention and I've been trying ever since to wrap my head around its meaning, but can't seem to come to a satisfactory conclusion.
The sentence in question is:

ナマハゲをして、あんたが悪だと言わしめたことがある。

The ～しめる part itself isn't anything new to me and from what I can gather, it's essentially just an old way of expressing the 使役形 found in the written language; ～をして seems to be often accompanied, serving the function of を／に to mark the person being acted upon, according to my dictionary. I also found this site giving some interesting info: https://meaning-book.com/blog/20190401171934.html
From what I understand, it's basically used with the nuance that there's an adequate enough of a reason to warrant to make somebody say something as opposed to simply state it with the ～させる form.
Back to the sentence at hand, if I were to rephrase it the way I understand it, I'd get following:

ナマハゲに、あんたが悪だと言われたことがある。

Now my first question was, is the ～をして here actually part of the ～をしめる construction or does ナマハゲをして mean "while you were out playing namahage"? Personally, I'd go with ナマハゲをやって IF I were to express that but I don't know enough on that matter to be able to say for sure.
Second question was regarding the あんた - is it referring to me, the reader or the person playing the namahage? For some reason I can justify あんた referring to either, but I can't explain why - though I do think it actually refers to me, the reader.
I'm terribly sorry if this question is a bit too convoluted - if you need some clarification I'm always happy to oblige.


texts: What is the difference in usage between nominalized nominal verbs and nouns forming the same nominal verbs?

texts:
In the following sentence, why is すること needed?

  システムメンテナンスにより休止することがあります。

Can it simply be:

  システムメンテナンスにより休止があります。


texts:
交差点を渡る途中で/時にふと何かに当てられた

In this sentence, I wonder which one is correct or better than the other?
I also have trouble to understand what exactly 途中で is used for, since in almost any case I feel like I could use 時 as well.


texts:
今は、依頼人を助けるための「情報」を聞き逃さないこと。

I understand the sentence but I don't know why she uses こと at the end.


texts: Is お・ご～させていただく 二重敬語?

texts: I want to know whether expressions such as お預かりさせていただく and ご説明させていただく are considered 二重敬語. お・ご～する is one way of making a verb into 謙譲語, and ～させていただく is another. Both are quite common, and I hear the combined form frequently as well; however, searches have provided conflicting answers. I am leaning towards that it is not 二重敬語, but even if it is it's generally accepted. I hear it quite often in official announcements, after all.


texts:
Especially in the context of this sentence:

およそ二十キロ四方の巨大な湖は、ひっくり返した瓢簞のような形をしており、上の湖と下の湖に分かれている。

To my understanding, this sentence translates as "This lake was approximately twenty square kilometers in size, and resembled an inverted gourd, divided into an upper and lower lake." But I've seen a translation which said "This enormous lake had a radius of approximately twenty kilometers," which I don't particularly get. キロ四方 means 'square kilometer', right? Is "radius of 20 kilometers" a mistranslation?


texts: Issue with figuring out what [どう+なの] correctly translates to in the following sentence

texts:
I have translated most of the following sentence on my own, but I am having great difficulty in understanding then translating the ending of どうなの.

  教え子の名前ぐらい、もう少し考えたらどうなの？

According to nevan king answer at What exactly is "なの" (nano)? ,

  The な is only there if you use it after a noun or a na-adjective (きれい, 大変, 非常).

However, as far as I am aware, according to https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/en/どう/#je-52734 and based on the context (shown below), the どう here most likely means "the same". Whether どう is a noun or na-adjective is unknown to me; so I can't accurately use What exactly is "なの" (nano)? to help me understand its meaning.

  しかし、アインにツヴァイか……。
  教え子の名前ぐらい、もう少し考えたらどうなの？

TDLR: What does どうなの mean in the above sentence?


texts:
I'm having a little trouble parsing the phrase in question in the following sentence:

  ベンテン、イダテン、アドン、サムソンなどの個性の強いキャラクターがこれまた個性の強い相手と世界観の中で繰り広げるハチャメチャな内容。

Taken from the back of this videogame's box.

An absurd tale where Benten, Idaten, Adon, Samson and other peculiarly individual characters are facing off against peculiarly individual foes.
A rather free translation but I suppose it gets the point across (minus the phrase in question, of course). I'm not exactly sure how「世界観」fits into the equation here. I've looked the word up and found following:

  １ 世界およびその中で生きている人間に対して、人間のありかたという点からみた統一的な解釈、意義づけ。知的なものにとどまらず、情意的な評価が加わり、人生観よりも含むものが大きい。楽天観・厭世 (えんせい) 観・運命論・宗教的世界観・道徳的世界観などの立場がある。２ 俗に、文学・音楽などで、その作品がもつ雰囲気や状況設定。「人気漫画の世界観が楽しめるカフェ」

I don't think I'm exactly sure what I'm looking for. If I'm not mistaken number one describes the world view one has and number two describes the atmosphere / appearance of something e.g. of a fictional work. I'm not sure how to interpret either of these into the sentence above though as I'm missing a modifier for「世界観」.

Googling the phrase, I found another sentence which seems to employ the same structure:

  『スター・ウォーズ／銀河の英雄』は、SWのキャラと世界観の中で冒険するRPG(vﾟ∀ﾟ)v

Taken from this blog post.

Again I'm missing the modifier as to what kind of「世界観」I'm looking at here.「SWのキャラと冒険する」->「どういう世界観の中でSWのキャラと冒険する？」

I assume「世界観」is trying to highlight the unique setting these works are set in but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it grammatically.


texts: Which readings were changed in the 2010 Jouyou kanji reform?

texts: I'm looking for pointers on which readings (on/kun) were changed in the 2010 reform. By that I mean which kanji has additional readings and which kanji has had one or more readings removed? Is there a document that summarizes these changes?


texts: How to make requests not to do something in reported speech?

texts:
Specifically in the sentence: “A guide asked us not to touch the exhibits during the excursion”.

Do we use 〜て／でください as if we are saying “don’t touch this” or do we simply put a negative form and then と + some introductory verb?

Like:

  案内者は見学の時に陳列品を手で持たないと... etc.

And what verb should we use to say “she asked”? I guess neither 聞く nor 頼む will be appropriate.


texts:
Something I find very useful about Japanese is that events are often posted with the date along with the day of the week (something I see rarely when in the United States). For example:

  REOL 第一弾【だいいちだん】作品『Σ』リリース決定【けってい】!!

  2016.10.19（水）発売【はつばい】

From that I understand that the album will be released on 19th October, a Wednesday. I would like to know how to read the （水） part in my head and out loud (as if I were reading the page to somebody).


texts:
Found this in a book where a student was being scolded for playing a prank on the teacher with his car. The teacher was panting so the dialogue was broken up. Not sure if that's why I'm confused.

  それは...
  君が毎日...
  私としてた
  からでしょ

  もう私...
  少しの
  ガソリン消費で

The "私としてたからでしょ" confuses me the most here. I've learned of として when it means "in the role of". Is that what it means here?

Is it different from this definition here?
https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E7%A7%81%E3%81%A8%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AF

If any more context helps, the student used his teacher's car and used up all the gas.


texts:
The above is a picture of a piece of cloth that is often worn on the head as part of a 死に装束. I have most commonly seen it referred to as a 天冠, but have also seen it referred to as a 髪隠し.

Did the name 髪隠し originate as a pun on 神隠し (in the sense of "spiriting away"), which is a homophone? Both terms have to do with death in a sense, and a 天冠 doesn't actually do that good a job of 隠すing the 髪 (so it doesn't seem like a particularly good choice of name), so I was curious.


texts: Apparently 開き means "opening" but お開き means "closure", which seems very counter intuitive. What is going on here? Are there any other similar cases in Japanese language?


texts: I saw it in the context of ゲヒゲヒ笑う and would like to know what kind of laugh it is. Some quick Googling seems to indicate it might be like laughing uncontrollably maybe but I can't find any sources.


texts:
Can somebody please tell me an equivalent word to say "recap" in Japanese ? I want to express the following in Japanese:

  Let me recap the results we discussed in the last presentation

If necessary, the 'last presentation' is an event that took place in past. How do I say this in Japanese ?

I looked it up in weblio translator site which showed 要約 which I don't feel as appropriate for this situation.

I found the following answer when I searched recap in this site: Meaning of 様子を交える

I dont think 総括 is used to mean  recap. Native Japanese mostly use it to mean "generalize" .

Please help.


texts:
Recently I was introduced to the 四字熟語【よじじゅくご】:

  三寒四温【さんかんしおん】

... to describe the type of changing weather one often experiences around late Winter/early Spring.

As to the literal meaning of this expression (and where it came from):

The 寒 and 温 in this expression are fairly obvious. For the 三 and 四, I automatically assumed a construction similar to the famous idiom: 七転び八起き【ななころびやおき】, where the "8" merely means "one more time than 7" and therefore something like "for every time you fall you get up, and then one".

With that perspective, 三寒四温 would be (very roughly) something like: "for every time it gets cold, it gets warm again". At any rate: some idea of a back-and-forth (ending on warm).

However, Wikipedia gives a completely different explanation:

  三寒四温（さんかんしおん）とは冬季に寒い日が三日ほど続くと、そのあと四日ほど温暖な日が続き、また寒くなるというように7日周期で寒暖が繰り返される現象。

In their definition, the "3" and "4" correspond to somewhat specific durations, and together make a "one-week cycle" of cold and warm characteristic of the season.

As much as I hate to question a Japanese Wikipedia page, this seems surprisingly specific and does not sound particularly grounded in any scientific or folk theory I have ever heard of. The reference links on the Wikipedia page are more illustrations than explanations and not helpful there.

Has anybody ever heard of this expression and its possible origins? Is there any substance to this "one-week cycle" of late Winter in older Japanese folklore?


texts: Were western soldiers called "鬼畜{きちく}米兵{べいへい}" in WW2?

texts:
Part of war propaganda is to assign a nickname to the enemy so as to dehumanize them. The USA has done this for decades in the wars in Southeast Asia, Vietnam, the Middle East, Central America, etc.

Did the Japanese soldiers refer to Western soldiers as "鬼畜米兵"?
Did the civilian population also refer to Western soldiers as "鬼畜米兵"?

Was there a slang term used by Japanese soldiers to refer to soldiers from Asian countries in WW2?


texts:
I've seen it used in many places, and sometimes it feels like a connection between words.

For example in 「鳥の詩」 (tori no uta), it looks as if the の is connecting 鳥 (tori) and 詩 (uta), and I would like to know what it represents, in this case at least.


texts: Trying to create a name but something is strange

texts:
I'm trying to create a name for my fictional character and I was trying to translate something like "wolf of the snow" in Japanese. I was using Jisho.org and Google translate (just because it reads the Kanji. I would never use it to translate something) and I basically wrote ookamiyuki together, just to see if it sounded nice. Strange thing is that the romaji translation comes out as "Setsurō" and the pronunciation becomes "yukioino". What is that Setsurō?
Thank you very much!


texts: "歩くための靴" VS "履くための靴 "

texts:
I was doing some JLPT listening exercises on YouTube and found these two expressions which I couldn't find any references on online dictionaries.
I am looking for clarifications on the matter.
1)履くための靴
2)歩くための靴
履くための靴 is the one on the video. It was translated as "Inside Shoes". Because I couldn't find anything on Jisho.org, I searched for the expression on google images. And then I found the second expression (歩くための靴), which I believe, by the kanji, could mean "Outside Shoes"/"Shoes for walking" as contrasting to the first option.


texts:
Today I read a post here on this website (here is the post: Meaning of ～と言えよう) and in this post someone mentioned the following:

よい → よかろう = よいだろう
神だ → 神であろう = 神だろう
言える → 言えよう = 言えるだろう

Apparently this is how one uses だろう in classical Japanese. I've tried finding websites on this topic but no luck. Can someone explain how the conjugation for this works?

For example how would I turn the following words into this classical だろう form?

class 1 verbs: 書くだろう = ????
class 2 verbs: 食べるだろう = ????
exception verb: するだろう = ????
exception verb: 来るだろう = ????
i-adjective: 安いだろう = 安かろう
an-adjective: 綺麗だろう = 綺麗であろう
noun: 車だろう = 車であろう


texts: Use of verb ます-stem when て-form seems possible

texts:
I saw this line is a song:

  時計塔の頂上椅子に座り微笑んでるあなたは

I'm curious why it uses すわり rather than 座って?

Since it's a sequence of actions I would've thought 座って would be more applicable, but since 座り actually happens to have an entry in the dictionary, maybe this is just an exception? This is also from a song set in a medieval-esque era, so maybe it was used to sound more literary? Curious to see if there's a definitive answer.

Thanks.


texts: How 二週間 can be used to say "In two weeks..."

texts:
How can one use 二週間 to say, "In two weeks from today, I am going to Tokyo."

I am confused on how one would use particles here and I need some help.


texts: What is the most correct translation of “nyoi bō” (如意棒), “compliant pole” or “mind stick”?

texts: The nyoi bō is the power pole Goku uses to extend it at will and connects Korin Tower to Kami's Lookout.


texts: When おばあさん is not really your grandmother

texts: When native speakers of Japanese use おばあさん to refer to an older woman who is not that that individual's own grandmother, does their concept of the woman include any expectation that she would have had children at some point during her life?


texts: If も means "also" in a positive sentence, does でも mean "neither" in a negative sentence?

texts:
I have the following sentence in my grammar book:

  私の妹は、ピアニストでも歌手でもありません。
  My younger sister is neither a pianist nor a singer.

When the book has affirmative sentences, it uses も after each of the nouns. But in this sentence, it uses でも instead.

All of the textbooks I have read only has the meaning of でも as "but" when used at the start of a new sentence — they don't mention this kind of use at all.

Is this the でも particle with a new meaning or a combination of で AND も, where the で does the negation? Or does the で mean something else entirely?

EDIT: It does not look like でも is always used for the negative sentences:

  ロスさんもヒルさんも銀行員ではありません。
  Neither Mr Ross nor Mr Hill are bank employees.


texts: 珍 is a noun but also a na-adjective while 珍しい is an i-adjective. In terms of usage, is there some rule of when we should use one and not the other? For words that have a i-adjective and a na-adjective form is there any general usage rule?


texts:
On my online dictionary it says 気を使う also means to take into consideration.
Does this mean be considerate ?
Iv Heard it used in a way that it would mean that but just wanted to confirm?
Thanks!


texts:
I keep seeing the pattern ～たりはしない and wondering what how the nuance/meaning is different from other forms. For example, how would the following sentences differ?

"誰にも話したりはしない" and "誰にも話さない"
"I won't tell anyone."
"諦めたりはしないで" and "諦めないで"
"Don't give up."


texts: Twitter idioms: Why do some Japanese have an "@" in the middle of their "names" (not usernames)?

texts:
I've noticed that some Japanese Twitter users put words/short sentences separated by an "@" symbol in the "name" field. A common one I've noticed is "abc123@LINEスタンプ販売中," which seems to imply they're selling stamps on LINE. Some even have multiple "@" symbols in between stuff.

It seems to be fairly common in the Japanese Twitterverse, so I'm hoping someone can shed some light on the matter. Thanks!


texts: This dictionary states that a clause like 「申し訳なく思っていますが〜」 means "Though I was sorry—" What I don't understand is the usage of 思う here. 申し訳ない itself means "sorry," does it not? What does adding 思う do? How does that sentence differ from 「申し訳ないが〜」?


texts:
Hello Japanese language  admirers. Here is my question.Hope someone will help me.
I am now learning the grammar form of て+くださいました;  て+いただきました;  て+やりました. I know that  いただきました equal the word RECEIVE, and the other 2 means GIVE, BUT the problem is, I do not understand exactly WHY Japanese  use it as a second verb, that is useless in my opinion.

For example, 私は先生に京都へ連れて行っていただきました  WHY here it is used the verb RECEIVE??? The translation is "I took my teacher to Kyoto", so WHAT is the word RECEIVE doing in this sentence??????


texts:
For full context, see these two documents. Its at page 1, bottom of the page exercise 2, number 1:
https://www.docdroid.net/gMfeMMP/img-20170823-0002-new.pdf

先生に水泳をやってみたらって勧められたんです。
=> the problem is みたら. I expect って to be a quotation particle/marker. I would translate the whole sentence as follows:
“I was advised/encouraged by my teacher wether/if I had tried swimming.”

This interpretation is highly speculative in my eyes, but I can’t come up with something else right now. I think “みたら“ , which expresses this „trying X“ here, is in context of an unreal expression.
„…たら…sentence with た-form predicative“.
However, I feel very unsure about this. First, I have no idea what the omitted second part of this construction should look like.
Second, たら already perfectly expresses „if“, which also works perfectly well in my translation. Therefore, it feels wrong to make things more complicated than they are.
That said, the problem is that, at least in my eyes, this is not the archetypical conditional „if“.
It is more like “wether” which I also displayed in my translation. I don’t know how this kind of clause would be called, or if it is it’s own class of clause at all.
However, I’ve never learnt about this kind of use being applied to たら in japanese. If it is the same with たら in japanese as with „if“ in english as I lined out before, then please tell me ^^ If I’m utterly at fault though with the solution above, please point me in the right direction xD


texts:
The particle が has a property that implies that, of all items from some group, the sentences applies exclusively to the noun before it. For example, in a room of people from different countries, saying 「私がアメリカ人です」 would imply that you are the only American in the room.

However, it is also possible to use a more neutral が without this meaning. For example, 「雨が降る」 is neutral and isn't comparing the rain to anything.

So how do you know when the particle が carries this exclusive-definition and when it doesn't?


texts: Is it unusual to have the ga particle with a negative verb?

texts:
In saying that something doesn't exist, is it unusual to use the ga particle (が) and a negative verb? For example, would "(Uchi ni) Terebi ga arimasen" be an unusual way to say "There isn't a TV (at my house)"?

The reason I'm wondering is that lesson 8 of Japanese For Busy People, which introduces the ga particle and the existence of people and things, teaches "place ni noun ga arimasu/imasu" to say "The object exists at this location!". (If you were talking about a noun whose existance was already known, and you were just providing additional information, it currently suggests using "wa" and "desu" - eg "terebi wa ookii desu" - "the television is big")

Also, at the start of chapter 9, it teaches "place ni noun ga arimasu ka", and tells you how to do the positive answer "Hai, noun ga arimasu".

However, it doesn't teach "noun ga arimasen/imasen" to say "The object doesn't exist!". The only time it mentions the negative form is with "Nani mo arimasen" and "Dare mo imasen", which is to say that nothing or no-one exists at a specific location.

Since it doesn't teach "noun ga arimasen/imasen", I'm wondering if it's because that's not grammatically correct.


texts: 波比不部保 ([B] sounds) →　はひふへほ ([h] or [f] sounds)

texts:
Hiragana (平仮名 or 平假名) has its cursive form originated from the Chinese cursive form 草書. You can read from https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B9%B3%E4%BB%AE%E5%90%8D. Also https://www.hana300.com/aakana.html. My question is about the following*
波　→　は
比　→　ひ
不　→　ふ
部　→　へ
保　→　ほ
which pronuncitation in Chinese Madanrin and Japanese (listed from Duolingo) are:
波 (Bo: 1st tone)　→　は [ha], although pronounced like [ɰa] or "wa" as a particle
比 (Bi: 3rd tone) →　ひ [çi], like the h in human
不 (Bu: 2nd or 4th tone) →　ふ [ɸɯ], roughly between a short "hoo" and "foo"
部 (Bu: 4th tone) →　へ [he], although pronounced like [e] or "eh" as a particle
保 (Bao: 3rd tone) →　ほ [ho]
My question: Are there evolutions or relations of why and how the Chinese sounds (Mandarin or old Chinese)

B sounds

evolved to the Japanese

h or f sounds
for these Hiragana?

p.s. For example,
安　→　あ both pronounced with A sound,
as 安 ("An" 1st tone in Chinese) or あ ("A" in Japanese). So there are indeed relations. Many other Hiragana can be found in direct or implicit relations between the two pronunciations: Chinese (Mandarin or some old Chinese) to Hiragana.


texts: Placement of 〜て of manner in longer sentence (citing NHK Easy)

texts:
Reading an NHK Easy news article today, I came across the following sentence (emphasis mine):

新しいコロナウイルスがうつらないように、映像を使って人が集まらないようにする新しい技術を、いろいろな会社が考えています。

Which I have interpreted to mean

Various companies are coming up with new technologies using images to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus and prevent people from gathering (into groups).

However, my interpretation requires a leap of faith, as I cannot explain why the 〜て phrase (describing manner of action) appears between the two 〜ように clauses while applying to both, nor why this is a valid way to join two clauses (eg why not 〜ようにして。。。〜ようにする or 〜ようにしたり。。。ようにしたりする or similar).
Is this an acceptable/typical placement of a 〜て phrase, or is my interpretation simply off the mark?


texts:
おとうさん、何も起こってないうちからわざわざ断言することないでしょ。
  Dad, I don't think there's any special need to state your opinions when? nothing is happening/has happened.

I see うちに used to mean 'while'. This is the first time I've seen うちから. What's the difference in meaning/nuance between these?


texts: 操{みさお} : too many translations to be true

texts: I am a bit confused regarding the translations of the word 操 in my 漢字 book (Kanji et Kana of Hadamitzky, Durmous and Mochizuki), as they give : chastity, purity, innocence, constancy, fidelity and honour! So I wanted to know which ones were closer to the actual usage of this word, as most of these translations have already well-known equivalents.


texts:
I actually like the new 年号 kanji 令和, but I must admit I was surprised by the choice of 令. According to this article in the Japan Times,

  The new era name is composed of two Chinese characters — “rei” meaning “good” or “auspicious” but also denoting “command,” and “wa” meaning “harmony” or “peace.”

This seems to give the impression that 'command' is a subordinate meaning, but I I believe I am correct in saying that the dominant meaning of 令 by far is 'command' or 'order', and that the meaning of 'good' or 'auspicious' is a very obscure usage. Most modern words containing 令 denote the 'command' meaning (see here). Yes, I understand that they chose a historical text of key importance, but perhaps someone could enlighten us on what the process might have been on selecting that particular character. I defer to the knowledge of scholars of course, but I am very curious as to how/why they came to agreement on 令. Am I correct in assuming that most Japanese people were not aware of this obscure meaning of 令?


texts: What is the proper way to ask for date format preference in a program?

texts:
I have a simple program that allows users to choose what date format they want to see.

In English I ask something like this:

Day/Month/Year   or   Month/Day/Year

Abbreviated would be this:

DD/MM/YYYY   or MM/DD/YYYY

How would you present this question in Japanese?  Is it acceptable to use the Roman letter abbreviation or is there a better way?

Similarly, 12 or 24 hour time preference.  Should I say 十二 or 二十四 versus English numerals?


texts: Are these sources wrong about the usage of ただ and だけ?

texts:
In this old question, it is said that ただのNOUN and NOUNだけだ are used thus:

  If you meant to say, "It's just an ordinary snake" or the like, it needs to be　ただの蛇だ。　If you meant "It's only a snake", as in a case where you were expecting a Yeti, it would be 蛇だけだ。

However, in this article, the author says it's the other way around under the same circumstance:

  Saying “It’s just a rock.”
  Wrong: 石だけだ
  Right: ただの石だ

I read the article on NihongoShark first last month, so I am quite annoyed now to see that people seem to disagree on something that I thought was meant to be a simple, and common usage. Personally, I find NihongoShark's detailed explanation and given context more convincing. However, since I once saw a few unnatural expressions on the website (can't remember what they were anymore), I have to take everything with a grain of salt. Whose claim do you agree with?

ご意見を伺いたいですから、よろしくお願いいたします！


texts: How to say "I like to draw this particular character"?

texts:
I would like to say "I like to draw Doraemon". Is this correct?

ドラえもんを描きますのが好きです。


texts: Is 行く stative, continous or instantaneous?

texts:
My textbook says 行く is instantaneous (expresses changes from one state to another) and can only be used to describe the result of a change, not movements that are currently in progress.  But a Japanese native has told me that it can be used to express an on-going action.  For example

  今父はコンビニにタバコを買いに行っています。

describes the father somewhere in the process of the action.

So, as you can imagine, I'm very confused with all this.  Could somebody please clarify it a bit?  Is my textbook wrong?


texts: Is one exclusively for actual dirty while one is for just the feeling of dirtiness, e.g. talking to a lewd pervert?


texts: What does the construction "passive voice + ままに" mean? (～｛ら｝れるままに)

texts:
I generally know ～まま as used in the sense that something is left in a certain state, for example: 窓を開けたまま寝る.

Does this have a different meaning or connotation when used following the passive voice? For example, in this sentence:

  わたしは言 われるままに 、彼に従ってきたつもりだ。

This is what I've puzzled out myself, but it doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

"わたし" is marked with は making that person the recipient of the action (and "彼" the one doing the action). "彼" intends to follow...something, perhaps "わたし", while "わたし" is in the sate of having been told something (or spoken to, etc).


texts: What is the meaning of 震えてら and how is it different from 震えている?


texts: About writing numbers using Japanese numerals vs using Arabic numerals

texts:
I noticed that even though Japanese language has kanji characters for numbers (e.g. 十、百、千、万　etc), there are many places where Arabic numerals are used instead, for example, prices for shop items are written as １００円 instead of 一百円.

I am curious about:

When did Arabic numerals start replacing Japanese numerals for writing numbers for normal daily uses (e.g. price tags, signboards, phone numbers etc)?
Other than writing small numbers like in dates (e.g. 十月九日), are there any places where large numbers are predominantly written using Japanese numerals (e.g. 六万五千七百二十四)?
For places that use Arabic numerals, when there are large yet trivial numbers, for example "three hundred millions", do you still write it as 300000000, or switch back to 三億 (since it saves space)?


texts:
I have a book called 日本の伝統色 and I'm confused if 色 should be pronounced as いろ or しょく.

Someone said to me that the correct way to say it is いろ to avoid confusion with 食, but Wikipedia  says it is しょく。


texts:
I bump up in in sentence on manga

僕とじゃ釣り合わないことぐらい

I guess the translation is that I am not fit for


texts:
I've seen it in a number of places, mostly in contexts like this one:

  彼氏と随分仲が良い

For me, it feels like 随分仲 translates to "relationship".
What worries me is that

I have not found the exact pair 随分+仲 in any dictionaries.
随分 is an adjective, for extremely
仲 by itself should already say relationship.

So, what does this combination really mean? Why can't I find it defined anywhere, even though I find many examples of its use in the web?


texts: Is answering with simple ない grammatically correct, when saying I physically don't possess some object

texts:
In Japan I often felt いいえ or 違う is not the best choice, when asked, if I don't carry something with me. Like at the airport security lady asked me, if I there were any forbidden objects in my luggage. I can't recall the question, but it ended in ない？ I felt lost for a second and she tried to help me out with a correct answer and said in a confirming tone ない, and I used her tip and said ない！

I used that couple of times in other situations. Is this okay to say it like that or should I produce a better lengthier sentence, like 何も持っていない?


texts:
I came upon this conversation:

A:「あ、あの・・・」
俺は、そこにいた役場の職員らしき人物にたずねた。
B:「はい、なにか・・・？」
A:「この辺で、サングラスをかけたクールな感じの女性、見かけませんでした？」
B:「さあ・・・？」
A:「さいですか。ども・・・」
B:「・・・・・・」

I went through the fifteen or so words listed in the edict dictionary for さい and only came up with rhinoceros which doesn't seem like a perfect fit.
I swear I've seen the exact same phrase in a manga too somewhere, but never paid attention to it enough to look it up.
It sounds like そうですか to me. Is that correct?


texts: Why is the kanji for luck the same as to carry?

texts: Why is the kanji for うん(運) the same as the kanji for 運ぶ? Did the kanji just somehow end up being the same, or were the two meanings related somehow? All I can think of is some kind of "carrying luck", but that doesn't seem right.


texts:
There are many usages of もん, but the one I am interested in is using もん to replace もの (tangible noun). For example:

安いもん (lit translation: cheap stuff) can be used to replace 安いもの

The question is, can it be used to modify a sentence into a noun in a complex sentence? For example:

このナイフは安いもんが結構鋭いわよ (Notice that the もん modifies the sentence into a noun in a complex sentence)

If I recall correctly, this is grammatically wrong because もん can only replace もの if and only if it is at the end of the sentence. For example, the sentence このナイフは安いもん is grammatically correct, but not このナイフは安いもんが結構鋭いわよ.

I realize that one will still definitely understand the meaning of the sentence perfectly well, but is this structure actually ever used?


texts: How to create 'although' sentences in Japanese

texts:
I know there are different ways to get the sense of 'although..., but...' in a sentence. Too many ways for me to be clear about how to express it at all, to be honest. In Chinese it's as simple as can be: 虽然。。。但是。Is there an equivalent in Japanese that suits most situations, independent from style and politeness level? Also, if you happen to know of a good Chinese-Japanese Dictionary I'd be more than happy with your recommendation.

Greets,
Touming


texts:
How would [name]家, for example 田中家, be pronounced when referring to somebody's home in an informal or casual way? I think I've heard it pronounced ち but it could have been うち too. Perhaps both are acceptable?

I haven't found any note on this specific combination in my dictionaries, and I don't trust Google Translate's take on it (which just says か).

(There is also the け pronuncation as in 徳川慶喜家（とくがわよしのぶけ） but that seems to be a different matter, relating to family/lineage.)

Edit: To stress that I'm asking about casual usage, let's say somebody says 「ジャック家に行きたい」 on Facebook/Twitter/similar. What is the pronunciation of 「家」 in that sentence? Or if there may be several pronunciations, what is the most likely one chosen in a conversation among friends?


texts: What is the function of the に in 差別化に大変?

texts:
アトラクション要素として、店内にメリーゴーランドでも設置したのだろう。場末の居酒屋は他店との差別化に大変なんだろうな。その経営努力、わからんでもない。
Hi. I know the underlined sentence means "Differentiating their izakaya restaurant from others is difficult.". And some say the bold に is a mistake, which should be が. Some say the に is a colloquialism to use -ni to introduce the aim of an endeavor for 大変だ, as in "最初はすごく理解されるのに大変だったけれど、"(I don't quite understand this explanation).
Could you please shed some light on the function of this に? Personally I don't really think it is a mistake, but I can't find this usage in my textbook ether.
Thank you.


texts: Is 「喧嘩」 a verbal fight or a physical fight?

texts:
Taking 2 sentences from WWWJDIC as examples:

  見てごらん。２人の男の子がけんかしている。
  議論は最後に喧嘩になった。

I was wondering is it true that the 「喧嘩」 in the sentences above may be interpreted both ways (i.e. it may be a physical fight, but it could as well have been a quarrel (verbal fight) instead)?


texts:
What is the correct te-form of 問う?
Is it 問って or 問うて or both?


texts: How do you read and translate "十二鬼月" in Japanese and English?

texts:
According to the Demon Slayer wiki, this is how you write "Twelve Demon Moons" in Japanese but I'm not sure if this is correct.

Also according to the wiki, it's read as "Jūnikizuki". I'm confused why it's not read as "Jūni Onitsuki".

Are there other ways to read or write Twelve Demon Moons in Japanese?
Is the wiki wrong?

I understand "zuki" is the moon, but the word "ki" I'm not sure.

I'm really interested on how this is read and the explanations behind it. I think this will provide me and others some more understanding about how Japanese is written and read.

Thank you.


texts:
As I understand it, something like 帰るところだ usually means you are in the process of going home, say on the train. But ところ often has the meaning of "just about to do something."

Does something like 帰るところだ also have this meaning? e.g. Can you say it if you are still in the office and about to leave in a couple minutes?

If so, my main question is I'm wondering if ところ always has this ambiguity (at least from the English perspective) between meaning both "in the process of doing" and "just about to do"? Or is it something special to motion verbs and other verbs that are sometimes called stative verbs?

What I mean by stative is 帰っている does not mean "is in the process of going" it means "went home and is now there." I'm wondering if ところ just seems to have two meanings in English because when you sitting on the train going home you are still "just about to go home" from the perspective of Japanese because 帰る is stative and you haven't completely arrived yet.

Basically I'm wondering if this is correct:

雨が降るところだ = "It is just about to rain." (NEVER "It is in the process of raining.")

雨が降っているところだ = "It is in the process of raining."

帰るところだ = "I'm just about to go home (at the office)." OR "I'm in the process of going home (on the train)."

And I would guess 帰っているところだ sounds strange and doesn't make much sense(?)


texts: が vs. は in のが/のは...である cleft-sentence structure

texts:
The following is a sentence from the Japanese Wikipedia article about Berlin:

ベルリンという名称が歴史的文書で最も古く遡れるのが1244年である。

I understand the sentence, but I would have expected 遡れるのは here instead of 遡れるのが, just like a prototypical cleft-sentence. Would the variant with のは also work in this case? If so, how would the nuance be different?
Edit: I should mention that I ask because to my limited knowledge, this が doesn't really seem to be for exhaustive listing here so that's what has left me a bit puzzled.


texts: What is the Japanese equivalent of 'you're in my heart'?

texts:
According to this, the translation would be:

  あなたは わたしの こころに います。

That seems simple enough. However, the same source claims it's not in use, and recommends the following instead:

  いつも　あなたのことを　おもっています。

I don't get how it's the same.

The first one implies romantic feelings, while the second one can mean anything.
There are many reasons for thinking about someone.


texts: Are 低い and 短い interchangable or do they have specific uses?


texts: How do I pronounce these Katakana Onomatopoeia (words that sound like noises)?

texts:
こんばんは。

When I have been reading Manga recently I have encountered many onomatopoeia words such as シャカシャカ as in 'Brush Brush' and パタパタ　for 'rush rush/flap flap' but I have found some words such as　シャッ for a 'zoosh/swoosh' sound but what is the 小さいつ (small tsu) ッ suppose to mean in this onomatopoeia when it is at the end of the word? for another onomatopoeia word,  シャッ I read it as 'Sha'? but does the ッ change the way I pronounce the word in any way? Other examples of onomatopoeia words include しゃーっ 'shuum' and   ボコッ 'thump'.

Sorry if the onomatopoeia words are wrongly translated. I just basically want to know what is the small 'tsu' (Hiragana or Katakana) do to the word when it is placed at the end because from my knowledge it usually indicates a pause for words like 学校【がっこう】.

ありがとうございます。


texts:
前日のキャンセルですと、50％のキャンセル料金をいただくことになります。

My understand for this sentence is

"If you cancel the day before, we will get 50% of the cancelling fee" (there's a fixed cancelling fee)

PS. In case my English sentence above is not understandable -> If you cancel the day before, you will have to pay 50% of the canceling fee (for example, a fixed cancelling fee is 100 USD. You cancelled the order so you have to pay 50% of the cancelling fee which is 50 USD )

Please correct me


texts: Meaning of 盛り上げるんだよ気分を

texts:
I'm looking for help with the two phrases in bold below. From what I understand his friend wants him to bring his girl friend to the party but she doesn't want to go because she is shy.
「バカ言ってんじゃねえぞテメェ！　美女がいてこそのパーティだろうが。拝み倒してでも連れてこい」
「簡単に言うけどさ」
「自分の恋人相手にダセェこと言ってんじゃねぇぞ。盛り上げるんだよ気分を、高めるんだよ素敵な予感を！」
However I'm not quite sure what his friend is actually telling him to do when he says 気分を盛り上げるんだよ, 素敵な予感を高めるんだよ. Whose 気分 is the speaker referring to here? Is he referring to the listener himself, the listener's girlfriend, or something else?


texts:
I can't quite tell what the person is trying to say here:

今日は酒____悪いなー！

Something about the sake is bad but what? It almost sounds like he is saying ぐせ悪い but I can't find a word that would match that empty spot


texts:
I understand that あります is used for presenting or describing the location of things but I was unsure of how it is being applied in these two sentences:

  あなたの学校に何がありますか。

Am I right in assuming that this is saying 'what is at your school?'

  この教室にだれがいますか。

Am I right in assuming this is saying 'who is in that classroom?'


texts: Polite Way to Ask "How old are you?" : 何歳 , いくつ ,年齢 , ご年

texts:
I think the sentences:

何歳ですか？
いくつですか？
年齢は？
お年は？

are all sentences that ask "How old are you?"
How are they different?
What form is most polite?


texts: How would a butler/servant refer to his princess?

texts:
I'm looking to translate a catch-phrase into Japanese. It would belong to a servant/butler character, when he confirms a order, or announces his arrival, etc.
Basically "My Queen" / "My Princess" phrase.
Naive translation would be "Boku no Joou" / "Boku no Hime".
However I'm worried that it'd more imply that the princess belongs to him, then him to the princess, and despite using subservient pronoun it'd be rude.
Was there any idiomatic phrase like that in Japanese?
Would he simply state "Surname-sama"?


texts: Why are japanese comic storyboards called names (ネーム)?

texts:
ネーム is the rough draft which the finished manga is based on. (reference)

I can't for the life of me figure out the origin of this word. Why did it end up being the English word "name"?


texts: Can you answer the question 何を飲みますか？ with 水です。?

texts: It doesn’t seem that natural, as 水です seems to mean “It is water”, rather than a shorter form of 水を飲みます.


texts:
Literally it appears to translate to "It's not a hated development"
But google translate puts it as "I don't hate it". The subtitles of the program I'm watching put it as "I don't dislike the idea".
I wonder if it is an idiomatic way to say that I don't hate something, or if it specifically is referring to a development.
For example, if you tried some ice cream and it was okay, would you say 嫌いな展開じゃないよ
I assume not. Whereas if you went into your performance review and they said we're going to give you a performance review and if you pass we'll promote you, could you say afterwards to your friend 嫌いな展開じゃないよ (i.e. I don't dislike this [unexpected] development)?


texts:
A line early on in a game review, それら is regarding some philosophical
  elements

  それらについて深く語られることが無かったのは少し残念ですが、敢えて掘り下げなかったであろうことは、この作品のまとまりを踏まえれば英断と言わざるを得ないでしょう。

  It's a bit of a shame that the game didn't go deeper into in the
  philosophical elements, but purposely not delving deeper, if the game
  maintains it's consistency, i have to admit that's a good decision.

what is であろう adding here?
The writers has obviously already finished the game, looking for a second opinion if that makes the use of  ば in ...作品のまとまりを踏まえれば feel a bit awkward. Compare to "作品のまとまりを踏まえるだからこそ英断と言わざるを得ないでしょう" for instance.

thank you


texts: I don't know when I have to use totemo and takusan. They both mean "very", don't they?


texts:
I saw this in a book I'm reading:

  思考に空白が生まれ、突撃してくるキラーアントの姿を、ただ受け入れるがままになった。

I'm familiar with まま but I've never seen it used that way. How should I interpret the last part of the sentence?


texts: In Mikan Enikki, the protagonist cat was referred to as ネコさん when his name was not known (e.g. Kikuko Kusanagi called him as such when she didn't know his name), and as みかん君 when someone else talked to his owners (e.g. Dr. Inagaki referred to Mikan as such when he talked to his adoptive mother Kikuko Kusanagi). Are those cases true in real life? Can さん or 君 be used on animals?


texts:
I'm reading a Japanese term paper and have come across the term 満系, in this context:

  日系軍官の満系統制

I am guessing based on the context and searching for possible meanings that it equates to something like 'Manchurian', as in 'Manchurian control', but would love confirmation of this by someone who may recognize this term. Thank you.

Edit: I was asked to add another sentence for more context of 満系 in the paper I'm reading, it only comes up one other time so here it is:

  以上のような「次官政治」への移行が満系の強い反発を呼ぶことは事前に予想できたことであった。


texts:
I'm doing a design for a Japanese restaurant in a mountain town, the name of it is Yuki Yama. I'm curious about using ゆきやま vs 雪山 for the Japanese characters. I'm Chinese so I'm inclined to use 雪山 but I'm unsure about it since ゆきやま is pronounced "yukiyama".

Thank you for reading this and for providing any help.


texts: What's the female equivalent for the informal ぼく? I've heard that females will tend to use わたし, but then it's said to be formal. Doesn't there exist a female informal "I"?


texts:
"妻は毎日家でお茶を飲みます。"
It seems so weird. I was told by a Native that in Japanese, they tend to put words for time at the start of the sentence, so putting it before 妻 makes sense to me. I'm using Lingodeer though, and they often have me put things involving time before the action, like 娘は毎朝牛乳を買います。
So why is it placed before house? The sentence it wants me to translate is "My wife drinks tea at home every day."
I essentially tried to do "妻は家に毎日お茶を飲みます。", but this was labeled wrong. On that note, my understanding of に vs で is that で when referring to to a location is more for a general area where as に is more specific. This is true right? I can see why my sentence was wrong on that count, I just try to second guess what particles it thinks I know, as I'm reviewing the entire course before moving to the next one.


texts:
姉妹を想うが故に風太郎とは反発してる。
I am a bit confused by the とは where I would have expected a に/には. I don't quite know what function the と serves in this case and how the meaning would differ from に/には.


texts:
The is a certain way of talking where you can end just about anything you say in わけ.

What is the sentence structure for this way of talking?


texts: Pronouncing ない as ねい / ねえ (also ~oi to ~ei)

texts:
I noticed that in anime and other Japanese shows, people often pronounce 「ない」 as 「ねい」.  For example, instead of saying 「使わない」, the person will say 「使わねい」, but the translation is the same.

I have many questions about this.

Is there any nuanced difference in meaning between 〜ない and 〜ねい?
Is it a colloquialism?  Is it from a specific region or used mostly by one gender?
When written, is it spelled 〜ねい or 〜ねえ?  And do people often use it in writing, or only in speech?
I've also noticed that 「すごい」 sometimes gets pronounced 「すげい」.  Is this the same phenomenon?  Are there other non-ない examples?
Does this transformation have a name?  I'd like to read more about it but I don't know what to search.


texts: How to say "Several times but each on different day" in Japanese?

texts:
English version:

  The teacher scolded Nakamura kun several times but each on different day.

More precisely, for example, Nakamura kun got scolded on Sunday once, on Wednesday once, and on Friday once.

Japanese version (incomplete):

  先生は中村君を叱った。

How to say the phrase "several times but each on different day"?


texts: Japanese newbie, Chinese intermediate, how to get started?

texts: I know mandarin, specifically pinyin tones, strokes writing rules, about 1000 characters. So what'd be a starting point for me with Japanese?


texts: When is it appropriate to use what alphabet?

texts: I'm very new to Japanese, and I was wondering when is it appropriate to use what alphabets? I've been practicing entirely in hiragana thus far, and I know that katakana is for foreign words and sounds, but how do you know when to use kanji?


texts: How does ダンスとかあったら全然だったと思う work/mean?

texts:
A:藤原さんは、もちろん歌だよね？
  B:うん。わたしにはそれしかないから……ダンスとかあったら全然だったと思う

I don't get what the part ダンスとかあったら全然だったと思う is saying. 全然 is an adverb but there's no verb after it but 思う, but that's separated by a quoting particle, so I assume it doesn't modify it. If that's the case, it's to be assumed that the verb after 全然 is dropped, right? Or should 全然 and と思う go together. Please help me understand the meaning here.


texts: Reading and significance of dakuten with kana for which it normally is not used

texts:
Came across these while reading a novel.

How do you read this?


texts: What is the correct translation of むにゅむにゅ/ムニュムニュ？

texts:
自分の顔をぐりぐりむにゅむにゅ、これでもかというぐらい触りじっくり見てまた触ってみよう。

This sentence contains the word むにゅむにゅ, its a word that doesn't have an entry on jisho.org and also doesn't seem to appear on any of the extensive lists of Japanese onomatopoeia words. I eventually managed to find a page describing it as "gummy", but I'm not exactly sure how that relates to this sentence and ぐりぐり as the two words seemed opposed. One being hard and other soft. Could anyone help me out with how you might translate this clause? And what exactly むにゅむにゅ means?


texts:
This is from a Trigun soundtrack, song called Sound Life (lyrics), 3rd line:

  ３つ目の夜に ワルツの子は世界面にウエーブを 打つ

The 世界面 is translated as "world face", however pronunciation is given as よなも.
I can't find translation for this よなも anywhere. I have listened to the song as well and to my untrained ear it does sound like よなも (YouTube).

The Animelyrics site translates the whole thing as "children of the waltz make ripples on the face of the world" which I believe ignores ウエーブ. On another site it was translated as "children of the waltz name it Uebu" which makes use of ウエーブ and I believe translates よなも as name (名？), however the same word appears in the 5th line and there "name" does not make sense.

I know that sometimes poetry and songs deviate from standard language so it might be the case?


texts:
According to the WWWJDIC, the verbal suffix まい can mean:

  (1) probably isn't (doesn't, won't, etc.)
  (2) don't (doesn't) intend to; intend not to
  (3) must not; (when used in an imperative sentence) don't

but I've found this sentence in my 日本語能力試験文法問題対策一級 text:

  何であれ, 必要ならば買わなければなる まい 。

Which is the right translation? Or are there other possible translations?

  a) 'No matter what, if it's necessary, I'll probably have to buy it.'
  b) 'No matter what, if it's necessary, I won't probably have to buy it.'

If it's b), it doesn't make much sense, does it? If it's a), it contradicts the meaning given by the dictionary.


texts: Which personal pronouns and sentence ending particles would an old man use?

texts: I'm somewhat informed on gendered speech in Japanese, however, I have also heard that age may play a part in which pronouns and sentence ending particles you use and can get away with. For instance, a teenage boy is more likely to get away with using slightly effeminate  language than a grown man would be. What sort of pronouns (私, 俺, 僕, est.) and sentence ending particles (の, か, かしら, わ, よ, ぞ) would a typical elderly male use (In the standard Tokyo dialect)?


texts:
日本女性で電車の中で化粧をする人を見ると恥ずかしいくて嫌な気持ちになる。

In my understanding, the で following 日本女性 could correspond here to the english "of," or "speaking of."
Thus one interpretation of this sentence (though in unnatural english) could be:

  Speaking of Japanese women, seeing someone put makeup on in the train makes me embarrassed and uncomfortable.

Is this interpretation correct?

For the sake of comparison, here are two other interpretations of this sentence made more natural. Hopefully the meaning does not differ greatly.

  When I see Japanese women putting makeup on in the train I feel so embarrassed and uncomfortable

  Seeing Japanese women putting makeup on in the train makes me embarrassed and uncomfortable.


texts:
I have two questions about the TV series Shinya Shokudo. The show focuses on a midnight diner, its chef, known as "The Master", and his involvement with his customers. When the master is taking an order from a customer, he always says something like「あよ」(1). When he is serving a meal, he says something like 「おまち」(2).

I cannot find both these words in the dictionaries. I would like to know the origin of those two words and the correct writing.

You can listen to it here:

(1) https://youtu.be/4bt8JOmUQTA?t=227

(2) https://youtu.be/4bt8JOmUQTA?t=820

EDIT Since I got asked to include what I think the translation/meaning could be, I would say obviously (1) is something along the lines "allright, sure" and (2) is something along the lines "here you go". (2) could also be some short form of お待ち遠様 but I'm not sure. That's why I was asking in the first place :)


texts: The dialog in this PDF document has the word はかります but when I search the word in romaji, only 測ります (and some other variations), show up in the results. Why is it that the kanji word 測 is written like はか for that particular example?


texts: Differentiation between subjects in relative clauses?

texts: how do you distinguish between saying for example “A person he likes” and “A person who likes him” if they would both be 彼が好きな人？is there a way around that? different wording? a different particle? i must be missing something here hahaha. any help would be appreciate!


texts:
The author complains that when men cook they only put one dish (type of food) on the table:

  なぜならその一品は、素材を選び抜いて、奮発して、時間をかけて、腕によりをかけて、凝りに凝って出された逸品なのだから。
  If (you ask) why that one dish, it's because it is a masterpiece in which he has singled out the ingredients, spent a lot of money, taken time, put all his skill into and ????

I can't understand the part in bold. 凝る has several meanings, none of which I can get to fit, nor do I understand the grammar of the pattern 凝りに凝って.

Also why do we switch to passive for だす when the rest of the sentence is in active voice?


texts:
I'm writing small compositions on a regular basis and putting them on italki, so that someone proofreads it and makes corrections to it.

Recently, I posted this and got a rather comprehensive answer.
I do have some issues understanding this answer though, since it’s written Japanese ^^

First:  (Line 12 of the correction)

  ・火を起こす(condition）→暖かい・食べ物を焼けるし温められる…..

What does this little dot ・ between 暖かい and たべもの mean?

Second: (Line 7 of the correction)

  例えば、火が作れる場合は→を起こせば冬にぬくもりが作れるし…

What I wanted to say in my original sentence was:

  "When you are able to make fire, you can…"

In my Japanese version, I wanted to preserve this concept of the ability being the condition. In my opinion, this meant that I somehow had to open up a conditional clause, and at the same time get a potential verb form or something of similar semantics into this conditional clause.
At first I decided that I couldn’t use both the potential verb form and the conditional verb form in one and the same verb (I might be wrong of course, but I just don’t know better). Then I thought of a workaround and ultimately decided for a solution using 場合は (…ことができたら also came to mind, but the overly literal translation "concerning the case that you are able to…" seemed very fitting, so I went with 場合は).

If I understand the improved version of the proofreader correctly, then it means “When you make fire, you can…”. While this is perfectly okay as well, I just wanted to know whether it's possible to express exactly what I described above in Japanese. And if it's possible, how would you express it?

Third: (Line 8 of the correction)

  燃やしてしまう可能性もある

=> What is this 性? What is its reading?

I think　さが would be the most fitting, but maybe I got it completely wrong.


texts: 二百十日 is read as にひゃくとおか. What about 百十日 or 三百十日?

texts:
十日 is read as とおか and 二十日 is read as はつか.
二百十日 is read as にひゃくとおか (not にひゃくじゅうにち) and 二百二十日 is read as にひゃくはつか.
三十日 is read as さんじゅうにち or みそか, 四十日 is read as しじゅうにち or よそか, 五十日 (50 days/50th day) is read as ごじゅうにち or いか, 八十日 is read as はちじゅうにち or やそか.
Questions:

What is the reading for 十日 in (一)百十日, 三百十日, 四百十日, etc.? とおか or じゅうにち?
What is the reading for 二十日 in (一)百二十日, 三百二十日, 四百二十日, etc.? はつか or にじゅうにち?
What is the reading for 六十日, 七十日 and 九十日 with 日 read as か?

Edit: It seems that some people may have missed the point. I did say "二百十日 (210) is read as にひゃくとおか (not にひゃくじゅうにち)" (source), so the claim that "We say とおか or はつか etc. only 十日 or 二十日, respectively." doesn't seem correct. Likewise, 二百二十日 (220) is read as にひゃくはつか (source). However, these two words seem to refer to very specific days that relate only to agriculture, in that they form a period in which storms occur. That's why I ask whether the readings とおか and はつか are still applicable for non-210 and non-220 words, such as 110, 120, 310, 320, 410, 420, etc.
Edit 2: I also cited the 30, 40, 50 and 80 words, to make a point that とおか is not always used, given that in kansuji, these words are written as　三十日, 四十日, 五十日 and 八十日 respectively, all of which contain 十日 that's NOT read as とおか.


texts: What is this usage of と at the end of a sentence in this song? And in general?

texts:
In the song Chercher by KOTOKO, there are a couple lines that look like completed thoughts/sentences, but end in と

For example

  約束｛やくそく｝する　私｛わたし｝がすぐあなたのこと探｛さが｝し出｛だ｝すと

Also she definitely says 「と」and not 「よ」

I read Usage of と at the end of a sentence but am still unsure what the と implies. Is it like a particle from a dialect or is there more implied to the sentence?

手伝ってください！　ありがとうございます


texts: 「この笑顔なくしていいの？」 on a board by the road (photo)

texts:
This is a board by the road (similar to tobidashibōya).

It should mean "shall I stop smiling?" but seeing this I am not even sure.

Does it really mean that? Why? Is it a warning for drivers? Is it a "manner" reminder for children? Does it relate to some preconception of 笑顔 or a smiling girl? Or is it something uniquely odd?


texts: Does には in this sentence imply vagueness of the source?

texts:
This comes from a friend's post on Facebook. The situation is that my friend had injured his leg a while back, but it has since healed and he's now in for a checkup. His leg is in great condition, so the doctor thinks he's ready for sports.

  先生{せんせい}には「もうフットサルして来{こ}い」と言{い}われた！

Which I think essentially means, "My doctor said [to me] I should go play futsal! (lit: play and come back)"

However, I thought には essentially meant "in the [place]". So, since my friend is not just using に, is he saying this was said by someone, maybe the doctor, maybe a nurse or someone, in the vicinity of the doctor? Maybe in the office?

Or am I over thinking this?


texts: Describe past events with "clause+と+clause", single vs multiple occurences

texts:
A sentence (highlighted below) from Asahi Shimbun:

その父の愛情表現は荒っぽかった。娘が父の事務所に顔を出すと、「おお、来たか！」というなり、娘の頭をヘッドロックのように抱きかかえた。父から「愛情の洪水が押し寄せる」ため、話したいことも話せないまま短い面会時間は終わるのだった

Without any adverbs (e.g. いつも), how can it be decided whether the sentence is talking about a single occurrence or multiple ones? Is there a default value or does it simply depends on the context?


texts: 生け花をします does it mean to practice flower arranging?

texts:
In my Minna no Nihongo book (Chapter 12), it says that 生け花をします means to practice flower arrangement. If that is so, they how do you expressing, "flower arranging or arranging the flowers or doing flower arrangements"? An example sentence.

X: What are you doing right now?
Y: I'm doing flower arrangements for tonight.


texts:
It seems that one of the uses of ~kiri is to show continuance of state/condition.
is it similar to '~ta mama' then?

However,i have not been able to find an example of this usage.
Appreciate help.


texts: また上手くなってく 理由の Why is there a く after なって?

texts:
言い訳が また上手くなってく 理由の

Is く there to connect the sentence?
I'm probably overthinking this but it bugs me not understanding the purpose of this く.

By the way, this is a lyric from this song; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EejcsaMDduQ


texts:
恥ずべき is listed as an adjective in EDICT, as a 'compound word' (連語) in kotobank (here), and as a "noun or verb acting pre-nominally" on the Midori app. My question relates to a sample sentence I saw on EDICT (link).

    君は、自分の愚かさを恥ずべきだ。You should be ashamed of your folly.

All the other examples I found are 恥ずべき+Noun (恥ずべき秘密, 恥ずべき行為, 恥ずべきこと, etc), making them noun phrases. But in the above example 恥ずべき is followed by the copula だ. Also, the inclusion of the particle を would seem to make it a verbal use of 恥ずべき since there is no other verb present.

So is that example sentence correct? If so, how is 恥ずべき functioning grammatically with を and the copula だ?


texts: What does 思うところがあった mean in そして元々身体が弱かった母が二年前に病気で亡くなった時、リーゼも思うところがあったのだろう。以来リーゼは叔母夫婦の元で家事手伝いをしている。

texts:
Context:

  ただ、才能があるといってもカイルほどではなかったが、その分リーゼは努力し、随分と腕を上げた。将来はこれを活かした道に進みたいと、常々言っていたほどだ。
  だがリーゼが生まれる前に夫を戦争で亡くし、一人でリーゼを育ててきた彼女の母は、決して口には出さなかったものの、娘には平穏な道を歩んでほしかったはずだ。
  　そして元々身体が弱かった母が二年前に病気で亡くなった時、「リーゼも思うところがあった」のだろう。以来リーゼは叔母夫婦の元で家事手伝いをしている。

From what I've found on stack it may mean part, so I assumed in this case it might be a reason, something like "Rize also had her reasons", but its based on nothing.


texts:
New Year's resolution should be - 新年の抱負

How do I say, "My New Year's Resolution is X"?

For example:

  私の新年の抱負は気楽になります。(My New Year's resolution is to be more relaxed)

Is it correct?

Do Japanese people normally have New Year's resolutions?


texts:
Below here is a full sentence I have found the word.

  この品物の山はいってえどうしたことだ.


texts: Did I interprete this 反対してきました correctly?

texts:
For full context:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10011277371000/k10011277371000.html

The sentence in question:
ローマ法王は、今までも「人間は広島や長崎から何も学んでいない」などと言って、核兵器に反対してきました。

My attempt at translation:
"Concerning the roman pope, saying even until now 'mankind hasn't learned anything from hiroshima and nagasaki', he began resisting nuclear weapons."


texts: Please help me understand more about intransitive verb and transitive verb

texts:
I will give a sentence as an example:

  本が深く教えてなかった。

The first question: Could things like book or door or etc... become subject of a transitive verb ?

The second question: Could a transitive verb work without an object ?


texts:
I'm currently going through the Tobira book and at chapter 3 there is this sentence:

日本で活躍しているロボットには二つのグループがあります。何と何をするためのロボットですか。

What's the meaning/use of 何と何をする? this is my first time seeing it. Is there any other combinations or rules for this type of question?


texts:
It's known that roughly, in most cases, we can think of using "wo" vs "ga" this way:

ga is used when action is abstract, mental, non-physical
otherwise, wo is used

Yet, these examples are in contradiction with that rule:

Something ga taberarenai.
Someone wo shitte iru.

Why is that? Are there any exceptions?
There are other examples as well I can remember for now.


texts:
I'm not sure what this example sentence is trying to teach. The translation is really throwing me off.

  易しい漢字も書けなりました
  I cannot even write easy kanji anymore

I see the "even ... easy kanji" and the "anymore" in なりました, but where's the cannot coming from?


texts:
Can someone assist me with understanding the below?

「最後まで参加したい気持ちはわかるが、無理はしない方がいい」

「身体を動かすことになるんだから。そんな様子では……」

「心配のし過ぎだ」

「今は寝起きだから。情けないことに、昨日の疲れがまだ残っているのかもしれない」

「朝食を食べれば、すぐに元通りになるさ。さあ、早く寮に戻ろう」

「……わかった」

「だが、様子を見るだけだ。体調が変だと思ったら、正直に言って欲しい」

「わかった」

I don't quite follow what is meant by 様子を見るだけだ in this context.
I know of the expression 様子を見る e.g.

https://thesaurus.weblio.jp/content/%E6%A7%98%E5%AD%90%E3%82%92%E8%A6%8B%E3%82%8B

but I don't quite follow how だけ is modifying this expression in this case as it doesn't make sense to me do be "only" or "just" doing that.


texts: Trouble understanding "また何処かで会えると 素敵ですね"

texts:
This is what a friend said to me in response to my wishing him a happy birthday on Facebook. The topic/subject omission is often my biggest problem understanding Japanese, as I have trouble discerning what the implied topic/subject is. My best attempt is,

  "If we could meet again somewhere it would be great!"

But I am not that confident. For all I can tell, it could be

  "If we could meet somewhere again it would be a great place!"

Or something else entirely. Can someone please help me with this?


texts: What is the difference between 出来る限り and 出来るだけ?

texts:
EDICT gives almost the same translation for these two expressions:

出来る限り; できる限り 【できるかぎり】 (n) as ... as one can
できるだけ 《出来るだけ》 (exp) (uk) as much as one can; as much as possible; if at all possible;

Even the example sentences are almost the same:

私はできる限りあなたの援助をします。 I'll help you as far as I can.
できるだけ多くの本を読みなさい。 Read as many books as you can

What is the difference between the two expressions?


texts:
「そう、この世界には死者は存在しない。
  夢というものは生者が見る共通無意識だ。
  故に、すでに死亡したものはこの場に参加する事ができない。
  たとえおまえ自身が強く記録し、その復活を望んだ人間がいたとしてもだ。
  些細な役回り……そうだな、通行人Ａという役割を用意したとしても、死者はこの劇場に入れない。
  役割があっても役者がいないという事だ」

  In this world there are no dead people.
  A dream is a shared subconscious the living see.
   Therefore, dead people cannot be invited into this world.
   Even though you yourself strongly recorded it and even if there was a person who wishes for revival.
  A trivial role, yes.
  Even if you prepared the role of passerby A, the dead cannot come on this stage.
  Even if there is a role there is no actor.

Can someone help me with that bold part?

Also I do not understand

  その復活を望んだ人間がいた
  A: The person who desired for revival
  B: The person whose revival you desired

Which is correct?


texts: What are they saying and what does it mean?

texts:
Please listen to this short extract from a gintama episode:
http://picosong.com/VzF8

What exactly are they saying?
The part I don't get is specifically "ni kawareru ni" and "narete".
Do they really mean kawaru?


texts:
This question stemmed from comments under another Q&A where @Chocolate points out that「毎日学校に行ってきます」doesn't work but 「今から学校に行ってきます」is fine. But I am still not quite sure why it doesn't work? When people leave home for school or work every day there is a routine 「行ってらっしゃい」「行ってきます」 exchange. I'd like to know why we can say 「毎日電車で学校に行く」but not「毎日電車で学校に行ってくる」.
Why don't 「毎日」and「行ってくる」like each other?


texts: Why is it 入っている not 入れてある

texts:
I was wondering about this expression 入っている for something being inside. I always wondered about it, since it literally should mean being in the process of entering.. It would make more sense to me if it were 入ってある (like おいてある or 張ってある), but I'm aware that this construction only works for 他動詞, so it maybe should be 入れてある..?
Does anyone know how this odd structure 入っている came about?


texts: I looked up for the word "darling" and got two different answers and I just want to know if they both mean the same thing.


texts:
I'm using manga to learn some grammar and the following sentence came up.

オレは旅をし世界をめぐっていると…

I can't figure out why し is being used. I know it can be used for listing and such, but being next to を particle confuses me.


texts: How to understand い adjective + ある？ What is ある doing here

texts:
強いもなにもあるもんか
From this panel:

I originally read this phrase as meaning something like "There's no way you are strong or anything at all!" but then I noticed that there is ある in the phrase and now it is bothering me, what grammatical purpose is it doing here when 強い is an い adjective?
I know  that 強いもなにも　is the 〜も何も construction that is discussed here, is using 強い as an "example" of what quality the grandfather believes he doesn't have. and i know that もんか asserts disbelief in this case as explained here, so he's saying that he doesn't believe the kid is strong at all. But why would it take ある？
Unless I'm overthinking it here and the ある is actually just attaching to なにも, so that it becomes a sort of compound phrase combining the two phrases:

強いもんか There's no way you are strong!
なにもあるもんか There's no way you have anything!


texts: What exactly can が specify? I've provided 魚が食べる for sake of example

texts: Could 魚が食べる change in context? Marking 魚 with を would grammatically make 魚 the object of the action such that it would mean "Fish are eaten"; if 魚 is marked with が, 魚が食べる would mean "the fish eat", if I am not mistaken. However, depending on the context of the conversation, perhaps the topic being あたし, could 魚が食べる mean "the fish are eaten", in a such sentence as あたしは魚が食べる?Would that thus mean あたしは魚が食べる would mean "I eat the fish"?


texts: What's the meaning of うろんな貝 in this sentence?

texts:
なんだかこの会話自体がズレているようで居心地が悪いし、情報が少なすぎるし、そもそも、断るつもりなら今頃ベッドの上でうろんな貝の気分になっている。

I went to search the meaning and I find that うろん = 胡乱. With a literal translation it is "A suspicious-looking shell", but this is in the end a literal translation and I like to know if this is a idiomatic expression or anything like that.
The context:

「先生。これが笑い話なら、そろそろ帰っていいでしょうか？」
「いや、ごめんごめん、謝るよ。冗談じゃなくて真面目な話なんだ。ちょっと、君の手を借りたくてね」
「本当に、転入生の問題で？」
「うん、訳ありというか、難しいというか。彼……草十郎くんというんだけど、ちょっと、色々とズレていてね。僕らが案内してあげるより、同世代の君の方が適任だと思ったんだ」
「…………」
　彼女は不審げに表情を曇らせた。
　教師の業務を生徒に押しつけるのも怠慢だが、それ以上にその転入生が『ズレている』とはどういう事だろう？
　素行に問題がある、扱いが難しい、というのなら想像しやすい。しかし、ズレている、というのは何なのか。
『ズレてるなんて、そう使わない表現だけど……』
　彼女は不審げに思案するも、すぐに頭を切りかえた。
　あれこれ悩んでも仕方がない。
　なんだかこの会話自体がズレているようで居心地が悪いし、情報が少なすぎるし、そもそも、断るつもりなら今頃ベッドの上でうろんな貝の気分になっている。


texts: How to learn proper Japanese handwriting

texts:
I know the stroke order of kanji and the kana, I can write them. But Japanese handwriting is a lot different from our templates or RTK kanji. They look different (like the special "そ"), but also with kanji I see people sometimes not finishing certain strokes, or the whole kanji is different.
How can you learn these things? All the recources online only give the "textbook" writing, or font writing. And if I look for handwriting fonts they still give really neat writing, instead of the native, faster, hand. I want to look more professional with my handwriting, but professionals don't have a handwriting that's a replica of the standard writings, but a kind of different stylistic feel.
My question is: how do you learn this?


texts: How to talk about the content of something?

texts:
How would you explain the content of a book, movie, document, etc. to someone else in Japanese? A is about B. Like "This book is about two girls falling in love" and "That movie is about a ninja who has to fight a dragon to save his parents". Everything I come up with seems extremely clunky and I would like some help.
Some attempts

この本の内容は二人女の子が惚れる。
この本について二人女の子が惚れる。


texts:
The sentence was like this:

目の前にたかだパフェが置かれただけなのにキャッキヤツとはしゃいでいる。彼女に言わせれば「何がたかがよ!」という感じなのだろうが。

I'm familiar with the grammar of "たかが + N" (it's just a + N). However, the way たかが was used herein 何がたかがよ seems a bit strange to me. Can I take it as something like:

It's no big deal

Thank you for taking the time. Have a great day, everyone!


texts: What connotation does the ending -n to a Japanese female name have?

texts:
The Japanese female names that end with "i" can be altered by adding "n" in their end. E.g.:
"Konami" -> "Konamin"
"Mizuki" -> "Mizukin"
"Narumi" -> "Narumin"
"Chinami" -> "Chinamin"
I would like to understand what exact connotation this alternation has. Under what circumstances could I call a person by that altered name? Would that infer any of my feelings to that person? Could that person not desire to be called by that name in the presence of the other people while considering it fine to be called by such name when having a private conversation? If yes, then why?


texts:
This is the the full sentence below:

  A: メールで経歴などはお知らせいただきましたが、今日はさくひんはお持ちですか。
  B: はい、もってまいりました。ご覧いただけますでしょうか。
  まだ勉強不足ですが、専門家でいらっしゃる先生にいろいろアドバイスいただければと思っております。

The book I was reading was teaching that the でいらっしゃる is acting like ている in a respectful form。But I never heard that we can use N＋でいる+ N before...

Is 専門家でいる先生 equals to 専門家の先生 or 専門家先生？


texts:
I cannot completely grasp the meaning されて堪らない. As far as I can understand ~てたまらない means "Really want to do, extremely.", but I'm a bit of unsere with passive voice in the following sentence.
Some sort of translation:  "I want you to tell me frankly. You are clever so I understand that you are thinking thoroughly, and you absolutely cannot stop being self-sufficent(自己完結) about it."

率直なところを述べてほしいね。頭のいい君のことだ、いろいろ考えているのはわかっているけど、それで自己完結されちゃあ堪らない。

Context:


texts: How to properly translate: "ドラゴンに食べられそうになったりと" in this context

texts:
In the video game Recettear, you can buy a book with the title 仲良し姉妹の冒険記. The item description says the following:

  世界中を旅しているという姉妹に密着した, ノンフィクション作品。ドラゴンに食べられそうになったりと，結構大変な事になってます。

The part I'm wondering about is this:

  ドラゴンに食べられそうになったりと

a.k.a

  [This book] makes you likely to be eaten by a dragon

Or

  [This book] is likely to be eaten by a dragon

Or what?


texts: What does 心得もない　mean in the following centext?

texts:
「いかがですミズ＝マッキェネン。
  素晴らしい人材とは思いませんか？
  この少年は訓練を受けているわけではない。
  戦術の心得もない。

I'm stumped as to what the もない ending means in the last sentence (research says it could be a negative emphasis on 心得) so I'm not entirely sure how to translate that ending part of the sentence.

Below is what I've got for the first three lines, in which a character is talking to McCunnen about a man lying on the floor in front of them.

  How about this Ms. McCunnen.
  Do you not think he has a magnificent talent?
  It is not the case that that this young man has received training.


texts: Meaning of おじゃすみなさい vs おやすみなさい/おやすみ?

texts: I saw this on an app, and I was a bit confused. I know goodnight in Japanese is usually おやすみなさい, or the less formal form, おやすみ, but what exactly does おじゃすみなさい mean? Is it some slang way of saying goodnight, or does it have some other meaning. The unreliable Google translated it as meaning "I'm sorry", which I surely don't trust, as it's almost never accurate. So is it a slang term, or did the person just write it wrong?


texts: What does これも at the start of a sentence mean?

texts:
I have found a dictionary definition of これもまた, (meaning roughly "this is also") so I'm assuming that this is a shortened version of it. What troubles me is I can't find it without the また, so I wonder if it is very informal or if it shouldn't be used in polite writing/speech. Any insight on this would be really helpful.

  今の文学青年はセンチメンタルになることを怖れている。これも傷つけられるのを怖れる一種のさもしい心のあらわれかも知れない


texts: What is a good antonym for 多難 (many difficulties)?

texts:
I'm looking for a proper antonym for the word 多難 in a context where it's meaning is 'many difficulties'. Would for example the adverb 難なく be appropriate? It translates to 'easily' according to my dictionary.

I've tried searching the web and I'm certainly not happy with the antonym 多幸 provided on this page: thesaurus.weblio.jp

Ultimately I'd want to use the anotonym to reverse the meaning of the news headline 「拡大欧州、多難なスタート」 which roughly translates to "Expanding Europe – Start with many difficulties".


texts: What is the difference between "出勤" and "通勤"?

texts:
As the title implies, I want to know the difference between "出勤" and "通勤".

Both of them mean "commuting to work" in English.

And which should I choose in the following sentence:

  朝夕の（ａ．出勤　ｂ．通勤）ラッシュ時は電車が満員になる。


texts: 夢は〜を持つことです　VS　夢は〜を持ちたいです

texts:
This sentence is from my textbook:

  私の将来の夢は自分の店を［持つことです／*持ちたいです］。

In other words, it says that 持ちたいです is incorrect in this case.

But since the topic is 私の将来の夢、持ちたい seems like a perfectly suitable response. Why isn't it?

Is the second sentence maybe saying, "My dream is to want to open my own store"?


texts: How would you say "talking shop" in Japanese?

texts:
In English, when we say someone is "talking shop", we mean that they are having a conversation about a particular trade or skill that they're familiar with (usually because it's their profession), with someone else who is equally familiar with it. In this kind of conversation people use the language they normally would while working (i.e. they wouldn't use layman's terms or dumb-down their word choice like they would when talking to someone outside the profession). When people are talking shop, it is (by definition) rather hard to understand by someone who doesn't know about said profession.

Is there anything similar to "talking shop" in Japanese, while keeping the slangy tone?


texts: "XYZ mentioned in newspaper ABC!" in Japanese?

texts:
My organization XYZ has been mentioned in a newspaper, and I would like to post a link to the online article, together with a short explanation like "XYZ mentioned in newspaper ABC!"

How about 日本経済新聞にXYZ記載！ or 日本経済新聞にXYZの名が出る！

What is the most natural way to say this?
I don't want to appear excessively boastful either.


texts: Is「本だけではない」the correct expression for "Not just a book"?

texts:
Think of an advertisement slogan for example. What would be a short form expression of "Not just a book" in Japanese, meaning that "it is not only a book, but more than just a book"?

Is

  本だけではない。

a correct and natural expression for that? I know, that

  本だけ

means "just a book". However, I don't know what the correct grammatical expression is, since a specific meaning is behind the phrase "Not just a book".

I look forward to your help.


texts:
Observe the change:

彼女は行かないと思う。 "I think that she will not go"
彼女は行くまいと思う。 "She thinks that she will not go"

彼女は and と思う are conserved in the sentence, yet the person who is doing the thinking is different.
(Question 1) Is the use of the negative volitional form the direct cause of the change?
(Question 2) How do I make specific the person who is doing the thinking in each case? I.e. How do I express "I think that she will not go" using 行くまい and "She thinks that she will not go" using 行かない?


texts: Meaning of the phrase 「体幹の見切りと筋肉の凝固弛緩その隙間」

texts:
I've been reading 魔法使いの夜 and stuck with this sentence -「体幹の見切りと筋肉の凝固弛緩その隙間。」. I completely cannot grasp the meaning from it, so I'll try to break it into parts and translate them.

「体幹の見切り」 - the weak(見切り) part of torso

「筋肉の凝固弛緩」 - solidification and relaxation of the muscles

「その隙間」 - their weak point(opening)

Can you please tell me where I'm mistaken, and help me with translating it. Thank you!

  彼の思考には初めから、その点しか存在しない。ーー狙うは一点。意識の同一、呼吸の合致。体幹の見切りと筋肉の凝固弛緩その隙間。その地点こそ、唯一とも言える、生命の壁の亀裂である。人狼の胸に叩きつけられる、あまりにも弱い人の力。

Full scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU-27H4XNAc (This part starts at 1:23)


texts:
Working on translating a song by hand. I'm getting stuck on this line:

助けてくださいなんて言えればさぁ

助けてくださいなんて looks like "Please help me!"

言えればさぁ seems like "if I ask for it."

So, does this sentence then mean, "Please help me if I ask for it" ? But that doesn't seem to fit with the "さぁ" at the end... Any hints?


texts:
俺サーブとブロックはあの人を見て覚えました

The above sentence is taken straight from Haikyuu!! S01E07.

The subs translate to "I learned serving and blocking by watching him play".

Does 覚えました give the "I learned" part of the translation?

Also, how does 俺 change the vibe of the sentence? does it put emphasis on the fact that its the speaker's serving and blocking?


texts:
In a Linguistics SE question on loanwords from Japanese into Chinese, it was said that the Chinese import the kanji and use their own reading thereof. So words in kun'yomi are unrecognizable in speech. It got me thinking about ateji: these must make messy loanwords. But since the on'yomi is close to the Chinese readings the Chinese and Japanese versions may sound alike so long as the on'yomi is used.

So, at long last, my question: are there kun'yomi ateji?


texts:
I’ve gathered that these all can be used like “just” (right?) so I’m wondering what the difference in usage is between them.

今終わった。
終わったばかり。
終わったところ。

Are these all basically the same?
(also, in informal speech is it appropriate to just say ばかり and ところ by themselves at the end like in my examples?)


texts: Three conflicting interpretations of "ことになりそう"

texts:
To beef up my listening skills, I've been watching some anime targeted at young-adult or older audiences, and got hung up on this line of dialogue:

  また一年、こうして通{かよ}い詰{つ}めることになりそう、ね。

While I understand ことになる and そう well enough by themselves, I've never seen this construct. I hazarded to guess that this line of dialogue reads something like "It seems decided that I'll visit often like this for another year," which ends up sounding a little coy--given the context is a refined woman being a bit flirty, it seems appropriate.

Then, I went to verify my interpretation by looking up sentence examples featuring ことになりそう on Denshi Jisho, and found that it's interpreted in essentially the same way as そう by itself, which is a close meaning anyway (seems vs. seems decided), though it does lose some nuance that way.

Out of curiosity, I turned on the subs and watched that portion again to see how they rendered it, and to my surprise, they had rendered the line "It seems another year has come and gone, hasn't it." Which left me wondering if こうして通い詰めることになりそう as a whole is some idiomatic phrase for "seeming to come and go."

Google searches seem to mostly turn up results for そう by itself or ことになる which are unhelpful. Any guidance would be most appreciated.


texts: Interpretation of a difficult sentence involving "二人の間に入ってしまった"

texts:
I'm trying to figure out the proper interpretation for a line within a story. Here is the line:

偶像としての彼女の姿の揺らぎと、僕自身が生々しい二人の間に入ってしまったからだ

I think properly understanding this will require context, so here is the paragraph this line is embedded in, as well as the previous one:

何はともあれ、もう来ない、ということはなさそうだ。事の詳細はよくわからないが、落木部さんに入れ込んでいるようだし、マネージャーさんとの不仲はともかく、それはそれ、これはこれと区別するような人だろう。爽快なほどサバサバしている。
　ただ、それは本人の中の話であって、一連の話を聞いた僕の頭の中はどうにもすっきりしない。偶像としての彼女の姿の揺らぎと、僕自身が生々しい二人の間に入ってしまったからだ。もう知らないふりはできないだろうし、お客さんというイニシアチブを取られている以上、綺羅めくるに加担するしかない。

However, I still think this may not be enough context, so let me explain the situation.
落木部さん: girl who works at a cafe where the main character has just started working a few weeks ago.
綺羅めくる: was previously a pop idol, but lost popularity several years ago. Sister to 落木部さん. She is the subject of the first paragraph.
マネージャー: manager to 綺羅めくる, who doublecrossed her by secretly working with a new girl who became the new pop star, just as 綺羅めくる lost popularity.
Now, taking apart the phrase in question:
偶像としての彼女の姿の揺らぎと: This seems to be the changing (literally 'flickering') of main character's image/impression of 綺羅めくる, as he has learned more about her struggles to obtain and maintain fame.
生々しい: Says 'vivid' in the dictionary, but not sure how
this is used here. Maybe the sense of 'in the flesh'?
二人: This is one of my biggest problems with this sentence. There are three people discussed in the previous paragraph and I don't know which two are involved.
の間に入ってしまった: I think this literally means 'to come between', but I think the usage is actually psychological.
Finally, in addition to the confusion with the above parts, I am not sure how this sentence connects to the previous one, where the main character seems to be bothered by the situation ("...すっきりしない")
My guess at interpretation is that the sentence in question means that the main character somehow is now "involved" in a "real" sense, and due to his involvement he cannot stand by without helping 綺羅めくる. But I am not very certain about this.
Here is the entire chapter for context. The phrase is near the end.


texts:
I am wondering if there are any differences in the usage of 自己 and 自分, or are they simply synonyms?

It seems that the two are interchangeable with nouns stemming from them.

I.e, 非自己 and 非自分 also appear to be synonyms.


texts:
If I want to say:

I THOUGHT (I no longer think that) that you called me～

Would it be okay to say:

～を呼んだと思った

(edit) or maybe:

～を呼ばれたと思った

I'm not very sure, I think I have never read such a double past in japanese.


texts: How would you emphasise a sentence like "Well, he IS Japanese, after all"

texts:
Say if someone said "Why did you call him Japanese?" and then I said "Well, he IS Japanese (after all)." How would I express this? I'm thinking I would say something like this:

  彼は日本人なんだ

But I'm wondering if using んだ/んです is the best way to emphasise exactly what I want to be emphasised in this instance.


texts: What are the most common words for "to attack"?

texts:
The concept of "attacking" is a vary broad one, with a lot of nuance to it. What are the most common/practical words used to describe attacking in Japanese; and what are the nuances to each?

Also, I'm specifically talking about physical attacks; like cutting, stabbing, clawing, punching, smashing, striking, impaling, etc. Not things like fraud, or taunting, or other things that be considered a form of attacking. in some other sense of the word.


texts:
In the examples below what does 中 stand for and how is it pronounced?

  15日は海からの強い風が吹きつける中、およそ２０人の男たちが、運河に架かる橋の欄干から次々と水の中に飛び込みました。

and

  オホーツク海の流氷が南下する中、北海道紋別市の流氷観光船「ガリンコ号」が今シーズン初めて流氷の中を航行し、観光客が雄大な景色を楽しみました。

Is 中 attached to the verb (I thought it can be attached like this only to nouns), or is it separate from it (if so why isn't there の between them) or is something else the case here?


texts: Meaning of ギャップ in the following sentence

texts:
Context: a couple is checking out the otters while visiting an aquarium.

  Boy: 苗代【なえしろ】はカワウソが好きなの？

  Girl: うん！動物で一番好き。食べる時とか時々ブサイクになるギャップがたまんないの。

What is the meaning of ギャップ in this sentence? Since she says "食べる時", I think maybe she is referring to the "gap" of an otter's slightly open mouth, but I am not sure. Here you can see the whole page. Thank you for your help!


texts: Are those kanas "しい" ? (text found on a banner)

texts:
Today I learnt that "bald tug of war championship" was a thing in Japan, and came across some weird kana that I can't figure out (in the top left corner, underlined in red) :

Is it simply しい ? That's what seems the most likely to me, but I'm not a hundred percent convinced. Could it by any chance contain one of the "kana iteration marks" ?


texts: What is the difference between 武道 and 格闘技?

texts:
When I was looking through the Category List on OKWAVE, I found these two listed under the スポーツ・フィットネス (Sports and Fitness) sub-category.

When I looked them up on Weblio, I found that both 武道 and 格闘技 could be translated as “martial arts”.

Is there a difference between these two terms?


texts:
I found a sentence like this: "滅多な事では物怖じしない".
But the meaning of 滅多(careless) make me don't understand this sentence. Then I searched something similar on the website and I found this: "私は滅多に怒りません" which means "I rarely lose my temper".
So does it mean: " He rarely shows cowardice".
Here the context of the first sentence: "面倒見のいい性格で交友関係が広く, 滅多な事では物怖じしない胆力を持つ".


texts:
文部科学省は、病気などの理由以外で、１年に３０日以上学校を休んだ子どもが、２０１６年度に１３万４３９８人いたと発表しました。
  The Ministry of Education announced that there were 134398 children in the 2016 school year who had more than 30 days of absence for reasons other than illness.

The meaning is clear (I think) but the で after 以外 is confusing me. I'm familiar with two uses of 以外:

A以外のB　= B other than A
A以外に... =  Besides A ...

What is the function of で in this sentence? How would the meaning change if I replaced で with に?


texts:
In this sentence:

  石の上にも三年とは、冷たい石でも三年間座り続ければ暖まるように、何事にも忍耐強さが大切だという意味です。

Is it saying that even in a cold stone, if something continues to fall/sit on top of it,in order to warm the stone you have to persevere in everything?
I don't know how to interpret ように correctly in that position.


texts: What verb should I use for "match"? E.g. Please match the answers

texts:
I'm writing some instructions on a worksheet, and I want to translate the English instructions into Japanese.  I'm trying to say something along the lines of

  Please match the genre in English to the explanation in Japanese.

I do not need to be very specific because I will be explaining this out loud and the written instructions are just a little guidance if they didn't quite understand.

Here's an example of what the paper would look like.

____1. Rock
____2. Jazz
____3. Classical

A. (ジャンル説明)
B. (ジャンル説明)
c. (ジャンル説明)

I am having difficulty finding the correct verb to use for "match."

Google translate suggests 合{あ}わせる

  英語のジャンルを日本語の説明に合わせてください。

Or 一致{いっち}する

  日本の説明に英語のジャンルと一致してください。

After searching jisho.org, I also agree that these two verbs are the closest in meaning.  But there were no example sentences for either word that really matched up with what I'm trying to say.  So I'm still unsure if the usage makes proper sense.

I make worksheets like this all the time, so I was hoping for a good verb to use for various situations, not just this one specifically.  But perhaps the English word "match" has far more uses than any Japanese equivalent.


texts:
Im scratching my head trying to figure out grammar behind マリアさんの話を聞きたいっておっしゃってましたよ。

Its from my text book, which is translated into something like want to hear his word saying about it. I knew 聞きたい = want to hear, おっしゃる = polite word for say/speak, but couldnt put them together.

I guess there are some sort of contracted speech involved since the conversation is somewhat casual, but there isnt sufficient grammar guide for it in my book, nor could I google anything helpful beyond auto translation. Can anyone explain it to me and guide me roughly through this "contracted form" puzzle?


texts: Meaning of 文明を一層促進するための治世を開く

texts:
[…] その天の命により、陛下がこのたび皇帝として即位し、天下を平和にし、文明を一層促進するための治世を開かれました。

My rough interpretation:

  By virtue of the Mandate of Heaven, Your Majesty now sits on the throne as an emperor, keeps all the world in peace and launched a policy to promote culture more than ever (?)

I'm really not sure about the last part, can someone help me? Thank you in advance :)


texts:
I just encountered this question:

  Conversation:

  男の人：森さんに、お伝えいただきたいんですが。
  女の人：はい。

  It's asking something like 誰が伝えますか and have 3 choices：

  Question：（男の人　女の人　森さん）が伝えます。

  Answer：  女の人が伝えます。

There's a rule before the question says that:

AがBにしていただく　→　Bがする

According to this rule, I think the conversation could be analysed like this:

森さんに伝えていただく　→　森さんが伝える

I know いただく is the humble form of もらう, so it matches the understanding that 森さん is the one who gives the favour to do the action(伝える).

However, I did a bit research and there's an answer mentioning that,

[noun]に＋してもらう

in some cases, the noun before に could be the receiver rather than the giver.

So I'm wondering if it's the reason why the answer is "女の子" rather than "森さん". But I would like to know in what kind of situation shall we treat the noun before に as a receiver, especially in the question above which is a solitary piece and doesn't have any other context provided.

Could anyone kindly explain this? Thanks in advance.


texts: I'm having trouble understanding 持って帰ったら　in this particular sentence

texts:
I'm attempting to watch Steven Universe in Japanese and I got really confused when I heard a character say something like

"そのケースを持って帰ったら？”

This is referring to when Sadie asks Steven if he wants to take some freezer home with him, but I didn't understand the usage of the tara form here. Could someone explain? Here's the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iayenOvzXjs (1:09)


texts: Does "keigo" cover only the use of honorific/humble/polite elements, or does it cover the full range and choice of what to use and not use?

texts:
I'm having trouble putting this question into words, especially short enough to use as the question title, basically I'm confused about what the term "keigo" applies to:

Is it just the addition of honorific, humble, polite, respectful elements to what otherwise might be called a "non keigo" utterance?
Or is it a term which covers the whole process or set of rules governing when to apply and not apply such elements?

So is it possible to contrast vanilla plain Japanese to keigo Japanese?
Where is the line drawn? When a single honorific, humble, polite, or respectful element is added to an utterance does it become a keigo utterance?
To make an utterance totally non keigo do I have to go so far as to remove the o- prefix from mizu?
Is keigo a continuum or an optional extra?

EDIT to clarify the difference between this and my previous keigo question:

The previous question was to find out if "keigo" was a technical/linguistic/grammatical term or just a general term. Now that I know it's a technical term I'm trying to pin down with this question what it means and when it should and shouldn't be used.


texts:
あなたのために綺麗になりたいと願う   好きな人の前では女の子でいたい

For your sake, I want to become a girl that hopes to become pretty in front of the person i love

Does that feel too convoluted to you, or am i parsing this wrong?

full lyrics here


texts: How to say "In order not to make her angry but make her delighted"?

texts:
I want to translate the following sentence to Japanese.

  In order not to make her angry but make her delighted, I must choose a proper gift for her birthday.

My attempt is as follows,

  彼女は怒られないように、または喜ぶために、妥当な誕生日へのプルゼントを選ばなくてはならない。

Is it natural? Is there any other better way to say "in order not to make her angry but to make her delighted" ?


texts: What meaning does やって add to the following main verbs?

texts:
What meaning does the prefix やって give to the main verbs?
Is it a constant one can do with some other verbs as well?
For example
やって来る
やって見る
やって退ける
やって行く


texts:
「鮮度に精気、それにその人物の健康状態から相性まで、吸血には様々な条件があるわ」

I'm stuck in this sentence 'cause this particular "に" and the commons usages which I know doesn't seems to fit here...


texts: Why do signs use kenjougo and not sonkeigo?

texts:
I was under the impression that signs requesting that people do things would be in honorific rather that humble speech, however so far I've noticed the opposite.

Could anyone please explain why this is?


texts: How the ～にあって form works - situations, places, times, what?

texts:
I finally started going through some JLPT N1 grammar the other day, and one of the ones I'm looking at has me a bit confused: the ～にあって・～にあっても form. The book describes its usage as such:

～のような特別の状況・時期・場所だからこそあることが起こる

The 時期 and 場所 parts I can understand, but my problem is with the 状況 side of things. The problem this arose on was this:

木村氏は（　　）にあって、日々多忙なスケジュールをこなしている。

The choices(the ones that make sense, that is) are:

１　一国の指導者
２　一国の指導者という立場

The answer is #2 - can anyone explain to me why? It seems like the first one is describing a 状況, but apparently not - at least, not more than 立場 does. Or is that 立場 referring to a place?
EDIT - Since 立場 is the right answer, can someone say why 一国の指導者 is not actually a 特別な状況? Also, why does 立場 fall into the proper category?


texts: 諺(ことわざ): Get rid of your sickness by giving it to someone else?

texts:
A long time ago in Japanese school I was told there is a old Japanese saying/諺 that meant "You can get rid of your cold by giving it to someone else."
Does anyone know what that 諺 is?


texts:
Is it incorrect to use the kanji for いただくif it is used as an auxiliary verb. For example ご提供頂く is incorrect but ご提供いただく is right?
Can kanji be used if いただく is being used as a main verb?


texts: 「見」＋「も」＋「する」 meaning?

texts:
I know there is a nuance difference between a regular verb and verb stem + は/も + する but i don't quite know what the nuance difference is.

sentence in question:

  言いながら、アクアは椅子に腰掛けこちらを見もせずに、スナック菓子をぽりぽりと

What i understand from it:

  While saying that (what she said had said previously), aqua, seated in the chair without even looking this way, munched on snacks.

How would the highlighted part be different in nuance if it was just a regular 「見ずに」? or instead 「見はせずに」

If my understanding of any other parts of the sentence is wrong, please tell me so that i may correct it.


texts: Are there inflections/endings that can be applied to verbs but not i-adjectives? (or vice versa)

texts: After reading in an answer to another question that Japanese adjectives are less inflected than Japanese verbs I'm wondering if there are inflections that can be applied to verbs but not i-adjectives? Or what about the converse?


texts: Is は used when asking if something already discussed exists?

texts:
If I've talked about a thing before, and want to ask whether or not it exists in another place (or time), would I use "は"?
For example, if I said "In Sydney, I saw a ryokan. Are there ryokans in Melbourne?", would I say "は" or "が" in

シドニーで、旅館を見ました。
メルボルンに旅館（は／が?）ありますか？

By contrast, if I hadn't talked about it before, would I use "が"?

私はメルボルンに行きます。
メルボルンに旅館がありますか？

(The reason I'm asking about this is that I probably got the wrong idea about when to use "が" and "は" because I misinterpreted the grammar section of "Japanese For Busy People I" Unit 4 (page 68 in the kana edition))


texts: How can one review hiragana or kanji in both a computer font and a brushed style?

texts:
Are there any flash cards, apps, or anything else that show at least two versions of each character side by side? (For example, a brush-stroke-like font and a common computer font.)

I'm in the process of learning hiragana and beginning level kanji. Several times I have thought I had learned what a hiragana letter or a kanji character looked like only to discover that I couldn't recognize it at all in a different font. (For example, the kanji 人 for person looks very different to me when I see it done in brush strokes and when I see a common computer font version. The hiragana that's romanized as ki gave me the same problem.)

How did you handle this issue as you learned?


texts:
I’m my text book I have a statement that I couldn’t quite get my head around.
美味しさに国境はない 。
I punched it into translate and it came up “there is no border in taste.”
But for this to mean that it would have to read 美味しさの中に国境はない。
I’d appreciate it if someone could explain :).
Thanks.


texts:
次の文は雑誌の広告写真についていたキャプションです。

「やさしいかわ　ひとに　ちきゅうに」

日本エコレザーの広告です。写真では、三人の子供が地球を持っています。やさしい革とは、アレルギーの原因となる金属とか有害物質のない皮革です。
それを考えると、どういう意味がありますか。

「やさしいかわ。人に作られた。地球のために」
「やさしいかわ。人のために。地球のために」

など。
よろしくおねがいします。


texts:
I told my friend 頑張って and they replied with:

  こんなことでいわれても

Would the meaning of this be something like:

  Even if this kind of thing is said (it doesn't help)


texts:
高温の鉄板には、垂らした水さえも弾け散る。

I looked up in a few dictionaries but I don't find the word anywhere. How come?


texts:
I composed one sentence.
一人の人魚は「彼は動いていない，死んだでしょう」と言いました。The mermaid said 'It seems he isn't moving, maybe he is dead'
Is it right to say 一人 about mermaids? If they are not humans, should I use special counting suffix? are there any another mistakes?


texts: What is the difference in pronunciation between [桃]{もも} and [腿]{もも}?

texts:
I am currently studying 日本語 and I am trying to understand the pronunciation difference between 桃 (peach) and 腿 (thigh). Both can be written as もも in kana and sound practically the same to me when my tutor pronounces them to me, but she tells me that there is a difference in terms of the pronunciation, though I can't figure out what it is and thus how to say them properly.

So what is the difference in pronunciation? Is it stress? Accent? And how do I pronounce them so that a 日本人 can tell which one of them it is that I mean?


texts:
I've been learning Japanese for the past month and I have a few problems pronouncing the ひ sound (being a native Hebrew speaker and fluent in English I don't believe that sound exists in those languages).

I've found that sometimes I would hear (or miss hear) the sound as a shi sound like in the sentence いいひですね - I would hear iishidesune

Could anyone give me a few pointers on how to correctly pronounce this sound?

Also does this happen only on the shi sound or does it also happen with the
ha, ho, he sounds ?


texts:
In my JLPT practise book, there is a section demonstrating the difference between なぐる, たたく, 打{う}つ, and ぶつ. If I understand them, they are all variants of "hit", with subtle nuances to differentiate them.

I have this example explaining the use of ぶつ:

  いたずらをした子供{こども}は、母親{ははおや}にお尻{しり}をぶたれた。

And then I have this question:

  なまけ者{もの}の弟{おとうと}は人{ひと}から尻{しり}を_____ないと、なかなか仕事{しごと}をしない。

  A　ぶたれ 　B　たたかれ 　C　打{う}たれ 　D　なぐられ

I chose A, which means I fell unto the usual JLPT trap where they deliberately mislead with similar contexts. D'oh!

Still, in any case, I can't see why B is a better answer.　In fact, the subtleties of difference make me unsure why any of them are not appropriate.

What makes B the right answer, and the rest wrong?


texts:
そんな謙遜ともとれる妹の態度に

I have a doubt on how to translate this part of the sentence properly, so I was hoping for confirmation.

とれる can be translated into many words, but the closest meaning to the sentence (in my interpretation) would be: 1. to be interpreted as, and 2. collected.

If とれる is valid to be translated as a part of an attitude/manner, there is a collected manner (calm, cool, composed, etc.)

And I paid attention to the particle と and も that can be translated as (and also).

So my translation is:

  ...from such a humble and also calm attitude of his younger sister.

Did I translate the sentence properly?

Thank you for your kind guidance.