texts: What is the difference between もので and ので for giving a reason?

texts:
They both serve to indicate a cause/reason according to goo.ne.jp.

Is there a nuance between them?


texts: Are there different ways to say nice to meet you in Japanese?

texts: Yoroshiku onegaishimasu is a commonly used phrase when meeting someone for the first time. Is there a more suitable phrase that would more accurately convey nice to meet you? Could I say oaide kite ureshii desu?


texts: If から can work as an informal emphatic particle, so can ので?

texts:
As many Japanese learners already know, the particle ので is mainly used to indicate that the preceding sentence/clause should be understood as a reason that justifies or answers another statement (the best equivalents in meaning in English would probably be "because" and "since"). So, in this usage, ので is perfectly interchangeable with から, only differing in politeness level.
However, as I've seen in many sources (like here: Function of から in this conversation), から can also be used in casual speech as a sentence-ending particle that reinforces what it has been said and gives out an assertive tone (if I were to choose an equivalent in English for this meaning, I would probably say an "I tell ya" tag). So, the thing is, could ので be interchangeable with から in this usage too?
Let me show you an example of a situation where this may be possible. This is a troublesome dialogue I found while reading manga: (to put you in context, two waitresses talk about a possible new recruit and a male coworker barges in):

Adult waitress: 同{どう}級{きゅう}生{せい}入{はい}ったら楽{たの}しいかもよ？
Young waitress: 友{とも}達{だち}作{づく}りで来{き}ている訳{わけ}じゃないので
Young waiter: みてぇなつらら女{おんな} // 誰{だれ}も友{とも}達{だち}になりたかねーよ！

I'm going to write down here my personal interpretation of each line so you could better understand my doubts and why I ended up  making that question about ので.
Let's begin: No problems with the first sentence except for that question mark right after the よ particle. I would never have expected the よ particle to appear in a question given its assertive tone, so I got confused and searched for similar cases. This is the only thing I found: How do I interpret this question that ends with よ?. And from what I understood, よ? exposes info, but in a "just so you know" manner (kinda like a "keep it in mind" tag). Consequently, I would translate the adult waitress's line as:

同{どう}級{きゅう}生{せい}入{はい}ったら楽{たの}しいかもよ？
Things might be fun when a classmate joins (to your job), keep it in mind.

Next is that dreaded line ending in a ので that I don't really understand. Following the "normal" use of ので (having the same meaning as the conjunction "because" in English), the line's translation would be:

友{とも}達{だち}作{づく}りで来{き}ている訳{わけ}じゃないので
Because it's not like I'm coming here to make friends.

However, that feels out of place to me. If the "it's not like I come..." clause should be understood as a reason, which other statement is  being justified/answered? If the young waitress would have said いいえ before, or kept on talking, it would all make sense... but the dialogue is just as I wrote, nothing was omitted.
I struggled hard to find a meaning, but I got no satisfactory results. Then I remembered the similitude between ので and から, and I thought to myself "maybe ので works here as an informal emphatic particle like から". So I came up with this translation attempt:

友{とも}達{だち}作{づく}りで来{き}ている訳{わけ}じゃないので
There is no way I'm coming here to make friends, I tell you.

(Notice that given the hypothetical emphatic tone of ので here, I decided to level up the toughness of the 訳じゃない expression in its translation)
Aaaand finally, the waiter's line. I included this just to show that the young waitress's line has no continuation. But since we're here, I'm going to give it a try anyway (this originally came in two different speech bubbles, hence the slashes):

みてぇなつらら女{おんな} // 誰{だれ}も友{とも}達{だち}になりたかねーよ！
Look, ice-girl, nobody wants to make friends (with you)!

If anything, I have a minor doubt regarding if he meant "make friends with the girl" or "make friends in general". It would be great if you could give me your opinions on this thing too.
And that's all! Sorry for the wall of text. I hope somebody can shed some light on this question!


texts: What is the difference between とある and ある?

texts:
As far as I'm aware, とある means 'some':

  とある会社の従業員
  An employee of some company

And just ある can be used to mean the same thing.

Does that give a different level of formality? A more 'direct' or pointed way to referring to the following noun?


texts:
I was surprised when I came across this Wikipedia page:
アーシュラ・K・ル＝グウィン

Does someone knows what that = sign is? I can see it works as a separator like 「・」 Is it simply an alternative?


texts: On the two equivalents on maps of "you are here" (現在地{げんざいち} and 現在位置{げんざいいち})

texts:
I've noticed on my travels around Japan that on maps there are two ways of indicating the viewers position in the manner of the English "You are here":

現在地{げんざいち} is common on maps in Japan, and seems to be directly from Chinese as I saw it on maps in China and/or Taiwan (possibly with variant characters).
現在位置{げんざいいち} is common here in Sapporo and I think elsewhere in Hokkaido, though I first saw it on the ferry from Okinawa to Kagoshima.

Now are these both words? Or are they phrases? Or is it a case of one of each? How do I parse them? Are there any subtle differences between them?

I just got reprimanded for adding the longer variant to the English Wiktionary for being "not a word and obviously sum-of-parts". What makes the first good and the second bad? Is the first the only one that has entries in dictionaries?

At the very least would the second be considered to at least be a set phrase?


texts:
I've studied the use of a polite(?) te-form conjugation that is used to enumerate actions or for a request (adding ください). Examples would be 聞いて, 死んで.

But what about non-polite(?) te-form conjugations? 聞け, 死ね, when do you use them?  They rather seem imperative, as if the speaker were giving an order with an angry tone, but I believe that's actually the case of the 〜なさい suffix.


texts:
So I learned about kaizen at school, and we defined the word as meaning "continuous change and improvement for the better".

The word kaizen seems to have a bigger and deeper meaning than this simple definition implies. Does this word have a significance or meaning that one might not be able to learn from a dictionary definition?

I love the word and idea behind it, but I was wondering what the exact meaning was so that I could use kaizen for my college essay, which asks "what word in another language cannot, or should not, be translated from its original language?"


texts: How to denote length or any other measurement

texts:
How exactly would I say that a certain object is a certain length. Would it just be

(noun)の　長さは　(number) (units)。

This question got me wondering how I would say any other sort of measurement. Can any quantifiable quality of an object be expressed by simply

(noun)の　(length/weight/frequency etc)は　(number)(units)。

This way of speaking is very close to how I would say the same thing in English (The car's length is 14 feet. etc) which has me thinking this might not be the right way to say it. Any help is appreciated.


texts:
What does「時」の意識 mean in the following sentence?
「時間が止まってほしいと思う瞬間はどんなときですか」ーある時計の会社が、二十歳の男性と女性516人に、「時」の意識についてアンケート調査をしました。 ?
I got the meaning as a whole but i don't get what 意識 means in the sentence (though i know it means "counsciousness, awareness, counscious,aware, sense"). Some hints?


texts: Do these two questions differ in any way?

texts:
There is a question in my Japanese book to translate a sentence. This is how I translated it:

  わたし の てがみ の うえ の つくえ を よまないで。

But, this is how my book translated it:

  つくえ の  うえ の わたし の てがみ を よまないで。

Are there any differences in meaning or nuance? Or is it acceptable to use either one?


texts:
彼女｛かのじょ｝が怒る｛おこる｝のも当然｛とうぜん｝だ。
"It's natural that she should be angry." (sentence:248283, Core2000)

I asked a question about the preceding sentence's usage of も, and naruto explained the も serves to soften the sentence. I found the grammar explanation here, but still didn't quite understand も in this context.
I'm wondering, does も replace another particle here? How the sentence could make sense without も, if 怒るの stood alone without a particle. Would 彼女が怒るのに当然だ or 彼女が怒るのは当然だ make sense?


texts: Are you allowed to continue words on the next line?

texts:
I would imagine this would make reading harder, but is it allowed to finish a word on the next line if you run out of room? Does it not matter?

。。。。お姉さんはとて
も楽しです！


texts: Answer to この[質問]{しつもん}、[子供]{こども}さえしってるよ。

texts:
Aさん:この質問、子供さえしってるよ。

I want to express wondering about myself in answer to the previous sentence.

How to do that in the right way, and which of examples are incorrect or sounds strange?

私は知りませんよ。
私なら、しりませんよ。
私にとってはわからないことですよ。


texts: Translation of a passage discussing zodiac systems

texts:
My friend and I are reading 宝石泥棒 by Masaki Yamada. In the beginning of chapter five, there are a few paragraphs that discuss constellations and zodiac systems, but we can't figure out how to translate some of them. Here is the text (paragraphs are numbered):

  今夜の〝宿〟は、斗宿{いて}だった。黄道{こうどう}星座の〝いて座〟が、今夜の宿星となっているのだ。斗、牛、女、虚、危、室、壁……など赤道帯を二十八に区分し、旅人に見たてられた月が、毎夜、それらの〝宿〟を移り歩いていく——いわゆる黄道二十八宿は、中国で生まれたものと考えられがちだが、似たようなものはインドやアラビアにも存在したという。
  黄道二十八宿の本来の意味は、見失われて久しくなるが、夜空を二十八に区分し、星座の移り変わりを暦{こよみ}の基底に据{す}えるというその方法だけは、この時代の人間に引き継がれている。
  本来の意味が失われるのも当然といえばいえる。参星{オリオン}、昴{すばる}などの宿星に変わりはないものの、星座そのものは大きく変化しているのだ。総じて、夜空は明かるさを増したようである。
  美しいと形容するだけでは、言葉が充分ではない。たぎった星が、空を白く燃えあがらせている印象なのだ。

Our translation for paragraph 1 is:

  "Tonight's 'mansion' was the Dipper. That is, the standard zodiac's Sagittarius constellation was the sign for this night. The equatorial belt is divided into 28 parts, The Dipper, The Ox, the Girl, The Emptiness, The Rooftop, The Wall etc., and the moon, which has been likened to a traveler, goes through those "mansions". The so-called 28 mansions of the ecliptic are thought to have been born in China, but similar systems exist in India and Arabia."

Paragraph 2:

  "The proper meaning of the 28 mansion system has long since slipped into obscurity, but the division of the night's sky into 28 parts, and the method of basing calendars on the passage of constellations, those alone have been passed down to the people of the current age."

Now, the part that we are having issue with is paragraph 3. We are not sure how to break down this sentence. Is 当然といえばいえる a set phrase? If so, what does it mean?  Or is it just 当然といえば and the second いえる belongs to the noun phrase that precedes 当然?

The sentence that follows seems to say

  "Although Orion and Subaru have not changed, the constellation systems themselves have changed greatly. Generally, it seems the night's sky has increased in brightness".

We are not sure if this translation is right. I'm not sure how the fact that the constellation systems have changed relates to an increase in the night's brightness. Moreover, we don't know how to connect that to the sentence with the 当然. Is it the constellation systems as in "The Chinese system", "The western system" etc. that have changed, or the actual constellations in the sky, with the exception of Orion and Subaru, that have changed?

The final paragraph's translation seems to be:

  "Words are insufficient even for describing it as beautiful. The impression is that overflowing stars are causing the sky to burn in white fire."

Although this seems straight-forward (in a poetic sort of way), we can't quite make out a coherent meaning for the entire passage.

So please help us with paragraph 3, and if possible, the overall meaning of paragraphs 2-4, as we seem to have lost the forest for the trees.


texts: What is the function of は in the context?

texts:
Previously, I learnt basic expressions like “アダムさんは先生です。”,”アダムさんは医者ですが。” I thought は functions like “am/is/are” in English. But when I start learning Japanese verb this morning, I got a bit confused.
“ひろしさんはテレビを見ません。” what is は’s function in this sentence?


texts:
Is it possible to write Japanese in pure Kanji?

I think I have seen in one TV news show in Osaka that they are showing snippets of newspaper written in all Kanji.


texts: Is there a situation where 造語 such as "ググる" could be used with the "ます" ending?

texts:
I ask this out of pure curiosity, but would there be any situation where you could reasonably say something along the lines of, "はい、今はそれをググります。"
What I've seen/thought of Katakana+る words has been that they are typically very informal, but I realized that I have not actually seen anyone say it is strictly informal speech. What I would say is probably that "グーグルをします" is what should be said, and "ググります" would be quite strange, but I wanted to ask here and see if anyone else might have a different/more in-depth answer.


texts:
In my JLPT practise book, it has two different entries, one to explain がる and one to explaining たがる. It offeres these example sentences to differentiate them:

  うちの子{こ}は新{あたら}しいものを見{み}ると、すぐほしがる。

  うちの子{こ}は甘{あま}いものを見{み}ると、すぐ食{た}べたがる。

I think they both mean to behave in a way that expresses the feeling described. So, ほしがる means to not only hope for, but to act like you hope for it, and as a result, everyone who sees you will know you are hoping. Something like that...　I don't have a pithy way of explaining がる.

So, if my definition is right, it seems both sentences are explaining essentially the same thing, and the only difference is one is attached to a verb, and the other is attached to a... um... something else. Whatever the grammatical category of ほしい is.

I'm confused about why the book is going out of its way to explain them separately.

Is there a difference in definition between がる and たがる beyond just how they fit into a sentence grammatically?


texts: Understanding questions with ommited words

texts:
I'm trying to read an internet novel, but I got stuck on some questions with omitted words. The text and my partial translation is below. It's the very beginning of the novel, so it's all the context there is.

最終電車を見送る駅長。しかし去ったはずの最終電車が戻ってくると、そこには銃を持った男が乗っていた……。
The stationmaster is seeing the last train off. However, when the last train that was supposed to leave comes back, a man with a gun gets on it.
男の目的は何か？　駅の待合室で男が語る物語は？

How to understand what words are omitted in the last two sentences?


texts:
Here is the sentence :

  1年たったらここんとこをピッとおせばレーダーに反応がでるとおもうわ!

I didn't find any information about ぴっと in the dictionaries I searched in...


texts: Difference between 「～てからでないと」and 「～ないことには」

texts:
Both of these grammar can be translated to English as

A～てからでないと/～ないことにはB = Unless A is done, cannot do B

From what I can find,

～てからでないと stresses the order or sequence of actions, that until A is done, B will not happen

～ないことには stress the requirements of the action, that A must be a condition that is satisfied, in order to do B

However I'm still not confident if these nuances are accurate, and I cannot distinguish its usage in certain sentences.

  1) きちんと勉強してからでないと、いい仕事を見つけられない。(until you study?)

  2) きちんと勉強しないことには、いい仕事を見つけられない。(if you don't do the action of studying?)

  Unless you study, you can't find a good job.

  3) 塩は砂糖をいれてからでないと、甘みが野菜に染み込まないよ。(until you add sugar to the salt)

  4) 塩は砂糖をいれないことには甘みが野菜に染み込まないよ。(if you don't add sugar to the salt)

  Unless you add sugar to the salt, the vegetables will not absorb its sweetness.

Can someone please tell me if I'm understanding this correctly, and are they interchangeable in all cases?


texts:
Read this on a japanese article.

  明日が休日なら僕と君二人きり。
  する事はひとつな訳で

Does it still mean like the counter "ひとつ” here. Something like "one thing I want to do."?

Am I missing from my understanding here? I've only just learned how わけない is used.

  Since tomorrow's a holiday, it'll just be the two of us. There's one thing I want to do.


texts:
Son: まずいよ、このクッキー。
Mother: やっぱりまずい？ニンニク味だから。

The above excerpt is part of a dialogue in which a mother gave her son a garlic-flavored cookie because he asked for a cookie. After tasting it he says it tastes bad and the mother says "やっぱりまずい？" I thought やっぱり meant "I knew it" so I thought the mother was trying to say "I knew it would taste bad." What is confusing me is why is "やっぱりまずい？" a question. It sounds like she is saying instead "I knew it would taste bad?" which doesn't make sense.


texts: Difference (if there is any) between 知るか and 知ったことか

texts:
From what I researched online, I have read that most of the times these phrases are interpreted as "I don't care", "Who cares?" " "I don't give a damn!" "It's none of my business!" etc (feel free to provide more examples, these are just a few that I have seen)
Most of the time I have seen 知るか, but the variant 知ったことか not so much, but it was said in a video I watched recently.
My questions would be, does this phrase is most of the time interpreted with the above meanings?
Is there a difference in nuance when it's in the present/future tense 知るか and past tense 知ったことか, and could the addition of こと work in the first variant?
Given the context where I heard 知ったことか I do not think the above meanings worked well and I translated with the more direct meaning of the verb 知る=to know, to be aware of, and given that it was in the past tense plus こと I assumed it meant "a thing/matter that was known".
I'm gonna give the example where I heard 知ったことか .
A bit of context, characters A and B are fighting:

A: 弟をまで利用して..そのザマか？
B: 弟子など．．．俺の知ったことか !

The context is that B hurt a boy who was his little half-brother, but B did not he had one, for he was elsewhere in the world and doing villain things. A believed that B knew of his younger brother's existence and that's why he used him in his plans, but B did not know about a brother, it was just the plot y'know, had to bring these characters together...
Things happen, A and B fight and they say those things, B who was unaware of a brother, to me it made sense if I could interpret his line "弟子など．．．俺の知ったことか !"
"Younger brother?" (with など I even thought of it like "the likes of", "something such as" a brother)　Is it something that I should know?! (俺の知ったことか). If 知ったこと was said, wouldn't it be interpreted as "a matter which is known, to me?", if I translated very directly?
But I think "Something like that....Is that something that should I know?"
I rephrased that line a bit to how I understand it like this:
（俺の知ったこと）＝前に俺が何かを記憶していた
or another way, as a reply to A "今の言ったこと、俺が知るべきだを期待しているか）
I want to know if this sort of interpretation is possible because I looked trough some comments on social media regarding this and I mostly found things that mentioned the "I don't care" meaning, but that doesn't quite make sense for B to say, "I don't give a damn about my brother", if he didn't know he had one!
Hope I provided enough to offer me some suggestions about this, about the differences, if there are any between the variants of those phrases and if ultimately, they can be ambiguous, and 知るか isn't specifically just with that meaning of "who cares", "don't give a damn" (どうでもいい）
Thank you in advance for any suggestions！


texts: I recognize that it's another way of saying "good night," where does it come from?


texts: Is ending question sentences with の really feminine?

texts:
In What differences should I look out for between male vs female speech?, a lot of answers explicitly mention that ending question sentences with の is feminine.

However, this makes very little sense to me, as my understanding is that の is pretty much the go-to particle for forming questions with non-polite speech.

In general, か sounds pretty marginal to me with non-polite speech:

  (1) ｘ何をしてるか？
  (2) ｘ学校に行くか？

Sometimes, のか works:

  (3) ｘ何をしてるのか？
  (4) ○学校に行くのか？

(I think のか only fails when you have a 'question word' like 何, どこ, だれ, etc.; it seems to make it sound rhetorical, e.g., 「彼女は何をしてるのか、僕は分からない。」)

And of course の always works:

  (5) ○何をしてるの？
  (6) ○学校に行くの？

And as far as I can tell, simply using intonation (or a question mark to represent it) works all the time:

  (7) ○何をしてる？
  (8) ○学校に行く？

First off, my judgements here might be wrong since they are just my own.

But, if they are correct, my question is: if ending your sentence with の really is feminine, what is the alternative to (5) in usual male non-polite speech? Is (7) the only option?


texts:
Writing Japanese requires a mix of Kanji and Hiragana, usually some Katakana as well.
I have read that some Kanji characters can be replaced with Hiragana characters for easier writing.

My question is: can all Kanji characters be replaced? Can I write Japanese only with Hiragana or only in Katakana and be fully understood?


texts:
I'm used to seeing ほとんどのX to mean 'most X'. Sometimes I see Xのほとんど like in this question. Are both forms equally valid? do they have exactly the same meaning? For example is there any difference between the following:

  ほとんどの果物は丸い。
  果物のほとんどは丸い。
  Most fruits are round.

Edit: I'm failing to see how this is a duplicate of a question I already added a link to. If I'm missing something please let me know.


texts: What is the word for fast food? Food prepared quickly. I saw the term ファストフード used, but wondered if there is a kanji term to reflect the definition. I used the katakana term in a chat and it was not understood by the reader.


texts: Was 蒙古症 or similar words commonly used to refer to Down Syndrome?

texts:
The possibility that Japanese used words derived from "Mongoloid" to refer to Down Syndrome hadn't crossed my mind until I was mentioning the word to a Japanese person practicing English, but jisho.org mentions the word, and the term is mentioned in the Japanese edition of Wikipedia's entry on Down Syndrome.

Was 蒙古症 or similar terms derived from the English word "Mongoloid" commonly used to refer to Down Syndrome?


texts: what does 本体の宿り木たる霊樹が、いわば本体と言えるのだ。mean?

texts:
I tried to compare it with the English version on the web novel but the content didn't match, try to search it word by word still confused.
Here is the whole passage


texts: While I understand that stroke order is important, I do not understand why it is important. If the final product would look the same, why does it matter? I don't have an issue following stroke order. I'm just curious.


texts: ページ数 means number of pages. Is it すう or かず?


texts:
Is it more common to read 門 as かど or もん?

e.g. how would we pronounce the 門 in 彼らは門が開くのを待っていた。


texts: ありがとう pronounced with heibangata pitch pattern?

texts:
I've always heard a lot of Japanese people pronounce ありがとう as ありがとう{LHHHH}, but I've never actually seen anyone talk about it on the Internet.

People always say ありがとう should be pronounced ありがとう{LHLLLL} in standard speech, which obviously I hear a lot, but I also hear a lot of speakers of Standard Japanese pronounce it as an unaccented word, so I definitely think it's not dialectal. (I even hear ありがとう{LHHLL} a lot of the time).

Is it pronounced unaccented because it's a shortening of the phrase ありがとうございます{LHHHHHHHHLL}?

As far as I'm concerned, the phrase can be pronounced two ways: with the downstep on ま, or with a downstep on り and then on ま (ありがとうございます{LHLLLLHHHL}).


texts: Difference in the 4 sentence constructions

texts:
I have a sentence that, I was trying to frame, however, I cannot decide between ね, よ and だろう/でしょう, which ending particle that I should use.
The context is: Aさんのお母さんがほうれん草を作った、でも、Aさんがほうれん草が好きじゃない. そして,　Aさんのお母さんはこの事実が知っている.
So, following are the four sentences that Aさん can and wants to use:

ほうれん草を食べないね (here the ね is of agreement, as both Aさんとお母さん knows about the fact and have shared knowledge, and A wants to tell his mom something like, "I do not eat spinach, right (we both know this)" in the context that you have still cooked it even when you knew it).

ほうれん草を食べないよ (here よ is used, even though both have shared knowledge that A does not eat spinach, in the context that (I don't think you know/realize but) "I do not each spinach" (and that you should know this), in a sense that Aさん thinks that his mother has forgotten about this, or sarcastically to show that you don't realize this, but I don't eat spinach) ( I hope you understand what I am trying to potray)

ほうれん草を食べないだろう! (here だろう is that of empathetic tone, which as per my understanding means, "I think you know" or simply "you know" i.e. to say "I do not eat spinach, probably!" (where probably is in negative tone, that is to imply, You know that I do not each spinach)

ほうれん草を食べるでしょうか (here でしょうか, which as per this post's answer given by user3985, is used in a sarcastic and rhetorical way, though by typing it means, I wonder if I eat spinach!?, it has a sense that, I don't each spinach)

Questions:
1.Are all the sentences grammatical, and make sense? When would each of the sentences be appropriate?
2.Can you please explain the different, between the sentences in nuance (I am not asking for the a general difference between ね,よ,だろう/でしょうか. I just want the difference in the nuance in the above said context and sentences)
教えてください


texts: Understanding why に particle means "because" in this sentence

texts:
I am struggling to understand the syntax of this sentence that I found in a grammar book.

  あまりの言葉にあきれてものが言えませんでした。
  I could not say anything because of the outrageously unkind words.

I read it as "not many words に outrageous thing が was unable to speak."
In other words, the pattern used to say "because of B I was C(action) A" would be "AにBがC(action)." Is this the correct understanding of this grammar?


texts: What is the role of というか at the beginning of sentence?

texts:
Context: A and B are in relationship. A was drunk from hangover. B helped A to get in to his house. A realized that B entered his house once again. He thought

っていうかBがまた...

I'm not sure what というか is doing here. I checked this answer. It only discusses the function of というか at the end of a sentence. I don't know if it mean the same thing when placed at the beginning of a sentence.
My take: I think というか at the beginning functions similar to ゆうのは. It means something like "I mean." Am I right here?


texts:
Pardon my wordiness here, but I'm trying to wrap my head around the exact nuances of ~ようにする, together with the many other questions about it on this site (such as this, this, and this).
日本語文法ハンドブック (in section 7) lists three different definitions of ~ようにする, with examples:

無意志的な出来事が起こるように働きかけるという意味。「油をさして、ドアがスムーズに開くようにした。」
習慣的にある意志的な行動をすることを表す。「私は毎朝朝食を食べるようにした。」
出来事が実現するように努力するという意味。「今度会議にはできるだけ出るようにするよ。」

A passage about the 2nd definition's example sentence reads: 「例えば、『私は毎朝朝食を食べるようにした。』はいつも朝食を食べたということを表します。」This implies that although a common translation of ~ようにする is "try to", implying possible failure, definition 2 means that the regular action indicated by ~ようにする is done successfully without fail every time, as indicated by 「いつも」 in that sentence.  So I feel that a more appropriate translation would be "try to and succeed" (as long as we're talking about a past habitual action here per definition 2).
In contrast, the highest-voted answer to this question says that ~ようにする implies a wishy-washy, passive or apologetic degree of intention, as if failure at some attempts is a very real possibility.
It seems to me that the degree of implied success varies depending on tense and whether the action is volitional or not (意志的 or 無意志的).  Please help me understand if my interpretations below are correct.

油をさして、ドアがスムーズに開くようにした。

The action is non-volitional and non-habitual.  So this sentence does NOT imply success at making the door スムーズに開く, but merely an attempt.

今日からお酒を飲まないようにします。 I'll make sure I don't drink any more alcohol from today.

The new habitual action is volitional and placed in the future.  So this does NOT imply success, but merely an attempt.  Any further implication of success or failure depends on the person's reputation, although ~ようにする does not imply an impressive amount of personal determination here.

毎日歩くようにしている。 I'm trying to walk every day.

The habitual action is volitional and in the present.  This does NOT imply success every day, but merely regular attempts, although success with at least the majority of these attempts would be implied.

毎日宿題をするようにしました。 I made sure that I did my homework every day.

The habitual action is volitional and past-tense.  Per the description above, this DOES imply success at every attempt; the listener understands that the speaker WAS able to do their homework every day, for an unspecified period of time.
Please let me know what is correct or incorrect about these interpretations.


texts: Does subject marker が always have to be before the conjugated verb?

texts:
むかし、 むかし、 ある ところ に おじいさん と おばあさん が いました。

Here's what I got so far:

(adv. time), (adv. time), (to be - infinitive) (somewhere) (ni particle), (old man) (to - conjunction) (old woman) (ga subject marker) (iru - polite past)

Does the subject marker が always have to be there before a conjugated verb?


texts: Could you please help with this translation?

texts:
可愛くないのはやだけど妙に気合い入れたと思われるのも...

Context: A girl goes to buy pajamas, but she's not sure which one she should buy (she's shown having trouble picking up). Then she says that sentence.

I'm not sure about why there's ない after 可愛く. From what I can understand, the girl is saying that she doesn't want to buy cute pajamas because it would be strange for her to do so (I guess it's implied she doesn't like to look cute). Anyway, I'm not sure if I really get what she means. Any help will be appreciated.


texts: Can I drop "to be/is" particles esp. in usernames?

texts:
I tried searching for this, but usually people are talking about dropping は、が、を in informal speech. I'm more curious about だ and です. I'd also like to be corrected if my understanding of saying "pink camellia" is wrong.
If I wanted to say "the camellia is pink", then I would say 桃色の椿だ.
EDIT: Actually, I'm a moron. Im pretty sure to say "the camellia is pink" I'd say 椿は桃色だ. The だ in the above example is completely meaningless, right? Could I say 椿は桃色? What about 椿桃色だ?
If that's correct, let's say I want to use "pink camellia" as my username in something. If I simply wrote 桃色の椿, would that be natural sounding? What if I took it one step further and dropped の to make it 桃色椿? Is that unnatural in the context of an online username?
Hopeful that makes sense; I realize it's a lot of little questions in one and my phrasing isn't the most clear.


texts:
To my knowledge, 運命{うんめい} is the more common of the two terms, meaning fate / destiny. 命運{めいうん} is clearly the same 漢字 reversed, and translations give the same meaning of fate / destiny.
I was wondering if the two are in fact the exact same in meaning, or if there's a difference in nuance between them, other than the fact that 運命{うんめい} seems to be the more common of the two.


texts: Are 少女 【しょうじょ】, 少女 【おとめ】, 小女 【しょうじょ】 and 乙女 【おとめ】 fully interchangeable?

texts:
A search for 乙女 on jisho.org shows the word 少女 as a result, and doesn't give a distinction between the two terms, just listing that the word 少女 has "many forms":

少女 【しょうじょ】
少女 【おとめ】
小女 【しょうじょ】
乙女 【おとめ】

Are the four forms fully interchangeable, or are there nuances in the meaning?


texts:
In the book I'm reading I keep seeing constructs where I would expect a verb but get the noun form + する. Here's an example:

  鬼は、大笑いして、「小さな小僧、お前から食べてやろう。」と言いました。
  The ogre laughed loudly and said "I will eat you first little boy".

Why is it 大笑いして rather than 大笑って?

Here's another one:

  私があなたをお守りします。
  I will protect you.

Now I'm assuming the お here is honorific (he's talking to a princess). Why is it 守りします and not 守ります?

Thanks


texts: What does "Denzen/Zenzen haitenai dame" mean on a telephone message recording?

texts: I hear this message after dialing a phone number. I know that I cannot enter for some reason, but I don't know what the reason is. Is the message box full? Is the number not being used or misdialed? It's an automated message. Any help would be appreciated, the message seems kind of garbled. Thanks!


texts: Meaning of 職員室に叩き出される

texts:
When reading something I came across the following line:

まずいな。職員室に叩き出されるぞ

However I was not quite sure how to understand 叩き出される in this context. I think I understand the usage of 叩き出される when used with から e.g. 職員室から叩き出される(thrown/kicked out of the staff room), however when used with に I am not quite sure how to understand it. In the passage they were worried that what they were doing was going to be found out.


texts:
My textbook gives the expression ''Oh!'' as ''あっ!'''.

I find this strange as little tsu makes the following consonant a double consonant.

What is it doing ''phonetically'' here?

If it is supposed to be extending the あ then should it not be ああ ?


texts:
a) ２つの事件で１３人が亡くなって、５２人がけがをしました。
  In the two events 13 people died and 52 people were injured.

  b) 彼女はけがをした
  1) The girl was injured
  2) The girl injured herself

The meaning of a) is unambiguous -- a third party was responsible for causing the injury.

In b) I don't know which of my two translations is correct. Can they both be valid? Is it just context dependent?

The reason for my confusion is that I would expect sentences like a) to be written in passive form: ５２人はけがをされました。 Presumably if I wanted to explicitly say who did the injuring it would have to be in passive form?

I'm further confused because ５２人 is the subject (が), so this definitely makes it sound like the 52 people are doing the injuring, i.e. they injured themselves, which, from the context, is clearly wrong.


texts: What is the difference between を　vs　の in 何を勉強します　and　何の勉強します?

texts:
What is the difference between を　vs　の  in  何を勉強します　and　何の勉強します ?

I noticed in sentences both variants. And I wonder which of them more properly or in which case they are should be used?

P.S.Neither english nor japanese are native languages for me.


texts: What do words/expressions 段差{だんさ} and 理解知{りかいし}れない mean in this context?

texts:
I was listening to a Japanese podcast (安住紳一郎{あずみしんいちろう}の日曜天国{にちようてんごく}) the other day, and there was this sentence (here's a link to an audio clip in case I made a mistake: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0Z63Vgl1t7F):

  「六月{ろくがつ}から七月{しちがつ}の段差{だんさ}っていうのがなかなかこう、体感的{たいかんてき}に理解知{りかいし}れない部分{ぶぶん}がありましてですね。『ええ、もう？』みたいな。」

My attempt at a translation would be something along the lines of:

  "It is hard to sense the difference between June and July. You feel like 'Huh, it's already July?'"

There are two words here, 段差{だんさ} and 理解知{りかいし}れない, whose meaning I'm not sure I understand. Checking the dictionary, 段差{だんさ} means either difference in grades (such as in martial arts) or height difference between two levels (like roads). Neither of those really fit this context in my opinion. As for 理解知{りかいし}れない, I could not find an entry for it in any dictionary. I would guess it is a combination of 理解{りかい} meaning "understand" and 知{し}れない meaning "not be able to understand easily", but I'm not really sure how you would combine those two meanings.

So, I would appreciate if someone could help me understand what 段差{だんさ} and 理解知{りかいし}れない mean in this context.


texts: What is なって in 本物っぽいなって

texts:
At the beginning of the movie "Your Name", there is a scene where Taki is waking up in Mitsuha's body, and comments "すげー本物っぽいなって".

What is the meaning of なって in this phrase?

Is this supposed to be て-form of なる, and he is commenting "they became like the real thing"?

Or is it some informal なあ..って that just describes his wonderment?
Or yet something else?


texts: What definition does 入る take in this sentence?

texts:
Consider this sentence:

  さっきなぜかマイクが入らなかった。

This is translated as:

"For some reason the microphone didn't work earlier."

When I looked up the definition of 入る

to enter; to go into
to break into
to join; to enrol
to contain; to accomodate
to have (an income of)
to get; to receive; to score

Non of the definitions listed indicates "not working". Perhaps the closest one would be 2. but it seems to indicate breaking into a place.

Can someone explain how 入る works in this sentence?

Shouldn't 壊れる be used to indicate it's not working and how would it be different from 入る?


texts: What is Japanese for the grammar term "verb base"?

texts:
What is Japanese word for the grammar term "verb base"?

In English language descriptions of the Japanese language verb conjugation for "kau' for example, "ka" is listed as the stem.  Base #1 is "wa" to which nai can be added to make ka+wa+nai = kawanai.   Base #2 is "i" to which masu can be added to make ka+i+masu = kaimasu.  Each base adds a hiragana ending in the sound of "a" for base #1, "i" for base #2, "u" for base #3, "e" for base #4, or "ou" for base #5.
My question is; is there a Japanese word for this English term "base".   語幹 (gokan) has been suggested, but I think that refers to the English term "stem", the unchanging part of the verb, in the above system.

Kotae ga areba kanshin shimasu.


texts: 「のは」 vs. 「には」 -- as in 「嬉しいのは嬉しい」 「あるにはある」

texts:
Related: What is the meaning of 「読むには読んだ」?
Related: には with plain form of verb

dictionary.goo.ne.jp 「には」
３.  （多く「…には…が」の形で、動詞や形容詞を繰り返して）一応その動作や状態は認めるが、それに関連して起こる動作や状態については関知したり容認したりしない意を表す。 「推薦状は、書く―書くが、あまり期待しないでくれ」 「涼しい―涼しいが、ちょっと冷えすぎる」

[dictionary.goo.ne.jp] doen't have a similar entry for 「のは」 -- Does this mean that  「には」  is more "canonical" ?

Are they related (one deriving from the other) ?

「涼しいのは涼しい」 vs. 「涼しいには涼しい」 -- I think the former is more common (tentatively confirmed by Google hit numbers). Is there a difference in meaning?   What's the rule for choosing one over the other? ( 「のは」 vs. 「には」 )

thesaurus.weblio.jp  「あるにはある」  ==  物事の有無について、ないことを否定する表現
(Syn.) :  無くはない  ・  ないとは言えない  ・  無いわけではない  ・  ないと言えば嘘になる  ・  あるにはある  ・  有るか無いかと問われればある

追加：　あると言えばある（んだが）、　嬉しいと言えば嬉しい（んだが）、・・・
いわゆる、「奥歯に物が（の）挟まったような言い方」　ですねｗ


texts: Would the plain form of a verb usually be translated as future tense?

texts:
In a recent question I asked, this example sentence was offered:

  映画を見る。 (I will watch a movie.)

What struck me about this was that the translated version was the future tense.

However, I always thought the plain form of a verb was tense-less.

  映画を見る。 I watch a movie.

When I think about it, though, if the plain form is without tense (or at least not future tense), then it wouldn't really be used much except in answer to a question:

  Q: 退屈しているときには、通常に何をしている？ (What do you
  usually do when you're bored?)

  A: 映画を見る。(I watch a movie.)

Maybe I just have it all wrong.

Is the plain form usually assumed to be future tense? Or at least an expression of intent?


texts: How to say a noun can be an adjective in japanese

texts:
My original thought for this came from trying to say: various kinds of woman can be beautiful.

I got: いろいろな女 は きれいでいられます.  As my best guess.  I realize rareru or eru can be used for verbs but I don't see a way in my two genki books to do this.
I can think of many other examples in English,  for example crabs can be blue.  Of course a sentence such as some crabs are blue is easy to say in Japanese.  All though the truth value of these two sentence is the same so the effectively mean the exact same thing there are statements where this is not the case.

For example magnetic monopoles can exist.  This is a completely true statement as far as modern understanding of physics is concerned.  However we have never shown that one does exist.  So the statement that some magnetic fields are monopoles is not equivalent to the first.

Edit: I also realize one can say "various kinds of beautiful woman exist." However, this also doesn't feel like what I am trying to say.


texts: Is there any reason a lot of body parts use the Month/Moon radical?

texts: 腕、胸、お腹、肘、脇、肩 are all body parts, and their radical is 月. I wonder how that came to be?


texts: I'm trying to translate some episode titles for a 1974 show called 電撃！！ストラダ５, and two of the episode titles are 殺人コンピューターをぶちこわせ！ and ハネムーン作戦でぶちあたれ！ What are ぶちこわせ and ぶちあたれ? I can't find anything about them.


texts: What's the difference between 治す{なおす} and 治る{なおる}?

texts:
My dictionary says they are both cure/fix, so I am wondering what the difference is and how to use them?

Is it an active/passive difference, or transitive/intransitive? Or just a subtle nuance?
I couldn't find a good example of usage.

I found this question, but it just refers to the different kanji, not the different words.

Thanks


texts:
I am a beginner Japanese student. I was reading this short text and have problem with this particular sentence (end of second paragraph).

盲導犬を飼いはじめて最初は、二人の息が合わず街に出かけても失敗ばかりでした。

Let's try to go through it:

盲導犬を飼いはじめて最初は <-- this is the topic (At first begin to raise guide dog)
二人の息が合わず <-- this is the part I don't understand. I translated it "without joining two persons' breath"
街に出かけても <-- despite going to the city
失敗ばかりでした <-- it was more or less a failure

I don't know how to put these pieces together. What does the sentence mean? How do the parts after the は topic marker link together?


texts: Categorizing kanji variants - is there a "proper" form?

texts:
Here are kanji variants:

海 (as an image: )
海

In case it does not display correctly for you, the first kanji is unicode U+FA45.

Is 海 considered a variant of the much more common 海? Or, are 海 and 海 just considered mutual variants of each other?

More broadly, do you say that the most frequently used version of a kanji with a variant is "the" kanji? And that the kanji that is much less frequently used is the variant?

Also: What about rare cases such as 才 and 歳, both of which are very frequently used?


texts:
In general, the possible 促音 rules are pretty clear: つ・ち in front of voiceless sounds, otherwise voiceless sounds can become 促音 before the same consonant, only at morpheme boundaries, etc. etc.
However, in e.g. 十分{じゅっぷん}, it seems like the う of じゅう is becoming 促音. The answer here seems to suggest it has something to do with Chinese, and the fact that じっ was the original reading for 十:

「じっぽん」 : Closed syllable checked tone from Ancient Chinese phonology had expressed as gemination in Japanese. Thus, it preserved「ぽん」.

However, that doesn't clear much of anything up to me, in particular why it does seem to be realized as じゅう sometimes, and why this particular place has preserved a checked tone (which Wikipedia tells me is a syllable ending in a stop), where it hasn't been preserved in any other place (that I know of?).


texts:
What is the difference between:

  a) 町全体
  b) 町の全体
  c) 全体の町

The intended meaning is "The whole town".

How do I decide which is the correct way to use 全体? I'm guessing there are other words for which the same principles will apply.

P.S. 町 might be a bad choice of noun because I think 町全体 is a word by itself. If so, please replace with another noun.


texts:
Looking at the answer to this question, it seems that both 行かせられる and 行かされる are valid forms of the causative-passive of 行く. I've only been taught the first usage, so I have a number of related questions regarding the difference between the two.

Is the second form a contraction of the first? Is there any difference in nuance between the two? Is the impression that they give when used any different between the two?

Can all 五段 verbs follow this pattern? For example, could 読ませられる be replaced with 読まされる? If this usage is due to a contraction, is there a similar pattern for 一段 verbs? For example, would 出させられる be able to be replaced with an alternate version?

Which usage is used most frequently? And is the same usage used in spoken language as in writing (such as in novels)?


texts:
This question had the following example:

人間に上下はないと考えるアメリカ人にとって、日本の目上と目下の関係は面倒だろう ?

and the OP was asking about the meaning of は. I'd like to expand on this.
Firstly, I'm assuming that 上下は is part of 人間に上下はないと考える rather than being the topic for the entire sentence. It would seem strange to start with 人間に if the latter were the case.
That being so, my main question is, is it generally allowed to use は within an indirect quote? It feels weird to me. Probably because I know that (with exceptions) it isn't allowed in a relative clause.
So, in the example sentence is the は allowed only because of the usual rule that ない likes to take は or is it just perfectly natural to have は in indirect quotes irrespective?
Finally, and perhaps this should be a separate question, I know that は is allowed in relative clauses for the purpose of contrast. Is it also allowed when making a negation such as 上下はない? I guess that is a form of contrast, but it's not clear to me.


texts: Why does 目 get used in situations like 二個目? How did it come about getting the meaning of eye as well as some counting meaning?


texts: Why is ホームシック a noun, not a な-adjective?

texts:
In class, I was told that ホームシック is a noun, not a な-adjective.

ホームシックの時、何をしますか。

By contrast, the closest English word to "ホームシック", which is "homesick", is an adjective.

Why is ホームシック a noun? Is it describing a disease (if you had to use English, you might say "homesickness"), rather than the state of having the disease?


texts:
In the following sentence:

  誰｛だれ｝探｛さが｝してんの

What is the grammatical reason for  探｛さが｝す to be used in て-form before ん?


texts: Is there a particle dropped in the sentence お届け物いたします?

texts:
In the sign in the movie "Kiki's Delivery Service" it says お届け物いたします.
In this case is the particle を or が dropped due to informal spoken language?
Is the tacit が the person offering the delivery service?


texts:
Ive seen 立ち上がる＆乗ってあがる before,yet I can't tell the difference between them and 立つ｜乗る。

For example
早速立ち上がれ！（Hurry and stand up!)

エレベーターに乗ってあがる (=I take the elevator and go up.).

I haven`t seen any other usage for てあがる。


texts: How would I say: The cat thought a snake appeared?

texts:
I currently wrote this as:  猫は蛇が現れたと思た. The cat thought  a snake appeared.

Is this correct ?


texts: Not understanding 解{と}く in this sentence

texts:
This sentence comes from my JLPT practise book in a section explaining the use of 解{と}く:

  練習{れんしゅう}問題{もんだい}は答{こた}えを見{み}ないで、自分{じぶん}で解{と}いてください。

I get that 解{と}く means to "unravel" or "solve", but the sentence seems to be saying "When you can't see the answer to the practise questions, solve it yourself."

Which seems odd conceptually to me, because I can't really imagine a situation in which someone needs to be looking up answers for questions they could solve anyway.

So I'm wondering if there's something about 解{と}く that I'm not getting. Or perhaps some other part of the sentence.

What does the sentence mean, and how does 解{と}く play into it?


texts: What does 動ラ下二 means? And how to pronounce it?

texts: Saw it in a jisho but I have no idea what it means.


texts:
Why does を show the nuance of the speaker being prejudiced  in this ?
Example:
With は

窓は田中さんに開けられた

The window was opened by Tanaka

With を

田中さんに窓を開けられた

Tanaka opened the window [and now I am annoyed]


texts: The meaning of 美味しいクッキーで子供たちに大人気

texts:
Woman 1 「アスタの作るクッキーは香りが豊かで、焼き始めるとスタリオンの子供たちが屋敷に集まってくるのよね」
アスタ 「簡単に焼けるから、みんなに配る分もすぐに準備出来るからね」
Woman 2 「うむ、領地の子供たちに美味しい物を振る舞うとは……さすが領主の義理息子だけはある」
Woman 1 「感心しているけど、あんたは実の娘でしょうが」
Man 1 「美味しいクッキーで子供たちに大人気か」

Now my question is about the last part 美味しいクッキーで子供たちに大人気, as I am completely stumped as to what it means. The possible interpretations that I can think of would be

It means that he makes delicious cookies and he is popular with the kids
He is popular with the kids due to his delicious cookies
His cookies are delicious and they are very popular with the kids.

Can anyone explain which of these is correct and why the others would be incorrect? (If none of the above are correct then please state what it means to you.)


texts:
How do you say that you like to do a verb?

Some sentences i need translating are:

I like to watch TV
I like to sleep
I like to eat Pasta
I like learning languages


texts: Is there a difference in usage depending on the situation?


texts:
It is a situation that a guy on the ground asking another one who is climbing on a bed staircase with this sentence.

このへんでいいかな？

And he replied with this one.

おお　よかろうしっかり手｛て｝足｛あし｝をおさえておけっ。


texts: Is いつもの an adjective or the object in the following sentence?

texts:
Context: Character A, a middle-aged man, suddenly enters the room where Riku, a child, is.

  Character A: 何してんだ？リク

  Riku: いつものおじさん

Then, in the next balloon (it's a manga), Riku explains what he was doing.

What is いつもの in the sentence above? Is it an adjective? If so would the translation be "oh, the usual man/the man that always comes here"? Or is it the object of the implicit sentence "(I'm doing) the usual, old man"? I would say it is an adjective, because if it was the object it would be いつものを", right? Thank you for your help!


texts:
I was watching this video and noticed the title. I would have thought that it would be something like 自分の目で確かめよう to mean "see for yourself". But instead it is

  その目で確かめよう

which would have the literal meaning of "Confirm with those eyes." その手 seems like it might be used in a similar way (その手に触れるまで seems like it might something similar and at least appears in some songs/movies), but when are some other times one might use そのX to mean "your X"?


texts: が and に interchangeability and difference in meaning

texts:
Consider these sentences:

だれ{が・に}これが出来るか

だれ{が・に}日本語が分からないか

When both が and に are acceptable, what is their difference in meaning and practical usage?


texts: Does this sentence make sense "タバコとっても大嫌いよ、タバコの香り特にな"

texts: Im writing an essay about myself in Japanese to practice my grammar and such. And I want to know if this sentence sounds natural or not and whether Iam using "特に" "香り" and "な" correctly. And if it does sound unnatural what are some other ways I can better phrase it to sound less forced.


texts:
Context: explanation of the Friction Stir Welding process.

In the fourth sentence I don't understand why there are two 〜により.

  ツールの移動により接合界面同士が順次塑性流動により攪拌・一体化

What is that is causing the process? The movement of the tool or the gradual plastic flow? My translation attempt:

  Thanks to the movement of the tool the joining surfaces become
  agitated and unite thanks to the gradual plastic flow.

Also, in the sentence ツールの回転に引きずられる形で塑性流動 could you explain if 引きずられる refers the plastic flow being caused by the rotation of the tool  or if it refers to the rotating tool being dragged? Thank you for your help!


texts:
I'm practicing understanding japanese by japanese subs of anime.
For this moment it is 10 episode of season 2 "Seitokai yakuindomo", the last scene.

Here is Tsuda words:
**あっ そうだ 買い物 頼まれてた んだ**
Translation: Ah! By the way, I was asked to shop some things.

I try to firugre out by parts and could not understand what form of verb for 頼む [tanomu] was used here.

あっ そうだ [a: soda] Well, here is a thing.
買い物 [kaimono] shopping
頼まれてた [tanoma reteta] ???? what is the form of the verb
んだ [nda] situation is the following.

Is it past passive?
If so, I could not find info that past passive exists in japanese language.  頼まれる - is plain passive, but no past passive in the vocabulary.

Does anyone knows what is the form of this verb in Tsuda's words?


texts: What is the difference between 始め 初め and 始まり?

texts: Just to be sure, I'm not talking about the verbs 始める/始まる but the nouns(maybe adverb?) 始め 初め and 始まり.


texts: What does this ad say? (Connotations of ガキ大将)

texts:
This is a frequent problem that I think many Japanese learners experience. You look at some Japanese sentences, and you understand the words, and most, if not all, the grammar, and yet still, it just doesn't seem to mean anything.

That is the case when I look at this ad that I recently saw on the subway:

The text says:

  本当のガキ大将は、弱い者いじめなんて絶対にしなかった。

  昔話でもしながら、ま、一杯。

In kana:

  ほんとうの　がきたいしょうは、　よわいもの　いじめなんて　ぜったいに　しなかった。

  むかしばなしでも　しながら、　ま、　いっぱい。

And my rough translation:

  The leader of the gang never bullied the weak ones.

  While talking about old time, hey, have a glass.

がき means more like "punk", but in this case since it's plural, I opted for "gang". 一杯 means a full cup, but I went with "glass" as in "have a glass of beer".

The second sentence, that one should enjoy a beer while talking over the old times seems clear enough.

But... the leader of the bullies didn't pick on the weak? Am I reading that right? And if so... It's a weird assertion. Isn't the leader of the bullies by default complicit in bullying?

The picture adds to my confusion? I think the kid on the far left is the leader of the bullies, the kid with the broken net is the victim, and the rest are the gang. It looks like the leader is the one who broke the net...? It seems to contradict what the words say.

What the heck is going on? Does it mean what I think it means and I'm not getting some cultural aspect in order to understand it? Or does it not mean what I think it means?


texts: Is 〜がりや limited to just a few words, or can it be added to any adjective?

texts:
I've noticed a few words like these:

  恥ずかしがり屋{や}
  寂しがり屋
  怖がり屋

I've only noticed this with a few adjectives, like the ones above, and with verbs with たい:

  目立ちたがり屋

I suppose this ending is just a combination of がる and 屋.  I thought that perhaps がり屋 might be considered a special combination, but I couldn't find it in any dictionaries.  I did find this definition for 屋 in 明鏡国語辞典, which I think is the relevant one:

  それを専門とする人や、そのような性質の人である意を表す。

We already have a question asking whether 〜がる is limited to specific adjectives.  So I guess the question I want to ask is this: can I use がり屋 for any word where I can use がる?  Or is it strange outside of those few words where it seems to be commonly used, like 恥ずかしがり屋?


texts: Stylistic implications of using and not using kanji

texts:
I am currently reading 村上春樹's 「海辺のカフカ」and I came across several examples of words being written in kanji in one instance and in kana shortly after.
Here is one example where the two writings occur in the same page:
p.282, ln.4
「僕は自分にそう言いきかせる。」
p.282, ln.13
「と自分にいいきかせる。」
Now, it seems like there are no set rules for when to use or not to use kanji, although grammatical constructs and commonly used words tend to be written in kana according to Totland's answer to this question: Where to check if a word is used with kanji or not?.
But is there a good reason for using two different writings instead of sticking with a convention? Is there in fact a rule I am missing?
Or could this be a deliberate stylistic choice from 村上春樹?
(I have a suspicion this also happens in other works from different writers but unfortunately I do not have any other example at hand at the moment.)


texts:
Please explain what 反対に is doing in this sentence:

  そういえば先日も、駅のホームにおいて、化粧をしている若い女性に注意した年配の女性が、反対につきとばされて電車に接触し、大怪我をする事件がありましたっけ。

  Come to think of it, just the other day on the station platform I recall there was an incident where an old lady, who told off a young girl who was putting on make up, was pushed away and came into contact with the train, and was seriously injured.

I thought it meant 'on the contrary' but that doesn't make any sense. Thanks.


texts: What's a natural way of saying "Is it worth a visit?" in Japanese? Something like 「訪れ価値がある？」?


texts:
「盲腸なんて、年にかかわらず、痛くなるときゃなるんだ。」
  For things like appendicitis, regardless of age, when it gets painful ???

I don't understand what the second なる is referring to in this sentence.
Is it just an abbreviation of 痛くなるときは痛くなる, reinforcing that pain is not related to age? I can't think what else it could be.


texts:
What is the difference between 役に立てば and 役に立てれば?

Isn't 立つ a first group verb which means it should be 役に立てば? why in most cases do I find it written 役に立てれば like in this example: お役に立てれば幸いです.


texts: Confusing use of plain copula （だ should be だった?）

texts:
I am reading Kanon, I will first give the context:

  大体{だいたい｝、いつからこの家｛いえ｝の朝食｛ちょうしょく｝は和風｛わふう｝になったんだ…
  [Generally,] Since when did we start eating Japanese food for breakfast...

The main character then narrates:

  昨日｛きのう｝までは間違いなく｛まちがいなく｝、トーストにゆで卵｛たまご｝だったはずだ
  Until yesterday, I have unmistakable expectation that it was toast and boiled eggs

If the expectation was until yesterday, should it not be 「だったはずだった」? He surely no longer has the expectation since he has just had his expectation contradicted. My belief is either I am confused at what the copulae are referring to, or 「までは」 forces the rest of sentence into the past (so the plain copula is present tense... in the past... (time travel tense trouble))


texts: Is the ending ~ま鶴 just a slang corruption of ~ます?

texts:
Occasionally on Twitter, I see tweets from young native Japanese-speakers like:

  おはようございま[鶴]{つる}

with the obvious meaning of おはようございます。

Is this change of ます to まつる just a form of slang, and is it commonly used and understood?


texts:
I've noticed when listening to some recordings of ん before a vowel, such as 万{まん}円{えん}, that the ん sound tends to be assimulated and almost vanish into the vowel's sound (sounding almost like まーえん). But there's just a hint of a naselization I think is being said, but I can't seem to replicate it at all, and pronouncing it with a ŋ ('ng') sounds stronger than the recording.

I've searched some of the past questions on the site related to how ん is pronounced prior to a vowel, but I haven't found a response that really gives a precise answer, as most say 'nasalized vowel' without many instructions on how to actually pronounced it.


texts:
I found an interesting word in a box kind of stamina drugs which said
力強い (chikaradzuyoi) which means powerful. The interesting thing for me is, I noticed the word may be interchangeable, like with 強力 (kyouryoku) which means powerful too, and I mostly use 「強力」rather than「力強い」.
Is this a colloquial matter? Or nuance?


texts: What local dialect (if any) will I encounter/learn?

texts:
So, I'm going to Japan as part of the JET Programme, and will be staying in Minamiaizu, Fukushima Prefecture.
While I have about 18 months of Japanese, these were mostly night classes, and I could really use more daily practice (.... which I'm expecting to get); I've been informed that the local area has their own dialect - what am I going to end up learning (not necessarily deliberately), and what's going to be different for me?  What are the characteristics of the local dialect?

(If it helps, the class was using this series, which I'm assuming is teaching 'Tokyo standard' Japanese)


texts: How do you say "maybe next time when we visit japan" in japanese?

texts:
Someone jokingly asked for a present when I greet him happy birthday, and unfortunately he's in Japan and I'm in another country. How can I say:

  Sorry, maybe next time when we visit Japan again.

Maybe in a casual manner? Is:

  "sumimasen, mata kondo de"

appropriate enough?


texts:
Could someone tell me how id say 'bonded joint' ?

The context that it is pointing to a diagram showing a bike frame has titanium joints bonded to it.

Thanks!


texts:
In this song, the lyrics go「青い鳥さえいつもさえずり。」

I'm not sure what さえ means in this context. Is this the particle さえ or does it mean somthing else?

Can anyone help me out? Thanks!


texts: Is the ー (ちょうおん) character used with Hiragana and Kanji?

texts: It appears that the character is limited to Katakana. Is the character used in writing Hiragana and Kanji?


texts: Is this a good response to an email for interview request?

texts:
I just received an interview request written entirely in Japanese. But the email mentions to inform them if I have difficulty communicating in Japanese and is asking what would be good interview dates. I've written this basic starter response and plan to switch to English right after.
Do you think this is a good way to respond to the email? I only have one part of the name in Kanji, the other part is in English and I have a hard time telling if it's the first or last name. I also don't know the Kanji for it.
Thank you so much for any help on this, I really appreciate it.
The message so far:
様、
面接依頼でよろしくお願いします。
私は日本語が少し話せます。これのために英語は大丈夫ですか？
いただきありがとうございます。


texts: Can someone help me understand what the と particle is doing in this sentence?

texts:
I'm fairly certain the と particle here is the conditional form. But I could be totally wrong.
それが真実であると仮定しよう。
The translation I have for it is, "Let's suppose it is true". But it seems odd to me that と is being used conditionally. Wouldn't it transliterate to something like, "If it is true, let's suppose"?


texts:
I wanted to say "Stores are closed at least until April, 13th", and speaking with two different Japanese people I had two different answers: one said that 「せめて四月の十三日まで」 was right, the other said that it sounds odd and 「少なくとも四月の十三日まで」 would be better.

I found that they differ in strenght/emotion, but if that's the only difference both of them would be right depending on how the speaker feels about the stores being closed.

I tried to do a bit of research, and it seems that 「せめて」 is more linked to wanting/asking at least a certain quantity of something, like 「せめて一度は日本に行きたい」, but I'm not sure if it can or not be used in the opening sentence.


texts:
What are the differences between these sentences? How do I properly translate them?

日本に行くとき(に)、パスポートをとります。
日本に行くとき(に)、パスポートをとりました。
日本に行ったとき、きょうとでさくらをみたいです。
日本に行ったとき、きょうとでさくらをみました。

In my exercises, it just says that when the verb (in the first part of each sentence) is in the present tense, then it means we are about to do that action (still referring to the first part). Instead, if the verb is in the past tense, what does it mean?

To me, they all look pretty similar, but of course there's something wrong with my reasoning.


texts: What are the nuances between [死亡]{し・ぼう} and [死去]{し・きょ}?

texts:
Will someone explain the finer points between these two words?  With the tragic death of Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington last week, almost every Japanese tweet I saw used 死去.  Until then, I'd never seen this word (but obviously knew what it meant), but then was wondering why it was used instead of 死亡.

Is there some different in politeness level?  Respect level (although I always thought [逝去]{せい・きょ} was used for a high level of respect)?  Something else?


texts:
Tell me please what is the meaning of やらなればならない, maybe it's やらなければならない but still...
Full sentence: 国がやらなればならない全てのことを、不蝕金鎖が担い、一定の秩序をつくりあげたのだ。
Thank you very much for the help!


texts:
I am wondering how 組まされた was conjugated.

I know it is a form of the verbs 組む and する, but I don't know why む became ま, instead of the stem plus the passive form of する.

Is there something I am not getting?


texts: How to say "with Person A and Person B"?

texts:
Recently I saw this sentence:

マリアさんもホセさん、テレサちゃんときてください

I understand this as

Maria, please also come, along with Jose and Teresa

If my translation is correct, is the comma a standard way of including multiple other people? How about using と instead?

ホセさんとテレサちゃんと

As a side question, if we replace も with は, how does the meaning change? Would it be

Maria, please come, along with Jose and Teresa

without the "also" part?


texts: Older Jp had much fewer particles (助詞) ? -- The modern "use ALL the particles" written style

texts:
. . . A perhaps pedantic comment: The idea that everything has a particle in theory, which is either "dropped" or not, is actually relatively modern. In earlier forms of Japanese, there were many cases where "no particle" was most correct, particularly marking subjects and direct objects: 花咲く都, 兎追いし彼の山, etc.
Thus: (1) The modern "use ALL the particles" written style is not the Ideal form from which particles are dropped, but an artificially hypercorrected form;
from a comment by Matt

That makes sense.
( but then, the discrepancy between spoken & written language must have been great 1000 years ago. )
When did we start wanting to put particles on everything ?
Most people today want Jp to be so exact, like an artificial language -- purging all possible ambiguities and illogical stuff.

現代の日本人は昔の日本人と会話可能なの？
(1) http://academy6.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/gengo/1203827142/
(2) http://awabi.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/gengo/1305011241/
("hypercorrection" or overcompensation) -- See
Misplaced(?) に in たった4週間の間に毎日3Lの水を飲み続けた女性の変化がヤバすぎ！
for
the over-zeal to put particles (助詞) resulting in insertion of
に into
4週間の間に making the sentence ungrammatical (2 examples).


texts:
I know sometimes 気持 can be used to express a good feeling or sensation, but what about other feelings ? By the way, the sentence i found was 彼女に成功して欲しいっていう気持ちもあるけど、正直、帰って欲しくない

I think it's something like "I also want her to have success, but i don't want her to go home"

Thank you all!

:)


texts: Why does ようになる become ようになりました (past tense)?

texts: So I know that using dictionary form verb ようになりました means I started to do this thing that I didn't do before. But what would happen if I put it in present tense with ようになります would that be wrong? Would that mean something else? On this website that describes how the structure works it describes it as ようになる which is plain present tense but then all of the example sentences use  ようになりました. Why is it in past tense? Isn't it describing the current state of things?


texts: So I was wondering, how do japanese people greet each other when they are, for example, writing on a blog or recording a video? My doubt comes from the fact that their greetings will be directed towards someone who is unknown, and that the greeting will be seen on a unpredictable time. Someone who accesses the blog (or watches the video or whatever) could to that at anytime of the day. Does that even matter? Or one should take into consideration the time when they're are writing/recording? Or neither?


texts: Is there a rule to determine whether or not 「に」 should be attached after 「まま 」?

texts:
In the example sentences of my textbook for the grammar 〜まま, it is used either with 「に」 (①) or without 「に」 (②,③):

In the case of ②, I understand that 「に」 is not necessary as まま is not acting as an adverb. Again, at ① it is used as an adverb so 「に」 is attached to it. What bugs me is the example sentence ③. I do not understand why 「まま」 is not attached「に 」even though it is modifying the verb:

  靴【くつ】を脱【ぬ】がないでそのままお入【はい】りください。

Initially, I thought it might be one of those cases where a particle is ommitted in some instances and both possibilites (namely attaching 「に」or ommitting 「に」) are equally acceptable.

However, I encountered the same sentence later on as part of an exercise where I am asked to pick one option from either:

so obviously, the only possible option is not to attach「に」to 「まま」just like in the initial example sentence ③.

Why? What am I missing here?

Your help is much appreciated.

EDIT: Thanks to user3856370 for pointing out here that the「に」in ① comes from the grammar pattern noun+になる (and similarly, noun+にする), where 「まま」 is the noun.The example sentence ① is one of such cases.

  その書類【しょるい】は後【あと】で読【よ】みたいからしまわないで、そのままにしておいてください。


texts: I recently found a strange spelling of a reversed S (Ƨ) on an old Japanese matchbox label (late 19th century), in the phrase "MANUFACTURED IN ƧEIRYUKWAN". At first I thought this was just a mistake in the graphics, or perhaps the Latin alphabet was not well known. However, I later found an example where the normal and reversed S occur side by side, in "OSAKANATUƧINSIYA ƧEIZU". This does look like the artist should've noticed. This made me wonder: is this some weird old-style form of transliteration, and what could the difference between those twop forms be? I don't speak Japanese unfortunately, so I couldn't come up with any guesses.


texts:
I recently created a web app called Kazu which aims to help speakers of Japanese and English learn to read numbers in both languages.

I found a web page which said that 'for numbers over 1万, "1000" is read as いっせん.

So, to be consistent with 一千万{いっせんまん}, I used 一千億{いっせんおく} and 一千兆{いっせんちょう}.

I'm also using いっせん where 1000 appears in other parts of the number, so 1万1000 comes up as いちまん いっせん.

I've tried to clarify with 2 native speakers whether these are the best choice for the app, and both of them said "it depends on the person", but they also said せんおく sounds better than いっせんおく — except when there's a counter word like 円 or 個.

Now I'm really confused. If you had to choose one "best" pronunciation for 1000億 and 1000兆, as in my situation, what would they be? What would you say for numbers like 1万1000? Should I change my decision?


texts:
Would both of these sentences be correct? Do they both have the same meaning?

たくやの後ろに彰が座っています。Akira is sitting behind Takuya.
彰はたくやの後ろに座っています。Akira is sitting behind Takuya.


texts: I studied that とたん must be used after a verb in the past form, and that, also the clause that follows it is in the past form. In this case it bears the meaning of "as soon as something happens, something else also happens". However, I saw that とたん can also be preceded by a present tense and that the following clause can be present too, but I'm not sure if the meaning of とたん then changes. As in:「会社に入る途端に勉強しなくなる人が多い」. Could somebody provide me some examples to figure it out?


texts: What does this artist's name mean? 光収容の倉庫

texts:
I've tried breaking it down as much as I can, and combining it in different ways but I can't seem to find a decent English translation for this guy.

  光収容の倉庫  hikari shuuyou no souko

I italicize the first part of his full artist name because の倉庫 is often dropped, even in some of his album covers. Moreover, I don't think an English version of his name has ever been used on YouTube, Nicovideo, or elsewhere. Most any reference will say "Hikari", "Hikari Syuyo", "Hikari Shuyo", "Hikari Shuuyo", "Hikari Shuuyou", ... (you get the point).

So let me demonstrate what I've tried so far:

  光 (light)
    収容 (accommodation; reception; housing)
    倉庫 (storehouse; warehouse; godown)
    (many thanks to jisho.org)

Which I interpret could be a few of the following:

  Warehouse of Light (irks me because it ignores 収容)
    Light Storage Warehouse (awkward and makes "light" seem like an adjective)
    Lighthouse's Storehouse (doesn't technically mean "lighthouse")

I feel like I'm close to what it means, but I'm really struggling to find the right words to properly translate this to English. Could someone who's more native to Japanese help me out? Thank you!


texts: 訓読み for 歳: とせ vs. とし

texts: There are two 訓読み readings of 歳: とし and とせ. Looking at はたち (二十歳), a reasonable hypothesis would be "ち is a contraction of とし". I know very little about sound shifting in Japanese. Is とせ more recent than とし? Is /si/ -> /se/ (or /i/ -> /e/) a common phenomenon?


texts: Book error: パパは銀行に出かけていていないよ

texts:
There is this phrase
パパは銀行に出かけていていないよ
And the given translation is
Your dad has gone to the bank.
But here I think it is a negation instead. Which is correct?


texts:
車椅子利用者からすると、東京での暮らしは便利とはいえない。

Why do we use で after 東京? Is it to show the action in the place? What if we only say 東京の暮らしは?


texts: How would one state "Again?" like an expression of surprise? Do we still use また?


texts: Any help? I've tried finding out what this is but I've hit a wall. :/


texts:
everyone I was in an awsome izakaya in Osaka but wasnt able to figure out the name of it and stuff like it is private owned or of a chain.

Below is a picture of its front (google translate etc. cant translate it).
Its behind Tennoji Station in Osaka.

Thanks alot in Advance!


texts: "め" in "五匹め" implies some sort of "ordering"? Where it makes sense, the default is "time"?

texts:
め after a counter implies some sort of ordering, right?

Say that you are shopping for a cat.

scenario #1
You look into a room with 5 cats in it.
Does saying 五匹めが好きです。 mean anything?
In that context, saying I like the fifth one. sounds ridiculous.

scenario #2
You look into a room with 5 cats in it. Then you have a dialogue:

  A-さん: 黒くって小さいのが好きですか。
  B-さん: そうですね。私の好みよく知っているよね。五匹めが好きです。

Could that mean that "B" likes the smallest black cat? The ordering is implied to be size?
I like the fifth one. does not make sense.
I like the fifth **smallest** one. makes sense.
五匹めが好きです。 only makes sense when you use context to imply in size as the ordering criteria.

scenario #3
You are, one by one, shown 5 cats. Then you say 五匹めが好きです。 And that means that you like the 5th cat that was shown to you?  Showing the cats sequentially tees-up time as the criteria. There is no need to establish context.

scenario #4
You are, one by one, shown 5 cats. Then you have a dialogue:

  A-さん: 黒くって小さいのが好きですか。
  B-さん: そうですね。私の好みよく知っているよね。五匹めが好きです。

Now, we have 2 possible ordering criteria. Since size is explicitly established as the immediate context, implied "size ordering" supercedes the default "time ordering"?


texts: How different is 冷やかす from 冷やす? And 散らかす from 散らす?

texts:
I've long known 冷やす as the transitive counterpart of 冷える. But thanks to one question here, I've realized that there is another version with an extra syllable in it: 冷やかす. Although 冷やかす seems to have secondary meaning of making fun of someone, the first meaning "to refrigerate" seems to overlap with 冷やす. Is there any difference between them?

Being curious, I looked up in the dictionary for other verbs that have "Xsu" and "Xkasu" variants and found another pair: 散らかす and 散らす. Same question, how are they different?

Lastly, are there any other verb pairs that are different in look from each other by one additional syllable while still maintaining transitivity, and would there be any pattern on how the verbs in each pair different from each other?


texts: How would you refer to a married couple if you were familiar with both prior to marriage?

texts: If you had two close seniors or friends that you referred to by last name got married how would you address them? Would you refer to one as their given name, call them both by the shared last name, or something else?


texts: Reading of 管 as in "かん" vs "くだ" and its meaning regarding those two readings

texts:
こんにちは。

After reading jisho, here's some of the information that I found:

管 (kun: くだ  on: カン)

Interestingly, if you search the details, jisho lists 管 read as 【カン】 and
 【かん】, even though the meaning is the same i.e.: pipe or tube.

My first guess:

  Pipe as in cylindrical/tubular pvc pipe.

  While tube as in wind instrument.

かん【管】

  [共通する意味] ★円筒形で中が空になったもの。

  [使い方]〔管〕(くだ)▽ガスの管を引く〔管〕(かん)

くだ【管】

  [共通する意味] ★円筒形で中が空になったもの。

  [使い方]〔管〕(くだ)▽ガスの管を引く〔管〕(かん)

Source

The explanation is totally the same, that is 'empty-shelled' pvc pipe.

However, it differs on the other entries:

(Kun reading)

  管轄 【カンカツ】 jurisdiction, control

  配管 【ハイカン】 plumbing, piping

  移管 【イカン】 transfer of control

while

(On reading)

  管 【かん】 pipe, tube

  管狐 【くだぎつね】 mythological pipe fox, stoat

  手練手管 【てれんてくだ】 wiles, art of coaxing

  手管 【てくだ】 wiles, trick, artifice, coquetry, lover (male) (esp. of a prostitute)

Entries from Wiktionary have more explanation:

管 (hiragana くだ, rōmaji kuda)

Meaning:

  a pipe or tube, such as that made of bamboo, wood, metal, or rubber
  a shuttle for weaving with a loom (from the way the earliest shuttles were made from bamboo tubes)
  the central axis of a spindle for winding the thread
  short for 管の笛 (くだのふえ), a kind of small pipe or flute used for signalling during a battle, similar to a fife
  an agricultural tool, used to gather up cut rice stalks
  short for 管狐 (くだぎつね), a kind of mythical fox roughly the size of a weasel, that would live in bamboo stalks and make prophesies of the
  future.

Source

My questions:

  Why is that there are two exactly same readings as 'kan' in both kun and on reading while retaining the same meaning? i.e.: pipe/tube

  Usually, kanji has different readings and different meanings which
  are then categorized by 'kun' and 'on' reading.
  Is there any etymological difference or similarity that makes these two readings 'different' or 'similar'?
  Is this related to: that 管 originated from 筦 in Chinese?
  If this 管 is used, which is preferable and more natural, かん or くだ? My guess is かん, because くだ feels more 'foreign' to my intuition. Is
  this correct?
  Is there something that I miss? Thank you for all your answers! (´∀｀)

Based on source(jisho.org)


texts: Continuative てform of adjective and noun

texts:
「……む、なんか匂う。この甘酸っぱくて雨上がり、給料日に隠したまま思い出せなくなった一万円のような気配は、間違いなく秘密の匂い」

My TL:
Something smells. This swith smell after the rain.  A presence like a 10000 yen bill you hid on paycheck day and became unable to recall it. I am certain, the smell of a secret.

Shouldn't it be

雨上がりの甘酸っぱい.....

Or am I wrong?


texts: What are the large free standing imitation circular "flower" arrangements in front of pachinko parlors called?

texts: I see large brightly colored circular imitation flower arrangements that are placed at the entrances of pachinko parlors and want to know what they are called. Thank you.


texts:
The full context of the first original phrase is:

  「・・・浦島{うらしま}さん、・・・浦島さん」と、誰かが呼{よ}ぶ声｛こえ｝がします。

I was just wondering, why is 声がする in the sentence when there is already 呼ぶ? Or rather, what would be wrong with replacing 呼ぶ声がします with 呼びます?


texts: I understand both are vulgar male forms of eat, but why these two kanji are basically the same? What means that 口 in there？


texts: What's the difference between というものではない、というものでもない and というわけがない?

texts: I often encounter these three forms, but I'm sure that they are not always interchangeable. Someone could explain me the difference and perhaps provide me some example too?


texts:
Japanese uses both native and Chinese numbering numbering systems, the Sino-Japanese pronunciations being いち, に, さん, etc. and the native being ひと, ふた, み, etc. For the most part they are used for different things. However, numbers past 10 generally always use the sino pronunciations in modern Japanese, with some exceptions like 二十日 (はつか) or when fossilized in words such as 八百長 (やおちょう). To different degrees, Sino- and native numbering systems are also used in Vietnamese and Korean (and maybe others?).
When did the Japanese start using Chinese numbers? When did native numbers past 10 fall into disuse?


texts: What is the difference between 氏 and さん？

texts: I learned that 氏 is more respectful, and have seen it used with presidents and prime ministers, but I am not sure if it is still appropriate to use both terms when addressing people verbally.


texts: How to translate "tonight" meaning "this evening" and "this night"?

texts: English word "tonight" can have a meaning "this evening" and "this night" as well. I can translate into Japanese both of them as [今夜]{こんや}. But how to translate it into Japanese to mean exactly "this evening" (before midnight) and "this night" (I mean after midnight, for example at 1 AM)?


texts: Relation between kanji readings and meanings

texts:
I understand that a kanji can have several possible readings and several (typically related) meanings. Furthermore, I've noticed that a single reading typically corresponds to some subset of the meanings. To give a brief example:

生 can mean "birth", "genuine", or "life" (according to Kanjidic)

Pronounced せい it means "life", "living"
Pronounced なま it means "raw", "natural", etc.
Pronounced いき it means "lively"
Pronounced うむ (生む) it means "to give birth", "to produce"
Pronounced なる (生る) it means "to bear fruit"
etc.

Is there any resource (book/website/database/etc.) which matches readings to meanings? Bonus points if the resource is easily machine-readable - I'm building some software for which the data would be valuable.


texts:
I have found a kanji in a manga I am attempting to read, that looks like this:

I have tried to find it in numerous dictionaries, and used multiple different methods. I know the third section is a radical, but the first isn't, and searching the third on it's own at WWWJDIC returns many results, but none of them are this one. Skip code has also been unfruitful. Handwriting has been challenging, because I'm not 100% certain on the order.

A friend suggested that it may be a kanji that is out of use, but used because the manga author thinks it's cool. I doubt it's slang, though, due to the context of being a formal statement.

The context is: 我輩はノイ＝クレザント(?)騎士である where the (?) is the character. It was written vertically.

I have stated the question as "How do I look up this kanji?" because I suspect I may get into this situation again.

Edit: The answer I have marked as correct actually contains the answer in the comments, so I've written it up here. It is actually a Google Chrome character font problem. The character did really appear in the dictionaries, but I couldn't recognise it because it was displayed incorrectly (Chinese instead of Japanese). Chrome doesn't check all the fonts on your computer like IE or FF, so I changed the standard fonts and it worked.


texts:
Full text: SQLの集計機能については概要の紹介にとどめますが、SQLによるデータ集計機能はRDBMSの大きな魅力の1つです
My understanding: Our introductory overview of information about SQL aggregate functions is limited but the SQL data aggregation function is one of the major attractions of RDBMS.
My Issue: 概要の紹介にとどめますが. I believe that I have not translated this text correctly. Please help.


texts: Both mean blood according to my dictionary but what is the difference? If [血]{ち} by itself means blood, then why use [血液]{けつえき}？ What is the difference in their usage?


texts: I'm just curious at the appearance of 「口」 that makes this word mean "population". Why should it be 「口」 as opposed to any other body part or anything else? Is there a definitive reason or story associated with this word?　If 「口」 is used as a counter then why couldn't 「個」 replace it? If I'm not mistaken doesn't 「個」 refer to individuals more so than 「口」?


texts: Ok, so I mostly understand how vowel devoicing works in Japanese, but there's something that's making me a bit confused. On all the sources I've found, most say that vowel devoicing usually occurs in a vowel sound in-between two voiceless consonants - specifically  k, s, sh, t, ch, h, f and on rare occasions, apparently b, and p. However, there are a few times where I've seen a voiceless vowel occur with "d" as the second consonant, and at one point, I believe I've heard an "r" as the second consonant as well ( Examples: しだ、知らず ). Now, is it that maybe these are unique cases, or that I'm just not hearing them correctly? Or is there some other rule I'm missing?


texts: Are first, second, and third person in Japanese all the same as in English?

texts:
Are first, second, and third person nominals in Japanese used in the same way as in English? What should English speakers keep in mind when considering the three persons in Japanese?

Particularly for the second person, English you is used to directly address someone, but in Japanese, we are taught to address someone by their name, which is third person. Does this make any sense? Does it affect grammar in anyway?

Also, supposing we're talking to Mr. Yamada, and we want to ask him what he wants to do. Which of the following would be correct?

  [山田]{やまだ}さんは何{なに}がしたいですか？
  山田さんは何をしたがっていますか？


texts: Is the difference between On and Kun readings greater than just the pronunciation of the character?

texts:
Here is my present state of understanding:

A kanji's meaning is the same regardless of reading.
A reading is a way of speaking the kanji out loud.
Kun readings are always used when the kanji appears alone, except apparently with numerals, and with those kanji which lack Kun readings.
On readings are almost always used when the kanji appears as part of a compound word.
In the vast majority of cases, there is only one correct reading for a kanji in a given context. That is to say, most compound words are spoken aloud in only one way, as are most solitary characters.
If a kanji has multiple On readings, then there is no way to know which On reading to use for it in a compound word except to simply learn by trial and error as other people correct you, or to look up every new word you find to see how it is pronounced. Unless there are furigana.
There are a series of different On readings called go-on, too-on, and so on (you know what I'm talking about better than I do), and many Kanji have a different reading for each one, and all are used in different contexts, and a learner must memorize all of them for most Kanji.

If anyone could contradict/confirm the above seven statements, it would probably be very helpful. Please refer to them by number so we know exactly what we're talking about. I am hoping to God someone contradicts number 7.


texts:
I often use sentences such as "the challenges of doing...", "the challenges xx have to face" for my research.
I'm trying to translate that into Japanese, but I have trouble finding a word for "challenge". 課題 and 問題　have been suggested to me, but neither seems to fit perfectly. 課題 is probably more appropriate, but the meaning of "challenge" doesn't seem to be the main one.

Eg.

新規有機農家の課題は何ですか？ What are the challenges for new organic farmers?
有機農業を始める課題は。。。 The challenges of starting organic farming are...

Would these be okay in my case? Is there any better option?


texts: What's the difference between どうしたらいい and どうしていい?

texts:
Particularly in the following phrases, what's the difference between どうしたらいい and どうしていい? The following both seem to mean something like "I don't know what to do":

  どうしたらいいか分かりません
  どうしていいか分かりません

Is there some difference between どうして and どうしたら which changes the nuance or meaning somehow?

Is どうしたらいいか分かりません stronger in meaning than どうしていいか分かりません?


texts: Someone could explain me what is the meaning of に in this sentence?

texts:
皆さん、こんにちは 次のテキストはわからない文があるんですよね。 この文がわからない理由は"に"ですから。 この場合、にの意味が本当に知りませんよ！ だから、助けてください

『サイト内の例文の再配布は不可です。 個人での学習にお使いください』


texts: General rules in negative adjectives in superpolite form

texts:
I have trouble trying to find this specific grammar in text books.

I have a negative adjective in polite form:

  寒くないです

I want to use the superpolite form:

  寒くないございます

That seems right, but I have seen in a grammar book that when using other words, they replace the い　with う, like this:

  面白うございます

Is the first example correct? If not, what is the general rule to apply in these cases?


texts:
I was watching this video (it's actually a really good series, despite the odd presentation).
In it, there is the example:

  おばけがこわい。
  Ghosts are scary.

No problem there, but the series has been talking a lot about how the zero-pronoun marks the subject in a sentence, and that the default pronoun is "I" (in the absence of other context).
It then goes on to say that こわい on it's own means "I am scared", i.e. we took away the subject and it has now been replaced with the default "I".

This of course means that the meaning of こわい has changed from "to be scary" into "to be scared". But is this really what's happening? In the case of just こわい, why can't we assume that the zero-pronoun is actually "it" rather than "I"? Then we have "It is scary" which basically is the same as "I am scared", and then the adjective doesn't have to change meaning?

I also wonder what happens if we explicitly write the subject "I":

  私がこわい。

Does this mean "I am scared" or "I am scary"? I suspect it is still "I am scared", so how would you actually say "I am scary"?


texts: Can I use my Chinese name as my Japanese name version?

texts: I'm a Chinese, and my name is 彭宏森. But I still confuse how to make it into a Japanese name version. So I was wondering how do I covert my name and how do I read it in Japanese. My Chinese name is pronounced as "Peng Hong Sen" in English. The "彭/Peng" is my last name, and "宏森/Hong Sen" is my personal name. Please do me a favor.


texts:
Taken from an educational book with parallel English literal translation. The original work is Mishima's "Patriotism".

麗子は良人の親友であり、たびたびこの家へも遊びに来た元気な青年将校の顔を思い浮べた。
Reiko recalled the faces of the cheerful young officers who were such dear friends of her husband and had often paid social visits to the house.

What I'm having trouble with is the copula:
麗子は良人の親友であり、たびたびこの家へも遊びに来た元気な青年将校の顔を思い浮べた。
With that translation, I'd expect the sentence to look like:
麗子は良人の親友、たびたびこの家へも遊びに来た元気な青年将校の顔を思い浮べた。
Where relationship between 親友 and 顔 is copulative and the sentence becomes
麗子はXを思い浮べた。 Reiko recalled X (the noun phrase that describes the officers).
In other words, I am very confused about the original sentence's grammar and looking for an explanation how it turns into what it was translated into in the educational text.


texts:
In two anime series, HUNTER×HUNTER and D.Gray-man, the word 怨【おん】 was translated in the English subtitles as "darkness".

闇【やみ】 is another word for "darkness".  What is the difference between these two words?


texts:
I need some help in understanding the meaning of そ and も in その中でも. I understand that の中で by itself carries the meaning of among but I could not figure out the contribution of the two other hiraganas the phrase.
Additionally, why do の中で means among? Anyone know the etymology of the word.


texts: How to differentiate between the usage of the words 'yobi'「曜日」and 'nichi'「日」?

texts:
I know that yobi means 'day' of the week and 'nichi' means 'date'
I want to translate->

What day is it tomorrow?

Which is the correct translation? ->

Ashita wa nan yobi desu ka?
Ashita wa nan nichi desu ka?

Can both the words be used interchangeably?


texts: What exactly are the scenarios where かたち、けい　or かた would be used? For example, in this sentence 「 輪の形に動かす」, is it かたち or かた？


texts: When a kanji term is listed as outdated, is it for specific words or all of the words that use it?

texts: I read jisho a lot and I run into words with outdated kanji. Does this mean that the kanji term is outdated for a particular word or all words that use it?


texts: Expressing odds in japanese for horse racing

texts:
I came across this line of dialogue:

    「もう少しで、４－５だったのに、途中で落馬しやがってよぉ...ありゃぁ絶対に八百長だぜぇ」

    "The odds were so close, at 4-5, but in the middle of things, the rider falls off his horse! It's gotta be rigged!"

I presume the character is referring to odds here, but when imagining the character speaking I do not know how to represent the hyphen (ー) verbally (or most maths symbols, really).

Some quick digging on wikipedia suggest that it would be represented as に, which would roughly match with english, but my japanese is not very good so I am asking here.


texts: How does がんだとわかった work in this sentence?

texts:
I grabbed this sentence off NHK news easy, https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012139481000/k10012139481000.html .

The sentence is, 国立成育医療研究センターと国立がん研究センターは、２０１６年と２０１７年,約８００の病院などでがんだとわかった若い世代について調べました。

The following sentence uses がんだとわかった as well. I believe this to be がん as in cancer, followed by the copula then the quotation particle and 分かる. I'm having some confusion as to what the subject is though. First off, I think there are two subjects. The first being the two research centers marked by は. They are doing the investigating (調べました).

２０１６年と２０１７年,約８００の病院などで is marking the time and place. 2016/2017, at approximately 800 hospitals.

Then, for the modifier of 世代, "がんだとわかった若い世代, I'd get something like "It is understood to be cancer young generation" or more fitted for English 'the young generation who are known to have cancer." The だ is for cancer as a state of being so there should be something like Zeroががんだとわかった. What's the zero or unsaid subject here though? 人たち? It?

I'm mainly confused at why the だ is used with an unsaid subject. I know it happens all the time but especially since this clause is modifiying 若い世代, it seems a bit redunant to me. If you take the だ off, then there is no state of being inferred for the young generation with cancer. It happens in the following sentence too and is modifying 人. がんだとわかった５万７７８８人.

Sorry for the rambling but if anyone can help me understand this it would be much appreciated. Thanks


texts: A good and polite way to ask "How long have you been playing drums?"

texts:
How to correctly ask "how long have you been playing drums?" in a forum?
I tried to come up with my own question but I don't know if it is grammatically correct and/or polite. Here is what I came up with

  貴方ドラム叩いているますどのくらいの時間か？

Could you please help me with this?


texts:
I am currently reading the "よつばと！" ("Yotsuba&!") manga, and in the first story (vol 1 page 13) there is an exchange about going to buy greeting gifts (for moving into the neighborhood):

  よつばの父: 変なもん 持ってくんなよ

  ジャンボ: 俺はプリンが 好きなんだ

  よつばの父: いや おまえの 嗜好はいい

An english version translates this exchange as:

  Yotsuba's Dad: Don't bring back something weird

  Jumbo: I like pudding

  Yotsuba's Dad: Don't base it on your personal preference, neither

But I'm having a bit of trouble understanding the last line:

  いや おまえの 嗜好はいい

From what I can tell, this line appears to say "No (I disagree), your taste is good", but given the context (and the above translation, which fits with the apparent context) I would actually expect him to be saying "No, your taste is not good".  Yet the sentence appears to be in the affirmative, not the negative?

Does the use of いや here somehow implicitly negate the rest of the sentence (which is something I haven't seen in other cases)?  Is this an idiomatic thing?  Implied sarcasm?  Or am I just missing something obvious?

Any help would be much appreciated.


texts: What is the phrase used as a label on the food container to convey "No sugar added"?

texts:
I am looking for a pure fruit juice without sugar added for daily consumption in Japan. The box only says 100% bla bla bla but I am not sure whether or not there is sugar added.

So my question is:

  What is the most commonly used Japanese phrase to convey "No sugar
  added"?


texts: How to connect words that describe a person?

texts:
I'm currently studying with Genki 1. And i came across an excersise that tells us to describe a person based on his picture.
I choosed a man named Mizuno.

I want to say: "Mizuno is fat, short (in stature), is listening to  music and is wearing a hat"

But i want to do it all in one sentence. Is it possible? Is it correct?

水野は太って、背が低くて、音楽を聞いて、帽子を被っています。

I can also arrange it to be:

水野は太って、音楽を聞いています。背が低くて、帽子を被っています。

I'm going to go through each one and what i did:
太る(fat. verb)
i used 太って to connect with the next sentence because using the て form of a verb to do so is what i learned.

低い(short in lenght. Adjective i)
低くて because the て form of i adj. replaces the last い for くて and that way i can connect with the next sentence.

Again 聞いて is in て form

被る( to wear. verb used with hat)
被っています。

Is it natural or correct to connect all of this words like this to describe someome?
How would a japanese person do it?
The book uses this format:
水野は太っています
背が低いです
音楽を聞いています。
帽子を被っています。

But this feels so textbook like.


texts:
https://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/5299489.html

Does "彼女作れ" just mean "get a girlfriend?

How about sentences like "get a husband" or "get a partner". Would I still use 作る there?


texts: Why を can't be used with existence verbs?

texts: I've always wondered why を can not be used with existence verbs(いる、ある、おる、なる、生きる【いきる】、死ぬ【しぬ】. They're all intransitive verbs but is there a legitimate reason? Is existence "indirect"?


texts:
Full text: このためには、都市部における経済活動のボトルネックになっている電力等の都市・産業インフラの脆弱性を抜本的に改善し、外資を含む製造業の立地環境を整備する必要がある。
My understanding: For this purpose, drastic improvements are required in the fragile and vulnerable urban industrial infrastructure such as electric power, which has become a bottleneck for economic activity in urban areas,   need to improve the environment
My issue: how do we translate 外資を含む in this sentence? is it foreign capital/ investment including the manufacturing industry or foreign capital embracing the manufacturing industry?


texts: Can 連れていく be used with someone with a higher social status?

texts:
Every dictionary I've found says that 連れていく{つれていく} should only be used to mean leading someone of a lower social status. While my research and experience has found this to be true in most cases, I've found a few sentences that seem to break this rule, particularly someone bringing their parents to either a vacation or the hospital. For example:

  両親を旅行に連れていく
  親を病院に連れていく

My theory is that it actually applies to anyone of a lower social status or anyone in your social circle- someone that you're familiar with. But I can't figure it out, because it's actually kind of hard to find any examples of bringing anyone of a higher social status, like your boss, somewhere.

Is it correct to say that this verb can only be used to bring those of a lower social status? If it is, why are the above examples correct?


texts:
It is a very basic question that up to now I don't quite understand. あげる just gives additional information about the direction of action. Because 貸す provides direction of action clearly, I think あげる is no longer needed.

In other words, sentence B below should be more efficient than the sentence A without loss of any meaning. What do you think?

  A: 僕は君にお金を貸してあげた。

  B: 僕は君にお金を貸した。

In English they are both translated to "I lent money to you.".


texts: What do 限定 and ポイント mean in this sentence about marketing?

texts:
限定とポイントで買わないことを損にする

I am currently working on a difficult translation
to do with marketing that has very little context with a lot
of sentences in isolation.  It is to do with behavioural economics.
I'm wondering if anyone knows what 限定 and ポイント are referring to
in the above sentence. There is no context other than it is from a list of subtitles in a book to do with companies and their marketing strategies.

Also, does anyone know if ボリュームゾーン不況 could be translated as a 'recession in the volume zone'?


texts:
I am vainly trying to understand the paragraph below but I am running into some difficulties. In particular, I have a lot of difficulties to figure out exactly what is meant by ダークホース here (there is a comics publisher whose name is Dark Horse but I think it is irrelevant here). The other point is 予測した私は where I am not sure about who estimates what.

The extract:

  この小説について
  とあるご縁でお会いしたガガガ編集部の面々は、たいへん濃い方々でした。
  彼らが求める小説は、きっととんがった内容ばかりになるじゃろう。
  と広島弁で予測した私は、あえてひとりだけの作風でダークホースしようとして…
  軽く失敗して横道スピンしてできたのがこの小説です。

My attempt at translating it:

  About this novel.
  A certain acquaintance introduced me to the publishing house GAGAGA, they were so much enthusiastic people. They wanted a story polished to perfection. With a distinct accent from Hiroshima, I explained that I tried at best to write in a unique and pleasant style and sought I might success even if at the beginning anybody has any hopes about my work. I slightly failed and sometimes wandered away from the path but here is the novel I wrote.

Here I translated ダークホース by a periphrase explaining that a “dark horse” may well be a horse that has been overlooked in a horse race but will win anyway. The image hinted by the dark horse may be reused by 横道スピン but I did not include it in the translation.


texts:
There are some lyrics in the song VOICE by Perfume that go:

  点と点を繋げてこ
  everythingを合わせてこ

I've no idea how こ functions here as I don't think I've encountered it before like this.
The group are from [広島]{ひろしま} if that helps, though I couldn't find anything about it on the wiki for 広島弁. It's probably something really simple.