texts:
I'm trying to understand the nuanced differences between 伴う and 同伴する.

My research (Weblio:伴う, Weblio:同伴) has led me to believe that:

同伴{どうはん}する means "a person accompanies another person", and not much outside that scope.

伴{ともな}う is the more general "to accompany, to follow along with" which may be used to talk about anything, such as wind accompanying a storm, or one problem accompanying another.

So, my questions are as follows:

Are the above assumptions correct? Are there any other nuances worth pointing out?
Does 同伴する refer to one person accompanying another exclusively, or can it be anything that accompanies a person? (ex: An aura of depression follows him wherever he goes.)
Is there any case where 伴う can not be used to mean "to accompany"? (Note: I'm asking for patently wrong cases here, not cases where 同伴する or some other word might be better.)


texts:
夕弦は七罪ではなかった。ならば残るは十香、亜衣、殿町、美衣の中の誰かだということなのだろうか。だとしても、夕弦以外に明確に士道の指名を逃れられたと思われる人物はいない。まさか、本当にただ勝負を楽しむためだけに、七罪は自分を危険に晒していたというのだろうか……？
しかしもしそう考えるのなら、その前提自体が無意味ということになってしまう。七罪が勝負を楽しんでいるというのなら、単純に今残っている三人の中に彼女がいるということもーー
頭の中で思考が堂々巡りになる。

Context: 七罪 was playing a game with 士道, the protagonist. 七罪 had the ability to transform into other people and now she had transformed into one of the 12 friends of 士道’s. And 七罪 asked 士道 to guess who she was pretending to be. Each time 士道 guessed wrongly, 七罪 would make two of the friends disappear.
Question: Can we omit the という of the bold part? If not, why? (For example, does the という just mean “say” in this context?)
よろしくお願いします。


texts: What is そういう referring to in this dialogue?

texts:
A：「この本　借りてくよ。」
  B：「あっ　学校の本は持ち出し禁止です。」
  A：「じゃあ　黙っといてよ。」
  B：「規則ですから　そういうわけには。」

In this exchange, when B says「そういうわけには。」, what does そういう refer to? Is she saying that she cannot keep quiet about A borrowing books, or more simply that A cannot borrow books? Is the scope of that phrase just the line immediately before or is it the situation as a whole?

Also, just so I'm clear, わけには is short for わけにはいかない, yes?


texts: How do I respond to よろしくお願いします after being assigned a task at work?

texts: My supervisor at work tells me よろしくお願いします after she gives me a task to do in the office. What is the appropriate way to respond? I've looked around on the internet but have been unsuccessful in finding an answer.


texts: 其れは... and 其の... Trying to restructure sentences using both words

texts:
So I have this sentence:

  其れはスーサンの鞄です

Can I restructure this sentence into:

  其の鞄はスーサンのです

?


texts: I want to know the difference among all the ways of saying I, both men and women. I know there are 私、僕 and 俺 for men; 私、あたし and うち for women; and also for elder people I've heard わしゅ. I'm not sure what's the diference of all these forms and I know there are others.


texts: How to say "Knowing that I hurt you is breaking my heart"

texts:
How does one say:

  Knowing that I hurt you (your feelings) is breaking my heart.

"Breaking my heart" I think I know:

  胸が張り裂けています。

but the first part and how to connect the two I'm clueless about.


texts: Who is receiving the benefit in this sentence?

texts:
The narrator is complaining about men on the train making noise and says:

  車掌さんが彼等に注意をしてくれるのを待ちました。

I'm uncertain of the interpretation of に together with くれる here. I can see two possibilities:

a) に translates as to. She waited for the conductor to give a warning to the men and that would benefit her. (I think this is more likely)

b) に translates as for. She waited for the conductor to give a warning for the men and that would benefit the men (because it will improve their character or it will stop someone going and punching them for example).

Are both my interpretations grammatically valid (with and without the context) or have I failed to appreciate a grammar point which makes one of them obviously wrong? Thanks.

Edit:
Perhaps I should explain further. I'm have little doubt that a) is the correct answer, but I'm interested to know if b) is a grammatically valid interpretation. For example:

  父は私にカメラを買ってくれた。

  My father bought a camera for me.

This sentence has the same structure but the person receving the benefit is the one marked by に.


texts: I often hear this from animations and read it among users when making jokes on the internet, but I wonder exactly: what's the difference between yamero and yamete?


texts:
「これからね。パパと映画を観にいくの！そのあとね、カフェでフルーツパフェ食べるんだよ！」
言ったあぁ〜。言ってしまったぁ〜。
「そうか〜。それはよかったね〜」
その子のお父さんがそう言いました。
「◯◯ちゃんは、どこに行ってたの？」
音ちゃんが聞いています。全然空気を読んでない。
「お腹まだ治らないから病院に行ってきたんだよ」
また、お父さんが答えました。
その瞬間、音ちゃんはハッとした表情をして、わたしのほうを見たのです。
「じゃあ、さようなら〜」
そう言って、音ちゃんは走ってわたしのところに戻ってきました。
わたし「わかった？」
音「うん…」
わたし「あれはよくなかったね。急性胃腸炎で休んでいること忘れてたの？」
音「うん。忘れてた」
わたし「そういうことだよ。音ちゃん。自慢しちゃダメだって意味、わかった？」
音「うん。反省した。自分がイヤになっちゃう。もう自慢しない」

「押し倒されちゃって、脱がされちゃって……求められちゃった」
「そういうことだよ。ずっと俺の腕を挟んでくれちゃってたんだから……」

In the two parts above I am lost as to what そういうこと means and is doing.
From the internet the meanings of そういうこと that I can find are:

前述の発言全体を指す表現。「そういう事は早く言え」などのように用いられる
前述の発言内容を全面的に肯定する意味合いでも用いられる。この場合は感動詞的な機能を持つ。

The first meaning doesn't seem like it matches up with the usages above. However, the second meaning doesn't really make sense to me in context. Is there another usage for そういうこと that I am missing or can someone explain the usage more clearly?


texts: 世界の年平均気温の偏差の経年変化 meaning

texts:
I was reading the global warming article on the Japanese wikipedia and got stuck on this phrase

  世界の年平均気温の偏差の経年変化

I looked up the last two words individually, which lead  me to an interpretation of: 'world change [i.e. increase] of average temperature deviation over the years'. Is this correct?

I think, from what I've understood in my previous reading, temperature deviation is the difference from a baseline average temperature [pre-1950's from memory]. But as this is the first time I've encountered 偏差 and 経年変化, I'm worried I might be jumping the gun.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks :-)

Edit: I found out later the baseline temperature is the 1981-2010 average, not that of 1891-1950, as I originally presumed. The caption in the article doesn't explicitly identify this average, which led to a lot of confusion on my part. It would have been helpful if the Japanese article didn't leave this information out.


texts:
Difference between 愛する and 愛す
How do these two verbs differ?


texts: Does using 「だ」in だと思う actually serve a practical purpose?

texts:
I know it's to indicate whether something is a Na adjective or not, but other than the language rules stating it to be so, is there any real use of it?

I'm pretty sure everyone would understand you just fine with or without the extra「だ」so to me it's really unnecessary from a practical standpoint.

Is there a linguistics standpoint that makes 「だ」absolutely essential and not just a pointless language rule that everyone follow just because.


texts:
「金持ちさえかなえば、自転車もクツも全部かなうってことだもんね」
  If only you become rich you can have a bike, shoes, everything. That's for sure.

I'm confused about the grammar of how かなう is used in this sentence. My understanding is that it means "to come true" or "to conform (to)".

If I write 自転車がかなう is that good grammar? it sounds to me like the bike is coming into existence, rather than that I get to own a bike.

I guess I would have written 自転車を持っているのがかなう. Is this wrong? Too wordy?

Maybe Xがかなう translates to "wish relating to X comes true". Can I think of it like that?


texts: What is the meaning of the word 数独 (sudoku)?

texts: I know that the term is used for a puzzle using the numbers 1-9, but I am unable to ascertain the meaning of the word. I was able to translate as number and Germany, but it doesn't seem right. Thank you.


texts:
The full sentence is:

  気にしないでコレ全然アレじゃねぇから
  間違ってもチクんじゃねーぞ

And I'm having trouble deciphering those katakana, コレ and アレ are probably a way to emphasize これ and あれ, but what about チク? Is it replacing a kanji?


texts:
Newcomer here. Trying to learn Japanese on my own for years now. Here's a first question. How can I make sure to learn correctly the difference between using を and で in the context of an action occurring in a given place. Meaning, what is correct to say:

公園で散歩します。
    or
公園を散歩します。

I tend to always use で in such case, but I stumble upon を at times.


texts:
In my textbook, they list the example sentence:

  来る来ないにかかわらず、連絡をください。

This「来る来ない」part looks strange to me. Is it incorrect? If so, then how should it be fixed? Would it need to be 「来る？来ないにかかわらず」?

EDIT: It looks like my question was edited which is fine, but now I have another question to add if that is the case. What other verbs are okay with this grammatical structure? 「来る来ない」 is the only one I've seen.


texts:
What is the purpose of に in 特別に上映が始まり?

Here is the full sentence:

このうち、北京中心部の映画館では、公開を心待ちにしてきた人たちのために、日付が変わった午前０時から特別に上映が始まり、未明にもかかわらず、大勢の若者たちが詰めかけました。


texts: How do you punctuate phone numbers in Japanese?

texts:
Given the phone number in English:

  (012) 345-6789

how do you write this in Japanese?  Is it:

  （０１２）３４５－６７８９

or:

  ０１２・３４５・６７８９

or somewhere in between?  My personal research suggests the first one is the right way to do it, but I'm suspicious.  Thanks!


texts:
In the video game Tingle's Love Balloon Trip, whose plot is a parody of The Wizard of Oz, there is a scene in which Kakashi, the scarecrow boy, says goodbye to a friend. The following dialog takes place between Kakashi and his friend:

Kakashi: ぼく そろそろ いくね。
K's friend: むう、 たびだつんか。ちょっぴり さみしいのぅ ・・・。
Kakashi: また あえるよ ! だって ぼく ワラだもん !!
K's friend: ? そ、 そうか ・・・たっしゃでな、 カカシくん。

As far as I understand, Kakashi's second line means, "We can meet again! After all, I'm (made of) straw!!" Of course, Kakashi is actually made of straw, being a scarecrow. But taken literally this doesn't make much sense - how is that going to help him meet his friend again?
Maybe it has something to with the ワラ reading of the Kanji 笑, referring to laughter?
I guess this is some sort of wordplay, but what does it mean?


texts:
What would the Japanese equivalent to ASAP be?

Would「急ぎでお願いします」be appropriate? 「すぐに」、「即に」just don't seem right.


texts: How should I interpret the function of these words in this phrase 今日は雨だ。?

texts:
Suppose you want to make a literal translation of the phrase (and not adapt it to the language to sound natural)

今日は雨だ

How would you do it?
"Today there is rain" or
"Today it's rainy"

My question (if possible to answer) it is , is the "da" verb here which works like "there is" or is the "ame" noun here which works like the adjetive "rainy"

Usually I make these questions (which might sound annoying/picky) because I try to have guidelines or rules to understand what is a valid sentence and what's not in japanese, and what could be exceptions. Otherwise everything seems to be a valid sentence. Though I understand that most part of a language is learnt by experience and you can't have a rule for everything (even when software translators try to but they mess big time sometimes or many times)


texts:
水着で密着されて無反応でいられるかっ

I roughly translated to

"Having the swimsuit stuck so close, there's no way you don't have a reaction"

What does いられるかっ mean in this sentence? Any ideas?


texts: Snakes! Word/Reading Choice -- 蛇: へび vs じゃ vs くちなわ

texts:
蛇

I'm wondering what the difference in usage between へび, じゃ, and くちなわ is to reference snakes/serpents. Is one more common than the other? Is one more casual or more literary? For example, "snake" comes up in casual conversation more often than the word "serpent"; can the same be said for へび, じゃ, or くちなわ?


texts: What is the difference between 合わす and 合わせる?

texts:
I am a little confused, is this just a transitive intransitive pair? I could not find an answer so any help is appreciated.

Thanks.


texts: I'd like to say "We are as flowers" as in 'similar to' for a dorama title. Is 私たちは花のようです acceptable?

texts:
So I'm looking to make up some sort of J-dorama and am looking for a proper title. The story is irrelevant, just that the title is supposed to mean that 'we are like flowers', as in 'similar to', but not 'look like' or 'equivalent to'.

Google Translate offers the phrase in the title. It also offers 均しい but I think it's too... rigid? Exact? I'm looking for something more metaphorical.

Does using よう make it sound more metaphorical than 均しい?
Does the current phrase in the title acceptable sound like a proper dorama title?
I'm thinking of removing the です, would that work better as a dorama title?


texts: How do I say "I am going to Japan for a university exchange"?

texts:
I know exchange is 交換 in Japanese but is it right to say "大学交換”？

My current guess of the expression would be

  日本に大学交換しに行きます。


texts:
It seems like 真偽 and the second meaning for 虚実 have the same meaning, but are there any differences in how they're used?

真偽
真実と、いつわり。まことかうそか。「真偽のほどはわからない」
虚実
１ 実質・実体のあることとないこと。
２ うそとまこと。虚構と事実。「虚実とりまぜて語る」
３ 「虚虚実実」の略。


texts: Can anyone explain the obsolete, non-phonetic use of hiragana from pre war times?

texts:
At university our most learned lecturer in Japanese once mentioned there were non-phonetic usages of hiragana at the end of kanji verbs and adjectives pre WWII. Apparently books printed prewar used this writing system, meaning old prints are illegible to modern Japanese speakers!

This was said to be similar to English spelling in that kana were pronounced differently to normal sounds based on their position at the end of the word.

Does anyone know of this spelling system? Can you explain how it worked?

My izakaya zatsugaku won't be complete without this and I've wondered about this for years!


texts: Describing the degree/level/amount when using the -さ adjective ending

texts:
When using words like 速さ or 美味しさ to refer to the degree of some quality, can we be more specific about the degree?

For example, can we say "美味しさが高い" or "美味しさが低い"? Maybe "大きい・小さい" (or some other pair) is more appropriate than "高い・低い"?

Can we directly compare the "美味しさ" of two different things, or should we just use something like "XのほうがYより美味しい"?


texts:
I am interested to decompose どうかなさいましたか into its atomic words. My attempt is as follows, is it correct?

どうか
なさいました
か

I don't know the dictionary form of  なさいました. I totally get confused.
How to parse どうかなさいましたか and what does it mean in English?


texts: Irregularity of あ-series in demonstratives

texts:
Why is the あ-series in demonstratives irregular like the following:

  ここ　　そこ　　あ そこ　　　　　　どこ
  　　　　　　　(expected あこ)
  こう　　そう　　あ あ　　　　　　　どう
  　　　　　　　(expected あう)

Is it related to the fact that こ, そ, ど all end with the vowel "o", and あ ends with the vowel "a"?


texts: "Now that [a certain criterion] is in place" in Japanese

texts:
In English you can say things like

  Now that an X is here we can discuss Y

with the implication being that X is a criterion that must be in place to continue. A similar structure can be used to start off new ideas: "Now that I'm going to the store" after which you list all the stuff your going to buy etc.

How would sentences like these translate into Japanese? I was thinking something like

  店に行くことになるなら...

but something tells me that sounds wrong.


texts:
Good day,

I'm currently studying Japanese in a school here in Tokyo and I'm on my 5th month already here. Problem is that the lesson here is sometimes too fast, which is why I need to use other resources such as this website to learn. Our lesson is currently about 謙譲語. I saw in the vocabulary that いたします is the humble equivalent of する, but I'm having trouble figuring out when to use it.

In the Minna no Nihongo Book 2nd Ed. that we're currently using,

1st and 2nd verb group
お＋します

Example
よていをお知らせします
かばんをお持ちします

3rd verb group
ご＋します
ご案内します
中止の場合はご連絡します

I was wondering where いたします fits in the actual lesson, as I cannot find the actual usage in the book, all I know is that I should use it on some events like when entering a room 失礼いたします, or お願いいたします but I need some explanation to further understand it's usages. Any help is much appreciated, thank you!


texts:
I came across the expression "どゆこと" in the show "世界の日本人妻は見た!". For example, at 21:12 in an episode involving a Mongolian husband.

The phrase is also mentioned in the Wikipedia article about the show:

  なお、2012年4月8日19:00 - 20:54に『爆笑問題の世界の日本人妻は見た! 海外生活真相リポート どゆこと?1 異国の珍体験』という単発の特別番組（以下「パイロット版」と略記）が放送されている。

Also, a google search for "どゆこと" gets matches unrelated to the show,

A native speaker has told me that "どゆこと" is the same as "どういうこと", which means "what does it mean?", except that the latter is "correct" and the former isn't.

What's the relationship between the two? Is "どゆ" kind of like a lazy or fast way of saying "どういう"?


texts:
シャ－カ－ン殿はファティマの碧玉…… そしてそれによって得られるファティマの至宝を狙っております。

From the context, Shakhan(シャ－カ－ン) needs "Fatima Jasper"(ファティマの碧玉) to get "Fatima Treasure"(ファティマの至宝), but hasn't acquired it yet.

So would it be

  "...by means of it he is aiming to obtain  the treasure  of
  Fatima."

or

  "...by means of it he'll be given the opportunity to aim for the treasure of Fatima."

?


texts: I came across the sentence その子は指で十数えました in writing, and I was under the impression that, in written Japanese particles are not omitted. I can see that that sentence means, "That child counted to ten with her fingers". However, I'm having difficulty understanding if there should be an を (or another particle) after 十. I feel like 十 should be the direct object of 数えました, but maybe my understanding of the verb 数えました is incorrect. Could someone help me further understand this sentence?


texts: Desu pronounced dess: what about other words?

texts:
On a CD that came with my text book I hear that desu is pronounced dess. Are there many other words in Japanese, where done of the sound from the kana spelling actually falls off, like in this example, at the end our at any other place?

If I pronounce desu instead of dess, will it sound wrong to native Japanese speakers?

Is there some rule to what vowels our other sounds (mora?) from the kanji to omit?

Thanks.


texts: Is the use of "だって” regional or is it used everywhere?

texts:
I recently came across "datte" for example: "だって眠くないんだもの" Is this specific to a dialect
or used all over Japan?


texts: 「上のごとく」対「上述」：現在では「〜のごとく」は使わないほうがいいですか。

texts:
Japanese
前書き
２ヶ月前、私は国内会議で発表しました。そのときは、まだ日本語のミスがたくさんある原稿を使っていました。今、文学の博士課程の友人に修正してもらっています。もちろん、これは勉強になります。修正された部分は、たいてい（私の言おうとしている意味に）的確だとわかりますし、なぜそう修正されるのかわかるのですが、ときどき私の使った表現が古かったせいなのだろうかと思うことがあり、確認したいです。
質問本文
私の質問は「〜のごとく」に関してです。
原稿には私は以下の文を書いていました：

上のごとく、道徳的自己は神の支配を愛する。

ですが、友人は修正して以下のように変えました：

上述のように、道徳的自己は神の支配を愛する。

別の研究で、西田幾多郎の論文を読んでいたときに、「上のごとく」（実際は「右の如く」）という表現を知って、使いました。これは古びた表現ですか。または、使い方の間違いですか。
English
Preface
Two months ago, I presented at an academic conference inside of Japan. At the time, I used a manuscript which still contained many errors in the Japanese. Now, I'm getting revisions from a friend who is in a humanities PhD program. Of course, I'm learning a lot from these. And I generally think the corrections are accurate (to the meaning I want to say) and can understand why the corrections work. Periodically though, I wonder if the problem is I used a outdated expression and I want to confirm that [here].
Question itself
My question then is in relation to the use of the expression　"X no ごとく". In my manuscript, I had the following sentence:

上のごとく、道徳的自己は神の支配を愛する。

Approximately,  "As written above, the moral self loves to serve God."
My friend corrected it to:

上述のように、道徳的自己は神の支配を愛する。

(same translation).
In a different research project, I was reading an article by Nishida Kitaro, and that's where I picked up the 「上のごとく」(Actually,「右の如く」). Is this phrase outdated? Or did I use it incorrectly?


texts: Why does the 文語 version of the Bible have so many nonstandard readings?

texts:
For example in Genesis 1:

  元始{はじめ}に神{かみ}　天地{てんち}を創造{つくり}たまへり

Why are the kanji 元始 and 創造 given the interesting readings? Moreover, they seem to be given the readings of the less specific words 始め and 作り. Why not do this:

  始めに神　天地を作りたまへり

I understand the motivation of giving a technical kanji compound to denote a special concept, but usually when that happens an ad-hoc 和製漢語 or existing 音読み compound reading is given. So why not

  元始{げんし}に神　天地を 創造{そうぞう}したまへり

Is this practice of using kanji compounds imported from China but instead giving the reading of the closest Japanese word more common in Classical Japanese?


texts:
I usually don't have trouble identifying kanji what with all the helpful dictionary apps available. But this one really has me scratching my head.

I tried to find this character by building it up with radicals, unfortunately the closest I came to is 鎚 which of course has a different radical on the left ('gold' whereas the one in my image has the 'thread radical') Initially I thought maybe  鎚 is an alternative way to write this mystery Kanji, but I looked it up in a reliable dictionary and it doesn't list any alternatives. So can anyone help identify this kanji? Thanks in advance!


texts: What is the difference between でいる and である in this example?

texts:
From Bright Side Japan:

  現代の女性はなぜ独身でいることを選ぶのか (link here)

Is it still grammatical to use である instead of でいる in the above sentence? If not, why not?
If it is possible, what is the change in meaning?
Can you give other examples which highlight the difference between でいる and である?


texts: Saying "I like you": 好きって言われたい vs. 好きって言いたい

texts:
I encountered this usage while watching a video on grammar on 日本語の森:

好きって言われたい

Now, judging by the context, it apparently means that the speaker "wants to say 'I like her.'" However, if I were to read the sentence without any context, I would probably understand it as someone "wants to be said 'I like you,'" which would seem awkward to me at best.

A specified search on Google turned up 138,000 and 392,000 for 好きって言われたい and 好きって言いたい respectively, meaning that while the former is relatively used less, it isn't rare at all.

Question:

Am I wrong to say that by 好きって言われたい, the speaker means to express the same thing as 好きって言いたい, or are the two actually entirely different as one would normally expect?


texts: Can the particle を work as から in certain situations?

texts:
I found the next sentence:

村を飛び出した

Because of 飛び出す being an intransitive verb, then that を is not working as a direct object marker, right? Then can を work as a "substitute" for から in this situation? In what other situations this happens?

「村を飛び出した」　＝　「村から飛び出した」？


texts: Before Japanese adopted Arabic numerals, can 十分 mean "10 minutes" other than "enough"?

texts: I am not sure when Japanese started using Arabic numerals. At the time before it, can 十分 mean "10 minutes" other than "enough"?


texts: How to say "you should search for x here"

texts:
I'm mostly a beginner and still figuring grammar out. I was wondering if

(location)に (object)を さがしたほうがいい

would be a grammatically correct format for a rough translation of "you should search for x here" in casual speech. for example,

ウールマートに　りんごを さがしたほうがいい

Thanks!


texts:
I'm trying to understand some basic phrases from this Japanese phrasebook:

https://wikitravel.org/en/Japanese_phrasebook

There is a phrase:

Is there a doctor who can speak English?
英語の出来る医者はいますか？

Why is the particle は used here instead of  が? I thought that noun + がいますか is used to ask questions such as "Is there..?"/"Are there..?". Thank you!


texts: Why is the State of the Union Address Called 一般教書演説?

texts: The President of the United States gives a speech referred to in English as the "State of the Union". Why is this speech called 一般教書演説{いっぱんきょうしょえんぜつ} in Japanese?


texts: adding 「化」as a suffix can create サ変名詞, right？What is the technical term for this?

texts:
"Personification" might be the term for adding 「人」or「者」as a suffix to a noun.

I am pretty sure that 「化」can also function as a suffix to a noun. My perception is that adding 「化」as a suffix "injects action", and enables the newly formed noun to feel like gerunds and infinitives (which insert action into sentences via nouns), as well as function as a サ変名詞：
「兵器」= "weapon"; 「兵器化する」= "to weaponize";
「可視」= "visibility"; 「可視化する」= "to visualize";
「コモディティー」= "commodity"; 「コモディティー化する」= "to commoditize";
I am sure that there are many examples. They would be used in newspapers to make articles as short as possible?

(1) But, does the construct of "injecting action" with a「化」suffix really exist？
(2) What are some websites that explain this?
(3) Is there a short phrase in English, or Japanese, that is used to identify this construct?


texts:
悪魔の力を授かった故に、
定められし死をも超える存在と
なるのか…

Why there's し in 定められし?
Is it some kind of old-fashioned form?


texts: Meaning of 無理に聞いても 言わせてもね

texts:
I encountered the phrase in a slice-of-life manga:
無理に聞いても 言わせてもね

The first half I can understand, roughly "even if you force them to say it", but the second part 言わせてもね does not make sense to me and dictionary (like Jisho) did not help. Contextually it would mean, I guess, that "even if you (try to) force them to say it, they won't say it anyway". Is this right?
This is the snapshot:

The context is basically that Koizumi telling a complicated story about her family to Shino, who has a complicated family issues of her own (and Shino thought she managed to move a bit towards resolving it).


texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  [私]{わたし}の[名前]{なまえ}はライノーです。
  watashi-no namae-wa rhino desu.

Would a native speaker use this form, as opposed to ”[私]{わたし}はライノーです” or ”[名前]{なまえ}ライノーです”?

An acquaintance of mine (not a native speaker either) claims that the former would sound unnatural and, although grammatically correct, would rarely be preferred over the latter two.

Other than that (given my example sounds right), am I correct in the assumption that the first form is the most polite, while the second is slightly less polite and the third one would be used only in casual conversations?


texts: Is this は replacing が or を? (& is this 悪 read as あく or わる？）

texts:
This is the "sentence":

  暴力は悪*だと非難する|
  condemn violence as evil

Sounds simple? The English translation does not give a subject so I wonder are either が or をcorrect if I modify the sentence as follows:

  彼らは暴力 [が/を] 悪だと非難した ｜They condemned violence as evil.

I think を is consistent with the pattern in the following two sentences so I suspect that is the natural choice and although が is also grammatically correct it is not used.

  彼らは彼を無能だと非難した|
  They blamed him  for incompetence

  彼は私を不注意だと批判した|
  He criticised me for being careless

If が is the natural choice then I anticipate this will relate to the nature of the combinations of 暴力＆悪；彼＆無能：私＆不注意 but I'd be grateful if someone could explain this.

All these came from プログレッシブ英和・和英辞典.

*As a secondary question is this 悪 read as あく or わる？


texts: Meaning of 自分でもわかってはいるんだが

texts:
「朝武さんが寝ぼけてるだけなんですってば」

  「ほら、朝に弱いから部屋を間違えて」

  「いくら寝起きが弱いと言っても、部屋を間違えたりするものか？」

  「もし仮に間違えたとしても、そんなに密着したりしますか？」

  「やっぱ、この状況じゃ何を言っても説得力にかけるよな……」

  自分でもわかってはいるんだが……。

Context: 朝武さん was found sleeping in his room right next to him.

What does 自分でもわかってはいるんだが mean in the above?

Or rather, what is he saying he "Understands"?

Is he saying the he understood that no matter what excuse he tried to make they wouldn't buy it, but he tried anyway?

Or does it mean something else?


texts: How to translate わからない in the following sentence

texts:
Context: a boxer named Yanagi is fighting against an opponent named Hyodo. Although Hyodo is really young, he is considered a very talented boxer and is often called genius (天才). Yanagi is thinking about how to face such a boxer.

  わかっている　ボクシングには数と質を超越する力【もの】を持つボクサーがいるコトを

  理論から逸脱した天才に立ち向かうには……　闘志以外は　無い

  わかっている…　それでも届かないコトも

  だが…　わからないのは　現実【それ】を認められない自分自身だ

My translation attempt:

  I know that in boxing there are boxers that have an ability that
  trascends quantity and quality.

  To face a genius that escapes theory... the only way is using one's
  fighting spirit.

  But I also know... that this doesn't work.

  However... what I don't know... is that the one who can't accept reality is me.

The last sentence seems a little weird to me. Does it sound weird only once it is translated to English or in Japanese too? Is my translation correct?

I know that わかる is an intransitive verb and doesn't actually mean "to know" but "to be clear/known", but that's not the problem here. The fact is that If I take out わからないのは, the sentence makes sense. It seems redundant to me. How would you translate or interpret it?

Here you can see the manga pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Thank you for your help!


texts: Why is いきなり needed in this sentence with 走り出す?

texts:
I am listening to a podcast for learning Japanese and there is a story about a penguin in a zoo.

十分ぐらい前から　ずっと　おかしくて　いきなり走り出しました
From(since) 10 minutes ago it was acting strange, [then] it suddenly took off running

Why is いきなり used here, when 走り出す is "to suddenly start running"?
Or have I not understood いきなり / -出す?


texts: How does this たる function in this JLPT sentence?

texts:
Please bear with me as I reveal my tenuous grasp on advanced grammar...

While studying for the Grammar section of the JLPT (N1) I came across this grammar point to study: たる

I came across a lot of confusion trying to sort out exactly what it means. Dispite the lack of solid explanations at my favorite haunts, I found out that for all intents and purposes there are two kinds of たる, one that is related to adjectives like what is discussed in this JLU question, and another that is appended to "a regular noun and modifying another noun", like how Akibare describes in this thread.

It's the latter that will be tested on the JLPT.

From tanos.co.uk:

  ~たる

  意味：　Be~ ; As a~ ; is~

  接続：　[名]＋たる＋[名]

  例文：　教師たる者、学生に対して常に公平であるべきだ。

My grammar study books says that it is used with 身分や職業を表す｢名詞｣.

I thought I had it figured out, then I came across this sentence from a past test (1998):

  相手を十分納得させるにたるデータを示す必要がある。

I believe it means "It is necessary that we have data that will sufficiently convince the other party." What I can't understand is how たる fits into it.

Does ...納得させるに function as a noun? If so, it doesn't seem to be referring to a noun that shows social position or occupation.

Is this an example of the first usage of たる (which to be honest I don't really understand)?


texts:
君にどれだけ近づいても僕の心臓は一つだけ

I pretty much understand what this sentence is saying except I have no idea how to fit "entrails" into the meaning. Perhaps I'm totally off. Could someone please tell me how to read this?


texts:
My textbook makes a difference between verbs that describe activities and verbs that describe changes.  Two examples given are:

話す - activity
結婚する - change

It then goes on to say that 話している describes an action in progress while 結婚している describes the result of a change (being married).  Then it goes on that ている after transitive verbs describe actions in progress, and ている after intransitive verbs describe states that hold after the change takes place.

It's clear to me that 結婚する is a change verb, but I'm not sure if 結婚する is transitive or intransitive.  All the dictionaries I've checked don't list 結婚する, just 結婚.  But, in any case, do intransitive-change verbs always coincide? Or are there transitive-change verbs?

Also, how can I distinguish an action verb from a change verb?  It's not always as obvious as with 結婚する.  Is there any reference or dictionary that tells you which are which?  Or any method you guys use to know which is which?


texts: What does 1500万0000円 mean on a price display?

texts:
I'm a bit confused by the price display in a sushi restaurant video, see https://youtu.be/V1g0yIBTDjQ?t=608

Do I misread the number or is this a joke (the video has an unusual cut there)?

It shows the price as 1500万0000円, which I would read as 15,000,000円, approximately 150,000.00$ (with exchange rate 100 yen = 1 dollar). Does 万 have another meaning differing from ten-thousand here?


texts: Use of "equals" or "not equal to" in Japanese in software or math context?

texts:
I am working on a tool that I want to translate to Japanese and wanted to confirm if I am using the correct version and grammar of the words.

When i translated both "is equal to" and "equals" in Google translate I always got 等しい. Why is the same word used regardless of grammar? Is that correct?

For equals I see so many variations of 等しい


texts: What's the difference between いつだって and いつでも?

texts: Pretty simple, like the title says, what's the difference between いつだって and いつでも?  I can tell there's a little difference, but it's so very difficult for me to pin down.


texts:
I'm having trouble trying to understand a fragment from a dialogue between two students in the book "An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese".

I do know that 今度 means "now", "next time", or "another time", and 一度 means "once". But in the conversation between the two students they use 今度一度:

  加藤: でも上手じゃありませんよ。

  トム: 今度一度やりましょうか。

How should I understand 今度一度 in the previous fragment of the dialogue?


texts: What's the difference between 立ち上がる and 立つ?


texts: What does -komu (～込む) at the end of a word mean?

texts: There are loads of words in Japanese which end in 込{こ}む, like 吸{す}い込む, 読{よ}み込む, 入{はい}り込む, 打{う}ち込む, 売{う}り込む, 送{おく}り込む, 押{お}し込む. How does adding ～込む change the meaning? What is the meaning that links all these words?


texts:
I'd like to ask about this phrase, particularly on the meaning of どこまでも as this is the first example I've see of it used together with 余裕{よゆう}: どこまでも余裕{よゆう}を見{み}せてくれる

For context, this is said by a man right after his nemesis calls for a bunch of backup and moves behind them to observe the upcoming fight. If it matters, this is the second time he's done this.

Am I correct in reading this as something akin to "He's giving us a wide berth...", the　どこまでも余裕{よゆう} indicating that speaker's enemy is keeping a constant distance from him? Or, should I read it as "Always keeping his distance...", the part being meant to evoke criticism on the fact that the enemy has the habit of running behind his men when push comes to shove?

Thanks for the insight.


texts: Can someone explain the use of 水 in 水商売?

texts:
水商売 【みずしょうばい】 (n) (1) chancy trade (business) with a high turnover rate and uncertain profitability; (2) the entertainment, eating, and drinking business; (3) the night entertainment (nightlife) business

The implied meanings behind the use of 水 in 水商売 seems varied and colorful. Would anyone care to explain the usage? I take it that 水 here both refers to liquor as well as the "flow" of the trade and the risk (such as the risk from wet weather) that comes with these types of businesses. Is the diverse set of meanings in 水 here used in other compound words or expressions?


texts:
Reading a novel and there's a part of a sentence that I don't quite understand. For context, the person speaking is at a small party, being completely drunk while speaking to this fit, sober woman.

The speaker is also imitating another person here who tends to speak archaically and very arrogantly. Here is the whole line:

  「見通す悪魔が宣言しよう。なんじ、一人シラフで呆れた顔をしている力ごぶ娘よ。アルコールは分解するのにたんぱく質を必要とするもの。今すぐお酒をたくさん飲めば、悩みのカチカチ筋肉が少しはやわこくなるであろう。」

The part that I don't understand is the last sentence,

  悩みのカチカチ筋肉が少しはやわこくなるであろう。

There is some talk about 'stiff muscles of trouble' but that's pretty much all I can understand. The やわこく part is especially confusing as I have no idea what that could mean.


texts:
What does "わけでもない" mean in this sentence:

  聞いただけでは忘れてしまうことがあるので、最近はつねにメモをとるようにしています。でも、いつも紙とペンを持っているわけでもないので根本的なところから変えようとしっかり睡眠をとったり

Is it わけ (referencing to the circumstance of not having pen and paper) + でもない? Or is it just わけではない　with も　instead of は.


texts: Colour connotations in Japanese language?

texts:
In English cultures there is a thin line (that usually isn't crossed) between symbolism (usually used in visual arts) and lingual connotation which is usually used in creative writing, and colour is a large medium for both. Lets take blue for example. In a painting I would use blue to represent eternity, a sort of ongoing feeling; like that of the sky or ocean. In a story or a poem I would use blue to signify depression or solemness. I have looked for something like the Japanese equivalent but I have only found Japanese colour symbolism.

Colours are used often to represent ideas and social attitudes, like gold commonly being the iconic colour of Buddhism in older Japanese art, and blue sometimes representing daily life (because indigo dye was very common). However, what I want to know is if colour didn't just serve symbolic use in visual art, but in writing as well. Does Japanese have different lingual connotations for the colours that are separate from the connotation used in symbolism? If possible could you give an example and any helpful resources?

Edit: I'm asking if there is any symbolic use of colours in Japanese language, separate from the symbolic use of and meaning derived from colour symbolism in imagery, like in the example with blue written above.


texts: What is the difference between お元気に、お元気で、気をつけて？

texts:
I want to say hello to a friend I haven't seen for a long time, and end my message with "take care". All of お元気{げんき}に, お元気{げんき}で and 気{き}をつけて mean "take care", so which one suits my case?
How should I say it?

And I want to distinguish them clearly.


texts: What is the difference between 怖じける and 恐れる?

texts:
I wanna ask you about the difference between [怖]{お}じける and [恐]{おそ}れる. Both mean to be scary right?

Which is more common?
How do I use each in a sentence?
Are they interchangeable?


texts:
ここの夫婦ほど私たちとかけ離れた連中はまたといませんよ。
  There's no one as different from us as the people here.

This is how I would translate the sentence without またと. Am I correct that this sentence works without またと?

I'm assuming that またと means "in addition/besides", but I'm struggling to understand how it fits into the sentence grammatically,  and what extra nuance it adds.


texts: Can anyone explain what ないっちゃないんだけど means in this sentence?

texts:
I'm reading the first novel in the Library Wars series at the moment, and using an English translation I found online to help out when I don't understand something. But in this case the translation hasn't cleared things up for me.

The original Japanese is this:
堂上も大人げないっちゃないんだけどね (堂上 is a person)
and the translation is this: Dojo can be pretty childish too.

I am confused about how the っちゃない is functioning in this sentence. I know っちゃ can be an abbreviation for ては, but in that case wouldn't it mean 'Dojo is not being childish either'? It doesn't seem the same as when じゃない is used in a positive way, because of the んだけど, which seems to emphasise the negative sense of ない.

In the context, either translation is possible, although neither seem to make perfect sense. The speaker was explaining to the main character that Dojo is only hard on her because he has high expectations of her (i.e. he is not just being childish when he is mean to her), but the main character's response, that prompted this remark, was very stubborn (i.e. perhaps she is being childish and the speaker could be trying to make her feel better about herself by implying she's not the only one).

Thanks for your help!


texts: I have exhausted google and my many dictionaries. I put "host" or "to host" and don't get the word I'm looking for. The sentence I am trying to say is "are you hosting a new exchange student" and I have no idea where to find the correct terminology. Does anyone know the correct way to approach this. I maybe oversimplifying my search because there may not be an exact word translation. Anyone know how to approach this sentence. This was the closest I found: 受皿となる


texts:
I've checked this link but i'm afraid it didn't help my understanding in this example:

とし子ちゃんにきくと、やっぱり自分のことをふつうだと言った。
When she asked とし子, とし子 also said that her own affairs were ordinary (my, probably wrong, translation).

I don't understand the use of を in this sentence. There is no verb in the quoted sentence 自分のことをふつうだ which takes an object.
I came across a similar structure once AをBと思う (to regard A as B). I'm wondering if something similar is going on here? This leads me to the same understanding given in the link i.e 'call A like B'
Maybe "she spoke about here own affairs as though they were ordinary"? Am I getting closer here?


texts: Very beginner question. I often see this spelled in hiragana with a dash. I thought the dash was used to indicate long sounds in katakana, where hiragana should have been spelled やっほう. Why isn't it?


texts: I want to say a phrase “I have learnt a lot of words by heart”.  Is it correct to say: 単語をたくさん習いました。 I mean is it the way native speaker would say it?


texts: Do Japanese parents address their son as musuko?

texts: In America, parents can address their son as son. For example, "Son, could you open the window for me?" Do Japanese parents address their son as 息子？Thanks.


texts: What's the difference between 親切 and 優しい?

texts:
In my text books they were both translated as "friendly, kind", so I'm wondering if they can be used interchangeably or if they are different somehow. I tried to ask some people but although they agreed they are not exactly the same, they had a hard time explaining the difference.

Maybe someone around here has a good explanation or at least some example sentences and situations.

If I have to I will add some example sentences where I wonder which one to use, but I am hoping to get a general answer, so I don't want to focus people too much on one example.


texts: What to reply when the ladies sweeping the steps outside a temple tell you 「ご苦労様」?

texts:
I was at a temple the other day, and as I was leaving and going down the stairs, the ladies that were cleaning the steps said to me 「ご苦労様」. I replied with 「ありがとうございます、おつかれさま」, but I felt sort of awkward after that. Does anyone know how I should have replied?

Thanks


texts:
I'm currently reading through the 灰と幻想のグリムガル light novel at the moment and have become stuck on this page containing the below sentence.

I've provided an image for context as I think you'll need it.

The first half of the sentence I need help with is this:

  流すのもなんなので、ハルヒロはとりあえず「....親族なの？」と尋ねてみた。

The official English Translation for this book translates it as so:

  It would be awkward to leave that hanging, so Haruhiro offered, “...Maybe they're in the same family?”.

I know it's connected to the topic of the last paragraph, but I can't seem to fully wrap my head around its full meaning and how its deconstructed.

If someone could explain this to me like I'm 5 that would be fantastic.

Thanks,

Archie ♥


texts: How do the elements of 駅の近くに壊れた自転車がずっと置いてあります work together

texts:
駅の近くに壊れた自転車がずっと置いてあります。

"Near the trainstation, there are continuously put broken bikes/there are always broken bikes."

First, 駅の近くに: Is my interpretation as a local adverbial which doesn't directly modify 自転車 correct?

Second: Is my interpretation of ずっと　correct in this context?

Third: 置く kind of gives me a headache. Since it means "to put", I'm not sure wether it is said that broken bikes are put/brought there, or that broken bikes are "put" there, which basically means that they were put there, and then got broken (which I assume is the case, but grammatically it seems ambiguous to me).
Is it very common to express this with 置く in japanese?
In both english and german I'd expect solely the copula "to be": "There are broken bikes." 置く feels kind of redundant to me.


texts:
I came across the following sentence:

  どうしても納豆だけは食べられない。

The sentence as a whole makes sense, but what meaning or function does も have here?


texts: If （衝撃、そして背後に流れていく視界）の中～ means "amid 衝撃 and X視界 (field of sight), where X is 視界's predicate, then what does 背後に流れていく視界 mean? Looking back? Literally seeing what's behind? The "field of sight streaming  (towards) back/behind" doesn't make sense to me when translated literally.


texts:
What I knew about the ようにする／なる is 'to make sure'

What are the difference in usage?
Please give me examples of each


texts: Is there a difference in meaning between 何時間寝ますか and 何時に寝ますか

texts:
Is there a difference in meaning between 「何時間寝ますか」　and 「何時に寝ますか」 ?

I know that 「何時に寝ますか。」means "What time do you sleep?"
But what about 「何時間寝ますか。」?


texts: How do 何 and どう change the meaning of these sentences?

texts:
I know people say not to rely too much on music to learn Japanese, but I love Japanese music. Usually I try to translate the lyrics into English as I listen, but I keep hearing the phrase どうしようか and I can't really figure out what it means. Usually 何しようか usually means 'what should (I/we) do,' so I thought maybe it means 'how should (I/we) do it' or something along those lines. How does どう change the meaning of the sentence?

Note: the sentence doesn't have any comprehensive context, so I only included the singular phrase I was confused with.


texts: Confused in choosing でした or です in のは～だ grammar

texts:
Which one is the correct one between the following 2 sentences? Are my English translations correct?

  A: 昨日食べたのは肉まんです。

  A': It is nikuman (steamed meat bun) that I ate yesterday.

  B: 昨日食べたのは肉まんでした。

  B': It was nikuman (steamed meat bun) that I ate yesterday.

Note: I am not a native speaker in both English and Japanese.


texts: How is readability measured in Japanese?

texts:
First of all, I apologize if this question is better suited for the meta. It's a little theoretical, but it's also very much about the Japanese language, so I figured it was fine here.

I was looking at the wiki page for readability the other day, which is full of formulas and methodologies for quantifying readability in English, and it got me wondering what this might look like in Japanese. Unfortunately, the equivalent Japanese wiki page (可読性) provides no such convenient formulas, and it appears most of its sources are about English anyway.

A cursory Google search for 可読性 or 可読性の測定法 turned up mostly design or programming related results, things about code readability, etc. I'm not sure if there's a better term for this in Japanese that I don't know, or if I am barking up the wrong tree in some other sense.

I know that there are grade levels assigned to a large number of kanji and that these are taken into account when producing a lot of written work, but what are other ways in which the readability of Japanese text is measured?

Edit: I've had much better luck Googling for 読みやすさ, which seems to be the more commonly used term. Not sure I have a complete picture yet though, so going to leave the question open for now.


texts:
The おいで after the Te-form seems to convey a kind of command.
Could you explain the usages of this word, what part of speech is it and how it differs from the other kinds of commands?


texts: Why do onyomis have so many extra syllables?

texts: Onyomis are pronunciations that originate from Chinese. In Chinese, the pronunciation of a character contains exactly one consonant. However, a lot of onyomis have 2 consonants. For example [特別]{とくべつ}. I am wondering why the く and つ sounds are there. Did Chinese really sound like that 1000 years ago? Or is this the Japanese being "creative"? Or can we not be sure?


texts:
When connecting two progressive actions, are you supposed to connect them using progressive in both or only the last one, as tense should be determined by the last verb?
Example:
He was sitting in the classroom, reading a book.
彼は教室にすわって本を読んでいた。
or
彼は教室にすわっていて本を読んでいた。
Thanks in advance


texts: How do you say numbers/letters in a skipped sequence or connected by a dash?

texts: I keep running into things like 1-3 or a-d in my workbook but i can't figure out how to read them aloud. Is it 1から3 sort of like in english? is it a literal aダッシュd? something completely different? A google search only gives me straight up numbers or tells me the dash is for elongating vowels. For the sake of my internal monologue, please, I'm dyingggg


texts: Has the average native Japanese speaker heard of Hepburn romaji?

texts: Is the average native Japanese speaker likely to have heard of Hepburn romaji? Not necessarily being able to recall the entire kana table, but at least knowing that it is a romanization system which has some kana different from other systems?


texts: What do the words 「やった台」 and 「はずしてあった」 mean?

texts:
I have found them in a manga. It is a dialogue discussing to the third person going into a Pachinko shop.

Here is the full sentence.

  ジョーがやった台【だい】はガラスがはずしてあっただと

What do the words やった台 and はずしてあった mean?


texts: 〜くれて, what is the meaning and how do people use it?

texts: Just like the title suggest, I once in a while will encounter なになにてくれて。what does it really mean and how normally people use it?


texts:
Hi can someone help me to figure out what that に in 朝起きて一番に is doing? I´m confused. is it indicating an absolute time, or is it making it an adverbial for what comes next? and also, all the て forms is the connective -and-?

朝起きて一番に中庭に集まって家族みんなで太極拳をします


texts: What are the uses of に and と in this sentence?

texts:
Can you help me understand/correct my understanding of the particles from this sentence?

  私はその人を常に先生と呼んでいた。

So literally this means "I + that man/person + always + sensei + call"?

Is it "I have always called that man Sensei"?
What does に serve as in this sentence?
What does と serve as in this sentence?
What's でいた?

Thanks!!


texts:
I found this example sentence in the Internet.

  [郷]{ごう}に[入]{い}っては[郷]{ごう}に従えと学んできました。
  I have learned to do as the Romans when in Rome.

What I don't understand is, why use 従え? Shouldn't it be 従い?
Is there any difference in meaning between the two?


texts:
A simple name cartouche 九郎判宦義経 uses '判宦' instead of '判官'. I assume it is supposed to be read Kurō Hōgan Yoshitsune. Yoshitsune received the title Kurō Hōgan (九郎判官) from the Imperial Court; sometimes you see his name written as Minamoto Kurō Yoshitsune (源九郎義経) without the Hōgan; the term "sympathy for a tragic hero," Hōgan-biiki (判官贔屓) comes from Yoshitsune's title. Can anyone shed light on the 宦/官 substitution — is this common?
In general dictionary searches, I noted that kangan 宦官 (かんがん) is the noun for "eunuch". Assuming Hōgan is correct, then is it a simple matter that 宦 has a kan かん sound (as evidenced in kangan 宦官) and a gan がん sound (as evidenced in Hōgan 判宦)?
Wiktionary gives the following readings for 宦:
Goon: げん (gen)
Kan’on: かん (kan)
Kun: つかえる (tsukaeru, 宦える); まなぶ (manabu)
Wiktionary gives the following readings for 官:
Goon: かん (kan)
Kan’on: かん (kan)
Kun: つかさ (tsukasa, 官); おおやけ (ōyake, 官)
Elsewhere:
宦 = "official", Kun: つかさ tsukasa, On: カン
官 = "government service; the bureaucracy", かん kan
官 = "office; official", Archaism, つかさ tsukasa


texts: What's the difference between 特定する and 指摘する

texts:
I was browsing through a vocabulary list when I noticed that both words can mean "to pinpoint" as in

  彼らは今日の火事の原因を特定しようとしている。

Are they interchangeable in this context? Are there cases when one is better used than the other?


texts: Difference between Ｖるのにともなって and Ｖるにともなって?

texts:
I've been trying to work out the usage of にともなう, にともなって, and so on, but am having difficulty understanding the difference between placing the particle の after a verb and before にともなう. One grammar resource that I have only gives the usage with の as examples, while another only gives the usage without it as examples.

The first gives as an example: マラソン大会が行われるのに伴って、この道路は通行止めになります。

The second gives as an example: 秋が深まるにともなって、山の紅葉が進む。

Is there a general rule for when to use each of these patterns?


texts: Reading and translation for "1日目", "2日目", "3日目", etc

texts:
I have a list referring to days of classes that reads this way:

1日目 - Ichinichime - Day 1
2日目 - Futsukame - Day 2
3日目 - Mikkame - Day 3
4日目 - Yokkame - Day 4
5日目 - Itsukame - Day 5

And so on (until 25).

Why is the romanization of the first day written in Sino Japanese and the rest in native? Shouldn't the English translation be instead "First Day, Second Day", etc.?


texts: Is the 300 yen price for a "shuin" stamp linguistically related to お参り?

texts:
Prevalent price (朱印代) for a stamp in a shrine or a temple is 300 yen, although there are exceptions. Wikipedia confirms this Shuin 朱印.

I wonder if the amount bears an association of 参百円{さんびゃくえん} with 参拝{さんぱい} / お参{まい}り or is it purely coincidental?

If there was a connection, are there any other examples of combining a number and a word based on their common character? Like 拾 for 10 with 拾う{ひろう}? In advertising perhaps?


texts:
Is 亡くなる is a polite form of しぬ?
What is the difference in nuance between these two sentences:

ディックは１０歳のとき亡くなった。

ディックは１０歳のとき死んだ。


texts: Why does the right side radical of 踵 have different stroke order than 重?

texts: Why does the right side radical strokes order 踵　are different than 重 alone?


texts: Do you need to use の when using へ to modify a noun?

texts: For example, I was listening to a song, and the lyric 願いや野望や空想が知らない次元【レベル】へドアをたたいて came up. Don't you usually need to use a の to make 知らない次元へのドア or else 知らない次元へ might get confused as modifying たたいて? Because of this, I'm not really sure of the meaning of the lyrics.


texts:
I know I can use て-form to connect verbs (e.g chronological order) and I know I can use ている for repeated action. My question is: can I combine them?
For example:

毎日{まいにち}コンビニに行{い}って、 りんごを買{か}っている。
Every day I go to the convenience store and buy apples.

Or should I use masu / plain form on the last verb?


texts:
I am currently trying to translate the interview from this clip -> https://clyp.it/0ywgfz3q
My transcription and translation attempt were

このHaikyuuの中で出会えた人たちっていうのは = People who met in Haikyuu
今後の、ま、付き合っていく中でも = are people who I will keep company with from now on.
ずーっと、あの、一緒に遊んだりとか、こう、ご飯行ったりとか、= We always hang out and go for a meal together
そういうことが出来る本当に大切な仲に僕はなれたと思っているので = Being able to do such things is very important to me (I'm not so sure about this translation)
心から、なんか、しみじみとそういうふうに思うことが出来ますね。> ??????

I got stuck at the last bit cause I'm not sure about しみじみ.
After some research, it has different meanings based on this website https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/100815/meaning/m0u/
But I'm not sure, which one exactly did he mean here.
Thank you!


texts: When listing steps (step 1, 2, 3, etc) do you use the Native Japanese counter or the Sino Japanese counter?


texts:
Can you please help me with finding differences between ごめん and 許す in "forgive me" meaning?
Does "許す" means something more informal than "ごめん" and can be used with someone close (friend, family)? Or maybe "許す" have more regretful meaning than "ごめん" (I often see this word in manga in "sad" situations (like in someone's death))?
As "I'm sorry" i often see "許す" in "許せ" form. I found, that "せ" makes imperative form of the verb and also i saw somewhere that it's a rude form, while "ごめん" is a polite. So please help me to figure this out) Lots of thanks to everybody!


texts: Is it common to use 曜日 when writing the days of the week?

texts:
I'm learning the days of the week and have seen them as 月曜日 and 月曜, but have also seen that they are sometimes just written as the first character (e.g. 月). Are there different instances when each are used? Or is there one way that's most common?
For example, when writing school work, when texting friends or coworkers etc.


texts: What does this mean in context? [幾本も幾本も]

texts:
From 銀河鉄道の夜（宮沢賢治）

  二人がその白い道を 、 肩をならべて行きますと 、 二人の影は 、 ちょうど四方に窓のある部屋 の中の 、 二本の柱の影のように 、 また二つの車輪の輻のように幾本も幾本も四方へ出るのでした.

What does 幾本も幾本も mean exactly and how is it used?
How is it pronounced? Is it いくほん？


texts: How can I express "wearing multiple clothings" in a sentence?

texts:
Linked はく and きる or just きる?
ぼうしをかぶるじょせい。
ワンピスをきるじょせい。
How can I express in Japanese the combinations of above sentences, eg:

"woman that  is wearing hat and onepiece" or,
"woman that is wearing onepiece and hat" or,
"woman wearing a hat and wearing a onepiece" or,
"woman wearing a onepiece and wearing a hat"

How is which verb to use is decided?


texts: What is the difference between ～たとき vs ～るとき

texts:
電車に乗るときは、白線の内側でお待ちください。
  電車に乗ったときは、白線の内側でお待ちください

What is the difference between ～たとき and ～るとき?

In particular, what is ungrammatical about the second sentence with ～た? I felt that this sentence, while being in disagreement with itself tense-wise, isn't ungrammatical, per se. Is disagreement in this way ungrammatical?


texts:
Suppose person A writes a letter to someone. I think the standard way for A to sign it off would be 「Aより」.

Would it still be correct if I replaced より with から?
Is there any difference in formality and context when it comes to choosing between から and より to mean "from"?


texts: Interpretation of an unusual use of three particles in succession: " (...) ライバル、とか、とも、とか (...)"

texts:
Below is an excerpt from the "I'm a spider, so what" webnovel:

魔物にしろ、人間にしろ、今の私には等しく強敵だ。
(*)強敵と書いて、ライバル、とか、とも、とか読まない。
　正真正銘命の危険が危ないってやつだ。

The starred sentence contains the unusual phrase "ライバル+とか+とも+とか".
My best guess at the meaning of (*) is "It's written as "great enemy", but it's definitely not read as as something like rival for example."
But I'm unclear on whether that's accurate. I guessed using a particle dictionary that the inner "とか" gives a sense of category, the "とも" emphasis with the meaning that it would particularly offensive to read it as "ライバル", and the outer "とか" meaning it's an example. But I am deeply unsure as to this interpretation.
My main questions are:
What is the correct interpretation of this sentence?
What would be different semantically if we dropped the final "とか" if anything?
Since pauses in Japanese seem to fit naturally at the end of noun+particles constructions would a pause go at the end, or would it be acceptable to put one where the author put the commas (presumably because three glued together would be hard on the eyes)?


texts:
I have a question about the grammar (assuming it is grammatical and not figurative) in the following line from the song ときめきポポロン from the anime ご注文はうさぎですか？.

  つまんないないんだよ

I think the meaning is pretty clear (we won't be bored) but I'm curious about the seemingly extra ない.  Would つまらないんだよ have the exact same meaning? Is it common to add ない to いadjectives for emphasis?


texts:
I am doing my Japanese reading, and I came across this sentence:

  快復の見込みのない末期状態になったとき、単なる延命治療．．．

I don't understand why we use の here instead of が. I am still a beginner so I always use 名詞＋がない. I asked my Japanese friend and he told me that "見込みがない is not bad but 見込みのない is more natural".

Another quick question is what's the difference between 快復 and 回復？


texts: Literal meaning and parsing of 軽音部とかけて双六と解く

texts:
I am watching けいおん！ and in the Episode 17 「部室がない！」the club is trying to find a room for rehearsals.
After not finding a suitable room Yui says:
「軽音部{けいおんぶ}とかけて双六{すごろく}と解{と}く」
In response she is asked what she means, so I gather that she is talking in an abstract way.
My problems are that:

すごろく is obviously a kind of a board game, but to play it would be 双六をする
instead 双六と解く is used, but even if by thinking about a game as a kind of puzzle you could "solve/untangle a game" I would expect 解く to use the を-Particle instead of と
かける can have so many different meanings. I found that the combination of とかける is found often in "multiply x with y". But I don't think this meaning is correct here as "双六 multiplied with the Light Music Club" because IMO that would need to be 軽音部とかけ た 双六 or 軽音部とかけ て(い)た 双六

So what does the sentence literally mean? Thanks a lot!


texts: Are there any other words for bucket relay バケツリレー?

texts:
学生たちが荷物をバケツリレー方式で運んでいる。The students are carrying luggage by the bucket relay method.

Question

Are there any other Japanese words with the same meaning as バケツリレー?


texts: は vs.では in こんなうるさいところでは勉強ができません

texts:
こんなうるさいところでは勉強ができません。

How is the meaning of the sentence above different from the meaning of the one below?

  こんなうるさいところで勉強ができません。


texts:
When reading a post about a game, I came across this sentence:

  司令塔プラットフォームの最上階に赤ランプが点灯してる部屋があるんですが、ここっていずれ入れるようになるのでしょうか。

The person who posted this wanted to enter that room, but for some reason or another he couldn't.

When I looked up the meaning of いずれ, I wasn't sure if it translated along the lines of:

"When will I be able to enter here?" or "Will I somehow be able to enter here?"


texts:
I'm currently reading yotsubato and I am a bit confused on what いてー means in this sentence.

  あ　いや　ちいさいむすめがいてー。


texts:
There have been a few times where I have come across にする and をする and I am asking about different situations of when it is used and its meaning.
The first example is Adjective (specifically な) + にする:

私は出来るだけ静かにしていた。 I kept as quiet as possible.

Does 静かにして more literally mean "made quiet", how does it differ from になる?
Does this syntax of にする work the same for i-adjectives (面白いにする)?

I've also been noticing more and more the grammar of Noun + を/に する

What is the difference between using を and に?
Is this grammar point used only because the noun isn't a suru-verb, for example does 勉強に/をする not work?

My question has kind of just been dumped onto you but I feel like in order for me to understand this grammar I need understand these things that have confused me the most.


texts: When should 男の人/女の人 be used instead of 男/女?

texts:
My teacher always corrects me when I use 男 or 女 by themselves, without adding の人 to the end of it. But in various Japanese media (music, drama, anime, etc.), I know for sure that I have heard them without の人.

So I'm assuming that adding の人 is a formality thing. Please correct me on this if I'm wrong.

What kind of situations would it be more appropriate to add の人, and what kind of situations would it be more appropriate to not add it? Basically I am wondering just how formal adding の人 is or how informal not adding it is.


texts: If you visit ニコニコ動画 or any Japanese message boards often you are bound to see comments like ニコ厨 or 東方厨. Does anyone have good idea how did this originate and what do they mean?


texts: Unfindable word 爆絶級 in Japanese Mario Maker level name

texts:
I just watched a video where Thomandy (a youtuber who plays games) plays two Mario Maker levels, and one of them is called:

My transcription of this level by Daiki is:

  挑戦者現れろ！！！　　爆絶級

Assuming I didn't miscopy, the first part should be:

  挑戦者現れろ！！！ | Chousensha arawarero!!! | Let the challengers appear!!!

The second part is my problem. The last character should be -kyū, meaning "class", but the rest seem to form a word which is nowhere to be found in my references, and indeed Google won't transliterate it. From JEDict, my guess would be:

  爆絶級 | bakuzetsu-kyū | bomb-sever class

However, besides being uncertain about transliteration (just look at how many readings the Wiktionary lists for the first character!), this translation makes little to no sense to me. So:

  What does 爆絶級 mean? And how do I read it?


texts:
I am having trouble with the bold part of this sentence from wikipedia:

  バブル経済（バブルけいざい、economic
  bubble）とは、概ね不動産や株式をはじめとした時価資産の資産価格が投機によって実体経済の経済成長以上のペースで高騰し続け、投機によって支えなければならない市場が、投機によって支えきれなくなるまでの経済状態を指す。

The best I can get for the bolded text is:

  The state of the market that needs to be propped up by speculation until
  it can no longer be supported by speculation.

This use of ～なければならない　combined with ～によって is hard for me to translate.  Since によって is repeated twice, I am curious if this is some special grammatical construct.
In particular it seems that ～なければならない here might mean not 'needs to be propped up', but something else, since logically the markets do not require themselves to be propped up.
I'm probably just missing something basic.  Please give me a translation and explanation.


texts: How to express that "something is not right" with a friendship

texts:
I'm a 1st year senior highschool student in Japan and have lived here for about two years.

Sometimes when I'm with my friends they don't talk or look at me as if I don't exist and I ask myself if I did something wrong. I've always been nice to them even up to this day. So that's why I asked one of my friends if I did something wrong to him/them in the past (and if I did I would be willing to say sorry).

He asked my why I was asking this kind of question and said that I'm just misunderstanding. So I want to say to him "Something doesn't really feel right at all". What would be the best way to express this in Japanese?


texts:
I know that 別に means "not particularly" sometimes, but what is its role in this sentence?

別に山田の私服を見るのは、はじめてってわけじゃないんだけどな。

I assume it means something like "it's not exactly the first time I've seen Yamada in plain clothes", but I don't know what exactly 別に is doing or what verb it's modifying.


texts: How would you interpret the sentence "他人と違って家族の縁はなかなか切れない。"?

texts:
1) I find hard to cut ties with my familly but other people find it easy (to cut ties with their family)

2)I find hard to cut ties with my family but I find easy to cut ties with other people

3)other

(there is no context, this is an example sentence)


texts: How do you know when to use です or います？and when to use the particles は or の？

texts:
I'm only a beginner learner in Japanese, and I'm having trouble on when to use です or います.

I also have trouble on when to use は or の.

Example:

  まゆさん は ともだち ふたり が います。

Why would it be は instead of の, and why did they use います?

How do you know when to use each particle?


texts: What is the difference between その and あの?

texts: Superficially, I get the sense that あの is for something far away from both speaker and listener, and その is for something closer to the listener than speaker. However, I seem to get in trouble when dealing with time and past events, so I'm wondering if someone can provide a more thorough explanation of the difference?


texts: While I was reading a text, I came across this idiom 「蜘蛛の子を散らす」but this is how it shows up in online dictionaries. I understood what it means and in what context can be used but it would seem that most of the sentences that I have found also use ように, with the full expression being「蜘蛛の子を散らすように逃げる」. The sentence from the text I was reading lacked ように and other verbs, only 散らす being present. I don't know why the author wrote it like this: 「臆病な男蜘蛛を散らせ」Because it lacks some particles, I wondered if it would translate differently. Without the use of ように and 逃げる, it couldn't sound like "The cowardly boy scattered (in all directions like baby spiders ). Can it be translated just "The cowardly boy fled?".


texts: Exactly whose feelings does てしまう express?

texts:
When Vてしまう is used to express that an action is regrettable or undesirable, does it express the opinion of the speaker or the listener? Put another way, when one says Vてしまう, are they expressing that they feel that V undesirable, or that they are under the impression that their listener will find V undesirable?

For example, would it be appropriate for a man to say to his wife (who he knows does not care for her weight at all),「そんなに食べたら、太っちゃうよ！」if he thinks weight is unsightly? He can't be looking out for his wife's feelings, because he knows that she can't care less about getting fat.

On the other hand, would it be appropriate for a man who is wholly accepting to say 「そんなに食べたら、太っちゃうよ！」 to a wife who has once stated a negative opinion regarding gaining weight? In that case, he wouldn't be saying it out of selfish regard, but for hers.


texts: When to use Vている and when to use the dictionary form?

texts:
Say that I am currently eating something, would I say 今食べています, or would I say 今食べます?

Similarly, if I want to say that I know English, would I use 英語をしります or would I use 英語を知っています?

What's the difference in parsing these sentences, too? I understand that Vている implies some kind of continuation of state, or an activity that lasts for some time; but can't the dictionary form also express that?

Thank you


texts: Why do Japanese people 'teach' others their phone numbers?

texts: One of the common mistakes that Japanese people make when speaking in English is to translate the expression "電話番号を教えて" directly into English - "to teach a phone number", which can confuse native English speakers who are not familiar with the expression. I was wondering why they use the word teach rather than a verb similar to tell or give?


texts:
I know that も particle can be used in place of は、が、を. And it means "in addition", "also".

What function does it have in this adverb "不運にも"?
Should we treat it as a separate word here?


texts: How do the two ideas in this sentence come together?

texts:
I have this sentence as part of a question in my JLPT practise book:

  スリのグループがボスの合図{あいず}で乗客{じょうきゃく}から金{かね}を盗{ぬす}むのを目{ま}の当{あ}たりにして恐{おそ}ろしかった。

Part of the sentence means, "the pickpocket group steals money from the passengers from the signal given by the boss," and part of the sentence means "being face to face is scary."

I presume it's the boss's eyes that are scary, but I can't make this sentence come together.

What would be the best translation for this sentence? What is the underlying structure that binds it together?


texts:
Here is the sentence that contains the word I came across.

あとでつらあたたっつけてあやまってもようしゃしねえぞ


texts: 最も有名なのがウーロン茶で : What is the usage of なの here?

texts:
What is the usage of なの in:

最も有名なのがウーロン茶で

To me, it seems to transfer a adverb [有名] to a noun, is that so? Could someone help to explain, thx.

Update:

To make the question more clear, the whole sentence is:

日本で中国茶として最も有名なのがウーロン茶で、


texts: 自～／他～ペア：逆の形 -- Transitive/Intransitive pairs: opposite forms

texts:
I've noticed (through much frustration) that many 自～／他～ pairs have "opposite" forms; particularly with the ~u and ~eru types.  For example, 焼く・焼ける are opposite from 開く・開ける.

焼く　（他）　－　パンを焼く ("Bake bread")
焼ける　（自）－　パンがちょうどよく焼けた ("The bread was baked just right")
開く　（自）　－　ドアがひとりでに開いた！怖いでしょう！ ("The door opened by itself!  Isn't that creepy?")
開ける　（他）－　彼女のためにドアを開けてあげる ("I open doors for my girlfriend")

Is there any logical reason that some pairs like these have "opposite" forms???  Or is it just to piss off the people trying to learn them??


texts: Question about the uses of "を" particle besides being a "direct object" and "spatial object" marker

texts:
I know that the former is for transitive verbs and the latter is for intransitive verbs (specifically motion verbs like 出る、向く、上る) but how do I explain the following sentence:

  明日、会社を休む。

At first, I thought that it's just one of those cases where the verb is not so clearly defined as either transitive or intransitive but the dictionary clearly shows that it has a transitive equivalent "休める" , so why not just use the transitive one "休める" instead of using the intransitive one "休む"? Is there a subtle difference in its meaning ?


texts: May I use 洗濯日 to indicate a day for washing clothes?

texts: I want to say a clothes washing day. Am I correctly using 洗濯日 to indicate a day for washing clothes? I seem to also remember a term sentakubiyori/youri?


texts:
The particle と has several use cases, two of which are:

1) Connecting two nouns

Example:

  林檎とバナナを買いました。
  I bought apples and bananas.

2) Indicating that something is done together with somebody

Example:

  私は山田さんと映画を見ました。
  I watched a movie together with Yamada.

Now I came across an example which seems to be ambiguous:

  私は山田さんとジョンさんに行きました。

I would translate this to 'I went with Yamada to John'. However, couldn't it also mean 'I went to John and Yamada' since how to tell to whom Yamada is connected? Either I visit John and Yamada (1) or I go with Yamada to John (2).

How would someone express this difference in Japanese?


texts: How should I bid farewell to a superior?

texts:
My boss is leaving soon after years of service.  What would be a good way for me to express my gratitude for all of his guidance and help?

I am somewhat familiar with the expression お世話になりました but am unsure if this is an appropriate occasion to use it.  Are there other phrases that would be more suitable in a corporate environment?


texts:
I tried to find a notion for もう that combines all of its different meanings into one concept. This is what I came up with:

もう shapes the entire feeling of a sentence by emphasizing change.

Examples:
"もう来ないでください" (it was okay for the addressee to come before)
"９じ時ですからもう失礼します" (the speaker only has to disturb now)
"あいつは、もうだめだ" (the situation with that person is now hopeless, but has not always been)

I really like this approach, but I have trouble applying this understanding of もう to its usage in phrases such as "もう一度" and "もう一本飲みます". Does anyone have an idea how to combine the meaning of もう in these last two examples with the concept of emphasizing change? (Provided that this way of looking at the word is deemed viable at all.)


texts: How do I really say "I study in the United States"?

texts:
What I came up with is 私はアメリカに留学してる or "I study abroad in America", which is probably the safest option. However, can I express the same without using 留学 explicitly?

私は米国で勉強します "I study in the US" sounds very strange to me. What about 私は米国の大学へ進学した "I entered a university in the US"?


texts: 「させていただく」or「させてくださる」

texts:
その俳優が大好きなので、ぜひ私に彼へのインタビューを（　　）。
A.させてくださいませんか　B.させていただけませんか
Here is my understanding of these two options (which can be wrong):
A: "you" is the subject, will "you" not give "me" the permission to "do something"?
B: "I" is the subject, can "I" have the permission from "you" to "do something"?
Which one, A or B, is correct or better for this situation?


texts: What's the meaning of こと in this sentence?

texts:
聞いたことない！

I'm still confused about the meaning of こと. But I think it means "this," "that," "about," and maybe "it."

So, this sentence could be translated as: "I've never heard of this/that/it!"

But I'm not very sure ...


texts: Adjective negation: difference between 〜くない and 〜くありません

texts:
What's the difference between 〜くない and 〜くありません? Both are added to an i-adjective (イ形容詞, verb type adjective) to make it negative. For example:

寒くない
寒くありません

But what's the difference? Is one more polite or more formal than the other?

Is there a term to use to tell them apart. E.g. One is polite Negative etc.


texts: What is mostly used on signs in Tokyo: Katakana, Hiragana or Kanji?

texts: I am going to travel to japan the next spring and I just want to be able to read most of the signs (and of course speak some Japanese). Any answers on what is the most common to use on signs: Katakana, Hiragana or Kanji?


texts: "dont something illness" is the kind of feeling i get from that.. cant find a verb to match to namena though.


texts: I don't understand the role of the に particle in this sentence?

texts:
The definition of 募集【ぼしゅう】 given in an article by NHK News Web Easy is

  人や作品などを、大勢の人に呼びかけて集めること.

I don't know what is the role of the に particle in that sentence, is it marking the subject of the action, or is it rethorical? How should it be interpreted?


texts: I am aware of the generic　English translation:　In this case, "device" or "to devise" in English, but this does not really help me out.　In what context would you use this word? 例文　would really be appreciated. Thank you!


texts: What are the meaning and the usage of 体 【てい】?

texts:
I came across the following sentence. It is one of my Japanese assignments explanation:

  次の「です・ます」 体【てい】 の文章を「だ・である」体【てい】 に書き換えましょう。Let's write and exchange the following text in「です・ます」form to the 「だ・である」form.

Although I understand the assignment, I'm struggling to figure out what 体【てい】 exactly means. According to jisho.org (bold added by me):

  体【てい】Noun
  1. Appearance; air; condition; state; form
  2. Voice (grammar)

So I believe that in my sentence, 体【てい】 means "form". However, as the second entry states "voice", which is a linguistic term, I wonder if 体【てい】 can be used only in linguistic contexts such as my assignment statement. Is that so?

If not, what are other contexts or situations where 体【てい】 can be used? I could not find example sentences either, I would appreciate it if you provide some.

よろしくお願いします！


texts: What do these lines from リンダリンダ by The Blue Hearts mean?

texts:
ドブネズミみたいに美しくなりたい,
写真には写らない美しさがあるから。

I understand this as:
”Just like a rat, I want to become beautiful,
because you have a beauty that cannot be photographed” (kind of)

First question: How do I know that in the second part, he refers to her (Linda) and is not talking about himself? In the sense of ”I have a beauty that cannot be photographed” (even though that would be a weird thing to say)?

Second question:

Later on, he sings

ドブネズミみたいに誰よりもやさしい,
ドブネズミみたいに何よりもあたたかく。

Now, I understand it as

"Just like a rat, you are kinder than anyone,
just like a rat, you are warmer than anything"

Now, this can't be right, or can it? Surely he wouldn't call her a rat? But what, then, is this supposed to mean?


texts: What's the difference between 日本人の学生 and 日本の学生 ?

texts:
I am beginner to Japanese language. I am using Genki as textbook. I came across this sentence in one of the exercises:

  あなたの学校に日本人の学生がいますか。

Why is it 日本人の学生 here and not 日本の学生 ?
Wouldn't 日本の学生 (Student of Japan/ Japanese student) make more sense than 日本人の学生 (Japanese person student) ?

Am I interpreting it wrong ?


texts: When can I exchange くださる for いただく in expressions of gratitude?

texts:
Way back when, I remember being taught that when you want to say a really polite "thank you", sentences such as these are basically the same:

文章を訂正していただきましてありがとうございます。
文章を訂正してくださいましてありがとうございます。

But are they really? Does it make a difference if a) I specifically asked for corrections, or b) the corrections were voluntarily offered?
Furthermore, if these were truly the same, why is it you always hear the first of this following pair, but rarely the second?

本日ご来店いただきまして、まことにありがとうございます。
本日ご来店（して）くださいまして、まことにありがとうございます。

Unless you switch things up a bit:

本日ご来店いただいたお客様、まことにありがとうございます。
本日ご来店（して）くださったお客様、まことにありがとうございます。

What is the nuance buried in this pair? In what "thank you" situations can one be used and not the other?


texts: How to recognize the abbreviation of spoken Japanese?

texts:
When I am watching the Japanese drama, I can always hear some abbreviations of expression. But I can not get the original expressions so how to learn them.

For example, 直んねー 、すげぇ、


texts: What exactly does the grammatical form NがNなだけに mean?

texts:
In my JLPT textbook, it has a section explaining the verb form [Noun]が[Noun]なだけに. By way of explanation, it says that this means, "unlike other things, [Noun] is special, so..."

I'm having a hard time reconciling this explanation with the examples given.

Here is one example provided:

  A : 部長{ぶちょう}に連絡{れんらく}しなきゃいけないんだけど、時間{じかん}が時間{じかん}なだけに電話{でんわ}はまずいよね。

  B : そうね。とりあえずメールだけ送{おく}っておいて、明日{あした}の朝{あさ}報告{ほうこく}したら？

So... on A's sentence, we need to contact the department head, but "unlike other things", time is "special", and so it would bad to call? It's just kind of nonsensical to me. B's sentence only confuses me more, because apparently we can email tomorrow and that's fine... so it's bad to call now because it's too soon, and better to wait and send an email? To soon how?

Another example given:

  状況{じょうきょう}が状況{じょうきょう}なだけに、家族{かぞく}の許可{きょか}をとっている暇{ひま}がない。とにかく手術{しゅじゅつ}を始{はじ}めよう。

In this situation I at least understand what's going on. We don't have time to wait for permission from the family, we should start operating. Okay, but why? Because the circumstances are "unlike other things"? What other things are we comparing to? Other options for trying to help the patient? Other circumstances the patient might have been in?

Intuitively, to me it seems like in this case the way to think of 状況{じょうきょう}が状況{じょうきょう}なだけに is that it conveys an idea similar to, "the circumstances are what they are." In other words, we've got what we've got, so there are no other ways of dealing with it. But that's just my feeling and I've let my intuitions on Japanese grammar mislead me before.

What exactly does [Noun]が[Noun]なだけに mean?


texts: Difference between しては and nominalizer のは

texts:
Last time I wanted to say "Disturbing someone is bad", so I directly wrote:

  誰かを邪魔するの悪いよ

But I just came across another way of saying it :

  誰かを邪魔しては悪いよ

It bothers me a lot not to know the nuance between those two, because it's not the first time I think about it, so what would the difference between the nominalizer の（は） and しては is?


texts: How would I say that the food I ate "didn't agree with me"?

texts: Is there a term that I can use to say that the food was not agreeable when I ate it. It didn't make me feel good.


texts: What's the difference between 気がする and ような気がする?

texts:
Compare:

  何かを忘れた気がする。
  何かを忘れたような気がする。
  I feel like I forgot something.

As far as I know, they both mean the same thing. What nuance does adding ような give?


texts: The meaning of "ありちゅーかありじゃないですか"?

texts:
I'm going through some comments on an old blog and came across this dictation of an interview that's gotten me a bit befuddled. The seiyuu's asking the writer about what will happen to the seiyuu's character in the following year.

  声優さん「婿でもいいです、この際」

  作家さん「それでもありちゅーかありじゃないですか？ …どうしようか…」

The writer's wording confused me tbh, so randomly guessing I think it's something like:

  Seiyuu: At this rate, he could even become a groom.

  Writer: That's possible as well, isn't it? What to do do...

If anyone could confirm/correct me with an explanation of what 'ありちゅーかありじゃないですか？' means I'd be very grateful.


texts:
I found this form I'm not sure about:

  少なくとも最後の最後、ばあさんはいいやつに会ったんだ。それで、きもちのいい運転でドライブを楽しんだ。車に乗ってるあいだは、楽しかったろう

The character is speaking about an old woman who, after taking a taxi, killed herself; the recipient of this sentence is that taxi's driver.

Does this 「たろう」 have the same meaning (or similiar) as 「だろう」? To be sure I I checked if past + だろう (「ただろう」) is a thing, and according to this page it is; I found this question about a similar form, but I don't think is the same, since to me my example seems clearly a past + ろう structure, while that case isn't.

(I didn't read accurately all the japanese citation in that answer, since I was having trouble understanding them; sorry if the answer is already in there.)

Edit: I just found this question, it does seem to be the same case.


texts: Why are there two versions of the kanji for 冷?

texts:
The screenshot below is from Kotoba for iPhone.

It shows the character for "cool", 冷 as used in the word 冷たい. However, the character in the stroke order diagram is slightly different to the main one displayed top-left!

Why is this? Which one is correct? Or are both correct?

I suspect the stroke order diagram actually comes from a Chinese font, rather than a Japanese font. I'd like to confirm this.

Thanks to Lukman for the following screenshot:


texts: 「たくさん」 is technically, but not practically, a na-nominal (形容動詞) , right?

texts:
Dictionaries have 「たくさん」 listed as being either a noun or 形容動詞。Googling "たくさんな" returns only 190,000 hits; none of the top 20 pages are professional websites. Rather, they are only blogs.

My impression is that, practically speaking, 「たくさん」 is used only as a noun? For some idiosyncratic reason, it's also listed as 形容動詞? Can anyone shed some light as to what's going on? Is this issue related to the meaning of 形容動詞、or just about that the word, 「たくさん」, is exceptional。?

thanks.


texts: Is the following sentence correct to decline a invitation?

texts:
あ、実は今日、会議があっているんですよ。

This as an answer for an invitation to do something today. Also the dialog I'm talking about is over the phone.


texts: How to call the stuffs you usually do (in bathroom) after get up at the morning?

texts: After getup, I usually washing my face, brush my teeth, take a shower, hand washing, and do something just to clear my body. Is there a word or phrase in Japanese that describle all thing we do in the bathroom at the morning?


texts:
I see verbs in dictionary form with が い い many times and I can't find any explanation for this pattern.
Could you explain it to me?
Example sentence: しかと見るがいい、太陽の最後を！


texts: What's the difference between ～かかる and ～ところだ

texts:
After reading this question on this site, I learned that ～かかる following a verb-stem can be translated as "about to ~"; the example in the original question being 殺されかかった, or "about to be killed" (as per the accepted answer).

My question is, I have also learned that PT-Vb + ところだ also means "about to", e.g. 行くところだ = "about to go", するところだ = "about to do", etc.  What is the difference between these 2 verb forms?


texts:
The following phrase is said in the beginning of the movie Kimi no Na wa:

明日{あした}はわたしが[作]{つく}るでね。

The characters are talking while eating breakfast, so the meaning is probably "I'll make breakfast tomorrow".
But what exactly is the function of でね in this sentence? At first I thought it was a combination of the contextual particle で and the sentence-ending particle ね, but how can "making breakfast" be a context? I must be getting something wrong.
Also, I don't think this is related to the answer, since でね is coming after a non-conjugated verb here.


texts:
Wiktionary more or less defines "Apple tax" as

  The price premium paid by consumers of Apple consumer products over
  comparable devices from competitors.

Is there an equivalent term in Japanese for "Apple tax" (or other mock taxes, such as a wedding tax for increased costs of items when they're associated with a wedding)? If so, what is it?

I tried Wiktionary and jisho.org without any luck.


texts: What's the difference between ～しか～ない and ～だけしか～ない?

texts:
Two ways of expressing 'only' in Japanese are だけ + positive verb and しか + negative verb. For example, the following sentences both translate to something like 'I drank only tea'.

お茶だけ飲んだ (1)
お茶しか飲まなかった (2)

I recently heard a native speaker use だけしか + negative verb, and Google brings up plenty of hits for this construction. For example:

お茶だけしか飲まなかった (3)

Is there any difference in meaning between sentences (2) and (3)? Does including 'だけ' just add emphasis?


texts: ～った with a noun (生い立ち > 生い立った) - what's really going on?

texts:
I just started trying to read the Japanese translation of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. I've struck a problem in the first sentence that my native Japanese speaking friends can't seem to help me with.

  ... その友でバラモンの子なるゴーヴィンダ（典尊）とともに、生い立った。

Both the English Wiktionary and WWWJDIC say 生{お}い立{た}ち is a noun.

As far as I can tell, ～った is the plain past ending, as in わかった "(I) understood".

What am I missing? Is it something to do with this noun 生い立ち not really being a noun but rather some special kind of noun phrase compound made of two verbs (maybe even another 連用形?) that has a meaning as a compound but can still have verbal inflections on the second part?

At least this is the best theory after going over it a few times with a local friend and searching the web. It confuses Google Translate just as much as it confuses me (-:

Before this my previous best theory was much more convoluted based on nouns and -na adjectives being basically the same so this noun becoming a past tense -na adjective - but that idea just seemed too crazy!


texts:
PS3のゲームソフト買おうってなって悩んでいる。
一日仕事を終えて、おうち帰ろうってなって...

Recently I have encountered some sentences of the form "意向形 (volitional verb)＋って+なる".
I want to ask two questions: If I understand it correctly, this sentence structure means "何々をしたくなる". Is the saying "意向形ってなる" fairly informal? And, can I replace "って" with other particle, such as "と" or "に"?


texts: Should I call the basic calculator app on iPhone 電卓app or 計算機app?

texts:
I just fired-up the basic calculator app on an iPhone. Is that called 電卓app or 計算機app?

Were I to get a more sophisticated app that calculated stuff like logarithms, would the name change?


texts: Can someone please help me with these lyric translations?

texts:
Hello :) I'm trying to translate a song for a personal project, but a few of the lyrics were a bit too poetic/advanced for me to understand. This is what I've come up with, but if someone could please help me with it I'd be very grateful!

  どうして街はまた
  ずかずかと笑顔取り戻せるのか

"How can this town keep restoring their own smiling faces by themselves?"

^^or something to that effect.

I haven't heard ずかずかと used before... But is it synonymous with かってに? That's what I assumed. (I also tried substituting it with ずけずけと but I got confused again ;;)

  遠吠えにしたって　最後には笑えるよう願って吠えてる

"I howled and I barked hoping I could laugh in the end"

Would you put "I howled and I barked" together despite 遠吠えにしたって being at the beginning of the phrase and 吠えてる at the end.?

  轍と共にある今に指輪をはめてあげましょう

All I've got is... "Let me put a ring on you now with a rut" but I'm very sure it must mean something else ><

The full lyrics can be found here if you need them to better understand.

Thank you for your help !!


texts: what's the difference in usage between gairaigo and wago?

texts:
Please help me to understand how and when english-derived words are used in modern Japanese?
I understand that ko-hi and garasu didn't exist in Japan, so there are no Japanese words for them. But I found that there exist gairaigo for such words as "knife" and "husband" and many others, which obviously exited as phenomenons BEFORE .
So, could you please explain and give examples from your experience? Which words are preferable where?
Are they all interchangeable, can they be used in scientific speech/text, in formal speech/text?

バカンス/休暇

ビル/建物

チケット/切符

ファイナル/最後

ママ/おかあさん

ミルク/牛乳

バッグ/鞄

ゼロ/零

アルバイト/働き

サラリーマン/社員

ドイツ/独国


texts: Meaning of に in もう彼女に抵抗の余地はないのでしょうか？

texts:
ライトは事もなく照子の名前を入手することに成功しました。
  照子も結構鋭いところを見せてくれますが、もう彼女に抵抗の余地はないのでしょうか？
  せっかくの「きれいなお姉さん」なので、なんとか頑張って欲しいものです。

Context: On episode 6 of Death Note, Light is trying get information from former FBI agent 南空ナオミ about something she discovered related to the Kira case. He asks for her name giving his first, and she introduces herself as 間木照子.

Can this sentence mean: "Does it look like there's no resistance FROM/BY the woman?" instead of  "Does it look like there's no resistance TO the woman?"

I thought this sentence meant that the author of the blog didn't like the character of 照子 before and know he does. I guess that was the case because after that line there's this sentence: "せっかくの「きれいなお姉さん」なので、なんとか頑張って欲しいものです。" which is clearly the author giving his opinion.

But after thinking for a bit, if 照子 was the one doing the action (resisting or not resisting to give his name to Light) it would make more sense.

Before that we have: "ライトは事もなく照子の名前を入手することに成功しました。" which states that Light got her name without any problem (resistance from her part). So it would make perfect sense if, after that, the author questions why would she give her name to someone he just met without any hesitation (Like, maybe she could've just said "I can't give you my name because it's not safe"). The answer is of course , the name 照子 is a fake one, but the author doesn't mention that as it happens in the next episode.

Is my interpretation correct? I started to think of this after reading this: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/11021

I know I asked something similar before (Directionality of にも) but there seems to not be an online version of that dictionary anymore (明鏡) and I tried to find a definition of that usage of に in other Japanese dictionaries but to no avail. I just want to be 100% sure of this usage of the に particle.


texts: Sentence translation help (「そう長く生きていない」「まだここに来て日の浅い」)

texts:
I was having trouble translating this sentence, specifically the last part:

だが、そう長く生きていないとはいえ、人生の半分以上をここで暮らし、また言葉を操る『言ノ葉使い』である僕には彼がまだここに来て日の浅い使用人であることが分かった。

I understand that 「長く生きていないとはいえ」 means something along the lines of 'although I haven't lived that long', however I'm not sure about the function of 'そう' in that sentence. I translated the next part as 'living here for over half my life', and the next one is about him being able to use 'Kotonoha' to manipulate words. However the last part confuses me a bit, specifically the use of 'まだ', and also the use of te-form in '来て日'.
Also '浅い' usually translates to 'shallow', but can it be translated to 'young' in this context?


texts: Why is "ashita kaerimasu" not "ashita wa kaerimasu"? is the particle wa being omitted or is it not necessary?

texts:
The sentence

  Ashita wa ame ga furu deshou

uses a "wa" after ashita. But the sentence

  Ashita kaerimasu

doesn't. Why is that? Is it being omitted or would it be wrong to say

  ashita wa kaerimasu

?


texts:
The below is a dialogue with translation by a person chilling with a friend under beautiful weather.

落ち着くといいますか... 時間がゆっくりといいますか
I feel like I can relax... it's like time itself is taking it easy

I don't understand the role of「というか」in these sentences. I'm not sure if I'm overthinking or not. The jisho definition doesn't fit this context because there are two「というか」s. Judging from the translation, can「というか」is used to describe speaker's feelings?


texts: How does one know how to read 堪える? Is it 「こたえる」、「こらえる」 or 「たえる」?

texts: The verb 堪える has three different readings: こたえる, こらえる, and たえる, and as far as I can tell they all mean "to bear, to endure, to put up with", with slight variations. Is there a way to tell which reading is correct in any given instance? Is it nuanced or a regional variance?


texts:
students visits her teacher, to deliver some food. She has known him since she was little

speaker response carelessly attaching ~ちゃん to her name
student「先生、また『ちゃん』って言ってます」
先生「え？　あ、あぁ　すまんね。家だとつい癖で……」
speaker's response to the student saying that she came here to deliver
food
先生「いつもすまないね。気を遣ってもらって……」
student「気にしないでください。先生には昔からお世話になってますから」
先生「ありがとう。男やもめだとつい簡単に済ませてしまいがちで……」
先生は奥さんを十二年ほど前に亡くしてから、ずっと一人で暮らしていた。

家だとつい癖で - if it's at home, unconscious habit (cause?) ....
男やもめだとつい簡単に済ませてしまいがちで - i find it hard to use ~だと as a quote for ~ nor the "if ~ is the case usage" for this sentence.
Thank you.


texts: Whats the difference between kono/kore, sono/sore, ano/are, dono/dore in simple terms?

texts:
Am learning Japanese and I can't decide when to appropriately use either of the pairs:  kono/kore, sono/sore, ano/are, dono/dore

Can someone please explain with Examples how these can be used in what scenario or why woull one use kono and not use kore and in what occasion.


texts: Potential and Causative form clarification - 倒せる / 倒せない

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Hopefully this is a nice easy one, but it's something I need clarification on.
So I have a sentence here, using (I think) -せる form. (倒せない)

  アイテムを使わないと倒せない敵もいるが、戦いの基本はやはり剣だ。

My question is a general one - what does it mean when -せる form is used?

倒しません、　倒さない、　倒せない these are all the same meaning aren't they? Or not?


texts: Different ways of saying "good night" in Japanese

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I know that おやすみなさい means "good night" in Japanese and it can be shortened to おやすみ. What is the difference between the two?
In English there are other phrases such as "sweet dreams" that can be used with a similar meaning. So are there any other common ways of saying "good night" in Japanese?
Background. I would like to get a tattoo that says goodnight because I have insomnia, and I want to get a tattoo that says goodnight in Japanese. I'm not really knowledgeable when it comes to Japanese but I would love to learn it in the future and this might be my gateway into learning Japanese more.


texts: Indicating a subject and objective thoughts of inevitability

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How do the Japanese show the nuance between the inevitable outcomes of actions based on their thoughts versus their findings?

After the Tsunami of 2011, Japanese Volcanologists predict an inevitable eruption (due to the tsunami).

２０１１年の津波の後で、日本の火山学の博士が、富士山はずっと爆発します。

Unfortunately I believe that my (incorrectly written) attempt fails to show that its due to their research that they believe the outcome will occur.


texts: Kanji that represent "Death before Dishonor" meaning

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There's a saying in English "Death before Dishonor"

Which means : To die before dishonoring what ever holds great value/ You will die before going against anything that you believe in or die before you sell out/ To die before you dishonor your gang or hood

Its also a name of a band.

  The questions is... what is the best kanji to represent this English saying of "Death before Dishonor" ?

Thanks in advance :)


texts: Are there rules for when 'e' becomes 'a' in compound words?

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For example:

て＋つな＝たづな（手綱）
め＋ふた＝まぶた（瞼・目蓋）
かね＋つち＝かなづち（金槌）

The only thing I can see for sure is that the second word becomes voiced, but that's more of an after-the-fact thing than a rule that dictates when the sound actually changes from e to a.

Is there a rule or pattern to it?


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So I find the pattern Negative verb/ i-adjective + なる very convenient, because, at least I think, it shows the change from a state into another.

For instance:

  それをもうしないと約束するなら、怒らなくなる。

For me it puts emphasis in the actual state of being angry and the change that might come to a different state. While just using 怒らない would just mean that you won't be angry.

Now my question is, can we do that with positive verbs? And if we can, is it common/natural to do so?

I don't know exactly how that could be done, but my attempt would be something like this:

  それをすれば、怒るようになる。 - If you do that, I'll change from my "not angry" state, to an angry state.

or maybe:

  それをすれば、怒ってなってくる。

Thanks in advance! Also, besides grammar, if any of my assumptions are incorrect, please let me know.


texts: Are bookshelves in alphabetical (kana) order in Japanese bookshops and libraries?

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How are fiction books such as novels sorted on the shelves at Japanese bookshops? Kana order seems to play a small part but not the whole part.

(I'm not asking about nonfiction books since those are ordered by category and are much easier to find)


texts: How would I respectfully disagree with a superior?

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If my manager says something that I know to be factually incorrect, how can I point that out without sounding disrespectful?  (Is ~違います appropriate in this context or is that too strong?)

Is this a situation where I would use speech that is more formal than usual?  For example, would I switch to a form of keigo for this even if I normally have a more informal relationship?


texts: Does 左様なら (sayōnara) have Chinese roots?

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A related question: What does さようなら (左様なら) have to do with "left"?

The English-language A.Word.A.Day list this week is doing a "Words borrowed from Japanese" theme; today's word was sayonara. The etymology cited there says:

  From Japanese sayonara (goodbye), short for sayo naraba (if it is to be that way), from sayo (thus) + naraba (if it be), ultimately from Chinese. Earliest documented use: 1863.

This feels a bit off to me. I also happened upon this source cited in the other answer, and another source briefly discussing the history of 左様; neither mentions anything specifically about Chinese.

My instincts tell me that both さ and なら are "native" Japanese words/constructions (よう feels more like an 音読み), which would completely remove Chinese from the etymology as the characters would be a "back-formation" rather than a Chinese borrowing. I also didn't see anything in my Chinese dictionary for 左様 or 然様, though it's possible the word was borrowed to Japanese and then lost in Chinese.