texts:
The following excerpt is from a scene from Sword Art Online, where Kirito and Asuna are discussing whether or not the killer they are pursuing is a ghost or not. Asuna seems to think it is, but Kirito is unconvinced (because the killer had used a teleporting crystal). Kirito says:

いや、そんなことは絶対にない。そもそも幽霊だったらさっきも転移結晶なんて使わないで

I'm going to take a guess that the なん (a more emphatic version of なの?) is providing the secondary information for his explanation (the "ghost" used a teleport crystal), and the て is the quotative particle (usually って but て because it's following ん?). Or is て loosely connecting the first clause with the second clause?
I could understand what he was saying in this sentence, but I really don't understand the grammar here or how it is operating structurally :( I would really like to know!


texts:
I would like to know why the topic marker wa is spelled は instead of わ。

Also, is this the only misspelled particle in Japanese (or anything resembling a particle or other figure of speech component), or are there also other instances?

Thanks.


texts:
The expression いったい (ittai), as in

  君はいったい何がほしいの

I translated as "What on earth do you want?" with the help of good ol' GT.

1) Is that correct?

2)  Is the expression いったい which GT translated as "on earth" considered a "rude" expression?


texts:
I came across the expression に限って but not too sure how to use it.
It seems to mean "especially/of all the/only" and has to be used in a negative manner.
However, I am confused with the following examples:

× その日に限っていい天気だった。
Only on that day, the weather was good.
○ 夏はビールに限る。
Beer is the only beverage for summer. (implying beer is the best option)

Is there an easy explanation as to why the first example is wrong and the second one is right?


texts: What or where does 所 refer to in しかるべき所に相談をしておきたい

texts:
I guess my question here is clarifying what 所に相談をする means.
Obviously something like 友人に相談する makes sense to me however, I'm not quite sure I understand what the example I have provided (how can one discuss with a place).

Would I be right in assuming that しかるべき所 could be used to refer to the police, a suicide helpline, etc.

  私もしかるべき所に相談をしておきたいので...


texts: What's the difference between 自転車 and チャリ?

texts: I have always used 自転車 to express my use of a bicycle, when out of nowhere, my word-of-the-day drops チャリ onto my lap, saying it means the same thing. So now I'm left to wonder: what's the difference between the two, and which has the more common usage?


texts: I'm wondering how sentences are typically made for the pattern "(some non human thing) makes me/you/etc (reaction)." For example, "reading this book makes me think." Or "going to school makes me happy." I suppose if you directly translated these it would be something using ～させる, like この本読むと考えさせる but I feel like that is usually unnatural in this case. It seems using words like ～たくなる and such are more common. What is the extent of ～させるs usefulness in this case and what is the most natural option?


texts: Why is 犬 used to refer to "dog" in Japanese?

texts:
In Chinese there are two words that refer to "dog" - 狗 and 犬. In most use cases 狗 is more frequently used, as it refers to a specific dog.

In Japanese however, 犬 is used exclusively. Did 狗 exist in the past? If not why was 犬 picked over 狗?


texts: What is the rule in assigning kanji to a new word?

texts:
For example, Hydrogen was found by Henry Cavendish. Mr. Cavendish was not a Japanese and I'm pretty sure he won't bother inventing the name for Hydrogen in all the languages in the world, especially in a language that doesn't use the same set of alphabet as the languages he mastered. In fact, he didn't even name it. It was Antoine Lavoisier who gave the name Hydrogen. Google translate translates Hydrogen as 水素 (すいそ).

What I want to know is how the kanji 水素 was chosen to represent Hydrogen? What are the rules that one must follow in assigning kanji to a newly found thing/word? Or one can just assign whatever kanji he wants much like how in English you can just assign whatever name you want to something you found, like is the case with Big Bang being named Big Bang even when it is not an explosion.


texts: What does the 'にゃい' mean in the phrase '働きたくにゃい' or 'はたらきたくにやい'? (not sure if it's a small ya or not). It's in a line sticker.


texts: What would be best to say at a 7 Eleven after I get my change?

texts:
I heard people say both Domo or Arigato?  Wondering which would be best to use and what are the different situations where I should use one or the other. Also would it be inappropriate to use Arigato gozaimasu?

Thanks


texts:
Just started learning Japanese two weeks ago. I have so many questions. If my question sounds a little silly, please bear with me.
I just learned that adjectives + desu and verb + imasu. But how do I know if a word is verb or adj. without checking dictionary every time.
For example: kibun ga warui desu (is sick); onaka ga suite imasu (is hungry)
Here, the locations of "warui"and "suite" in the phrase look the same to me. Literal translation is "the feeling is bad" and "the stomach is empty". When I try to memorize which phrase ending up with "desu", and which ending up with "imasu", I got very confused.
Someone told me the original form of "suite" is "suku". Is there any rules of verb transforming to adj.?

Thanks!


texts: The sentence inu ga suki is translated as I like dogs. But why don't  we translate it as Dogs like ... (something/someone)? For example, for a question Who likes meat? we can answer inu ga suki.


texts: Usage of なら as described in Genki II is confusing to me

texts:
I'm finding the explanation of nara in Genki II very confusing..

I've understood nara as a conditional (in league with tara, and ba), sort of a variant of "if this were to be"..

Genki describes it as such:

  "(noun) nara (predicate) = (predicate) applies only to (noun)"

  "nara introduces a sentence that says something "positive" about the item that is contrasted."

I don't quite understand what they mean, but they gave two examples. First one, they label as "contrast" and the second they label as "limitation" (also confusing to me..?)

  1) Q: ブラジルに行ったことがありますか？ A: チリなら行ったことがありますが、ブラジルは行ったことがありません。

  2) Q: 日本語がわかりますか？ A: ひらがなならわかります。

Thinking back to the particle "wa", I learned that it sort of implies "on the topic of NOUN, something something (predicate)". After reading some other explanations that equate nara closer to "if", I began to understand nara to function sort of like a conditional "wa"...

  "Have you ever been to Brazil?" "If we're talking about Chile, then I've been there, but I haven't been to Brazil."

and..

  "Do you understand Japanese?" "If we're talking about hiragana, then I understand."

So if we used "wa" then it would sound like "On the topic of Chile, I've been there" or "As for Hiragana, I understand." but using nara makes it sound conditional like "IF we are talking of Chile, then I've been" or "If we're talking about Hiragana specifically, then yes, I understand"

I'm wondering if I've got this correct, or if I'm missing the point..

I also wondered if maybe there's an implication of "only" that comes with nara..

Example:

  "Have you ever been to Brazil?" "If we're ONLY talking about Chile, then I've been there, but I haven't been to Brazil (or any other place)."

and..

  "Do you understand Japanese?" "If we're ONLY talking about hiragana, then I understand (but I don't understand any other form of Japanese)."

Which is correct? Can someone explain the usage that Genki II is referring to in a simple layman way.

Thank you!


texts:
This is an excerpt from my dialogue with my language partner. For some context, I basically asked her about the difference in について and は, since both can be translated to "Concerning X".

The sentence in question:
「ついて」の使い方ですが、後ろに名詞が来るか、動詞が来るかで少し違います。

My attempt at translation:
"About the usage of 「ついて」, it varies a bit based on wether a noun or a verb comes at the rear."

Here, I basically interpreted で as a marker for a "means" or better a "cause", like in 事故 で 電車が止まりました。
However, I also learned in my textbook that to express something like "depending on X, it is A or B", a construction with によって is used, like this: 好きな食べ物は人によって違います。

That's why I wanted to ask wether my interpretation of で in the sentence above is legit or not.


texts: 私はあおい車はすきだ (は as contrast particle) vs 私はあおい車がすきだ

texts: I am learning about は particle that is used as contrast particle. suppose I want to express "I like blue car but I don't like any other colors". can I say it this way 私はあおい車はすきだ ? and what's the difference with 私はあおい車がすきだ ?


texts: Are 頂きます and ご馳走さま used when eating in public?

texts: I have heard these words used when dining in a person's home, but I am not sure if it's appropriate to use them in a restaurant.


texts: Missing particle after など in article about new technologies to monitor employees

texts:
I'm reading this article about new technologies that are getting introduced to monitor employees.

I am unsure about the following sentence. I do not understand why there isn't a particle or something like it between the など and the 230. Is this a typo or what is intended here?

  ソフトウェアをつくっている会社など２３０の会社が新しい技術を紹介しています

  My Translation: 230 companies are introducing new technologies, where these companies and similar places are producing software


texts:
In Miffy - 日本語 あめの　ひの　わすれもの! at around 5:14
Miffy with her family planned to go to the beach and before they started play, Uncle said:
「おじいちゃんの子どもの頃は砂浜でお城を作って遊んだものさ。」
Weblio辞書 says:
活用語の終止形に付く。多く「だって」「でも」と呼応して用いる。現代では多く女性や子供の間で使われるが、時に撥音化して「もん」となることもある。
But it's not used by women or children here, but by uncle, what does 「ものさ」 mean here?


texts:
In the haiku from Bashō,

おもしろき
秋の朝寝や
亭主ぶり

The last line, 亭主ぶり, is translated as "kind host" by one source. Does ぶり actually mean "kind" in this context?


texts: Can kanji compounds be formed arbitrarily?

texts:
I will take 客 as an example:

Can 客 form a compound with 席, 娟, and all the other thousands of Japanese 漢字?
If I put 席客, but not 客席, will the meaning be different? Or will it just have no meaning? Or is it only a grammar error? Even if it's a grammar error, can the meaning still be understood?

How flexible is the formation of kanji compounds?


texts: What happens when a speaker could not read a kanji character when reading a text out loud?

texts:
I am currently in the process of slowly learning kanji. I have found out that there are 2136 characters of general use "joyo" kanji, but it is said that the total number of kanji characters could be very well over 50,000, though obviously it is very rarely used, if at all.

A question then came into mind. What happens when someone already fluent in joyo kanji (imagine a native japanese high school student in his/her final year) were to read a printed text out loud that happens to contain a single kanji they did not know before? Did they simply skip it? Or is it actually possible to make an educated guess of the pronunciation of the character?

I would imagine it would be common courtesy to at least provide furigana when printing kanji outside of the joyo list, but I do wonder what happens when it is printed without.

Obviously being a relative beginner in japanese, I could not provide an example, so it would be nice if the answer also contains an example.


texts: I gather that 皮肉 can literally mean "skin-meat." I also see that one definition for 皮 is "mask (hiding one's true nature);  seeming." So perhaps 皮肉 can be understood as "hiding the real meat," which can be related to irony. What is the real answer?


texts: そう with verbs in different forms as well as the differences with みたい

texts:
Here are a couple of sentences:

雨が降るそうです
雨が降りそうです

Does 1 mean I hear it will rain, while 2 means It seems it will rain??
And then, what about tenses?:

雨が降ったそうです
?

1 meaning I heard it will rain? There is no past masu stem so how would you create 2? Would 2 then just mean It looked like it would rain?
To add to my confusion, there is みたい. What is the difference between verb masu stem + そう and plain verb + みたい?


texts: (question word)-でも (何でも、誰でも、いつでも) can also be used in a negative sentence?

texts:
Can you give me some examples to explain it?
Thanks so much.


texts: Difference between "sha" and "in" (i.e. 研究員 vs 研究者)

texts:
I'm on first year of Japanese study. I've found on my notes the word "kenkyuusha" (研究者) which means researcher, but while reviewing for vocabulary on the internet I found "kenkyuuin" (研究員) instead.

I don't know much about how to form new vocabulary using suffixes yet, but I'm guessing both ("sha" and "in") mean person in some way (used in other words I also have, like kaishain, isha, ginkouin, etc). That means that these suffixes are kind of interchangeable, or did I just take a bad translation and "kenkyuuin" is the correct one?


texts:
For full context, see here.

The sentence in question:

  厳しい冷え込みとなった２５日朝、滝つぼが一面凍りついたほか、流れ落ちる滝の周りにはつららができていて、岩場が氷で白く染まっていました。

I already posted a fairly similar question here.

But I cant really find out how to apply the regularities lined out in the answers can be applied to なる here.
So basically, I dont know how と in 厳しい冷え込みとなった２５日朝 is used here. I also don't really know what to do with ほか in 滝つぼが一面凍りついたほか.

My attempt at translation:

  "There was intense cooldown on the 25th morning, and one side of the waterfall basin froze over (ほか???) and concerning in the surroundings of the waterfall, there appeared icicles and the rocky area was dyed white."

To make this translation, I just jused "and" constructions to cover the parts I didnt understand, but I would definitely like to know how these parts work ^^


texts: 交わり合わないような項目同士 translation

texts:
勉強とコミュニケーション能力。一見すると交わり合わないような項目同士。

交わる: 1. to cross; to intersect; to join; to meet, 2. to associate with; to mingle with; to consort with, 3. to have a sexual relationship; to copulate.

合わない --> 合う: 1. to come together; to merge; to unite; to meet, 2. to fit; to match; to suit; to agree with; to be correct, 3. to be profitable; to be equitable, 4. to do ... to each other; to do ... togetherafter the -masu stem of a verb (Auxiliary verb, Godan verb with u ending).

同士: 1. fellow; mutual; companion; comrade.

I was wondering if the following translation is proper:

"Our communication skills with our study. Those (kind of) subjects are not related/matched with each other at first glance."

I saw from many examples that it seems 同士 attached to a noun is not necessary to be translated specifically. Is it a correct interpretation?

Thank you for your kind guidance.


texts:
I found Shimazaki Touson's work 'shiawase', and read the first few lines:

  「幸せ」が色々な家へたずねて行きました。だれでも幸せの欲しくないひとはありませんから、どこの家をたずねましても、みんな大喜びでむかえてくれるに違いありません。

My question is how I can translate

  どこの家?

I understand that "doko" means "where", but in this position I can't imagine how to interpret.
Thank you for reading my question.


texts: How to say 1-to-1 correspondence without causing any ambiguities?

texts:
Consider the following mathematics question,

  Each of integers from 1 to N is written on a separate piece of card.

It means that there are N cards, each with a distinct number.

Is it understandable if I say as follows in Japanese?

  一からNまでの整数のめいめいはそれぞれ別のカードの一枚に書かれた。


texts:
I'm very new to Japanese study, so please bear with me...

  日本語の勉強は楽しいです。 数学の勉強も楽しいです。

In this example, study of Japanese is fun. Study of math is also fun, も is used to indicate that math, similarly to Japanese, is also fun to study. I.e. that studying math shares the characteristic of studying Japanese already mentioned. I know this is correct. However, if one wanted to mention a different characteristic of math that has not already been mentioned, by virtue of commenting on Japanese study, could また be used?

For example:

  日本語の勉強は楽しいです。 また、数学の勉強は難しいです。(Study of Japanese is fun. Also, study of math is difficult.)

I'm fairly sure も could not be used here as the two subjects are not sharing the same description. But, am unsure as to whether or not the use of また, to mean also/moreover/furthermore, etc. is correct, or if it is better to just omit また and use two non-linked sentences.


texts: Despite reading articles online I'm still confused on sentence format using は or の

texts:
So I am currently learning through the Genki textbooks and I'm starting to use は and の. I understand their general ideas は is used to clarify the subject and の is used to signify possession but I ran into these two examples in my textbook:

1st:

  きむらさんはさくらだいがくのがくせいです。

This sentence is talking about Kimura's university, so shouldn't this sentence be Kimura's possession and start with the の first?

2nd:

  きむらさんのせんこうはにほんごです。

This sentence seems to contradict the structure of the above sentence. It is talking about Kimura's major, again possessive like the last time, but this time reverses the は and の.

Is it that Kimura is Sakura University's student meaning that it's the university possessing him?

I am still very much a beginner so forgive me if this is obvious or I am thinking of it too much like English. Thank you for your time!


texts: It it correct / normal to use か after だ?

texts:
I've heard 'ですか' all too often in textbook Japanese.

I've personally never heard だ and か used together - only 'の' or a rising intonation.

Eg:

  なまえはなんですか？ vs なまえはなんだか？

Is it normal/natural in the second case? How do you properly convey a question in this case if not with か?


texts: Onyomi words consisting of just one kanji (and nothing else)

texts:
While using Rikaichan, one invariably notices all the words just consisting of one kanji character with its onyomi reading. However, most of these words seem to be barely used (at least in real conversations). It seems to me that most are only used in scientific papers as abbreviations for the respective jukugo of the same sense.

One character kanji words that are actually usable in conversation (and that don't make you sound super scientific) seem to be 敵, 詩、毒 and 罰, for example.　I think I've also heard 地, but there are other synonyms whose usage is definitely preferred. Furthermore there are some kanji that only seem to be used in fixed expressions like 気 in its various idioms and 念 in 念のために(so they don't really count here).

So, how should I think about these words? Are they just newspaper abbreviations (much like 独 for Germany, etc.) that shouldn't even be considered as real words?
Are there any general guidelines which words one indeed can use in conversations (Or maybe even an explicit list of all such words which are common 話言葉、since there seem not to be too many)?


texts: How to tell the gender of the animal in this translation?

texts:
In  tatoeba I found this sentence, that I am confused about how to express gender of animals.
The sentence is the following:
うちの猫って甘えん坊で、どこでも私のあと付いて来るのよね。
=My cat is such a baby, she follows me around wherever I go.

The gender of the cat is female. But I did not find it in the sentence.
Thank you!


texts: Unspecified Pronouns, use of だから in a sentence

texts:
I was trying to translate these song lyrics:

いつか気づくかもしれないけど
間違いだらけの 僕だから

I was thinking that this meant either "Someday, you might notice me, who is prone to mistakes/whose life is full of mistakes." Or, possibly, "Someday, I might notice that my life is full of mistakes." I can't decide which pronoun fits better. But either way, I can't get the because (だから) to fit. "Someday, I/you might notice, because my life is full of mistakes" doesn't make sense to me, but I don't know any other meaning for だから.

Please help!
Thank you.


texts: indefinite pronoun equivalent of "one" e.g. "one must...", "one might..."

texts:
What is the best way to formulate a natural equivalent in Japanese?

From my experience, the most common way seems to be contextual inference. Pronoun dropping is obviously super common, but whether or not that is a way to do doesn't interest me; what is the most natural way to say something like:

  one must eat to survive

and retain the information that relates to an unspecified person (explicity). So for a second let's imagine that it was translated:

  生き延びるために、食べなきゃ

The problem with that for me is that it loses the meaning in the English that relates to in-specificity. Even 誰か to me seems pretty different, e.g.

  生き延びるために、誰か食べなきゃ

Like, how weird does it sound to say "someone must eat to survive" - not really at all an equivalent. Ok ok, apples and oranges to a degree, but if you think about the difference: one refers to someone whether or not they exist, in a sort of timeless semantic space. Whereas somebody has an immediacy that has a much more localized sense of time belonging to its usage and connotation.

Does 誰か have a similar sense of immediacy in this sense? Can I use どれか to refer to people in this situation?

Thanks !


texts:
I came across the sentence

  入って{はいって}いいのかな

and I wasn't able to translate it into English.

If I'm not mistaken the first Kanji is read as "Hai" annd this should mean "enter" right ? Then it goes on with "tsute" which is supposed to mean something like "if". "ii" means "good" so and "no" indicates a question. The last two hiragana should mean "I wonder" or "Wonder" but if I put all of this into one sentence I would come to "I wonder if it will be good if I enter". But somehow that makes no sense to me.

It would be nice if someone could explain it to me.


texts: レシート is supposed to mean receipt. The adaptation of the word looks a bit odd to me. If it comes from English, why does it lose the "p"? Why it uses a "shii" sound instead of a "ce" (to me there are katakana characters which sounds more similar to "ce" than "シー"?  Maybe it comes from another language than English where the word is more similar to the sound レシート? Which is it?


texts:
This is from Death Note where Ryuk is explaining Light about the hidden cameras he found in his room.

  もの凄いカメラの数だ。付けた奴は見つかるの覚悟で付けてるとしか思えない。全部で６４個だ。

Does 奴 refer to a person (the person who installed the cameras) or an object (the cameras)? Most of the translations I found only refer to a person, for example:

  1) I can only imagine that whoever placed them here was prepared to be caught if necessary.

  2) I guess whoever put them here expected you to at least find some of them.

If 奴 is a person here, should I interpret 付けた奴 as "person who installed (cameras)"?

Also, can the で in 覚悟で by interpreted here as "with" like in "with resignation (of being discovered) he installed the cameras" ?


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

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

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

Is どう in this case the "how" adverb? Is いった an inflection of いる, to exist?


texts: Hello, there is a certain phrase that I've been trying to translate but because of a few expressions I am stuck (this is a multi-part question)

texts:
Here is the phrase:

  メーラーの設定によってクリックのみでは正しく開けない場合があります

The expressions that have me stuck are:

みで - I'm not sure what this expression could be... is it some kind of modifier possibly or is it some form of 見る
正しく開けない - I get that this is a compound verb of sorts with the words 正しい and 開ける. I know what each of the words mean individually, but I can't figure out what word they are expressing together.
メーラー - I tried sounding it out and at first I thought it was 'mirror', but it isn't. I can't think of an English equivalent. Is it just a emoji?

I know this forum is for inquiries in 'proficient' Japanese and that my question might be too obvious, but I didn't know where else to go to ask for help. I apologize if my post is inappropriate.

P.S. My Japanese proficiency is BEGINNER.


texts: what is the difference between ごとに and おきに?

texts:
Both  ごとに and おきに appear to mean "repeatedly at intervals".

What is the difference between these two expressions?


texts: Why sometimes people change the way they say 明日 from あした to みょうにち or あす when confirming a reservation day over the phone?

texts:
I noticed that each time I get my haircut reservation to the day after the day conversation takes place, I hear the person on the other end changing the way he or she says 明日 from あした to あす or みょうにち, when he or she makes the final confirmation of reservation day. It happens pretty much every time I do the reservation over the phone, while I struggle to remember hearing people using みょうにち in normal life at all.

It sounds like it is done intentionally as it happens every time and not limited to only one particular person, so I think it is either a company guideline or some general rule they are following.

The only possible explanation I can see is that it is done to avoid misunderstanding.
I know that 一 and 七, as well as 四月 and 七月 might be mistaken for each other when spoken over the phone and therefore might require clarification by using alternative readings. But using alternative readings for あした baffles me as I can't think of what あした might sound similar to given the context of the conversation.


texts:
Take this sentence, for example:
"日本語がドイツ語より面白いです"
Up until now I've never seen より without ほう (still quite a beginner), so I'm wandering if "日本語のほうがドイツ語より面白いです" is different in any way (maybe it explains it as a choice between German and Japanese)?

Next:
"車で行くほうがバスで行くより安い"
Could I somehow say this without ほう? Or do I always use ほう? It is confusing because "俺は旅行するよりうちにいたい" does not use ほう after the verb.

As you can see, I'm a little confused as to when I do/do not use ほう, and would appreciate your help.


texts: Is this sentence right?　コーヒーがおいしい喫茶店{きっさてん}へ行きたいです。

texts:
Can I transform this sentence:

  おいしいコーヒーがある喫茶店{きっさてん} へ行きたいです。

into this sentence:

  コーヒーがおいしい喫茶店{きっさてん}へ行きたいです。

?


texts:
I was reading the comic strip titled 「エボラ出血熱の巻」 on スマ町 when I encountered 「忘れててさ」. I've reproduced part of the dialogue here for a bit more context (bold mine)

  てっしー：火達磨さん！宿題手伝いますよ
  火達磨　：てっしー！助かるッ！実は夏休みの調べ学習忘れててさ…
  てっしー：テーマはエボラ出血熱ですか

I gathered that the second clause is omitted, and that the complete pattern would be 「Ａてさ、Ｂ」. Based on this, I found this 大辞林 entry on てさ which says

  〔接続助詞「て」に間投助詞「さ」の付いたもの。(snip)〕
  ① 文中で，「て」によって調子を整えつつ，「さ」によって語句を軽く指示し，相手に念を押す意を表す。

I interpreted this definition (likely inaccurately) as

  In mid-sentence, while adjusting the tone with 「て」, lightly indicate the phrase with 「さ」, and expresses emphasis to the person one is talking to.

which frankly sounds quite vague to me, especially the 「調子を整えつつ」 part.


texts:
What is this descriptor of a bag?

I know the first line is "Bag.", but what's the second?


texts:
If someone asks me, "どこに行くの?", and I have a certain place in mind, but I don't want to say the whole thing, "図書館に行く", can I just say the location instead, omitting the verb?

  図書館だ would be good enough? Or somehow the に particle must stick in?

Can someone Clarify..?


texts:
I'm writing with a japanese penfriend on italki, and I've got a few problems with what she has written me in japanese ^^

For context: Amongst other things, I've written her that I've changed my profession. I successfully finished my studies to become a teacher, but I've changed into the IT-sector because in my country (germany, bavaria) there is no need for teachers on schools anymore for the subjects I've studied.

Now, I haven't written her this backgroundinformation and as far as I can understand, she tries to convince to go for it :D The problem is, as I said, that  I don't understand everything she has written me.

So first, the full text:
仕事を始めるとき、最初の何年かはとても大変ですね。でも嫌でも続ける事は、何か自分に意味があります。そういうふうに、日本では言います。だから、本当に自分のしたい事が今できなくても、できるときがくるので、そのときまで粘ってください！かな？？？

Now, about the sentence in question:
でも嫌でも続ける事は、何か自分に意味があります。
=>"However unpleasant continuation is/it is to continue, there is some meaning to oneself."
Although this makeshift translation seems to work, I feel unsure about interpretation of 続ける事, and therefore also about my further interpretation of the second half.
That's why I want to ask for confimation here.


texts:
Things like「どういたしまして」, someone used「と申しまして」to their name, and more that I can't recall at the moment, it seemed like it's a te-form of masu-form, but I can't find any explanations of it.
If it exists, how does one conjugate masu into its te-form and negative te-form? What and how are they used?


texts: What are slang terms for Japanese money?

texts:
This question about alternate terms for coins focused on the use of ワンコイン, but it got me thinking about slang terms for money in general.

In all the years I've been in Japan, I don't think I've regularly heard people use slang terms for money they way they do in, say, North America.

In Canada, everyone routinely uses "loonies" to refer to the one dollar coin.

A guy from the US recently said to me, "it's all about the Benjamins." Bucks, greenbacks, cheddar, and more are a matter of regular conversation.

I could probably say, "it's all about the Fukuzawas," but I think they would see it more as me at play than using a commonly accepted slang.

On the coin level, in North American English, we almost exclusively use quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies in place of "25 cent coins", "10 cent coins", and so on.

By contrast, I can't think of anyone referring to a hundred yen coin in any way except its value, 百円{ひゃくえん}.

Am I right in thinking that Japanese on the whole don't really feel a compulsion to give nicknames to their units of currency? A little web searching hasn't turned up a wealth of terms that I was unaware of, but my Google-fu is always a little lacking in Japanese.

By the way, bonus karma points for anyone who can translate "it's all about the Fukuzawas." I can't figure out how to convey the vague "it" part which refers in a vague way to life or living or "the reason to do stuff".


texts:
How do I say "You are lying!" in a joking way?

Can I say:

  嘘{うそ}だよ

or is there a friendlier way to say it?


texts:
I was watching the show Aggretsuko (アグレッシブ烈子) and when the main character [烈子]{れつこ} is invited to go work at her friend's shop, she gets really happy and excited at the prospect of leaving her current terrible job and starts yelling 何それ、何それ over and over again. When I looked it up, the only translation I could find was something like 'What? That.' That doesn't make any sense to me in the context.

I am pretty sure it is slang. Is this some sort of idiom or abbreviation of a longer phrase?


texts:
In English, & is rather frequently used to mean "and".

How should & be read in Japanese? I think these are some likely readings:

や
と
アンド

Case 1: Assume sentence structure is of the form "A & B", where "A" and "B" are objects. Now the word "and" would just be doing listing:

  Apples and oranges

This seems easy to achieve with や for inexhaustive listing and と for exhaustive listing.

Case 2: Now if "A" and "B" are not objects, but events/instructions/etc. The word "and" does not merely list. It can imply sequence:

  Brush my teeth and go to bed

This seems to be achieved using the て form of the verb. (Can & in Japanese do that?)

(Question) What are the ways that & is used in Japanese and how should it be read in each case?


texts:
What is the meaning and the grammar behind ばだった?

Here is the sentence I've found it in:

  このほか、経済的な理由で、キャンプや海水浴などを体験させることができないと答えた保護者の割合が、「困窮層」では２０％台後半から４０％台半ばだったのに対し、「一般層」は１％未満と大きな開きが見られました。


texts: Meaning clarification about「扱う」and 「禁じ手」 in this sentence

texts:
The parts marked in bold are what I am unsure about in this sentence...

「すでに敵対組織はかなり掃討されたのに、麻薬の流通量がちっとも減らないのは、謎のボスが禁じ手のはずだった麻薬を扱いだしているからなんじゃないのか、と思うんだが...」

The dictionary entries of 「禁じ手」usually are limited to 'unallowed moves' or fouls in sports; however judging from this sentence I believe it can mean something like 'taboo' as well. Furthermore I was struggling with understanding 「扱いだして」but I think it means something  like 'starting to sell/handle/etc.' here.

In short my questions are whether my understanding of above-mentioned is correct or not.


texts: 感じ and 風 to talk about how to do something

texts:
I see that the nouns 感じ and 風 (also written ふう) are sometimes used to indicate how to do something. Some examples:

こんなふうに書いてください。
こんな感じにカットしてください。

This is a dialogue about how to golf:

A: アドバイス？お願いします！
B: じゃあ、スイングするときはもっと体全体を使ってみて。こんな感じかな。
A: えっと、こう？
B: そうそう！
A: はい、わかりました！

As the examples show, they often appear with こんな, そんな, あんな y どんな.
I'd like to know more about their usage, so I'd like to ask two questions:

Are 感じ and 風 always interchangeable? My impressions is that 感じ is more causal, but besides that I don't see any other difference.
How are 感じ and 風 different to the series こう, そう, ああ and どう? I mean when the latter are used to talk about the manner of an action.

Anything else you wish to share beyond these two questions is welcome because I can't find much (in English) about these usages.


texts: Is there a meaning associated with upside-down kanji?

texts:
I'm watching an anime ("The Irregular at Magic High School"), and in one scene (Season 1, Episode 23, 0:45), the kanji　福 ("good fortune": https://jisho.org/search/%E7%A6%8F%20%23kanji Colors are yellow-on-red.) appears on a wall-hanging in the background, but it's upside-down. Given the rest of the scene, it seems unlikely this is an accident by either the animators or the characters. (See the inset in https://youtu.be/J-lNJxDs5MQ?t=1138 )

Is there a meaning associated with such a display?  Mourning might fit the other things going on in the series, and might fit the meaning of this particular kanji (as "inverted good fortune"), but I haven't found references for such.

Thank you.


texts:
Here is the sentence said by an old man. (I think that he tried to be the first one to show something before all others.)

  よし先発はわしがいこう まかせとき！

I tried to find the word in online dictionaries but I only found 「まかせとけ」which means 'Leave it to me'. I would like to know whether these two words relate to each other colloquially.


texts:
this is a  small conversation
-どこで食べる
-イタリアレストランではどう
my grammer book says that using どう usually opens up a new topic for example about the location
but if i didn't use どう and instead was stating the location rather than discussing it would it go like this？
イタリアレストランにが？


texts:
I am playing the eroge Tsui no Sora and have come across a passage containing this word:

当たり前だがノストラダムスの大予言なんて出来の悪い妄想だ。
まともに考えれば小学生にすらわかる事。
だがそんな事は重要じゃない。
[Nostradamus' prophecy is an amateur delusion; even an elementary schooler could work it out if they gave it some serious thought; but that isn't important]
重要な事は、それを信じる人間にとってそれが本当たりえる事だ。
"What is important, is that for the people who believe it, it is true"

This is what I believe it should translate to, but even searching 本当たり gets no results on Google. My vague guess it is combination of 本 + 当たる　+ える but other than 当たる　and 本当 meaning something along the lines of 'it fits' or 'truth', I cannot parse it.
Could someone break this down for me please?　I can provide more of the text before the passage if there is still not enough context.


texts: Meaning of 日本をはじめ and the mystery of the missing particle

texts:
日本をはじめ世界中の登山家の間で人気が高いアルプス山脈の最高峰モンブランで、...
  Where I normally put my translation attempt

I understand this bit:

  世界中の登山家の間で人気が高いアルプス山脈の最高峰モンブラン
  The Alps' highest peak, Mont Blanc, which has high popularity among climbers throughout the world

although I'm a little uncomfortable with joining 最高峰 and モンブラン. I feel there ought to be a という in there somewhere.

But I can't understand the overall structure of the sentence at all. I think  it should be of the form Aは/がBだ, but there doesn't seem to be a topic/subject to go in the A position.

Perhaps it doesn't help that I have no idea what 日本をはじめ means. Literally "something started Japan and ...".

Edit:
maybe A = 日本をはじめ世界中の登山家の間で人気が高いアルプス山脈の最高峰
 and B = モンブラン

I guess that would make sense, but is it really okay to miss a particle here? And even then I still don't understand 日本をはじめ


texts: What does this なのである do in this sentence?

texts:
For full context, see here:
https://www.docdroid.net/5vuuiCe/img-20170821-0002-new.pdf

The sentence in question (last line):
今、カラオケは単なる機械ではなく、日本が世界中に誇る文化なのである。

First, my attempt at translation:
"Now, Karaoke is not (just) a mere machine and japan is a culture holding proud in the world."

I just translated the sentence as if なの wasn't present in the respective phrase because I don't know what to with it here. I also must say that I wonder wether my interpretation of the second part of this sentence ("Japan is...") is correct at all. It seems a bit far fetched to me to make Karaoke representative of the whole japanese culture xD At least this sentence sounds to me like it does so...^^ That said, maybe japanese people themselves think so. I don't know, I don't have that much insight into japanese people's heads :D


texts:
context:
I read this sentence in a childrens book (オー·スッパ).
Judging from the pictures, animals are eating a lemon and go crazy because of the sour taste.
The whole sentence is:

  　ポッカリ　ういていたんです。


texts:
I've noticed だと showing up after verbs for a while now in various forms of media, such as blogs, anime, regular TV shows & also when speaking to Japanese people. However, I was originally told that this grammar is incorrect, as だと can only be used after nouns - so what is going on here?

An example from a manga/anime called Prince of Tennis: Character realises he is about to get beaten up by another character - in a bid to stop it happening he says: なんでもします! To which the other character replies (angrily) なんでもするだと！？


texts: テキ in 形声: 適・滴・嫡・摘・敵・鏑

texts:
適・滴・嫡・摘・敵・鏑

Since all the listed above kanji are pronounced テキ and have the same common element, it is safe to assume that this element is pronounced テキ.  The composition of this element is 立・古・冂. Unfortunately I cannot find this element neither among Japanese no traditional Chinese characters. What does element テキ mean in the above 形声?  Is it a changed form of some other 漢字?


texts: How to properly use verb stem instead of the te form?

texts:
I'm writing an essay for school and to keep the word count down I've been using the verb masu form's stem instead of the te form.
However, I'm slightly confused by how consistent it needs to be. Does it only need to be used when you're linking two clauses or in every situation with the te form.
For example:

今、電車を乗ってい、音楽を聴く。

or would it be

今、電車を乗りい、音楽を聴く。

Another example:

このケーキは美味しくて甘く、この紅茶は苦い。

or would it be:

このケーキは美味しく甘く、この紅茶は苦い。

Similarly how would this construction work with grammatical constructions that require the te form such as てから or てくれる, etc.
Apologies for the poor examples, I'm not able to use my real essay examples because of plagiarism.


texts:
I have some trouble with my Japanese studies. I am stuck on some causative passive meanings.

So far, if I am right, there are 3 causative-passive forms:

られる: X is being ... by Y

させられる: Y forces X to .../ X is forced by Y to...

させる: X makes Y to .../ X allows Y to ...

However, I am not able to understand the される.

For example:

その話しはもうちょっと考えさせて: Let me think about the story

その話しはもうちょっと考えられ : I can think of that story a little more

英語は世界中で話されています: English is spoken all over the world

英語は世界中で話られています: English is spoken all over the world

I can't seem to associate される to any of them. I can understand that される is somehow related to the subject, but in what sense? How does it differ from られる?


texts:
I cannot get my head around the verb 「済ます」／「済まされない」 in this sentence.

  月10万円では済まされない。

I found this in the プログレッシブ和英中辞典 on goo dictionary's page for the verb 「済ます」. The page says that the sentence means I can't make do with 100,000 yen a month.

This is fine, I think I can understand the sentence and if I see something like this in the future I think I can recognize it.

However, as the goo dictionary page is about 「済ます」 and not 「済む」 I'm bound to think that [済まされない] is the passive conjugation of the former. But, if I translate this to English or to my native tongue (Hungarian) the sentence/expression/meaning doesn't sounds passive (to me) at all (forgive me if my translating skills are way off about this).

Can someone explain to me how the verb or verb conjugation can be interpreted "passively" in sentences? Thanks!


texts: How to express alternative options where the options use different verbs

texts:
I was about to answer this question when I realised I had a problem.

If I want to say "Please do A or B" where the actions involve different verbs then, hopefully:

  本を買うのに店に行くかインターネットを使うかどちらかしてください。
  Please either go to the shop or use the internet to buy the book.

is a grammatical -- and hopefully natural -- sentence.

So if I wanted to say "You can do A or B" it seems like a natural extension to write:

  本を買うのに店に行くかインターネットを使うかどちらか出来ます。
  To buy a book you can either go to a shop or use the internet.

But the internet has a disturbing lack of text that contains どちらか出来ます, so I'm guessing that this is, at best, unnatural and maybe ungrammatical too.

If it is unnatural what is the correct way to express that you have the ability to do one thing or another thing (but not necessarily both)?


texts:
タルカスと黒騎士ブラフォードはメアリーの忠実な家来だった・・・生い立ちは騎士の家柄ふたりとも戦で失い親も兄弟もない天涯孤独の身！！

The bolded part is what I'm unsure about. As a little sidenote, seeing that this is a manga and it's read from top to bottom, it may be of importance to note that 「生い立ちは騎士の家柄」 and 「ふたりとも戦で失い」 are on two seperate lines so to speak - whether they're supposed to be one sentence or not I'm not sure as there's no obvious space between them other than the "line break" due to missing space.

Here is how I interpret the sentence: "Brought up in a household of knights, they have both lost their parents and siblings in battle and ended up without any relatives."

If I were to reformulate the sentence as follows, would it retain the same meaning? 「生い立ちは騎士の家柄。ふたりとも戦で親と兄弟を失い天涯孤独の身となった。」 What I want to know is why 「ふたりとも戦で失い」 comes before the fact that their relatives died. I assume that 「親も兄弟もない」 is what's referred to here that they've lost and what is essentially being said in a different way is 「ふたりとも親も兄弟も戦で失い」.

Any ideas?

Edit:


texts: How does the negative form of である get to be ではない?

texts:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/formal#part3 doesn't explain the reason clearly.

Can anyone explain?


texts:
What dialect is それはねぇべ （それはないだろう）?

It seems I hear it a lot from people from Chiba. Is it from a specific part of Chiba or even a wider area?


texts: I know the meaning of 私から手を離せ but what does 私から手ぇ離せ mean?


texts:
I am trying to understand something from the N4 and N5 practice test book. I think the sentence has revealed a gap in my understanding of the use of 「-て」 verb conjugation.
The complete sentence is:

きのうはうちに（  かえって  ）何をしましたか

(where the bracketed part was to be filled, and I have inserted the correct answer).
Word for word, I would translate this as:

きのう - Yesterday
うち - Home
かえって - Returning (or something similar)
何 - What
しました - Doing

But I am having trouble understanding the meaning as a whole; I think this is down the use of the 「-て」 verb. Some ideas for a rough translation are:

Yesterday, I/you returned home by what method?
Yesterday, I/you returned home and did what?
Yesterday, what happened when returning home?

None of these really seem likely. What am I missing here?


texts:
「……折紙さんはもう除隊しやがってますし、真那は裏切り同然の形でDEMを出奔していやがります。正面から行って入れてもらえるものですかね？」

The speaker (真那) and her friend (折紙) wanted to enter a military base that they used to belong to. The speaker was asking 折紙 whether they could enter it from the front gate.
Can I understand the ものですか as “Is that the way... (in general)”, as in this link?
https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/86185/understanding-なんで-もんかね
If not, what usage is this もの?


texts:
I came across this image online.

What does the ど～ in はしったど～ mean?


texts: Difference between から and で in context of because

texts:
So, I was going across the particle で and から and I found that, both of them have the function of "because". Following are the examples

E.g. of using で as because

 病気で旅行に行けなかった (Because I was sick, I couldn’t go on the trip)
 台風で電車が止まった (The train stopped on account of the typhoon)
 風で扉が開きました（Wind opened the door)

E.g. of using から as because

あのレストランは安いからいつも混んでいます (That restaurant is inexpensive, so it’s always crowded)
忙しかったから私たちは公園へ行きませんでした (We didn’t go to the park because we were too busy)

So can you please tell the difference between the two and also when to use から or で?
Thank You


texts:
i think my understanding of these two is getting better though i have a question about this sentence:

新しい合金が開発された。医療用や通信用など、用途は広い。

the が i think i get. it is because the new alloy is new information. the question i have is about the は used. what confuses me is that i recently read about this kind of construction:

象は鼻が長い。

it was explained as the nose being its own subject rather than a possessive. that is why the second part confuses me now because if anything i would think the second sentence would be constructed something like this:

(新しい合金は)用途が広い。

where the new alloy is now the topic as it has just been introduced as new information in the previous sentence and its uses are the subject much like the elephant's nose is the subject in that other sentence.

is it a case where once you introduce something, you can kind of skip a step in the next sentence and talk about a feature of it using は? for instance if you were to say something like... 象があります。鼻はながい。

?


texts: How can there be 2 X が in this sentence?

texts:
This sentence is an excerpt from https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012813311000/k10012813311000.html
京都大学の西浦博教授は、東京都でこれから新しいコロナウイルスがうつる人がどのように変わるか計算しました。
Is my understanding correct?

うつる人が is the subject of the intransitive verb 変わる, so it must take が
新しいコロナウイルスが is the subject of the relative clause, and so it also must take が?

So essentially this sentence can be loosely translated as: Professor Hiroshi Nishiura from Kyoto University has calculated how people who will become infected with new corona virus will change in Tokyo from now on?
:S


texts: What is the meaning of 自分 in this sentence? Does it indicate suicide?

texts:
Context: There is a man who is telling a story about himself. You can call him Bi. Bi was a suspect of assault and was sent to the prison. And one of the lines in his dialogue is "父は服役してる間に自分で死んだ｡"
I tried to translate this sentence with the help of a friend, and we went for this sentence: "My father died on his own while I was in prison."
But I'm unsure as to whether the 自分 here means Bi's father committed suicide? Is that the case, or did Bi's father die alone when Bi was in prison?
Thank you in advance.


texts: The に particle outside of location and direction

texts:
I am well aware of how に works compared to で and how to use it in various situations.
I still have trouble with a few uses that keep popping up, as they don't seem to gel with my current understanding.

For example それは体に悪いです

I see に as a particle that shows 2 things,

A particle that denotes movement form larger area to settle in somewhere specific.
It is used with verbs like 住む　勤める　and 乗る for this reason.
A particle that effectively turns the noun or quasi adjective into an adverbial phrase.
Used with 静かにしてください　ハンバーガーにします etc to show the way you will "do" for want of a better word. It also is used in passive phrases to show that it was by someone else's motions that something happened, like "田中さんにビールが飲まれた"

So my question is, how do I understand phrases like
体にいいです or 会社に行くのにバスと電車を使っている
Is that a third usage meaning "for"?

BONUS QUESTION:Are there any other usages of に I should look out for?


texts:
I'm trying to create a business pamphlet in Japanese for a local business called Donut Day and I'm wondering how to list their Open hours in full sentences for a school project.
In english I would do something like

Open
Donut Day is open on Monday - 7am to 5pm
Donut Day is open Tuesday through Saturday 6am to 5pm
Donut Day is open on Sunday 6am to 3pm

So my question is, how do I say that Tuesday through Saturday part?  I googled a bit but couldn't find any answers that seemed reasonable that I could verify in any way with my level of comprehension.
Here is my attempt -

営業中
ドーナツデイ は 月曜日 に 午前 7時 から午後 5時 まで 開いています。
ドーナツデイ は 土曜日 から 土曜日 まで午前 6時 から 午後 5時 まで 営業しています。
ドーナツデイ は 日曜日 の 午前 6時 から午後 3時 まで 営業しています。


texts: 鵺 Chimera Bird in Making of Cyborg and Reincarnation

texts:
This question is related to my Sci-fi Fantasy question "Japanese Wedding Chant from Ghost in the Shell". That question is concerned with Japanese folk traditions and mythology, and please feel free to give an answer there for that question if you have one.

Hello, I'm new to Japanese Language SE. Making of Cyborg and Reincarnation are two theme songs from the 1995 animation Ghost in the Shell, 攻殻機動隊, and both utilize the same ancient Japanese chant.
In the chant the "鵺鳥" is mentioned, which has been variously translated as 'Chimera bird' & 'Sterling bird'. What bird is meant by this, and is it the mythical Nue? And if so, then why would a symbol of ill-omen be included in a wedding chant, which should be a happy and blessed occasion?

Japanese KanaKanji
吾が舞へば、麗し女、酔ひにけり
吾が舞へば、照る月、響むなり
結婚に、神、天下りて
夜は明け、鵺鳥、鳴く
遠神恵賜
First English Translation
Because I had danced, the beautiful lady was enchanted
Because I had danced, the shining moon echoed
Proposing marriage, the god shall descend
The night clears away and the chimera bird will sing
The distant god may give us the precious blessing

Thank you.

Note: Regarding my previous inquiry into the correct translation to English regarding the tenses, broccoli forest was kind enough to refer me to this question answering exactly that, and since that has already been answered I've removed it from my question to avoid duplication.


texts:
Cantonese / Chinese is my first language, where 居 and 住 both mean live in

Usually I would say

私は香港に住んでいます

But recently a japanese friend of mine says

今　京都に居ます

Are their meanings the same?


texts: Is there a Japanese word for "finding the pleasantest point of an interior"?

texts:
I recently read a quote from architect Sverre Fehn that stated:

"Japan has a word for finding the pleasantest point in an interior..."

I was wondering if anyone might know what this word is.


texts: I need help with this sentence! 居るなら居ると言ってくれればいいのにと誰にともなく唇をとがらせる。

texts:
A: おかああさん？
B: はーい
ホッとする。同時に拍子抜けする。なんだ居るのかと胸をなでおろしたあとで、居るなら居ると言ってくれればいいのにと誰にともなく唇をとがらせる。

My translation is "...if you're here, I wish you would say 'I'm here'..."
I don't understand after のに…
ともなく means "doing something without thinking", correct?
Please help me understand this!


texts:
I'd heard that the 「（名詞）ね」form was sometimes used by male speakers before, and I've been reminded by something in Dragon Quest IX. There is a character late in the game known as 大賢者, and while they're a book and so their gender is hard to determine, they mostly sound slightly masculine. Here are their lines when you meet them.

ねむねむ……。賢者は　高級呪文を使いこなす聖者だよ……。修業をつめば神の使いの能力にも　目覚めるかもね……。
グーグー。ドルマ系とか　ザオリクとか　マダンテとか……。賢者にしか使えない　呪文は多いよ……。う～ん……。ねむねむ……。ボクは大賢者。名前はないよ。キミ　賢者になれるけど　なってみる？キミのチカラを　見せてくれたらすぐにでも……。グーグー。……ああ　ごめんね。しゃべると　眠くなるんだ。これをやったら　賢者にしてあげる。ええとね　トロルキングに　５回　メラで　とどめをさしてきて。どうする　やってみる？

＞うける

ああ……やっぱやるのね。じゃあ　ボク　ねるからさ。用が済んだら……。グーグー。

His speech isn't particularly feminine-sounding in general, except for saying やっぱやるのね when you accept his quest. I'd like to know in more detail about male use of 「（名詞）ね」.
EDIT: Here's the video


texts: I know these both are used a delimiters when things are listed in a way implying the list is not necessarily limited to the things explicitly mentioned, but when would one be used over the other?


texts: what does 母 have to do with 毎? is there any link at all or did it come together randomly? does it have to do with the Chinese pronunciation?


texts:
Most of the time (?) a following dummy noun is required when the speaker wants to put a 用言 where a 体言 is expected, as shown by the sentence below:

できないのをできないというのに、不思議があるもんか。

However, it seems that sometimes a 用言 on its own can function as a 体言, namely, with no dummy noun added, such as:

わかるまで待ってるがいい。

できそうもない幾何の問題を持って迫ったには冷や汗を流した。

So the question boils down to:
When a 用言 is used as a 体言, in what case is the addition of a dummy noun 1) required, 2) optional, 3) plainly wrong?
All three instances are from the novel Botchan.


texts:
まさか、寝ぐらにしてるのか？

What I don't know is the phrase '寝ぐら'. I guessed it is a grammatical clause but the search came up with no optimistic result.

However, with the search engine, I found that the Japaneses used it very often in forums and blogs, such as '寝ぐらになる'.

Can anyone tell me the meaning and the grammar behind it, thanks.


texts: Is 「悩まされている 」a 使役受身形

texts:
In a Grammar book, they are introducing the 使役受身形 with the example, 感心させられる
But they also classified this sentence

  隣の家の騒音に悩まされている

in this grammar structure too.
But my Jisho told me that 悩まされる is the 受身 form of 悩ます。

So, is 「悩まされている 」a 使役受身形? If not, why would they classified it in the same group of させられる？


texts:
何本か重要な電話をかけ、...
  He made several important phone calls and ...

As I puzzled about why phone calls might use the counter 本 (see this question) I wondered more generally about how to say several.

Is there a difference between "何 + counter + か" and "数 + counter"?

If you don't know what counter to use can you always just use いくつか instead?

I think I may be getting mixed up about which ones are used adjectively and which ones are used adverbially, or if they can be used both ways.


texts:
Hello to all the community,

As a part of my autodidact learning, I am currently studying different kind of Japanese sentences in different situations. For now, I am trying to understand the lyrics of the opening song of the anime Captain Tsubasa (from 1983). More than a translation, I try to figure out the meaning of words and grammar to get a true understanding of the language.

The song I am currently studying is 燃{も}えてヒーロー by Hiroshi Uchiki. I could understand the first sentences by myself and my own researches, yet I am getting quite stuck on the following sentence : それにつけても俺{おれ}たちゃなんなの.
This is translated as "Despite that, we are here", but I don't understand from where this comes from...

All I could find about それにつけても is the meaning of "anyways", and this may come from the grammar ...につけ(て), possibly from the verb 付{つ}ける, this grammar having the meaning of "every time I do...", "as soon as I do...". From there, I can't find the relation between 付{つ}ける "to attach, to stuck" and the given translation of "Despite that" or even "anyways". Moreover, 付{つ}ける is a transitive verb and do I don't understand the に particle here, targeting それ. Maybe am I seeding from the wrong verb ?

I am also in trouble for the second part of the sentence : 俺{おれ}たちゃなんなの, translated as "we are here". If I could figure out that 俺たちゃ is a plain and spoken way of saying 俺たち "we, us", the なんなの part gets me confused. Here I guess we have 何なの, a shortened form of 何なのですか, meaning "what is it", with a certain emphasis or interest towards the question. So if I get all altogether, I may try a rough translation of "what are we ?" (probably in the meaning of "what do we represent in this world ?"

Overall I get for それにつけても俺{おれ}たちゃなんなの a translation of "Anyways, what do we represent in this world ?" which is very far from the declarative "Despite that, we are here".

Does anyone have a better understanding of this ? To get the sentence in context, we can use this website.

Please forgive me if the question is not properly asked, as I am not English native, which is a language that I am also currently studying.

Thank you in advance for your precious help !


texts: Any common, noteworthy changes in speech when a 日本人 is totally wasted?

texts:
Now, I've never met a Japanese person who's gotten hammered, much less creepily observed their speaking patterns. Thus, I must ask: are there any common or noteworthy changes in how people speak while they're drunk?

In English we don't really get much, just slurring and rudeness; but Japanese is littered with context rules, politeness rules, etc. you know, the kind of things that would assume some degree of spacial or contextual awareness. Thus, I'm just curious if anything emerges when a boy/girl speaks while moderately inebriated, not to far gone, but by no means sober.


texts: What is the difference between the words 状態 and 状況?

texts:
Actually, I want to write an email to a person asking about her current situation in life, understanding by "situation" if she got married, if she changed companies, if she's happy, etc. I remember from my study of Japanese the word 状況, but I don't know if it can be applied here. Searching on jisho.org, I found this other word 状態, but again, I don't know if it has the nuance I want to express. So what would be the proper way to ask "how's your current situation?" in Japanese?

Thanks in advance.


texts: Subject-verb inconsistency in compound sentences: A norm?

texts:
I used to write long, compound English sentences until I was told that it was considered poor writing style. However, the more Japanese I read, the more I get the feeling that it is rather natural to have a long, (seemingly) complex sentence instead of the other way around. This often causes confusion for me.

What's worse, I sometimes find that the subject and the verb/verbs in a sentence disagree.

For instance, these two sentences seem to have perfectly clear subjects from the beginning:

1. (Source)

  インドの警察当局は、NASA(アメリカ航空宇宙局)との取引をほのめかし、実業家からおよそ2,300万円をだまし取った疑いで、この親子を逮捕した。

2. (Source)

  2人は、普段から生活保護費の変更処理を怠るなどしていたということで、2018年3月、机にある山積みの資料を整理したところ、今回の不正が発覚した。

While I can understand both sentences, I find myself losing sight of the subject halfway through. For case 1, it was the 親子 who performed ほのめかし. Yet, the subject of the whole sentence is インドの警察当局. I literally had to pause, and parse the sentence carefully again.

The same goes for case 2, where 2人 is the subject of the sentence, yet mid-sentence, 整理した appears, followed by 発覚した. I was scratching my head as to whom did the 整理 and 発覚. It couldn't have been 2人, the suspects. Again, I had to look it over to get the meaning right.

Question:
Is this reading issue I have right now a matter of lack of reading experience, or are the sentences themselves somewhat poorly written? Is this sort of writing and/or speaking style preferable for the Japanese language? By this style, I mean one in which the subject and the verb/verbs differ, causing possible ambiguity.


texts:
I am really stuck with this grammar point for quite awhile now, and I've asked a fewteachers, but they have being unable to give me a clear logical explanation.
I understand the use and structure of a noun modifier using standard masu plain past form, eg たなかさんが　かったすしは、......etc etc The sushi that Tanaka bought .....etc
Now it's noun modifier with subject ga, masu verb in plain past, modifying the noun, sushi. No worries.
However please assist with passive usage in noun modifier, I don't get.

I get that in passive it's the object that's being highlighted, that now forms the subject. And I get direct and indirect passive sentences. No worries.

But what are the rules for using passive to modify a noun and why and when is it prefered over plain masu form?

1.わたしが　たべた Pizzaは きのうのばん　ともだちに　つかいました。 ok all good.

2.たべられた　Pizza は　おいしかったです。/ or should I use a noun to finish sentence, よくham and pineapple です、

I am not really understanding why No2 in passive, is wrong.

Thank you
Shawn
Melbourne


texts:
I know that your can connect to adjectives with the て form, for example,

僕の彼女は美しくて優しいです。 My girfriend is beautiful and kind

but can you follow that て with a continuation of the sentence, for example,

僕の彼女は美しくて僕が醜いなのに、僕が好きです。 My girlfriend is beautiful, and despite my being ugly, she likes me.


texts:
「移行」
「移動」

What is usage difference between these two words.
Many times not able to judge why one of those used and not the other one?


texts: 真ん中、真ん前、真後ろ、真上、真下、真横 - How different when there's no 真 right before?

texts:
真ん中、真ん前、真後ろ、真上、真下、真横 (*)

  中, 前, 後ろ, 上, 下, 横 (**)

I think this is an easy question, but I wanna hear your opinions about them.

How different between (*) and (**)  when there's a 真 right before?

I've seen a lot of words starting with 真 which're not included above, such as: 真っ白, 真っ赤,...

Is there a common way to understand the usage of 真 generally?

Thank you.


texts: Am I hearing the pitch accent of "家具売り場" correctly?

texts:
I was watching the anime K-On and came across this sentence:

えっと家具売り場は…
https://instaud.io/_/2JFq.mp3

They were at a big store, wanted to buy a shelf and were looking for where they sell furniture.

Now my pitch accent dictionary says 売り場 is 平板:

うりば【LHH】

But I'm hearing this as:

かぐうりば 【HLHLL】

I would like to know if I'm hearing it correctly.


texts: Why are some Japanese foreign words spelled with different sounds?

texts:
Please consider the following:

Warrior is ウォリアー： this vowel sound "a" changes to ”オ"
Work is ワーク:this vowel sound "o" changes to "ア"
Chariot is チャリオット:this vowel sound "a" stays "ア"
Corridor is コリドー:this vowel sound "o" stays "オ"
As for the other words that don't start with "w", "a" stays "ア", "o" stays"オ".
Margin is マージン："a" stays "ア"
Border is ボーダー:"o" stays "オ"....etc.

But only the words with starting with "w" are opposite. Do you know why?


texts: 木 を 切り に VS 木 を 切る に in the ももたろう tale

texts:
In the ももたろう tale there's a sentence that goes like:

  おじいさんが山{やま}へ木{き}を切{き}りにいけば、
  おばあさんは川{かわ}へせんたくにでかけます。

Which translates as

  If the old man went to the mountain to cut trees
  the old woman would go out to the river to wash clothes.

In the old woman's case the verb せんたく is presented in its dictionary form and is not modified by the particle に, which gives the sense of purpose (to go out to do something). So why the same is not true for the old man? Why 木を切りに instead of 木を切るに?


texts: Is there a form for "I have never heard of"?

texts:
Some examples of what I'm trying to convey:

I have never heard that song before.

I have never heard of Miyazawa Kenji

I have never heard of that before?

I've never heard of that store?

What verb should be used? Is there a common form I can adopt?
Is there an equivalent phrase in Japanese?


texts: Non-universal counters and reading 7 and 9

texts:
Q1. Why are these counters like 人(にん), 日(にち) and 歳(さい) not universal?

人(にん) is impossible to be joined with 1(いち) or 2(に)?
日(にち) is impossible to be joined with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 20 or 24?
歳(さい) is impossible to be joined with 20(にじゅう)?

Q2. When do we read 7 and 9 as "しち" and "く" rather than "なな" and "きゅう"?


texts: Do Chinese loanwords have special connotations as foreign words?

texts:
I once heard that the Japanese like to use words like 「トイレ」 and 「お手洗い」 to refer to the water closet/bathroom because they are neutral and don't have dirty connotations, especially the English loanword, because it comes from a foreign language. That made me wonder, are Chinese loanwords still considered "foreign" and therefore more impartial or less emotional?

For example, would something analogous to Churchill's "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" (which used only English words of Germanic origin) line have any effect?


texts: わけ、の、理由 in explanations.... when do you use which one?

texts:
These all seem to be used for explanation... when do you use one over the other? Could you offer some examples?

To clarify about の, I am talking about its use in providing information, like,  昨日、デパートに行ったんです


texts:
Also, how does 発刊 fit into all of this?

Is it that 発行 can be used for magazines, newspapers and books while 刊行 can't be used for newspapers?


texts: dai 3 ka renshuu A 5 ( minna no nihongo 1 )

texts:
i have a doubt. In the lesson 3 practice A 5:

[x] wa [ y ] desu

x= something
y= place

That mean the X is in the place Y. Like in " The CAR ( x ) is in the GARAGE ( y ) "

BUT the exemples are confusing:

Kuni wa France desu ( nani )
kuni wa IMC desu ( nani )
kuni wa Sakura University desu ( nani )
kuni wa dochira desu ka ( that ask for the name of the country )

Or if you choose the daigaku

daigaku wa France desu ( this make sense, the univeristy is in France )
daigaku wa IMC desu ( nani )
daigaku wa sakura daigaku desu (make sense if " Y " is a name not a place )
daigaku wa dochira desu ka ( again, ask for the name of the university )

For me this make sense if you use other things in the X like:

denwa wa France desu ( the telephone is in France )
denwa wa IMC desu ( the telephone is in the IMC )
denwa wa sakura daigaku desu ( the telephone is in the Sakura University )

or Albert:

Albert-san wa France desu ( Albert-san is in France )
Albert-san wa IMC desu ( Albert-san is in the IMC )
Albert-san wa sakura daigaku desu ( Albert-san is in the Sakura University )

Any idea ?


texts:
In an exercise in my textbook, there's the following instruction in one of the exercises:

  友達のいちばん好きな言葉を書いてもらいましょう。その読み方と意味を質問してください。

The bold もらいましょう really confuses me. I'd expect something like -て くれましょう or あげましょう but "to receive"? "Let's receive the favor of having written our friends favorite word"?

It kind of works, but it feels so funny that I wonder whether I misinterpreted the function of this -て もらう construction here xD


texts: What's the original Japanese word for door, other than the loanword ドア?

texts: I assume that ドア is a loanword from English, unless it's a big coincidence, yet, it's in the top 200 most used Japanese words by frequency, in a Japanese words by frequency list. What's the original Japanese word for door? Any idea why they switched for the English one considering doors (or something similar foldable perhaps to cover an entrance) had to exist in Japan before western contact?


texts:
I have encountered a sentence:

それができないのは、家庭での「しつけが悪い」ということになります

From
日本人の心がわかる日本語
森田 六郎

What I don‘t get is 家庭での. I have not seen での before. Shouldn‘t it just be 家庭のhere? If not, what is the nuance please? Thank you.


texts:
In the popular novel 火花, after the two main characters engage in a manzai-like conversation, Kamiya says the following:

「二人がかりで結構時間かかったな。笑いって、こんなに難しかったっけ？」

I think I have a good understanding of that statement. However, the next statement by Tokunaga is as follows:

「僕も吐きそうになりました」

Generally, I've seen 吐く used to mean "spit out" or "throw up". I know there are a few other meanings as well, but none of them seem to fit the context here.

It just seems strange for a comedian to say "I was ready to throw up" after only a few exchanges with someone (I'd say less than a minute), even if it was an intense discussion (or comedy routine). And they haven't been drinking enough here to actually mean "vomit".

My guess is something like "break out laughing", but I've never heard 吐く used in this context, at least without an object.

Can someone please clarify what 吐く means here?


texts: What's the precise meaning and usage of the っこ construction?

texts:
そんな態度は慣れっこだ

そんな難しいことはできっこない

From my exposure so far it seems っこ is along the lines of having been able to do something, and っこない is not being able to do something. What's the precise meaning?

Also, where does it come from - is it dialectical or regional? Is it a new usage uncommon in older speakers? Is it considered slang?


texts:
I'm reading a short story called 『つめたいよるに』. This girl was crying on the train to work, so another passenger (the 少年 below) invited her for a coffee.

  公衆電話からアルバイト先に電話をして、風邪をひいたので休ませていただきます、と言ったのを聞いていたとみえて、私がテーブルにもどると、「じゃあ、きょうは一日ひまなんだ」　少年はぶっきらぼうに言った。

I've not encountered ～とみえる before, but even after looking up the meaning (another variant of "seems, looks like", I think), I'm still not sure what meaning it brings to this sentence.

Is ～とみえる related to ～に見える?


texts: Leaving the Office for the Day（お先に vs お疲れ様vs ありがとう）

texts:
My workplace has guards that work at our main door checking IDs and the like.  In the morning we exchange cheerful おはようございますs. But I'm not sure what evening parting to use.
お先に失礼します seems out of place to me, but I can't put my finger on why. Is お疲れ様でした appropriate outside of one's work group (and given the guards will likely be working several more hours)? Would a simple ありがとうございます be better?
Most of my colleagues don't say anything at all, but this seems impossibly rude to my internal American...


texts:
I've been working on the incorporation of a community center LGBTQIA+ people and allies to hang out and feel safe.

I learned "kin tsugi" means golden joinery after I woke up with the memory of a door that had 金継ぎ in gold on it. I thought I should give it this name.

Does it sound natural if I used 金継ぎ as the name of a community center for LGBTQIA people? I was reading about kin tsugi, and thought that my life and that of my friends are much as these broken pots. We do not hide our scars but instead, we own them as a part of who and what we are.


texts: Why does furigana often appear in the most unnecessary places in Japanese books?

texts:
I'm been starting to try to read some Japanese novels recently, and one thing that struck me was that when furigana is used, it seemed to show up in the most unnecessary places.

For example, in the first few pages of Haruki Murakami The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (ねじまき鳥クロニクル), furigana was given for

猫　【ねこ】、椅子【いす】、眺【なが】める、泥棒【どろぼう】、恰好【かっこう】、悪戯【いたずら】、and 蜘蛛【くも】,

all of which are common words that I'd guess are easily readable by most Japanese 10-year olds.

Maybe the last two are there since those words are usually written in kana, but the first two for example, make no sense at all.


texts:
…接客用のメイドなんだから、泣くのはともかく笑えなくなるのって相当まずくない…？

ともかく is usually

anyhow / at any rate / be that as it may / setting aside / is one
thing

However using it like that the sentence would come out like
Since she's a maid for serving customers crying is one thing but isn't it considerably bad not being able to smile ?
Somehow it doesn't sound right. It makes it appear that the crying thing is rather acceptable while the biggest problem is not being able to smile. Shouldn't this be inverted, that it's one thing not being able to smile but crying is pretty bad ?
When ともかく is between verbs does it change it's priority ?
Can someone explain ?


texts:
Here is the sentence including the word.

世をすねぐれて　十五年　孤児院ぐらしは身につかず

Is it a combination of 2 verbs between 「すねる」and 「ぐれる」?

I understand that 2 verbs can be combined with て-form　of the first one.

Extra question: Why is it not 「暮｛く｝らし」instead of「ぐらし」?


texts: Interpreting the particles in this sentence

texts:
today I came across a sentence with a structure I find difficult to understand:

  精神的｛せいしんてき｝な拷問｛ごうもん｝で最も残酷｛ざんこく｝な拷問というのがあります。

There are two things I find hard to interpret: the particle で in this context, and the form of the ending, ～のがあります - which frankly I have no idea what it means here. I came up with two possible interpretations:

It is psychological torture, and it is the cruelest form of torture;
In psychological torture, we find the most cruel form of torture.

If anyone can tell me how to correctly read the sentence, I will be very happy! Thanks in advance.


texts:
I've been trying to figure out why a native speaker told me to use 〜になる instead of です here.

My original sentence: 日本語のテレビ番組を見るのは良い練習です。

Corrected sentence: 日本語のテレビ番組を見るのは良い練習になります。

I've asked them about the reason why, and all they said is that 〜になる is more natural to use, even though です is still technically correct.

But, I don't understand why it is more natural to use 〜になる here. I was always taught that the 〜になる construction meant "to become" or something along those lines. And I can't find anything about it online, unless I'm just looking in the wrong places?

I'd appreciate your help! よろしくお願いします。


texts:
I'm working on another kanji riddle. 澤 has a kunyomi of うるお (followed by い or す).  I've been digging around to try to figure out what this adjective(?) means.  Swamp-like?

Is this word the same as 潤い? If so, is using 澤 instead of 潤 an older/deprecated usage?

Finally, is 澤い even a commonly used word?

Oh, and I should add it also has a reading of つや.  I don't know what that means either.


texts: Is a relative clause a legit interpretation here?

texts:
For full context, see here:
https://www.docdroid.net/hK45eJm/img-20170916-0001-new.pdf

The sentence in question is taken from line 14:

  [内ヶ嶋]{うちがしま}[為氏]{ためうじ}とその[一族]{いちぞく}で、[白川郷]{しらかわごう}に[帰雲城]{かえりくもじょう}という[城]{しろ}を[造]{つく}った。
  => "It was Tameuji Uchigashima and this lineage who built the castle called Kaerikumo."

I interpreted the で after その一族 as the continuative form of copula です and aligned its tempus with the 造った.


texts:
In Flying Witch chapter 2, Makoto asked her friend if she's too scary to her. The lines below are her friend's response.

違うってば
こないだのことでちょっと混乱してるだけ
いきなり、ほうきに乗って、空飛んでる人見たら、誰だってこうなるって

I have difficulty comprehending the bold part.

Is「だって」here the colloquial version for「だと(思っていた)」?

Does「こうなる」roughly mean "this is how it happened"?

What kind「って」is used after「なる」? I'm not sure if it's a colloquial quotation marker.

This is how I understand the third line

When I saw a person flying in a sky with a broomstick out of nowhere, I was like "who is that person?" This is how it happened.

Did I get it right here?


texts:
While taking a look at his bycicle the protagonist said.

つい気になった部分を、小手先で済ませるよりは結局早く終わるだろうと、分解しつつ片っ端から手をつけていったら、完全にバラしてまた組み直すような真似をしていた。

  Regarding the parts I got interest in, thinking it's better to finish it early rather than to finish it superficially, While I was dissemblying I started tampering with it and I dissembled it and reassembled it.

I am having trouble understanding pretty much the entire sentence.
Can someone explain it?


texts: 小さな vs 小さい/大きな vs 大きい

texts: Is there any difference in meaning between 小さな and 小さい / 大きな and 大きい? I know that they have different syntactical rules, but semantically is there any difference? I was once told that 大きな was more appropriate for non-physical things, e.g. 大きな声.


texts: Is it possible to use the 〜たい form with the particle が instead of を?

texts:
For example,

  寿司【すし】を食【た】べたい。
  寿司【すし】が食【た】べたい。

If it is possible, then what is the difference in meaning or nuance?

Thank you.


texts:
There's s hotel resident asking the receptionist that the AC doesn't work .
so the worker told him
"スイッチをぎじゅつしゃ押してください"
I don't know what's the meaning of "ぎじゅつしゃ" here ?


texts: Multiple verbs in a sentence ending with ている

texts:
If I want to state that a thing or multiple things have come to be in more than one state, do I have to use ている more than once. For example:

お腹は太って大きくなっている
その地域の空間が歪んで、魔界に繋がっている

Are those lines correct? Or would 太って need to be written as 太っていて and 歪んで as 歪んでいて? I would think it's fine to omit ていて but I just want to be sure.


texts: I-adjective in く form modifies a noun/adverb

texts:
In the song 宝物 by WANIMA, the chorus goes:

思いにまかせて
感じるまま描いて
まだ見えない明日へ
誰にも止められない
今この瞬間が紛れもなく全て。

紛れもない is in く form, which means it's modifiying a verb. However, 全て is nowhere near a verb, but might be an adverb (which if it is, isn't modifying any verb)

I thought there might be a verb 全る but I tried looking it up and there's none.

Is this just a common grammar rule break in songs? Or am I missing something here?

Thanks!


texts:
I've been reading through the Old Testament in my Japanese Bible (新共同訳).  A phrase I've seen about a million times is

[主]{しゅ}はモーセに仰せになった　→　The Lord commanded Moses

I know what 仰せ(る) means, but I'm trying to understand the structure of 仰せになる.  I can't find it in any dictionaries.  It seems like it could have just as well been 仰せられた・仰せ付けられた (keigo).  Here's what I have been toying with:

It doesn't appear to be the basic "become" meaning of ～になる

The Lord became/became as/was as the command (un)to Moses

I thought it was possibly the ～になる keigo.  However, that form is お＋連用形の語幹＋になる, so it would need to be [お]{L}仰せになる.
2a.  Unless there is some rule where you cannot have the honourific お directly preceding another お sound (although I have never heard of such a rule).

I also thought maybe it is just a set phrase, possibly an antiquated one.  But if so, why can't I find it in any dictionaries?

What exactly am I seeing with this form?


texts: Changing from "S" to "Z" sound in Katakana

texts:
The katakana form's ジ sound comes from two bases:  from "sh," as in "sheep" AND from the "ch" sound in "cheese."  When I am asked to identify the character, during study, that is producing the ジ sound, I never know which answer is correct or why. Is there some kind of rule for making the distinction? Thank you.

How do I know, for Katakana, whether it is シ plus ダクテン or
チ plus ダクテン which is forming the ジ sound?


texts:
In English, the geographical scope of "Asia" and "Asian" depends on which dialect of English you speak. For example, in British English the terms often refer to the Indian subcontinent, whereas in Australian English "Asia" and especially "Asian" would often refer to China, Japan, and south-east Asia.

What geographical scope does アジア or アジア人 encompass?

I had a look at the Wikipedia article on アジア, but it seemed to talk about the worldwide view of what Asia is, and didn't talk specifically about the Japanese-language definition.


texts: What does the word しゅき mean in the context of this comic?

texts:
I'm reading this comic, and the words しゅき appear on the last page (page 4 of 4) but I don't know what it means in this context and without the proper kanji.

I feel like the words I know that can be pronounced as しゅき don't fit the bill. Is it maybe slang? An abbreviation? A name? Or maybe it's a common word but I'm unaware of how it flows with the sentence?


texts: How do you express "In exchange/In return"?

texts: I am trying to figure this out, but online searches don't seem to be helping. In particular what I'm looking for is something like "In exchange for helping you, please help me" or put more simply "In return for X, Y." To be more precise, used in an actual sentence: "In exchange for me helping you with your English, please help me with my Japanese."


texts: How can the well-known Tintin become タンタン in Japanese?

texts: How can the well-known Tintin become タンタン rather than ティンティン in Japanese? Is it because ティンティン sounds like ちんちん?


texts: Parsing a sentence with a て connecting verb

texts:
This sentence is from NHK newsweb easy.

  政府は、新型インフルエンザ（＝人から人にうつる今までになかった新しいインフルエンザ）が世界で流行して、日本でも大勢の人が亡くなる心配がある場合、どうするかというガイドライン（方針）の案を作りました。

I'll remove the easier parts and try to reduce it to the part i'm having trouble parsing...

  政府は、インフルエンザが流行して、人が亡くなる心配がある場合、どうするかというガイドラインの案を作りました。

I can't figure out how 流行して plays into the sentence. I have two main ideas...

(1) インフルエンザが流行して is a high-level clause, and the rest of the sentence after して should be treated as a unit. The flu is spreading in reality.

(2) インフルエンザが流行して、人が亡くなる心配がある場合 goes together; the spreading of the flu causes people to die/causes people to worry about people dying. The flu is not necessarily spreading in reality, it is just a hypothetical situation (場合).


texts: Why is に used with causativeて+もらう but not causativeて +くれる?

texts:
Example:

両親が一人で日本に行かせてくれた

My parents let me go to Japan alone

And

両親に一人で日本に行かせてもらった

My parents let me go [after me asking] to Japan alone


texts:
Was browsing japanese pages when I came across this. http://www.hobidas.com/blog/rosso/mjb/archives/2011/02/post_765.html

The title was.

  ただひたすら純粋に美しい！　　であります

Doesn't ひたすら and 純粋 mean roughly the same thing? Are these two words commonly used together. From my little experience, I interpret this as "Intently pure in beauty!"

I also came across another example.

  ただひたすら純粋にレースしたくて仕方ない

Which from, from my assumption is "I can't help but purely want to race."

Can't just 純粋 be used here instead? What's the point of ひたすら?


texts: Usage of te-form in 異音の原因がわかり、安堵して大きく息を吐く

texts:
異音の原因がわかり、安堵して大きく息を吐く

Here's my thoughts, can someone tell me whether I'm right or not?

realise cause of the sound > therefore feels relieved > then they sigh.

I thought both these usages of the continuative form were both  the usage of 原因・理由を表す
but I'm not quite sure about the literal meaning of for the last part.

My main question is whether it expresses causation or merely states the actions in which they happen.


texts:
いきなり眠ってしまって焦ったが、大丈夫なようだな。

In this sentence it looks like 焦る probably should be auxiliary verb, since its impossible to do something after one fell asleep. But EDICT doesn't have any such entries.
So, is this some expression/unusual usage or what?


texts: In 上旬・中旬・下旬, why is 上 the start and 下 the end of the month?

texts:
I understand that 上旬 means the first 10 days of the month, and that 下旬 means the last (approximately) 10 days of the month. However, I would like to understand the underlying logic for the choice of 上 and 下 for the beginning and end (respectively) of the month.

After all, the later days of the month have higher numbers (21 22 23 etc), so isn't it counter-intuitive that they labeled with 下? There must be a different logical interpretation...


texts: I've never seen a sentence that uses か and は together like this before

texts:
交換プログラムに選ばれるのが難しいかやさしいかは、大学によって違うが、一般的に言えば、申し込む学生が多ければ多いほど、選ばれるのが難しくなる。

I've checked online but I can't seem to find a proper explanation on how かは is being used here. Individually, I know they mean (か = question marker, は = topic Marker). I've rechecked the source book (An Integrated Approach To Intermediate Japanese) countless times to make sure it wasn't a typo either.

Is it asking a question and marking the whole thing in implied quotes using は? Like how I can say "'Are you there?', asked Bob?"

Or am I completely off in my interpretation?

Edit: It was brought to my attention that I made a mistake. Originally I had 難しいが when instead it should've been 難しいか. Thank you to senshin and BurakUeda for pointing that out.


texts: What kind of verbs can the suffix たて （立て） attach to?

texts:
Why can -たて attach to some verbs and not others? What is a more precise definition of how to use it?

I had been aware of the suffix -たて as meaning 'an action just/newly completed/occurred' for a while but I covered it in my textbook more formally today. It attaches in the form of 連用形+たて. For example,
    焼きたて  = freshly baked
    とりたて  = freshly picked
    ペンキ塗りたて  = newly painted

However, my book also stated that you can't say the following.
    読みたて
    寝たて
    食べたて

If the definition above was correct, I should be able to use it for those words. That definition is also supported by the dictionaries I've looked it up in:
Yahoo! Jisho  "動詞の連用形に付いて、その動作が終わったばかりであることを表す"
Jisho.org  "indicates activity only just occurred; just (done)"


texts: Question about the characters on Japanese Yen banknotes

texts:
Apologies in advance if this is not the best place for this question. Apologies also that I couldn't "tag" this question very well as I had to fight with the tagging system for 5 minutes before I could post this question with a tag that was not completely irrelevant :( If anyone is familiar with currency/banknote tracking, e.g. Where's George or EuroBillTracker, I am currently working to build one, I'm working on one of my own, for the Japanese Yen. Eventually I will make a "generic" version and post that free on GitHub so that anyone with PHP knowledge can make one for their own country/currency (instead of it being like currency tracking where every tracker organisation has to write their own tracker project code from scratch), but that's a long way off yet.

My question is about a symbol I've seen in some images of Yen banknotes, with particular reference to the serial number (which is key for bill tracking).
If you look at this image from Wikipedia (although there are other examples of notes with the same character) here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Japanese_yen#/media/File:1000_yen_Natsume_Soseki.jpg

You see that the serial number of that bill is: ZP5494(something)4U

Where I wrote (something) in there, it is because I cannot understand what that symbol is. As I understand it, the currency nominally has the Roman alphabet and Indo-Arabic numerals, like Western currency, but this symbol looks to me to be an exception of some kind. It looks like a cross between a 2 and 9, or a 9 with a tail on its bottom, or something, but I have no idea what that is. Does anyone know what that might be or where I can find out?

Thanks in advance,

-Sean


texts: What does 快便は快適な場所から生まれる mean?

texts:
I found the following sentence on the wall.

  快便は快適な場所から生まれる。

What does it mean?

My attempt is as follows

  Pleasantly defecation comes from comfortable place.

But I don't really understand what it means.


texts: What's the difference between 補給, 補充, 補足, 補完?

texts:
According to Denshi Jisho, they mean "supplementation" but I wonder if there is any difference in their nuances.

Here are some examples where they are used:

小まめに補給することが大切です。
職員の欠員を補充するために広告を出した。
この件について補足の説明をさせてください。
学校での教育を補完する役割が塾にはある。


texts: How to determine which object this もう少し modifies?

texts:
The もう少し I'm referring to is in the third line of the lyrics of a song called Don't you see!:

もう少しお互いを知り合うには　時間が欲しい

Maybe I haven't learned much about the related grammar, but I'm thinking that the もう少し modifies お互いを知り合う. Therefore I'm translating the line into:

It requires time for us to get to know each other a little more.

However, I have seen three translations done by different people, and they all translated the line in a way that the もう少し modifies the 時間. So instead of translating the related part as ... get to know each other a little more, they translated it as ... a little more time ...

Here are the three translations I saw:

Translation 1 (English)
Translation 2 (English)
Translation 3 (Chinese)

Am I misunderstanding anything?


texts: ー vs small kana vs long kana for writing long vowels

texts:
I had thought that for writing long vowels in Japanese, that small kana was mostly used with hiragana and ー was mostly used with katakana.

I was actually thinking of asking whether there were exceptions but then when I looked up a word I'm interested in lately I found all these spellings in WWWJDIC:

すげー
すげぇ
すっげえ
すっげー
すげえ
すっげぇ

Not only are there variants with ー and ぇ, but also え!

In general, how do I know when to use which?

Also do I need to know which is needed to type them? Assume I know how to type them if I know the spelling, but consider also the case where I've heard a new word in speech and don't  know the spelling yet. (Please don't tell me that's a software issue with nothing to do with Japanese.)


texts: If I wanted to say "My opinion is different from yours" would I say 僕の意見はあなたのと違います?


texts: Decimal points and sound change of counters

texts:
I understand that when a series of numbers in Japanese includes a decimal point each number is voiced individually with the decimal point pronounced as てん as in the following example:

  9.76 = きゅうてんななろく

However, if I'm reading a series of digits which includes a counter that has a sound change in the final digit like if I wanted to say for example

  5.6 minutes (5.6分）

how would I read this?

Would I pronounce it as ごてんろっぷん? Or would I simply ignore the sound change in 6 related to the counter word (in this case 分) and simply pronounce it as ごてんろくふん?


texts: What is the difference between ～あろうが and ～あろうと?

texts:
I'm writing a report for a class, and at first I wrote:

  　［…］どのような批判があろうが［…］

But then I sat back and thought, maybe it should actually be:

  　［…］どのような批判があろうと［…］

But now I'm not sure if there's actually a difference, or if there is, how it actually affects the meaning in this case. So... do these actually have different meanings/connotations? And if so, how so?

Thanks for your help!


texts:
So I've been exploring the semi-new Japanese Duolingo course and came across this: 彼は今日学校に来ると思います。

I interpretted it as He thinks he (himself) will come to school today. But Duo had it as I think he will come to school today. Is either wrong?

Assuming I'm right, shouldn't 行く be the more appropriate verb? And assuming Duolingo is correct, shouldn't は be が? Is that necessary? And is the speaker at school hence 来る?


texts: What is the difference between 組, 団, 班, and 群?

texts:
These four words all seem to mean "group," but what are the nuanced differences? When can a group be identified with one/some of these but not the others? How much overlap is there between them?

組{くみ} as in 赤組 vs. 白組 (at an 運動会, for example , "white team" vs. "red team")
団{だん} as in 劇団, 楽団, 応援団, 代表団
班{はん} as in everything here since it seems to be used more as a single word than as part of a compound (example being 班にもっと頑張ってもらう)
群{ぐん} (occasionally むれ when kun-yomi (but usually with okurigana?)) as in here, for the same reasons as above (example [群]{むれ}を作って～の回りに集まる)


texts:
I'm a beginner, so I'm sorry if this is obvious: I was just reading a text which said

  虫取りをしました

which, according to google, means "I took insects", which confused me at first because 取り is already a verb, isn't it? What would it mean if instead of that, the text had said

  虫取りました

what role does the 取り verb play in the sentence if する is the main verb in the original?


texts: Can someone help me grasp the concept of ma (間)?

texts:
I really need help grasping the concept of 'ma' (間).

I know that this is essentially negative space, or the interval in between, the pause, etc. I can see how this might be seen in art, i.e. Miyazaki's films, but was wondering if anyone else can give me a few concrete examples? I need to explain it to a large group of English speakers, and I know they might not grasp it easily. I want to flesh out my understanding of the concept in order to do so.

Thanks for the help!

Brock


texts: polite and casual language-- being asked to switch?

texts:
So it's been a while that I have been wondering how each level of speech is called in Japanese. All I have seen, is in textbook the mention of casual, polite, humble, or honorific speech, but I realized that I have no idea how to say each in Japanese (not going into slang, dialects or anything). Also, how can I recognize someone telling me it's okay to be more casual with them (example of natural sentences I might hear)?
Would it be something like [casual speech]でいいのよ or　[casual speech]使っていいよor something more along the lines of "you don't need to be that polite"? (however you might say that).

Thank you very much.


texts: What does 間違っていたら、修正してください mean, particularly ～ていたら?

texts:
間違っていたら、修正してください。

I don't understand the word いたら after the verb in -TE form.

Thank you


texts:
一年は十二ヶ月があります.

I'm trying to say "a year has 12 months" or "there are 12 months in a year." Is the above sentence correct?


texts:
In the book ロボット学論集 by 瀬名 秀明, I saw this sentence (not exact since I'm solely depending on my memory)

  2004 年公開の映画 "I, Robot" は，Isaac Asimov の同名の小説を換骨奪胎した別物である．

I looked at several online dictionaries, all of which didn't seem to me that the expression doesn't have negative sense by definition. However this book makes me feel like the author implies negative sense. Can anyone show references that define the term more clearly regarding this aspect?


texts: What does he exactly say in this phrase?

texts:
I know the title of the topic is really bad because it isn't descriptive, but I don't know how to phrase it really. If you have a better idea please edit it.

What does Yamcha say in this phrase? What I hear is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af-IL6K34po&t=170s

"Sora na kirei da na" but this doesn't make sense to me, it seems syntactically wrong, I believe for saying "the sky is pretty" it would be something like "sora wa kirei da" or perhaps "sora wa kirei da na" but not what I hear. What is he exactly saying?


texts:
I understand the difference in concept; YがXを向ける = "Y turns X", and ZがYにXを向けさせる = "Z makes Y turn X". But in practical usage with 注意を~, I can't tell the difference.  Do native speakers just use them interchangeably?
Below are both example sentences from alc.co.jp:

~に (人) の注意を向けさせる: bring ~ to the attention of

~に (人) の注意を向ける: direct someone's attention to ~

Same particles, and basically the same English translation.  There is also a sentence in a Japanese grammar book I'm reading about the sentence-ending particle よ:

「よ」の基本的な機能は聞き手の知らないことに注意を向けさせることにあると言えます。

How would the meaning change if 向ける were used here instead?


texts:
My question concerns the middle part of this sentence.

  宮さんは、僕がこうして敬称付きで呼ぶにも関わらず、  見た目十代前半くらいの少女なのだった。

How exactly does こうして affect the meaning of the sentence?
What part of the sentence is 関わらず talking about? Regardless of the title? Of an invitation?
If 敬称付きで means something like "has the title of" then how is what comes after (呼ぶ) to be interpreted? I assume it has to be either "invited" or "inviter." Can it be either?

Thank you very much!


texts:
どうせ兄貴とは出来が違いまさぁ

I tried to look it up but to no avail !  but i guess it means that the speaker think he is different than his brother ,right?


texts:
I've heard this being used around on Japanese tv shows a lot. Usually in high school settings.

Where does this word originate from, and how do I use this in a sentence?


texts:
I just learned about  況や and 況して, I tried to search for some detailed grammar point but nothing...

Are they the same? I saw both mean "not to mention..." but they seem different from the way I saw them used.

Can they be used in everyday life?

  誰にも倒されない・・・況してお前だ！ : I will not be defeated... certainly not by you!

Is it correct if I say that? If yes what does it change to add a 「や」 to 「況して」?

  日本の経済はやばいよね。況や起こってる政治問題。: The economy of Japan is in a bad shape... Not to mention the current politic issues.

Is this one correct?

Thanks!


texts: What is the difference between 向かい and 向こう?

texts:
I am unable to locate objects and their orientation with respect to myself when 向こう and 向かい are used.

Consider:

向こう側
向かい側
向こうの店
向かいの店

Where is 向こう側 and 向かい側 with respect to me? Are they the same place?

My current hypothesis is that 向こう and 向かい both may occupy the same place, except that 向かい necessarily orientates the object to face the subject (either the first person, or from some place's perspective which the first person adopts) by either the having a "front side" or by assuming that the object has a "front side".


texts:
I saw a sentence:

メガネの向こうで流れた一滴はお茶だったのか、はたまた - the drops that flowed on the guy (with glasses), is it tea

What does はたまた mean?

I looked at jisho and it means "or". But that can't possibly be the case here. Any help appreciated


texts: Two ways to say "best" and "worst": what's the difference between 最低{さいてい} - 最高{さいこう} and 最悪{さいあく} - 最良{さいりょう}?

texts:
From Jisho.org, the words 最低{さいてい} (saitei) and 最悪{さいあく} (saiaku) both mean "worst", while the words 最高{さいこう} (saikou) and 最良{さいりょう} (sairyou) both mean "best".

Jisho lists 最低 as antonym of 最高, and lists 最悪 as antonym of 最良. The fact that Jisho associates to each of them a specific antonym, to me, is a sign that these two antonym pairs have different usages.

What are the differences between those two pairs, 最低 - 最高 versus 最悪 - 最良?


texts: What's the use of ね in the following two sentences?

texts:
私はそろそろ寝るね。

I understand ね as is it? or isn't it (I think it has other uses)?

But in the example above:

  I will go to bed early.

I can't see any possible use for ね. Maybe it could act as "okay?" But I'm not very sure.


texts:
In my text book I have the sentence
「どうして神様や仏様を同時に祭ることができるのか不思議に思うかもしれない」
Does this translate to “how can they worship both Buddha and other gods at the same time, they will think strangely”.
When I typed in 不思議 to my online dictionary it gave me a bunch of answers which to me some were completely different from the rest. When I google translated it i was told it means “to wonder”.
Can someone shed a little light on this for me .
Thanks!


texts: What does 台 mean when proceeded by a number (of yen)

texts:
I came across this phrase in a news article about a budget reduction:

  ．．．．６千億円台になる．．．．

I was wondering what this use of 台 means. I did a Google search of 円台 and the amount of yen doesn't seem to have an effect on when this is used. It seams to me to be used like a counter, but a price isn't really a machine...or is it (/cue dramatic music)?

My best guess is that it's means something like "an allotted amount", i.e. "You have X amount to spend, like it or not."


texts: My father just obtained his 3rd kyu, and with it, a brown belt he's going to wear until he gets a black one. It's a tradition in our dojo to get a brown belt embroidered either with a Japanese saying or one's name. He chose the former and wanted to get a belt embroidered with 「剣は 鋭く気は円く」. However, as he does not speak Japanese, nor can he read hiragana, he mistook the 「く」for "line-ending-signs" and submitted the text to be embroidered without them. It'd be a lot of hassle and/or money to get it corrected; does the embroidering on the belt make sense as it is?


texts: テープでいいです vs テープでいいです - how to use the correct tone to differentiate them?

texts:
I've heard native speakers use テープでいいです in stores when they don't want a bag (e.g. they're just buying one item) and prefer that the staff use tape instead. Using it myself has not proved fruitful.

In my example scenario, the cashier has yet to reach for the tape or the bag, so I say 「テープでいいです」and he proceeds to bag my item. My friend has told me that his wife (Japanese) explained to him that it depends not only on sentence structure, but also tone. That is to say that it can be both positive (I would like tape) and negative (no tape, please). So it appears that I must be saying it in such a way that it comes across as "no tape, please".

How can I correctly pronounce it so that it's understood to mean that I don't want a bag and that I only want tape? Is there some gesture that Japanese people use to make this clear?

P.S. I'm already aware of 要らない but I've had mixed results with that one too.


texts: What's the exact difference between なくては and なくてはいけない?


texts: Why don't radicals have the same definition for all kanji?

texts:
A radical is the portion of a kanji that is used to list that kanji in a kanji dictionary. It could represent the "general" meaning (whatever that is), it could represent the sound, or it could represent other things that I don't know.

I don't think we can know what the radical is for a new kanji just by looking at it.  Although I learned many kanji, I didn't find any pattern whatsoever in what the radical for a kanji has to be.

All this confusion is making me ask this: where does the concept of kanji radical come from to begin with? And more importantly, why isn't there a single definition for it? The reason I am asking this is because while I can see that radicals are NOT the simplest building blocks of all kanji (which is what I thought before), they are still somehow supposed to help us break down the kanji for study and looking up in dictionary. How exactly are they helpful at all with all the chaos in Japanese?


texts:
Is there a way to say the two best? Like "the two best seasons are..." or something similar. I'm trying to say

  The two best times to visit Nara are October/November (fall) and March/April/May (spring).

But I only know 一番. I would love the help. Thanks ahead of time.