texts:
The sentence is :

まあ　何人来ようが　||　どうってこともないがな...         (|| = Column break.)
It doesn't matter how many people want to come...

I'm not sure whether the first が is the subject particle (and if it can even be used right after a volitional form) or the clause ending particle...
The way I understand it the structure is "[How many people want to come] is not something that matters." Am I right?
Bonus point : I'm not sure whether the volitional form should be translated as "want to come" or "will come" (though, from what I know, most of the time だろう is used instead of ~おう to speak of the future).


texts: How to connect the elements of this sentence

texts:
世界80か国で行われた国際調査の結果が発表された。

I really have problems with some semantics, grammar and  parsing here.

First: 行われた. Something didn't "do" or "perform". In the overall sentence, I dont know how to meaningfully integrate this.
Second: か国で I guess the か could be some kind of suffix for counting countries. で is probably the particle で here? It would somehow make sense at least in the way I understand the sentence.
Third: 国際調査
"international investigation". I don't know what interpretation from a syntactic perspective would be correct. "The international investigation which didn't do/perform in 80 countries." or "The international investigation about: It doesn't do in 80 countries."

My attempt at a full translation would be:
"The results of an international investigation, which didn't do in 80 countries, were published."

EDIT:
行われた is not negative form, as pointed out by lelecteur. Besides I also noticed that its passive, or better said, that I forgot to translate passive...^^
Therefore, the attempt at translation should be:
"The results of an international investigation, which was performed in 80 countries, were published.


texts: Why do textbooks teach が as "but" when けど is more common?

texts:
I personally learned beginner Japanese using the Genki textbooks, though I think this is similar for other beginner textbooks. In these textbooks, they teach が to mean "but", as in "日本料理が好きですが、生卵が嫌いです。" However, when I was in Japan this past summer, I don't believe I ever heard people use が this way. けど was so much more common, and when people wanted to be formal, they used けれど or けれども. (I was in Nagoya, so it may be a regional thing.)

Why do textbooks teach が when けど seems so much more commonly used?


texts:
The sentence 微笑み選ぼう is part of the lyrics of a song called 錆びついたマシンガンで今を撃ち抜こう.

I'm wondering why it is correct in grammar because it seems to me that there is supposed to be a を between 微笑み and 選ぼう.

== Update ==
Here is the shorter version of the song for interpreting the meaning of this sentence: link.


texts: What is the correct way to read chapter numbers? (e.g.: 第1話)

texts: I see this form often in manga book indexes. My dictonary gives me ダイ and テイ as possible readings for the first kanji, and I'm also not sure if the number should be read as a counter (like 一つ is read ひとつ and not いちつ). How should I read those?


texts: Difference between 打ち合わせ and 会議 and ミーティング

texts:
What's the difference between 打ち合わせ and 会議 and ミーティング?

To me it seems that 会議 may be more formal, but I'm not entirely sure.


texts:
Good day all,

Thank you for reading my request. I am making a painting and want to make it so that it makes sense to Japanese people. I am very interested in Japanese culture but would not really know how to pronounce a sentence. I hope there is some way to make it readable, without losing the design too much :)

The artwork is supposed to say: World Peace, which I found online to be 世界平和

I hope that is correct. I have added an image of what I am planning to make.  Any help would be greatly appreciated... Thank you in advance!


texts:
I'm wondering, how would a Japanese person fill out a Yes/No checklist?

For example, say I have a list of things to remember. I'd mark them as such:

Get spare key  ・・・・・・・・・・・・・・ Y
Remove items from trunk   ・・・・・ P
Check tire pressure   ・・・・・・・・・ NA
Call dealer  ・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・ N

Where (probably obviously) Y is yes, N is no, P is partial, and NA is not applicable.


texts: Is 郵便 exclusive to Japan Post in this reading problem?

texts:
The question is a the bottom since the context may be an issue.
Here is a problem from a study text (kanzen master N1 reading)

以下は（株）ANTONIOのホームページに掲載されていたおしらせである。問いに対する答えとして最もよいものを一つ選びなさい。

「マリア・ホセ・ペレス　フラメンコショー」公演延期のお知らせ

３/１９（月）南町ホールにて予定しておりました「マリア・ホセ・ペレス　フラメンコショー」は、本人急病のため、急きょ公演延期とさせていただくことになりました。ファンの皆様には、多大なるご迷惑をおかけいたしますこと、深くお詫び申し上げます。

つきましては、以下の日程で延期公演を行います。

延期公演日程

５・２２（火）南町ホール　開場・１８：００　開演・１８：３０
３・１９（月）のチケットをお持ちの方は、延期公演にそのままご入場いただけます。チケットを大切に保管いただき、延期公演当日に持ちください。

尚、チケット代金の払い戻しを希望されるお客様は、以下のどちらかの方法でお手続きをお願い致します。いずれの場合も払い戻し期限は４・１９までとさせていただきます（郵送の場合は４・１９必着）

１。プレイガイドまたは弊社での手続き

チケットを買い求めのプレイガイドあるいは弊社にて、払い戻し手続きをお願い致します。３・１９のチケットと引き替えにお手続きをいたします。

２。郵便によるお手続き

払い戻し先情報（お名前、ご住所、お電話番号、金融機関名、支店名、口座番号、口座名義）を記入したメモをチケットとともに封書にて弊社まで送りください。その際葉ならず簡易書留でおお願いします。送りいただいた際の郵便代金は、払い戻し金振込時に、併せてご指定の口座に振り込みます。お振り込みはチケット到着から3週間後になります。

ご不明な点は以下までお問い合わせください。

２０１２年3月１４日

。。。

問い：サムさんは南町駅前のプレイガイドでチケットを買ったが、5月22日の公演に行くことができない。お金を買えしてもらうのに最も適切な行動はどれか。

１。チケットを(株）ANTONIOへ持って行き、払い戻し手続きをする。

２。チケットを買ったプレイガイドへ、払い戻し先情報を書いたメモとチケットを簡易書留で送る。郵便代金はサムさんが負担するが、後で戻って来る。

３。宅配便で払い戻し先情報を書いたメモとチケットを（株）ANTONIOへ送る。送料は立て替えるが、後で戻って来る。

4。簡易書留で、払い戻し先情報を書いたメモとチケットを(株）ANTONIOへ送る。郵便代金はサムさんが負担する。

The answer guide says the correct answer is the first answer.  It says the third answer is wrong because チケット送付は郵便で行う. I understand the first answer is correct but still have some questions about the answer.

My first question is why is 宅配便 not considered a subset of 郵便 as indicated by チケット送付は郵便で行う- is that term only for the Japanese post office, as opposed to the English 'post' or 'mail' which I assume you can use with other companies?

Also, the sentence ３・１９のチケットと引き替えにお手続きをいたします led me to think going to ANTONIO or プレイガイド and exchanging the tickets would be a ticket exchange and not a cash back refund. Please clarify why this deduction is wrong.


texts: How does ていた (from ている) compare to てくる and てきた？

texts:
I thought I'd understood the differences until I actually had to use them more often to express myself better. Since this is an old, recurring grammar topic, I'll just lay out all possible forms I can think of below.

  僕は--

  勉強してる:

  I am studying (as of now)

  勉強していた:

  I had been studying / had studied (until a certain point in
  time in the past)

  勉強してくる:

  I have studied / have been studying (until now, and will continue to do so until a certain point in the future)

  勉強してきた:

  I have studied / have been studying (until now)

  勉強してきている:

  I have been studying (until now, whether I will continue or not is not specified)

  勉強してきていた:

  I had been studying (until a certain point in time in the past)

Problems:

If my understanding is correct, some of them seem to overlap.
Do Japanese people nitpick about the different usages laid out above? (Regardless of how conscious this process is.)

どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。


texts: Difference in meaning of 場合 with 辞書形 and た形

texts:
Most of the grammar sources that I have access to tell me that 場合 can be preceded by the 辞書形 or the た形, but none of them explain the semantic difference between the two uses.

This is clearly not a simple matter of time or completion, because the following sentence is given in みんなの日本語:

  カードをなくした場合は、すぐカード会社に連絡してください。

Here, the losing of the card has not yet happened or been completed. Various native speakers have assured me that the same sentence would be valid with なくす instead of なくした but exactly what the difference in meaning would be is not at all clear to me.

How does the use of the た形 and 辞書形 affect the meaning of 場合 sentences of this kind?


texts: What is the function of でも in the following sentence?

texts:
さっき丁寧体で紹介した「いや」この「いや」は普通体でもよく使います。

What is the function of でも here?


texts: How to differentiate between separate meanings of て form?

texts: Sometimes the て form has an adverbial meaning like: 重ねて  or 歩いて行く and sometimes it functions as a way to connect two sentences. Is there an easy way to differentiate between what meaning is being used?


texts: I found よう all by itself. Is there any difference in the usual meaning?

texts:
授業が始まり、普段通りの空気が流れた…と思ったその時だった。ドラマである様な素晴らしいタイミングではあったが、真夏にとっては悪夢の始まりだった。無表情な中年教師は転入生の紹介をたんたんと終え、席に着くよう指示した。

It's in the last sentence. The rest of the sentences are for context because I know you all will love that, heheh.

Anyway, I presume it's about a boy transferring to the school and the teacher introduces him to the class while the main character takes her assigned seat. In other words, I think 席に着くよう指示した is being done by the main character, as the transfer student is getting introduced. If I'm wrong on this, let me know.

My main question, however, is what the よう is for here? Is the phrase perhaps translated, "She takes her seat as though it were assigned to her"?　As in, the seat isn't specifically assigned to be hers, but she just kind of sits there each day and no one complains about wanting it. If so, why isn't it ように? Typo? This IS from an online submitted story, after all. Typos are possible, hah.


texts:
How can I say "on a scale of 1 to 10"?

Like for example,

"On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is not annoying at all and 10 is too annoying, how annoying do you find X"?


texts:
Although both means repair, but I am not able to understand the differences between them.
Is it that, when human efforts are involved in repair its called 直す and when it is being repaired by any other means is called 修理


texts: How do I apologise for my bad kanji/for using hiragana?

texts:
I am new to Japanese Language stack exchange and a beginner at learning Japanese too.

I have recently gotten a Japanese penpal who is lovely. I want to send her a message but I am having trouble getting across my meaning with these sentences:

すみません、ひらがなです。

What I am trying to do here is apologise for mostly writing to her in hiragana. But it looks like I'm just apologising for the existence of hiragana, or something... How can I explain that I'm sorry about using my hiragana in my penpal messages?

This is the next sentence:

私の漢字はだめ。

I'm trying to say my skills at kanji are not good, but again I don't think I'm getting the right meaning across here. How would I say this?

I would really appreciate it if you could include romaji in your answer.


texts: How to ask if an action in the past was permissible?

texts:
I'm familiar with the てもいい form to ask for permission to do something in the future. For instance:

Is it okay if I eat the candy?

菓子を食べてもいいか。

How would I ask if something I did already in the past was permitted? I thought to change いい to よかった but wasn't sure if that would have the right meaning. For example, I'd like to say:

Was it okay that I ate the candy?


texts:
Whats the difference in using a たとえ in a sentence. For example:

たとえ行かなくてもいいんだ

行かなくてもいいんだ

From what I understand, even without using たとえ, the sentence already mean " even if you don't go, it's ok". So what's the point in adding たとえ?


texts: How to combine progressive form and potential form?

texts:
I can't really think of a sensible context to be honest. Let's say I want to say that I can eat right now but I don't know for how long I'll be able to, so I use the progressive form.

Is there a difference in the meaning between these forms:

食べていられる

食べられている

As for ことができる construction,  which verb should be conjugated to progressive in such case?


texts: What is the meaning of いいから in this sentence?

texts:
I struggle a lot to understand this sentence :

願い叶うのならひと目でいいから

I can't find any coherence with the first part of the sentence.


texts:
……よくもこのような若輩の身でそのようなことが堂々と言えるものだ…。

My guess would be that 身, in this case, means "one's position" or something like this, but how does that really work? For instance, if I were to say アメリカ人の身で in a context where an American wouldn't be appropriate to talk about something, would that work as "Even though he's American..." or "Being American.." (in a negative way)? It reminds me of 身の程知らず.

Additionally, I'd like to know what もの expresses here. Is it something to express a feeling of surprise?


texts: What is the difference between 風潮 and 潮流?

texts: Both words seem to have a meaning of "current" and "tendency/trend". How are these different? Also, using the tendency meaning, do they differ from 傾向?


texts:
I was watching the movie Mr. Baseball the other day.  Several times during the movie they talk about しゅうと which they describe as "the great equalizer".  (Could possibly be しゅうとう, but their dialog does not sound like they're elongating the last syllable).

I've tried very unsuccessfully in finding this word in any of my multiple dictionaries.  Is this a common, known Japanese word?  Is it some kind of 野球用語?  Is it just 外来語 of "shoot", or some word from another language?  If it's Japanese, does it have associated kanji?


texts: Translating an interview, stuck on one part

texts:
I'm translating an interview with a manga artist, and there's a part that I don't understand. He's talking about the violence in his manga.

  作家：　作家は思った以上にフィクションと現実を分けてますから。そこに描かれたことは別に俺の願望でもなければ、そういうやり方を世の中に示唆したつもりもないんですけど。話のために、いたいけなことをさせてしまったというのもあるので。

  編集者：　そうですよね。今回の主人公もやはりいたいけな目にあうんでしょうか？

I don't understand the "いたいけなことをさせてしまったというのもあるので" bit. What might いたいけなこと mean in this context?


texts: Non-distinguished animal pairs in Japanese

texts:
This is something I first noticed when I was at an aquarium in Japan (as evidenced in my examples) and continued to see ever since.  There are certain pairs of animals, that while extremely similar, have certain distinguishing characteristics such that English speakers (well, most anyway) know them apart; or at least that they are different animals even if they don't know which is which.

Disclaimer - I'm no animal expert, so I may mix up these pairs, but I'll try to Google them to be sure.

For example, alligators and crocodiles.  English speakers know these are different even if they're not sure what the differences are.  Alligators have broader, rounder snouts, while crocodiles have longer, pointier snouts.  Also something about the teeth.  But in Japanese, they're both just ワニ.  I asked my Japanese friend, and he said the average Japanese person doesn't know this difference or is even aware that they are considered different animals.

Here are several other pairs that seem to just get lumped together in the same Japanese word (by the average person):

Turtle (flat wide shell) vs. Tortoise (large dome shell)　→　亀【カメ】
Seals (have fur; concave ears) vs. Sea Lions (smooth body; protruding ears)　→　アシカ
Dolphin (have a "beak"; spiky teeth) vs. Porpoise (no beak; flat teeth)　→　イルカ

Even pairs that are blatantly different often get grouped:

Crab vs. Lobster　→　カニ (not sure if Japanese people use ロブスター or not)
Mouse vs. Rat　→　ネズミ
Monkey vs. Ape　→　猿【サル】

There are many other examples, but these are the only ones I can think of right now.  I'm sure the 学名 are different, but like I said, it seems like the average Japanese person doesn't make, or even know of a difference in these pairs.  Why is this?


texts: When translating something to English, what letters are supposed to be translated as an "L" or an "R"?

texts: For example there is a video game series called LocoRoco, and in katakana it is spelt (ロコロコ) but the "ロ" character is supposed to be pronounced as "ro" so it sounds like "rokoroko". When translating something to English, when do you replace the "R" sound with a "L" sound?


texts:
あなたにとってWAO!!STYLEでの使命は？？

  WAO!!STYLEに関わる全ての人を幸せにすること、
  私を選んでくれた人の期待を超えることです。
  常に自分の満足ではなく関わる人の幸せを思う人間性をみにつけ、
  私に任せたいといってもらえるようにならなければなりません。
  また私に結婚式をまかせていただけるお客様の期待に応え、
  その期待を超えていきます。

  What is the mission in the WAO!!STYLE?

  Making everyone who sticks with the WAO!!STYLE happy,
  Surpassing the expectations of those who chose me.
  Acquiring the human nature of not thinking about your satisfaction but the always about happiness of others,
  Becoming able to be told "I want to rely on you".
  Moreover, Answering to the expectations of the clients who leave to me their wedding ceremonies and sorpassing those expectations.

I am confused with 貰う and 頂く.
From what I know  貰う=頂く but less polite.
The grammar with て頂く・てもらう is:

  私が貴方に本を読んでもらう・読んで頂く

The reader is 貴方 and the one who is receiving the favour is 私.

In the sentences above it looks to me that に does not mark the one who does 任せる.
Am I wrong?
Also why is 私に任せたい?
Shouldn't it be 任せて欲しい?


texts: 心を鬼にする >>What's the meaning of this expression ? (I've decided to become ruthless /evil ?)

texts:
心を鬼にする >> Can anyone explain to me what is the meaning of this expression ?
I guess it's like "I've made up my mind to become ruthless (though I don't want to) "?
I'm not so sure so can anyone give me a correct understanding thanks


texts: The pronunciation of [三日]{みっか} and [六日]{むいか}, the 3rd and 6th days of the month, are very similar, as are [四日]{よっか} and [八日]{ようか}, the 4th and 8th days of the month. Is there any inherent significance to that? That is, was there historically any etymological process like infixing a glottal stop (or the historical predecessor of っ) or ablaut to derive the name of the 2n-th day of the month from the n-th day? I'm thinking about something like the etymology of 'eleven' and 'twelve' in English, which came from longer words that were approximately 'one left' and 'two left'. I haven't run across any productive process for doubling numbers in other languages, though (especially small ones); is this just a coincidence or convergent evolution?


texts: Does the use of 百足 as ateji for ムカデ come from calquing "centipede" (or a cognate)?

texts:
The English word "centipede" refers to basically the same type of disgusting creepy-crawly arthropod as the Japanese ムカデ. Sometimes, ムカデ is written in kanji as 百足. This is an obvious case of ateji (you would never read 百 in isolation as ム or ムカ, nor 足 as カデ or デ).

It so happens that "centipede" comes from the Latin centi- "hundred" + pedis "foot". This suggests that it is certainly possible that the use of 百足 ("hundred" + "foot") stems from a direct calque of "centipede", or a cognate of "centipede" in some other language like Dutch or Portuguese. Is this in fact the case?

Note: it is entirely possible that the answer to this question is well-known and readily available in standard online sources. I wouldn't know, since I have not actually done any research on this topic, because that entails a risk of coming across pictures of centipedes. I do hope you will forgive me this.


texts:
The word 勝ち目 means "odds / chance of success". It is made up of two nouns 勝ち and 目.

勝ち obviously means "winning / victory". But what does the kanji 目 mean?

Does 勝ち目 mean something along the lines of "your observation (eye) for success"? E.g. "勝ち目はないよ" meaning "you have no observation for success"?


texts:
What is the difference between 日{ひ｝ and 一日｛いちにち}?
I thought that 一日 was used when refering to the length of a day but I saw this sentence and got confused:

今朝のニュースでも、アナウンサーの人が「うららかな一日になるでしょう」って言ってたよ。
Also, on the news this morning the announcer said that it would probably become a beautiful day.

Why is it correct to use 一日 rather than 日 here? Thanks.


texts:
I cannot get 干渉してばかりいる in the sentence below:

私の父はいつも私の私的な生活に干渉してばかりいる。


texts:
So there are several ways to express something is "seemingly not ～":

  ～なさそう
  ～そうにない
  ～そうもない
  ～そうにもない (is this one even real?)

I was always taught ～なさそう in my Japanese classes, and it was not until I heard one of the other ones that I ever become confused about them.

After doing a little research on this, it seems that adjectives can only take ～なさそう. ex.

  ○ 料理がおいしくなさそう
  ？／×　料理がおいしそうにない

but that verbs can take any of the forms

  ○ 雨が　降らなさそう／降りそう（に・も・にも？）ない

So, my questions are a) is the above reasoning correct, and b) what are the differences/nuances of the latter three forms?  Someone please set me straight on this; it's been bugging me for a couple years.


texts: What does 今一概に言える equate to? "Now, unconditionally said thing?"

texts:
I was watching a 45 second video, but ran into some trouble with the above. I will post the entire subtitles for context purposes.

  テレビ番組を勝手にアップロードするのは違法だからな
  10年以下の懲役か1000万円以下の罰金か、その両方だが
  それって受験に関係ありますか
  受験だけが人生じゃないだろう、お前
  でもまだ未成年です
  未成年自慢すんなよ、お前
  未成年だろうが成人だろうが、違法なものは違法なんだぞ
  でも10年の懲役って重くないですか？
  重いかどうか今一概に言えることじゃないなぁ
  とにかく、違法な事はやっちゃあいけないってことだ
  なんだ、おれ説教臭いか？
  おれ説教臭いか？
  おれ説教臭いか？
  説教臭いと思う奴？
  [音楽]
  それ、違法です！！

Disclaimer: English subs below may not be correct

  It's illegal to freely upload TV shows.
  By law you can get up to 10 years of hard labor... ...10 million yen in fines... ...or you could get both.
  Does that have anything to do with the exam?
  Exams are not the only things in life, mind you.
  But we are still minors.
  Do not boast about being a minor, you.
  Whether be it a minor or an adult, illegal acts are illegal.
  But isn't 10 years of imprisonment with hard labor excessive?
  It is not something that can generally be said categorically whether it is heavy or not!
  Anyway, do not do illegal acts.
  What is it, am I being preachy?
  Am I being preachy?
  Am I being preachy?
  Who thinks I'm being too preachy?
  [Music]
  That's illegal!


texts:
I was reading a manga where A, a shinobi, is in a barbecue but is not eating anything. B finds it strange and asks what's up. Then, the talk follows:

A: さっき、兵糧丸食った
B: ひょうろうがん・・・
A: 忍のは燃費がいい
B: どれ

I don't understand what A's last phrase means. Does he mean the shinobi have an effective/convenient metabolism and hence don't need to eat much? Or does he mean that the hyourougan takes time to be metabolized?


texts: Accepting compliments (without rejecting them)

texts:
I find it much more sincere to accept compliments and show how grateful I am rather than to belittle myself. Therefore I would like to know some phrases in Japanese to accept compliments and show my gratitude rather than overhumbling myself (e.g. not まだまだ）.

How do you accept compliments in Japanese without coming off as really arrogant (taking into consideration that the Japanese culture in general highly values modesty and humility)? Although in the West it is certainly possible to accept compliments and be modest at the same time.

E.g. in English we might say:

"I'm very happy to hear that!"
"I'm glad you liked it (for a performance or something like that)"
"It's very kind of you to say that."

Thank you


texts: Meaning of particle and word in provided sentence

texts: What is the meaning of this sentence 高橋ですが、今よろしいでしょうか, is が being used to indicate that the speaker has more to say. Also what is the meaning of でしょう in this sentence?


texts:
気にするまいと思っても、気にせずにはいられない。

In above sentence, I guess せず means しない, but what is the original form, and how does it become せず?


texts: Any help connecting two sentences? (for subtitle creation)

texts:
I'm adding subtitles (for a friend) to a Saiyuki drama CD accompanied by a video. The video has captions at different points to explain what is going on in the opening scene:

00:22　－引き返してきたヘイゼルとー

00:29　ー再び見まえた三蔵一行ー

00:35　－一時の休息の間にー

00:55　ー悟空が何者か攻撃を受けるー

01:00　ー三蔵の眼の前で、－

The first two parts are where I'm having issues. It seems the と here is connecting the nouns ヘイゼル and 三蔵一行, but they are described by 引き返してきた and 再び見まえた. In my quest to translate these into English though, it sounds wrong to put, "Hazel, who came back, and the Sanzo party, which ran into him, were taking a quick break when Goku was attacked in front of Sanzo's eyes."

Somehow, I'm missing something. It could be with the whole 見まえた part. I feel like ～まえた is しまった in some dialect, but I could be wrong.

I'm not asking for a translation, of course. I'm just trying to figure out what is going on here.

Thanks!


texts:
会社では外様の地位に甘じている。
  He is reconciled to 「being outside of [not belonging to] the mainstream faction at the company.
  (Source: dictionary.goo.ne.jp)

I wasn't able to find 甘じる or 甘ずる verb in dictionaries I looked at. Is it a typo of 甘んじる?


texts: How did the ざ in 様{ざま}みろ get the dakuten?

texts:
I am under impression that the first syllable in a word gets a dakuten when it is transformed into voiced form under the effect of rendaku. But in the idiomatic expression 様みろ {ざまみろ}, the kanji 様 which is read as さま gets voiced and obtains the dakuten without any rendaku. How did that happen? Apart from saying "well, it's a set phrase so just accept it as is", could there be any reason, etymologically speaking, why it became ざま?

Also, are there any other scenario where words get voiced/dakuten without rendaku?


texts:
I was listening to a playlist of songs today and I heard the line

  「…目を開け弱さをかき消すんだ」

What exactly is 〜んだ and when/how is it used?


texts: In terms of Japanese crime syndicates, what is the difference between 組 and 会?

texts:
As you can see in this one Wikipedia article, there is a  long list of these syndicates. Not only that, but most of them have 組 or 会 as a suffix.

According to Weblio, 組 has the meanings of “A company, a party, a team, a crew, a gang”, and 会 has the meanings of “A society, a club, an association”.

Is there a difference between the two suffixes when they are applied to crime syndicates? I'm just curious.


texts:
While playing a Japanese mobile horror game, a girl appears with a knife in hand and says the following:

  「おとなしくしてなきゃダメじゃない」

I can guess this probably means something like It's a problem if you don't stay quiet, isn't it? but I have problem parsing the てなきゃ: is it from してある (state), as in ドアをあけてあった?

Is the "transitive verb"てある grammar at work here?


texts:
It is my understanding that くの字点{じてん} (seen above) is the "double or multiple repeat marker" in vertical writing. Given that it can be used to repeat two or more syllables, how do you know how many preceding syllables to repeat? Is it just a matter of memorization?

For example (using（く）to represent the symbol in horizontal writing below):

ひとり（く）＝　ひとりひとり is easy to understand because it is a word I am already familiar with.

However, if I read 「くり返し（く）」and wasn't familiar with the word for repeatedly, I may incorrectly read it as 「くり返し返し」 and not 「くり返しくり返し」. I realize this is a stilted example, but I'd like to nip any possibility of confusion down the line by understanding the mark completely from the start.


texts: Differences between the many words for dinner

texts:
According to my dictionary, the following words all mean the same thing: "Dinner":
[夜]{よる}ご[飯]{はん}, [晩]{ばん}ご[飯]{はん}, [晩飯]{ばんめし}, [晩食]{ばんしょく}, [夕]{ゆう}ご[飯]{はん}, [夕飯]{ゆうはん(ゆうめし)}, [夕食]{ゆうしょく}

A similar thing goes for "Breakfast" ([朝]{あさ}ご[飯]{はん}, [朝飯]{あさめし}, [朝食]{ちょうしょく}) and "Lunch" ([昼]{ひる}ご[飯]{はん}, [昼飯]{ひるめし}, [昼食]{ちゅうしょく})

What's the difference between them? Are they mostly interchangeable? Which ones are more commonly used or is it a matter of preference? etc.
My current understanding is that the ones that end in ご飯 are politer.


texts: could somebody help me understanding the difference between んがため and べく? They both mean "In order to", but I don't think they are interchangeable. Could somebody provide me some examples to understand the difference?


texts: Subject for 感じ in the following sentence

texts:
I have a question about the 感じ in 「私の食生活が気になっている感じですか」? Who is the owner of those feelings? Is it something like 'It feels that you are interested in my eating habits' or maybe 'Are you feeling that you are interested in my eating habits' ?

人A「う、うん。敬礼はいいから。なんか・・・・・・大丈夫？変なもんでも食べた？」
人B「食べました！ラボの食事はおいしくなかったです！もう～、だめだめ！」
人A「や、そうじゃなくて。それ以外に」
人B「にひひ、なになに～？私の食生活が気になっている感じですか～？も～、照れちゃうな～、うふふっ」
人A「うわ・・・・・・ほんとなんだこのノリ。酔っ払いかよ・・・・・・。」


texts: Why do they use the 連用形 instead of the て form here?

texts:
I know that the て form can be used to connect verbs together, like the English "and":

毎日私は食べて寝る。
I eat and sleep every day.

And I know the 連用形 can be used to connect verbs as well, but it kind of combines the meanings of the two verbs, like 飲み込む.
But I am confused by this sentence which appears a lot in TV shows and anime:

この番組はフィクションであり、登場する人物、団体、場所、法律および名称等は実在のものとは一切関係ありません

Why is ある conjugated to 連用形 here? I can understand everything else but this. I have never seen a 連用形 not followed by any other word at the end of a sentence. It is clearly saying that 'This show is a fiction and characters, organization and other stuff is not related to things IRL whatsoever".
Why isn't the て form used here?

この番組はフィクションであって、登場する人物、団体、場所、法律および名称等は実在のものとは一切関係ありません

Can 連用形s be used as て forms, like this?

毎日私は食べ寝る。

Surely not, right?


texts: What does "the library is cool" have to do with summer?

texts:
In this line from a song about summer things (I previously asked about the same song here...), I'm just slightly confused.

  図書館涼しくて 7時でも明くて
    toshokan suzushikute shichiji de mo akarukute

When translating literally, I'd say it means

  The library is cool, it's bright even at 7 o'clock

But I'm kind of missing how this piece fits into the theme of summer. With the artist describing the library as "cool/refreshing", does he possibly mean that it's one of the only places around with A/C? It would make sense if it's a rural area, but I was wondering if this maybe has some sort of cultural connotation to it?


texts:
I can't understand very well the meaning and the grammar in this sentence:

  田中さんの言葉に間違い言わない！

Is possibile that the its meaning is something like "Tanaka-san is always right?"


texts: In a japanese anime I've heard lots of "de gozaru" in a casual speech. If I use it with my friends, will it sound ok?


texts: Is あわやと思った an idiom? What is the meaning of あわや?

texts:
I've come across this sentence

  あわやと思ったその時

and I have looked around without success for a translation for あわや. Tangorin simply says it's an adverb meaning 'almost on the verge of happening', but gives no example sentences. What does it mean? Maybe the context is necessary... the whole sentence is

  あわやと思ったその時洞から失敬してきた剣がオレを救ってくれた

So... the sword that was stolen from the cave save me... but what about the time it happen?

Thank you very much.


texts: Is the topic particle は sometimes interchangable with けど?

texts:
By the end of the article here, the author means that けど is used for "Introductory remarks: to bring up some topics", such as,

明日｛あした｝だけど、待｛ま｝ち合{あ}わせ時間｛じかん｝どうする？
麻理｛まり｝の誕生日｛たんじょうび｝のことなんだけど、どうする？
彼｛かれ｝のことだけど、聞｛き｝いた？

Wouldn't the sentences have the same meaning as say,

明日｛あした｝は、待｛ま｝ち合{あ}わせ時間｛じかん｝どうする？
麻理｛まり｝の誕生日｛たんじょうび｝のことは、どうする？
彼｛かれ｝のことは、聞｛き｝いた？

I've noticed if I were to substitute は, then I would remove だ and なんだ. Does this mean that by using は, there's less "emotion" and makes the sentence more neutral-sounding?
On the contrary, say that I have some sentences such as,

私はトムです。
これはペンです。

then would it be appropriate to say the following?

私だけど、トムです。
これだけど、ペンです。


texts: What is the proper usage of この上なく / この上ない?

texts:
I have encountered the structure ことこの上ない with the explanation that it is used as
Adjectiveな + ことこの上ない
Adjectiveい + ことこの上ない
with the meaning of "nothing is more 'adjective'". For example "嫌なことこのうえない", "nothing is more annoying."
I have also found the form この上なく with the example "この上なく幸せだ".
My questions are

Are these forms equivalent? Is there a difference in formality level or something like that?

I have seen examples of the first form that suppresses the こと. Is this because it is implicit　こと is there?

Finally, I have seen an example where the form is used "このうえないものだ". Could I say "このうえなかった"? Or is このうえない a set form?


texts: Does 「密度」have any special meaning in context of computers?

texts:
I was reading this article and came across the line below

資源の稼働率： 高い効率と密度

Here's how I understood it
Availability Factor of Resources: Highly efficient and dense.
But I think I am missing something. Availability Factor here hints more at efficient usage of resources like the succeeding line after colon indicates but I couldn't figure out what "dense" exactly means in this context. Does it mean a high value of availability factor (which is a good thing)?


texts: What is the difference between 楽しい and 面白い?

texts: Google translates both of them to be interesting. And which can be used for a funny guy?


texts: しゃかいじんの悩みランキング　means?

texts:
I read a conversation and I don't understand what it talks about !

A：ちょっとこれみてください。
B：なんですか。
A：しゃかいじんの悩みランキングなんですが。どうおもいますか。
B：やっぱりにんげんかんけいがいちばんおおいですね。よくわかります。わたしのしょくばでも、おなじかもしれません。
C：こころのけんこうもおおいですね。やっぱり。にんげんかんけいにもんだいがあると。こころのびょうきになるかもしれませんね。

especially しゃかいじんの悩みランキング and にんげんかんけいがいちばんおおいですね
and
にんげんかんけいにもんだいがあると 。


texts:
I'm trying to figure out what this grammar is used for...

My textbook presents this:

  a) 〜だけで、〜
  b) 〜だけでは　〜ない
  c) 〜だけじゃ　〜ない

I believe a) is just saying "by simply doing something/having something etc ~ I was able to do something..."

I believe b) is just saying "by simply being/doing something you can't also do/become/have something else"

I then have no idea what c) is trying to say. I don't know if it means by doing something you can also have something or if you do something you can't also have something else or what.... Please help!


texts: Help differentiating passive from potential form

texts:
In this sentence:

  おもしろさなどが、時間の経過とともにじわじわと感じられるという意味です。

Is  感じられる in the potential form or in the passive form? The context is the word じわじわ being defined. The whole paragraph is:

  「じわる」は、副詞の「じわじわ」に動詞の辞書形「る」をつけて、グループ１の動詞になります。 おもしろさなどが、時間の経過とともにじわじわと感じられるという意味です。


texts: What does の apply to after a list of items with と?

texts:
I've looked around, but I couldn't find an answer for this question.  Here's the example phrase that I'm trying to translate that I pulled from a light novel:

  せりとレタスとキャベツの違い

I'm not sure whether it means. My guess is either:

  the difference of parsley, lettuce, and cabbage

or:

  parsley, lettuce, and cabbage's difference (difference modifies cabbage only)

Logically, it should be the second, but I seem to recall that it can mean the first if you reason out the literal translation.


texts: Is 四分の一 a natural way of referring to "a quarter" as in "a three-month duration"?

texts:
Is 四分の一 a natural way of referring to "a quarter" as in "a three-month duration" (usually e.g. January-March, April-June, July-September, or October-November) in Japanese?

Japanese Stack Overflow uses 四分の一 on its users page to mean "quarter" in this sense, but that looks kind of strange to me. I know that 四分の一 means "one quarter" as in "one fourth" or "25%", but can it also be used (without any other qualifiers, like 年の四分の一) to mean "a three-month duration"?

Also, while we're here, what is the most natural way of referring to "a quarter" in this sense? I'm aware of 四半期; is that the best option?


texts: How are the traditional 5 elements in the Chinese doctrine of Five Agents pronounced in Japanese?

texts: How are the five elements  木・火・土・金・水 pronounced in Japanese (when referring specifically to 五行, not just generally any water, fire etc.)?


texts:
This question already explores the difference between [贖う]{あがなう} and [償う]{つぐなう}, but I wanted to throw [補う]{おぎなう} into the mix as well.

goo辞書 doesn't list them as synonyms, so what is the difference?


texts:
I'm trying to translate a sentence containing "which one of you" into Japanese, like in "Which one of you took my sandwich?".

Google's search bar was no help - a query for "which one of you" in Japanese gave me あなたのその1, which seems to mean "the first of you", and the page results were all for results that simply contained "which one of you" and "Japanese" on the same page.

It seems like it would be something like "あなたたちにどの人" (which person among you), but as I'm not experienced, I don't know if that's the correct form.

I don't want something as general as "誰" (who), because I want to refer to a specific group of people.


texts:
I saw a video clip with English subtitles and tried to transcribe the Japanese audio. Can anyone tell me if I did it correctly?

English subtitles:

  monster get out ; you've got no right to drink that water; get outta here;

Attempted transcription of Japanese audio:

  oni wa soto ; oni wa mizu natte mo tsukanai de; achi ike ;

In particular, I have problems with the bold italicized words.

The link to the video clip: setsubun festival


texts:
I am reading this article on NHK, but I am having a hard time understanding the title...

緊急事態宣言出すのを前に諮問委員会始まる 専門家に意見聴く

for the first part 緊急事態宣言出すのを前に諮問委員会始まる
I am having a hard time parsing this. I understand:

緊急事態宣言出す - releasing the declaration of the state of emergency

諮問委員会始まる - Advisory committee begins

What is throwing me off is the 前に after the のを...
if it was:

緊急事態宣言出すのを諮問委員会始まる - The advisory committee will begin the releasing of the declaration of the state of emergency.

or

緊急事態宣言出す前に諮問委員会始まる - The advisory committee will begin before  releasing of the declaration of the state of emergency.

So what I think it means is this?! is it correct?

緊急事態宣言出すのを前に諮問委員会始まる - The advisory committee will begin the releasing of the declaration of the state of emergency before. (before what??)

Now for the second part

専門家に意見聴く - Asking the opinion of a specialist.

Why are they using 聴く and not 聞く or 訊く?
if it was

専門家の意見（を）聴く - Hearing the opinion of a specialist.

I would be fine with it....


texts:
So I know there are many uses of か, but the one I want to focus on is using a question word with か. For example:

何を食べるか知ってる？
何を食べるか知っていますか？

For these two sentences, the か inbetween the two words acts as a connector and replaces the particle. However, I was wondering what to do if this か is at the end of a sentence. For reference, I am trying to write the following:

The contents of the reading are about how baseball entered Japan.
あの読み物の内容はどうやって野球が日本に入ったか。

What I am unsure of is how to end this sentence is both plain and polite ways, i.e.

あの読み物の内容はどうやって野球が日本に入ったか

or

あの読み物の内容はどうやって野球が日本に入ったかです

or something else.


texts: Are どう、どこ、どれ、どの、等、exclusively question words?

texts:
Are words like 何、いつ、どう、どこ、どれ、どの、exclusively used to request confirmation for a unknown? Or can they also be used to say the Japanese equivalent of things like "This is HOW you do it", or "This is WHEN and WHERE the party's at", like their English counterparts can?

If so, could you provide a few examples of how to use them in this manner.


texts: "にすぎない" vs "だけ" and "にかぎらない" vs "だけじゃない"

texts:
I am having difficulties to make sense of にすぎない, which is translated by EDICT to mean "no more than that; just; only". Is it not simply equivalent to だけ? Can I use にすぎない as substitute for だけ?

Also, since かぎる means "to be restricted", which is opposite of すぎる - "to go beyond",  does it mean that にすぎない and にかぎらない are opposite of each other? Can I use にかぎらない as substitute for だけじゃない?


texts:
Why いた is used instead of いる in the dialogue below?

  なんでえ
  生{い}きてたのか
  楓{かえで}ばばあ。


texts:
A Japanese learner I know had written a sentence that contained the phrase 「日本の文化はだれでも楽しむものじゃないか？」, however this was corrected to 「日本の文化はだれもが楽しむものじゃないか？」 by a native speaker.  Based on the explanations about 疑問詞 elsewhere on this site (such as here, here or here), I'm confused why だれもが is right but だれでも is wrong.
I'm trying to rationalize it based on English translations:
だれでも楽しむ = "Anyone enjoys".  Sounds a bit awkward.
だれもが楽しむ = "Everyone enjoys".  This sounds more natural.  But why is the が a requirement?
だれでも楽しめる・だれもが楽しめる = "Anyone can enjoy" / "Everyone can enjoy".  Both of these sound natural in English.  Is either one also OK in Japanese?  Is the が in だれもが a requirement here?
What are the rules here?


texts:
あなたが今まで行ったことのある観光地を紹介してください。

=> "Please present the places you have visited so far."

I think my translation should be correct and it wasn't much trouble to come up with it. However, I'm not really sure why there is

ことのある

Usually I would expect the construction
た-form + ことが + ありました
like 私は中国に住んだことがありました。

So what seems unusual to is the use of の instead of が and the use of present tense ある instead of past tense ありました.

Since the verbal complex "verb + ことのある" modifies the noun 観光地 I could imagine の acting in the same function as here:

子供の描いた絵です。
vs.
子供が書いた絵です。

I'm just a bit cautious with this analogy since in these 2 examples above, the modified noun is the subject. I only rarely encountered this use of の in my textbook so far and I can't remember a situation where this was done with the object of a sentence (as it is the case in the sentence in question), so I don't know if this interchangeability of の/が applies here too.

Concerning ある instead of ありました, well, I'm a bit clueless right now.^^
It's the main reason though that I suspect that ことのある might not be a variation of the た + ことが + ありました pattern but instead something else.^^


texts: How to say “Taking Japanese class has been fun” using 〜ものだ

texts:
I'm trying to say "Taking Japanese class has been [or was] fun" using ものだ.

But I don't think this is right:

  日本語の授業を受けている楽していたものだ。


texts: What tense of a verb should be used in the subordinate clause?

texts:
In the following example, what tense of the verb should be used: past or non-past? If both are possible will the meaning change?

Children will eat anything their mother brings home.

子供は母親が持ち帰ったものを何でも食べます。

子供は母親が持ち帰るものを何でも食べます。


texts:
Consider the following sentence.

漢｛かん｝字｛じ｝試｛し｝験{けん}は理｛り｝解｛かい｝力｛りょく｝より記｛き｝憶｛おく｝力｛りょく｝を試｛ため｝すものだと批｛ひ｝判｛はん｝されています。

If I split it into two sentences, they might be as follows (correct if it is wrong):

漢｛かん｝字｛じ｝試｛し｝験{けん}は理｛り｝解｛かい｝力｛りょく｝より記｛き｝憶｛おく｝力｛りょく｝を試｛ため｝すものです。
漢｛かん｝字｛じ｝試｛し｝験{けん}は批｛ひ｝判｛はん｝されています。

In my understanding, と is used

quoting:「勉強なさい」と言っていました。
AND: コーヒーとミルクが好きです。
IF: 押すとお金が出ます。

So what is the purpose of と in the above sentence?


texts: How does this Japanese sentence differ from this "official" English translation (ついでに体も繋がっちゃう)?

texts:
I've been reading a visual novel in English because I'm not in any position to even think about reading one in Japanese yet, but at the same time despite being firmly at the starting blocks of any language learning, I still have a habit listening out for words and phrases in the voice over that I might know before immediately looking at the English text. One of the hardest things for me to untangle is how things are translated from Japanese into English in a more naturally presented way, as opposed to focusing on the very literal translation of a sentence lacking nuance (which I have a bad habit of getting hung up on), such as specific words being mentioned in the Japanese but worded in a different way in English.

So for the example, context is two characters romantically involved, in response to the question "can we hold hands while we sleep tonight?", (after a bit of back and forth in the vein of "we already do that every night") the response from the other character was translated as "It's fine, though, of course. How about we get a little closer than that?". In Japanese this sentence is いいよ、もちろん。ついでに体も繋がっちゃう？. I understand bits of this sentence when chopped up, but it's bringing it together in a way that resembles the official translation I'm stuck on.

Now, "いいよ、もちろん" isn't a problem, very easy for me to see that there. ついでに I understand to mean while/at the same time and is used when you're taking advantage of an opportunity to perform an additional action which I think I understand on its own given the prior context. The Japanese sentence contains 体 (body) and the verb 繋がる which means "to be connected to", this also appears to have the verb ending ちゃう I've not encountered before (something about bodies being connected?). But I'm having trouble bringing these pieces together and seeing this as the complete sentence. Especially with any nuances, I imagine the sentence is referring to more than a simple hug for example, as the official translation seems to imply.

I am, quite obviously, getting above my station here in terms of my knowledge of the language vs the things I pick out to analyse, that's not lost on me, but this one has been bugging me regardless so if anyone could help me understand here I'd be appreciative.


texts:
Some questions...

Does ”どっちがいい？” literally mean "which one is better?", or does it literally mean "which one is good?" but sometimes you're supposed to guess the actual meaning from the context?

Can ”どっちがいい？” even imply that there is a good option and a bad option, or is it always about choosing between two nice options? (e.g. two tasty cakes or two advanced smartphones)

Is ”どっちがいい？” perhaps a shortening of a longer phrase where the meaning is more obvious?


texts: How can 関係 be used when there is only one subject?

texts:
In my textbook there is a clause that I don't really understand:

なぜ占い好きと関係があるというと、、、

So my understanding takes me this far:

It's a question asking why 占い好き something
It's asking why something about relationship(s) - or why relationships to 占い好き exist?

My problem here is: 関係 means relationship right, so I would expect to see at least two things references: ie why is there a relationship between 占い好き AND X? ...but here there is no X. To me the question just seems to be: why　is there a relationship between 占い好き ... huh?

Any comments much appreciated!


texts:
I would like to ask, "How many kanji are you supposed to know?" My best guess was

  （漢字を）何字知っているはずですか。 I omitted 漢字 since it was in context

This was reviewed by a native Japanese speaker and I had it corrected to 何字知っていますか with the explanation that the previous "is over complicated". However, I see no reason why the corrected sentence conveys the sense of "supposed" that I intended.

Could someone please verify that the previous question does indeed sound over complicated and perhaps provide a better way to ask that question (that conveys expectation rather than fact)?


texts:
I've heard many people pronounce す, つ, く, and る as if く and る rhyme, す and つ rhyme, but not any other pair. It seems as if す is sometimes pronounced [sɨ] and く is pronounced [ku]. This doesn't seem to make sense though, since in many song lyrics they do rhyme and are used for rhyming effect.

Is this related to the fact that す and つ are often devoiced and the devoiced /u/ sounds like [ɨ]? Or is this related to the fact that my Chinese-accustomed ears mislead me when the う line is devoiced? This is especially since it seems like people who pronounce the vowels of す and く the farthest are speakers with a Chinese accent, like the singer Alan Dawa Dolma. I swear though that for some speakers of Japanese I hear, す does not seem to rhyme with く.


texts: What is "られん" in "付き合ってられん"? I can't found it in dictionary?

texts:
Context:https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/81045594
The google translate split "付き合ってられん" to words as "付き合って られん" but it seem is not a regular word I can't understand what do "られん" meaning or find out explain in dictionaries(jisho.org and tangorin.com)


texts:
Why "absent from school" is "gakkou wo yasumu" when yasumu is intransitive verb?

Why particle wo is used? Why not ni or kara is used instead?


texts: 征伐, せいばつ, seibatsu: a conquest or a 'righteous conquest'?

texts:
征伐, せいばつ, seibatsu

An old Japanese friend suggested that 征伐, “conquest,” has a moral tone to it and might be better translated as “righteous conquest,” however, most dictionaries simply define it as a "conquest, invasion, subjugation, overcoming, or punitive expedition." Similarly, ukiyo-e titles in various museums translate 征伐 as "conquest."

A few notes:

In Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney's Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History (University of Chicago Press, 2002), mention is made that: "In 1894, the year when the Sino-Japanese War started, Sasaki Nobutsuna [...] a highly regarded scholar of classical poetry, composed a lengthy song entitled The Song of the Conquest of the Chinese (Shina seibatsu no uta). The song is replete with references to mountain cherry blossoms fragrant in the morning sun and to the sacrifice of the Japanese for the country/emperor." The text goes on to say that the word seibatsu has a "special meaning: it is used for conquests of those who deserve to be vanquished, such as ogres or barbarians."
Though my Japanese is poor, when I was looking at Japanese Wikipedia entries on the Battle of Ōshū (Ōshū kassen, 奥州合戦), I gleaned the following: the Battle of Ōshū is a general, collective phrase used to describe Yoritomo’s invasion of the province, and is a modern, neutral term used in preference to moral and 'biased' descriptions of the battle as Ōshū tsuitō (奥州追討, the “chase and defeat” at Ōshū, a "tracking down and killing; a punitive expedition" in Ōshū), and Ōshū seibatsu (奥州征伐, the “righteous conquest” of Ōshū).

So can anyone shed light on the word 征伐, seibatsu, its etymology and/or the subtleties of its use? If one is looking at C19th and pre-C19th texts is it better to translate the word as 'righteous conquest' (or similar) so there is a historically moral emphasis?


texts: Difference between まで and に when using a Number counter

texts:
i wanted to know the difference in nuance between まで and に, when used to represent the number counter, in the following 2 sentences.
四十までアパートに入れます. (Means upto 40 people can enter the apartment)
Vs.
四十にアパートに入れます. (Means 40 people can enter the apartment)
As per my understanding of まで, in the 1st sentence 四十まで is acting as a limiter, i.e. upto 40 people can enter into apartment. In other words, there is a limit of 40 people that can enter the apartment, be it due to size of apartment or other restrictions.
Whereas, when に is used it is just a statement that 40 people can enter the apartment, whereas, there isn't any inherent restriction/limit on the number of people that can enter. E.g. group of xyz number of people will enter first and then the rest 40 can later. However, I am not sure about this reasoning.
Can anyone please tell me the difference between the two?


texts: How does これ以上する work in this particular context?

texts:
I've already learned how to use これ以上 when it means "beyond this" or further than this". But I'm confused as what it means in this particular context I came across.

I've been reading a sports manga. For context a girl cooks lunch for her friend once to motivate him to attend practice. The friend then adds another request on top of that, being for her buy him tea. The girl then says this.

これ以上するなら全国行かないと許しませんから...

What confuses me here is whether これ以上する suggests that she'll do this more in the future (cooking lunch and buying tea) OR she's only saying she'll do it this time without promising to do it more in the future (the original promise was only cooking lunch once).


texts: Particle Choice: は・が・を - "I want ... to be my ..."

texts:
(私は)山田先生が私の指導教員になってもらってほしいのでメールを書いています。

I am trying to say: "I hope Yamada Sensei could be my advisor, so I'm writing this mail."

In this situation, is が the correct particle?


texts: What is the meaning of these words/sentences?

texts:
I've some issues getting through the message of my language correspondence partner:

  日本では、たくさんの花火大会があります。

  ７月には、神戸の花火大会、大阪の花火大会に多くに人が訪れます。

  １万発 でとても迫力がありますよ。

  あと、夏になるとセミがたくさん鳴いて、外はとてもうるさいです。

Content-wise, I understand what I'm being told here, but I don't understand how some things work and therefore also have problems determining what exactly is being said.

  1) 多くに

Why is there a に attached? I think that 多い shall become an adverb here, but い adjectives become adverbs solely by replacing い with く.

I could imagine 多くに in context of a sentence like this:

人は多くになりました。

It became a lot of people/The people got numerous.

But first I don't know whether this assumption is correct and second I don't see whether なる and　訪れる　could be treated equally concerning this case.

  2) １万発

What does this 発 mean? 万 is まん　but the other one I couldn't find a satisfying entry on jisho.org, especially not in connection to 発.

  3) Since I don’t really know 万発 I have trouble interpreting the
  meaning and function of this で

  4) 夏になるとセミがたくさん鳴いて

I don’t really know about this one. It's something about “when it becomes summer” and… “the half”???

I think it's about some half which sings loud, but I have trouble integrating the conditional clause meaningfully into the full sentence.


texts: What is the difference between なさいます and いたします?

texts:
お飲み物はどうなさいますか。
  お飲み物はどういたしますか。

I can't understand how one might be used instead of the other.


texts: How do you write 縮めて in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)?


texts: Differences between words for "optimistic" and "pessimistic"

texts:
I've been confused for a long time about how certain Japanese words map onto the meaning of "optimistic" and "pessimistic" in English. Specifically, what is the difference between

(Optimistic) 楽天的、楽観的、積極的 ?

and

(Pessimistic) 悲観的、消極的 ?

I have a vague impression that 積極的 and 消極的 are more about behavior, while 楽天的 and 悲観的 are more about hopes/expectations; is that right?


texts: How is writing with 旧字体 over 新字体, using lots of 表外漢字 and using 漢字 in place of かな in a word that is almost always written with かな perceived?

texts:
Examples:

A: 毎日、学校で桜の木を見る。（新字体）
B: 毎日、學校で櫻の木を見る。（旧字体）

A: この国の歴史を研究しています。（新字体）
B: この國の歷史を硏究しています。（旧字体）

A: 私はワニがすきです。（カタカナ）
B: 私は鰐が好きです。（表外漢字）

A: 私の好きな魚はハタハタとスズキです。（カタカナ）
B: 私の好きな魚は鰰と鱸です。（表外漢字）

A: このページを見てください。（一つの漢字）
B: 此の頁を見て下さい。（四つの漢字）

What is the general perception of writing in the way the B examples are over the A examples? Is it considered a good thing or a bad thing to most people?
I also asked this question on HiNative, with the original question here: https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/18102270


texts:
I'm having a hard time trying to find a way to express sentences like:

Humans evolved to eat smaller amounts of carbohydrates than we're used to eating today.

Penguins evolved to eat fish.

Could anyone suggest a close translation?


texts: Why is the title of this manga 『からかい上手の高木さん』 instead of 『高木さんの上手なからかい』?

texts: I've started reading a light slice-of-life comedy manga called からかい上手の高木さん.  I was wondering why the title is written that way, it seems a bit strange to me.  Shouldn't it be 高木さんの上手なからかい?


texts: Are there any radicals with immutable position in kanji?

texts:
Reading Is there a difference in drawing between the "mouth" and "enclosure" kanji radicals? made me think: does  囗 (enclosure) have to be the outermost radical?
Apparently the answer is "no" since we have this (incomplete) list of exceptions: 烟姻廻咽個恩悃迴. It also seems to happen with other "enclosure type" radicals, e.g. 厂->板 or 广 -> 俯, but are there any radicals that can only be in a specific position in the kanji and nowhere else?


texts: I've recently read about the slang that came from Kansai-ben, "どや顔" (doyagao) and realized that 顔 was spelt as "がお" instead of "かお". This is my first time seeing this so I was wondering what caused the reading to change.


texts: Does the particle "を" (wo) have a special use when at the end of a sentence?

texts:
I thought the character "を" (wo) was only used for the particle whose only job was to indicate the direct object of a verb.

But today I saw it at the end of an exclamation on a sign I think on a shop:

  西部に活力を!!

So what job is を doing here?


texts: I'm trying to figure out how to ask where I can buy something. From the lessons I've taken so far, what comes to mind is どこに＿を買いますか？ Google says this translates to "Where should I buy a ＿?" which would be acceptable in English, but I guess it's not conveying what I want to say exactly. Would this be the correct way to ask in Japanese or is there a better way to ask "Where can I buy [something]?"


texts: 「～てはいただけません」- Why the は?

texts:
こんなちなみを ・・ ・・
  ユルしてはいただけませんの？

I'm playing Ace Attorney 3 (逆転裁判３), and there's a girl in the dock (ちなみ) giving evidence. She's just been found to be lying about something and is asking for forgiveness.

I've seen the pattern ～ていただけませんか as a humble request, but why has she put a は after the て?


texts:
How would I say 'I traveled from Bristol to London by car'

'私はBristolからLondonまでくるまがいきました'?


texts: 「食べさせてもらおう」 - How precisely does this sentence break down?

texts:
The sentence in question (from here）

どれ、 たべさせて もらおう。

The provided translation is: "Let's see, I think I will eat."
The volitional conjugation of もらう makes sense, and I am aware of the meaning of the 〜てもらう pattern, but I can't figure out how this combines with the causative conjugation of 食べる.


texts: Why do I hear a lot of "L" sounds in Japanese music?

texts:
I'm a super beginner, but I like to listen to Japanese music and I often hear some "L" sounds. Given the fact that there is no "L" column on hiragana tables, I assume that is some other sound, perhaps "R", being pronounced as "L" (even though I hear the R's normally).

Can someone please explain me that?


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase いい年こいて?

texts:
いい年こいて

I understand that toshi means age in this context, but what is a good example of using this in a sentence (informal). What is いい年 in this context?


texts: のに (noni) versus けど (kedo) to mean “but, although" etc

texts:
So guys I searched about this difference and didn't find a conclusive answer.

What is the difference or is there any difference at all like this:

  この部屋はいつもきれいなのに今日はちらかっている。

Although this room is always clean, today it is a "mess".

  この部屋はいつもきれいだけど今日はちらかっている。

This room is always clean but today it is a "mess".

For me it's like のに focuses on the first part of the sentence:

  この部屋はいつもきれい

and けど focuses on the second part:

  今日はちらかっている

Am I right?

のに can be used like けど and vice versa?

Thanks


texts:
From #27 of 日本語能力試験３級の模擬試験　-文法１- (http://jlpt.u-biq.org/3g1.html)

Question: よやく（　　）が わかりません。
A) かた　　B) のかた　　　C) しかた　　　D) のしかた

Why is the answer D?


texts: 少しはマシになってきたな meaning

texts:
Without context can it mean a couple of things/ have a double meaning? Like 'you're looking better' 'things are looking better' 'it looks better'

The person who said it talked about two different things that might connect to it before saying this, the other person's face looking unhealthy and a bad situation involving the other person.


texts:
Xの声無き叫びが、Yたちに届くわけもない。

EDIT : I think that it is another way of saying "わけがない" but then what is the difference with "わけもない".


texts:
I was playing with Kanji Kentei exercises. The area: 熟語の構成.

The word in question: 犯罪
The correct answer: 下の文字が上の文字の目的語・補語になっているもの（着席）

Makes sense: 罪を犯す → 犯罪

Now the question: what makes it not fit the category 同じような意味の漢字を重ねたもの（岩石）?
I find the two characters meeting the criteria for 同じような意味:
罪＝法にふれる。
犯＝しきりをふみこえる。法やおきてをやぶる。
Do these categories have an order like "first matched A so A")? Or are there some other criteria?


texts: Is there a difference between 「まだ食べたり、飲んだりしています。」and 「まだ食べたり、飲んでいたりします。」?


texts: 80/20 rule expression (Pareto Principle)

texts: Is there a saying (ことわざ）or 4 character phrase (四字熟語) in Japanese for the 80-20 rule (i.e. the Pareto Principle)? i.e. it takes 20% of the effort to get 80% of the results but to get the last 20% of the results takes 80% of the effort.


texts: I've heard this word used quite a few times now, and I'm tired of pretending to understand it. Why does 「やきもち」 refer to being jealous? Is this a slang word? How do people use this word?


texts: Is there a Japanese term to express the concept of "Comfort Zone"?

texts:
According to Wikipedia, it would be "舒适区" IN CHINESE- I would like to know if this is valid and recognizable in Japanese, too, or if there are more specific/nuanced terms to convey the same idea in Japanese.

Some examples of the meaning I am looking for, taken from Google definition of the term:

Comfort zone - noun

a situation where one feels safe or at ease.
"the trip is an attempt to take the students out of their comfort zone"
a settled method of working that requires little effort and yields only barely acceptable results.
"if you stay within your comfort zone you will never improve"

Finally, Google Translate gives you "安全地帯" for it.


texts: Why is the term 者 used in some job titles and not others? I see the term used for doctor, dentist and translator 医者, 歯医者, 翻訳者　to name a few, but not for teacher, mayor, secretary, etc.


texts: Is there a difference between these two sentences?

texts:
I'd like to know if they differ in their meanings or maybe if one of them is incorrect maybe idk.

  どんなマンガが好きですか？

and

  好きなマンガは何ですか？

As far as i understand theyre both asking what manga you like.

thanks in advance.


texts: What is the meaning of "人の身である" and "人あらざる"?

texts:
私たちの悲願、奇跡に至ろうとする切望はどこからきたものなのか。私たちは何の為に、人の身であるままに、人あらざる地点に到達しようとしていたのか。

I'm having some problems with understanding not just the meaning of "人の身である" but the meaning of "人あらざる" too in the context behind them. Can someone explain for me in their respective context the meaning of these expressions/words?


texts:
I have been living in Japan now for the last 3 months and my hair is starting to look like it needs a cut.
But I have never been to a Japanese barbers before so as you can imagine I am a little nervous about it.

I have a couple of questions about getting your hair cut in Japanese:

What are common/useful words/phrases that can be used when getting your haircut?

Specifically it would be nice to know how to say I want certain parts of my hair a certain length.

Aside from those two specific things are there any other useful phrases, words or anything else that would be useful to learn before going to the barbers in Japan?


texts: Problems with these descriptions in my textbook

texts:
For full context (pictures attached to the text) see here:
https://www.docdroid.net/J4wjKwf/jap.pdf

「暮らしとアイデア」について話し合う会議に参加することになりました。日本には曲がるストローやプルトップリングなど、生活に役立つ発明で、特許を取ったものがたくさんあります。あなたが知っている発明で商品になったものを参加者に紹介してください。
First, my attempt at translation:
It was decided that you will partake in a conference discussing ‘ideas and life circumstances’. In japan, bending drinking straws and rings for cans etc. (I don’t know what this is in English) are inventions which are helpful in daily life and there are many things which are patented/take patents. Please present things which being inventions you know became commercial articles/Please present things which were inventions you know and became commercial articles.

1) 暮らしとアイデア is kind of a problem for me. „Life circumstances and ideas“? I can only try to conclude what is meant by this. Maybe ideas which have arisen from certain cirumstances in life? Like a drinking straw maybe for people who have issues drinking from a glass directly?

2) 生活に役立つ発明で、特許を取ったものがたくさんあります
These two parts 生活に役立つ発明で  and 特許を取ったものがたくさんあります
seem a bit disconnected to me. I think that I’m being told that there are many useful inventions and that many of them are patented. But the way I see it, this is poorly reflected in the grammar of the complete sentence. If 曲がるストローやプルトップリングなど was made a topic, it would be easier for me to give the impression that all these elements are one and the same thing:
“Concerning bending drinking straws and rings for cans, they are inventions which are useful for daily life and there are many things which took patents.”
Another option would be to extrapolate a continuative copula after など:
“In japan, there are bending drinking straws and rings for cans and the like and they they are inventions which are useful in daily life and and there are many things which took patents.”
If I regard もの in the last part as a pronominal element referring to 発明 and ultimately to 曲がるストローやプルトップリングなど then the contextual cohesion would improve even further:
“Concerning bending drinking straws and rings for cans, they are inventions which are useful for daily life and they are one of many things which took patents.”
This seems very far fetched to me though.

3) あなたが知っている発明で賞品になったものを参加者に紹介してください
As it is probably obvious from the two options I offered in my translation for this sentence, I ran into trouble here as well. The first option is a literal translation trying to reflect as much as possible the syntactical connections I tried to establish. The second option is the way I would then translate it in a less literal, but hopefully more comprehensible way. I don’t really know wether the connections I established in my literal translation are legit or not :/


texts: なんて言わないで自己申告制, meaning of で?

texts:
I'm kinda at a lost here. In what I'm translating (a song), a character says:

なんて言わないで
自己申告制

My main issue is...I have no clue how で is meant to be used here. One person I spoke to translated this as:

"Don't say things like that."
A self-reporting system.

But with で, wouldn't it be:

A self-reporting system [that requires/by means of] no talking.

However, the rest of the sentence after で has no verb, so I don't think that would work either...there was no comma in the original line, so I don't know if it'd be a conjunction, either (and if it were, wouldn't 言わないで be 言わなくて?)
Sorry if the answer is actually simple, but I haven't been able to figure this one out. Am I missing something?


texts: Is there a difference between botchan and musuko-san?

texts:
I am looking at translations of "your son". I see two different ones.

I would appreciate if someone could help and tell me the difference.


texts: "あなたの本を車の中に置いてきてしまいました。" means "I left your book in the car." but what is the meaning of "きて" and "しまいました" in context?


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say omae ga yorobe?


texts: Can someone help with this sentence involving double denial?

texts:
実は全く手段が無いこともないのですが、それがあなたのためになるとは俺には到底思えません

Can someone explain what does 無いこともないのですが

It's a double denial from what I can tell.

So does it become ?

"Actually it's not like there's no method at all, however I cannot possibly think that it will be useful to you"


texts: Is it easier to learn Chinese after learning Japanese or vice versa?

texts:
For those who speak both Chinese and Japanese, would first learning Chinese make it easier to learn Japanese?

I know that Japanese Kanji are derived from Chinese characters.


texts: How to read kanji on the attached photos?

texts:
Is anybody able to read these two kanji?

Especially the second one that looks so simple yet I can't decipher the radical...


texts: How do you spell half demon (like Inuyasha) han'yo, hanyo or hanyou?

texts: I want to tattoo the word half demon but in japanese. Do you spell it hanyo, han'yo or hanyou? I saw all of them? Which one is correct?


texts: Usage of まで in this Verb (Plain) + まで form+ Verb (Present/Future or Past)

texts:
I am uncertain about the usage of まで in case of punctual/static verbs in this Verb (Plain) + まで + Verb (present/future or past) form. Which means, do something till something.

Present/Future Tense

In case of durative verb, using the Present/Future form makes sense
E.g. 私は行くまで食べ物を食べます
Meaning I will eat until I go
However, when I use punctual/stative verb it does not make any sense, as the function of  まで implies doing something until xyz happens. Now, since punctual verb are completed when performed once. So the following sentence, as per me, does not make any sense.
私は行くまで明かりをつけます
(Roughly it can mean, till I go, I will turn on the light)

Inference 1: Further, as per my little understanding, since まで is used I tend to think that he will perform tha action of turning on the light again and again until he goes, which I do not want to convey.

What I want to convey is that I will turn on the lights (and keep them in that condition) until I go.

Past Tense

Similar problem applies in this case as well. In case of Durative verb, using past form will work as well.
E.g. 私は行くまで食べ物を食べました.
Meaning I ate until I went.
However, when I use Punctual verb again with まで
E.g. 私は行くまで明かりをつけました。

Inference 2: The same inference, as per my understanding,  that i was turning the lights on again and again comes into picture due to the nature of particle まで, which i do not want to convey.

As I wanted to convey was that until I went (left) I turned on the light (and it was in that state until I went)

Usage of ていた instead of た

I think the past tense problems is solved by using ていた (past perfect) e.g. 私は行くまで明かりをつけていた. Meaning I had turned on the lights till I left. However, I am not sure about that.

Question 1: Is my 1st Inference/understanding correct i.e. 私は行くまで明かりをつけます (does not make any sense). If yes, can you give me an alternative, as I wanted to convey that, What I want to convey is that I will turn on the lights (and keep them in that condition) until I go.

Question 2: Is my 2nd inference/understanding correct i.e. 私は行くまで明かりをつけました (does not mean any sense). If yes can you give me an alternative as what i wanted to convey was Until I went I turned on the lights (and they were on till I left).

Question 3: Can ていた replace た in Verb(plain) + まで + Verb(Past)

ありがとう
教えてください


texts: Could you help me translate this sentence?

texts:
I'm not really getting the meaning of this. Is it "At this point getting suspected is not even scary"?

  今更、咎められることなんて恐ろしくもない。

I would be grateful if someone could help me :]


texts: Is there a specific time to pronounce 日本, にほん/にっぽん?

texts: Are the two used completely interchangeably or are there specific situations where one might be used more than the other? For example I've never heard 日本語 said にっぽんご.


texts: Exceptions in pronouncing the counter for minutes (分)

texts:
I'm learning the counter for minutes, which is 分.
I know, there are several exceptions in when it comes to pronunciation.

1 min =　いっぷん
2 min =　にふん
3 min =　さんぷん
4 min =　よんぷん
5 min =　ごふん
6 min =　ろっぷん
7 min =　ななふん
8 min =　はっぷん
9 min =　きゅうふん
10 min =　じゅうっぷん

But on some sites they stated that 3分 is さんぶん, or that 4分 is よんふん...

So I'd like to know which are correct. Thanks


texts: Can someone explain the contrastive は to me?

texts:
Can someone explain to me how the contrastive は works? As I still don't get it. How exactly does it work? Is it derived from it's topical cousin? How does it modify the topic of discourse?

For example, I don't quite understand what the second supposedly contrasting は is actually doing in this sentence that the conjunctive が isn't already doing:
犬の鳴き声は聞こえるが、犬の姿は見えない。

It's from the Imabi post on the contrastive particle, yet it still doesn't really explain what's actually going on; thus, I'm just wondering if someone could help explain this to me.


texts: 「と使う」ってなぜ「を」じゃなくて「と」なのですか？

texts:
I sometimes see 「と使う」instead of 「を使う」. My understanding was that the only occasion where「使う」takes 「と」is with 引用, as explained here.

（文や句をそのまま受けて）動作・作用・状態の内容を表す。引用の「と」。

For some examples, we don't have to look very far:

[補説]... 仮定形「たら」は、多く「ば」を伴わないで「雨が降ったら中止だ」などと使われ、「遅いからもう帰ったら」のように文末に用いられて8の意を表す。(source)
ゲームを終了すること。「今日は疲れたのでもう落ちます。」などと使われる。(source)
昔、TBSの番組「ザ・ベスト10」で久米宏が なに気に 「〜かしら」と言ったのを見て初めは かなり衝撃でしたが アナウンサーの業界では以外と使われている様です。(source)

But I just saw this:

呼びタメと使っているけど、意味を理解してない☆彡 ということでいいのですかね？？ (source)

It sounds a bit odd to me. I thought, "For sure it should be 「呼びタメを使っている」, right?" So why is 「と」used here? And in general when should I use「と使う」instead of「を使う」?
And I am also wondering: with 引用, can I use「を」too? e.g. その文には "what" を使えません。


texts: Does this double negative make a positive or negative sentence?

texts:
Is that sentence saying that you will worry, or that you won't worry?

  最初からユニコーンを見つけるくらい大変だって知っていれば心配しないじゃないですか

I'm pretty sure it's saying that you will worry, since she said that a unicorn is something you don't find right before this. But even without knowing that can Japanese people grammatically tell that it is "will worry", or is it implied based on context?

Or is it "won't worry" anyway? The double negative is confusing >.<


texts: Does ～たり～たりする mean "and" or "or" in dictionary definitions?

texts:
I think that ～たり～たりする generally means "do things like (among other things)", but in dictionary definitions, can the pattern ～たり～たりする mean "and", "or" or "and/or"?
In e.g. XたりYたりする would it imply that both X and Y occur or can X occur without Y occurring (or vice versa)?
In the Daijisen definition for よく for example, it's used in the following way:

困難なことをしたり、考えられないような喜ばしい結果を得たりして感じ入るさま。
Being impressed by something which takes difficulty (or? and? and/or?) the achievement of an unthinkably delightful outcome.

How would it differ from dictionary form verb+ことや (if "or") and ～て/～で (if "and") etc?


texts: Clarifications regarding the AをBに。。。 construction

texts:
I've read Meaning and transitivity of ゴミ袋を手に立ち上がる before, but i'm looking to confirm some things where AをBに(して)is not the case.

彼女の視線を一身に浴びて、私は身が縮む思いだった。
basking my body under her gaze, I feel my body shrink.

Basking with 彼女の視線 on 一身?Is there a more intuitive way to read this it literally?

突如として、ザーザーと叩きつけるように降り出した雨は、これからの波乱を、私に予感させるに充分だった。
all of a sudden, the disturbance following the sudden pouring rain, satisfies my premonitions.?

Simplifying as 波乱を、私に予感させるに充分だった... I am fairly sure 波乱を<-予感させる as 予感させる is made to be transitive.
Am I to to interpret 予感させるに充分だった as 予感させるに(は)充分だった (for the purpose of 予感させる, 充分! ) ?.
波乱を、私に予感させるに充分だった = the disturbance, for me, predicting it(the disturbance) is satisfactory?
Thanks for the help.


texts:
The sentence goes

  " それにしてもお前...ひでぇ面してるぞ"

I read it as " anyway you're...looking terrible" but in the translated manga it says  "even for you, you're face looks terrible"  which one seems more accurate?


texts:
tl;dr How do I say "You're hurting him"?

Suppose I'm teaching a child how to care for a small pet. If the child holds the pet wrong, I can say "Stop that. You're hurting it". In English, this has two possible meanings:

"Your action is likely to injure the pet."
"Your action causes the pet pain."

The first of these two meanings seems to be covered by the Japanese 怪我をさせる and 傷を負わせる. I could not find any way to express the second. How can I do that? Similarly, how would I apologize for having hurt someone, that is for doing something that physically hurt but did not injure?

Here are some possibilities that I have considered and rejected. If one of these is actually correct, I would be grateful if you could correct my understanding of it:

痛める - This was my first guess, because of the obvious relation to 痛い. However, after checking several dozen example sentences it seems to only be used for self-inflicted injury, usually accidental ("I hurt my arm", "he broke his leg falling") and damage caused to inanimate objects.
傷つける - Another good candidate, but explanations and usage examples indicate that it is limited to hurting someone's feelings, rather than for physical pain.
傷を負う and 怪我をする - As mentioned above, only refer to injuries, and not to the sensation of pain by itself.
〜すると痛い - This means that an action causes pain to the actor ("It hurts when I do this", or "does it hurt when you do that?").
やめなさい、痛いんです - Close to what I want, but only applies in the case where you're hurting me. This does not allow for an inversion of roles or a third party.
This cannot or will not be expressed in Japanese - This seems unlikely, but consider the case in English. The example sentence "You're hurting it" is the natural way to express both possible meanings in common conversation. If I really want to clarify, I might say "You're injuring it" or "You could injure it", although that is not what one would normally say. However, "You're causing it pain" sounds to me so far removed from daily speech, that I would not expect to ever hear it, even when ambiguity is possible.


texts: What is an expression that means "of course!" as if suddenly realizing something?

texts: I know that もちろん is often used to mean something like "of course (you may)" or even "naturally, ..." However, what would an equivalent expression be for "of course!", used as an interjection as a result of sudden realization or comprehension? For some reason, もちろん doesn't seem right, and I don't believe I've ever heard or seen it used in this context.


texts:
I've been learning japanese for quite a while and always wondered why :

言ってんじゃねえぞ

could be an order. Whereas something like :

言わない

can't be an order.
Because basically, 【言ってんじゃねぞ】 is just :

言う　の　テ形
助動詞　いる not pronounced since it's a contraction
Contraction of the particle の (ん)
And じゃない

So I don't understand why 【○○てんじゃねえぞ】can be understood as :
"Don't ***"
Thanks


texts:
学園付きの聖職者にして、委員会の顧問、xから、呼び出しのメールが来たのは今朝のこと

I read that

  adj + にして + adj

or

  noun + にして + noun

That in this case the にして has the meaning of "and / also"

In that case does this mean

  It was this morning that I received a mail that called me out from X who is the advisor of the committee and the clergy of the school


texts:
I found the following in a footnote in an academic text:

  巻末付録を参照されたい。

Apparently, this is 参照 + さ(未然形 of する) + れ(連用形 of れる) + たい, where れる is honorific and たい has the following meaning from goo:

  ３ 「ある」「である」「なさる」「くださる」や尊敬の助動詞「れる」「られる」に付いて、他に対する希望・要求を表す。…てほしい。「正直者がばかを見ない世の中でありたい」「別表を参照されたい」

Literally, I think it means "I want the reader to refer to the appendix". Does this usage of たい require an honorific when the meaning is "I want (somebody) to do (something)"? For example, can you say 参照したい here instead of 参照されたい without changing the meaning?


texts: Meaning of おいて in 自分がすごく年おいて感じます

texts:
Such a simple sentence. So much confusion:

  自分がすごく年おいて感じます。
  I feel so old!

"I feel so old" is not my own translation. I have two problems (at least) with this sentence:

What is おいて? I assume it is て形 of おく but that doesn't help me at all.
Why 自分? Perhaps if I understand おいて this will become clear.
Maybe three problems. I'm not at all sure about the 'verb phrase-て感じる' construction. Could you give a couple of simple examples to help me understand this better?


texts: What grammatical function does 見よがし have?

texts: When I looked it up in my 3 go to resources, Jisho, Weblio and Eijirou, the first two completely struck out, and Eijirou only shows it as part of これ見よがし. Just how does one use this term?


texts:
I've seen the last one (屋) many times before meaning something along the lines of "establishment where you can buy things or services".

However, the rest of the word confuses me. Doesn't the word 八百 also mean the number 800 (はっぴゃく)?


texts:
What is the meaning of 母を恋はずや in the film title?

Edit: the meaning of "恋う" according to the dictionary is "romantic love" as in "koi suru". E.g. http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/srch/all/%E6%81%8B%E3%81%86/m1u/ says "特定の異性に心ひかれて、その人を思い慕う。また、特別な人物や場所などを強く慕う。恋する。" So my query is partly about the grammar but also why it is 母を恋する. I can't believe it is some kind of incestuous relationship.


texts: What's the difference between 知り合い & 付き合い?

texts: I have answered this 知り合い but in answer's sheet it was 付き合い and I don't get the difference.


texts:
For full context:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10011214361000/k10011214361000.html

The sentence in question:
気象台によると、これは、光が曲がって見える「しんきろう」です

First, my attempt at translation:
"According to the weather station, concerning this, with the light appearing bended it is a mirage."

I'm quite weary about my translation. I made　曲がって and 見える one unit in which 曲がる is kind of like an adjective and 見える is kind of like a copula (semantically it expresses almost the same as "to be" here). This seems quite wrong to me. However, it does make sense contentwise and more importantly, I can't come up with a translation making more sense (also grammarwise).

I can't really remember cases where a verb directly modifies another verb, at least not in the way it is done here.
So I wanted to ask for confirmation or correction.


texts: Is "まひろとアバ X 于ユール" in the image? What is ' X ' in the image?

texts:
What character is in X position on the image?

  まひろとアバXチュール

Maybe that is アバコ?


texts: Characteristics of 'loan word root + る' verbs

texts:
This question follows on from these others:

What are the principles behind turning foreign language words into verbs?
Why are there very few non-する gairaigo verbs in Japanese?
Are there words which consist of katakana and hiragana letters together?
Are there nouns that can function as another part of speech?

I am trying to catalog the specific verb type loan word root + る in terms of meaning, inflection patterns, pitch-accent characteristics, etc. Hopefully this will identify any clear patterns and/or irregularities. So far, I have come up with the following list (see below).

Please point out any any errors you see - I will amend and update the list accordingly.
Also, feel free to add any more that you know.


texts: Help to understand difference between に堪える/に堪えない/に耐える/にたえない

texts:
この活動が社会に認められることは、誠に喜び。。。。
A.にたえません
B.にたりません
C.に当たりません
D.にかたくありません
 The answer is A にたえません
First there are two words: に堪えない and に耐えません  , with different 漢字 of course different meaning
に堪えない: can't suppress emotions(?)抑えない
But also means ~だけの価値がある？
に耐えない: can't stand to do

According to the sentence above, it is suppose to express emotion of happiness
人の悪口は聞くに堪えない
この説はまだ証拠が少なく、詳細な議論に堪えるものではない (This opinion still has little evidence and does not fit/worth a detailed discussion)

So what I want to ask is what is the real meaning of に堪える/にたえない
It expresses worth/not worth doing something, but also has meaning to express strong emotion like 喜びに堪えません(？)
喜びに堪えません: not worth to feel happy/really happy?
Thank you!!!


texts: How do I ask and say "X is the nth president"

texts:
Trying to ask "Which number president is Donald Trump" and then "Donald trump is the 45th President of the U.S."

I think the first could be どちらの大統領はXですか？ but it sounds too simplistic?


texts:
Sorry for the trivial question, but I've just started learning Japanese and thought that I should know how to write my name in hiragana. My name is Harriet.

My first guesses were はリえた or はリえと. I tried putting it into some web applications: one gave me はありと (which seems like a strange way of doing it), and another gave me some kanji and the romaji 'Harietto' which I guess would be はりえっと (?)

What would be the correct way of writing the name 'Harriet'?


texts: What is オーション and why is it called that?

texts:
A recipe for home-made ramen calls for オーション. I am having a hard time figuring out what that is exactly, having checked dictionaries and Google Translate to no avail.

I did find several online shopping sites that sell オーション. Just to list a few:

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%97%A5%E6%B8%85%E8%A3%BD%E7%B2%89-%E5%BC%B7%E5%8A%9B%E7%B2%89-%E3%82%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3-25kg/dp/B005SQ0OZW

https://tomiz.com/item/00000603

From their descriptions it seems オーション is just bread flour? Why is it called オーション?


texts:
What's the Japanese for dual flush toilet, a flush toilet that allows you to choose either a large flush (大) or small flush (小)?

Google translate suggests "デュアル水洗トイレ" (katakana for "dual" plus "flush toilet"), but the Japanese Wikipedia article on flush toilets doesn't have "デュアル" in it, nor does the Japanese Wikipedia article on toilets in Japan (a google search for オーストラリアの便所 didn't help, either). jisho.org doesn't have anything matching "dual flush" or any relevant matches using デュアル (and based on this search for dual there's only one katakana form for "dual").

Searching ejje for dual flush toilet just supplied the English language Wikipedia article.

linguee.jp had one match for dual flush: "二重流し水洗トイレ", from Australia's main tourism site.

Maybe there's a semantic gap, because Japan doesn't have many single-flush toilets.


texts: Is it ok to use ～て下さりました instead of ～ていただきました?

texts: Just to avoid repeatedly saying いただきました too much, can I occasionally switch it with 下さりました or 下さいました?


texts: Deconstructing this format: AことはBことがあります

texts:
I was doing an N5 test, and this construction came up:

山田さんは大変いいひとですよ。(Context)

  何も悪いことは聞いたことがありません。(Construction in question)

While I understand the meaning alright (Nothing bad about 田中さん was heard), I do not understand the structure here. Particularly, how does は work here connecting 悪いこと and 聞いたこと? Why not simply say

何も悪く聞いたことがありません

instead, or is the meaning somehow different?

Hours of search hasn't turned up anything related. Is there any online resource I can refer to? Thank you.


texts: Will verbal irony and sarcasm be understood and/or appreciated?

texts:
It's a topic of debate to what extent Japanese has sarcasm and irony. In any case, Japanese speakers seem to use a whole lot less of it than English speakers.

My question is: whether or not Japanese speakers use it themselves, do they typically recognize what is—to Americans at least—very blatant verbal irony? Or will they commonly assume the sarcastic party has gone suddenly insane?

  Example

  A: どうしてサハラ砂漠になんて行きたいんですか？ハイキングでもしたいの？

  B: いや、泳ぎに行こうと思ってます。

Would a super-fluent speaker be able to sell this kind of irony? Would a なんてね at the end of sentence B make it work?


texts: How to say "Japanese notes" in Japanese?

texts:
I feel a bit silly asking this question, but... How do you say "Japanese notes" (or any other language) in Japanese? I've been searching on the Internet and I've found "日本のメモ", but what about the "語" kanji? I thought it would be "日本語のメモ".

By the way, I've also seen that notes are "ノート" too. Are both "ノート" and "メモ" correct in this context?

Ta very much!


texts: しかも and なお both mean "furthermore; in addition; nevertheless" but here they are used together

texts:
I was looking up しかも - "furthermore; nevertheless" from this sentence:

  しかも敵との間合いはキープしたままだ。
  Nevertheless keep just within range of the enemy

but I am confused by this usage I saw on alc.co.jp

  しかもなお悪いことに
  worse still

Rikaichan tells me that なお has a very similar meaning to しか yet here they are used together when I feel that just しかも would suffice.

Could somebody explain this please?


texts: How do you say you are jealous of something/someone in Japanese?

texts:
I would like to say "I was jealous of people who could eat and talk with everyone".
I tried translating it on my own and I ended up with "みんなと食べられて話せる人たちに羨ましかった。"
Have I done it right?
I find something off even though I think I have used every grammar correctly.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks


texts:
In English we put the following phrases below software we want customers to download to put their mind at ease (for example, a neat weather app).

✓100% virus free
✓Contains no malware
✓Contains no spyware
✓Certified adware free
✓This file is clean and safe

etc.

What is an equivalent phrase in Japanese (not literal translations, but a phrase actually used in practice)?

Something like "✓ウイルス等が検出されませんでした", but more optimistic and reassuring.

Note: Searching for a live example has proven fruitless as Google searches lead to anti-virus software, not "clean" downloads.


texts: Can I say na, nano, nanu as "seven" instead of nana?

texts:
On my kanji dictionary, below 七, there are several kunyomi among the common ones (nana, nanatsu), they are: na, nano, nanu; it's written that they are nouns themselves and it's the same for the other numbers (for example, fuu for 二, mi for 三, mu for 六, etc.; they're all nouns).
So, when does someone say na, nano, nanu as a noun alone for "seven" instead of shichi/nana? Did they do it in the past?


texts: What is the function of というのは in this sentence?

texts:
その場面というのはどういった場面かというと、ナチスの兵士がですね、ユダヤ人を職業別で分けていきます。

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xs-XWk_oQA 0:55

Translation from subtitles: There’s a scene where the Nazi’s are separating the Jewish by their occupation.

I'm wondering if と言うのは here could have some meaning that extends from と言う such as "as for (said) scene..." or "as for the (previously mentioned) scene..."


texts: What would be the closest native Japanese word to エラー in the context of IT?

texts:
Is there a Japanese word alternative to エラー that can be used in the context of IT? If not, what would be the closest?

間違い、誤り、過ち... would any of this work or what would be the most suitable in this case?


texts: Help understanding how particles and structure (∅, より, ようと, を) affect this translation

texts:
I'm attempting to translate a blurb about a wadaiko (和太鼓) composition, but am struggling with the way in which certain particles are used (or not used). I've highlighted specific questions below:

空穿ちて道ひらく
Striking the Sky to Reveal My Path

Is there a particular feeling I should be picking up on given the lack of object particles, or is this simply a stylistic tendency in titles?

大太鼓に向かう時はいつも、「演奏する」というより「挑む」という心境になる。
When I approach the odaiko, I've come to think of it as more of a challenge than a performance.

Is it appropriate here to make the comparison using "more of", as opposed to phrasing it like... "think of it as a challenge, rather than a performance," or are either interpretations acceptable when using 「より」?

何かを乗り越えようと扉を開こうとしているような気がする。
It feels as if I'm attempting to overcome something; to open a door.

I understand 「ようと」as attempting to do something, but am unsure of how it works in linking clauses; is it treated similarly to linking verbs using て-form?

果てしなく広がる宇宙空間のような打面（皮面）を音色、緩急、間、スピード感などあらゆる技術を駆使してひたすら打ち込むことで、未来への光（道筋）を探している。
The face of the drum expanding endlessly before me, I'm determined to strike utilizing every skill at my disposal - tone, tempo, space, sense of speed - searching for the light that will lead me into the future; my path.

I don't understand the function of the first を at all, and with or without it, I'm having trouble following the structure of the various clauses included here with any kind of confidence. Also, bonus question, what is the difference between 「緩急」(tempo), and スピード感 (sense of speed)? Is "sense of speed" supposed to mean something more like "internalizing the beat"?
Thank you in advance for your time and any insights you may have!


texts: From jisho, it seems like 何より means best, more important than anything, above all else, etc. The meaning doesn't change much from that. I have heard ご無事で何よりです. If I use the meaning in jisho, it will sounds like "most importantly, you are save/ healthy". From the conversation though, this translation doesn't seem too cohesive so to say. In other words, it doesn't fit very well. I judge from my own guts that the more accurate translation of that phrase is really "it is good to hear that you are save (more then anything)". I realised that there it still means "more than anything" but there is also an added nuance that is (probably) more important and that is "it is good to hear". Am I right on this or is what I am saying utter gibberish that is meant for the garbage


texts: Difference between two grammars, ろ and るんだ?

texts:
やめろ  and やめるんだ both can translate as "Stop" as a command, but what is the difference?
From the last answer on this post: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/15800/what-is-the-difference-between-んじゃない-and-んだ  The -nda ending acts to soften statements. Is that what the difference is, yamero is a order and yamerunda is a request?


texts: At a first meeting, saying お姉さんですか instead of お母さんですか comes off as clever or neutral? never impolite?

texts:
This greatly depends on context, but when I am clearly being introduced to someone's mother, in English, I will sometimes say "Oh. Is this your sister?." as a compliment. The intended compliment being that she looks one generation younger than she clearly is not.

What about in Japanese. Were I to be being introduced to someone who is the mother of someone, and I were to say 「あ、お姉さんですか」 is there any chance that would come off as creepy, impolite, or too awkward? I just want to sound clever and clearly be giving a complement to the older woman and get everyone to smile. Of course, this is so minor I've no problem with never doing it.


texts: Pronunciation of 書 when by itself (meaning "book" / "piece of writing")

texts:
I am just beginning to read book reviews in Japanese, starting with this one at 小説すばる. I'm noticing that quite often the kanji 書 appears by itself, in phrases like:

書の内容
幅広いジャンルの書
さまざまな書に敬意を払い

and the like. The dictionaries I've found are not clear as to whether in this usage it would be pronounced しょ / ふみ / かき / がき (different possibilities I have found).
Any thoughts on what is correct here? Also, is it something used this way only in written language? In real life would you just say 本の内容 etc.?


texts:
I was watching the first episode of Terrace House and got confused at something at the beginning.

1"僕は筧さんがずっと一途に思われてたじゃないですか"
2"ああいうのとかが好きでした"

In the show a presenter is asked if anyone on the previous series of the show left an impression on him and he responds with 1 and 2. In 1, I'm having trouble understanding the sentence due to the use of the 思われる form and the が particle used with that.
Also in 2, is the の in ああいうのとか the placeholder の, as in the same の as 食べたのはこれです?
Any help would be much appreciated, Thank you very much in advance!!


texts:
There was a similar question here, but it was more along the lines of "Should we do something together?", and I'm not sure it fits my case. For example, how do you say "Should I bring something to the meeting?"
I came up with these options:

  1) 会議で何か必要な物はありますか？
  2) 会議に何か必要ですか？
  3) 会議に持っていくべき物はありますか？
  4) 会議に何か持っていきますか?
  5) 会議に何か持っていきましょうか?

Can you please tell me a) which ones are correct/more natural and b) which are the nuances of each?
I'm especially confused by ~ましょうか because I usually see it used as "shall we [do something]?" in the sense of an invitation, but I can't figure out whether it's ok to use it in my case.


texts:
So, I have a general question about the word 人間 (ningen), and it's not about grammar. The most common translation for this word is "human", but I have been noticing that its usage is somewhat different in some cases, and this becomes very evident in works of fiction and fantasy. For example, it seems to be okay to consider some humanoid alien a "ningen", but the same would be inapplicable for a humanoid deity or a common animal (cat, dog, etc...).

Could anyone explain the idea behind the word 人間 for the Japanese people? What is or isn't considered to be a 人間? Thank you in advance!


texts:
At the beginning of Love Live! Sunshine!! Ep.13, there is a notice written by the character Hanamaru, that writes: 御用の方は屋上にまで.

The screenshot

The English substitle says "If you need us, we'll be on the roof". I get the meaning, but I still can't wrap my head around two things:

御用の方 means customer or guest. Shouldn't "we" be subject in this sentence?
屋上にまで, what does にまで here mean? Doesn't まで mean "until, up to"? I have gone through some old questions in this site but I still can't translate this word here convincingly.


texts:
いちいち腹のたつことを、わざわざ言いにこないでよ
  Don't come specially to say things which make me angry　(my translation attempt)

I'm confused by 腹がたつ. It's my understanding that it means 'to get/become angry' rather than 'to make angry'. How can I understand what's going on here?

More generally, how do I say things like 'That person makes me angry' or 'Eating cake makes me happy. I include both examples because I suspect that people making you feel things is different from things making you feel things.


texts:
What does “ごゆるりと” mean?
What does this mean:「まあ、ごゆるりと」?


texts:
面白い has the meaning of fun or interesting, whereas 興味深い appears to represent a similar state of "interesting".

What are the differences between these two adjectives, and when should 興味深い be employed?


texts: I've asked about 澤 before here on Stack Exchange, but have a follow up question: Is 沢 the modern replacement for 澤? Is 澤 deprecated by the Ministry that decides such matters?


texts: I can't recognize which conditional form to use?

texts:
so as you know there are varieties of conditions forms in Japanese...(と, …ば, …たら, なら)
and 大変ですね？
so my problem is, I may be able to recognize them in a test but while speaking, I have no idea which to use or how to use (they confuse me )
if I want to write in my diary (in Japanese ) I again have this problem and then i get help with kind, dear google translate !!!
so I would really appreciate it if you help me.
thanks for reading


texts: Difference between に and で in e.g. 痛みに歪んだ顔

texts:
Do they both just state the reason, if not how are they different?
痛みに歪んだ顔 vs 痛みで歪んだ顔


texts:
Is it ever proper to end questions with だ? For instance:

誰だ？
どんな食べ物は好きだ？

I have been told it was correct and incorrect by many parties, but I've always learned to just raise the ending intonation to denote an inquiry.


texts:
批評された側では、多少、けなされていても、褒められたところをよりどころにして希望をつなぎとめることができる。

-> people who was criticized, and humiliated,
The things that was praised, よりどころ (become foundation(?)) 希望をつなぎとめる(fasten hope(?))

And I wonder why けなされていても followed by 褒められたところ?? Its two different thing.


texts:
There are a lot of topics on forums in what case Japanese people use 24-hour clock format. But I have never seen how it should be pronounced. It's not hard to say something like 8:05. This is common and sounds like 「はちじ ごふん」, but how will it be if I want to read 15:40 or 19:20 etc. I didn't hear anything like 「じゅうごじ　よんじゅっぷん」 and I'm confused how it should be read.

Is it usual for Japanese people to translate 24 format into 12, or are there any edge cases they would use 24 strictly?


texts: What is the difference between ～んとする and ～うとする?

texts:
I ran into ～んとする the other day and I think I get the hang of how it works and what meaning it conveys, but it seems eerily similar to that of ～うとする.
I know Japanese have a lot of different ways to say the same thing, so I wonder if there's no other difference apart from conjugation between these two. In other words, I wonder if the following examples mean the same:

見る → 見らんとする
見る → 見ようとする


texts:
Character A and B (A's coach) discuss C (A's opponent), who is known for having an amazing defense. Then C joins in and positively talks with B about A's potential. Then C drops this line:

  とにかくどこでボクと当たるかわからないけどナイスファイトをきたいしているヨ!

My translation attempt is stuck on the following options for the first half:

"At any rate, I don't know if I'm right (that you/A could defeat me)"; in which case "どこでボクと" has no translation.
"At any rate, I don't know if you/A is on par with me"; in which case "どこで" has no translation.
"At any rate, I don't know if you/A can strike me anywhere"; which I would go for if the translation variation for "当たる" and the particles didn't throw me off and if I didn't worry I might be trying to squish in a translation for every word where that is not applicable.

So, some feedback would be lovely.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What are these forms: かけちゃお, つないじゃお?
  Is this って　equivalent to 「と」？

From the Ponyo theme song:

ペータペタ ピョーンピョン
足っていいな かけちゃお!

Why is 足 given the て conjugation, as if it's a verb? I usually only see that for 足る, which has nothing to do with feet. What's going on here grammatically?


texts: How would I write the name Zuko in Japanese

texts:
I'm ordering some wall-size prints of me and my dog Zuko (instagram @zukoandspock) and would like his name on it in Japanese characters.

Can someone provide me examples of writing this name out in Man'yōgana? Is there an easy way to make my own variations?

IPA (English): [[zuːkoʊ]] (IPA from key here)

Edit. Made question non-opinion based, specifically about Man'yōgana and variations.


texts: I read a doujinshi about an older brother who was teased by his younger brother, and the younger brother said "兄者など". I don't really get what it means. Someone please help me ;__;