texts: Japanese equivalent for the verb "trigger" meaning to cause something to happen?

texts:
The phrase I am trying to translate is for a project with an internet powered device to do it's programmed purpose, i need to translate the phrase

Trigger Device

I found one translation in a dictionary for trigger 引き金but I think perhaps トリガー may be a better equivalent for the verb of Trigger in English which means that it causes something. My concern is that there is another use for the word "Trigger" which means a part of a gun.

My concern would be with the grammar of the entire phrase, I do not want to have something like device trigger which would describe a component on a device.


texts:
I am really despairing. Recently, I was forwarded a link by
my Japanese colleague. It is about the proper use of "は" and "が".

https://www.alc.co.jp/jpn/article/faq/03/19.html

What is stated here, turns my world upside down.
According to the link, the proper usage of "は"
and "が" heavily depends on whether these are used in
a verbal clause (動詞文) or in an adjective (形容詞文)
respectively noun clause (名詞文) .

1) Noun Clause　(名詞文)

佐藤さんは社長です。

Talking about Satou-san, he is a company president.
(Maybe, Tanaka-san is a soccer player.)

佐藤さんが社長です。

Talking about the company president, it is Satou-san.
(and not Tanaka-san)

2) Adjective Clause　(形容詞文)

佐藤さんはやさしい。

Talking about Satou-san, he is a kind person.
(Maybe, Tanaka-san is sporty.)

佐藤さんがやさしい。

You want to know, who is kind? It is Satou-san.
(and not e.g. somebody else of this group)

3) Verbal Clause　(動詞文)
????Contrary to my assumptions????

佐藤さんが来た。

Talking about Satou-san, he a came.
(Maybe, Tanaka-san is still on the way.) ????

佐藤さんは来た。

The person who came is Satou-san.
(and not e.g. Tanaka-san) ????

Hopefully, there is a misinterpretation from my side.
Maybe, someone can give a comment on what is stated in the link above.


texts: What is the difference between「市長」 and 「町長」?

texts:
So far, I have found these results:

市長{しちょう}: mayor
町長{ちょうちょう}: town headman; town mayor

I would appreciate if someone could explain a more accurate difference, like everyday usage or any example in its context.


texts:
This question may be related to What does で分かる mean? (Cf. Tsuyoshi Ito and my comments to my answer).

(Regular) verbs can be turned into the potential form by attaching -((ra)r)e-:

  tabe-ru vs. tabe-(ra)re-ru
  kak-u vs. kak-e-ru

However, the verb 分かる cannot. Why is that?

  wakar-u
  * wakar-e-ru

The verb 理解する, which has a same/similar meaning, can have the potential form. Suru verbs are known to be irregular and require -deki-, and 理解する does as well:

  suru vs. dekiru
  benkyou-suru vs. benkyou-dekiru
  rikai-suru vs. rikai-dekiru

知る also does not seem to allow the potential form.

  sir-u
  * sir-e-ru (Okay under the spontaneous or the passive interpretations of -((ra)r)e-, but not under the potential interpretation).

But for 知る, you can have a lengthier expression to turn it into a potential form. Nevertheless, 分かる even resist this form:

  知ることができる
  理解することができる
  * 分かることができる

This seems to be indicating that the problem is not morphological or phonological (for example along the lines of crash with homonymous/homophoneme expressions that Flaw suggests).


texts:
Are ...とか他の... and ...とかの他の... equivalent? What is the function of the first の in the latter example?

And why can't a の follow とか in ...とかその他...? Or can it?


texts:
For more context, see this doc:
https://www.docdroid.net/qteAJpo/img-20170628-0002-new.pdf.html

The sentence in question is the following from line 5 to 6:
自分にそんな質問をして、それに有名作家になったつもりで答えるんです。

First Im confused by the use of tense here. Why is there past tense used in なった here, while we have present in the main clauses predicative 答える, concerning the context?
The author is telling about his past habits of constructing fictional interviews with himself as the interviewee. So I'd rather expect the tense in both the subclause and the mainclause to be past tense, at the utmost I'd expect the subclause to be in present tense like it would be in english (okay in english its actually an infinitive, but its at least the infinitive categorized as the infinitive of the present tense ^^): "..., in addition I answered that I plan to become a famous writer."

Second, I don't know about the で after つもり. Is it the particle で, is it a shortened version of です?
Considering that the subclause ending with つもり somehow needs to be embedded into the mainclause, I'd rather say it's the particle: "..., I answer with intent to become a famous writer."
This has it's own caveats though, because I've never seen this before outside nominalizations with こと/の, which clearly can be used to nominalize a whole subclause. Just putting で after つもり could be interpreted like this as well "...,I answer with the intent of becoming a famous writer." but this would obliterate the lines between the subclause and the mainclause, unless I wrote: "..., I answer with the intent, that I want to become a a famous writer." which again assumes structures which arent explicitely shown in this sentence.


texts: What is the nuance when は directly follows a verb in plain form?

texts:
It seems like this is a remnant of (or reference to) older forms of Japanese. Is that all there is to it, or does it have special meaning?

Examples from songs:

  歌声　笑い声　満ちる大空　目指すは憧れ

(DuDiDuWa*lalala - KOTOKO)

  吹きやまぬは残り風 [...]
  巡りゆくはこの心

(残り風 - いきものがかり)

And lastly, the same with が:
(At least I suspect that it's not the "but" kind of が. Feels like the subject particle for some reason.)

  巡り逢ったが　運の尽き

(刀と鞘 - ALI PROJECT)


texts: Reading 塞 and 省: When on and kun readings go together

texts:
I looked up 塞 in my 漢和辞典, and I found four readings:

音：サイ、ソク
訓：とりで、ふさ・ぐ

What I noticed is that サイ is used when the kanji means とりで, and ソク is used when the kanji means ふさぐ:

「とりで」の意味：　要塞{ようさい}・[防塞]{ぼうさい}
「ふさぐ」の意味：　閉塞{へいそく}・[逼塞]{ひっそく}

I noticed the same thing with 省.  The reading セイ seems to be used when the kanji means かえりみる, while ショウ is reserved for the other meanings.
What is the historical reason for this sort of correspondence?  Does it mean 塞 was borrowed twice, with a different pronunciation and meaning?  Was 塞 confused with 寨, perhaps?  What about 省?


texts:
I would like to tell that she is very good in Japanese . Which one is more suitable to use under sentences ...

彼女は日本語が[上手]{jouzu}です。

or

彼女は日本語がうまいです。

  Can I use both sentences ? Is there no particular differences ?


texts: How can one read 引括めて云えば、in クリスマス・カロル

texts:
I came across this paragraph in クリスマス・カロル:

彼女は非常に美しかった。図抜けて美しかった。えくぼのある、吃驚したような、素敵な顔をして接吻されるために造られたかと思われるような――確にその通りでもあるのだが――豊かな小さい口をしていた。頤の辺りには、あらゆる種類の小さな可愛らしい斑点があって、それが笑うと一緒に溶けてしまったものだ。それからどんな可憐な少女の頭にも見られないような、極めて晴れやかな一対の眼を持っていた。引括めて云えば、彼女は気を揉ませるなとでも云いたいような女であった。しかし世話女房式な、おお、どこまでも世話女房式な女であった。

And I am not sure how to read 引括めて云えば.

When I searched in dictionaries I came across 引っ括る （ひっくくる）. So I thought that maybe I could read it as ひっくくめて云えば。coming from the verb  引っ括める (I have not been able to find such verb in dictionaries).　Would that be right?

Also I am not sure about な. Is it working as an emphaziser since it is the narrator who is describing the woman?:

彼女は 「気を揉ませるな」とでも云いたい = I want to say that she made worry, you know?

And about 気を揉む. The definition for this verb is: to worry; to fret; to get anxious. Idiomatic expression

The version in English for the sentence:
「引括めて云えば、彼女は気を揉ませるなとでも云いたいような女であった。しかし世話女房式な、おお、どこまでも世話女房式な女であった。」
is:
「Although she was what you would have called provoking, you know, but satisfactory, too. Oh, perfectly satisfactory.」
So when I analyse the sentence, I think that the translator decided to use 気を揉ませる to say that this woman made you worry when you saw (she was provoking, in the english version).
Would my assumptions be right in the three things I am asking about?
よろしくお願い致します。


texts: Is -さん used when referring to a celebrity or historical figures?

texts:
When referring to a celebrity or historical figure, do you use -さん?

  I am listening to Yoko Shimomura.
  Would it be:"下村陽子さんを聞いている。"?

  Abraham Lincoln is my favorite president.
  Would it be: "エイブラハム・リンカーンは一番好きな大統領。"?

I have seen celebrities' and famous people's names in texts and references without any honorifics, but it feels strange to use someone's name whom I've never met before without saying -さん, especially when using their full name.

Another case would be if a celebrity goes by a mononym (e.g. Beethoven) or a pseudonym (e.g. Sting). Is it customary to use -さん or some honorific title when referring to them? Or is it only appropriate in certain situations?


texts: Changing a question into a request for advice

texts: How can I change a statement like どこへいきますか to mean "Where should I go"? Basically, what is the rule for changing a question into a request for advice?


texts:
This question spawns from the comments here.

I've heard that オタク could or could not be derogatory. During the times I've been in Japan and heard it used, I didn't think that it had any connotation of being an insulting term, but is this true?

I'm not sure about other countries, but in America as a borrowed word, many people are proud to be called an "オタク" depending on the circumstance. Is it not the same in Japan?


texts: I was wondering if anyone knew what the equivalent of "on that note" in Japanese would be.


texts:
How acceptable is it to omit "da" in casual speech in phrases such as

-- chokoreto ga suki (da) yo

-- boku wa daigakusei (da)

And so on..... Do it also depend if it's a male or female talking?


texts: 門前払いを受けている expression

texts:
「ふむ。どうやら宴もたけなわというところだな。こんなところで門前払いを受けている場合ではないぞ、セイバー」

I know the expression:

  門前払いを喰わせる=To slam the door in one's face

But I can't find anything on this.

I think it means something like:
To accept an uninvited guest.

My TL:

  It looks like the banquet it's at its peak.
  This is not the time to accept an uninvited guest, Saber


texts: Particles that goes with 案内 in a ~てあげる sentence

texts:
I'm using Goukaku Dekiru N5·N4 book, and I'm confused about a question there. This is the question:

  私が　りーさん（　　）あんないしてあげましょう

And the possible answers:

  を　2. に　3. から　4. が

So, I answered number 2, に, but the answer book says is を. Why is this the case? I thought that Lee, in this case, would be the receiving part from the guidance that 私 does. With を it seems like 私 is guiding Lee like it'd guide Paris or New York.

Thanks!


texts:
In watching this YouTube video, the last slide displays the following information, which provides examples of words that bear 呉音｛ごおん｝、漢音｛かんおん｝、and 唐宋音｛とうそうおん｝ types of 音読み｛おんよみ｝. I was interested in seeing that there are words, such as 人間、文書、殺生、天井、etc that are listed with separate readings in the 呉音 and 唐宋音 column, essentially making for two separate multi-kanji words with different pronunciations written in the same way.

Is it the case that there are no words in Japanese that bear both a 唐宋音 reading and either a 呉音 or 漢音 reading? If not, what are some examples?


texts:
精霊の身体は人間より遥かに強靭だからな。毒でも呑ませてみようか。ああ、それならば麻薬を打ってみるのもありか……

The speaker was offering some ways to torment a 精霊.
Hi. Does the もありか mean “OK”? But I can only find the word 在り処(ありか), which means “whereabouts” in dictionaries. Does the ありか come from あるか, which indicates existence?
Thank you.


texts:
もっと早くゲスト先生として迎えたかったのですが、なかなか長い時間がかかってしまってごめんなさい。

Translating to:
= I wanted to have you as guest teachers earlier but I am sorry that it took a longer time than I had expected.

What exactly is the function, I have learned the volitional + とする means to attempt....but this is a noun


texts:
Consider the two sentences below:

(1) 私のほうが田中さんよりよく飲む。(I drink more than Mr. Tanaka.)
(2) 私はビールより酒のほうをよく飲む。(I drink more sake than beer.)

I think the pattern for the second one is a reverse of the first to put the direct object in closer proximity to the verb so the sentence feels smoother.
EDIT: By "reverse" I meant "reverse of each other" as opposed to "reverse of the "correct" construction". And I also learned that ほう precedes より by default in sentences involving comparison except when there is a direct object marked by を. (I may be wrong so please don't hesitate to correct me)
(Question) But if it is not a direct object, does it have any difference in meaning or nuance?
i.e. Instead of (1), I change the sentence to:

(1') 田中さんより私のほうがよく飲む。


texts: What is the meaning of あれこれ and あちらこちら? Are both describe thing that plural? Or just 'here and there' and 'these and that' ?


texts:
姪 "niece" is often pronounced [[me.i]] rather than [[meː]] (see e.g. this comment in chat). I think the reason for this is that there is a morpheme boundary in 姪, presumably

  姪 = 女【め】 + イ = female イ

Unfortunately, 姪 is not listed in any of the answers in the question "Kanji for native Japanese concepts: Kun'yomi spanning multiple morphemes" (or it might be hidden in another word and I haven't noticed).

What is the meaning of イ and what is the etymology of 姪 and 甥?


texts: What is the あと in 努めてあとを濁さないように

texts:
水面から飛び立つ鳥は努めてあとを濁さないように。
Sentence from jisho for 努めて.
Can anyone help clarify what the あと here means?


texts: Grammar difficulties in sentence with adjective + さんには

texts:
I'm playing a game and the following was said:

ふうん。。。あなたには情報を提供しているんですよ？ これで見つけられないような役立たずさんには。。。

My confusing comes in with the second sentence. I'm not sure what the bold portion (さんには) is trying to convey. I'm not really sure what the さん part is at all and how it works with the には part. My best guess is that it is really is さのには, but even then what does this actually mean here?
When trying to translate it I think its something like:

Well... Can you provide any information? Because of this, not being able to find it is as if it is useless.

Context:
The main villain asked their right hand man how the investigation is going for an item. They responded by saying they have still have not obtained it. Then the main villain says the above


texts: Is Japanese em dash equal to Latin em dash?

texts:
In Latin characters, we use &mdash; to represent the em dash (—) as follows.

  My home town — a small castle town in San'in ...

However, if I use the same &mdash; in Japanese sentences, it looks like 一{いち} as follows.

  私が生まれ育ったふるさと—山陰の小さな城下町・・・

It should be about twice as long as the Latin one.　The following was taken from a textbook (might be rendered by TeX).

Question

What is the correct punctuation for em dash in Japanese? HTML code is preferred.


texts: Causative verbs in descriptions of people

texts:
目を輝かせてアメを作っていたおじさん。
  The man with sparkling eyes who made the sweets.
  期待で目をくりくりさせながら...
  While wide eyed in anticipation...

Both these clauses use a causative form of a verb to describe a person's eyes.

In English when we use caustive to describe a person's expression it means that they deliberately made that expression. Whereas these sentences sound like the expressions are natural/spontaneous.

1) Would these sentences be wrong if I just used the plain form of the verb? If not how would the nuance change?
2) Is there a way to know when I should use causative for something like this? It's not at all intuitive to me.
3) What other things can be described by this structure? Is it limited to eyes, facial expressions, any body gesture, an even wider scope?


texts: Nuances of: ふっと、ふと、ひょっこり、 どっと、　さっさ、不意に、唐突、突然、急に and いきなり。

texts:
I'm reading a beginner book and noticed that the author uses a lot of different words that translate to suddenly or abruptly which is interesting, so I have been trying to figure out the differences in between them.

I have included some words I looked up and their supposed nuances but I'm not 100% sure they are correct so confirmation would be appreciated.

ふっと,　?
ひょっこり,　?
どっと,　?
ふと,　Focuses on the aspect that something was unintentional
不意に、ふいに、?
さっさ,　?
唐突,　とうとつ,　Only of human behavior
突然,　とつぜん,　Spontaneously / Instantly
急に,　きゅうに,　Fast paced change of events. (no surprise element, not instant)
いきなり,　Immediately / Without Warning*

*: In the sense of immediately being/doing something with no intermediate, such as:
I got stuck on the first question. (No in-between step)
He jumped in the pool and immediately began drowning. (No in-between step)

If anyone can elaborate or confirm it would be much appreciated. ^_^

Edit: Added ふっと, 不意に,　ひょっこり,　どっと,　さっさ.


texts: Explaining the sentence 今になってもまだ実現していないさま

texts:
I have two questions regarding this sentence:

  今になってもまだ実現していないさま。

The meaning /  grammar of ~も in 今になっても.
The meaning / grammar of ~さま part at the end of the sentence. As I know ~さま is added to the names at the end when you addressing to someone in official language.

I found this sentence at goo here explaining the 未だ.


texts: General expression for the age of something

texts:
I'm looking for a general way in Japanese to express the following:

  X is Y years old.

I know for human age we use 〜歳 and I have seen other expressions for buildings and trees (don't remember them off hand).

At least speaking about inanimate objects, is there a generic way to express age? Here is my guess (probably awkward):

  This car is 20 years old.
  この車は２０年も古い


texts: How do characters talk to each other in "Like Father, Like Son" movie

texts:
(I do not speak Japanese) I'm translating subtitles (from english to spanish) for the Hirokazu Koreeda's "Like Father, Like Son" movie. The characters, the Nonomiya's and Saiki's, are two couples of different social status (one wealthy, the other working class). Spanish, unlike English, reflect social status (the "tú" v/s "Ud."). I want my translation be faithful to the movie's social aspects. My question is, how characters talks to each other? Do they talks as equals or not? Are they formal or informal?

Starting from the english subtitles, I can have different spanish translations, all formally correct, but expressing different personalities and relationships. If working father use "Ud." and wealthy one use "tú", wealthy is dominanting the relation. If both use "tú", they are equals. If both used "Ud.", both are formal, and distant.

Saiki's husband being more a free spirit, like a practical teacher to Nonomiyo's, made me prefer him using "tú" (breaking class barrier) and Nonomiya's using "Ud." (acknowledging high moral standing). But, this use can also be seen as Nonomiyo's trying to keep distance.

So, that's my dilemma. I need some japanese speaker to tell me how he see the power relationship in the original script.


texts:
so my first and second name means "peaceful valley", while my surname means "flowers". So all in all my name means "peaceful valley of flowers", "flowers in a peaceful valley", or something like that.
I know flower is hana or 花, but I'm a little lost on what kanjis to use for my first and second name. I know "ya" or "tani" or 谷 means valley, but I don't know what kanji I could use for "peaceful" or "peace".
Also, how would I combine everything in that it would make sense? Sorry, I'm very new to kanji. Thank you in advance.


texts: dōmo vs arigatō gozaimasu vs dōmo arigatō

texts:
I am trying to understand the different levels of politeness with words. Can someone help me with these.

Given casual, polite, formal and honorific. How would "thank you" be said.

I assume dōmo - casual but I am not sure how to say this with the other levels of politeness.

Thanks


texts: How to ask for X yen worth of something?

texts:
I think more or less everything is in the title, say I'd like to buy 1000 yen of carrots, would:

  人参の1000円分お願いします

Be correct ?


texts: What is the function of にも in this sentence?

texts:
I found this sentence on a manga, and I can't find its meaning for I don't understand the function of にも in this case:

  勉強にもスポーツにもそれから恋愛か。


texts:
I would want to say something like "exams are just round the corner."
, is "Shiken mou chikai desu." acceptable?


texts: What is the difference between using ている、ていた、た in relative clauses?

texts:
I remember seeing in the thread before that there was no difference between ている and た. So then what would be the difference between the usage of them in these sentences below?

  最後に立っていたものが勝者だ
  最後に立っているものが勝者だ
  最後に立ったものが勝者だ

All the above are from using google search with the first two being the most common and the third being the least with only two hits with the words 最後に立ったものが.


texts:
I have the following sentence to translate.

日本はカリフォルニア州と同じぐらいの大きさで
ほとんどのヨーロッパの国々より大きいということはあまり知られていない

I am having trouble translating the second half.

Japan is about the same size as the state of California and
as for it being bigger than most European countries, it is not (being) known very well.

Can anyone offer any hints about what the author is trying to say?


texts: まあいいか or まあいっか or まあええか or まあえっか

texts:
I noticed some people write the following,

  まあいいか or まあいっか or まあええか or まあえっか

Which is the correct one? What is the etymology of this expression, and for what situation? Please give me some examples.


texts: What happens if なの is used, but not at the end of a sentence?

texts:
大学から歩いてニ十分ぐらいの所に適当なのを見つけた。

What does it mean when なの is used in a sentence like the one above? The を that comes after it is really throwing me off.
I came across a similar question on here but all the examples and explanations relate to なの being used as a way to end a sentence. What confuses me the most is なの in the sentence I came across isn't being used to end it. Should I just apply the answers provided in the link I found to this sentence or is there something more to it?
Edit: I was asked to provide more context to the sentence above, so here's the whole sentence:

キャンパスの近くには,安くていいアパー卜がなくて、結局、大学から歩いてニ十分ぐらいの所に適当なのを見つけた。


texts: What does てよりかか mean? Found in the Shinmeikai dictionary

texts:
The Shinmeikai dictinary defines 椅子 as:
腰を掛け（てよりかか）るための家具
What does てよりかか mean there?


texts:
I stumbled upon the following sentence in the J-drama "Mother".

書けない理由でもあるの

A teacher is talking to a student who isn't doing an exercise. I'm aware that the teacher is asking whether there is a reason why the student can't do the exercise. But what is the でも doing there? I would understand a が.


texts: Number of kanji characters / words I need to learn for N3 level

texts:
I've been studying Japanese for 2 years. I'm N4 level currently, recently I've had a bit of slump in learning but i think I'm about to go back to learning once again
Can anyone tell me the minimum number of words / kanji characters I need to learn in order to prepare for and accomplish N3 level?


texts:
What is the meaning of 「納得」 and 「一良好な」 in the following sentence?

  仁の家族。仁の人柄がここで育ったのも納得のサムドラ内一良好な家族関係・人柄の一族。旧家で名家。

I think that 「一」 in this case is similar to 「一番」, so I would translate 「一良好な」 as "the best", "the favourite". As for 「納得」, I know it translates as "consent", "agreement", "compliance", but I don't understand its meaning here.
The context is a character's family profile in a manga called "Samurai Drive" (「サムライドライブ」, abbreviated to 「サムドラ」here). Here's my attempt:

  Jin's family. It's the family in which Jin developed his personality, and also the family with the best relationships and personalities within those agreed(?) in Samurai Drive.

Thanks for your help!


texts: Other meanings of でしょう besides "probably"

texts: でしょう can usually be understood to mean "probably." But does it sometimes mean the same thing as ですね? What other meanings can it have? Can it mean "you know?"


texts:
One thing I've never fully gotten a grasp on is the 〜はる form of "敬語", and I have some questions about it.

Is it official 敬語 recognized by the 文部省, or is it just more of a regionally accepted politeness?

What regions even use this form commonly?

What is its politeness level, and how does it compare/fit it with 丁寧語・尊敬語・謙譲語?

I was once stopped in Osaka by the police (because my bicycle was clearly stolen </sarcasm>) and they used it toward me - どこで買わはりました？

Which はる is this, and how did it evolve to this usage of politeness?

Apologies if this is too many questions for one topic.


texts:
If 来る is so inherently related to the direction towards the speaker so that you cannot use 来る for actions of going towards the person you are speaking to, as was explained by examples here, then why is 迎えに来ます used to mean "I'll come to pick you up" correct?

An illogical set phrase? An exception? The only one? How did it come to existence?


texts: The meaning of ”あれは魔術師に与えられた祝福”

texts: I translated the sentence "あれは魔術師に与えられた祝福” to something along the line of "That is something that was given a blessing by a sorcerer" but in the translation that I compared it to, the translator translated it to "That is a blessing to sorcerer" (Something that bestows blessing instead of being blessed, so in this case, it's the sorcerer getting blessed instead of the "あれ” subject). So my question is what did I get wrong?


texts: "Don't say it, if you don't want to" in Japanese

texts:
Don't say it, if you don't want to.

You don't have to say it, if you don't want to.

How do I convey these in Japanese correctly?

My idea is 言えないこと言ってないもいいです。

But I am really confused by verb conjugation here.

Don't say it = iwanai? ienai?

Don't want to say = ienai? But then it would mean 'I can't say'....

Could you please help in both translation and explanation for these two conjugation forms.


texts: Does this ところ bear the meaning of "thing" here?

texts:
For full context, see here:
https://www.docdroid.net/XIK9pCk/img-20171020-0001-new.pdf#page=2

The sentence in question is taken from line 31-32:
チャイム?あっ, 発車ベルのことですね。少しうるさいところもあるかもしれませんが、日本の乗り物には、安全性があると思います。

=> "chime? Ah, the departure bell. It probably is a bit of an annoying thing, but don't you think that it is for the japanese transport to have safety?"

I never before saw ところ in the meaning of "thing" in my textbook so far, but it is there in the entry on jisho. However, it is in the category "noun,suffix" so I'm a bit hesitant about my interpretation.^^ Maybe you could confirm my translation or tell me how to do it right :D

Besides, why didn't the speaker just say "すくしうるさいかもしれませんが..."?
Is it "a matter of style", like, is the alternative with ところ more formal for example?


texts:
Please expain the function of と (in bold) in this behemoth of a sentence:

  この偽書評を書いたときには、あとで誰かから「ろくでもない嘘をつくな」という苦情の手紙とか、「どこに行けばこの本が手にはいるのか」といった問い合わせがくるんじゃないかと覚悟していたんだけど、。。。

  If you can't find the bold it's the last と in the sentence.

I'll put my translation attempt in the order of the Japanese to aid following the structure

  When I wrote this fake book review, afterwards, by somebody, such complaining letters as "You've told a worthless lie" or, enquiries such as "Where can I go to get this book", wouldn't they come? と prepared for, but...

I can't quite get the last part くるんじゃないかと覚悟していたんだけど to make sense.

Also, could you please explain why it is という after the first quote but といった after the second quote. I don't think I've seen という, when used like this, expressed in the past tense.

Many thanks.


texts:
I can't seem to wrap my head around the form verb-て+いたい

Is it a conjugation of verb-て+いる, or is it its own form?

And how is it different from verb-たい ?  It seems to be translated the same.

Some examples:

食べていたい vs 食べたい
愛を信じていたい vs 愛を信じたい
壊さないでいたい vs 壊したくない
はなれないでいたい vs はなれたくない
勉強していたい vs 勉強したい


texts:
I started reading a practice reading for N3 yesterday, and found this passage in a sentence that is very confusing

他人から見れば「どうしてそんなことを」というようなことをしてしまう親のことである。

If someone can help me I would really appreciate it.

Thank you


texts:
Today I learn that word order is not very strict in Japanese. You could change the order of noun phrases with no loss of meaning, as long as the correct particles are used.
I've learned this with the subject, object, and location particles: が、を、で
Example:

なおみが　デパートで　セーターを　買いました。
デパートで　なおみが　セーターを　買いました。

Question: Does the topic marker は conserve the independence of word order on the meaning of a sentence? Could the grammatical topic be used interchangeably with the subject? If in the previous example...

なおみは　デパートで　セーターを　買いました。
デパートで　なおみは　セーターを　買いました。


texts:
Sentence:
空{そら}の海をゆくの

Initially I imagined that the translation would be something like:

A: Going through the sea made of sky.

I imagined this because this phrase is from a song and thinking about the context I can imagine this situation:
"the sky reflected in the ocean". But I saw the translation on a website:

B: Going through the empty sea.

But

空{から}: emptiness (No-adjective)

空{そら}: sky

So what is the correct translation?

Thanks


texts: Trouble understanding one specific lyric in a song

texts:
I was trying to translate the lyrics of a kids' song for my sister who sent it to me, but I have trouble understanding one part of the lyrics:

  「課長 すてきです その一言
  ピュアなまでに鈍感」
  「社長 すばらしい そのアイディア
  民蹴ちらす王のよう」

What does その一言 ピュアなまでに鈍感 in particular mean? I don't even know how to separate the words here... does it mean that 課長 is so insensitive that he becomes pure? And what does 一言 stand for? Does it refer to everything he says in general, or to one thing he said in particular?

The whole song is a pun based on Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The whole lyrics are here.
And the song is here (it's from the NHK).

I have a few other difficulties, like for example why use the English word "but" in the middle of nowhere? Does it stand for some kind of joke/reference in Japanese?

Anyway, many thanks for your help! :)


texts: In this example, should the number 4 be read し or よん?

texts:
Recently, on another question, I left a comment where I said I thought １・２・３・４ might be pronounced イチニーサンヨン.  I was quickly corrected by another user, who said the following:

  AFAIK, 1,2,3,4 is usually read "ichi ni san shi"

But a different user suggested that it depends on context:

  I'd say it depends on what 4 counts: E.g. １・２・３・４部屋 should be イチニーサンヨンヘヤ

This left me unsure.  We do already have a couple questions discussing し versus よん:

https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/331/1478
https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/2365/1478

Both of the answers I linked to discuss し and よん in terms of counting.  Specifically, they say that when counting up し is usual, and when counting down よん is usual.  And when I'm not counting, I usually read ４ as よん.  However, I'm not sure whether my example is "counting" or not!

Here is the context I originally had in mind when I wrote １・２・３・４.  It's from a sample question for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test:

  ____の言葉の読み方として最もよいものを、１・２・３・４から一つ選びなさい。

Would ４ be read as し or よん in this context?  Or could it be either one?


texts: What are the differences between じ and ぢ, and ず and づ?

texts:
The Japanese hiragana and katakana syllabaries can mostly be described as phonetic. But there are two exceptions, the two pairs of syllables modified to be voiced with the dakuten diacritic which turns them into homophones:

す (su) → ず (zu); つ (tsu) → づ (zu)
し (shi) → じ (ji); ち (chi) → ぢ (ji)

The same goes for katakana:

ス (su) → ズ (zu); ツ (tsu) → ヅ (zu)
シ (shi) → ジ (ji); チ (chi) → ヂ (zi)

So are these pairs always pronounced the same or are there sometimes subtle differences? The former of each pair seems to be the more common, are the latter in each pair much used? How does one choose which to use when spelling words in kana? What about for spelling foreign words or names in kana?


texts:
Trying to look up the etymology of the kanji 金, every reference seems to give a different explanation. Let me ask about two references (Wiktionary and Hanziyuan)

Wiktionary gives the following etymology

  semantic 王 (“upside-down axe”) + semantic 呂 (“two blocks of metal”) + phonetic 亼. 亼 is the ancient form for 今.

Hanziyuan said that in decomposition notes

  (- musical bell indicating metal)

I want to know the real etymology for this kanji and if it is one of these two, I want to understand why.

I mean, if the Wiktionary explanation is correct then why is the upside-down axe part of the character; if the Hanziyuan explanation is correct, then how does the musical bell indicate the metal and where is this musical bell in kanji?


texts: Do non-native speakers of English find gairaigo more difficult to learn than native speakers of English?

texts:
I've occasionally heard people who aren't native speakers of English complain about gairaigo (words derived from European languages, not words derived from Chinese) being difficult to learn.

Sometimes I hear it from people who are reasonably fluent in English (and therefore should know the word the gairaigo is derived from), and sometimes I hear it from people who aren't native speakers of Chinese (and therefore don't have the advantage of already knowing Chinese characters). I'm wondering - do native speakers of English have an advantage over people who learnt English as a second language when it comes to learning gairaigo?

(I know this sounds subjective, but organisations have evaluated how difficult it is to learn specific languages, so "difficulty in learning" must be measurable)


texts:
I have a question about the に particle.

I was never told that it was possible to do something like this:

  私は妹に新しいおもちゃを買いました。

I thought you HAD to say 私は妹のために新しいおもちゃを買いました。

  よい子【こ】になるには早寝【はやね】早起【はやおき】するコトです。

How come に is used with a verb here like なるに?

Is that possible too?

How often am I allowed to do that?


texts:
Is there any difference in meaning/nuance between Xが原因で and Xで? For example in

  ８つの州で雨が原因で約８００人が亡くなりました。

can I replace 雨が原因で with just 雨で?

I'm guessing they wrote it the long way because they thought 州で雨で looked silly, or confusing maybe? I may be talking nonsense.


texts: Can はbe omitted as a shortcut in speech?

texts:
So I have this book, "Easy Japanese, A Direct Learning Approach for Immediate Communication".

I notice that は is often omitted in sentences.

So instead of saying:

猫はどこですか。

It might read:

猫どこですか。

Is the omitting of は valid? It definitely would seem like the sentence is still easy to understand without the は. And I've sometimes felt that the は can start to feel repetitive, so I'd be happy to know if I can omit the は at times.

But would the Japanese actually speak this way? Because if not I want to avoid such a habit.


texts: The meaning implied by ことになった in this sentence

texts:
ZOOMを用いて重要な打ち合わせをすることになったが使ったことがない。

Since I couldn’t comprehend this sentence I tried using couple of auto translators and this is what both gave me:  “I’ve decided to use zoom for an important meeting but I don’t have any experience using it.”
I was wondering where in the sentence was “making a decision” implied; and from what I gathered it has something to do with the expression “ことになった”
But what exactly is the use and meaning of it? Or does it technically have another meaning which in this case when translated it is turned into “planning” or “making the decision”?


texts:
Manga context: characters are on a beach, there are shallow waters near the shore, but further away there are some poles sticking out and from there start deep waters.  The character says:

  あの棒のとこから、あっちは底なしになってるからー

(this line is clear) and then

  あの[洲]{す}よか、こっちっ側中心に攻めるってことでねー

(the only furigana is from the manga itself) and I don't get this line.

My questions are:
1. How the second line translates?  Literal translation is preferred as I'd like to understand every bit of this line.
2. What's the reading of 側 here?
3. What second っ in こっちっ does here? Is it an accent/colloquialism, or does it stand for something?


texts: Statistics on common readings for Japanese names

texts:
I am looking for statistics (raw data) on the most common readings for kanji used in names (family name or first name) and the most common gender for a name. Existing dictionaries tend to just spit out all possible readings for a name even when only 1 or 2 are likely; I'd like to improve that.

There are loads of websites that offer this on a per-lookup basis, e.g. https://namegen.jp/yomikata - so the raw data must be out there. I checked Census data but could not find it. I googled for research papers and visited websites. http://www.myj7000.jp-biz.net/1000/0100f.htm looked promising, but is broken? Or I can't figure out how to use it.

I have searched for combinations like 名字調査 統計 データ etc. but to no avail. Would really appreciate any help.

I also considered crawling wikipedia, which would work (if I can figure out how to remove fictional characters) but won't be as granular or accurate as the data these other sites are using.


texts: I’m a bit new to Japanese and I’m a little confused about what they are used for.


texts: I'm watching a movie called A Long Goodbye and one of the characters asked his grandfather to write "Elizabeth" in kanji. Obviously the grandfather, who didn't know English, had a lot of difficulty in coming up with an answer. Kanji is also not used for specific English words like names. So I'm really curious about the answer/kanji he came up with.


texts: trying to think about what part of the sentence is attached to what... i think

texts:
This question has probably been asked to death, but better to ask than not to.

I'm currently using "Basic Kanji Book 1" and this is one of the sentences in it.
I can work out the meaning, but not intuitively and visually.

e.g. If I say 'as the water flows from the top to the bottom', I can visualize and interpret the meaning as the sentence is spoken..

水は高いところから低いところへながれる

water, high と here from, と low here flows

Is it simply a lack of understanding of the と particle itself?

I think this step is kinda important as it may effect how I interpret and continue to learn in the future.

Thanks for your time.


texts:
I am trying to learn how to say 'to talk/write/read about smth' in Japanese, since corrections natives make to my sentences seems not to be very consistent.
For example, let us consider a phrase 'I talked/read/wrote about pencils'. Particles I want to use are を and で.
With 'talked', it seems that 鉛筆を話した is just fine, because here topic kinda fits into my understanding of 'direct object', but 鉛筆を書いた would mean 'i drawed a pencil', while 鉛筆で書いた would mean 'i wrote with a pencil'. What would one use instead? I tried to search Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar for で, but with no success.


texts: How do you say "When I was in high school I took (guitar) lessons"

texts:
How do you say this in Japanese?

  When I was in high school I took (guitar) lessons.

I don't know the proper word for 'lessons' or which verb goes with it. Of course I would appreciate a translation of the whole sentence though.

My best guess would be:

  Watashi wa koko no toki ni ressun o torimashita


texts:
I have difficulty figuring out the correct meaning of「発言できない事もある」below.

和おばあちゃんの前で主体的に発言できない事もあるし
今後も彼女のフリをし続けるなら、２人だけの合図が必要でしょ?
私がキュッと目をつぶったら、ＮＧ
その誘いは断固断って

The above dialogue is done by the rental girlfriend to her client. They were discussing what they should do if they want to communicate in front of the client's grandma, especially when the client's grandma brought up something uncomfortable to the rental girlfriend.
I have two ways to understand「発言できない事もある」. It can either mean

There will be times when we can't communicate.

or

There are things we can't communicate.

It seems to me that both meanings fit the context well.
My research brought me to this question. Based on my understanding so far, こと is more abstract than 事, so 事 should be used when a speaker is talking about actual situations and circumstances. Therefore, the former meaning of「発言できない事もある」is correct. Am I right here?
What is the correct meaning? If possible, I'm curious to know how native speakers understand「発言できない事もある」when they first read it.


texts:
I'm translating a song which can be seen here. At the end of the song is this:

  傷つけてしまう夜もあるだろう 分かち合えない想いもあるだろう

What is the subject of 傷つけてしまう夜もあるだろう? Is the singer saying, "there may be nights where we'll end up hurting each other," or is he saying, "there may be nights where I'll end up hurting you?"


texts:
お構いなく。

Google gives translation please, don't fuss over me.

Can this phrase be used at work? If so, then should it be used as お構わないでください？

Does this phrase go from bottom (e.g. to 先生), or from top to [後輩]{こうはい}?


texts: Why no んです in the following sentence...?

texts:
Happy 2018 everyone! And I'm (a little) belatedly kicking it off with a question that may quite possibly be a duplicate, but I thought I'd risk it anyway. I quick searched it but there are so many instances of の/んです の/んだ here it would have taken me hours to go through them.

It's the first of several questions, all regarding the の/んです の/んだ construction. I've read everything my text books have to offer on the matter, but I'm still not managing to grasp certain particular uses — or in this case lack thereof — of it.

My question is, when の/んです の/んだ refers to a situation or state of being, as per the following example:

  クリスマスの前デパートはいつも込んでいるんです。Before Christmas, the department stores are crowded.

...why is it omitted in this example, which likewise describes a situation or state of being:?

  お花見の時はどこへ行っても、人がいっぱいです。During cherry blossom viewing season, there are lots of people wherever you go.

Any help would be much appreciated.


texts: Why is 「で」 in 「三人のうちで一番...」 omissible but 「で」 in 「ここで待つ」 not?

texts:
Are there any rough guidelines regarding whether a particle can be omitted or not?

「三人のうちで一番…」から「で」を省略できると思いますが、「ここで待つ」の「で」も省略することができないのはどうしてですか？

助詞の省略に関するガイドラインはありますか？


texts:
Can this phrase be broken down into 見る　and 出来る?
If so, does it simply mean "can see"? How is it different than the potential form of 見る which is 見られる?
Edit:
To add some context to this question, the phrase was seen in the title of a book - 見てできる臨床ケア図鑑
Now, I've guessed that the phrase probably has something to do with one's capability of seeing, my follow up question is how is it different than using the other words such as 見える and 見られる?


texts:
無理矢理 is translated as forcibly; against one's will. Does the following sentence mean that "I entered the room against my will" or "I forced myself into the room"?

  無理矢理に部屋に入った。

In case it means "I forced myself into the room", then 無理矢理 applied to the room. "Room" is an inanimate object. Can 無理矢理 be used with inanimate objects?


texts: Why is the "-masen" form used to convey the meaning of negative present perfect here?

texts:
I was reading the basic dictionary of Japanese grammar, an entry on が to be exact, and they used this interesting example sentence:

走っていますが、ちっとも痩せません。

and translated it as "I'm running, but I haven't lost any weight at all".

Why is "yasemasen" used here? The Genki textbook says that the English "haven't done X" constructions normally translate to "~ていません", which is obviously not the case here. Is it maybe because the sentence is actually habitual or something? I.e. it doesn't mean "I'm running right now at the moment of speaking", but rather "I run periodically but I'm not (habitually) losing any weight", or in Russian, "Бегаю, но совсем не худею"? Is this what this sentence means?


texts:
I'm reasonably new to learning pitch accent. Started learning this year, as it was never actually taught in any form at school or university.
I'm confused about why 愛する should have the accent on the third mora i.e. LHHL.
愛 is 頭高, and する is 平板, so why does 愛する become 中高？
I know that compound words can cause changes in the pitch accents of their respective components, but this is the first word I've come across where adding する changes the pitch accent of the compound. In other words like 勉強する, 指図する or デザインする the する continues the high or low pitch of the preceding noun. Is there a simply explanation for why 愛する is different? Are there other examples or does 愛する belong to a particular group of verbs?


texts:
Generally:

AはBを食べる　<-> Bを食べるA

but i do not think i can't rearrange this in terms of

~~~B

However if it its a sentence with an indirect object as well:

  「昔は天の川に見立てた川に笹を流して願い事をする行事なんかもあった

compared with:

  ［YYが］［XXを］プレッシャーにさらす -- active
  voice

are all of the following correct?

昔は川を天の川に見立てた　<-> 昔は天の川に見立てた川

YYがXXをプレッシャーにさらす <-> YYがプレッシャーにさらすXX

私はAにBをあげる <-> 私はAにあげるB

thank you for confirming


texts: I'm lost in this "thought bubble" of a manga, I don't know what it says

texts:
In a manga, one person gets drunk and pushes another person down and the person being pushed thinks of this

"酔ってるといえ何かおかしい..."
I think it says "there is something wrong for you to be drunk"
then he says "こうなたらこれ以上おかしい" and I think he says "this has turned into a weird situation" then he thinks "行動する前に従ってお方くがいいのか..."
and I think it says "Do you not think before acting?"

There aren't any translation for this manga yet but I'm trying to figure it out using google, I figured the previous pages but not this one and it'd be great if someone knows this, Thankyou.


texts: Why there is a の in オープンしたばかりのレストラン?

texts:
I learned that in Japanese you can put a sentence in front of a noun without の: like "買った本" or "もらったプレゼント".

In a JLPT N3 sample question I encountered "オープンしたばかりのレストラン". Could I omit the の and just say "オープンしたばかりレストラン"?

Thanks!


texts: "決{き}まっている" and "決められている" have the same meaning, right?

texts:
I came across this sentence written by a native speaker:
(1) "学年{がくねん}ごとに学習{がくしゅう}する漢字{かんじ}が決められています。"

To communicate the same meaning, I would have said:
(2) "学年ごとに学習する漢字が決まっています。"

#1 is passive voice: "The kanjis that are studied each academic year have been decided."
I interpret #2 to mean "The kanjis that are studied each academic year are decided."

Is that right? If so, can I extend that idea to:
"机{つくえ}の上{うえ}に載{の}っている。" <-- same? --> "机の上に載せられている。"
...
[more verbs that have transitive and intransitive forms]


texts: What's the difference between 一応 and とりあえず?

texts:
What's the difference between 一応{いちおう} and とりあえず?

While I think they can both mean "tentatively" or "for the time being", there seems to be a difference in their usage. How do the two translate differently into English?

After reading this Space ALC Japanese Q&A page, I'm interpreting it as that 一応 has a negative nuance of something being "unsatisfactory" but temporally doing it anyway, and that とりあえず has a positive (or possibly neutral?) nuance of "doing what you can do for the time being". Can the previous explanations work for all, or a majority of cases?

It also states that in the following sentences there isn't a lot of difference between the two:

  お話は一応伺っておきましょう。
  とりあえずお話は伺っておきましょう。

But I didn't understand why the two have a different position in the sentence. Would 一応お話は伺っておきましょう and お話はとりあえず伺っておきましょう also be possible?


texts: What's the response to あなたにもっと早くしてなんて言われる覚えはないですよ。?

texts:
I found this conversation from a JLPT listening section. Here goes the question.

あなたにもっと早くしてなんて言われる覚えはないですよ。

There are 3 choices. Pick one that is the proper response.

１ すみません。失言でした。
２ そうですか。今度は覚えてくださいよ。
３ ええ、私もそのこと、忘れていました。

The site I found this test said that the correct answer is 1 without any explanation. However, I am confused why the answer is number 1 not 2.
I translated the first sentence as, "I don't remember that you told me to hurry."
So I thought that the proper response is "You should remember that from now on".
Please help translate.


texts:
だから、普段は小指さん、自分は”小指である”なんて意識もなく、持ち主の人と一体となっているのですが。。。。。。持ち主の人が寝ている時なんか、ふっと小指としてだけの意識になったりします。

Context: The previous sentence talks about how the little finger is just one part of the body, rather than an independent individual.

My translation of this is:

  Instead of being conscious of him being just a little finger(a part of something bigger), the little finger thinks of himself as a single body, along with the owner (my hazy understanding of that と). But when the owner sleeps, he thinks of himself suddenly as an independent little finger(小指としてだけ）.

Does that seem right?


texts:
So I'm trying to say : Always say "Itadakimasu" before eating sushi.

I was wondering if this is the correct way of saying it:

  いつも『いただきます』と言うこと前に寿司を食べります。


texts: What is the literal meaning of 'マスコミにバラして'?

texts:
The sentence is, 'マスコミにバラしてもいいんですよ？'
What does this mean, literally?

Also, is this figure of speech frequently used? If it is, could you please give me some instances when it is used in daily life?

Thank you.


texts: NHK Coronavirus Article Sentence Translation Help with たり and も

texts:
若い人はウイルスがうつっても体の具合が変わらなかったり、病気が軽かったりするため、知らないうちにウイルスを広げていることがわかりました。

May someone explain to me what the function of も in 若い人はウイルスがうつっても is please? The way I interpreted this sentence is as: "Even if the virus spreads among young people, the conditions of their bodies are sometimes stable and sometimes slightly sick." Therefore, before we know it, we found out that the virus has spread. Just for clarification, when たり....たりする is used with adjectives, would that indicate "sometimes this, and sometimes that," or is it like a verb, indicating, "this and that?"


texts: Is パートナー likely to be interpreted as a same-sex partner?

texts:
When I talked about a relative and his パートナー visiting for Christmas, the person I was speaking to asked if his パートナー was male. Is this a common interpretation of パートナー? Is there a better word than パートナー to talk about a long-term opposite-sex partner who isn't married?

ガールフレンド was suggested, but in English, "girlfriend" wouldn't be a good choice of words as it tends to be used for short-term relationships, especially involving teenagers.


texts: What does みても mean here? Problem from workbook

texts:
From "Japanese for Busy People Level II" p 46, there is the following question:

Fill in the blank with the appropriate particle:

この　くつを　（　　　）みても　いいですか。（はきます）

In other words, modify はきます so that the sentence makes sense when the modified word fills the blank.

This book is slowly introducing kanji, so you can see there are none here.

I know:
このくつ　mean these shoes.
はきます mean to put on.
いいですか。 is asking permission whether it is okay.

If the みても were not there, I think the sentence would make sense if te-form (はいて) filled the blank. But the みても is really confusing me. I really don't know what it means! I suppose it's just te-form みます (to look). But, I have no idea what it's doing in this sentence. Also, the particle も doesn't make sense to me.

I did learn something recently, which may or may not be related, even though it's not exactly helping me here... That is, using a te-form verb followed by みます, means "to try to do that verb." But in this sentence, it seems opposite. In other words, if I'm not mistaken, one could say, "～をはいてみますいいですか。" Which would mean, "is it okay if I try to put these on?" I could easily be mistaken, especially with particles.

Sorry to ramble, but I'm just trying to explain my current level of understanding.

Thank you for reading.


texts: Difference in nuance between causative form and てもらう

texts:
This question is inspired by this one (unanswered at the time of writing).

  それは田中さんに教えてもらってください。
  Get Mr Tanaka to tell you that.
  それは田中さんに教えさせてください。
  Make Mr Tanaka tell you that.

I feel that in English there is a difference between 'make someone do something' and 'get someone to do something'.

'make someone do something' feels like a stronger statement. It leaves no doubt that you expect the person to do something. Whereas, 'get someone to do something' feels more like a favour i.e. you can ask them to do something but you shouldn't expect that they will do it.

How about my two Japanese sentences above? Is there a parallel argument when choosing either causative or てもらう, or do these sentences feel the same?

btw I'm never sure when to use に or を with causative form. Please correct me if I got these sentences wrong.


texts:
I wanted to say:

  I don't use Skype. I'm so old fashioned that I don't even have a mobile (cell) phone.

This is what I went for:

  Skypeを使いません。携帯もないほどなかなか懐古的なのです。

Please correct me if any this is wrong, but the part I was most worried about was even. What would be the difference if I had written

  携帯でもない ...

or

  携帯だってない ...

How should I decide which is correct or most appropriate?

Edit:
Yuuichi Tam brings さえ to the mix as well.


texts: Correct pronunciation of voiceless bilabial fricative [ɸ]

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I found that there are two different pronunciations for the [ɸ] phone. For example, in Japanese compare those two pronunciations for same word 冬 (for which I believe will has [ɸɯjɯ] as phonetic transcription):

https://jisho.org/search/%E5%86%AC. To my ear, this one sounds more like [pʰɯjɯ].
https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=ja&tl=en&text=fuyu. . To my ear, this one sounds more like [kʰɯjɯ].

In this wikipedia page, which provides the audio sample for the sound (near the top right of the page), I also found that phone is pronounced much similar to the first link in the list above.

However, some other sources suggest that the pronunciation link in second link is also common. For example, this link: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/hiragana provides pronunciation for /hu/.

So which one is correct, or both?

Note: I'm a Vietnamese native speaker and in our country, almost anyone can spot the difference between the two pronunciations in the links listed above.


texts: How to express action (in plays, and online)

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So in most languages we can either put text in italics or between asterisks to indicate what the speaker is doing. For instance:

Looking up
It will be raining soon

Or on the Internet:

*chewing your tacos* can i borrow food from you?

Is there any equivalent forms in Japanese?


texts: Using an asterisk to indicate a disclaimer

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Is there a similar convention to using an asterisk in English to signify the presence of a disclaimer in Japanese? For example, in English, you might see, "Order now for $19.99*" then somewhere else on the same document, you may see, "* Prices displayed are pre-tax."
Or is it more common to place the disclaimer next to a price, such as "Order now for $19.99 (pre-tax)"


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Has anyone ever come across the form -まする where -ます would be expected? I have just come across a sentence ending ...と存じまする.

My first thought was that る must be a particle, but I can't find any mention of it anywhere. Then I thought it could be a suru verb with the noun 存じま, but I can't find that as a noun in any dictionaries, and anyway in the context a plain する is very unlikely as it's someone addressing their social superior in a historical novel. Based on that, another possibility could be that it's a traditional polite suffix, but I can't find anything that would support that idea, and googling other verbs with the same ending does produce some results with e.g. ありまする, 食べまする, so I don't think it's an old-fashioned thing.

So basically, I'm stuck. It seems most likely that る is a particle, but if so what does it mean and why is it not in any dictionaries? Any ideas?


texts: I am struggling with the sometimes conflicting uses of 先

texts:
Rikaisama's definition of 先 includes meanings like previous; prior; former; some time ago. However it also includes meanings such as front; ahead; the future; destination. I am struggling to make sense of when to apply each meaning since it seems to me that they are pretty much the two sides of the same coin in one word. There's also 先に which can mean before; earlier than / ahead; beyond, among others.

I've noticed that if the meaning has to do with the past, the subsequent verb is in the past tense. This is a good starting point, but it doesn't always help me. Am I forced to learn each usage of 先 individually or is there some "rule" to the word that would help me identify it's meanings in different contexts?

Thank you in advance.


texts: 最後に「か」が置かれると疑問文になるかどうか

texts:
Japanese
今日、他の教員の書いたものを読んでいたら、以下のような本のタイトルが出てきました：

Z: AがいかにBに影響を及ぼしCを形成してきたか

元となった本は英語だったのですが、英語のタイトルは：

Z: How A influences B and forms C.

英語の場合、「How」は疑問の意味以外に、手段を説明する「ように」の意味もあります。今回の場合の「How」は、その「ように」を意味する関係詞だと思います。例えば、

Spaghetti: How I fill my stomach.

(スパゲティ：お腹いっぱいのなり方)
同じように、最後に「か」を置く文法は日本語に存在しているでしょうか。
私の質問はその最後の「か」についてなのですが、これは疑問の意味になりますか。また、別の意味を表す「か」になりうるのですか。例えば、「Xはこのようにできた」また「どんな手段を使っていた」の意味の「か」が存在しているのか。もしそうであれば、その文法を説明していただけませんか。
English
Today I was reading something another faculty member wrote, and the following title appeared:

Z: AがいかにBに影響を及ぼしCを形成してきたか

The original book is in English, and the English title is:

Z: How A influences B and forms C.

In English, "how" can be used both to ask a question and to explain means. In the case of this title, I take it to be the means meaning as a conjunction. For instance,

Spaghetti: How I fill my stomach.

(Spaghetti: the way I get full)
Is there a 「か」 that can be place at the end that has this same meaning?
My question is about this final 「か」. Does the title become a question by having it there? Or does this 「か」 express something else. For instance, is there a　(final) 「か」 that means "this is how (preceding part) was done" or "these are the means that accomplish (preceding part)" ? If there is one, could someone explain the grammar. (preferably you would explain it in Japanese but obviously I'll take what I can get)


texts:
クリニックでは、症状を訴える患者が「聴力検査」で異常がなければ、50音のどれかをランダムで発音し聞き取れるかどうかをチェックする「スピーチ検査」に移ります。
そこで一定以上の正答率であれば、聴力に問題がないため聴覚情報処理障害の疑いが高まり、場合によっては脳の画像診断なども行って判断していくそうです。(source)

1°)50音のどれかをランダムで発音し聞き取れるかどうかをチェックする=> "To check if the patient understands sounds(50 different sounds possible) said randomly" It doesn't make sense since if they are said randomly they shouldn't be intelligible...?(and I don't think it's just recognizing the sounds since it's a test done if there are no problems with the hearing(「聴力検査」で異常がなければ)).
2°) I don't understand why giving correct answers is bad and shows that we have 聴覚情報処理障害?


texts:
Both ゴミ and 廃棄物｛はいきぶつ｝ have the meaning of waste, but how could I distinguish these two words? For sure they have some different points in meaning.

Originally I thought, that ゴミ is informal word for 廃棄物｛はいきぶつ｝, but now I think that it is not true...


texts:
I am having some trouble understanding a sentence and the grammar behind it :
何か見つかるといいなと思います
How does the use of といいです and と思う together work ? I understand it as "i think that i would like" which makes no sense to me.
Also, a bit less confusing but I am also not sure why it is ”見つかる” and not ”見つける” in this case
Thank you for your help !


texts:
I have a question related to the creation of a rationalised list of vocabulary working in pairs with kanji learning. If one wants to learn Japanese, at some point there is no other choice than learning big lists of vocabulary, simply because there is not much to relate to the the learner's mother-tongue (at least if one's native language is not Chinese). We also encounter in most kanji books lists of vocabulary associated to each kanji, and the average number of words related to one kanji varies from books (say 4 to 20). Therefore I asked myself what would be the optimal number of words that shall be actually used.

So we have our list of N kanji, and for all i = 1, ... , N, let mi the number of words associated the kanji number i. Now one should be careful to make a list without repetitions, but at the same time minimising the average of numbers associated to each kanji. So we have arranged all words, by relating each to only one kanji, such that the mean

is minimal (this condition will appear clearly later). Then we look for an integer n corresponding to the number of words we learn per kanji, such that the expectation of knowing an arbitrary word is high, but n is not too high either (for example, if one has to learn 100 words per kanji, this system does not work). Therefore, for a word w associated to the kanji i (let us denote Ai the set of words associated to the kanji i), the probability to know the word is

with obvious abuse of notations. Therefore

and one would know approximately n/m̅ of the vocabulary. And n is approximately equal to the average m̅, which explains why we had to minimise this quantity.

Therefore my question is two-sided : what is the minimal value of m̅? Indeed, if we compare a simple kanji like 人 which has more than 2000 matches and some rare kanji with one or two occurrences, it is not a priori obvious if this quantity (m̅) is large (>100 say) or not. I should add that obviously if we consider all words in Japanese language, this system is unrealistic, but for smaller ambitions, it could actually be useful if the number m̅ is not too large. One could for example think about the kanji and vocabulary lists for standardized international tests.


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Context: Guy is talking about this girl, Haruno, to someone else about how he wants to impress her with his dancing skills.

  (宴)を踊って盛り上げろ？
  Does dancing get you excited?

I assumed 踊って is the subject to the verb that comes after based off the を that proceeds it. 盛り上げろ？ is posed as question, which led me to believe the question is "Does dancing get you excited?"

  イケてるダンスでバッチリ、盛り上げてやるから。
  I'll liven everyone up with of my dancing

"イケてるダンスでバッチリ" confesses me. I feel like it describes the type of dancing, but from my understanding イケてる is along the lines of "Good looking man" and "バッチリ" is close to "perfectly". Fitting that into the sentence is hard for me to wrap my head around, which is why I omitted it from my translation.

*After friend asks if he's just doing it for Haruno

  ワガハイが言いかったのは、春野も含めたミンアを盛り上げようって。。。
  I did not say including Haruno and everyone else would pump me up...

(I thought this translation would be spot on compared to others, but I assumed "ワガハイが言いかったのは" meant the hero did not say something and that "春野も含めたミンア" means "including Haruno and the others" and putting that all together is what lead me to what I wrote.

This is my first time trying to translate actual sentences, and am not sure if I labeled this question correctly or if I should try posting on a different place.


texts: Are there differences between 自動車{じどうしゃ} and 車?

texts:
According to the dictionary, both of these terms refer to the same object: car/automobile.

Now, I understand that 車 is also used in compounds to provide the "vehicle" part as in 電車, but I'm just referring to the meaning "car" in this question.

Is there really a difference between these two terms? Register? Formal/informal? None?


texts: 「表{おもて}」、「表面」、「外観」の違い

texts:
「表{おもて}」、「外観」、「表面」
三つの言葉の違いは何ですか。


texts:
I'm scratching my head at this one and I can't seem to understand it right.

I really can't grasp the idea...
So the context, there are 2 characters let's call them Hanako and Yosuke. Yosuke congratulates Hanako because it's her birthday and Hanako says "ありがとうよすけ" then the following line (in the picture) seems to belong to Yosuke.
I can't even understand well what does 君がしてくれる means here, if another verb in て form would have been before it, I could have understand differently...
Then I can only understand something about a date, but I can't form a connection properly, I am really stumped. Understood the rest of the comic, except this part. Any interpretation would be useful, maybe then I can form a better connection.


texts:
As a total beginner I noticed that sometimes simple sentences end with ます and sometimes with です. What is the difference?

Thanks


texts:
In the sentence "スーさんは高校に英語を教えに行きます"
listen here

Why is the verb to teach like this: "教え". Instead of "教えり"? I thought that because it is a Godan verb ending in る it gets changed to り. I know it does that when ending in ます, but why not when it is in the middle of a sentence?

I hope I haven't misheard what what said and made a fool of myself.

edit: I listened to the next sentence in the exercise and this one doesn't do the same as the previous sentence: スーさんは喫茶店にコーヒーを飲みに行きます, this is really confusing me!


texts: What's the difference between 気を使う and 気にする?


texts: Why is gaikokujin more politically correct than gaijin?

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While in English, the word "gaijin" is far more common than "gaikokujin", I've heard that in Japanese [外人]{がいじん} has been replaced by [外国人]{がいこくじん} for reasons of political correctness.

What differences are there between the two words?

Is it merely replacing one word with another, a case of a euphemism treadmill?
Is the former perceived as a contraction of the latter, though Wikipedia claims that the former word pre-dated the latter? Contractions are often seen as derogatory.
Does the latter emphasize that it's nationality that's being talked about, rather than race?


texts: How to know if there is a space between words?

texts: I want to translate びようすいみん for a manga but the problem is that I dont  want to use google translate or any other similar tools. I know how to pronounce it (biyousuimin) but I  dont know how to seperate the words. Any help?


texts:
I'm wondering what to say if I were to say:

I didn't like it before (I believe it should be すきじゃなかったでも..., but I may be wrong, but I like it now.

Some context on the usage: I'm writing this assignment about moving school; and I don't know what to use.


texts:
I'm having some trouble understanding this sentence:

バスケやってたよ。ちょっと熱血【ねっけつ】してた、遅く【おそく】まで残ってシュート練習もしたし

Specifically stuck on the trailing "もしたし", I can't find anything suitable on Google that describes it as a grammar point/conjugation, but my dictionary isn't returning any words. Is this "練習　も　したし"?  What is the meaning here?


texts:
A student asks "じしょ を つかって も いい です か？"

Teacher replies" いいえ だめ です"

I want to know, if possible, how could he have used だめ です to say the full sentence of "no, you cannot use the dictionary" or is だめ です equivalent to english "no you can't"?


texts: 帰っているところ vs. 帰ったところ (〜ところ)

texts:
A question from my grammar textbook:

  Ａ「あれ、山田さんは？もう帰った？」
  Ｂ「山田さんならたった今（　　　）だから、まだその辺にいると思いますよ。」

Why is 帰っているところ wrong and only 帰ったところ correct? In English I think of the meanings as "he was just leaving a moment ago" and "he just left a moment ago", and I don't understand the problem in Japanese.


texts: Looking for the original Japanese of this haiku

texts:
I'm sure this is a translation of a haiku but I'm not able to find the original text or even the author.

As the sun
goes down the birds
land one by one.

I've been trying to Google it but can't seem to find anything.


texts: 文の組み立て JLPT N1 Question about word order

texts:
I am currently practicing for the N1 JLPT, where the questions require us to assemble the sentences in the correct order. Although the book provides the correct answer, it doesn't provide the correct order of the phrases. Hence, I would like to check whether the following sentences are in the correct order as I have trouble figuring out the correct sequence.

  わたしたちは、「きれいな」「量が」「かつ」「十分で」水を必要としている。
  (「かつ」 is the correct answer provided, and not sure about the other 3 positions)
  節約生活も、子供の教育のため「だから」「こそ」「我慢できる」「の」かもしれない。
  (「こそ」 is the correct phrase, but I'm not sure of the reasoning as to why the 「の」 is in the 4th space.

Thank you for the help! :D


texts: What is 背が高い and how is it different from 高い

texts: I can't understand the meaning of 背が高い人. From what I've heard you can't just say 高い on a non living object, so what is the meaning of 背 exactly?


texts: Japanese equivalent of "Thanks anyway."?

texts:
In English, "thanks anyway" is a common way of acknowledging the other person's effort/attention even though the end result wasn't satisfactory to the person doing the thanking.

For example:

Thankee: Here, have a piece of cake that I made.
Thanker: I'm afraid this cake isn't really edible at this point in time. throws cake in the bin Thanks anyway (for the effort in making the cake).

Thanker: Hi, I would like to buy your Item X but only if it comes with Item Y. Do you have Item Y as well Item X?
Thankee: Sorry, we don't have Item Y in stock at the moment.
Thanker: Damn it. Thanks anyway (for checking for me).

Is there a Japanese equivalent? The closest I can find is でも、ありがとう but that's not as succinct as "thanks anyway" because I have to insert a sentence before it (I'm afraid this cake isn't really edible. でも、ありがとう).


texts:
In the ASK Graded Readers, which present beginner-appropriate short stories, there is a frequently occurring pattern of writing with ~ます during the 'setup' of the story, and then switching to 〜ました when something important happens. The sentence containing the tense switch often starts with ある日 or similar. The story then resumes using the 〜ます form once we leave this major event.

What is happening with the tenses here--why is the story told partially in non-past and partially in past? Is it typical for Japanese stories to be told in this way, and is this pattern also used in spoken Japanese?


texts: How accurately can 使い be translated as "angel"?

texts:
On jisho.org, 使い is translated with words such as "errand", and the same holds true on translate.google.com.  Neither site is offering "angel" as a suggestion.  Yet in Matthew 1:20, the phrase:

  ・・・主の使いが夢に現れて言った。

is found in English as:

  . . . an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said . . .

Does it mean "angel" or not?  Is the Japanese saying something slightly different than "God no angel"?  Thanks!


texts: Significance of ところ in set phrases ところで and ところが

texts:
In two conjunctions 「ところで」 and 「ところが」 that mean "by the way / incidentally" and "however / nevertheless" respectively, what is the significance of the word 「ところ」?

How does ところ + で give the nuance of "this is an extra information", while ところ + が give the nuance of "this is contrary to the fact"?

What is the place referred by ところ in both conjunctions?


texts: Which form should be used: ろくしゅうかん or ろくしゅう?

texts:
The full sentence, which I had to learn was:

  わたしは　ろくしゅうかんまえに　にほんに　きました

But I don't understand the meaning of the "-kan" that follows ろくしゅう
Can anyone please enlighten me when and why I have to use that suffix?


texts: Question about grammar, how to say "today I am returning to japan"

texts:
Today while I was self studying my Japanese textbook, I noticed this sentence which was translated roughly from "today I am returning to japan"

わたしは　今日　日本　に　かえります。

This seemed a bit odd to me since it didn't really sound that great following up
今日 with 日本 as there was no particle in between them.

So I was wondering if these sentences I came up with would make more sense/would be more commonly used

formal: 今日は　わたしが　日本　に　かえります。

casual: 今日は　日本　に　かえります。

If there are any better ways to say this then please let me know, I'm a beginner so my Kanji vocabulary is next to nothing so answering in mostly Hiragana would be appreciated. Thanks


texts: What is the meanings of kanji 手 when it's part of a compound word?

texts:
The kanji 手 (not the radical) is very common and i found hundreds of vocbularies are containing it and i thought that its using as a component in words is to refer to ( hand, ability, skill or possession) but i found some words that have this kanji but its meaning isn't from this list so i wanna know all real uses of this kanji and example for each.
Thanks.


texts:
「……そも、この学園にはその軋みがないものね。術式めいてはいるだけでは何も起きる訳がない、か」

In this school there are no such conflicts.

And I really have no idea bout the second part.

Can someone explain it to me?

Added fantranslation of the bold sentence:

  With nothing but empty ceremonies nothing ever happens, i guess.

My understanding from following Naruto's advice of removing the second は brings me to this translations.

  Just because there are ceremonies does not mean that nothing happen.


texts: How do you say "chunky" or "congealed" in Japanese?

texts: Couldn't find this one in my dictionaries.  How would you translate "chunky" into Japanese?  As in chunky peanut butter, or, "I left the milk out for 3 days and now it's all chunky," or, "the chemicals congealed into a kind of chunky gel".


texts:
I'm at the point in my textbook where it explains the use of -ている and the three kind of verbs related to its use: stative, durative, instantaneous.  The book says I should ask myself if saying something such as 昨日は１時間買っている is logical.  At first view, it seems it isn't, and 買う is an instantaneous verb (buying something, which is exchanging money for something, over an hour, seems a bit ridiculous).  But thinking about it a bit more, this situation came to my mind:

  A: あなたはどこですか。
  B: 食べ物を買っている。

In this context, it does seem possible he's saying 'I'm buying food'.  So, my question is: is there a fool-proof way to know if a verb is durative or instantaneous?  Some list or tool around I can use to verify what type of verb each is?


texts: What does center middle dot in pronunciation transcription might mean

texts:
I know only 2 sources (websited) where I can see how to pronounce Japanese words. These sites are OJAD and WaDoku.

I like everyting, but in WaDoku transcription they put middle dot, which I do not know what might mean.
Can you please, explain me, how this dot influence pronunciation?
For example, what is the difference in pronuciation with dot [だい･とし] vs w/o dot [だいとし]?
Does this dot mean some kind of little pause?
[だい･とし] = [dai][pause][toshi]
[だいとし] = [daitoshi]
Or maybe WaDoku just put it for "beauty"-reason?


texts: Expected sentence in article to use を but が is used instead

texts:
I'm reading this article and I have come across this sentence and I'm wondering why が is used instead of を. What's the reason am I missing here?

１１日、豊洲市場がオープンして競りが始まりました。
My translation:
On the 11th, Toyosu Market has opened and started auctions.


texts: How to express: I am going to Japan to study?

texts:
This is an exercise from Genki 1, Chapter 12.

Now the way I would word that sentence is: 私{わたし}は日本{にほん}に勉強{べんきょう}しに行{い}きます。 However, I put that same [English] phrase in Google Translate and got this: 私は日本に[留学]{りゅうがく}つもりです。 So now I'm not sure which translation is correct. Since the exercise didn't specify, we'll assume that the person is studying the Japanese Language.

So which one is correct? My translation or Google's translation?


texts: 質問があるんですが、「かしら」と「かな」は終助詞ですね。どう違いますか？どう使った方がいいんですか？


texts:
I came across this sentence:

パトカーに
捉まってしまいました。

The book I am using, explains に is used here to indicate the passive form. I looked up a video explaining it by Misa from Japanese Ammo. She explains that one of the reasons to use passive form, is to express feeling upset, angry or embarrassed. Apparently Verb te-form + しまいました can be used to express regret or embarrassment. Now, Misa does not explain in that lesson that the passive could also be formed with Verb te-form + しまいました, the website that explains Verb te-form + しまいました does not include passive examples. Can you build the passive with Verb te-form + しまいました instead of the passive form of the verb?


texts: What is the difference between 有用(yuuyou) and 便利(benri)?

texts:
As far as I know both words could be used to describe usefulness/handiness/convenience of something.

What are the main differences between them? In particular, what are the use patterns for these words? What would be the example sentences that demonstrate the word usage.

Are they form a formal/colloquial pair or they behave like 大事 and 大切?


texts: What is the difference between 旅する and 旅行する?

texts:
旅{たび}する and 旅行{りょこう}する both mean "to travel".
What is the difference between these verbs ?


texts: Can I use quotation particle 「と」with noun?

texts:
Here is the sentence.

  いいかげんにしやがれっ　おれは一年以上もシャバとおわかれなんだぞっ。

Since the word 「おわかれ」 is noun, I'm not sure if I can translate it as "Say goodbye for free life because I will be staying in it (prison, in this case) more than a year". Otherwise, would it be translated in other meaning or the 「と」in this case does not function as quotation?


texts: Understanding 「たった三十分のあいだに、高木の変わり様といったらなかった。」

texts:
たった三十分のあいだに、高木の変わり様といったらなかった。
I'm not at all clear on the translation or nuance here.  Source is a NLPT N1 grammar question.
Confusion #1: The use of に in 「たった三十分のあいだに」. If the translation is "in only thirty minutes", で seems more appropriate, or having no particle at all, based on Difference between 間 and 間に. All answers there indicate that に is NOT optional, and that it indicates a point in time rather than a long period. But the translation "at a point in only thirty minutes" seems like gibberish.
Confusion #2: I'm not clear on the nuance of 「高木の変わり様といったらなかった」. ~といったらなかった implies "very" or "incredibly", but with no other context, how do tall trees "incredibly change"? Their colors changing in the autumn? Their positions moving in a strong wind? I am not sure.


texts:
それが困ったことに、次はスープでございまして。

Now that I think of it, I had jotted down another sentence that looks like the same :

  海外では魔女はとても人気のあるカテゴリーでしてね

Why are ございます and です conjugated that way ?


texts: Meaning of 去年の春もお願いしたことで

texts:
西村大臣は「できるだけ出かけないようにしてください。そして、会社に行く人をいつもより７０％少なくしてください。去年の春もお願いしたことで、緊急事態宣言を早くやめるためです」と言っています。
Minister Nishimura said "Please don't go out if possible, and please reduce the number of people going to work by 70%. ?????"

I'm assuming I've translated 会社に行く人をいつもより７０％少なくしてください correctly. It seems like a bizarre thing to request. How would you know that your actions resulted in a 70% reduction? (that's a rhetorical question. It's why I think the request sounds bizarre).

The final sentence baffles me. I'm sure I'll kick myself but I read it as " ...so we can end the state of emergency early by having requested last spring." I cannot think of any sensible meaning/translation of 去年の春もお願いしたことで.

Is やめる in the last sentence 止める or is it the potential form of 止む. I'm rather less familiar with the usage of 止む, but the potential form seems to fit better with the sentence.

Edit
Well I think I figured out that it means "so we can end the state of emergency early by doing the things that we also asked you to do last spring.", but is this really natural Japanese or is it oversimplified? It feels like there's a をして missing at the very least.


texts:
I recently boasted to a native speaker that I can pronounce Japanese with a high degree of precision, while he has trouble with pronouncing the "L" sound in English. Later in the discussion he stopped me and insisted that I was mistaking a Japanese pronunciation. He said:
 '黒海{こっかい}’ is pronounced differently than '国会{こっかい}’

(1) I don't believe him. Is there really more than one way to pronounce "こっかい”, or any other word? Every word can be written in kana, and kana pronunciation is not ambiguous?
(2) Is it even possible for Japanese to have the concept of a heteronyms? A heteronym must be written the same way and pronounced differently. But, almost every Japanese word can be written two different ways: kana and kanji. Without a unique way to write a word, heteronyms don't make sense?

Is this a valid assertion: "The Japanese language does not support the concept of 'heteronyms'."?

maybe this page needs to be updated and improved?
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Japanese_heteronyms

thank you.


texts: What's the difference between どこ and なん in this exercise?

texts:
I have two exercises which I don't exactly understand. I've already known that どちら is more polite form from どこ. This two could ask about place and "what/which one" ."nan" asks about "kind of company", isn't it?
I've checked the answers and it looks like that:

  A: おくには　なん／どこ　ですか。
  B: タイです。

Correct answer here is "doko" and I suppose it's because of the meaning "what country". Could it be wrong with "nan"?

  A: かいしゃは　なん／どこ　ですか。
  B: パワーでんきです。

Correct answer is "nan" and I don't understand it! Why it couldn't be "doko"? Please explain me that.


texts:
I have learned hiragana and katakana, but the book I have learned these from alas does not show their stroke order. I have the Takoboto dictionary fire Android smartphones installed, which displays kanji stroke order very clearly, but not for kana.what is a good app or online resource that displays the stroke order for kana (preferably clearly, and allowing me to go through all kana quickly)?

Thanks.


texts: Is there a difference between 絶える & 死に絶える? 絶える already means to die out/to become extinct, so is 死 necessary?


texts: why does 対する sometimes translate to `for` and sometimes `towards`

texts:
We can say passion for sports スポーツに対する情熱 or a mother's love for her children, but for some reason we can't replace for with towards.

By the same token, attitude towards someone　誰かに対する態度, behavior towards someone, we can't switch towards with for.

The sentence 誰かに対する考え can't be translated using towards nor for. thoughts on someone, is the most natural, yet for some reason its completely natural to use 対する

I'm aware that maybe there is some distinction between feelings, and attitude/behavior, but my brain always likes to automatically translate 対する to towards, and I'm trying to figure out what it is about the word towards that makes it fallacious to associate with that word


texts:
I just learned a phrase つもりです which can be used to express plan to do something. For example, 来月、日本へ旅行に行くつもりです　and  私は結婚しないつもりだ.
But what confuses me is the structure of the sentence,
日本へ旅行に行く is basically describing the verb 行く. つもり is an noun, so the structure is verb + noun + です, but for most sentences I have learned so far, the core structure can be divided into verb [+ます/ません/ました..] or noun + だ/です/.... This 行くつもりです looks weird.
So my question is, is this a specific structure or my understanding of basic structures is wrong?


texts: Are there cases when two or more particles will occur next to each other without intervening lexical words?

texts:
Most particles seem to be postpositions but I'm sure I've seen say a noun followed by a location particle followed by "wa" or "ga" or possibly "wo" but when I've tried to use it I've only confused my Japanese friends.

Under what circumstances can multiple particles end up next to each other and what's the most that could end up in sequence?


texts:
Example:
Is the formal of にほん に いった こと が ありまづ this : にほん に いきました こと が ありまづ. Or is the first one used in both cases?


texts:
In English, the word "nightmare" isn't used just literally for a bad dream you have at night-time, but also metaphorically to describe a very bad scenario, such as "Can Samsung recover from its Galaxy Note 7 nightmare?".

Can 悪夢 be used metaphorically? jisho.org seems to suggest it can't be, but I've seen someone translate a metaphorical use of "nightmare" using "悪夢", possibly incorrectly.


texts: Usage of いる/います and ある/あります in combined words and sentences

texts:
Actually, this has been lingering for sometime in my mind about how Japanese convey a sentence which has both the living and non-living things. Will Japanese use いる or ある? or whichever comes first? or both are acceptable? or Japanese will prefer to use いる instead of ある when both are combined?
Since the concept of living/non-living things in Japanese language is different compared to its English counterparts. They make it distinctive which is which. So, if the concept is combined, which is preferred?

For example:

  Once upon a time, there was a man, a woman, a tree. They were all doing fine.
  昔々、男、女、木があった。or 昔々、男、女、木がいました。
  彼らはすべてうまくいっていた。 or 彼らはすべてうまくいっていました。

My question:

Which one is the most natural Japanese? (aka 'considered correct by natives?')
If we combine 'they' as one concept which consist of living things and non-living things, which is used more often? The living part or the non-living part? (彼ら?彼女ら?彼ら? or with たち? or それら/あれら?

This brings me another question i.e.:

If they both consist of male and female-types mixed with(combined with) living and non-living things, which 'pronoun' will be preferred? or is/are there any 'neutral' type(s) which cover(s)g both male/female and living/non-living things?

Any thoughts, comments and answers are greatly appreciated! (You may post your own example to elaborate your answer!)
ありがとうございます。


texts:
(1) 合否{ごうひ}の結果は書面{しょめん}で連絡{れんらく}する。
  (2) 合否は書面で連絡する。

#1 was given as an example.

What is it about #1 that makes it not be redundant? Would a native really say 合否の結果?
Is #2 correct Japanese?
How do the meanings of #1 and #2 differ?


texts:
I never really thought about it before; but, I'm having a hard time explaining the difference concisely, and when to use which.

What are the differences in nuances between あくまで and あくまでも?  When is the use of あくまで preferable to あくまでも, and vice versa?


texts: Declining an offer politely using ちょっと and 無理

texts:
Some girls in the Japanese school I study in are planing to do a Maid Cafe, which my teacher have sent me a message inviting me to take part into saying 「メイド喫茶に参加してみませんか？」. Honestly, I don't think I'm fit for the role, so I thought in a polite way to refusing him. I have thought about many different phrases, and now I think phrases like 「んん、私はそのような事があまり得意じゃないから、それはちょっと…。すみません。」or「んん、私はそのような事があまり得意じゃないから、それはちょっと無理です。すみません。」would be appropriate. I plan sending the first one, but I would like to know if using 無理 is unpolite and which other ways would be better to refuse an offer and recognize the other's efforts. I have seen people using 「気持ちはうれしいけど…」, but it seems way too personal to me.

I know he is my teacher and all, but the first semester has already ended and he won't be my teacher anymore next semester, so I would like to write properly.


texts: Is there a rule for deciding if we should write こんばんは or 今晩は?

texts:
I always have problems deciding if I must write a word in hiragana or in kanji.

For example, should I write こんばんは or 今晩は ?

I know children would rather write in hiragana but what about for adults ?

Is there any rule (of thumb) I can follow to decide it or is it just left to the writer's mood ?

Thanks in advance for your time,

Gilles


texts: How to specify that a digital file is for the purpose of printing.

texts:
I would like to learn how to specify a type of file in Japanese. In an English context the common vernacular would be "...a print file". Is there a standardized way to say this in Japanese that would sound natural in a design/printing industry context?

"....のファイル"

I am worried that "プリント" isn't the right word.
I also don't want the verb: :刷る" or the noun: "写り"


texts: My question isn't about the meaning and usage of it, but rather how it means what it means as I don't quite see it grammatically. For example, I can grammatically understand the usage of 心に残る、耳に残る and other phrases, but when I look for definitions of 印象 none of them refer to a physical or abstract "location". Is this just me misunderstanding how に残る is being used here or can someone else clarify this?


texts:
In most cases, 汝 is the formal/archaic second person pronoun, "you/thou", and 己 is a humble and archaic first-person pronoun or a way to refer to oneself.
However, confusingly, in many dictionaries, both the first-person pronoun and second-person pronoun are listed as definitions of 汝 and 己, and some compounds using these two kanji actually list them interchanged with each other as variant forms.

[汝等]{うぬら}
Pronoun

ye; you. Archaism, Derogatory, usu. plural
me; I; us; we. Archaism, Only applies to わいら

Other forms
己等 【うぬら】、汝等 【わいら】、汝等 【なむだち】、汝等 【なむたち】

[己]{な} Pronoun

I. Archaism
you.

Other forms 汝 【な】

Why have 汝 and 己 become associated with both "I" and "you"? In Chinese, 己 is associated solely with the self and 汝 is associated solely with "you".
In what cases would 汝 be used as "I" and 己 used as "you"? [汝]{うぬ} and [汝等]{わいら} seem to be the only readings of 汝 that mean "I", while the standard reading of [汝]{なんじ} only means "you/thou". However, the standard reading of [己]{おのれ} can mean both "I/self" and "you". If it was in a text, how would you be able to tell which it refers to?


texts:
I'm contrasting Yu-gi-oh cards in English and Japanese so that I can understand the underlying grammar idea.

This is the original (for the card "F.H.D") and the translation:

  このカードは融合召喚でしか特殊召喚できない.
  This card can only be special summoned with a fusion summon.

I tried a lot to find on the web the explanation and more examples of this grammar topic, but in two days I've had no luck. Can somebody help me?

(Is there some kind of secret to finding Japanese grammar explanations? I tried so many wordings for the research, opened a lot of websites, but it feels like I'm looking after something that doesn't exist on the web).

Thank you all for the help!


texts:
Just started reading 君の名は manga and encountered this sentence:
人間の輪郭がぼやけて人ならざるものに出会うかもしれない時刻
I have never encountered the ~ならざるもの structure before and cant seem to find an answer.


texts: Difference Between べんきょう する and べんきょうを する

texts: What is the difference between べんきょう する and べんきょうを する?


texts: What is the etymology of お陰で/おかげで and how does the expression relate to the kanji?

texts:
If おかげで / "okagede"
  is an expression that means

  thanks to ...;  owing to ...;  because of ...;

and the correct (?) kanji that this expression derived from is

  陰 as in お陰で

which by itself means

  shade;  yin;  negative;  sex organs;  secret;  shadow

what is the relation between the meaning of the kanji and the expression?

(apparently  お蔭で · 御蔭で · 御陰で are also kanji precedents)

Possible clues:

(perhaps 陰 could mean "back" or "behind" in the past?)

(and 陰 is the Yin in YinYang?)


texts: What is the origin of 付いてる meaning "to be lucky"?

texts: Where does that come from? Was "to be attached" the only original meaning?


texts: What is the meaning of が as a sentence-ending particle here?

texts:
I came across the sentence:

  先生、お聞きしたいことがありますが。

I would have thought that this would mean "Teacher, there's something I want to ask you, but ..." (が indicating an unfinished sentence), but the English translation is simply put as

  "Teacher, there's something I want to ask you."

Is this just something missing from the translation or does ～が here have a different meaning?


texts:
冬休みは家族でイタリアやイギリスへ行きました。
This sentence is very simple but I don't understand why で is being used instead of と here.


texts:
士道とのデートはとても楽しい。二人で歩いているだけで、喋っているだけで、本当に時間を忘れてしまうような感覚を得ることができる。 でも、いや、だからこそ---------士道がいなくなってしまったあとの寂しさは、より強くなってしまうのだった。

Hi. I know のだった has some different usages than のだ. For example, according to 大辞林,

  （「のだった」の形で）事態の説明をやや詠嘆的に言い表す。 「一人思い出にふける－・だった」

Does the above definition apply to my example? If not, is the のだった in my example just past tense of のだ? If so, is there any reason why のだった is used there instead of simply のだ?
Thank you.


texts: Grammar of 彼の日本語のレベルは私と同じくらいだ

texts:
I'm Jeroen, from the Netherlands and I'm currently learning Japanese.

I'm using Anki, and it's a great tool, and I came across this sentence in the Japanese Core 2000 #1 set:

  彼{かれ}の日本語{にほんご}のレベルは私{わたし}と同{おな}じくらいだ。

I understand most of the sentence and vocabulary. the only new word to me is 位{くらい}. I know that the particle marker と is like "and" in English, kind of, and I understand that 彼の日本語のレベル is one part of the sentence. I also know that だ is the casual form of です.

I'm asking if somebody could break the sentence down for me, grammarwise, so I understand it and can make a sentence like it myself.


texts:
I hear them a lot in anime, are they the same?

I think the formal form should be 行ってしまいました／行ってしまった. Is it?


texts: Why is it 神様のいない日曜日 and not 神様いないの日曜日?

texts:
I'm curious with the title of this anime, 神様のいない日曜日。Why is it title such, and not 神様いないの日曜日？

As I understand it this follows the X の Y rule where X owns Y, right? If it is written as such wouldn't that make it God's non-existant Sunday instead of Godless Sunday (the Anime is known as Sunday without God in English).

So, once again, why is it 神様のいない日曜日 and not 神様いないの日曜日?


texts:
What's the difference between the words (to ask) - 問う, 聞く, and 訊ねる?

聞く seems like it might be more formal, and 訊ねる less common in speaking.

There's also 伺う which appears to be a humble word (謙譲語) when referring to superiors.

Does anyone have any input?

From what I gathered, 言います in place of any of these as well and people would mostly understand.


texts: Standard phrases to use in presentation speech

texts:
I'm going to speak a short foreword in a conference attended by Japanese guests, so I'm looking for standard phrases (as usually there are) to connect the sentences. I tried to translate them literally but I believe there are some set phrases for these situations. Specifically:

Welcome / Thank you for attending our conference. — 皆さん、我が会議へ良くいらっしゃいました。
I represent ... department. — ・・・部の代表で、・・・と申します。
Our department is involved in development of... — 我が分は・・・の開発に携わっています。
The industry nowadays is facing the following problems: ... —　現在、業界は次の問題に向かっています。
To address this issue, we have... — こう言う問題に答えて、我が社は・・・
To meet the needs of our [highly respected] customers, we have... — 我が顧客のニーズを満たすため、我が社は・・・
My colleague will now come forth with more detailed information. — これからは私の同僚は詳細な情報を提示して上げます。
Some standard phrase to be said before presenting the main content, like "Please listen carefully / I hope you will enjoy / Thank you for your attention" — ???

Can these phrases be used as intended? Perhaps there are more set phrases for such speeches?
Should 弊社 be used in this context, or it's okay to use 我が社?


texts: Use は or が with ある when the phrase doesn't explicit the place

texts:
I'm studying japanese from not that long and a doubt came to my mind studying ある and いる verbs, so sorry in advance if the question isn't clear.

If we take those two phrases as example:

A.　つくえはへやにあります

B.　へやにつくえがあります

For what I've understood, in the phrase A, I want to underline the location of the desk, in this case the room. In the phrase B, instead, I want to underline that in the room there's a desk, so I give more importance to the object, not to the location.

If I would want to translate the phrase "there's a desk" without pointing out the location, I can choose between:

C.　つくえがあります

D.　つくえはあります

indifferently or, if my previous argument is correct, I have to choose C?


texts: What does adding 'も=also' have to do when と alone seems to convey the complete meaning perfectly?

texts:
Edit:

新築の家を買った。今週を限りにこのマンションともお別れだ。

According to a thankfully posted comment, I realized that 新築の家を買った。今週を限りにこのマンションともお別れだ。seems to be sufficient and も adds the sense of 'also'.
How was that 'sense' expected to be added?....How was it figured out that it's a suitable time to add the sense of も to the sentence?


texts: Would a native say 心底から申し上げる? What's a better way to say "speaking with genuine sincerity...."

texts:
I've always thought / said that "心底から申し上げる" means "I am saying this with highest level of sincerity (bottom of my heart)"

"心底から申し上げて、お詫びいたします。" I very sorry for what I have done.

Google search says "心底から申し上げる" is used only 650 times, which suggests 心底 and 申し上げる is very rare and not a natural pairing of words.

So, if I want to express that apologies, respect, love, condolences are coming from my "inner most thoughts", "bottom of my heart", "not superficial", is there a word to substitute for "心底"? Is it so context based on each emotion, it is on a case by case basis and there's no simple answer?

And, what impressions does "心底から申し上げて、お詫びいたします。" give?


texts: ぶん after a standard form verb vs ほど or くらい

texts:
I came across an example like this:

  頼り無さげに　見られるぶん；生徒達に慕って　もらえるのは　素直に嬉しい
  tayorinasage ni mirareru bun; seitotachi ni shitatte moraeru no wa sunao ni ureshii

After searching several grammar dictionaries, I haven't seen a single example of ぶん used like this, nor of げ used after a さ nominalization of of an i-adj. Eventually, with the help of a native Japanese-speaker, I parsed this sentence like this:

  "The degree to which I am seen as appearing unreliable, as for being
  able to get my students to look up to me, I am truly happy."

I've interpreted it as the teacher explaining that she'd rather be admired than respected. For a more natural translation:

  "As much as they might see me as unreliable, my students' affection is
  what truly makes me happy."

This seems like an odd usage of ぶん, I'd expect either ほど or くらい in this position. The closest example on this site I've found is:
The meaning of “ぶん” in “見ているぶんには…”, but this deals with a post-verb ぶん only in a specific context.
Is this use of ぶん common?


texts:
21世紀にも親しみを覚えるようになって久しい、そんなある年。

I would translate 21世紀にも親しみを覚えるようになって久しい into "It has been a long time since I have finally become familiar with the 21ST century too.", but I'm not sure about how to interpret そんなある年 in this sentence.

I found 某年 on dictionary.goo.ne.jp/ with the following explanation:

  某年: ある年。その年が不明の場合、また明示したくない場合に用いる。「某年某月」

I was wondering if そんなある年 in the sentence was referring to 'in a certain year' or 'at a certain age'.

Thank you in advance for your kind guidance.


texts: 左に曲がる/右に曲がる v/s 左折/右折

texts:
That's it, essentially. What differentiates these two ways to indicate a turn?
So far, I had only heard 左に曲がる/右に曲がる, but recently I heard 左折/右折 in the GPS of a car. At first I thought that the latter was just a noun version, more than an action, but I've seen examples where the latter seems to also be used as a する verb (i.e. 自動車は左折した). Is it more car-related? A Google image search for the latter only shows car-driving related pictures.

Thanks in advance !!


texts: Passive vs. active form of verb (past) What is the difference?

texts:
I was wondering what the difference is if I use passive form or active form of a verb.

For example:

ネズミは猫に食べられた。The mouse was eaten by the cat.

猫は、ネズミを食べた。The cat ate the mouse.

What EXACTLY is the difference between those two? In what situations would I use the passive form to make a sentence.

Or if I were to say:

私は先生にしかられた。I was scolded by the teacher.

先生は私をしかった。The  teacher scolded me.

For example, I do not know if this is correct or makes sense:

花子はジョーンが買ったケーキを食べられた。Would this be considered grammatically incorrect in regard to passive form?

Are there situations where I can use に + passive verb? If so, in what cases?

Do Japanese prefer speaking in the passive voice as opposed to active voice? Would it be appropriate to use passive voice instead of directly saying that an action was on on me (say for example: The teacher scolded me).

Thanks so much!!!


texts: The meaning of「無理のない予定で構いません。」

texts:
My Japanese is dubious at best. Online translator tools is saving me most of the time. But I'll provide some context at least: In a project with our Japanese business partner we have been running a little bit late in most steps so far. And I've just provided an estimate (time and price) for the next step. After thanking me for the estimate he follows up with this:

  こちらの着手から実装はおおよそどのくらいの期間が必要でしょうか？
   無理のない予定で構いません。

When we can start, which is obvious I guess, but that last bit makes me scratch my head. Is it perhaps a hint that we are requesting too little time (yet again), or since it comes directly after the question is it just a "There is no need to rush." kind of thing?

Thank you.