texts:
おお・・・我らが慈母アマテラス大神
御許がこの世を去られて幾星霜時世経て久しくなりにけるも
この蘇神ひと時も欠くことなく今日の日を待ち申しけり
御許の御隠れの際に転び出でし十三の筆神はこの広い人界に惑い散り散りになりにけり
我は天の星座となりて生き長らえたるをいま一度御許に仕わせ失せ物の蘇るを見継がせ給え！
この力あらば涸れた天の川など忽ち星くずで溢れさせ給いぬ

Note: アマテラス大神, 蘇神, 筆神, and 天の川 are proper names, you may just disregard those.
As always this is a quote from a game and the context is that the main character is the reincarnation of a god on a quest to regain her former powers she has lost. This quote is from one of the gods giving you back on of these powers, i.e. rejuvenation. Giving the translation a quick (and rough) whirl, this is what I came up with:

Oh, our great Mother Amaterasu
Just how much time has passed since you've left this world.
And despite that I have been waiting for this very day without fail.
The thirteen gods of the brush have gotten lost all over this mortal world the moment you disappeared.
I have turned into a constellation in order to survive but shall once more serve you and give you the power of rejuvenation.
With this power you shall be able to fill the river of the heavens in an instant.

I'm not that well-versed in old Japanese so please excuse the shoddy translation leaving out any possible nuances. What I'm actually interested here is the usage of ～させ給う as I've come across that more than in just one instance.
Going by my first intuition, I would have said that 仕わせ (I assume the 給え here is dropped as it appears after the second verb in the sentence anyway) and 見継がせ給え mean something akin to 'allow me to serve you' and 'allow me to help you' respectively (with the させ給え meaning …をおさせになさって; or maybe just simply ～させてください?) while 溢れさせ給いぬ means 'surely you shall be able to fill...' (in this case 給う meaning お…なさる) or something similar.
I got the info on ～させ給う from this site by the way; maybe I have misinterpreted the definitions, so if I have gotten anything wrong, please let me know!


texts: Why is the passive form used in this sentence?

texts:
The following sentence uses 感じられ which I understand to be the continuative passive form of the verb 感じる - "to feel". Why is this form used here?

  たった１分がものすごく長く感じられ
  時間は
  はっきりとした悪意をもって
  僕の上をゆっくりと流れていった。

My guess is that this is an example of "indirect passive" or "suffering passive", but I am at a loss as to how it exactly works here.

Am I right to assume that the (implied) subject in the first part (up to 感じられ) of this sentence is the speaker and he "does the feeling"? If so, why would it be passive?


texts:
I'm on Chapter 9 in Genki I and there's a paragraph that says:

Note that in Japanese, the tense of the original utterance is preserved when reported. If you report somebody's utterance in which present tense is used, you must also use the present tense inside the quote. So if your friend said 今、日本語を勉強しています, using the present tense the report is
スーさんは日本語を勉強していると言っていました。
Sue said that she was studying Japanese.

Isn't the translated text contradicting what it says?
Shouldn't it translate to
Sue said that she is studying Japanese. (As in, Sue, in the past at the moment she was talking to me, had said she is currently studying Japanese).
What should I understand from this paragraph?


texts: what is the difference in the usage of [成]{な}るべく and できるだけ?

texts:
Hi guys what is the difference in the usage of 成るべく and できるだけ?

Don't they both mean as [x] as possible?

E.g.:

1) できるだけ多くの本を読みなさい vs なるべく多くの本を読みなさい

2) できるだけ早くお願いします vs なるべく早くお願いします


texts: Japanese equivalent for "Beta" as in software prototype or early release?

texts:
What are the most common terms used by the software industry in Japan to list software as "beta" as in an early release. And how would they translate literally to American English?

Beta software defined as not officially released but available to a select number of individuals for testing.
https://techterms.com/definition/beta_software

While there might be some phrases, I am looking for the short version which would be easily recognizable.


texts: What do the numbers after 秒 mean when counting time?

texts:
I'm sorry if this is basic question but I just watched a movie that features a track and field event.
I saw people timing runners like "７秒３３" and "１１秒２２"
I just want to confirm if "７秒３３" means 7.33 seconds or something else entirely, since there's no kanji after the 33


texts: Transitioning to Japanese kanji from Chinese

texts:
I can read Japanese kanji just fine (being able to read/write Chinese already).
However, I can't seem to remember the pronunciation as the Chinese reading gets in the way. For example, my mind repeatedly reads 食物 as "shi wu" and not shokumotsu. Are there any ways of memorizing the correct readings other than simply rote memorization? (To make matters worse I also know Cantonese, so I struggle between 時間 being read as "shi jian", "shi gan", and "jikan").
Anyone been able to overcome this? It's a bit of a roadblock in me learning to read Japanese out loud, especially learning new Japanese terms to speak.


texts: What does だからここでもただ先生と書くだけで本名は打ち明けない mean exactly?

texts:
だからここでもただ先生と書くだけで本名は打ち明けない。

From my own comprehension, it literally means ...

  That's why, even here, I only write sensei. His real name is not revealed/confided.

Have I interpreted it correctly?


texts: Etymological connection between 門 and 円?

texts:
I'm curious if there's any historical link between the kanji for "gate", 門{かど}, and the kanji for "circle" or "yen", 円{えん}. If 門 is gate, 円 looks like a closed gate. Am I being whimsical and seeing patterns in the wind, or is there a substantive link here?

Please use furigana when writing kanji; I'm a beginning student and don't know many kanji.


texts: Meaning of よりまし in バンパー外すよりまし

texts:
A friend posted on a social network a picture of his Subaru car's bumper after an minor accident, and got this comment:

大丈夫！バンパー外すよりまし！笑

I guess it means

No problem! Removing the bumper will make it look better! lol

But what is the exact meaning of よりまし in this sentence?
It's in Kansai if that matters.


texts: 選ぶ means 'to choose' and 手 means 'hand' or by extension 'ability'. I don't see how this can yield 'athlete'. Is 選 ateji?


texts: Are there rules over using 公認/alternative words to translate the names of professional qualifications using "Certified" in English?

texts:
Foreign professional qualifications that are well known have accepted translations. For example:

US Certified Public Accountant, CPA, is 米国公認会計士、which is close to the Japanese equivalent.
Chartered Accountant (the equivalent of a CPA in the UK, Canada and other Commonwealth countries) is  著許会計士. The kanji chosen here refer to the Royal charters under which the various CA qualifications were created.

As for "private" qualifications (ie those not recognised in law)that have "Certified" in their original English names:

Some use 公認 (eg Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) =公認財務アナリスト),
Others do not (eg Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) = 不正検査士)

I am asking because there are some newer "private" qualifications that are known but have not yet been passed by many Japanese and based on my research do not have a commonly accepted Japenese translation:Can one use 公認 to be consistent with the English name?

(One example of these would be the "Certified Financial Risk Manager" set by an organisation called GARP (http://www.garp.org/frm/frm-program.aspx?gclid=CLe78tKBx7wCFVDLtAodiGsAVQ), one could just say ファイナンシャル・リスク・マネジャー, to be consistent with the initials (FRM), but  公認 would be more consistent with the English name.)


texts: Aren't 「から」 and 「ので」 closer to the meaning of "because" rather than "so"?

texts:
To my understanding all particles affect the word or clause that appears before them: 「駅から家まで行く。」 means "I'll go from the station to my house" rather than "I'll go the station from house to go".
So if this logic applies, shouldn't it also be true for 「から」 and 「ので」? 「私は忙しいから行けません。」 To my understanding, here 「から」 is connected to the first clause and not to the second one. So the sentence is worded similarly to: "because I'm busy, I can't go." When Japanese doesn't need a comma between the clauses because they're already connected together by 「から」. If it was connected to the second clause instead of the first one it's meaning would become more of a "so". Also the literal meaning of "from" for 「から」 and "in of" for 「ので」 is much closer to "because" than "so".
Is my understanding correct?


texts:
For full context:

  お父ちゃんも朝ごはん食ってっかね

My attempt at translation:

  Dad's having breakfast right now, too.

I'm having some trouble with "ってっか"? "って" is "という", right? But "っ" after "て", I don't really understand.


texts: Historical naming conventions of Japanese first names? Modern interpretation of first names?

texts:
My understanding is that the kanji in Japanese women's first names are most likely to have a 訓読み reading, then a 名乗り reading, and least frequently an 音読み reading. Historically, they were likely to end in 子、but due to feminism this custom is slowly exiting the culture?

Male names, especially first born sons, are very likely to have 音読み readings for their first names, then 名乗り、and then least frequently 訓読み?

And the reason is that 音読み sounds more formal / business-like / scholarly, which has been the tradition role of the man. And 訓読み sounds are used in more informal settings?

Is this history of first names correct? Do people in modern Japan get different feelings of formality from hearing 音読み and 訓読み sounds in daily conversations? Have I been making an incorrect assumption?

new addition:
I looked-up the kanji readings for the first names of the 15 most recent Japanese prime ministers. "on" means "onyomi"; "kun" means "kunyomi"; "na" means "nanori". 5 of the 15 have a "kun" reading for at least 1 kanji in their first name:

晋三 (on + on) しんぞう  [advance + three]
佳彦 (na + kun) よしひこ [excellent + boy / lad]
直人 (kun + na) なおと [honest + person]
由紀夫 (on + on + na) ゆきお [reasoned + historic + man]
太郎 (on + on) たろう [grand / wonderful + son]
康夫 (na + na) やすお [peaceful + man]
純一郎 (on + on + on) しゅんいちろう [genuine + single + son]
喜朗 (na + on) よしろう [rejoiceful + cheerful]
恵三 (on + on)  けいぞう [blessing + three]
龍太郎 (on + on + on) りゅうたろう [grand dragon + son]
富市 (kun + kun) とみいち [wealthy + market]
護熙 (na + kun) もりひろ [protection + merry]
俊樹 (na + kun) としき [genius + establishment]
喜一 (on + on) きいち [rejoice + one]

It was just an observation about kanji readings that I'm glad I finally cleared-up. I don't think that my interpretation of first name naming conventions is correct. thank you.


texts:
if you conjugate a て形動詞 with いく does it mean "I'll do this from here on"?

I understand that it's natural to say 覚えておきます because of the meaning you get when you conjugate with おく (doing in preparation, for the future) but shouldn't it be okay to conjugate with いく, because it's describing an action beginning from now and continuing into the future?

I said 覚えていきます the other day after being told someone's name, but my teacher said it should only be おきます in that situation.


texts:
「オドキリ」、「キョウジュ」、「アーポン」、「ブリガミ」と「ヒルネリ」という名前のついたエルフがいます。「キョウジュ」、「ブリガミ」と「ヒルネリ」の名前の語呂合わせはわかります。「オドキリ」と「アーポン」は？?

There are elfs with names "Odokiri", "Kyouju", "Aapon", "Burigami" and "Hiruneri". I understand the wordplay of names "Kyouju", "Burigami" and "Hiruneri". ヒルネリ => 昼寝 (this elf likes to sleep) ブリガミ => ぶりぶり + がみがみ (this elf often in bad mood) キョウジュ => 教授 (this elf is very smart). I'm trying to understand the meaning of other names  - "Odokiri" (maybe from おどおど or 驚く) and "Aapon" (doesn't have distinguishing feature, 普通).


texts:
Someone asked this question:

最近、男性からcmを見て堀北真希と顔の系統一緒‼ 化粧頑張ったらあそこまでいけるよと言われたのですがこれはほめられてるんでしょうか？
大変有難い話ですが私が
似てないですよと言ったら系統が一緒と返されました…
どうでもいいと思いますがご回答御願いします。

This was the reply they got:

それは超ベタ褒めです可愛いの代名詞ですし結婚して
泣いた男性がドレほどいたか女性の憧れの的です。

I'd translate the whole thing as:

Recently, a man told me: "I watched a commercial and the genetics of your face are the same as Horikita Maki's!! If you work hard on your make-up you can make it where she is". That's a compliment, right?
I told him: "I am thankful for what you said, but I don't look like her at all", but he replied that our genetics are the same...
I don't think it's very important, but please answer.

That's definitely a great compliment. That's because she's a byword for "cute". How many men cried after marrying? It's the object of admiration of women.

I'm confused whether I'm right because the person who answered doesn't seem to separate their sentences and I can't find anything about "どれほどいたか". I found a text in which it seemed to mean "how many people were there?", but in this case it's written as an embedded question.
With the way I translated, I imagine 'the man who cried" that the person who answered refered to is Horikita Maki's husband. The question was posted in 2015 and Horikita Maki married that year.
I have no idea if he cried at the wedding, but that is the only way to translate that I could think of.
Obviously, my difficulties lie mainly in the reply, but I decided to include the question to provide context.


texts: Meaning of という when it doesn't mean 'call', 'be called', or 'say'

texts:
I'm having a little trouble parsing the usage of 「という」 when it it has meanings other than to call, to be called or to say.

I often see sentences like 「いざという時, ということだ」　and 「これという問題はない」. The dictionary I use gives the definition: とりたてて言う意を表す。 But I'm still quite unsure about it. If someone could explain how that definition fits into those uses then I'd be grateful.


texts: Is it correct/appropriate to write a word using katakana and hiragana at the same time?

texts:
For example:

I noticed what the name of the game Nekopara (ネコぱら) is half-written using katakana(ネコ - neko) and half-written using hiragana(ぱら - para). I'm wondering why so. Сould you explain this to me? Maybe I'm wrong about something, I'm curious to know.


texts: はずもない、はずはない、はずがない. Difference and meaning

texts:
Today listening a song I've heard something I can't understood

だけどなれるはずもなくて

So i started to gather information about this, but it gets me more confused and furthermore found out two more

  はずはない

　and

  はずがない

So, i want to know what is the meaning of this and how should i choose one when speak. Thank you so much in advance for any help you can bring me. I really appreciate it


texts: How do you say "I am stuck with step X"? 進まない

texts:
I am wondering how you can state that you are stuck on a specific step of a task.
Can you say it this way.

  すみません。事前の設置手順のステップ４(git クローン)を進めないで、手伝っていただけないでしょうか？

Is the 進まない the proper word?


texts: Which part of speech is the 「ぞ」 in 「神のみぞ知るセカイ」?

texts:
「神{かみ}のみぞ知{し}るセカイ」 is the title of a manga/anime series but I'm not asking about the anime. I'm just curious about the 「ぞ」 part in the title.

I know there is a ぞ particle that is similar to よ, such that 行{い}くぞ is similar to 行くよ. But I have never encountered よ nor ぞ in the middle of a sentence/clause before, so this made me curious.

Which part of speech is that ぞ? What connotation does it bring and how do we use it in a sentence?

p/s: I know the ぞ is not a part of のみぞ because when I entered のみぞ in my Japanese dictionary software it only returned のみ = “only" so I deduced that the ぞ is a separate word.


texts: What is the correct response to "Osoreirimasu"?

texts: If someone were to say that to me, what would I say in response? Do I thank them as well, for their service? Do I say "Sumimasen"?


texts: Question about probable meaning of 返済 in a sentence

texts:
For the following sentence, what would the likely meaning for "返済" be?

  製品が完成した場合、製品出荷から返済させていただけますでしょうか

I seems like this word can be used for both repayment of money and return of goods. In this case I can't figure out which of the two meanings it is. The context of this sentence involves making products as well as funding, so it seems that either could apply.


texts: Understanding 「あきらめたらそこで試合終了なので、最後まで頑張ります」

texts:
Please look at this sentence:

  あきらめたらそこで試合終了なので、最後まで頑張ります

How should I understand it? I tried to understand the meaning, and I think it means, "if you abandon, the test will be over at once (which means that you fail at the point where you choose to give up), so you need to insist on studying hard until the last moment." Am I right? Or does it indicate another meaning?


texts: About the な part in negative imperative verb form (e.g. 飲むな)

texts:
In the Japanese version of "don't drink and drive" slogan, 【乗るなら飲むな】 (also 【飲んだら乗るな】), what part of speech is the な that follows the plain verb 飲む (or 乗る in the second variation) to form the negative imperative verb form?

At first I thought it was a conjugation, but a conjugation modifies the verb that it attaches to, whereas 飲む and 乗る are left unmodified before the な. I am thinking maybe it is a special usage of the な particle, but I don't discount the possibility that it is entirely a different species.

Also, what of its origin? Did it come from abbreviation of longer clauses like 「飲む無しに(して/しろ)」 etc, or from something else?


texts:
While browsing through some chapters of the Bleach manga, I stumbled over a sentence that puzzles me. A chapter is called:

立ちて死すべし

I know what 立ち means and I know that the べし is a suffix that kind of means that the verb is an obligation or something that should be done(?). But I can't make sense of the て kana and why it is 死す and not 死ぬ.

Link to where it appeared is here, chapter 511.

Would a correct translation be "those who stand shall/must die"?


texts: what does the character say in this video?

texts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcR7Vr5Miv4&t=1m38s

What I hear is something similar to "saa ute koi". The phrase is translated as "hit me!" . I know ute is "shoot!" I guess here it could be "hit me" and that koi is "come!" but it doesnt make sense to me that 2 verbs in imperative form are concantenated together? Besides what is that sound at the begining I hear similar to "saa" . What is the character saying exactly I might be completely confused


texts: How does one keep from being confused about the pronunciation of 地下鉄？

texts:
[地下鉄]{ちかてつ}

How does one know the "hiragana spelling", i.e. the hiragana representation of the word is

ちかてつ

but not other forms involving misspelling one or more of the following

か vs. が
て vs. で
つ vs. づ or ず

, especially when the pronunciation of か, て, つ in the word in reality is affected by a tendency to 濁音.  I'm told that the unvoiced k-row sounds and t-row sounds are often pronounced as voiced g- and d- sounds when they are not appearing as the first sound of words.

Please enlighten me!


texts: I can't quite understand the meaning of 自分でも

texts:
I can't quite derive the meaning of 自分でも from the parts that make it up.
Here are the example sentences I don't get with the offered translations.

自分でもそれをやってみます。       Do it by yourself.
自分でもそれが解っているんだけと。   I know it myself.

Are the translations wrong?
Why is there a も there? There doesn't seem to be an "Even" or a "Too" nuance in the sentences.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
I'd also appreciate an answer that clarified if this でも is で＋も or でも and what difference would it make if the も was dropped.


texts:
In English:

a burglar is usually associated with someone who breaks into a house (victim is usually unaware during the burglary)
a robber is usually associated with that person who uses weapons and threatens you to give him your property (victim-aware of course)
a mugger is usually associated with a robber on the street (victim-aware)
a thief is usually one who sneakily steals things without resorting to violence (victim-unaware)
a pickpocket is  usually associated with a thief on the street (victim-unaware)

So what exactly is the exact nuance of a 泥棒? perhaps most likely there isn't a 1-to-1 match so probably could someone write an explanation of 泥棒 without using words like robber/mugger/thief/pickpocket/burglar etc

Side question: if we change 泥棒 to the hiragana form どろぼう, does it affect the nuance in any way?


texts:
Can I say ”お兄さんは結婚いたしております” instead of ”お兄さんは結婚しております”?

Thank you!


texts: Ambiguity of 姿勢 in constructions like 頑張ろうという姿勢

texts: I just have a simple question about volitional verbs + という + 姿勢. I know that 姿勢 means both 'posture' and 'attitude', so I just wanted to get a clarification on whether something like 頑張ろうという姿勢 is a description of an observable state of affairs (e.g., you see that the person is heaving, sweating, and concentrating) or is something more figurative (e.g., the person may not show physical signs of exertion, but you intuit their psychological state as one being of exertion). Or are both interpretations possible?


texts: In a story I was reading, the protagonist was given a reward he didn't want or have use for and the person giving the reward said "では、どなたかにでもあげて下さい。" What does どなたかにでも mean? Is the speaker saying "give it to someone or something"? Or is there a different meaning?


texts:
A definition of 辛気臭い【しんきくさい】 (三省堂）：

  思うようにならず、いらいらするさま。また、気がめいるさま

Nara often implies something happening naturally, zu stands for 'without', so does the whole compound adverb stand for 'subconsciously'? 'without thinking'?


texts:
I'm confused in 「分だけ」　in the following sentence. As far as I can understand "The more you lack on magic energy, the more incomplete(?) distance(path) becomes." But I'm having doubts about it.

  「魔力が足りていたら、望む場所に辿り着く」 「では、足りなかったとしたら」
  「目的の場所と、遺品を使用した場所の間、途中の空間に繋がるわね。魔力が足りない分だけ距離が半端になる。」

Thank you very much for help!


texts: How to translate in katakana この正確な瞬間に私 - が生きている?

texts:
I have this two sentences:

この正確な瞬間に Right in this moment

私が生きている I'm alive

And I have to simplify this three kanji 確 瞬 間. I've already opened a question for it and they kindly explained to me that it's possibile to write it with something like this*, but they also told me that it's better not to do it, because simplified kanji aren't so common.

The problem is that I really need it to be simplified for a tattoo of a friend of mine and we've thought that maybe katakana could be a good solution, but I'm not capable at all to translate it and each sentence shouldn't be longer than 8 "characters". The first sentence could be replaced with "rembember that" , perhaps it's better to translate...

Can you help us?


texts: 南無妙法蓮華經 ... or is the last kanji 経？ This is one example. In general, how do you select from kanji with the same reading and meaning when you write? Like these two kanji, I think both mean sutra and are read kyo. Of course, this is a set classic phrase, but there are many other examples. For example, my dictionary gives three kanji for “butsu” (meaning to hit, not 仏...)


texts: Usage of word white in context and alone

texts:
Could anyone explain the difference in the meaning of word white written using following kanji or Kana?

白い,
しろ,
しろい.

Thanks!


texts: How to use ～先生 properly with co-workers?

texts:
I teach English at an elementary school in Japan.  While working I normally call the teachers by their last name plus 先生.  Like 田中先生 for example.

However, after work, let's say 田中先生 invites me to have a drink at an 居酒屋。Am I still expected to call him (or her)「先生」 even if it's just the two of us and we're outside of school?  Would it be rude or inappropriate to call him 田中さん?  Does the teacher's age or gender make a big difference?

Thanks

Edit: Thanks for the replies!  If I was Professor Moriarty's student, I would call him Professor.  If he was a co-worker that I've known for years and consider a friend, I imagine at some point I would start calling him by his first name.  In America, I think most people let a person know when they can use their first name or nickname by directly saying something like "Call me Bob!".

How about Japan?  When a Japanese person becomes friends with someone, do they usually say, "You can call me ...!"?  Switching from first names to last names or knowing when I can drop さん or 先生 has always been confusing for me.

Do you think it would be OK if I just asked directly?  Like, "Can I call you ...?"

Edit 2:

To answer some of the questions asked,

I am an ALT.  I've been teaching at this school for 2 years.  I normally try to use 敬語 and always use です and ます。 Most of the teachers speak informally to me and don't use much 敬語。But most of the teachers are a lot older than me, so I'm not sure if it's because I'm younger or if it's an invitation for me to speak to them casually.

Thanks again!


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

texts:
電車の中などで見る最近の若い者の態度の悪いこと、全く不愉快極まる。

I believe 全く不愉快極まる is the predicate and the rest before the comma is the subject, but I don't understand how the two parts are connected by こと. Could you help me figure it out?


texts:
So I asked some Japanese guy if he really meant something (about speaking in certain language) with 本当ですか and I got this as an answer:

  実はしゃべれるわけじゃなかったりする

I understand what わけではない means, but what's with that り? How to properly translate this sentence?


texts: What is the right translation for grade in the context of a course

texts:
I want to know how to translate the word grade in sentences like

  what is the passing grade for this course?

or

  Where are the final grades posted?

I found some options in the dictionary like 採点{さいてん}, 級別{きゅうべつ} and 等級{とうきゅう}. But the dictionary doesn't give me enough context to decide if any of those is correct.

Are those translations o.k.? Should I use a different expression?


texts: Can someone explain the usage of 割り切る in general?

texts:
So I know 割り切る has the meaning of (to find a clear solution / to come to a clean decision / to give a clear explanation / to divide)

I've been playing a few visual novels and when I bump into this expression I cant seem to connect it with the above meanings

For example

かぁ〜！またややこしいことに…向こうも浮気と割り切ってんならまだ簡単だったのに

So does it have a separate meaning ?


texts: How to say "I take dancing classes" or "I'm learning dancing"

texts:
How do you say "I'm learning dancing" or "I take dancing classes"?

Is this correct?

  watashi wa dansu wo benkyou desu


texts: ないでいますｖｓていません-Verb Continuity and Negation

texts:
I'm not even certain that ないでいます is used, but if it is, what is it's difference from ていません? They are both negation, but one is saying they are negating, and the other one is saying they aren't doing.
Any help?


texts:
Can any 名詞をする be shorten as 名詞する ? Is there any exception for this?

For example,

勉強をする can be shorten as 勉強する
テニスをする　can be shorten as テニスする


texts:
I was replying a message with question with an example about what I think she was wrong and she replied this:

間違い探しでもしてらっしゃるのでしょうか？少々疲れます。

Does it sound like I asked to much in the reply, or offended her, or annoyed her? Does she mean she was tired of answering me?

Or she means she had written the previous message wrong since she was tired? (But she didn't use past tense with 疲れます)


texts: What is the reading of 0件？ れいけん or ゼロ件？Thanks!


texts: Can I omit the second noun in どのかばんが森さんのかばんですか？

texts:
I know in the sentence pattern: Noun の Noun, you can omit the second noun if the context clearly tells what or whom you’re referring to.

そのかばんが森さんのかばんです。
becomes
そのかばんが森さんのです。

Can I do the same with どの？
どのかばんが森さんのかばんですか。
to
どのかばんが森さんのですか.


texts:
Uncle is blocking the doorway and waving his hand. He says:

  「わしゃ松阪牛のステーキなんて、とてもとても、おかあさん、気ィ使わなくていいから、そんな、わしのために買い物に行かなくていいから、松阪牛なんていいから、ステーキなんていいから。」

I'm really struggling to understand this sentence.
 1. Is わしゃ a contraction of わしは?
 2. I thought なんて was an emphatic version of は but that would mean I had two topic markers in わしゃ松阪牛のステーキなんて, neither of which seems to be contrastive.
 3. Is 気ィ使う the same as 気を使う?
 4. Is ていい the same as てもいい?

So with these assumptions I get:

  I a thing like Matsusaka steak very very mother don't need to fuss about so, such a, for my sake there's no need to go shopping so, a thing like Matsusaka steak is good so, a thing like steak is good so,

Which is utter nonsense. Please help me untangle this sentence.


texts: Dangerous driving: "queue de poisson" in Japanese?

texts:
How to call it when a vehicle that just passed you gets back in lane too early, forcing you to brake, or even causing an accident?

See this Diagram.

This can also happen when a vehicle overtakes and then decide to turn very soon afterwards, cutting your way.

In French it is called queue de poisson.

It is DIFFERENT from "fishtail". Fishtail is when a vehicle loses control due to an obstacle, "queue de poisson" usually does not involve losing control, just braking in a straight line, in most cases. Fishtail can be had alone, "queue de poisson" can't happen with less than 2 vehicles.


texts:
There are three unique words that begin with こころ～:

快い　（こころよい）、　試みる　（こころみる）、　志　（こころざし）

What is the origin of these words in relation to "heart/spirit/mind", if any???  Or is this just something coincidental?  Why do only two of them have こころ in the kanji itself, but not the third??

By their meanings, I can kind of see how they relate to "heart/spirit/mind", but why are there only three such words that became so unique (I'm discounting ones like 心がけ、心構え、etc.)???


texts: この正角な时间に : "right" can be intended as "right now" or is it just "correct"?

texts:
I have this sentence (down below) that should mean "In this right moment" but I'd like to say something more "Right in this moment"... "right" sould be intended as intensifier, not as adjective with the strict meaning of "correct".

この正角な时间に

This could be intended as I do or I'm forced to translate it differently? If yes, how?

My problem is that I can use only very simplified kanji, nothing too complex to write.

Can you help me?

for @droooze (thank you very much for you patience):

Something like that (img) could work in Japanese language, and, most important, is it actually Japanese?

So if I present this* I can be sure that the right line means "right in this moment / at this very moment", right? Even if with "moment" isn't intended a flashy instant but a longer moment, something more similar to the concept of "time"... right?

*

(The second line should mean "I am alive")


texts:
千枝実に問いた限りでは、「宴」 は極めて危険で悪質な因習だ。
  そういう昔話があったとして、過去には実際に私刑を行った歴史があったとしてもだ、普通はもっと無難な祭りとかに形を変えて現代に伝わっているものだろう。

What is the purpose of the だ after the the highlighted としても in the second sentence?


texts: Are there any Japanese words as versatile as "fuck" in English?

texts:
I was wondering about this one recently. "Fuck" in English is famous for being applicable in a wide, wide range of circumstances (none of them formal).

What word in Japanese covers a wide spectrum of possible meanings and uses like "fuck" does. Does not have to be a rude/vulgar term.

Any suggestions?

EDIT: half of you seem to have missed the point of my question. I don't need a translation for "fuck", I want a word as versatile. Maji is pretty good but I would've thought there'd be more contenders. Admittedly it's a vague question, but one for my izakaya zatsugaku collection.


texts: I didn't find anywhere why is the minute's kanji there in 自分? Is it because a meaning of 分 is "part". Please clarify.


texts: How to say sir/ma'am when you don't know the name of the person

texts: When you don't someone's name, how do you call his attention? That is, when you would say "Sir, could you maybe ..." or "ma'am, you dropped something ..."


texts: What is the Japanese Onomatopoeia for the sound a chainsaw makes?

texts: From what I can tell, chainsaws make a sound like buzzing or rustling, etc. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find Japanese onomatopoeia from that sound. I wanted to look specifically for the chainsaw sound effect depicted in the manga, Chainsaw Man. Apart from that, it doesn't matter either.


texts:
I’m having a hard time figuring out whether this is passive or potential or both (if that’s possible)?
And how would you literally translate it?
Here’s my attempt: As for in this essay, many mistakes of grammar can be seen.

この作文には文法の間違いがたくさん見られる。


texts: "なし" used for both animate and inanimate things?

texts:
I was so surprised to read:

  孝行をしたい時分に親はなし。

(paraphrase) When one finally wants to truly fulfill the obligation to his/her parents, they often have already passed away.

(note): I would have said "親たち", but that is not the real question I have. anyway...

I had expected:

  孝行をしたい時分に親はいなし。

How about this example sentence:

  日本人なしで、お店に入った。

This example is not a "set phrase" and uses "なし" for an animate thing

That such a massive paraphrase was requited means that sentence is more of a "set phrase"?
"無し{なし}" is used for both inanimate things and animate things?


texts: Is there any Japanese language reason why Google Maps hyphenates some names and not others?

texts:
Looking at Google Maps I noticed when translating to Japanese some names are hyphenated and others are not. It seems to be arbitrary but maybe there's some Japanese rule I'm unaware of

The first example I noticed is "Daikan-Yama" which at first I thought, "Okay, that's strange" but then I thought, "well, I guess if you think of it as Mount Daikan then it might make sense".

But there's is apparently no rhyme or reason as to when something is hyphenated. Followed the "Daikan-Yama" example I'd expect "Sangu-bashi" as in "Sangu Bridge" or "Aka-saka" as in "Red Hill" or "Shibu-Ya" as in "Shibu Valley". We see "Higashi-Kitazawa" for "East Kitazawa" but we don't see "Shimo-Kitazawa" for "Lower Kitazawa".

Is there any actual rule or is it just arbitrary?


texts: Explanation of 掛けられたら in this situation?

texts:
I've come across this sentence 「暑い……こんな日に上着なんて掛けられたら怒鳴りつけちまうぜ」, which I think might roughly translate to "It's too hot to be wearing a coat on a day like this, though if (I) were to take it off, (I'd) be shouted at!"

Would 掛けられたら translate to if (I) would take off? I've only learnt it in the context 'To hang' as in a picture. I'm still around N5 but られたら conjugations are the most confusing to me.

Thank you.


texts: Is "gen" also a reading of this kanji? 間

texts:
According to a page, this word is pronounced "ningen"

but according to another page, the readings for 間 are

Are they the same kanji? Is "gen" an unofficial reading or something?


texts:
って has many meanings in spoken Japanese. Although I have looked it up in the dictionary, I am still confused about it. Please tell me the following usage.

  ①いいかげんに早く寝なさいだって(please tell me the combination of だって)

  ②困ったわねえだってさ(this sentence makes no sense to me)

  ③ない、ない、ないですって(when someone is    denying something)

  ④そんなこと知ってるって(I think here it is contracted form of と思う


texts: The title pretty well summarizes the question.  さて vs. そして: When should you use one or the other?  How are they different?  To me, they come across as being used very similarly, at least when at the beginning of a sentence, but even then, there are probably different little nuances.


texts: Should there be a に instead of を after クラスメイト in「それをクラスメイトを見られて以降」?

texts:
In the following sentence is it correct to put the second を here?

  それをクラスメイトを見られて以降

Maybe it should be に? And if it's correct, how can we translate this part?

Here's the paragraph where the line is taken from

  中学の夏休みだったーー。 旅行から帰って来たゆきを迎えに、駅前のバスターミナルで大きな車が待っていたそうだ。
  それをクラスメイトを見られて以降、彼女は人の目をひく場所で、車に乗ることを嫌がるようになった。


texts: What is the difference in usage/meaning between クラス and 学級? Why did I never learn the latter in language classes?


texts:
I have a text in my learning materials as follows:

  彼ら は 自分 の 事 しか 考えて いません。

Its translation is apparently "they only think of themselves".

Now it all makes sense to me until the ません at the end. To my mind it negates the entire sentence. So it means that they DON'T only think for themselves. However, obviously that isn't the case.

If anyone could clear this up, or give me resource for it, that would be amazing. My Japanese level is elementary at the moment.


texts: Font used to create handwriting worksheets by primary teachers to teach Hiragana

texts:
I'm confused by all the different of fonts that can be used to learn to write Hiragana (e.g. the end loop of き may be closed or not). I understand that it is usually related to the difference between print and handwriting style, but after all my research I still don't know which handwriting font is really used by kids in schools when they learn Hiragana. I mean when teachers are creating handwriting worksheets - which font are they using ?
Thanks for your advices.


texts: So I found this song "夕刻、夢ト見紛ウ" by AtF and it was awesome, I know that "夢" means dream, and the "ト" could be indicating the particle 'and" so, what does the whole sentence mean?


texts:
the definition for 一体【いったい】:

  Adverb :
  ...the heck (e.g. "what the heck?");  ...in the world (e.g. "why in the world?");  ...on earth (e.g. "who on earth?");

  —Before an interrogative, forms an emphatic question.
  一体どこで彼に会ったんだ。Where on earth did you meet him?
  いったいなぜ彼を駅に連れて行ったの？Why on earth did you take him to the station?

  Noun :
  one object;  one body;  unity

  one form;  one style
  one Buddhist image (or carving, etc.)

  Adverbial noun :

  generally;  in general;  → 一体に

Given the definition of the noun, why does this word possess an implied incredulity when used before an interrogative?


texts: What is the subject actually doing in this sentence

texts:
保護者として何の役にも立てなかった自責の念が、自らを貶める事に救いを見出してほのかの心身を堕としていく

Her remorse of being completely unable fulfill her role as a guardian... she decides to torment herself, she finds salvation, honoka loses her mind.

i believe i have to look at this as

自責の念が自らを貶める事に(すて)救いを見出してほのかの心身を堕としていく

However can 自責の念 do any of these actions?

"自責の念"が 自らを貶める事にする?

"自責の念"が 救いを見出して?

"自責の念"が ほのかの心身を堕としていく? edit: this actually does seems possible, but can 自責の念 skip over the first two actions?

intuitively 自責の念 can't "do" any of these actions, honoka herself can do these things though.

In the end what is 自責の念が actually doing? I feel like the conjunction use of が doesn't fit in here either.


texts: Commonly used term(s) for floor/ground/whatever surface we usually stand on

texts:
I've had trouble communicating the concept of 'doing something on the floor/ground' in Japanese.
I've seemed to miss the mark by whichever word I used for the situation during several short conversations. In addition, when the other party referred to the floor I couldn't grasp what exactly they used so I can't learn from it (I'm not good at listening comprehension in general).

Examples while talking about games for children:

Q 'Do you need any tables or ..?'
A 'No, this game should be played on the ground.'

'When you hear the signal, everyone needs to [activity] on the floor.'

I have found the following words, but I simply don't know anything about their actual usage.

床 {ゆか}
床面 {ゆかめん}
地上 {ちじょう}

床面 and 地上 seem to earn some luke-warm smiles when trying to use them, whereas 床 is usually not understood at all after which I switch to one of the other two.

I also feel that Japanese people tend to use other terms as well when they refer to what I said. I just can't acoustically retain these to look them up later. These are not conversations where I have the leisure to ask for clarification either, due to time constraints mostly.

So with that, is there any general-purpose word for floor/ground that is appropriate whether you may be in a building or outside, in a tatami room or in a swimming pool, etc.? If not, what are the most common terms for these kinda things?

This question and answer seems to suggest 床 is nothing unsual, but since it doesn't match my experience I felt the need to ask anyway.


texts: When can I use "の" instead of "が" with adjectives like "好き"?

texts: There are some adjectives in Japanese that work as an English or Spanish verbs, and they use the particle "が". But sometimes I see them with the particle "の". Can I always use it, or there is a specific word?


texts: Meaning of this kanji compound: 入植用合成戦術個体

texts:
This kanji compound is from a video game, and I'm having problems understanding it... the entire sentence for context is: "―入植用合成戦術個体― の覚醒を確認。これより性能試験を開始する."

I understand everything except for that monster compound! I've researched the kanji separately and can only come up with fragmented meanings which don't make much sense together: "Used by settlers", "synthetic", "tactics", "individual". I feel like I may have mistaken some of the separate kanji meanings because this isn't making sense to me, anyone have any ideas? Thanks :)


texts: What does "乗るもので" mean in this sentence?

texts:
移動経路はこのように二つあります。前者は電車に乗るもので、後者はバスに乗る必要があります。
As posted on the guide box, there are two ways to go.
You take a train with the first and a bus with the second.

How to parse 乗るもので here ? It doesn't seem to be the もので of "cause/reason".


texts: How to confirm my first meeting with Japanese teacher

texts:
I am a beginner and my first meeting with my new Japanese tutor is today. I want to send her a message to confirm that 6pm today is still ok for her but I am certain my phrasing is not correct. Could someone please advise?

I had 今日６じはまだだいじょうぶですか？

But I don't think mada is right?

Thanks!


texts: Can たい be used to express desire for 2nd person

texts:
Can たい be used to express desire for a 2nd person to do something. For example:

I want you to come back
戻りたい

I realise the proper way to do this is to use あなたに戻って欲しい, but was just wondering if たい is also proper.


texts:
Nihongo ha kyuu kagetsu ni benkyou shiteiru
  = I've been studying japanese for 9 months.

If it's wrong, why? Should it be "kyuu kagetsu go ni?"


texts: How to parse 東京都と埼玉県、北海道などにある会場も

texts:
Regarding the Tokyo olympics:

  この大会では、新しく会場を建てるだけではなくて、東京都と埼玉県、北海道などにある会場も客の席を増やすなどの工事をして使う予定です。
  In this competition, rather than just build new venues, there is a plan to use and increase the visitor seating at venues in Tokyo and Saitama and places like Hokkaido.

I'm not convinced by my translation of the bold part. It seems weird.

I think I should parse it like this:

  AとBとCも
  A = 東京都
  B = 埼玉県
  C = 北海道などにある会場

1) Since there is no で particle would I be correct in thinking that these places (A, B and C) are the subject of 増やす, i.e. も replaces が? So, "A, B and C will increase seating ..." rather than "increase seating in A, B and C". Otherwise I would have expected AとBとCでも. I'm not convinced by this though. How can a 会場 have a will to do something.

2) The use of など confuses me. It list two very specific areas and then says 'oh, and also venues in places like this enormous island that occupies a large fraction of Japan's land mass'.


texts: When I go to Japan to study abroad, can I write my name in kanji?

texts: I am planning to study abroad in Japan in two years through my college for a year at a Japanese speaking university. I also have goals/aspirations to one day work/live in Japan. Is it weird/acceptable to give myself a kanji name based off of meaning or sound of my current name? My name is Ruth which means "friend" and "beautiful" so I was thinking of 朋麗 (ともれい). Or, I could use kanji based off of my sound to have a name that means 'dragon state' or "state of the dragon" (I was also born in the year of the dragon so it may be fitting) but sounds like Ruth 竜州 (りゅうす）. I know a closer approximation would be ルース, but I like the idea of my name meaning dragon if I were to go that route. I also have an idea for my surname, which means "gentle beauty" and I came to the kanji 泰美 （やすみ).  So either 泰美竜州 or 泰美朋麗. Is it weird for foreigners to do this when they move to Japan or Study abroad in Japan? I know some people who came to study abroad in the US from China and Korea and they both took American names. Is the reverse true for in Japan? Can I do this if I'm expecting to work in Japan? Could I use this name on legal documents in Japan if I did choose to use a kanji name? I'm really curios about the whole prospect.


texts: Meaning of 「逃げることないじゃん！」

texts:
My best guess at this point is that this means "you definitely can't escape".

The English translation (which I've learned to take with a grain of salt) translates it as "Don't run off!"

In context, the addressee clearly is running away.

My understanding is that じゃん is a contraction of じゃない but has a meaning of its own. This comes mainly from Tae Kim's guide here:

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/slang

Where he writes:

  Though derived from 「じゃない」, 「じゃん」 is always used to confirm the positive.

  ...

  Hopefully, you can see that 「じゃん」 is basically saying something along the lines of, “See, I’m right, aren’t I?”

The proposed “See, I’m right, aren’t I?” translation of じゃん doesn't seem to fit very well here as far as translating this into a natural sounding English translation, which gave me some doubt. But I'm thinking it can carry a sense of "definitely" or "absolutely" instead. Grammatically, it's a rhetorical question in Japanese, but it doesn't translate to a rhetorical question in English.

Actually, writing this question made me more confident about this (and I changed my mind half way through), but can anyone confirm?


texts:
If I ask a flight attendant

いつ、とうちゃくしますか？

versus

とうちゃくは何時ですか？

Is there any difference in nuance if I want to know how much time is left until we land? Meaning, I want to know how many hours and minutes we are airborne, not at what local time we are expected to land (figuring out the aircraft's timezone while in the air is not always easy).

I noticed that there already is a similar, more general question posted here, but mine is more specific.


texts: Is there an omitted particle between the いい and 歳 in the following sentence?

texts:
こんな、少女と言っていい歳の女の子が殺し屋だと？

I'm wondering if there is an omitted particle between the bolded いい and 歳 of the above sentence, which is the last sentence in the provided context below.

Context: Narrative character is thinking about another character named "Ein" (Ain in katakana).

  アインの歳は幾つだろう？　たしかに大人びた印象はあるが、どう見てもまだ子供だ。こんな、少女と言っていい歳の女の子が殺し屋だと？

I can infer the いい is most likely connected to the 言って as 言って is being quoted with the と particle; and the 歳 is connected to の女の子. Is there an omitted particle in the above sentence; and if there isn't, what is occurring in the bolded section of the sentence?


texts: Adjectives functioning both as イ- and ナ-adjective

texts:
This question has made me think about the class of adjectives, which can function both as イ- and as ナ-adjective, e.g.

大きい   大きな
小さい   小さな
真っ白い 真っ白な (etc.)
細かい   細かな
暖かい   暖かな
四角い   四角な (etc.)
柔らかい 柔らかな

In my (non-)answer to the question, I mentioned that the difference of やわらかい and やわらかな is very subtle at best.

I am wondering, can this maybe explained in more generality? What are the differences in the word pairs above?


texts: Which romanization system should I use in my word game?

texts:
I have developed a word game quite similar to Scrabble, and I am currently considering adding a Japanese word list to it.

Please note that I have no real knowledge of the language, apart from knowing the different alphabet types.

While Hiragana or Katakana are not really suited to the games mechanics, I believe using a romaji word list is the best option.

Now, I am wondering which romanization system I should use (knowing that my primary target would be native Japanese):

Kunrei-shiki, which is the official system
Hepburn, which is the most widely used (but apparently mostly by foreign speakers)

At first sight, I cannot see any difference between the two systems in terms of ease to form words with a small set of letters (7) (I may be wrong though). So I think the best option would be to use the system in which native Japanese are most comfortable with.

Which system would that be?

And secondarily, do you believe that a word game in romaji actually has potential? (i.e. would it be interesting to play, as it is in English).


texts: Questions about multiple particles 「が」 in a sentence

texts:
Here is the sentence said by a boy who had punched a pig in a pen and then being struck by it.

だめだっ...なぐろうがけとばそうがびくともしやせん

1) Does the first 「が」 work the same function as the second one?

2) Can I replace the first 「が」with 「と」 or 「や」 to list multiple actions: 「なぐろう」 and 「けとばそう」?

3) Based on the understanding the multiple particles in the sentence, I translated like this: 'Even I intend to hit and kick the pig but it's not  afraid of me at all', am I correct?


texts: A self-introduction for academic purposes

texts:
I somehow managed to get a MEXT scholarship. Now I've got to make a self-presentation, but I've been struggling with it since I'm more used to reading than writing (which is one reason I could get this scholarship - the tests had no essay or whatever)
In this self-presentation I need to tell my name, the university I graduated and the academic degree, the Japanese university I'm enrolling, field of study and research theme.
I started writing but somehow it felt unnatural, maybe too simple, or maybe out-of-context. So far, it goes like:

はじめまして。　ジョン・スミスと申します{もうします}。

OK so far, a simple introduction and stating my name.

私{わたし}は去年{きょねん}Foo大学の{だいがく} 〇〇 学部{がくぶ}を卒業{そつぎょう}しました。

Not sure how to say "I graduated in X".

Bar大学{だいがく}で勉強{べんきょう}して修士{しゅうし}を取る{とる}つもりです。

I want to say I want to go for the Master's program of the university. Should I use  研究{けんきゅう} instead of 勉強{べんきょう}? I'll be a research student anyway if I fail the exam to enter the Master's program.

専攻分野{せんこうぶんや}は〇〇です。

I'm in doubt whether to use 専攻分野{せんこうぶんや} or 専門分野{せんもんぶんや}. I know there is something crucial that differs these two but I wasn't able to fully understand.

研究課題{けんきゅうかだい}は△◇です。 [And then some explanation about the research subject]
どうぞよろしくお願いします{おねがいします}。

This self-presentation should not take more than 2 minutes, but it looks like it won't take even one. Maybe I was too direct? Maybe should I tell something else about myself before finishing?


texts: How would I translate "someone who likes (something)" into Japanese?

texts:
The specific sentence that came up when I was practicing with my study buddy today was, "Do you know anyone who likes sports?"

My best guess was:

  だれかスポーツが好きな人を知っていますか？

But since 好き is an adjective, not a verb, I'm not sure if I can put things together that way. Thanks for reading!


texts: Is it possible to use を with any intransitive motion verb like 戻る in the same fashion as「駅を出る」?


texts: Difference between "seems" from past evidence and "seems" from current experience

texts:
Part way through this question I got a bit side-tracked. I'll try and express my problem better here.

I think that the conclusion to the previous question was that 飛行機が混みそうです means "It seems the plane will be crowded". Here 'seems' implies that after examining the evidence (e.g. of previous flights) there is a reasonable probability that the plane will be crowded.

How would I translate "The plane will seem crowded"? In this case 'seem' is expressing visual perception while on the plane. e.g. it will seem crowded because all the passengers that have checked in are very fat and will take up a lot of room.

Would that also be 飛行機が混みそうです? Do I just have to infer the meaning from context or is there a different grammatical construction?


texts:
『あなたの番です』第１２話 has a scene where 黒島沙和, female in her early 20s, comforts 榎本総一, a 14 year old boy.

黒島「猫．．．それ．．．」
榎本「動かないんです。病院、知りませんか？」
黒島「でも．．．もう死んじゃってるんじゃないかな．．．」
榎本は泣いてしまう。
黒島「泣かない！泣かない！」

It is interesting that it isn't「泣かないで」which is what I would expect her say. How can a declarative sentence be used in place of a request/command?
I know young boys are often called 「僕」because the speaker assume their POV when talking to them. Is that the reason why 黒島 says 「泣かない」instead of「泣かないで」here? But the teenage boy is 14, way past the phase when he is addressed as 「僕」.


texts: Apart from meaning "even if", does 「ても・でも」 also mean "even though"?

texts:
Take the sentence 「私は老人でもそんなことまだできるよ」. At first glance, I would translate this as "Even if I were an old person, I could still do those things", implying that I am not yet old.

But could I not also translate it as "Even though I am an old person, I can still do those things", implying that I am old? And if so, in this case I could replace it with のに or けれど etc., correct?

Another example: 「雨が降っても行く」 means "Even if it rains, I will go". If I changed it to 「雨が降っても行った」, does this now mean "Even though it rained, I went"?


texts:
I'm struggling to understand the grammar in this specif part あのときこうしていればということば

I don't know how to break this sentence down. All I know in it is あのとき = That time


texts: Why does this Light Novel title get translated to the past tense?

texts:
The title of the light novel is:
ひげを[剃]｛そ｝る。そして女子高生｛じょしこうせい｝を拾｛ひろ｝う。

The English translation is:
I shaved. Then I brought a high school girl home.

I get that not having the past tense in that title would sound weird in English, but does the original Japanese title imply the past tense? Or is the title originally supposed to be "I shave. Then I find a high school girl."?

Thank you


texts: How would one address oneself when speaking to royalty?

texts:
Apart from avoiding using personal pronouns, when speaking to royalty, would one just use watashi, like in the following example:

  Time: 05:32 - 05:50

  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15jzz2_my-little-pony-tomodachi-wa-mahou-s2e01-japanese-sub_shortfilms

  「お天気のことですか。生き物たちも皆おかしくなっちゃってるし、私の魔法も効かないし、これって。。。」 (edited with help from KyloRen)

Or would one use a different pronoun in real life?


texts: Modifying nouns (how to know if a modified noun is the object or the subject?)

texts:
晩ご飯を食べなかったボブは、映画で見た銀行に行った。
  Bangohan o tabenakatta bobu wa, eiga de mita ginkou ni itta.

This means "Bob, who didn't eat dinner, went to the bank HE saw at the movie." What if I want to say "Bob, who didn't eat dinner, went to the bank I saw at the movie." What do I need to change/add?

And why it doesn't mean "...the bank that saw at the movie" being a subject but an object instead in that clause?


texts: I can't stand 立つ【た・つ】: Do all its meanings derive from "stand"?

texts:
I have an issue with the word 立{た}つ, which is that I get it's basic meaning is "to stand", but I see it used in all sorts of ways that don't make sense to me.

Here are some examples, from various native sources, where 立{た}つ throws me off:

  顔立{かおだ}ちが環境{かんきょう}に影響{えいきょう}し、性格{せいかく}が変{か}わるから。

  どうやら星{ほし}も音{おと}をたてるらしい。

  このジュースは時間{じかん}がたつと成分{せいぶん}が沈殿{ちんでん}します。

My translations, flawed as they may be, are, respectively:

  "One's looks are influenced by the environment, because one's
  disposition changes."

  "It's seems somehow like the stars are making noise."

  "After some time the pulp(ingredients) in this juice will settle."

So, when I hear or read 立{た}つ, I basically get the drift, but...

What is standing in terms of your face to change your looks?
Noise can stand? If I had to say the second sentence, I would use 音{おと}をする.  I would never think of sound as "standing".
Time standing? I would think maybe time passes, as in 時間{じかん}を過{す}ごしす, but I would never think of time as standing.

Either the Japanese language has a different concept of what it means "to stand", or 立{た}つ has a different meaning than I understand it (in addition to the meaning I do understand.)

Can someone break down for me how these concepts are "standing" in these examples? Hopefully so I can get some insight that will help me own and use 立{た}つ like Japanese people do. :)


texts: ては's role in this 「追いかけては来ないでしょう」

texts:
So I've read this article about 「ては」 "Te-form" versus "masu-stem + して" (消しているうちに versus 消ししているうちに)

then I understand that there are 2 meanings. First is "Repeated/Habitual action"

and the next one is "AてはB tends to be treated like a noun especially when two verbs are short and commonly paired"

Therefore I think "追いかけては" in「追いかけては来ないでしょう」acts as a noun

Is it right. Is this　"追いかけては" in this sentence same feeling as "追いかけるのは" ?


texts: Trying to decipher a Kanji on a bad image source

texts:
I am trying to read this unidentified Kanji

It is some kind of house part, found on this map, as marked:
http://i.imgur.com/hsSC9kH.png

It's from an older book from Nagano-ken, so it is possibly an older / now unused Kanji.

Please, if anyone can help me identify it, it is the last piece of the puzzle I am missing. Maybe it's a very simple Kanji, I don't know, right now I am at my wit's end.

Thank you very much in advance!


texts: How to translate a line with no apparent main verb

texts:
I was trying to translate a song (full lyrics here: https://www5.atwiki.jp/hmiku/sp/pages/39203.html) and this one line confused me, primarily because of its lack of main verb.

過行く時の中 握る手が解けた
立ち止まった君の眼差し 歪んだトキ 走る鼓動
In the midst of the ticking time, our grasped hands came apart,
The gaze of you, who stopped; in that warped time, was my racing heart

I’m okay with the first line (just included for context) but, unless I’m missing something, the second line is missing a main  verb, and this is making it hard for me to put together. To me, it makes sense that her gaze might make his heart race, or perhaps distort time, but there’s no indication that anything acts on each other, so I’m not sure if I should connect the parts of the line, for a more natural sound, or leave them disjoint? Or am I just missing something completely, and one of the verbs is supposed to be the main verb of the sentence?
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!


texts: Is Japanese understandable without pitch?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How important is one’s pitch when speaking Japanese?

I know that the system to avoid confusion between homophones (regardless of if that was its original purpose) is pitch. The primary standardised Japanese pitch I heard is the Tokyo dialect's form (correct me if I'm wrong). My question is if you can be understood without pitch, and how will it reflect your pronunciation and fluidity. There are many different dialects of Japanese, are they mutually intelligible on the front of pitch? If I don't include the standard pitch of the Tokyo dialect (or the local dialect), will I confuse people, not sound native, or will it be acceptable. If it's acceptable than will it be more like an acceptable mistake or completely fine? If it is absolutely necessary (or of any necessity at all) I suppose I'll put in the extra time needed to learn pitch.


texts: Are there any words in Japanese with heavily disputed pronunciation?

texts:
I've recently come across several people arguing about the correct pronunciation of GIF. There are camps who believe it's "d͡ʒɪf" and others who believe it's "gɪf". Several people also argue about whether "lɪnəks" or "laɪnəks" is the correct pronunciation of Linux.

Are there any words in Japanese like this that are hotly debated? Since Japanese has clear pronunciation rules, I mainly wonder if there are certain readings of kanji that are disputed.


texts:
http://jisho.org/word/%E5%92%BD%E5%96%89
http://jisho.org/word/%E5%96%89

I came across 咽喉【のど】 while reading. Jisho doesn't have「のど」listed as a reading of 咽喉, but it does have it under 喉.

So now I'm wondering what the differences between 咽喉【のど】, 咽喉【いんこう】 and 喉【のど】 are, since both「のど」and「いんこう」are defined as "throat".

Does anyone know?


texts: How to translate nominalised adjectives from Japanese to English (e.g. スイスがきれいなこと)

texts:
I am currently struggling with wrapping my head around こと and how it nominalises adjectives/sentences with adjectives to turn them into noun phrases.

With verbs, it's easy:

  べんとうを食べる (I eat bento/I will eat bento)
  べんとうを食べること ((the act of) eating bento)

However, with adjectives (and particularly nouns) I'm not quite understanding the transformation, other than the fact that the phrase now functions as a noun/noun phrase and can be moved around the sentence.

  スイスがきれいだ (Switzerland is beautiful)
  スイスがきれいなこと ((as for the fact that?) Switzerland is beautiful... or (on the notion that???) Switzerland is beautiful).

This sentence was taken from: スイスがきれいなことは写真で知っています。

To me, the nominalised adjective/noun phrase does not sound like a noun, merely a statement that Switzerland is beautiful.

Any helpers? If I'm not clear I'm happy to try and elaborate further.


texts: What purpose does は serve after へ in this sentence?

texts:
ところで、今週末のゴルフ大会へは行くんですか。

I feel I have a decent understanding of both of those particles, but I'm wondering how the meaning of the sentence changes with and without the は after へ.


texts: Is it bad practice to use "することができる" as opposed to just "できる"?

texts:
The potential form of "する" is "できる". However, "～ことができる" can be appended to verbs to create a potential form. Hence, "することができる" can be used as the potential form of "する". While I think there are times this sounds perfectly natural, I wonder if it is grammatically ill-advised, as you are appending the potential form of the verb to the verb to make the potential form of said verb.

The cases where I find it most natural to use "することができる" is when I start off writing or saying something, using the form "～を[NOUN]する" and when turning that into potential form realize it's too late to change the layout of the sentence as I already committed to using "を" (as opposed to "が") and potentially already said "する". Then in hindsight, I feel like the better sentence would have been "[NOUN]ができる".

Is using "することができる" ill-advised? Should it be replaced with other grammatical structures? If so, what are the recommended ways of rephrasing what would otherwise be "することができる"?

Closest related question I could find: ことができる versus V~える form


texts:
Context: a boxer has a lot of female fans that worship him because of his handsomeness. They call him 王子. His trainer is a pervert who likes to receive anal sex from women with sex toys. In an extra scene at the end of the manga, the boxer and his trainer meet a female fan that hands him a lipstick and a paper sheet saying:

  このメスブタめに〝お恵み〟を与えて頂けないでしょうか…

The boxer rubs the lipstick on his lips and kisses the paper sheet. Then he says:

  欲しがりなブタは嫌いじゃあない

After this, the trainer takes the lipstick and asks:

  このオスブタめの〝穴〟に恵みをくださ〜〜い♡　ミストレス

1) What is the meaning of メスブタ and オスブタ in this context? I know they are the female and male of the pig, but do they have  a metaphorical meaning here?

2) What is the め after メスブタ and オスブタ?

3) What is the meaning of 欲しがりなブタ? How does ブタ as a suffix work?

4) Why is it じゃあない and not じゃない in the second sentence?

Here's the original page. Thank you for your help!

EDIT:

I found here this definition of メスブタ:

  SMプレイ時に興奮度を高めるなどの目的で、サディスト側がマゾヒスト側へ投げかける言葉の一つ。

But still, why does she call herself メスブタ？


texts: What does the phrase "Soh Ne De Wa" mean?

texts:
I hear of it sometimes on YouTube but don't know what it means. Google didn't give any answer.  What does this phrase mean please?
(a comment asked for a link, so here it is: https://youtu.be/dSR7ObNCwrQ?t=31  (at 00:31))


texts: まま +　放る{ほうる} used for emphasis or are they both needed?

texts:
A group of people are talking about the best way to get rid of a monster in their town and one of the villagers says this:

  仕方{しかた}あるまい。このまま放って{ほうって}おけば村は[全滅]{ぜんめつ}するかもしれん…。

From what I understand, まま means to leave or stay as is and ほうっておけば means if it's left as it is. So I'm wondering if both of them are necessary for this sentence to make sense or they are both put together for emphasis. Because they seem to be saying the same thing twice.


texts:
子供はやれ肉がすくないと文句を言っている.

What is exactly やれ? Is it kind of a とか or  やら？


texts: What would be the best katakana for this book title?

texts:
I'm trying to write about a Spanish book in Japanese. I'm a beginner at Japanese so have patience. The English title is 'Chronicle of a Death Foretold'.

クロニックル・オ・エー・デス・フォートールド

I'm not sure on the word for death.
Many thanks.


texts: Passive vs Active form of verbs when used as adjectives

texts:
The passive/active verb preference question has been discussed before ( Passive vs. active form of verb (past) What is the difference? ), but I had a specific question.

When a verb is used in the adjective location, is active form preferred always to passive form?

I would tend to write:

  保存されたファイルを添付しました。

But I was told it would better to use the active voice:

  保存したファイルを添付しました。

Is this always the better (clearer) form?


texts:
英語での記載にこだわる理由は何でしょうか？
今まで通り(日本語で)に記載して頂きたいです。

I have no idea what にこだわる means here.

The nuance is once day, my Japanese translator who suddenly switched to English (instead of Japanese like normal) to translate a question, and she submitted it to the Japanese client.

After that, I received above feedback from my client. My translator told me that the question was a little bit tricky to translate to Japanese, so she decided to go with English. It seems like the client was not happy with English there, so I guess the にこだわる means something like get stuck, doesn't it?


texts: Usage of intonation with sentence ending particles e.g. ね

texts:
Negotiation of Contingent Talk: The Japanese Interactional Particles Ne and Sa, page 44

For example the above link says that there are various different intonations e.g. rising, rise-fall,fall-rise etc that all correspond to different functions, but I can't seem to find any audio samples that clearly show what these sound like.

Can anyone explain what I should be hearing and where, or provide some audio samples for the different categories?


texts:
The く-form of 近い and 多い can be used as nouns and adverbs.
For most adjectives, however, the く-form is only used as an adverb.
So why do these exceptions exist?


texts: Why does the causative verb "昂らせる" take "感情" as an object in this sentence

texts:
I've stumbled across this sentence, "怒りのあまりに感情を昂らせてしまうと涙が出てしまいます",　and can't for the life of me understand why 感情 is marked with を since (a) 感情 can't be the subject (doer) of a causative verb (it's a state), and (b) 昂る※ is an intransitive verb.

One theory I have is that it specifies exactly what the person allowed to reach a heightened state of excitement, but I don't feel like that's it.

I have three questions,

Why is 感情 marked with を?
What would happen if 感情 was changed to 自分? Would the meaning be the same?
What would happen if 感情を was completely removed?

※デジタル大辞泉, 昂る (動詞): 気分・感情などが高まる。興奮状態になる。


texts: Difference between た／ている／plain form + とき

texts:
I don't really understand the difference between た／ている／plain form + とき. I want to understand this form so, if you can give me a lot of examples and explanations, I'll be grateful !

Thanks !!


texts:
How do you say "the audio says..."
Because I suspect 音声は〇〇と言う is wrong.


texts: Help with 第一夜 by 夏目漱石: 「大きな潤のある眼で、長い睫に包まれた中は、ただ一面に真黒であった」

texts:
I bought the book "Breaking into Japanese Literature - Seven Modern Classics in Parallel text" and burned some billions of neurons to (try to) understand just the first page (lol).

Well, I am having problems with this sentence (from 第一夜【だいいちや】 by 夏目漱石):

  死にますとも、といいながら、女はぱっちりと眼を開けた。大きな潤のある眼で、長い睫に包まれた中は、ただ一面に真黒であった。その真黒な眸の奥に、自分の姿が鮮やかに浮かんでいる。

I know the meaning of the individual words:

潤【うるおい】 moisture, tenderness
睫【まつげ】 eyelashes
包む【つつむ】 wrap, cover
ただ only, just
一面【いちめん】 the whole surface/expanse
真っ黒【まっくろ】 pure black

Translation given by the book (which doesn't help much...):

  Whereupon she opened her eyes and replied, "Yes, I will die--of that I am certain". Her eyes were large and moist and beneath their long shading lashes were twin expanses of the jettest black. My clearly mirrored image was floating in the depths of those jet black eyes.

I understand the first phrase, but the second and third just don't enter in my mind.

大きな潤のある眼で  in the big and wet eye,
長い睫に包まれた中は in the centre of something wrapped in the long eyelashes (??) I just don't understand... And by the way, how do I read the 中 after 包まれた?
ただ一面に真黒であった (????)

I would be really grate if someone helped me... Thank you very much in advance!


texts: meaning of 楽{たの}しむ, the verb being used intransitively

texts:
I read in the Asahi Shimbun the following article's headline (furigana are mine) :

神様{かみさま}も楽{たの}しむ？　桜{さくら}の新{しん}品種{ひんしゅ}、京都{きょうと}で発見{はっけん}　北野天満宮{きたのてんまんぐう}
my translation :
Do the gods enjoy themselves ? A new variety of cherry tree discovered in Kyōto (Kitano Tenman-gū)

I understand the meaning of 楽{たの}しむ used transitively; e.g. (source) :

私{わたくし}は水泳{すいえい}を楽{たの}しんだ。
I enjoyed swimming.

But what about 楽{たの}しむ used intransitively ? What's the exact meaning of "神様{かみさま}も楽{たの}しむ？" ? Is it :

the gods are in a good mood ?
the gods are amusing themselves ?
the gods want to make a joke ?

Any help would be appreciated !


texts: What are the origins of the 「こそあど」 demonstratives?

texts:
I've noticed the following sets of words that seem to have a very obvious pattern, and, of course, their meanings are very closely related:

これ、　それ、　あれ、　どれ
この、　その、　あの、　どの
ここ、　そこ、　あそこ、　どこ

What are the origins of these sets of words? I'm asking them all together because I'm thinking that their origin is interrelated.


texts:
I'm studying the kanji on the Heisig's book "Remembering the Kanji" and yesterday I came across the number 56: 員 which is translated in the book as "employee". I also have a subscription on JapanesePod101 and the today world of day was: 従業員 which turned out to mean... "employee".

I'm actually quite confused. After a search on wwwjdic I found out that 員 means "member" so why Heisig translates it as "employee"?


texts: Is it unusual in a noticeable way to slant your Japanese writing?

texts:
As a right-handed person whose first language is English, I have a natural rightwards slant to my handwriting much of the time, depending on how quickly I'm writing and what physical position I'm in as I write.

I've noticed I sometimes impart this slant to my Japanese writing as well, when I'm practicing writing out sentences.

Is this as normal in Japanese as it is in languages that use the Latin alphabet? Will rightwards-slanting kanji/kana seem odd? I haven't been involved with Japanese long enough yet to even learn whether there's such a thing as italics in Japanese, so I'm not sure how it would be perceived.


texts:
I saw this sentence in my review today:

母はいつも、単身赴任中の父のことを案じている。

No pronouns, but easy to understand. One way of translating this sentence would be

My mom (A) is always worried about my father (B) moving away for work.

In other words, there is a first person talking about (A) and (B). Now, what if the sentence was written this way:

My mom is always worried about her husband moving away for work.

The meaning is still the same, but this time, instead of showing how the first person is related to (A) AND (B), it shows first person's relationship to (A), then (A)'s relationship to (B). Thanks to the use of pronouns, ambiguity is avoided. Japanese has a tendency to avoid pronouns as much as possible, so I think this sentence doesn't sound natural:

母はいつも、単身赴任中の彼女の夫のことを案じている。

母 can be repeated twice to remove ambiguity but it sounds awkward.

母はいつも、単身赴任中の母の夫のことを案じている。

Is there a way to translate the sentence "My mom is always worried about her husband moving away for work." without using pronouns?


texts: Is the way I'm writing this correct, and is there a better way of writing it?

texts:
What I'm trying to say: "If I don't take a break from studying now, I'll probably forget everything I've learned."

What I'm saying: 「私は今勉強するのを休まなければ、私が学んだすべてのものを忘れるだろう。」


texts: Correct way to say "I am a beginner in Japanese"

texts:
What is the correct way to say: "I am a beginner in Japanese".

Google Translate shows the translation is:

  私は日本語で初心者です

However, Google search shows:

  私は日本語の初心者です

has a lot more hits.

Which one of these is correct?


texts:
I'm having trouble figuring out how to express vague amounts of time in Japanese, such as some number of months or some number of hours.
I want to use this in a context where the specific number is neither important nor known, but the factor of time passing/occurring is important. For example:

Some hours later, he finished the test.
Traveling to and staying in another country requires some number of months free.


texts:
Not sure if this is a noun or a na-adjective but is something like 好きながら, 貧乏ながら, 親切ながら, 貧弱ながら, et cetera, a general grammar pattern of noun or na-adjective + ながら?

What I mean is, do all these work, or will they always work for a given noun or na-adjective?


texts: Is Xがないとだめ "must have X"? And sentence-ending かね

texts:
In an anime, two characters are talking about playing basketball and why should someone not versed in it be interested at all; one of them says:

  バスケやるのに理由がないとだめですかね

which is translated as "To be honest, I'm not sure anybody actually needs a reason to play basketball". I'm not sure if I understand the sentence, but I think in the translation there is something different from the original (like it being a question turned affirmation, if I'm right).

My breakdown is:

バスケやるのに: in order to play basket
理由: reason
がないとだめ: が particle + must have
ですかね: です + question marker + ね particle

More literally, it's something like "Do you (really) must have a reason in order to play basket?", so "Do you really need a reason to play basket?"?


texts: What is the etymology of the suffix(?)たがい in 仲たがい and how is it used to express discord? If this is a suffix as such, is it used in combination with any other words?


texts:
What's the difference?  How do you know when to use one vs. the other?

I'm asking because I said　「話｛はな｝すことを止｛や｝める」, but was corrected to 「話｛はな｝すの...」 and I don't understand why.

(I searched for this question but was surprised to find it doesn't already exist!)


texts:
Google translate says 日本語 means Japanese.

It also says:

語 means "word"
本 means "this"
日 means "day"

So how do you get "Japanese" out of these three kanji?


texts: How would you apologise for not inviting someone to an event?

texts:
In English I would say something along the line of 'Sorry! I forgot to invite you to the party'. This would be in conversation to a friend. How would this translate to Japanese?

Edit (First post to this site sorry!): My first ideas would be along the line of すみません、私は招待しにわすれました。Through looking in my 'Genki' textbook, this verb conjugation is mainly used for movement, not for the purpose I am using it for. Please could someone explain to me - if it is incorrect - why it is so?


texts:
This phrase has helpful but rather confusing furigana (星嶺鷹守学園{セイレイタカガミガクエン}).

I'm reading it to mean "star-ridge takagami campus", with star ridge being the name of the specific campus and takagami being the place/town.

In more correct(?) English, "Star-ridge campus of/in Takagami".

Taking 鷹守{タカガミ} literally would be "falcon director(of the provincial governors under the ritsuryo system)" which makes no sense.

How do Japanese people read/tell fictional place created by entertainment media?


texts:
Is there a native, non-loanword for "pen" (the writing instrument)? Or is there only 「ペン」?

There is one for "pencil" (鉛筆), one for "ruler" (定規), one for "paper" (紙) and even though the one for "eraser", 消しゴム, is half loanword due to the ゴム, at least there is an alternative to the full loanword イレーザー. It would be weird if there is no native word for "pen".


texts:
じゃあ, 一緒にこれ飲もうよ。さっきマネージャーに差し入れでもらってさ。

Well, マネージャー is manager. If here was "dispenser" instead "manager" it would be understandable. So what "manager" doing here?


texts:
I came across this sentence:

  5,60年後の人々の生活がどう変わっているかとても想像できません。

  I cannot imagine how the lifestyles of people will change after fifty, sixty years.

I am wondering how to pronounce the 5,60年 part. Is it ごじゅうろくじゅうねん or ごろくじゅうねん? Or does both work?


texts:
I looked up an example sentence of how to use sokkuri and this is what I found.

彼女の言うことはそっくり本心からとは言えない。
She is not quite sincere in what she says.

However, I changed kanojo to anata and said it to my friend and he told me it didn't make sense but he didn't have time to explain why. Thanks for your help!


texts: Noun + da kara desu -- why are da and desu mixed? why not both "da" or both "desu"?

texts:
In this sentence:

  Neko da kara desu.
  Because it's a cat.

Why are the "da" and "desu" used at the same time? Logically, it should've been:

  Neko desu kara desu.

Or in a casual conversation if we don't drop the last "da":

  Neko da kara da.

Right?


texts:
白羽さんは鼻で笑い、笑った拍子に鼻がプーという音を出し、鼻水が鼻の穴に膜を作っているのが見えた。
  　白羽さんの紙で作ったような乾燥しきった皮膚の裏側にも、膜をはるような水分があるのだなと、私がその膜が割れるのに気をとられていると、
  「特にないですよ。僕は大体わかってるんで」 　と白羽さんが小声の早口で言った。

'rear of the skin'?


texts:
In the current section of my textbook, a bunch of verbal compositions was introduced, like:
読み終わり
歩き始め
祈り続け

終わり　and 続け are classified as auxiliary verbs on jisho:
http://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%AF%E3%81%98%E3%82%81
http://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%8A%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8B

始める isn't
http://jisho.org/search/hajimeru

My actual question relates to this sentence:
一郎さんはやっと本を読み終わりました。
=> Ichiro has finally finished the book.

What irritates me in this sentence is that 終わり is used in a transitive verb.
Is the transitivity/intransitivity of a verb negligible if it is used in a composition? If so, is this phenomenon restricted to a set of (very common) compositions?

Furthermore, I would be interested wether this is only typical for verbs which (also) bear the classification "auxiliary verb"? 始める isn't classified as an auxiliary verb though.

Do auxiliary verbs always function as parts of a verbal composition btw.? This would be important to know because in our western languages, auxiliary verbs usually are used in "analytical" (I hope that's the correct english term) constructions (e.g. "I will build a house"; The auxiliary verb is not directly attached to the main verb and remains its own unit/entity in the sentence).

EDIT:
This question revolves around the issue of transitivity in context of verbal compositions in common. It asks wether there is a set of grammatical prerequisites for a verb of intransitivity/transitivity to be used in a verbal composition of the opposite transitivity (That is: Transitive -> Intransitive; Intransitive -> Transitive).


texts: What is the difference between 美しき and 麗しき？

texts:
What is the difference between 美しき and 麗しき and what is the difference between 美しい and 美しき?

I know that both 美しい女性 and 美しき女性 are correct. But what is the difference between these two?


texts: Why do Japanese businessmen use 「さん」 even with うち names in meetings with foreigners

texts:
I noticed that many Japanese businessmen tend to address the colleagues they are traveling with, or even introduce themselves as ◯◯◯さん. This would clearly be a faux-pas in a Japanese-only meeting, yet it almost seems like the norm in international meetings.

Is this a social engineering hack to get the foreigners to call them さん? Or do they think this is less confusing this way? Is it a way to help the foreigners figure out that the strange sound they heard before the "san" is a name? Is there some "How to do business with gaijins" book that this practice is spreading from?

I've tried asking my Japanese friends, but no one could come up with a convincing answer...


texts:
How to differentiate between 'a' and 'the'.

  私は魚を食べた

Does the above specify the exact fish that I ate or a general fish.
Either ways how would you say ...

  ate a fish
  ate the fish.


texts: 言わない vs 言わなくない - A negative verb conjugated as an adjective?

texts:
While reading a text in Japanese, I came across the phrase "何も言わなくなったから".

I don't understand what the ～くない stands for. As far as I know it is used as the negative of an adjective... but 言う is a verb! It's like 言わない (the negative form of 言う) was used as an i-adjective.  Any thoughts?


texts: I was reading a Japanese version of 日常{にちじょう} where one of the main characters Yuuko is writing notecards for her English exam the next day (which she had not studied for). As she was translating “forever,” she said 永久{とわ} where I would have said 永遠{えいえん}. Is there a difference? Thank you!


texts: Why is it not allowed to use iteration marks in okurigana?

texts:
I recently learned about iteration marks, especially 々. After reading the wikipedia article of iteration marks, I found the following text: "Further, if okurigana is present, then no iteration mark should be used, as in 休み休み. This is prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education in its 1981 Cabinet notification prescribes, rule #6—see okurigana article for elaboration."

now going to the wikipedia page of okurigana, the only thing that I can find about iteration marks is the following sentence: The 1981 Cabinet notification prescribes (通則6) the okurigana usage 次々 (iteration mark), but 休み休み (no iteration mark if okurigana is present).

Here it only gives an example, however it does not explain as why I am not allowed to use it.

So I wondered why it is not allowed to use iteration marks in okurigana. Why is 休み々ゝ not allowed?


texts:
What's the difference between 包丁[ほうちょう] and ナイフ?
When one word if preferred over the other?


texts: Please help me understand the tadoushi/jidoushi distinction

texts:
I’m trying to understand the tadoushi/jidoushi distinction. I read an article in wikionary.org
Here
which seemed to make sense. In particular it stated that the tadoushi/jidoushi distinction is a semantic one: a tadoushi verb acts upon another entity; a jidoushi verb does not.
Subsequently I looked at this sentence:

道を間違えたのかな
(I wonder if I mistook the street)

I understand that there is a related jidoushi verb, 間違う, but 間違える itself, if it can indeed be translated as "to make a mistake", does not seem to act upon another entity. Yet it has a direct object.
I’d appreciate it if somone could explain tadoushi/jidoushi in a way that accounts for the syntax in the sentence cited. Thank you.
I’m pretty much a newbie, so romaji will be fine with me.
Addition:
Having thought about this more, my tentative conclusion is that the tadoushi/jidoushi distinction is a semantic one that is not necessarily  expressed in syntax. If we were classifying English verbs, that of “I remembered Helen” would be jidoushi and that of “I kissed Helen” would tadoushi. Both can take a direct object, so it is not useful to link tadoushi with transitivity and jidoushi with intransitiviity.
Could anyone confirm or negate my conclusion?


texts: Why does furigana occasionally appear as katakana?

texts: I've seen some kanji whose furigana is actually katakana. For example, see the following manga cover for 桜蘭高校ホスト部. When would a kanji character ever be pronounced as a loan word?


texts: How to reconcile stroke order with font variation on 衷?

texts:
From Jisho.org, the stroke order for 衷 (inmost, heart, mind, inside) is:

I count 9 strokes, but the stroke number is listed there as 10. Additionally, on Android (with kanji fix), the kanji is rendered like this:

The number of strokes and the Android font version seems inconsistent with the stroke order. What is the correct stroke order for this kanji? How can I reconcile these inconsistencies?


texts:
何者にもなれない

Let's break it down...

*何も here means nothing (with negatives)

*者 means people

*に is the target particle

*なる means to become

*なれない is the negative potential of なる

How in the world does this translate as "Unable to accomplish anything?". Does it lack context or something?


texts: これ, それ and あれ are demonstrative pronouns. この, その and あの are demonstrative determiners. What could you call ここ, そこ and あそこ? Are they prepositions?


texts: Which of these grammar patterns is more correct?

texts:
1) "Aoi no hon wa koko desu." (A blue book here, is) or
2) "Koko ni aoi no hon ga arimasu."(Here a blue book is)

Is one MORE correct than the other?
Is one more casual, and the other formal?
Is one COMPLETELY wrong?

Feel free to give other examples as well,
even "imasu" examples of animate objects.


texts: Happy Mother's Day, mom! Usage of はは and おかあさん

texts:
In a social media post, i want to say happy Mother's day to my mom (but is visible to everyone).

I came up with 幸｛さち｝せな母｛はは｝の日｛ひ｝、お母｛かあ｝さん .

Would this be considered normal for a native speaker?  Is the usage of haha and kaa correct if i were to speak or to her?


texts:
The following sentence comes from 中上級の日本語 magazine for february:

  新聞記事は、記者がコツコツと取材をしてデータを集め、それをもとに出来事を調べたり、関係者の話を聞いたりして書かれています。

It is grammatically correct but I find the change from active to passive voice, ie from extensively describing journalists' activities in the active voice to connecting those activities to the topic of newspaper articles in the passive, quite jarring.

Is this just because I am not a native speaker, who would find this quite natural, or is it just not very good writing? (Given that this is a magazine for students of Japanese you would not expect bad writing in the explanatory passages by the magazine's staff.)


texts:
I'm trying to figure out what the term is that describes words that look like this:

  やっぱり；　さっぱり；　うっかり；　こっそり；　ひっそり；　ぐっすり；　すっきり

They seem similar to 擬態語、義質語、and　擬音語, but I think they have a separate classification...

Is there a term that describes words like this? (Please let me know if this has already been asked). If there is not a term, how would one talk about these adverbs in Japanese? If I needed to state that "I have problems remembering (these types) of adverbs", how would one go about explaining that?


texts: If it's okay to remove the punctuation in a modern text format of Kojiki (古事記)

texts:
The original version of the Kojiki looks like it has no punctuation whatsoever.

I found a more recent text version of Kojiki online though, which has all kinds of punctuation and formatting.

It has brackets, quotes, periods, commas, paragraphs, nested list and table indentations, etc. Where did all of this come from? How can I remove the formatting and punctuation so that it becomes more like the original? Would it be safe to simply find/replace remove all punctuation and whitespace/indentation/nesting? Or what should I do?

Update

Here is my intention. I would like to create a book for myself that looks like the ancient text. I want to do this so I can experience what it's like to directly try and translate an original source document. I want to print the text in a nice clear font though so it's easy to at least see the characters. I want to then try and figure out where the boundaries are between the sentences and everything on my own, without any help or preconceived notions or past junk from academia. I want to figure out the meaning of the text for myself. And to do that I would like to get the data down to its bare bones: just the characters in a sequence. From that I can print it how I like so it's easy to read, and I can figure out how I would like to add punctuation. This is, to be real, HOW THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT WAS FORMATTED ANYWAYS. I want the format of the original document, or close to it. It's not like I'm taking latin and removing the spaces, because they didn't do that when they wrote their books (at least to my knowledge). If they did, well then great I will do it for Latin too, but if they didn't, then I am going to leave the punctuation that they originally had.


texts: What is the difference in koi o shita, ochita, shimashita?

texts:
I was looking for (I fell in love with you), but did find more than one option. Could you help?

あなたに恋をした
Anata ni koi o shita

私はあなたと恋におちた
Watashi wa anata to koi ni ochita

私はあなたに恋を しました
Watashi wa anata ni koi o shimashita

What is the difference and which should I use?


texts:
So I'm studying and I ran into an example that stated to go from a (noun)suru to (noun)dekiru is this:

私は車を運転する　－＞　私は車の運転ができる。

Why isn't 私は車を運転できる。


texts: When you are taking up an exam that is not written in 丁寧語 but rather in dictionary form, and it requires a brief answer from you (for example, the problem you have to answer is simply 「理由：」 ), are you required to answer in 丁寧語／ます形？ Any insights on answering exams written in Japanese?


texts: Translating a sentence cointaining ても, と, とこ and 上 (colloquial japanese)

texts:
ＴＤＬって実は誘拐が多くて見つからないって本当ですか？なんでも迷子の呼び出しは規則上できないそうですね。迷子の子があつめられるとこはあっても。そういう理由で誘拐しやすいとうわさになってるんですが。本当ですか。

This text is a post I found on a website. While translating it I had troubles with many things.

規則上: I don't know how to translate it since I've never seen this
use of 上.
とこ: is it equivalent to ところ?
ても at the end of a sentence: is that a colloquial rule or something? Does it mean "even if" anyways?
と: is there a verb like 思う omitted? Or is it a different use of the particle?

Thank you very much!


texts:
I have a couple of questions about the presumptive form.

「それは誰が定めたの？」
「フュシィアに決まって居ろう。」

Above are some lines from a game that got me pondering about this:

Am I correct in that the V+おう form could formerly be used in place of Vだろう?
I've heard a phrase「控え居ろう」, which means "get on your knees", if I remember correctly. What is the meaning of the presumptive form here? In the modern language, you can use -おう only to suggest first-person actions.
Is おろう a presumptive form for both いる and おる?

Thanks in advance.


texts: What's the difference between って and って言ってた

texts:
I'm guessing it's a matter of direct vs. indirect?

  兄は「１分だけ、くださいね」って

My older brother said "Just a minute, please"

  兄は１分だけと言ってた。

My older brother said just a minute.


texts: Meaning of いるとin 弥生時代にはいると…

texts:
So I found this sentence:

弥生時代にはいると食事の内容が大きく変化しました

I understand its meaning, something like

In the Yayoi period, the food content changed a lot

However, 'In the Yayoi period' is a free translation, because I don't really know what いると means. Does と work as 'when'? How would you translate that? A literal translation would also help for better understanding.


texts: What does 必要最小限にお願いします。 mean?

texts:
必要最小限にお願いします。

I can't translate it at all, what could it mean ? "Please, do what's necessary" ?


texts: What does emphasis mean in the がして of the following sentence?

texts:
I'm translating this old book I have from Japanese to English, and I come across the following sentence.

  背後で聞き覚えのある声がして、思わず一歩後ずさってしまった。

I think in the above instance the して is being used to emphasis, as defined by the fourth definition on Jisho.org, shown below.

  by (indicating means of action); as (a group, etc.)
  indicates patient of a causative expression - as 〜をして in modern Japanese
  acts as a connective - after the ren'youkei form of an adjective
  adds emphasis - after an adverb or a particle

What does 'add emphasis' mean, and is my understanding of the use of して in the above sentence correct?

EDIT: Added answer to my question: 「して」じゃなくて「する」を調べたほうがいいですよ。#7 to be sensed (of a smell, noise, etc.) – Chocolate


texts: Usage and meaning of へと in this sentence

texts: I'm not quite sure why in this sentence was inserted と after へ. It would have been wrong to use only へ？moreover, what's the meaning of と in this sentence and why it is used? The sentece is: 彼女は玄関へと歩いていった。


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 background information and as far as I can understand, she tries to convince me 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？？？
What is meant with 最初の何年かは? Does the topic marker は include the とき phrase as well?
=> "(Concerning?) The time you start your work, (concerning?) the how many years of the onset it is horrible.
I still have some more questions about this message of hers, but I will put them into separate threads so that there aren't too many on one thread.


texts: "きのう、何をしていた。" vs. "きのう、何をした。"

texts:
What is the difference in nuance between きのう、何をしていた。 vs きのう、何をした。? To be fair, I can't really tell the difference between these two english sentences:

What were you doing yesterday ?
What did you do yesterday ?

Is it true that like their english counterparts, きのう、何をしていた。 and きのう、何をした。 has no difference,

Or is it true that there is some kind of hidden difference somewhere?


texts: Regarding と exhaustive list for comparison

texts:
I read this material in a local book which gives too little information so I need help to confirm.

The book said that we can use と to compare, and we cannot omit the last と.

  いちご と すいかと、どちらがいいですか
  Between strawberry and watermelon, which one do you like?

I cannot find confirmation if I could use it to compare more than two things. As in:

  いちごとすいかとみかんと、どれがいいですか

And as it seems to be the same exhaustive と, can we really not omit the last と when it's used like this? If so, why is that?


texts:
Is there any difference between お腹を空かす and お腹を空かせる? I get they both mean to become hungry (literally empty the stomach). 空かせる is the potential form of 空かす, but that doesn't make sense here. Dictionaries don't seem to indicate any difference.

  お腹を空かせたその男は、食物をむさぼり食った。
  The hungry man devoured the food.
  彼は１日中何も食べてなく、お腹を空かしていた。
  He hadn't eaten all day and was hungry.


texts: The 一 (one) kanji has two onyomi pronunciations: ICHI and ITSU. When do you use them?


texts: Unable to determine the meaning behind ~のみこと at the end of certain names

texts:
Examples include: 建速須佐之男命, 月読尊, and 神倭伊波礼琵古命/神日本磐余彦尊 (Here, I've been unable to merely identify the set of characters I'm to use, which is unfortunate.) So, what would this ~のみこと happen to mean?

And, does it work in any sort of fashion similar to modern names, id est, it signifying the first name? Or is it merely title?

Too, are all of these names merely that, one name, or do they have both a surname and a given name?


texts: Did I correctly express what I ate for dinner?

texts:
I wanted to say "Tonight I ate pizza and french fries."

My attempt was 「今夜私はピザとフラドポテトを食べた。」

I'm unsure of a few things (I'm early in my learning of Japanese).  I'm unsure if I correctly used the verb 「食べる」, and the particles 「は」and 「を」.  And was using 「と」 correct for "and," since it was linking two nouns?

Would my translation be a natural way to say my statement?


texts: Which pronoun to use for a teacher addressing students

texts:
Which pronoun should I use as a teacher when I address my students?
For instance, in this sentence "Please submit your essay on Monday"
As far as I know, あなたたち sounds rude


texts:
I have a difficulty to translate ホッチキスでとめる.

ホッチキス means stapler
で means with
とめる means stop

Stop with stapler? What?


texts:
俺はいい匂いのするハンカチで、軽く触れる程度に汗を拭いた。/ using the handkerchief with a nice smell....

Also found

  妹は何でも姉のするようにした / The younger sister behaved [did everything] just as her older sister did.

When would one choose to use this structure? ie, compared to いい匂いをしているハンカチ edit: いい匂いをしたハンカチ

edit: this is more in regards to する as a descriptor rather than のｖｓが　within clauses.

thanks


texts: Is there any definitional or etymological nuance between the English「Princess」and the Japanese「姫」？

texts:
Recently I've been looking into buying myself a copy of Ghiblis 「かぐや姫の物語」(The Tale of Princess Kaguya)。

Now, the first thing I noticed about the 日本語訳 is that it had a similarly annoying word in there, that word being the honorific suffix「姫」。It and the English honorific adjective「Princess」annoy me as かぐや at no point fits the definition of ether, starting as a adopted peasant girl, and ending a kind of lunar shinto space alien chick, being at no point depicted as anything more then a kind of consort.

While yes I do understand that both these words are being used more to describe a kind of narrative archetype about her character rather then a actual position or title. This still got me thinking about these two words, and the fact that while they're near identical in there dictionary definitions, they still evolved separately and only met/were used interchangeably, later on, thus meaning there could be considerable nuance between the two.

So ya, is there any kind of noteworthy differences or nuance between these two words? Ether in the form of subtle differences in meaning, or in the form of noteworthy differences in there etymology.

I ask this because while most ancient cultures had this idea of a noble daughter, the details often reveal fascinating differences into how each group conceptualised the role, as well as a insight into what exactly made the girl a valuable asset.


texts: Describing pain, a very painful situation

texts:
I have the following sentence to translate for class.

  頭と歯と指と耳と足が痛くて、
      苦しくて、
      気持ちが悪かったので、
      九時半すぎに
      薬局に行かせた。

So far I have the following.

  My head and teeth and fingers and ears and legs/feet hurt and
      it was painful and
      my feeling was bad so
      a bit after 9:30
      I made him go to the pharmacy.

I am not sure if I am missing something about the nuances of the pain structures.

The 2nd and 3rd rows seem a bit redundant to the 1st row. Is there some special meaning I am missing? Since the 1st row has already expressed pain, how is the 2nd and 3rd row's meaning different or how does it add to the description of pain?

Also, is the すぎ correctly translated as "a bit after"?


texts: Is it correct to split the reading あした of 明日 as 明（あ）日（した）?

texts:
As far as I understand 明日（あした） is jukujikun (also called semantic ateji), so, as with for example 今日, I would expect for the "reading" to be considered over the whole word, instead of being split into the individual kanji readings as is done with normal words.
But in a lot of places (dictionaries, etc) I see the reading of 明日 split into 明（あ）日（した）.
I can see where that might come from, since あ is a normal Kun-reading for 明, but the again した is no valid reading for 日.


texts: I've seen a translation say the line is "I’m a tin person covered in soot", but ichi.moe doesn't tell me what the ki means in the line.


texts:
The following are lyrics from Time after time ～花舞う街で～ by 倉木麻衣:

  風に君の声が聞こえる
  薄氷{うすらい}冴{さえ}返る 遠い記憶

I translate the two lines separately:

  Your voice still sounds in the wind.
  Distant memory / distant memories [over which] the thin ice freezes again.

Is that right? Is it right to take the voice as linked to kioku, as the memory, and therefore translating with the singular? Also, this site says, in a note, that a kigo is used in here. Could you expand on this?


texts: Why does face-white (面白い) mean interesting (おもしろい)?

texts:
I've been told おもしろい can mean interesting.

おもしろい can apparently be written:【面白い】.

How does 面白 (face-white?) equate to interesting?

Are white faces interesting?


texts:
What is the type of word ～がかり, e.g 気{き}がかり

Is it noun, or adjective?


texts: "I would stop missing you the moment we meet again"

texts:
I am trying to translate the sentence in the title. Clearly,

  君に会うと、会いたくなくなる。

seems to be wrong. Wouldn't this mean "When I see you, I would never want to see you again" or something like that?

How to say this simple sentence? My brain is shortcircuiting for some reason...