texts: Meaning of "愛の響き合い" and "繋ぎ合わせる" in a tricky phrase

texts:
I'm trying to understand the below phrase, but having difficult with the "愛の響き合い" and "繋ぎ合わせる" portions: (See here for more context if needed, it's the first paragraph)

  皆、朝日を望みながら、必死で働いている. 生まれては消える、そのくり返しを、愛の響き合いで繋ぎ合わせながら。

"愛の響き合い" seems to literally be "the resonance of love", but from what I gather this is not a common expression, and I'm having trouble grasping what it means. Could it be referring to relationships?

Also, the use of the verb "繋ぎ合わせる" is a little confusing here. My guess is it is close to something like "eking out a living" (similar to the phrase 命をつなぐ). If someone could confirm that, I'd appreciate it.

While I am talking about this phrase, a final question relates to the use of くりかえし. It clearly seems to be referring to the cycle of birth and death (lit: 'being born and disappearing'). However, do you feel this implies the same 'individuals' are being (reborn), or that each 'individual' is only living one life.

In case the context matters, the setting of this story is where 'letters' live in a city that is in the the mind of a fiction author.

UPDATE: My eventual goal is to translate this, however I am not asking for someone to do it for me. Nonetheless, I will give my best guess so far (focusing on the second sentence above) as it may indicate whether I am in the right direction or not.

They all eked out a living as part of the endless cycle of birth and death, with only love to help them through it.

UPDATE:

I have long back posted my translation for this work online (with the full permission of the author). If you are interested in reading it to see how I rendered this portion, you can check it out here.

I'm glad I left this open since it generated some interesting discussion, but I think it's time I close it now. I'll mark the latest answer from Kana since I think it is the most thorough and provides the most insight.

After reading some of these newer responses I might have changed my translation, but I will leave it as-is, at least for now.

UPDATE2:

So to not make people go to my site I will just post my translation of the first paragraph of the story, and I have italicized the sentence in question.

Everyone worked throughout the night. This was only natural, since in this place–a city without a sun–there was nothing but night. In Idea City, the morning held off until the very last day: the day the world ended. They all worked themselves to the bone in the hope of one day seeing the morning sun, eking out a living as part of the endless cycle of birth and death, bound together by love. But just as this thought came to mind, the ground beneath me lurched.


texts: Does the second stroke of ち have a break in it when handwritten?

texts:
き and さ when handwritten tend to have a break in the "loop" of the second stroke.

But I don't seem to be able to find if it is the same for ち.

Is it ok to have separation of the second stroke like a mirror of さ? Or should it be one single stroke through the down stroke and the loop?


texts:
Many things that seem normal in English look arrogant in Japanese. I think I found a special case where the reverse is true. In Japanese is it normal to speak in the third person when referring to oneself? I have seen this done before on Twitter.

What about in face to face conversation or other conversational situations? Is it normal to refer to oneself in the third person?

Whenever I try to speak in the third person about myself in English I always get accused of looking pompous. This is not the case in Japanese?

What's the difference when using the third person to refer to oneself instead of words like 私、僕、or 俺？


texts:
When writing "fox", what is the difference between these two ways?
狐
 or
キツネ


texts:
What does にも mean in this sentence?

  ムン大統領は、北朝鮮の選手たちにもオリンピックに出てほしいと考えています。

(full text here)

I've found a topic where にも is discussed but it's not the same context and the explanations doesn't suit if I understand well: What is the function of にも in this sentence?

Thank you.


texts: Words made from strokes of a kanji like 女 toくノ一

texts:
According to Wikipedia, one theory for the etymology of くノ一 (female ninja) is that it's made up of the strokes of the kanji 女 (woman).

Other theories include that it means nine and one, talking about the number of orifices men and women have, and yet another is that the term くノ一 is apocryphal. Finally, this page suggests that くノ一 might be "real", but is just a code word used by ninjas to mean woman, rather than meaning female ninja.

Are there any other words, historical or present, where the characters are made up of strokes of a kanji, along the lines of the 女 etymology theory for くノ一?


texts:
I'm trying to use some flash cards to learn the kana (hirigana first, but both in time), and there's simply too much for me to learn at once. Is there a recommended or practiced learning "order" or series? How are children introduced to them?

I already have basic pronunciation down - if I can see it spelled out in Romaji script I can say it with acceptable/reasonable accuracy. I am not concerned about learning actual words or kanji right now, I only wish to master this "basic alphabet" first, to the point that I can sound out words written in kana.

I've thought of simply adding a flashcard from the deck at random each day and drilling through the resulting stack a couple times per day, but I wanted to seek out greater wisdom before doing something so random or rash!

I've got the flashcards produced by White Rabbit Press.


texts: Level name: is my completion guess right?

texts: Kaizo Mario World 3 has a level called NABANA NO SATO. I tried to interpret it as Japanese, since it's clearly not English and it is in an English version so the only logical guess was it wasn't translated from it Japanese original. But I could not make sense of NABANA as is in any way. So I guessed it is a "cropped" HANABANA, and so the Kanji are 花々の里, that is "Village of flowers". But the level has no flowers. So did I guess correctly? Could the "flowers" be the munchers of which the level is full? Or is there a way to make sense of just NABANA NO SATO, and if so what is the Kanji spelling of it?


texts:
The following Dialogue:

  A: この本、もう読んだんですか。
  B: ええ、とてもよかったですよ。家族の大切さをあらためて考えさせられました。

With this causative passive, I'd translate it like this:

A: Have you already read this book?
B: Yes, it was very good. I was made thinking about the value of family over and over again.

Now the following question:
Would it be possible to change the bold predicative into active mood without changing or adding anything else in the sentence?
So that it translates into:

A: Have you already read this book?
B: Yes, it was very good. It made me think about the value of family over and over again.

Or would the sentence become ambigious then without any changes/additions?


texts:
Whats the difference between ぢ and じ?
please also give the pronunciation


texts: what does the と particle indicate or mean used before a verb?

texts:
We're taught that と particle is used as and & with connecting nouns.
1. But in this sentence 上司が「一杯、飲もう」と言った the verb 言った is followed by  と.
And the sentence means [My boss said: "Let's have a drink."]
2. The same way please explain this too => 彼はまた電話すると言いました。[He said he'd call again.]

I'm studying NIHONGO for about 3 months. So as a beginner I don't understand how the と particle is effective and the sentence.

Can anybody tell me clearly why this particle is being used here. I've never seen it before. Thank youu for your time!


texts: is 随分 of a higher degree than なかなか (with positive verb)?

texts:
my dictionary shows both 随分 and なかなか (with positive verb) as "very/considerably"

I was wondering is it true that 随分 is of a higher degree than なかなか?

Like

  あんたなかなか勇敢だな。= 75%

and

  あんた随分勇敢だな。 = 85%?


texts: Which noun is being modified in アリスがふみとどまろうかと考えるひまもないうちに

texts:
I've been reading 不思議の国のアリス (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) and there's a sentence that is baffling me. It reads:

  [After having fallen down the rabbit hole]

  それがすごく急で、アリスがふみとどまろうかと考えるひまもないうちに、気がつくと何やら深い井戸みたいなところを落っこちているところでした。

My main concern is the bolded part. I'm not sure if it's Alice who "does not have any free time to consider remaining" or whether it's the "inside that does not have any free time to consider remaining". I guess the latter case would seem more probable; one could interpret it as figurative language: i.e. that's how relentlessly fast the rabbit hole seemed to progress.

How does うち work here? And who is the subject of the verb 気がつく? Is it Alice or the general observer?


texts: Is there a way to know what meaning the も particle has?

texts:
The も particle has the meaning of

  also
  too
   words of similar weight
   about (emphasizing an upper limit)
  as much as
  even
  more
  further
  other
  again

So depending where it's placed like before/after a subject/verb/adj/noun etc.

Can you determine based on that what meaning it has ?


texts: using 美化語 in 謙譲語 verb forms does not make sense, right?

texts:
So, 美化語 is used to create honorifics:
お名前
ご注文
etc.

But, the standard way to create the 謙譲語 form of verbs is:
お＋[verb stem] + いたします

That does not make logical sense to modify the action that you are performing with an honorific "お", right? There is nothing about this paradox that would help with understanding 敬語 in a broader context。Every language has its idiosyncrasies. Assigning 美化語 to action you perform is just something to memorize, right? I don't care about etymology. So, memorize and move on to the next topic?


texts:
I'm not sure if I translate this passage from the song right:

ほら、あなたにとって、大事な人ほどすぐ側にいるの。

I'm not sure which perspective we're talking about. Is the other person right by my side because I'm important to him/her? Is the の at the end a nominalizer or as an explanation?

ただ、あなたにだけ、届いて欲しい響け恋の歌。

I assume this means that I want the song to reach just him/her. However, why is there the ただ? Is it a conjunction to the previous sentence and if yes why?

Also, what is the form of 響け here - the imperative? If yes, how does that fit into the sentence?


texts:
When I'm practicing writting kanji, the proportions between each of the strokes always seem to be a little off. Are there known exercises to help with this? At the moment, I'm only trying to "copy" it from Word until it gets more or less right.

Other than this, I would also like to know the following:
-> Which size should a kanji have? Same as hiragana? A bit larger?
-> Does the size depend on the number of strokes?
-> (Curiosity question, optional) Is Japanese handwritting typically tidy and neat? Or do they favour speed?


texts:
When using そばから in the sense of "as soon as", everything I find says that you can use either た form/past tense before it, or dictionary form, but not what the difference is. Sometimes people even use both forms in the same sentence:

  我が家もそうなのだけれど、片付けるそばから散らかすし拭いたそばからこぼされる。

So is there any difference in nuance between these?

片付けるそばから散らかす
片付けたそばから散らかす
片付けてるそばから散らかす


texts:
In the sentence

  殺さずに生け捕るってのが面倒でしたがね

is the って being used as quoting? Does this change the function of のが?


texts:
I noticed this phrase :

  うらめしや

said by a character in a game I played, and was wondering what it means.

This site suggests

  "Urameshiya" is a phrase said, in a sorrowful voice, by Japanese ghosts when they appear. It means, a curse on you.

Google translate gives

  Annoying

The best I could find on jisho:

  恨めしい

  reproachful; hateful; bitter

I suspect the first one to be correct (given that the context is related to halloween and haunting). Is there a reasonable english translation for this、and if the one given is correct, how do the components break down to give that meaning (if at all)?

Thank you


texts: Difference between 自分 and 自分自身 and how to reflect their difference in English

texts:
Consider:

自分について書きたいことがあります。 = There are times that I want to write about myself (lit: things concerning me)

自分自身について書きたいことがあります。

What is their difference?
I think the second sentence has more emphasis on "myself". If so, is this emphasis too subtle to translate effectively into English?
Also, is there any change in formality or colloquial nuance?
When translating into English, would the best option in the second sentence be to just put "about myself" into italics? This seems unnatural.


texts: What is the meaning of this phrase? I understand the lady and kabuki references but overall, what is it trying to say?


texts:
Using がる turns adjectives into verbs and adds a "appears to" meaning. For example:

嫌がる (na-adjective)

美味しがる (i-adjective)

Is there ever any point (from a usage perspective) in turning adjectives into verbs?


texts: I visited a shopping website, and I read 予約を含め在庫がなくなった場合、店頭分をご用意できない場合がございますことを予めご了承ください。I couldn't understand 店頭分 properly. What does it mean?


texts: Is 仕方 a particular case of the pattern V連用形 + 方?

texts:
There is a pattern to express the way of doing things. First comes a verb in the 連用形 form, and after that comes the word 方{かた}. For example:

食べ + 方 → 食べ方 (the way of eating)

読み + 方 → 読み方 (the way of reading)

Given that the 連用形 of the verb する (to do) is し, it seems reasonable to think of しかた as another example of the same rule:

し + 方 → し方 (the way [of doing] )

However, there's a problem: the kanji spelling for the word しかた is 仕方, but the right kanji for the verb する is 為, and not 仕 (the word is spelled in hiragana virtually always).
For this reason, I'm not so sure whether 仕方 is an actual instance of the aforementioned rule or not. Which is the case? Maybe there's an etymological relationship between the pattern and the word 仕方, but it eventually became a word in its own right?


texts: Natural way to talk about food served in a restaurant

texts:
I'm looking for some good ways to express whether food or other consumables are served at a restaurant. Here is some ideas I have:

この辺のレストランではラーメンを出してない  (or  "〜が出てない"?)
この辺のレストランではラーメンを扱ってない
この辺のレストランではラーメンを取り扱ってない
この辺のレストランではラーメンを売ってない

Which of these are natural or best for everyday conversation? If there are any other common ones I've missed please let me know.


texts:
幻想でさえ既知感すら拒絶のはず

さえand すら in the same sentence?
How do I understand this?

Even in an illusion even knowledge is supposed to be rejected

?


texts:
In English you say, e.g.

  This restaurant seems to be very popular. That, or everybody just wants to use the toilets, which seem to be free.

The thing is, I already complete the sentence, and then as an add-on we add an alternative suggestion to that sentence. What is a nice way to express that sentiment.

I thought about それとか、, but I don't know if that really expresses what I mean.


texts: What is the term for special words that don't use standard readings or regular modifications?

texts:
Words like 大人、下手、上手... as おとな, へた, じょうず.
What is the name for terms of this type?

Not including:
Kanji that don't use their specified readings.
The answers for おみやげ don't answer the classification of non-standard pronunciation (they answer other questions but the stated one).
The おとな related question is very specific to that word.
I believe the other stated duplicate doesn't answer this in general either.
It would very hard for a searcher to find these somewhat duplicate questions.


texts:
I came across the phrase

俺は学校にいたはずだ

in a comic I'm trying to translate.
I understand the statement means something like "I should be at school!". It looks like 俺は学校に is setting up the speaker as the topic, and that the speaker should be doing something at school.
But the difficult part for me is the verb, いたはずだ. I want to say it is a very casual conjugation of the verb, いく, but I can only guess.


texts: When would you use the volitional form with なんて?

texts:
Why is the volitional form being used here?
荒地{あれち}の魔女{まじょ}に張{は}りあおうなんて いい度胸{どきょう}ね (Source: Howl's Moving Castle)
Is it that なんて is functioning as a kind of quotation particle here as well as its more usual part as a nominaliser?
I say that because Maggie Sensei wrote something quite far down in her article on using なんて that it can operate in this role as well sometimes. I've not come across any other sources referring to this, though.
So effectively, in as direct a translation as I can muster, what is being said is: "to say that you will compete with the witch of the wastelands - you have some nerve!"


texts:
I am a Japanese beginner, and a lot of times I find it hard to distinguish the pronunciations betweenた/だ, と/ど, ちじ etc. For example, わたし, the pre-record pronunciation online sounds like “wadashi” to me; 友達 (ともだち）sounds like “domodaji”. For the first example, I asked a Japanese friend, he told me “watashi” and “wadashi” sound the same to Japanese native speakers, ie. both pronunciations are acceptable. It’s not I don’t believe my friend, but just want to double check whether it is like what he told me in reality. If there is no distinction between the pronunciations of “ta”, “da”  “to”, “do” etc., what’s the meaning to have different alphabet た, だ, と, ど?

Thanks so much


texts:
I was puzzled by this use of "１日," which I had not encountered yet (from tangorin.com):

  私たちはたいてい１日の主な食事を晩にとります。
  We usually have our main meal of the day in the evening.
  わたしたちはたいていいちにちのおもなしょくじをばんにとります。

Questions:

Is this reading by tangorin.com correct?
Why do example sentences in WWJDIC, Tangorin, or Jisho.org not come with readings by default? What is the point of having example sentences with computer-generated readings that one cannot trust? Your insights would be appreciated. Perhaps it would reduce my frustration somewhat.


texts: What does the word 「せん」 mean in this sentence?

texts:
It is said by the old man to a group of children about going to see a boy who is in a jail.

Old man:　おめえら　そんなかっこうであそんでいていいのか　ジョーにあいにいくしたくを　せんでもいいのか
Child:　あたいたちもつれてってくれるの？

I noticed that there is a blank space between 「を」 and the word 「せん」. I then think that 「せん」 would not be a transitive verb but a noun followed by an expression 「でもいい」 to be translated like "would...be good?". In my guess, it would relate to something like travelling by train or 「線」.
If I am correct, I am still further curious why the writer did not use the Kanji instead of Hiragana so that it would be more easier to catch the meaning.
Here is the screenshot.


texts: Is there any rule to indicate when "circumstantials" of time can be the topic (marked with は) of the sentence?

texts:
In Spanish there is something called circumstantials which indicate time, place, means, cause, etc where an action is done. For example, in English a circumstancial of time could be translated as "in the summer".

Now I know Japanese is a language completely different to Spanish so calling a construction which indicates the time when an action is done a "circumstancial" is wrong, since a spanish circumstancial probably have other grammatical consequences than a japanese construction which indicates time, place, means, etc., that's why I used the "" to refere to the same in japanese.

Anyway, the point of my question is to know if there is any rule to know when constructions which indicates the time an action is done are the "topic" (marked with は) of the sentence.

For example, in this sentence 春休み明けは皆ちょっと大人に見える the construction which indicates time 春休み明け is the topic of the sentence.

In which situations are constructions which indicates time the topic of the sentence?


texts: Would removing the すること turn クリア back into a noun?

texts:
Hypothetically speaking, if こと is being used as a nominalizing suffix in the following sentence:

その時々の課題をクリアすることに、全力で取り組んでいる間は、何も思い悩んだりせずにすむ。

would the above sentence be able to be re-written as the following?

その時々の課題をクリアに、全力で取り組んでいる間は、何も思い悩んだりせずにすむ。

I'm asking this as I'm certain the こと is only there to nominalize the suru verb, which appears to be made of a noun-suru compound.


texts: Why is the plain negative in this sentence translated as "haven't"?

texts:
まだ部屋が暖まらない

I encountered this sentence in an Anki deck (core 10k) and I can't seem to wrap my head around it, specifically its translation. According to the deck, the English sentence is "The room hasn't warmed up yet". Now in this case, wouldn't the plain negative mean "will not warm up yet" or "will still not warm up". If i remember correctly textbooks teach you that まだ + ていない is the one that expresses the English "haven't...yet". Is this a mistranslation or am I missing something?

(I also thought about translating it as "The room will not warm up, as we HAVEN'T done anything to warm it up", so it is impossible for the room to get any warmer, hence the plain negative. It is most likely just me brainstorming, but who knows...)


texts: I understand that 世帯主 means head of household but what specifically defines 世帯主 listed in 住民票?  Is it a special legal term that includes certain rights and obligations?


texts:
I got a message from a friend, about to go on a trip, and it ended with: お土産持しててね

I think it's basically "[I'll] bring a souvenir/gift/omiyage [for you]" but I'm not familiar with the 持してて part, I've never seen it used like that before.

And if it does mean what I think, what is a polite way to say "you don't need to do that!". Would いいえ or maybe お土産話だけよ would be OK?


texts: A seemingly strange use of も: 「今度もきつねの言うとおりにしました」

texts:
Take a look at this sentence:

  そこで、[山羊]{やぎ}は、[今度]{こんど}もきつねの[言]{い}うとおりにしました。

The mo after kondo seems strange. I know it means also, and it is indeed translated as so. However, there is no previous context for this also to make sense. More specifically, the passage does not describe a previous instance of the goat following the fox's words. So what is going on here?


texts:
What is an idiomatic way of expressing traveling light/heavy?

I imagine there is a more pithy way to express this than 荷物【にもつ】が軽【かる】い
 or 荷物【にもつ】が重【おも】い, respectively.


texts:
As far as I'm aware this expression means "(a persons) strong points', but I'm not sure how とする is being used in this context.

My best guess would be something like "the thing (a person) tries to do best" or something to that effect, but that doesn't really sound right, and I have previously read that the 'try to do' usage is only with volitional form verbs? Anyway I'm not very familiar with とする or ところ (I'm fairly beginner level) so I don't feel comfortable making a guess about it. Can anyone explain?


texts:
I encountered the following on a test.
Write the suitable question for the given response.

  R) たけしさんのかばんはそのかばんです。

I wrote the following question to elect such a response:

  このかばんはだれのかばんですか。

apparently this is completely incorrect, but I dont understand why.

the correct answer is:

  たけしさんおかばんはどのかばんですか。

which is fine and makes sense I just dont understand why what I said makes no sense when I translate it and the response to English it makes sense to me. not sure if im mistranslating it our if in Japanese what i am saying somehow doesn't make sense in Japanese just in English.


texts: What's the difference between とともに and にともない?

texts: Could somebody explain me the difference between them? They really appear to have a similar usage and meaning. I feel that と共に can be used instead of と一緒に in formal writing , since they both mean "along with", and besides,  they both express the idea that two things are changing at the same pace. However, にともない seem to have only the meaning of two things changing together. Actually, it  seems to be similar につれて and に従って, but maybe I'm wrong.


texts: ろくに and trouble understanding sentence meaning

texts:
I came across the following sentence in an exercise:

最近まで_____考えてもみなかったことの数々が、なだれるように頭に浮かんできた。
A. ろくに、B. ようするに、C. ぶりに、D. さらに

The right answer was A.
I'm having a hard time parsing this sentence.
Here are the bits that I think I understand:

最近まで
Until recently
考えてもみなかったこと
Things that I don't see even though I ponder
頭に浮かんできた
It started coming to my mind

But I really can't wrap my head around なだれるように, and the global meaning of the sentence and how the bits are connected to each other.
Furthermore, Jisho says ろくに means "well, enough, sufficient", but I don't really get how it fits in this sentence.
What would be a correct translation of that sentence?
Also, what is the nuance that ろくに brings in here?


texts: What is the upper radical in the Kanji 悪?

texts:
I recognize the heart radical at the bottom of the kanji 悪, but I cannot make my mind about the upper one.

Do you know the name of this radical?
Do you also know of another Kanji using this radical?

I have some notions of Chinese, and I don't seem to recognize a similar radical. I have been told Kanji/Hanzi have been simplified differently during history depending on Chinese or Japan. So maybe there's a different simplified Chinese form for this one.


texts:
I'm currently working on a translation of a song ("故" by Gremlins) and I have run into something quite strange... While it is not unusual for Japanese lyricists to use kanji with a different meaning than what their singing suggests, or otherwise be creative with their lyrics, I cannot find a connection here, or even understand why he would use these kanji together.

The lyrics goes like this:

愛が故、枯れる花弁。

哀しき月明かり。

息を沈め、空溶かし、今艶を求む。

降り注ぐ優しき愛で、

あなたを愛憎しむ。

亡きを見つめ、飛び続け、尚、供膳を望む

羽ばたいて。

I am almost a hundred percent certain what he says is 'kuzen wo nozomu' but while the reading makes sense, I don't actually know what it would mean? Nozomu looks sligtly different to me too, but that could be the small font in the pamphlet, I am not sure. I haven't been able to find the kanji I see it as anywhere...

Does anyone have any suggestions? The theme is very traditional, so there could be some classical or outdated kanji use involved, but I have no clue.


texts: Can "mata itsuka" be used in casual conversation?

texts:
Recently I came across this exchange:

Person A: Ja ne.
Person B: Mata aou.
Person C: Ja ne. Mata itsuka.

Real casual till that last line. I've been told that "itsuka" is a way to express uncertainty.
1. Does this make the exchange bittersweet, despite the casual tone of both speakers?
2. Can 'mata itsuka' be used in casual Japanese?
3. Does it infer that the speakers will or will not meet again?

Thanks in advance~!


texts: Convert Japanese Style English Font to Normal(?) English Font

texts:
This might be computer science related question.

I am manipulating Japanese data and in some Japanese words, there are English words and Numbers are in.

ＳＹＳＫＥＮ, 松井ケ丘３, コメリＨ＆Ｇ, 篠路７－１ are the examples.

I see spacing between 'special characters', which are not Japanese/Kanji.
I am trying to find convert them to normal(I guess it does not look normal to Japanese) English like "SYSKEN, 松井ケ丘3, コメリH&G, 篠路7-1" but I cannot start to where.

What those fonts? or spacing rules are called in Japan or world wide?

Please guide me to solve my assginments :(


texts: What is really the use of the particle "no"?

texts: So I learned that no/の is used as a possesive noun. For example, Kimi no/君の = "Your" in English. I also learned that it can be used to connect nouns together. So, say kookoo no sensei/高校の先生, means "high school teacher". However, I saw someone say "Pasuta o taberu no ga suki desu/パスタを食べるのが好きです" to mean "I like to eat pasta." So this really confuses me. From  what I know, the particle "ga/が"  marks the ability  of doing something, like "I can eat sushi" while "o/を" is used to say "I eat sushi." So the sentence "Pasuta o taberu no ga suki desu/パスタを食べるのが好きです" really confuses me. Could someone please break it down and explain it for me? (In romaji/ローマ字, as much as you can)


texts:
彼女は表情が生き生きとしておりとてもかわいい。

was translated awkwardly on ALC as

  She is very pretty for the liveliness of her expression.

Which おり is this? I think I know it from the polite しております　but is it here wielding more expressive meaning?


texts:
こにちは also reads as konichiwa

Why the extra ん


texts:
I'm kind of lost with the phrase うがった見方 used in NHK's special news program subtitles. They were showing U.S. President Trump speaking about his Russia ties allegations. The voice commentary was トランプ大統領はロシア疑惑に対して否定を繰り返しています and then the program proceeded to show Trump's explanation along with Japanese subtitles:

There's been no collusion, no obstruction.
And virtually everybody agrees to that.
共謀はなかった　誰もそう考えている

The above is shortened, but the subtitles clearly echo Trump's words. Then:

Whole thing is ridiculous if you want to know the truth from that standpoint.
うがった見方をしているだけだ
ばかばかしい

ばかばかしい again is a direct quotation, but but what is うがった見方をしているだけだ supposed to mean here?
It doesn't seem like a translation of "if you want to know the truth from that standpoint" (and shouldn't it end with で to connect to ばかばかしい?).
Is still a translation of Trump's words or is it a description of his conduct?
うがった見方 is translated as "penetrating remark" -- I can't see that relate either to Trump's conduct directly, nor to what he was talking about. Does it have another meaning?

Besides, does うがった見方 have to be true? Or can it be used just for any "spiteful" or "touching" remark?


texts: 娘、本を投げてパパに渡した事があって怒ったんです。 Can anyone explain what is going on in this sentence?

texts:
I am at a loss, as this just makes no sense to me. I might have already forgotten some nuance of the language, but for an hour I tried to translate this to something that makes sense, and was not able to. This is a sentence, with no other context, so that's of no help either. Could also be that there are typos.
娘、本を投げてパパに渡した事があって怒ったんです。
Who does what in this sentence, who is angry, who throws the book and just what is going on here?


texts: "社長に議長に田中氏を任命された” is ambiguous?

texts:
社長に議長に田中氏が任命された。

i think the possible meanings are:

  Mr. Tanaka was appointed by the chairman to be the president.
  Mr. Tanaka was appointed by the president to be the chairman.

Is that all correct?

Using the idea in this thread The grammar of “虎から食べられた” and “虎に食べられた”? is maybe this a possible remedy:

  社長から議長に田中氏を任命された。

making it unambiguous and meaning

  Mr. Tanaka was appointed to be the chairman by the president.

Does changing "に" to "から" both sound natural and remove ambiguity?


texts: Apparent inconsistency in turning い-adjectives into nouns: 赤い→赤 vs 近い→近く

texts:
Consider these adjectives:

赤い
近い

The い-declension works for sentence ending as well as directly modifying a noun:

Now if I want to express the adjective as a noun, for example I'm talking about "red(noun)" instead of "a red(adjective) thing":

Remove い from 赤い to obtain the noun 赤.

Note that く can be appended to form 赤く which exists as an adverb.

赤になる and 赤くなる are both possible with similar meaning. This leads me to conclude that 赤 is independent from the 赤い which 赤く can be derived from.

But if I try the same thing for 近い I find that I have to add く for it to mean a noun.

Step 1. Remove い from 近い to obtain the fragment(for lack of a better word) 近. 近 does not seem to be able to stand alone (or can it?).
Step 2. Append  く to 近 to obtain 近く1

But 近く also exists as 近く2 - the adverb that can be derived from 近い.

What is Step 2? It is different from the く-declension for adverbial usage.　Why doesn't 赤い get a 赤く noun that is derived from Step 2?


texts: Are 桃色 and ピンク the same color or are they slightly different colors?

texts:
English
I sometimes see both 桃色 and ピンク translated to "pink."
In Japanese, are 桃色 and ピンク the same colors, or do they refer to similar but different colors?
Japanese
たまに「桃色」と「ピンク」が英語の「pink」に訳されているのを見かけます。
日本語だと、桃色とピンクはまったく同じ色ですか、あるいは似ているけれど違う色ですか。


texts: What's the difference between 平行 and 並行?

texts:
They both seem to mean "parallel".  In my プログレッシブ dictionary, it seems to point to the former being the more mathematical sense of the definition (two co-planar, non-intersecting lines), while the latter indicates a more metaphorical definition (doing things at the same time, parallel computing, etc.).

However, my 大辞泉 has the following:

  平行：「並行（へいこう）②」に同じ。（並行② is the metaphorical definition)

So which is it?  Are they distinct like プログレッシブ says, or does 平行 encompass 並行 like 大辞泉 says?


texts:
The following is an excerpt out of a conversation between me and my language partner. For context:
基本的には italki と同じです。時間があるときにメッセージを読んだり書いたりします。Skype の便利なところは、イラスト、写真、リンク、ファイルなど、いろいろなものを送れるところです。文章を読むだけではわかりにくいことも、イラストや写真、時にはYouTubeの動画なども使って説明することができます。モチベーションを保つためには、楽しみながら学ぶことが大切だと思います。

The sentence in question:
モチベーションを保つためには、楽しみながら学ぶことが大切だと思います。

My attempt at translation:
"Concerning preservation of motivation, I think it is important for having fun while at the same time studying."

So the problem here is that in the way I translated the sentence, I'd rather expect the particle に instead of が in 楽しみながら学ぶことが大切だ.
So, either I misunderstood the sentence entirely or there is something about the use of が in the construction at hand which I don't know yet :D


texts:
I picked up the following phrase to say "I hope you are well":

  うまくいきますように!

Looking this up in a dictionary, it seems it could become:

  上手く行きますように!

Is this correct, or is it better to leave out the Kanji-fication?


texts: Usage of イングランド, イギリス, and 英国

texts:
It has always been my understanding that the word for England is イギリス. But the wikipedia page for English-American says イングランド系アメリカ人. Even rikaichan has イングランド as England. Is there a difference in usage between these two words? What about 英国?

And as a side question, where does the word イギリス come from?


texts: 允可ス on Aikido Certificate - Meaning and Katakana Usage

texts:
I'm still a Nihongo Noob but recently I tried to translate my Aikido certificate for fun. The important part says:
my name

右者今般合気道 (みぎもの こんぱん あいきどう)

参段ヲ允可ス (さんだん を いんかす)

which basically translates to "Person to the right - now - Aikido - 3rd rank - permission (?)"
What struck me first was that the object marker ヲ and the ス are in Katakana. I found out that this is common practice in official documents and sometimes a matter of fashion.

Can someone confirm this, please?

Second I could not find out the function of the ス. According to Jisho 允可 (いんか, permission) can be both a noun and a suru-verb.

If it's a noun, what does the ス mean here? And if it's used as a suru-verb, what kind of strange conjugation of する applies here?


texts: What does "ああ　こいつ　ひろわれっ子なんで　かーちゃんいないんだ”

texts:
I have problem understanding the following scene from a manga (Yotsuba&! vol. 1 pg. 196):

Person A: Oh yeah, what about Yotsubas mother?
Person B: ああ　こいつ　ひろわれっ子なんで　かーちゃんいないんだ

(I put spaces where line breaks are in the manga).
I understand parts of that sentence but can't find what the phrase in the middle of it means ("ひろわれっ子なんで"). As the character for child is the only kanji I have trouble even knowing how many words are in there, and dictionaries aren't of much help. I found a translation of the manga online and they claim it means

Oh, she was an abandoned child so she doesn't have a mom

but when I tried searching "abandon child", It appears the verb "捨てる" is used (like for example here: 彼女は自分の子供たちを捨てた). Could you help me understand what exactly is said in there?


texts: How are Japanese company division, section or department names translated?

texts: How are Japanese company division, section or  department names usually translated to English e.g. 「システム開発1部ソリューション１課」? Does it translate it to System Development Department 1 Solution Section 1?


texts:
The meaning of よう in this sentence?

  先生に相談したところ、ぜひ大学院に行くよう勧められた。

I assume that it introduces the advice, but it shouldn't be a particle or something like that?


texts:
It has always struck me as strange that 買 "buy" and 売 "sell", which are antonyms, have the same on-reading バイ. A few questions:

Is there some logic (possibly stemming from the Chinese use of these characters) behind the readings being so similar?
How are the characters 買 and 売 related? Is one derived from the other?

(This post is inspired by the comments on this answer, which ought to find their way into a proper answer rather than languishing in the comments section.)


texts: What is the difference between 悩み and 疑問?

texts:
On the Q&A site OKWAVE, it says that its purpose to help people resolve their questions and/or problems, and it uses 悩み and 疑問.

According to Weblio, 悩み has the meanings of “trouble(s), worry, distress; agony, anguish; a problem”, and 疑問 has the meanings of “(a) doubt; a problem, a question”.

Does anyone know the difference between these two terms?


texts:
How to translate 'She was made to make him give me the book'?
(as in: 'someone made her make him give me the book.')

Can I translate it to:

Kanojo wa watasi-ni kare-ni hon-o kure-sase-sase-rare-ta.

彼女は私に彼に本をくれさせさせられた。

Please kindly help.


texts: I was wondering, when writing something like 「〜だと思う」should I keep it as だ or say 「であると思う？」Would both work? Thanks so much!!


texts:
I've been trying to understand lyrics of a j-pop song by Utada Hikaru. It's your typical pop fare, with a healthy dose of unrequited love and self-affirmation. At one point in lyrics, however, the story takes a weird turn:

幸せになろう
言い訳は無用
遠回りしてでも…(ヲー!)
待ち合わせしよう
跳び箱の向こう
両手でしっかりと…

What is that vaulting horse doing there?! The naive interpretation is that the whole story is happening in a school setting, and it's a literal reference. I'm guessing that 跳び箱 might have been used to mean an obstacle/hurdle to overcome - together with subsequent practical advice on how to vault it. I just haven't met any idiom like this before. Is it an actual phrase/idiom, or just licentia poetica? :)

Full lyrics are here if you need more context.


texts: How would I say "The place where I come from/where I come from"

texts: If wished to say "The weather where I come from is worse" i.e., the weather in the place where I come from, how would I say this naturally? Would I use 「故郷」、「出身地」、or is there a more natural way of saying this? Thanks


texts: How does one give directions in Japanese (e.g. to a cab driver)?

texts: I already know some things, like 「最初{さいしょ｝の道｛みち｝を右｛みぎ｝に曲｛ま｝がって」 and the like. However, unless one knows the exact moment to shout 「止｛と｝めて！」 then one would need to know how to say things like "it's the third building on the right" or "stop at the building with the sign on it" or something. Those were vague examples, but can someone help me with giving directions, like to a cab driver or a guest?


texts:
昨日は疲れていてテスト勉強ができませんでしたが、今日はできると思います。

In this sentence, is this いて after 疲れて explaining the reason? Why was he not able to study? Why can't we use から or ので?


texts: に越したことはない vs に越したことないじゃない

texts:
I would appreciate help with the following sentence (which is spoken by a rightfully angry girl).

  よしゅうふくしゅうをしておくにこしたことないじゃない!

I know that にこしたことはない is an expression that means "there's nothing better than" and I roughly understand its construction. But I can't figure out how ないじゃない instead of はない works.

So, first, I'd like to know what happens structurally. Does ないで get inserted between こと and は, or does the は get dropped and じゃない added at the end?

Then, second, how does this affect the meaning? Is it emphasis? Is it rhetorical? Does it show the speaker is upset? Or is it a form of feminine speech?

Thank you in advance.


texts:
~口先生

Nothing comes to mind when I look at the first Kanji. I searched for Surnames with 口 in them but nothing seems to match.
Here are all the surnames matching ~口


texts:
In an answer to this question, Tsuyoshi Ito correctly points out that you can sometimes change the consonant や, a variant of は, into a glide but sometimes you cannot.

聞きやしない
聞きゃ(ー)しない
　大きすぎやしない
* 大きすぎゃ(ー)しない

When can you do it, when can you not?


texts: Why is the phrase ご連絡申しあげます linguistially correct?

texts:
I assume ご連絡申しあげます and ご連絡を申しあげます have the same meaning, but differ in style. I use them interchangeably below. This question is not about existence of を unless it was relevant to understanding the phrase.

Having received an email ending with announcement of future contact in the form of 「ご連絡を申し上げます」 I am wondering how this phrase is built up, so that it is accepted.

My main point of confusion is using the verb 申し上げる a humble form of "to talk", "to say", "to express" with a noun 連絡 meaning "connection", "contact", "communication". Using both words as predicate and subject makes no sense in English and probably most Indo-European languages (while the same words have equivalent usage patterns in many other combinations).

To help understand readers, what is my concern, I have following hypotheses:

1) Is 連絡 a thing that you can say or express like お礼を申し上げます／お礼を言います? Can I simplify (keigo aside) it to 連絡を言います? (I can't find any proof in dictionaries it works this way)

2) Maybe as suggested here or here 申し上げます preceded by お〜/ご〜 works like 致します, but how universal would it be? Can I say お待たせを申し上げます?

3) If お待たせ example does not sound strange, maybe the construction is some kind of a contraction of (お待たせいたしました)を申し上げます being "I would like to express - sorry to keep you waiting".

4) Or maybe it is just a set phrase ご連絡申しあげます coming from custom or tradition?


texts:
I sometimes hear or read sentences such as:

行かないでよね！
聞かないでよね！

I get 「行かないでね！」and 「行かないでよ！」 but I wonder what nuance is added when both of them are used like in these examples.

I have the feeling that these are often used by young girls but I am not sure. Can it be used by men too?


texts: My impression is that, in speech, 名前 is polite, and 名 is ruder - but in writing, 名 sounds more literary. Am I correct?


texts:
In a sentence

  もう、何度目の北航路になるだろう

I break down 北航路 as 北{きた} + 航路{こうろ} ("north course", based on a previous context where words were used separately).  But would it also make sense (perhaps in some other context) to break it down as 北航{ほっこう} + 路{じ} (something like "north-sailing route")?  Or does such split makes no sense?


texts:
つまり他人の未来を知る、という事は他人の現在と過去を熟知してなければならない訳だ。
  それも、未来という答えを弾き出す為に、自分の人生と等価値になるほど深く。
  だがそこまで他人の過去や現在を熟知してしまっては色々と不都合が生じてしまう。

I am not sure about what the second bold part refers to?
I believe it refers to the first bold one

  Long story short, knowing strangers future you have to have knowledge of strangers past and present.
  Moreover, in order to understand the future you have to have a deep understanding as much as you have for your life.
  But, having such a deep understanding of others past and present will cause various incoveniences.

Is it correct?


texts:
I recently had a major error on my translation for an agency, and am still confused.

The wider context is that this person doesn't like dealing (being seen) by staff when borrowing money, so prefers to use automated services.  This is his final thought:

  だから人に見られてどうか、っていうので、機械にするか、生身の人間のやりとりがいいかっていう、使い分けかなとは思ってます。

I translated it as:

  "So, regardless of whether I'm seen by other people..."

But apparently that's incorrect.

Also, with regards to incorporating っていうので, could it be something like:

  "So, as I say,..."

Many thanks for your help in advance.


texts:
This is only a simple correcting problem I encountered in a book.

社長さんは工場＿をご覧になりたがっています。＿

The part between "_" is the part that need to be corrected.

I've looked up some pages and saw multiple opinions about 尊敬語 of 欲しがる.

The one I agree to is that 欲しがる doesn't have a 尊敬語.

But how can I correct this sentence then..?(´･_･`)

I know that 欲しがる is rude in here but have no idea what word can I change it to.


texts: Pronunciation of 三分 when it means three minutes

texts: According to jisho, when 三分 means three minutes, it is pronounced さんぷん, however Google Translate mentions it as さんぶ. Are any of these wrong, or is it dialect? Are there other pronunciations?


texts: General conditional (-えば form) expressing something without supposition or back thought?

texts:
I found a resource which says the -eba form is a form used to express a conditional without supposition or back thought.

I didn't find any others resources that spoke about the same thing. Is this a mistake in my resource or is it real ?

Is there another conditional form to specifically express something conditional but with a supposition or a back thought ?

I also found this useful post for Differences among -たら、なら、-んだったら、-えば, etc but it doesn't help my case.

Edit : If someone is French, here is the link of JLPT-Go (the ressource which says that)


texts: What is the difference between 近代 and 近代化?

texts: I've seen 「近代化{きんだいか}」or「近代化する」used to mean "modernization". I've also seen "近代" used to describe someone as "modern" (e.g. "近代的な人"). Obviously both words have the root "modern" somewhere but I'm confused about the nuances and when to use one over another.


texts: Is 分 a counter after 円 following a number, e.g. 500円分?


texts:
I found this sentence in a fiction I'm reading and am confused about what したて means after 弟子入り. Context: He is talking to a young merchant who reminded him of himself when he was younger.

なんだか、親戚の行商人の元に弟子入りしたての頃を思い出したのだった。

Although I understand the gist of the sentence, I've never seen したて as a form of する. I thought maybe it might be 仕立て from 仕立てる to meaning training? So 弟子入り仕立て would mean something along the lines of "Apprentice in training"? Is this correct or am I interpreting it wrong?


texts: All we can できるだけは できるのは

texts:
Does this Japanese sentence make sense?

その問題を解くために、私たちができるだけはできるのは、ほとんどありません。

I would like to say:

There is not much we can do about solving this problem.

The more literal translation would be:

In order to solve this problem, all we can do is almost nothing.

For the grammatical construction "できるだけはできるのは", please refer to this link.


texts: Do Japanese have a similar expression for "the list goes on"?

texts:
For example, I want to say "When I was 8, I wanted to be a go player. When was 10, I dreamed of becoming a novelist. The list goes on."

  ８歳の時、碁打ちになりたいでした。１０歳、小説家になるのが欲しいでした。「？」


texts: し合う vs 互いに. What nuance do they add or what is the nuance when one is removed from a sentence?

texts:
My understanding of 互いに 'mutually' or 'each other', while the auxiliary verb 合う usually means 'to/with each other'. I have seen sentences with them used together but also with only one and I'm wondering what the difference is.

For example:

  あの二匹の犬は互いに追いかけ合っています

  あの二匹の犬は互いに追いかけています。

  あの二匹の犬は追いかけ合っています。

Or:

  私たちは月に一回互いにメール交換をし合っています。

  私たちは月に一回互いにメール交換をしています。

  私たちは月に一回メール交換し合っています。

Or:

  彼らは互いに話し合っています。

  彼らは互いに話しています。

  彼らは話し合っています。


texts: What does it mean when multiple 々 marks follow a 、?

texts:
I was glancing at some old manuscripts from the Heian period (左経記 pg. 10) when I saw the following:

I know that typically 々 means to repeat the previous kanji, but what does it mean when its following a 、? Also, is there a reason there are so many of them in a row like in 々々々應召?


texts: How to distinguish between different types of katakana words?

texts:
I'm a beginner with Japanese and have been practising katakana more recently and in doing so, I noticed that many—maybe most—times, the reason something is written in katakana is because it is derived from English. Some katakana words are also derivatives of other languages (e.g. "アルバイト").

However, sometimes Japanese words are written in katakana despite their being originally Japanese.

How can I as a beginner distinguish between these different types of katakana?


texts:
雪国に暮らす上で大変なことは、毎日の雪かきです。

In this phrase why didn't we use の particle after 上で?


texts: Does remembering meanings in two languages help

texts:
Let me explain, I know 2 languages, portuguese and english. When I learn the meaning of a new word in Japanese, I take note of and try to remember the meaning in english as well as in portuguese. For example, I write "今日 = today / hoje". I do this thinking that this would help because it feels more toward remembering a meaning and not word equivalence.

Does that really help? Or is it a waste of time? Or it actually confuses me?


texts:
Case A

When a police prompts me to show my id card, he might say:

  在留カードを見せてください！

I am not sure whether it is natural if he says:

  在留カードを見させてください！

Case B

A boy enters an emergency room where his brother's wound is being sutured by a doctor. In order to avoid mental disturbance, his father covers the boy's eyes but he insists on seeing and says:

  見させてください！

I am sure it is impossible to use

  見せてください！

in this case.

Question

Is there any case in which 見せてください and 見させてください are interchangeable?


texts:
話し合いの結果、事務所と食堂は禁煙ということになった。

First, my translation:

"As a result of the discussion, office and dining hall became non-smoking area"

I think that in this case, ことになった isn't used in the sense of 私は出張することになった。=> It was decided that I make the business trip.
Instead, I think that it is more 禁煙ということ+なった.
"It became a non-smoking thing"

I might be wrong though, because I must admit that I still have quite a lot of issues with という. It's not that it would hinder me from understanding a sentence (at least in most cases), but it's still kind of a blackbox for me, since I can't really detect much regularity in its use.


texts:
あなたのへんがお写真を、シアトル市におくります。
What is the function of が here?

why not あなたのへんなお写真？


texts: Formal way of expressing something (like a job) done for someone

texts:
I'm looking for a formal way (as in a CV) to express something done for a particular client, for example:

(I've) developed websites for Clients X and Y

The only form that comes to mind is ～のために, but that doesn't sound formal to me, especially in the context of a CV.


texts:
Can someone explain the differences between v-ていく and v-てくる for me. I know that they both express some kind of ongoing action (like a place getting crowded). For example, what's the difference between 込んでいく and 込んでくる, or is it even possible to use both of these. Also, do you generally use kanji to write these?

Most of the examples I can think of use v-てくる, like 雨がやんできた, or 空が明るくなってきた. How does the meaning change if I use いく instead?

Edit: changed て行く／て来る to the more proper ていく／てくる.


texts: Is there any difference in meaning between 陥る and 落ち入る?

texts:
These two words appear to mean the same thing and the entry on Google dictionary gives the definition as the same for both.

Are there any cases where you would use one instead of the other?


texts:
I want to know if there is a rule or way of thinking that makes it easier to understand which adjectives can be used in the following pattern.

体にいいです。
健康にわるいです。
酒によわいです。
電車に詳しいです。
その場にふさわしかった。

I tried using
子供に怖い and it was unacceptable, so I wish to know, what is the general relationship between the noun and the adjective and how do you know in what sense to use them and which adjectives it works with.

Can you explain using more examples? Please be as verbose as possible as I cannot find ANYTHING about it on the internet or in any textbooks despite copious amounts of searching.

Random ideas:
Is it related to:

  お金がないのに・・・
  おみやげにチョコをもらった。


texts:
What is the meaning of ことに当たるように in this example (there is already a post of にあたって/にあたり, but I can't understand)?

  以後{いご}はトムと協力{きょうりょく}してことに当{あ}たるように。


texts:
I've heard people say "So! So! So! So! So!" (or possibly "Sou! Sou! Sou!" or maybe using "z" instead of "s" - I'm bad at hearing) when laughing in agreement.

When middle-aged women speak Japanese gives an example of this:

Oishii! (Or any other word from the options supplied below.)
So desu ne!
So so so so so!
So ka!
Ne?
Ne!
[continues on - too long for this question]

How is is spelt? Is it the same as the そう that's used in そう です? I tried searching for 然う然う然う然う然う (apparently 然う is a rarer, kanji form according to jisho.org) but couldn't find anything.


texts: Jumbichū or Junbichū for じゅんびちゅう, Konban wa or Komban wa for こんばんは？

texts:
Can someone give me some advice. In some text books I see N used and in some I see M used for ん and in a dictionary I see them using n with a line above it.

I assume this is because of the way the words appear in Romaji but would like some advice as I am getting a bit confused and in particular the dictionary where an n appears with a line above.


texts:
ロケットから出たガスなどが小さな氷になって...
  The gases that came from the rocket turned into small ice (crystals) and ...

Is this sentence complete? I would expect to see "small ice crystals", "small pieces of ice" etc, rather than just "small ice".

If this is fine can I extend it to other quantities that, in English, would be regarded as uncountable, e.g. can I say 大きな水 to mean large droplets of water, or even large amounts of water. Depending on the context I can imagine this referring to cloud formation or contrasting the size of a lake with the size of an ocean.


texts: What's the difference between “rei" (冷) and “Samui” (寒い)?

texts:
What's the difference between “rei"冷 and “Samui” 寒い ?
Both mean “cold”, but when would you use one over the other?

Please explain by giving reference to the below examples:

冷凍用ビニール袋 (reitou-you Binīru fukuro)
Freezer bag

寒いです (
samui desu)
It is cold


texts:
This might come across as a dumb question, but learning through multiple websites for basic grammar, I started with stuff like this. After learning a bit more about verbs conjugation, I've gotten a bit confused on whether I should use the state of being for some things, or something like this.
Which of these would be correct?
Using what the first link says
I am a student = 学生だ
I'm not a student = 学生じゃない
I was a student = 学生だった
I was not a student = 学生じゃなかった
OR
Using what the second link says
I am a student = 学生です
I'm not a student = 学生ではありません
I was a student = 学生でした
I was not a student = 学生ではありませんでした
Would both be correct to use, depending on the situation? Like, would the state of being be more for if I wanted to be more declarative when saying something? As far as I know, it can only be used on nouns, and na-adjectives. Would both technically be correct or would one be more natural than the other? Would the first method be the more informal way of speaking, where as the second method would be more formal, or am I completely missing something? I'm hoping someone can clear this up, I know it's really basic stuff, but I'd rather not mess up something simple, and cause myself problems, in the future.


texts:
For full context:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10011273631000/k10011273631000.html

The sentence in question:
水族館の人は、「ペンギンはくちばしを空に向けて大きな声で鳴いたあと、頭を下げます。それが神社でお参りしているように見えます」と話していました。

My attempt at translation:
"An employee of the aquarium said 'After the penguins had sung with a strong voice with their muzzle pointed towards the sky, they lowered their heads. This seems like they are worshipping at the shrine.'"

I couldn't come up with an interpretation making more sense than this one. However, especially since が instead of は is used in それが神社でお参りしているように見えます, I'm not sure if my translation is legit. I'm not very good in distinguishing where は instead of が should be used or vice versa, but since が is oftentimes used when something is newly introduced into the universe of discourse, I was surprised to see it in use here because what this それが points back to isn't new in this conversation.


texts:
One thing that has always confused me is how the word 叶【かな】う took on the meaning of for a (wish) to come true. I find this perplexing because in Chinese, the word has never had this meaning. 叶's ancient meaning was:

  叶：古文協字。 (Meaning the same as 協)

More recently, 叶 has become the character in simplified Chinese meaning 葉 because it has historically been mistakenly used as a replacement due to being similarly sounding.

However, neither of these meanings are at all close to a wish coming true.

Why/when/how did the kanji 叶 become associated with this meaning?


texts:
I'm a bit confused about how "しかい" is used in this sentence I came across while studying:

そこには私一人しかいなかった。
"I was the only one there."

My guess is that it is an ending to "一人", but I couldn't find any information supporting that.


texts: でありません(でない) vs ではありません(ではない) vs でもありません(でもない)

texts:
でありません （でない）
ではありません （ではない）
でもありません （でもない）

Can anyone tell me the differences between these three?
And in what kinds of context would people use these three?


texts: で or に: how does the meaning of a sentence change?

texts:
Supposing I wanted to say "I see the fireworks at the summer festival". Would this be:

  夏{なつ}祭{まつ}りで花{はな}火{び}を見{み}ます。

or

  夏祭りに花火を見ます。

If both are correct, how does the meaning differ between each?


texts:
Full text: その他有価証券評価差額金
My issue: 有価証券. Is it "Securities" or "Marketable Securities"?
My understanding: Valuation difference on other marketable securities


texts: Does 結ぶ refer to sex or intimate relations?

texts:
Was watching a drama and in the episode following a progress in a relationship where the main character finally kissed her boyfriend, her mother asked her "__君と結ばれたのね".
The characters were shown in the next episode to be sleeping in the same bed, dressed, in the next episode where previously the guy slept on a futon while she slept on his bed. Apart from that line, nothing else was mentioned or hinted. The show is not sexual at all so pretty unlikely but wondering if there's a possibility it means that.
Or can Musubu just mean getting closer? The mother already knew they were dating so the sudden question about bonding closer out of the blue and the character being surprised is just weird imo if it truly was non-sexual. Can one even date without being bonded? If anyone is bothered/interested, it is 16:12 of this episode. https://dramacool.vc/35sai-no-shoujo-episode-7.html


texts: Grammatic relationships inside a sentence - parsing

texts:
once again I need again your help:
I have this sentence and also its translation (same auther/text as here) :

  まだどこにも兆{きざ}していない死苦{しく}が、感覚{かんかく}を灼{や}けた鉄{てつ}のように真赤{まっか}に鍛{きた}えてくれるのを感{かん}じた。

I think I understand the first part well enough (まだどこにも兆{きざ}していない死苦{しく}が)

but I have problems parsing the second part because I am unsure which parts belong together and why it is 死苦 that heats the feelings.
Furthermore, I have trouble understanding the role of くれるの.

Anyway, I believe at least that 感覚{かんかく}を灼{や}けた鉄{てつ}のように真赤{まっか}に鍛{きた}えて belongs together.

Thanks a lot for any help.


texts: Does だって find it's roots in some different combination of words, or is it it's own, self made, particle? Where does だって come from?


texts: What is being abbreviated as っちゃあ in 「忙しいっちゃあ忙しいけど…」?

texts:
I see the pattern [Adj1]っちゃあ[Adj1]（けど） relatively often, and I know that I've learned it before... I even know what it means. ...but what is it an abbreviation of? It is an abbreviation of something, right?

I've thought maybe ～といえば～ or ～というのは～, or something else along those lines, but 1) none of them seem to feel right to me, and 2) there aren't any relevant results on Google with those, so I assume (perhaps incorrectly?) that they're incorrect.

So what is っちゃあ?


texts: How are "comfort women" referred to nowadays?

texts:
Apologies for discussing terms related to such an unpleasant topic.

The obvious Japanese translation of "comfort women" is "慰安婦", as the English term is a calque of the Japanese term.

However, how are they referred to nowadays, such as by the media? Do they use the term "慰安婦" as-is, or do something different, such as using something like so-called, adding the equivalent of scare quotes (apparently not done in Japanese), or choosing some term that is less euphemistic and more explicit?

Searching jisho.org for "comfort woman" or "comfort women" mainly got hits relating to 慰安婦, as did searching for "sex slave" or "sexual slave".

I tried looking at a google translated page of the Japanese-language Wikipedia article on 慰安婦. It was a little hard to read. The section 日本における呼称 seemed to be about how they were described at the time. The section 辞書、事典の記載 may or may not be relevant - I'm not sure if it's talking about what term was used, or whether it talks about how dictionaries or encyclopedias described what those terms meant. The section 従軍慰安婦」という呼称 has a couple of paragraphs that appear to be about terminology in the time between the war and now, and a single line paragraph saying that "いわゆる従軍慰安婦" is currently used by the Japanese government and NHK, which according to Google Translate means "so-called comfort women". That's the kind of information I'm after, but I'm not sure how reliable or complete that one-line paragraph is.

I also looked at the Japanese Wikipedia article 性的奴隷, but it mainly mentioned what terms specific organisations used, plus what the Yomiuri Shimbun used in English.


texts: NHK has a series titled 「きらり！えん旅【たび】」. What does the えん in えん旅 mean?

texts: I saw a broadcast named 「えん旅」 on NHK. It's about travel, food, culture. Is it some abbreviation? I don't understand what the 「えん～」 part means.


texts: Come to ～: ～てくる vs. ～ようになる

texts:
Can someone please explain the fine nuances of these two?  Things such as:

Are there conditions/restrictions of when you can use one or the other?
What are the "approximate" time periods that each covers?
Anything else relevant...

Here's an example I saw on a particular website.

  最近Xの機能を使ってきたみたい、ね！　→　What it actually said
  最近Xの機能を使うようになったみたい、ね！　→　What I thought it should have said


texts:
I'm not sure how to translate the following sentence:

「お前（末永）ほどのアホは初めて見たが、お前のアホは俺様（小林）が観察する為にあるのだから、むやみに人前でアホを披露してはいけない」（『ゴーマニズム宣言』より）が採用理由の一つだと言う。

( taken from https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/末永直海 )

This is how I translate it:

"This is the first time I've seen anybody as stupid as you. Because I'll be observing you, don't be reckless and show your stupidity in front of other people" (according to Gomanism sengen, this is one reason she (末永直海) was hired (by 小林))

I feel my translation doesn't make much sense.


texts: How to parse this sentence and how to understand ため?

texts:
I was trying to read this editorial and I am really wondering how I should understand the following sentence.

  　露骨な介入の背景には、１０月の党大会を控えて権力基盤を強めたい思惑もあろう。｛｛江沢民{こうたくみん}政権時代の既得権益層が｛今も力を持つとされる｛石油や電力などの｝業界｝｝が、習{しゅう}指導部に忠誠を示すかどうかの判断材料とする｝ためである。

Here is how I understand it, I included in parenthesis the word or group of words I tried to translate.

  In the background of this open intervention, reinforcing the basic prerogatives seems to be a desired intention (思惑) of the upcoming (を控えて) one party big meeting to be held in October. That is because (ため), the fact that whether the electric and petroleum industry, which were regarded as powerful under the Jiang Zemin (江沢民{こうたくみん}) leadership and still are (regarded as powerful), will show their allegiance to the Xi leadership (習{しゅう}指導部) or not will serve as decision material.

I have real difficulties with how to render 思惑 in the first phrase, I am not sure to understand well を控えて and above all I can't make head or tail of ため in the last sentence. The best I can think of is that ため goes with and explain the first sentence that ends with あろう. But all of that is just mere suppositions so I would be very grateful to anyone who could clarify this excerpt.


texts: Is “Hello Kitty” a pun for “I’m excited”?

texts: I was trying to decode this text on my mom’s chopsticks. I think it is はろうきてぃ. Is it a coincidence that it kind of sounds like “Hello Kitty” when I plug it into Google Translate, but translates to, “I’m excited”?


texts: １から１０まで (ichi kara juu made / 一から十まで) >> What does this mean in this context?

texts:
Full context: The MC is talking with a detective who pretended to accused MC as the murderer to the police — put him in jail to trick the real culprit — and then helped him escape from prison.

D1: ボクだっていつも自分の思い通りになるわけじゃない。いや、大体目論見の半分ぐらいが成功したらいいかなって。そういうつもりで動いているんだ。最初から。
それが君に関することは……なんていうか、１から１０までボクの目論見通り牢屋に入って、オスカーに接触して……脱獄して……
もしかしてこちらの意図なんて、全部見透かされてるのかな？って思ったりしたけど、全然そんなことないし。
君って、底抜けのバカなの？
MC: それを言われると身も蓋もないというか…

If you can please provide English translation for the sentence I don't understand
My TL "And regarding to what you did ...How should I put this, you did everything as I told from getting in jail according to my plan ,to contact with Oscar to get info... and then jail-break..


texts:
A character is trying to cross a checkpoint, but an official is asking for a pass.
The character answers:
知らん！ 急いでるからはよ通せ。

Using this this StackExchange question I came up with this translation:
"I don't understand! We are in a hurry ???? let us through".
In my understanding, 知らん is short/rough for 知らんない, and 急いでる is 急いで + いる (shortened). 通せ is the "command form" of 通す. The leaves からはよ, that I cannot understand.
Is my translation correct and what does mean からはよ here?


texts: Is there a difference between 中位（ちゅうい） and 中位（ちゅうくらい）?

texts: Ignoring ② here, is there any difference in daily usage/meaning? Is one used more often than another?


texts:
Coming across lines such as (two separate contexts):

  「ご飯をよそってきて食べなよ」

and

  「そんなに驚かないで。頭を冷やすために下でお茶でも淹れてくるよ」

I'm having trouble understanding the usage of 来る in both of these sentences.

I was told that the former sentence, 来る functions as an auxiliary (which makes sense in the surrounding context, since it isn't indicated that the person being told needed to move between different locations), but am then a little confused what it specifically functions as (besides perhaps,"to come to serving their rice", "to start serving their rice").

The second sentence seems much more clear with 来る functioning as a full verb, "to brew tea and return", "to go brew tea", but with how I understand the first line, I started getting second doubts here and thought that it could function as an auxiliary also, "to come to brew tea", "to start brewing tea."

Is there a general rule of thumb for particular verbs used with てくる, or is it solely reliant on context? Any clarification would be greatly appreciated, as well as correcting any misunderstandings I might have with 来る.


texts: How to express a comparison between two elements in two different fields

texts:
It can seem a trivial question but I am quite struggling. I would like to translate a sentence form like this one:

  [noun1] is more/less [adjective1] than [noun2] is [adjective2].


texts:
For full context:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10011281951000/k10011281951000.html

The sentence in question:
８日は、２０歳になって新しく成人した人をお祝いする成人の日でした。

My attempt at translation:
"About the 8th, it was the day of adults..."
I can't really translate any further. My translation makes so little sense then it gives me a headache.

The particle を requires a direct object, and this object would have to be お祝いする。If I regarded  お祝いする as an attribute of its own to 成人, it couldn't be interpreted as an object in context of the ２０歳になって新しく成人した人を clause anymore. However, if I don't regard it as an attribute of 成人, then I could theoretically interprete it as the noun お祝い representing the direct object in the ２０歳になって新しく成人した人を phrase. Then する would be the predicative of the ２０歳になって新しく成人した人をお祝い phrase, which seems possible in theory, but then again feels wrong because I've never before analysed a する verb that way. Rather I regarded them as one syntactical unit amounting to a predicative in the respective clause. Anyway, even in this latter case I just described, the translation I could come up with doesnt make much sense anyway and also probably doesn't even correctly reflect the syntax I assumed: "About the 8th, it was the day of adults who gift newly grown up adults becoming 20."


texts:
I'm reading someone's blog and I've come across this sentence. I feel as if I should know what づくし means here, but I just can't get my head around it.

そんな分からないづくしの世界と今自分がよく知っている世界…

If someone could give an explanation of づくし or however it is naturally conjugated, that'd be really appreciated.


texts: Etymology of transitive/intransitive verb pairs

texts:
Many verbs come in pairs, frequently but not always transitive/intransitive pairs. These verbs generally have multiple okurigana characters, but according to my dictionary one of the pair was formerly written with only one okurigana character. For example, 加える in bungo is written 加ふ. Some words, such as 抜く、have retained their original form, while also having more apparent derivations: 抜かる, 抜ける, and 抜かす.

What are the general etymological rules that produced such words? Am I correct in thinking that these are the result of compounding that may have resulted in semi-regular vowel elision in a previous state of the language?


texts:
So far, I know that in proper speech, 全然 should be used with negative verbs such as 全然出来ません or in expressions such as 全然だめ or 全然違う. I am curious about the second type of usage. In that case, 全然 is used with a positive verb that has a negative meaning or pejorative meaning. Is this a generally acceptable usage of the word, for example in these expressions that I just made up:

全然悪い(extremely bad),  全然無駄(totally useless), or 全然絶望(total despair).

I have never heard 全然 being used like this other than with だめ/違う so I was curious whether these are acceptable or not.

Would they fall under slang usage? for example as discussed in:
全然 {ぜんぜん} with positive adjective / na-adjective


texts:
why 小林 read as こばやし not as こはやし?
why 小林  read as こばやし not as こはやし?


texts:
This passage of the movie, Kotonoha No Niwa:

  鳴る神の
  少し響みてさし曇り
  雨も降らぬか
  きみを留めむ

Several sites translate as:

  A faint clap of thunder,
  clouded skies.
  Perhaps rain will come.
  If so, will you stay here with me?

And, the translation I see:

  Thunder echoes weak.
  Amid the cloudy (sky).
  The rain will fall?
  You'll remain here (?) (my certainty in that sentence is close to 0%).

I don't trust a lot in my translation, but I place less trust in texts found online. Could anyone tell me which one is more correct and why?
Or, if both are completely wrong, how I can properly translate this passage?


texts: It seems "hard deadline" can be translated to 厳しい締切. Would "soft deadline" then be translated as 厳しくない締切?

texts:
I have searched long and hard for a dictionary translation of "soft deadline" to no avail. Google Ngram shows that it has peaked in popularity in the last three decades, so it's relatively new. I think it comes from computer science.

In any case, does my translation follow? Any other ideas would be appreciated.

UPDATE

As requested in the comments, here is an example in which I would use this "soft deadline" expression:

"The hotel has a hard deadline for releasing rooms for the conference, so we should move our soft deadline for attendees back a week from that."


texts: Reading/speaking of 「市場」, which one can I use kun'yomi or on'yomi?

texts:
I came across the word [市場], which means market. In google translate the reading is 'Ichiba' but when I played the sound it gave me the sound 'shinjyou'.

I am aware that there are two readings for a character, i.e. kun'yomi (native japanese) and on'yomi (from chinese).

Though I am not sure which one to use when speaking/reading it, or is it ok to use both interchangeably?

Thank you!


texts: What is the recommended timing for あけおめ ことよろ?

texts:
Contrarily to the abbreviated informal (if not rude) version I used in the title, the usual greeting for the New Year is quite long:

  明けましておめでとうございます。今年もよろしくお願いします。

Those are two sentences, and it seems that they are usually pronounced with a slight pause between them. The reply is usually the same sentences:

明けましておめでとうございます。  今年もよろしくお願いします。

I am wondering what timing I should use to reply politely.

I have the impression than when communicating in Japan it is seen as more polite and respectful to take time when speaking (making longer greeting sentences), while on the opposite in some occidental cultures it feels more polite to not abuse of the interlocutor's time, and keep communications brief and efficient.

Is it okay to start replying after the first sentence:

  Interlocutor:明けましておめでとうございます。
  Me:明けましておめでとうございます。
  Interlocutor:今年もよろしくお願いします。
  Me:今年もよろしくお願いします。

Or can I wait until my interlocutor has finished saying their sentence, and take time to say mine too:

  Interlocutor:明けましておめでとうございます。今年もよろしくお願いします。
  Me:明けましておめでとうございます。今年もよろしくお願いします。

And of course Happy New Year everyone!


texts: What role do the Siddham characters have in Japanese?

texts:
The bonji, 梵字, are somewhat common. Are the only used as germ letters in Japanese, as has been explained to me, or are they used to form words and other higher concepts? Is this a living language process?
On a popular level, they are used as germ letters on gravestones and t-shirts from what I understand. Is there more extensive use?


texts:
In 合格できる N3 (page 28), I found the following exercise:

海外{がいかい}旅行{りょこう}で、習{なら}った英語{えいご}が（　　　）ときは、とてもうれしかった。
1.通{とお}した　　　　2.詰{つ}めた　　　　3.抜{ぬ}けた　　　　4.通{つう}じた

I have to fill in with the correct word.
My problems:
1.even though I know the meaning of every word from the main sentence, I just can't linked them together in order to make sense to me. So I can't come up with a clear meaning for the phrase I have to complete. Even so, looking at the given option I eliminated 2 and 3 and now I'm stuck with 1 and 4.
2.I don't know the meaning of 通{とお}した and 通{つう}じた. I mean I looked in more than a dictionary for definitions and I've searched for sentences where they are used (jisho, tatoeba...), but I don't get how one of these words can fit in this phrase.
Can you please explain me the mechanics behind this phrase and how/when to use 通{とお}した and 通{つう}じた?
Thank you.


texts: What does this sentence mean: "これぐらいで, その始末とはな"

texts:
Dear users I have a question regarding a Japanese phrase I encountered in a video game.

Context: In the video game, a young boy survives a bandit raid on his home village. Unfortunately his father is killed. A wizard appears and rescues the boy, teleporting both away. As a result of the teleport, the boy throws up and the wizard says "これぐらいで, その始末とはな". I don't quite know how to translate this sentence. The scene occurs e.G. on this video on minute 24:49

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8j2cX_tVpc&list=PLlSLks4jF4aCTf3cC19pbDoVn42JzoC_A

Could you help me?


texts:
I have a question about the meanings and usage of いいように. I thought that it only has one meaning, which is "to act as one wills, to do something as one wills". Like in the example below.

  彼らは、いいように[操]{あやつ}られている。

  They are being led by the nose.

At least before I saw the dialogue below, specifically this sentence - あくまでもいいように[捉]{とら}えればと言うことだが。. I was told that here いいように has the meaning same as よい方. And as far as I can understand, translation would sound something like "But only if I take it from the positive side." or "But only positively speaking.". Unfortunately I couldn't find this meaning/translation in dictionaries. So, could you please explain me the this expression.

  鈴:「じゃ、それで何か楽しいことしないと損じゃない？」

  私:「[損得勘定]{そん・とく・かん・じょう}の問題でもないように思いますけどね、これは」

  鈴:「なにさ、[相変]{あい・か}わらず細かいなー君は」

  鈴さんが[鷹揚]{おう・よう}過ぎるのだと思う。あくまでもいいように捉えればと言うことだが。


texts: How to ask a relative clause to describe an object that is marked with に。

texts:
OK so I understand that to say "He is lying to me", you would say:

  彼は私に嘘をついている。

My question is how would i say "The person he is lying to is me."

or from "I gave the book to my brother"

  兄さんに本をあげた。

"the person who i gave the book to is my older brother"


texts: When 間【あいだ】に and うちに are preceded by nouns, are they always interchangeable? For example, in 春【はる】休【やす】みのあいだに/うちに友達【ともだち】と一緒【いっしょ】に出掛【でか】けたい。 And also in: 大学生【だいがくせい】のうちに/間【あいだ】に留学【りゅうがく】する。


texts: I found various translations for the word 世話焼き: nanny, busyboy or busybo**d**y. Since I'm trying to read シロクマカフェ  I would prefer busyboy, but which one's acutally correct and how could I've find out myself? I couldn't find the word in my dictionary.


texts:
Question about all the irregular readings of kanji that seem to pop up plentiful in kanji dictionaries. Take for example the kanji 丞. According to the entry on kanji.jitenon, this kanji has following readings:

ショウ、ジョウ
たす（ける）

In what instance would 丞ける ever be used? I can't find any concrete examples.
or 奄:

エン
おお（う）、たちま（ち）、ふさ（がる）

奄がる yields zero examples on Google.
or 柑:

カン
こうじ、みかん

As far as I'm aware こうじ is written 柑子 and みかん is written 蜜柑, not just 柑 on its own.
What is the purpose of these obscure readings? The only thing I could think of is actual names of persons e.g. 亨 may be read as とおる but is the spelling 亨る for the actual verb ever actually used? Can anybody shed some light on this?


texts:
If 食べれる means "can eat", 食べれます means the same but polite, and 食べれません means "can not eat" but in its polite form, how do I say "can not eat" in the nonpolite form?

Another little question: how can I say "can be". For example, "I can be that person".


texts: For laying out Japanese text in a piece of graphic design do you need to stick to some rules?

texts:
Example I have the english text "enjoy music" which from google translate looks like this  音楽を楽しむ where music is 音楽 , so can I do this

を楽しむ -(enjoy)                                                                                音楽  -(music)

flush left


texts:
How do I describe my height in centimetres?

I think you can say "私は背が高いです" to say that you're tall, but how about your exact height? Would "私は背が１９０cmです" sound like broken Japanese?

I came across someone using "身長: xyz cm" when describing their height, and looking up "example sentences" in jisho.org for "身長" had a few cases of it being used for exact heights. Should it be "私は身長が１９０cmです" instead?


texts:
I would like to ask about the interpretation of the sentence below:

  美しいと思ってしまったのだ

If I were to interpret it literally, it would mean

  The thing of unintentionally thinking that it is beautiful

However, the translation given is

  Struck me as profoundly beautiful

I am finding it difficult to draw the link between the literal meaning and the given meaning. Is my literal interpretation of the sentence wrong?


texts: The difference between [noun phrase]+[？・なの？・ですか？・なんですか？]

texts:
Prompted by a comment thread, I was curious if my understanding of the semantic differences between

  [nominal phrase]？
  [nominal phrase]なの？
  [nominal phrase]ですか？
  [nominal phrase]なんですか？

is actually correct or just a delusion.

(か？ and のか？ further complicate things so I've left them out to keep everyone sane.)

Scenarios

I conjured up a bunch of example scenarios and have tried to categorize them and how each different type of ending works.

Confirmation

When you are asking for something to be confirmed because you didn't hear it or it was surprising...

  「彼は医者になった」
  医者［○？　　ｘなの？　　○ですか？　　ｘなんですか？］

なの？ and なんですか？ seem like they are asking a redundant question to me. I would not be surprised if this was me making a mistake, though.

Referring to immediate states of things

There's a certain class of 形容動詞 which seem to behave differently, for example:

  ダメ　［○？　　○なの？　　○ですか？　　○なんですか？］
  大丈夫［○？　　○なの？　　○ですか？　　○なんですか？］

These 形容動詞 seem to accept simply ？.

However, ones which don't refer to the immediate states of things don't accept ？ nearly as easily, e.g.:

  きれい［ｘ？　　○なの？　　○ですか？　　○なんですか？］
  上手　［ｘ？　　○なの？　　○ですか？　　○なんですか？］

(I can't seem to think of any 名詞 which allow just ？ aside from in the confirmation usage.)

Inference

Sometimes, you follow a statement up with a question asking regarding some inference you've made.

  「彼氏は病院で働いてる」
  彼は医者［ｘ？　　○なの？　　△ですか？　　○なんですか？］

I think the latter three all work, but なの？ and なんですか？ seem to "flow" a tiny bit better to me than ですか？.

Question words

  誰［○？　　○なの？　　○ですか？　　○なんですか？］

Normal questions

  彼氏は医者［ｘ？　　○なの？　　○ですか？　　○なんですか？］

Other things

There are other things like rhetorical questions which use none of these endings, so they are not included unless there ends up being a good reason.

Comparing the endings

So, sometimes multiple things work equally well. Are there differences in nuance?

There's the obvious difference in politeness between the non-です and です versions.
I really do not see a difference between ですか？ and なんですか？ in the cases I have them both marked as ○. This is unlike the non-question case: 「彼氏は医者です。」「彼氏は医者なんです。」, where the latter sounds more like you're making a stance on something or using the sentence as justification something.
When both ？ and なの？ are possible, なの？ seems more childish to me.

The question

So, how much have I gotten wrong here? Are there other types of scenarios worth considering? (Sorry for the long blogging question.)

I'm totally open to an answer which completely ignores my analysis and gives a radically different one.


texts: 誰かの胸の夜の空に伝えたい気持ちが生まれたら meaning

texts:
This line is from 流れ星の正体 of Bump of Chicken:

  誰かの胸の夜の空に伝えたい気持ちが生まれたら

Which meaning is suitable?

When you have a feeling that you want to tell someone’s night sky in his heart.
When you have a feeling that you want to tell something to someone’s night sky in his heart.
When someone has a feeling that he wants to tell (in his night sky in his heart).
When someone has a feeling that he wants to tell something (in his night sky in his heart).


texts: Why is there plain form in this sentence?

texts:
The following examplatory sentence in the grammar section of my textbook:
どうして医者になりたいんですか。
...医者は人を助けるすばらしい仕事だからです。

It translates to (according to my textbook):
Why do you want to become a medical doctor?
...Because medical doctor is a great job in which you help people.

What confuses me is that in the bold part, there is no connective form like て form or ます stem. I know plain form as a way to make a verbal expression an attribute to the related noun. In my textbook, it is said that a plain-form-sentence + からだ expresses the reason(s) for an event. However, is it necessary to omit other grammatical habits like the aforementioned て and ます form for chaining verbal expressions inside the respective clause?
I just want to avoid being confused down the road when I'm encountering such constructions in the wild :D


texts:
What is the difference between びっくりした and びっくりするじゃないの?

The only thing I can think of is that one is just a general way of saying that something scared you, whilst the other is a way of "blaming" the person who did something which scared you.

Another question is, how does びっくりしたじゃないか etc. (i.e. the た form usage) differ in usage to びっくりするじゃないか?


texts: What's the difference between English & Japanese parenthesis?

texts:
I found this sentence while reading よだかの星:

  よだかは、じっと目をつぶって考えました。（一たい僕は、なぜこうみんなにいやがられるのだろう。）

It seems pretty obvious that the parenthetical sentence is the Nightjar's internal monologue... but parenthesis aren't normally used like that in English (English uses quotes or nothing for internal dialogue).e.g. The nightjar stopped to think, "Why am I hated by everyone like this?"Why am I hated by everyone like this, the nightjar stopped to think.

And that got me thinking, (assuming my translation isn't way, way off...)Are parenthesis () commonly used instead of 「」for internal dialogues in Japanese?&Are there any other notable differences between English & Japanese parenthesis?


texts:
匂い (におい) refers to a fragrance, or something that is nice-smelling. As far as I know, this kanji is only used for this word in Japanese.
I notice that the character 匂 is uncommon. The usage of 匂 is rare even in Chinese, where it is a variant of the character 匈. 匈 is used to refer to the ancient Huns, or modern-day Hungarians. It was originally used to refer to the chest area of a human, before being replaced by 胸.
How are Hungarians or chests related to a fragrant smell?


texts:
In my textbook, I did an exercise with the following sentences, where you must conjugate the verb in parentheses and put it on the underline (below is the translation I think matches the original sentence):

1. せっかく手に入れた宝物を、そんなに簡単に他人に_____ものか。(渡す)
How could I pass to someone else this treasure I've had so much trouble to get?
2. ジョッギングを始めてみたが、果たしていつまで_____ことだろう。(続く)
I just started jogging, but how long can I continue?
3. かおりさんはもう書類は全部_____とのことだ。(提出する)
Seems like Kaori has already handed in all the documents. (Not sure how to translate that とのことだ but I know what it means)

For (1), I put 渡せる, but the answer was 渡す.
For (2), I put 続ける but the answer was 続く
Finally, for (3) I put 提出している but it was 提出した.
I understand why the expected answers are correct, but were mine correct too?
I apologize to pack three questions that are not really related to each other, but I don't think it's necessary to post three times for that


texts:
When using の, I'm well aware that "X の Y" means "Y of X", and the modification expands leftward, per se. However, I've come across some select examples where I'm confused at the order of the words, and feel like what is A の B should be B の A.

The one I'm struggling with is: 雪の冬. I wanted to know how to say "winter snow," and I'm not sure why
[雪の冬] is correct. It seems like it should mean "winter of snow", or "snow's winter" -- while more intuitively I feel like 冬の雪 should mean "winter snow," as it seems to convey "snow of winter," or "winter's snow."

I asked a friend who said something about apposition, but I still feel like that would translate winter snow as 冬の雪, and not 雪の冬. What am I missing?

Any help would be appreciated! I'd love some light shed on this mystery of の.


texts:
Full text: VPNにおける対向拠点は最大1000対地.
My understanding: VPNにおける = "At VPN"
最大1000対地 = "Maximum 1000 tunnels/zones"
My Issue: 対向拠点. Does it mean some counter for positions or is it opposite bases?


texts: I need help with parsing out this one, really long sentence from a book

texts:
I'm not sure if I would consider myself advanced or n2 level just yet, but I bought a Japanese book recently (an autobiography) to get more input. I'm slowly translating words on Jisho, reading about a page a day, while also refusing to use google translate. I'm getting along fine for the most part, but there's this one sentence that I can't seem to wrap my head around. I can understand individual parts of it, but my head sort of freezes when it comes to combining it all into one sentence. I couldn't find other posts similar to this one, so I'm sorry if this isn't the appropriate website to post this.

馬の前に人参をぶら下げて走らせるたとえで言ったら僕にとって「もてたい」ってやつは人参でも無農薬有機栽培の人参、グルメレポーターが食べたら、「これはフルーツですか？」とよくわからないけど何かすごそうみたいなコメントを言ってしまう程の人参だった。"

From what I can understand, I think it means something close to this:"Concerning myself who says "like dangling a carrot in front of a horse to get it to run", "I want to be popular" type of guy will, even if the carrot is an organically grown carrot, even if a gourmet reviewer eats and thus "is this a fruit?" I will not understand but to the degree of commenting "something overdone"  carrot it was."
I know for sure this is wrong so I'm hoping someone can help explain to me how this sentence works, what I'm doing wrong, and if this isn't the correct site please let me know where I can go with this because I don't know where else to ask.


texts:
I looked up 大丈夫{だいじょうぶ} in a Japanese dictionary and the first entry reads:

  危険{きけん}や心配{しんぱい}のないさま。間違い{まちがい}がないさま。

Why is it that, in the first definition, the subject (危険や心配) seems to be marked by の, while the subject in the second definition (間違い) is marked by が? Although I seem to encounter this usage in real Japanese quite a bit, I can't find anything explicitly saying that の can be used as a subject marker.

At first, I assumed that の is used to mark the subject of an attributive verb clause, and が is used to mark the subject of a predicative clause. Reading this dictionary entry debunked that, however, because the verb clause in the second definition is also attributive (i.e. it's modifying the noun さま), although it's marked by が.

Are there rules to follow in order to choose correctly between の and が? Is it merely a matter of preference, or would it actually be grammatically incorrect to say 「危険や心配がないさま」?


texts:
The following is an excerpt from a conversation with my language partner.
For some context, I told her about our familydinner at a restaurant during christmas eve. I wanted to tell her that you could have your meal freshly cooked right before your eyes there, but unfortunately I used some wrong vocabulary and she explained to me what I actually said :D However, I feel like I don't fully understand what she has written me:
「料理番組で作られた料理」というのは、テレビの料理番組で作っていた料理を再現したという意味でしょうか。

My attempt at translation:
"Concerning 'meals created in a cookery program', doesn't this say that you have reproduced meals which they have made in TV cookery program?"

Since 再現 can also mean "revive. reenact..." I'm not sure if my interpretation is still legit. If it isn't then I probably also misunderstood the whole sentence, that's why I wanted to ask aboutit here :=)


texts:
In Genki 2nd edition chapter 11, the following translation is given:

メアリーさんはチベットに行きたいと言っていました
Mary said she wanted to go to Tibet

I would have thought that the translation should be that she wants to go to Tibet. To say that she wanted to go to Tibet, I would think that the sentence would be the following:

メアリーさんはチベットに行きたかったと言っていました

Is this sentence not grammatical? What's the difference between the two? How does one say that "she said wants to go", rather than "she said she wanted to go"?


texts:
There are 2 variants of そう. First variant, adds a "looks like/ feels like/ seems like" flavour whereas the second variant adds a "heard from" flavour or hearsay if you like (伝聞).

The question is, when appending そう to the past tense of a verb, it is always the second variant (hearsay). For example:

足を折ったそう - (I heard he) broke his leg

How then, would I say it looks like he broke his leg (just a gut feeling)?


texts: How to say "It has been (time) since...."

texts:
I came across this sentence in my grammar dictionary "アメリカに来てから今日で三年になる", which is translated as "It's been 3 years since I came to America". Is this the standard way of expressing "It's been... since..." ? Is "今日で" redundant or necessary?

I would be very grateful if you could provide some example sentences for me to examine. Thanks


texts: What's the difference between とか and たりする when listing verbs?


texts: How can I conjugate a past-potential verb?

texts:
The conjugation rules for present-potential and past verb forms are well-documented online, but there doesn't seem to be as much information about past-potential conjugations.

If we can conjugate the present-potential form of a verb like this:

五段

飲む → 飲める
飲みます → 飲めます
飲まない → 飲めない
飲みません → 飲めません

一段

食べる → 食べられる
食べます → 食べられます
食べない → 食べられない
食べません → 食べられません

来る

くる → こられる
きます → こられます
こない → こられない
きません → こられません

する

する → できる
します → できます
しない → できない
しません → できません

...then I'd imagine that the past-potential form could be conjugated as follows:

五段

飲んだ → 飲んでる
飲みました → 飲めました
飲まなかった → 飲めなかった
飲みませんでした → 飲めませんでした

一段

食べた → 食べられた
食べました → 食べられました
食べなかった → 食べられなかった
食べませんでした → 食べられませんでした

来る

きた → こられた
きました → こられました
こなかった → こられなかった
きませんでした → こられませんでした

する

した → できた
しました → できました
しなかった → できなかった
しませんでした → できませんでした

I came across this page during my searches, and it seems to back up how I think that these conjugations should work (though it doesn't mention the rules for する or 来る).

Are the examples I've given above correct?

(Bonus question: Are past-potential conjugations uncommon/not actually used? I'm trying to understand why they don't seem to be mentioned as often as the other variations are.)


texts: How do I say there are (number) main points?

texts:
I'm writing an essay on my detailed study for Japanese which is 和食 and I would like to say that there are 4 main points to 和食 but I'm a bit unsure how to translate this...

someone help me please :((((


texts:
Context: 2 characters talking about what do to with an enemy after defeated him

G1: この者が、目が覚めたら私達のことを報告されるだけだろう。
それとも、ここで息の根を止めておくか？ 口封じに。
G2:だから、ダメですよそんな。
G1:分かってる。では連れていくしかないだろう。
目が覚めたら、ゆっくり話を聞いてもらう必要はあるかもしれないな。
いや……あるいは、もしもの時、人質として警察との交渉として使えるかもしれない...
G1:すごいこと考えるわね。あんた

What does すごいこと考えるわね mean in this sentence?
My guess is "You are thinking too far"? If you can please share your English translation of the last sentence.


texts:
Found it here. https://www.hostfamily2012.com/3657.html

コッカーのムーさん
お耳の中、グジュグジュ・・汚れ改善したいですね！！
お肌は大丈夫かなぁ～今日も大人しくできました～>^_^<
カットもOKかなぁ～！！

I've tried looking it up in as many dictionary as I can find but I found nothing. Is this an onomatopoeia of some sort?


texts: ようになりましょう - what is the volitional doing here?

texts:
I just came across a sentence in the structure of V+ようになりましょう, and I'd like to understand what connotation it brings compared to the standard V+ようになる
As far as I know, ようになる is used when something becomes a certain way, in the sense that it happened not necessarily due to someone making it so; but with the volitional form, there's a will to have it become that way, right? To work towards that change? And if that's the case, how does it differ from ようにする?


texts: How to translate この正確な瞬間に - 私が生きている

texts:
Can you help me with this simple translation?

この正確な瞬間に Should be something like in this very moment or at this exact moment

私が生きている Should be something like I'm alive

Is it correct? Can you confirm it?


texts: Are these phrases interchangeable? に関して, に対して, において, について, における

texts:
There's already a question that discusses にかんして vs について but I found more terms that are more or less the same to me. All phrases seem to be some kind of topic marker that can be roughly translated to "regarding" or oftentimes "in" but I couldn't find a dictionary that discusses nuance or usage.

Sample sentences from Tatoeba/EDICT:

に関して

  心理学に関しては、彼は専門家だ。

  In the matter of psychology, he is an expert.

  私たちはこの問題に関して合意に達することが出来るだろうか。

  Can we reach a consensus on this issue?

に対して

  彼は私の質問に対してうなずいた。

  He nodded in response to my question.

  彼はまだあなたの行為に対して腹を立てている。

  He is still angry with you for your conduct.

において

  復讐において、恋愛において、女は男よりも野蛮である。

  In revenge and in love, woman is more barbarous than man is.

  教育において試験が大きな役割を果たしている。

  Examinations play a large part in education.

について

  法廷は彼のその殺人容疑について無罪とした。

  The court acquitted him of the charge of murder.

  過去の動作については過去形を用います。

  "Past tense" is used in connection with actions in the past.

における

  中東における現在の情勢は、緊迫した政情不安となっている。

  The current situation in the Middle East is a time bomb of tensions.

  彼の発見は輸送における革命をもたらした。

  *His discovery gave rise to a revolution in transport. *

Related:

にかんして vs について
において vs における


texts: Why is there a "yo" particle and not a "ga" particle in the phrase "Yūsha Satan yo kiseki o okose!"

texts: The phrase "Yūsha Satan yo kiseki o okose!" is translated as "Make a Miracle, Satan the Hero!" or "Valiant Mr. Satan, Work a Miracle!" . Why is there a yo particle after Satan and not a ga particle? Wasnt yo supposed to be an ending particle for emphasis? What does it mean here?


texts:
In the Genki II textbook, there is a phrase that goes like this:

  うめぼし，のりなどを見たことも聞いたこともありませんでした。

Now, I understand that this roughly means that "I've never seen or heard of pickled plums or nori algae.", but I was wondering why there is no が particle in the sentence.

The "basic" structure sentence for having the experience of something is

  ~ことがあります。

Since there are two things that are being referred to, I would have written it something like this:

  うめぼし，のりなどを見たことも聞いたことがありませんでした。

I know this probably isn't correct, but can someone explain in to me? Why is there no が particle in the original sentence?


texts:
宅配弁当の需要が伸びている。 一般家庭や独り暮し世帯はもちろん、残業で会社に遅くまで残っているサラリーマンに大人気だ。 グルメ時代を反映する高級折り詰め料理やダイエット用の弁当を扱う店も登場。 いずれの店も笑いが止まらないといった売れ行きである。

  例えば、本膳料理のメニューには8800 円というおよそ宅配らしからぬ値段の弁当もある。 牛肉のたたき、うなぎのかばやきに松茸ご飯といったデラックス· メニュー。 こんなのが売れるのかと思ったら、「企業の重役会議や接待に使われている」そうで、なかなかの人気。

私はGoogleで「といった」を探しましたが、以下の解釈が出ました。

https://thesaurus.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F
https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/154790/meaning/m0u/といった/

以上の解釈は「などの」や「ような」などの意味だと認めています。

なお、Stackexchangeには、「といった」に関する質問がありますが、

What does といった mean?

Name identification for 安田 味子, and "saying" using という

「と言う」に関するので、この質問に満足できませんが、

といった vs といって. What is correct? Why?

この質問が「などの」や「ような」に関するので、この質問に満足できるようです。

まず、一番目の例では、その例を

  どの店にも、これは笑いが止まらないような売れ行きです

にしてもいいですか。

二番目の例では、その例の「に」はどういう意味ですか。


texts: Having trouble understanding a sentence from 1945. Especially 滿鮮二土著セシメテ生活ヲ營ム

texts:
Here's the full sentence from this Wikipedia article:

  また同日には「大陸方面二於テハ在留邦人及武裝解除後ノ軍人ハ『ソ』聯 ノ庇護下二滿鮮二土著セシメテ生活ヲ營ム如ク『ソ』聯側二依賴スルヲ可トス」ことを記した「關東軍方面停戰狀況二關スル實狀報告」が作成されソ連側に送付された。

Here's how I understand it:

  Also, on the same day, the “Current State Report Regarding the Armistice Situation in the Kwantung Army Area” was produced and sent to the Soviet side. It stated: “The Japanese expatriates and the disarmed soldiers in the continent area are put under the protection of the Soviet Union, and the native population living in Manchukuo and Korea are to be treated as the Soviet side desires.”

I was fumbling for meaning in that old cited sentence and suspect that the translation is somewhat (or completely) off. Any help in deciphering it is much appreciated.


texts: Should you say English loanwords in the Japanese pronunciation?

texts:
For example, if an American travels to Japan, would they ask for "kohi" in a "koppu", maybe a "foku" for their "supagetti", or would they use "coffee", "fork", etc.?
Which would be more socially acceptable and easy to understand?


texts:
In the following sentence, why 'は’, not 'を’、is used as 格助詞？？

  私は借りたお金はすぐ返します。


texts:
So I’ve asked a similar questions before here, think I’m right here but just wanted to make sure

So the sentence ‘Yesterday 3 guests came over to my house’, am I right in saying it can be said in the two following way?

きのうわたしのうちにおきゃくさんがさんにんきました

Or

きのうおきゃくさんさんにんはわたしのうちにきました


texts: What is 我が身 and how is it justified in this sentence?

texts:
First off, I tried looking at the explanation here. However, the reasons for 我が家 don't seem to apply to 我が身.
Here is the excerpt that doesn't seem to apply from Jesse Good's post:

The above also applies to 我が母校、我が国、我が家族、我が妻、我が故郷、etc. They all imply that you have a deep relationship, you are proud of them, show affection, etc.

Obviously 我が身 is not stated there (possibly intentionally?). I'm unsure how it is possible to "have a deep relationship, be proud of, or show affection" to yourself.
The sentence that I read:

だから、自分のことを、なかなか他人に伝えたり、分かってもらえなくて、悲しい思いや、傷ついたりすることも多く、ああ、なんてぼくは損な性質に生まれついたんだろう、と我が身が腹立たしく、悔しく思ったことも一度ならずあった。

What is the purpose of 「我が身」 in this sentence? Is it possible for it to simply be substituted with 私自身? Also, what is implied by 「我が」 in 「我が身」 that is different than the 「我が」 in the examples from the link above?


texts: What is the difference between きつい and 辛い（つらい）?

texts:
They both have the same meaning of "hard, difficult, tough"
Can someone please explain the difference and give examples of when both are interchangeable and when it is not?
For example:

きつい仕事 or 辛い仕事
貧乏はきつい or 貧乏は辛い

etc.
What is the nuance in meaning?


texts: 不被下候: When was it common, and what were the rules?

texts:
In a shrine graffito written in 1559, two carpenters complain:

  其時座主ハ大キナコスデオチヤリテ一度モ焼酎ヲ不被下候
  'At that time, the high priest (stingy bugger!) gave us not even a drop of shochu to drink.'

The form of the main verb 不被下候 includes 不 (negation) and 被 (passivisation), followed by the verb with そうろう. Thus, くだされずそうろう "(we) were not given". The order of the morphemes as is pronounced is inverted from the order as is written.

Meanwhile, a shochu manufacturer has a product 不被下候 in reference to this legendary act. They give the reading
くださらずそうろう.

When was it common to write in this manner?
In what other ways was Japanese verbal morphology mapped onto kanji in this way?
Which of the readings くださらずそうろう and くだされずそうろう is correct?


texts: Can we say, that だ and です are godan verbs with ru-ending, because they are just simplyfied versions of である and であります?