texts: Dictionary form to ask if someone wants something

texts:
I can't find much about it but I found an example to illustrate it:

  温めますか

  Do you want it heated? weblio

I don't understand how the dictionary form can have the meaning 'to want' and what is the difference with てもらいたいですか, てほしいですか, etc.


texts: It seems to behave like a verb, and would be the negated form of a verb あく if it were.


texts:
I have read that when you use んです, you're implying that the listener already knows what you're talking about and you're just kind of emphasizing the conclusion. However, I have also seen some examples where んですが is used for a situation that the listener is probably not aware of, most notably:

XXが苦手なんですが

Example sentence from this question:

私は歌を歌うのが苦手なんですが、どうやったらうまくなれますか???

The asker is posting in a QA forum where no one is aware that they're bad at singing. They then go on to explain their exact circumstances after they had used なんですが. As I type this I realize that this is probably a retarded question, but does んですが allow one to follow up with an explanation without any implied foreknowledge, while plain んです requires said foreknowledge?


texts:
I think I can ask something like もう学校に行く用意はできてるの for "Are you ready to go to school yet".
I was wondering what is the most natural way to simply ask "Are you ready yet?". E.g. the wife is in the bathroom and you are just about to go out to the movies together. Can I just shorten this to もう用意ができてるの. To me it sounds formal. More like "did you make preparations yet" rather than "are you ready (to go)".
Maybe I can just ask もうできてるの？ Would that be understood?


texts:
The title for the fifth episode of My Hero Academia is
今僕に出来ることを which means "What I can do now". The problem is I don't understand why they decided to use に instead of just using が after 僕.
Again, very new to the language so sorry if it's a dumb question.


texts:
What is the difference in nuance between 完成に努{つと}めるand 完成に努{つとむ}むる?
I heard 努むる{つとむむる} and it threw me as I had never heard it before.


texts: The correct usage of ～と決める, ～に決める, and ～を決める

texts:
Browsing the example of 決める, I found at least there are 3 patterns as follows:

行くと決めた。I decided to go.
行くまいと決めた。I decided not to go.
車を買うことに決めた。I decided to buy a car.
会議の日を決めた。I decided the meeting date.

Questions

Are my conclusions below correct?

～に決める can only follow こと.
～と決める can only follow verb in dictionary form.
～を決める can follow any noun.

Which is the correct interpretation of「私たちは、会議の日を三月四日に決めた。」?

We decided the meeting date to be March 4.
We decided the meeting date in March 4. (But when the meeting date is unspecified)


texts:
I came across this sentence:

彼女はとても教養のある人ですね

Why is の particle used here rather then が particle. I am probably missing the needed grammar to understand this sentence. Any help will be appreciated


texts: how to know a intransitive verb version of a verb?

texts:
I just watched a video* that explaining about transitive and intransitive verbs. it says intransitive verb in japanese usually has different form from transitive verb but it doesnt tell anything how to change a transitive verb or dictionary form into transitive verb form? is there any formula for it (i mean like adding じゃない for negative form of a noun) or we should remember them one by one?

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLy7Yrr8QyE


texts: Best Interpretation: 過去を消して穴を埋めて作り変えよう。そうだそうしよう。

texts:
What is the best way to interpret this line from the song "Dark Blue Day" by Straightener?

「過去を消して穴を埋めて作り変えよう　そうだそうしよう」

I know:
過去を消して：Erase the past
穴を埋めて：Fill the hole

I'm not sure how to interpret 作り変えよう and そうだそうしよう.

Any help/insight anyone could give me would be most appreciated! Thank you. :)


texts: What I understand from dictionaries is that there are somehow complicated feelings involved (Daijirin: 感情などが、複雑に絡み合って、すっきりしないさま。), but I still don't quite understand what kind of relationship would be called どろどろ. Do you have a concrete example for me?


texts: I can't really understand the difference between はともかくとして and　はさておき. They both seem to have a similar meaning and use. Somebody could explain it to me, by using specific examples?


texts: What is the difference between 「しております」and 「しています」?

texts:
I have came across the 2 phrases from Nintendo 3DS instruction manual. They are written adjacently.

本製品は、フォントワークス株式会社のフォントを使用しています。

本製品の一部にシャープ株式会社のLCフォントを使用しております。

If they are different in term of humbleness, I think the first line should be written in the form of 「ております」as well. I don't think they are different in term of continuation too.


texts: What is the name for an uppercut (scooping punch) in Japanese?

texts:
Ura-zuki is more linear. Age Ura-zuki is rising but still linear.  What about Sukui ura-zuki?  Any martial artists know this one?
I am hoping for an official karate term, but I will settle for a gramatically correct term that describes a scooping punch (western boxing uppercut).
Thank you in advance!!


texts: Is saying Subjectは熱が痛いです correct? I thought we use あります

texts: Saying I have fever is 熱があります. But my teacher messaged me that there won't be any class today because apparently 先生の女の子は熱が痛いです. Isn't saying 熱が痛いです is wrong because "fever" cannot feel pain?


texts:
[ˈjanə]
I was wondering if it's spelled ヤナ, or maybe because the stress is on the first syllable there should be a dash board: ヤーナ?


texts: What's the colloquial that is used for "space opera" type fictional spaceships?

texts: I would like to know what the usual word(s) are used to refer to non-realistic fictional spaceships, like the sort of things that show up in Macross or Star-Wars.


texts: 夏目漱石　「心」　Confused by use of いた in apparent relative clause

texts:
Continuing to work my way through 心, progressing a little bit more each day. Though I've been reading past this point, I was not as confident in my interpretation of this sentence in retrospect as I would like:

  学校の授業が始まるにはまだ大分日数があるので鎌倉におってもよし、帰ってもよいという境遇にいた私は、当分元の宿に留まる覚悟をした。

My current interpretation goes something like this: "Given that there were a great many days yet before classes started, and in the circumstances being in Kamakura or going back home were both agreeable to me, I presently resolved to stay at my original lodging."

I am assuming that the 'おって' here is from おる, though that's confusing in light of the いた that follows. Furthermore, I'm working from the assumption that the いた just before 私 has a literal meaning of 'the me who was . . . ', but this is the part I'm least confident about. Note that I am also assuming that 留まる is here an archaic use of kanji for 泊まる. Any corrections would be most appreciated.


texts: Is there a Japanese equivalent to "I guess I could do X"?

texts:
I was wondering if there was an equivalent to say "I guess" in the way you might use it if someone were to ask you to do something, or suggest doing something, such as being asked to take out the trash, and you reply with "I guess I could take it out". I guess I'm looking for a similar way to say that in a way where you don't really want to do it, but you'll do it anyways.
Would something like this be close (also, please correct my terrible grammar):

お母さん:　ゴミを出してください。
少年:　後でゴミを出すけど、出したくないです。

Or is there a different way to express a similar meaning to "I guess I could put out the trash (even though I'd rather not do it)"?


texts:
Could someone please clarify the meaning of 自意識過剰? Does it mean the person is overly self-conscious of other people's looks/opinions (e.g. very shy person), or does it imply an overly huge ego (e.g. narcissist)? Both (somehow)? Something else entirely?

Thank you.

Edit:

It seems I'm not the only one confused about here, e.g. here http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2138723251351191301 one person says it can mean both, while the other confirms my intuition that it doesn't make too much sense for two opposite things to share a common word (being shy vs. egocentric/narcissist).

Still, it would be interesting to hear if anyone manages to find a more meaningful distinction as it could shed some light on the way Japanese approach to their public image and how it may differ from ours (a fascinating topic in itself, I suppose).


texts: Is it possible to have two words with the same particle in a sentence?

texts:
This question popped in our exam in which you had to choose which particle was right. The question was:

  誕生日___母に花をあげました。

with に or まで as the options. まで didn't make sense for me and I don't know if going with に is possible.


texts:
Good day,
I just want to ask in-general if these words have a different level of meaning or are they interchangeable when attched to a family name 家、氏、藩、閥、族、一族、一門、家門、閥族 。
I'm somewhat aware that a 藩 is a domain and 家 is literally a family for example the 伊達家 used to own the 伊達藩。 But I would like to know the exact difference of the other words for example the difference between 伊達氏 and 伊達一族 and all the other words above. Because for me a 氏 is literally the clan itself while an 一族 is something larger like
the 田村家 is a part of the much larger 伊達一族。

Thank you all in advance for the reply, and may you all have a good day.


texts: Do the nominalizers "no" and "koto" have recessive accent (i.e. no downstep) or downstep after the first syllable? Or are they enclitic (i.e. unaccented unless following a word with no downstep in which case they accent the final syllable, like だ)?


texts: Why do we use 子ども to refer to a singular child (and 子供たち for plural)?

texts:
I was just thinking about how the term 子どもたち seems redundant since ども and たち are both plural markers. Of course you can use just 子 to refer to a child, but how did 子供 (and thus 子供たち) come to be the norm? Is the ども in 子供 unrelated etymologically?

I looked here for an answer which is what led to this confusion. I know that the kanji 供 doesn't refer to number, but this is written:

  「こども」ということばは「こ」＋「ども」という組み合わせでできている。
  「ども」は複数を表す接尾辞で「子ら」の「ら」や「子たち」の「たち」と同じ意味である。

Is this accurate?


texts: Does Japanese have morphemes that span two kanji?

texts:
I read once (in this comment by Victor Mair on Language Log) that Chinese has single morphemes that span two hanzi.  The example given was the Chinese word pútáo 葡萄.  At the time, I assumed it applied to Japanese equally, because I assumed 葡萄{ぶどう} was the same word.  I then assumed I could generalize from that to similar compounds.  (In retrospect, I don't think that reasoning was very good, which is why I'm asking this question.)

Other compounds that look like they might be monomorphemic include [薔薇]{ばら}, [蜘蛛]{くも}, and 麒麟{きりん}.

Are any of these single morphemes?  Pairs of bound morphemes?  If these are bad examples, are there two-kanji compounds that are single morphemes?


texts: How to interpret Xを上にして constructions regarding a map

texts:
This question will be a bit complicated.
Here are two sentences with two very similar constructions (in bold)

1.
地図は普通、北を上にして[描]{か}かれる。
"Concerning maps, usually they are drawn while you put north at the top" (as literal as I could manage, hope its still correct)
From Line 7 in this one
https://www.docdroid.net/847v2dg/img-20170413-0001-new.pdf.html

2.
地図に経度と緯度が使用されるようになって、北を上にして地図をかくのが普通になった。
Here's my attempt at translation
"Because it has come so far, that on maps longitude and latitude are usually used, it has become usual, that you draw a map while putting north at the top."
(again as literal as I could manage to set the individual syntactical parts apart as good as possible)
From an exercise about the text in 1.

3.
So, in 1 things are pretty distinct. The bold part has an adverbial function, right?
 In 2, things aren't as clear to me because a noun directly succeeds the bold part. I know that this doesn't necessarily mean anything, but it is a position where attributes are very common.
An attribute isn't really possible from my perspective because there isn't dictionary form, but て form. Furthermore, at least in a translation which tries to preserve an attributive relation between  北を上にして and 地図, the result feels ungrammatical: "It has become usual that you draw a you-put-north-top/north-put-top map." The part in italics tries to make things sound at least half-grammatical by translating the unspecified subject into a passive construction.

So TL;DR: 北を上にして acts as an adverbial in both 1 and 2, right?
      And: Is there a case, apart from one in which the conjunctive forms form a chain which leads up to a dictionary form adjective/verb which modifies a noun, where て form can act as a prototypical attribute, like here: よく考える人は効果的な生き方を見つける。


texts:
Older brother in Japanese is "Niisan" or "Oniisan", but in your family it is used as "Ani". I have also heard that "Aniki" can be referred as brother, but is more rude. I do not understand in what way it can be more rude, with that "ki".

In the case that aniki can be used, is it proper to also refer to your brother like, for example, Taka-ni (adding the ni at the end?)

Thank you.


texts:
嘘をつけ。本物のブロンドはもっとナチュラルだし、そんな不自然な金色にはならん。

that's a lie, real blonde (hair) is more natural, THAT kind of of golden (hair colour) totally cannot be (real)?

...にはならん = not 本物/ナチュラル at all? The golden hair colour is what it is, so it would be hard to negate that directly.

On a side note, is there any difference between the literal にならない - aka the negative of になる、 and the negation usage of にならない (話にならない, 洒落にならな.. 問題にならない , etc)

I guess random sentence could be used for the literal meaning.

「パパみたいにならないでね」という母親のグチが子どもをダメにする

Is there any perceived difference? Don't become like your dad vs You're not like your dad at all(doubt this is the case)


texts:
I know the meaning of おつかれさまでした and どぞ but when they are put together I really can't get what it really means. Does it have a positive or negative meaning?

To make it clear: one time one of my officemate went home and it is a tradition in our company that when you went home late you need to say goodbye to your Japanese superiors, so when he said "お先に失礼いたします" the other Japanese superios replied おつかれさまでした but one of them said おつかれさまでしたどぞ then laugh like he is trolling or mocking my officemate. Of course it is only from my point of view so I want to know what it really means.


texts: Difference between 書かないようになった and 書かなくなった?

texts:
Example sentences:

ぜんぜん長い手紙を書かないようになった。

ぜんぜん長い手紙を書かなくなった。

My Translation: I never write long letters anymore.

I believe they both mean the same thing but there's obviously some difference I don't know about.


texts:
In a daily conversation, I heard this sentence:

  私なりに 添削してみましたが他の方の意見も参考にしてみてください！

I think I understand, but I have never heard "noun + なりに + ..." before.

What does "私なりに..." mean?
How can it be generalized to other nouns?


texts: Is the と particle quotation literal or context matters?

texts:
I was listening to this one song and got a little confused about its meaning.

There seems to be a guy talking a bout himself, and then he talks about a girl who either, supposedly, would talk about herself, or about the guy.

  例えば俺が俺じゃないいとして、お前はお前だと言いきれるのか

What is the correct translation?

A: What if I was not myself, would you be able to say that you are yourself?

B: What if I was not myself, would you be able to say "You are yourself"?

I feel that by context A is the correct one, but B is the one that looks like a direct quotation in my opinion?

In order to A make sense gramatically (in my surely mistaken opinion) would be:

  例えば俺が俺じゃないとして、お前はお前を言いきれるのか

I feel like this is wrong, but I want to confirm...

Thanks in advance.

Source: https://utaten.com/lyric/cinema+staff/great+escape/

EDIT:

My problem is with the last と particle, I have no problem understanding the と in として.


texts: What is the meaning and application of ren'youkei?

texts: My knowledge about ren'youkei is limited to "tabe is the ren'youkei of taberu". I would like to know what the meaning of ren'youkei is, what linguistic idea lies behind this term and for what it is actually used in everyday usage.


texts: What is the difference between 納入 and 支払?

texts: My water bill reads 納入 is due, but the credit card bill says お支払い. What is the difference between these two terms?


texts:
I feel like I always see 「しまう」 at the end of sentences (not the verb "to put away"). I saw some examples here on Weblio.

  どうしても写真は実物より劣ってしまう。 Pictures really don't do it justice.

  私はどうしても彼を目で追ってしまう。 No matter what happens I keep following him with my
  eyes.

  「私の場合、どうしても溝口健二と比べてしまう。」 I can't help but compare him to Kenji
  MIZOGUCHI.'

I thought it's basically like 'can't help but', but then the first example seems different.

Anyone have more examples of this? What exactly does it mean?


texts:
Several years ago, I was taking a Japanese course and was given an assignment to translate an English sentence of my choosing.  (There was probably more to the assignment than that, but I don't recall.)  I chose a joke to translate:

"If God didn't want us to eat animals, why did he make them taste so good?"

Attempting to translate the first part of this sentence, I rephrased it slightly as "If God didn't want animals to be eaten" and tried to work it out in steps:

eat - 食べる

be eaten - 食べられる

want to be eaten - 食べられたい

not want to be eaten - 食べられたくない

did not want to be eaten - 食べられたくなかった

if did not want to be eaten - 食べられたくなかったら

I was pretty proud of the result, but my (native Japanese) teacher didn't understand it.  He laughed after I explained in English, but didn't offer to provide a correct translation--and I didn't press him for one since I felt a bit silly in front of the class.

Ever since then, though, I've been wondering exactly what language rule(s) I broke that made my effort incomprehensible.  Can someone explain what the problem is?  And what would be a correct translation of the joke?


texts: What is the meaning/grammar behind noun + でいる?

texts:
I've come across phrases like this a couple of times where でいる is used right after a noun instead of the usual Te-form verb + いる:

  どうせ学生でいるなら一番でいたいし

In this case is it basically just the same as である?


texts:
I have two questions about the famous k word in japanese.

I have seen this conversation between a guy and a girl and was a little bit puzzled by the girl's answer:

  Guy : xxx-ちゃんはかわいいです

  Girl : xxx-さんほどではありません

Is it common for a girl to call a guy 「かわいい」? Is the guy supposed to be flattered or is it some kind of teasing?
Do guys usually use the word 「かわいい」 or is it exclusively used by girls?


texts: Diference between to be verbs and to verbs?

texts: The verb 裂ける means to be torn. I know it's intransitive. but shouldn't it be translated as to tear? what's the difference between 裂ける and 裂けている? both of them are in the state of being torn? shouldn't 裂ける be in the state of being on the verge or in the process of being torn?


texts: As I am going over the uses of N5 kanji, I have gotten confused as to why 口（ぐち） is used in places such as 出口 and 入口. What meaning does it add?


texts:
Question from pg. 55 of 新完全マスター:

あさっては大雨【おおあめ】が降【ふ】るそうだよ。ハイキングは来週【らいしゅう】（　）。

The choices available are:

a. 行【い】こうとしようよ
b. 行【い】くことにしようよ
c. 行【い】くようになろうよ

According to the textbook, the correct answer is b, though I am confused as to why a is invalid.
As far as I understand, a would translate to something like "let's try to go next week", where as b would translate to "let's decide to go next week".
Both choices seem to make sense, and I am seeking an explanation as to why b is preferable over a, and furthermore, perhaps a more general rule for determining which construct to use.
c, on the other hand, does not make much sense to me, though if there is something I should be aware of (perhaps it makes more sense than I think it does?), I would also like to know.
Any clarification would be appreciated.


texts:
Context:
from ep 3 of Death Note L suspects Kira might
be a student, based on the time of death of the
victims, so Kira starts killing criminals each
one every hour so as to prove that he is not a
student.

This is from a blog:

  キラがすぐにこのような「１時間置きの連続殺人」を実行しているこ
  とから、やはり当初の『キラが学生である』との推測が当たっていると判断す
  るのが自然なのですが、
  なぜか現時点ではＬはそのように考えている節はありませんでしたね
  。もっとも、あらゆる固定概念を捨て去るべきであるとＬ自身も言って
  いましたから、今回の事件だけでは彼は断定しないのでしょうけど。

To me this paragraph means:

  From the fact that Kira is killing criminals
  every hour  guessing that "kira is a student"
  is still natural but, somehow it's not
  unusual L thinks like that(?)(なぜか現時点ではＬ
  はそのように考えている節はありませんでしたね。(That's the
  sentence I can't understand))

And I don't know how is that related to this
part:

  もっとも、あらゆる固定概念を捨て去るべきであるとＬ自身も言って
  いましたから、今回の事件だけでは彼は断定しないのでしょうけど。
  At most(?), because L said that we should get
  rid of all preconceived thoughts/ stereotypes,
  L didn't arrive at a conclusion as for the
  present case(?)

Is the author criticizing L in this paragraph or just stating some incongruencies?


texts:
ある ‘some’ is an obvious rentaikei of the verb 有り, ‘to exist’, and its emergence as a pronominal is due to the kanbun influence of Chinese 有 ɦuwX ‘same’ (Zisk, M. (2018). Middle Chinese Loan Translations and Derivations in Japanese. Japanese/Korean Linguistics, 24. p. 323).

But what is と in the extended form, とある ‘some, certain’?

Martin, S. E. (1987). The Japanese language through time (p. 397). New Haven: Yale University Press is silent on that. Iwanami Kogo Jiten just claims the word exists and gives example, no etymology.


texts:
I found these two sentences, but I'm not sure about their meaning and in particular what's the usage of とする here.
I've encountered it many times with two meanings: when it appears at the end of a sentence it means "to assume" and when it's declinated in とすると/とすれば/としたら it signifies "if something is to happen" and introduces a hypothesis. But here I'm not sure that those are the cases, or at least, I cannot find a suitable translation for them.

私はアメリカを第二の故郷とすることに違和感を覚えない。
一男を養子とすることに依存はない。


texts: Confused about the relationship between 「丸」 as in 「日本丸」 and 「麻呂」 as in 「君麻呂」

texts:
Firstly I found that 「丸{まる}」 originated from 「麻呂{まろ}」:

日本水路協会：船の名前にはなぜ「丸」が付くのか

Then this answer said that 「麻呂{まろ}」 originated from 「おまる」:

古代日本人の名前についている 「～麻呂」 には何か意味があるのですか？

It started to make me feel kind of circular: from おまる to まろ to まる(again).

Then I came across this answer saying 「丸｛まる｝」 directly originated from 「おまる」:

人名に付ける「丸」の語原について (おまる？それとも麻呂？)

Confused <@_@>


texts:
I haven't heard from a good friend for a while, I would like to reproach him playfully, but have no clue what the appropriate thing to say would be.

Would 恥を知れ! be appropriate if said in a funny tone, or is it too strong of an expression?

Edit: some context

Forgive me if I didn't add too much context, but I wanted a generic advice more than a specific one. Though I understand in language, and especially in such a language as Japanese is, it doesn't make much sense to be context-free.

Basically, we are very good friends, both males. We travelled a lot together while in Europe; I stayed at his place in Japan, he stayed at my place; met my family. We have a very strong connection and we are playful with eachother.

We are, however, admittetly both 筆無精. And we don't keep in touch. The reason why I wanted something more than 久しぶり is because he got married and just did an announcement on Facebook. I want to do this playful scolding, but I don't want to sound too serious: of course I really care about his life, but I understand things have been hectic and he didn't have time to contact me.


texts:
Why is [好]{す}き pronounced with a voiceless/almost silent U, but [隙]{すき} is not?

I've used 2 sound sample sources for both, Jisho and Rikai sama. They both pronounce the first (like) with a voiceless U. However, they both pronounce the second (gap) with a voiced U.

I thought that if you disregard external factors like mood/emphasis/politeness/dialect/whatever for a second, that devoicing occurs when U and I  are sandwiched between two voiceless consonants, or if there's a voiceless consonant first and then nothing after.

But here 1 word takes that rule and the other doesn't. Does that mean that some specific words have a voiced U where it normally shouldn't be there?


texts:
What does ビクビクのヌルヌルで mean?

As for context, she was trying to remove the fish she had just caught from her fishing rod. It's clear that shes referring to the fish, but the の between ビクビク and ヌルヌル is confusing me as to what is being said.

What on　earth does びくびくのぬるぬる mean?


texts: What does "自己修養" mean, in western terms?

texts:
I am looking for something that expresses the concept of self-cultivation, especially in the sense of "practicing self-cultivation through traditional japanese arts" (see also this book, which I don't own yet, but looks pretty close to what I mean).

Would "自己修養" be correct? Is there some different nuance that would alter the meaning for a Japanese speaker?

Can someone propose a different word for this?

(If I am not explaining my idea of "self cultivation" clearly enough, please comment and I'll try to make this better).


texts:
I'm reading the "To the Little Ones" story(『小さき者へ』) and, I found this mark ―― between sentences, does it have a specific meaning, or as I thought, it's just for more space?

それは分らない事だが――父の書き残したものを繰拡げて見る機会があるだろうと思う。


texts:
Shinkansen chair can be rotated. The case is when you need to rotate it and you need someone (stranger) to stand up on their chair so you can rotate yours... Is this a proper way to ask it?

First, asking them to stand for a moment...

  すみませんが、ちょっと立ってくださいますか？

The confusing part is telling the reason...
The message was "I want to rotate the chair"
This is what I though of below...

  椅子を回りたいです

But when I check on google translate, it says...

  椅子を回転させたいです

Please help to explain the difference and what would be a proper way to say for this case.


texts:
Can't really understand this form:
I've seen already this form with 考える and translated it like this:

  考えうることだ - conceivable (possible)

However how do you translate with other verbs? is this some kind of potential?

  1.人生の目的は何かという問題に対してみんなが納得しうる答えを出すのは難しい。


texts: I've seen people trying to define it in many places, but all of them end up giving different versions or saying it can't be defined.


texts:
でもわたしに何ができるの ―― ああ、ほんとうに１ドル８７セントで何ができるっていうの？

I want to know the grammatical function of "っていう" in the second sentence and how it works. It seems to me that both of the sentences essentially mean "何ができるの".

The quotation is from 賢者の贈り物 (結城浩訳)


texts: Why is Typhoon Neoguri sometimes referred to as "ノグリー"?

texts:
Why is Typhoon Neoguri sometimes referred to in Japanese as "ノグリー", and not as "ネオグリー"?

The English language Wikipedia's disambiguation page for Typhoon Neoguri mentions that it used to be referred to in English as "Noguri", but that was back in 2002, and there's been another Typhoon Neoguri between then and now.

Is it because Japanese has a commonly used transliteration of the Korean word for "Raccoon dog" (너구리)?


texts: Meaning of お支払いを希望される方

texts:
I am having trouble understanding the following sentence:

  クレジットカードによるお支払【しはら】いを希望【きぼう】される方【かた】は、次【つぎ】の注意【ちゅうい】をお読【よ】みください。

In particular, I am having trouble comprehending the first clause:

  クレジットカードによるお支払【しはら】いを希望【きぼう】される

From what I do understand, クレジットカードによるお支払いを希望される modifies 方.

From this, it seems to mean something like:

  Regarding a way to ["be hoped" / "be desired"] for credit card payments, please read the next warning.

"be hoped" / "be desired" comes from 希望される, the passive conjugation of 希望する.

Questions:

To confirm, クレジットカードによる modifies お支払い, and the resulting phrase means "credit card payment", right?
お支払いを希望する seems to mean "to hope for payment", but "to be hoped  for payment" and "way to be hoped for payment" sound somewhat bizarre. How can this phrase be broken down and translated? Also, can I infer the listener/reader to be the entity doing the hoping?
Ultimately, what does the sentence mean? How much of my translation is accurate? Even my resulting English translation doesn't make much sense.


texts:
I know, generally, multiples of the same particles in a sentence is okaaay, but perhaps not natural-sounding in everyday conversation? I'm trying to create longer sentences by stringing together clauses:

ninjaっぽいになるために、日光に行った。

Can any particles be dropped here? What should I change? As I understand, へ is used to emphasize direction, but I feel like I should be emphasizing the actual location.


texts: Is 「～べくして」 related to 「～べき」 / 「～べく」?

texts:
How I understand it, ～べく, meaning "for the purpose of..." / "In order to....", is the conjunctive form of ～べき, which indicates something that should be done.

  たくさん本を読む べき   (you should read many books)
  エンジニアになる べく 一生懸命勉強した (I studied hard in order to become an engineer)

In the following example sentence, is the べくして related grammatically or semantically to ～べき or ～べく?

  起こる べくして 起こった事故だった。
  It was an accident waiting to happen.


texts:
My boss (early 60s, former department chief, male, Tokai Region) often uses "(noun)+願います" in written requests like this:

翻訳願います
ご確認願います.

I haven't come across it before and can't find info online due to the overly similar standard "お願いします".
I understand what it means, but what is the nuance? Is this old man speech, boss to 部下 speech, is this regional, or standard? etc. Is it identical in meaning to お願いします or is it stiffer, more like an order, etc?
Thank you in advance!


texts: How do I parse this sentence using という話?

texts:
My question is about how to correctly parse the second line in the below.

  「しかし廃棄迷宮ですか……いろんなものを捨てていたら最後には溢れちゃいそうです」

  「廃棄迷宮に果てはなく、一説には異次元に繋がっているという話もあるくらいだぞ」

  「話が真実だとするとゴミ問題の類は全て解決するんだけどな」

I suppose my question boils down to:

Does という話 refer to the whole previous statement i.e. 廃棄迷宮に果てはなく、一説には異次元に繋がっている
Or does it only refer to 一説には異次元に繋がっている


texts: Does anyone have advice on how to get over/through/around the intermediate language plateau? (Self-learner)

texts:
How do you get through this? Especially in regards to reading. How do you practice reading at beyond the beginner level (No little black sambo's or whatever other children's books like I found in the local free bin when I was a teenager) when a light novel is still light years beyond me. And a newspaper is just as hard.

I know around 600-800 kanji, and I can pass the level 2 listening JLPT, though I'm not quite there for reading and grammar (I can barely pass level 3 on those), but I feel like I've been spinning my wheels and not getting anywhere for a long time now.

What are good techniques for learning to read in Japanese? Especially for self-taught students of Japanese.

What are techniques to push through the vast wasteland that is "intermediate"?


texts: Can we use 近づける without an explicit object?

texts:
近づける is a transitive verb.

X: 僕は子供を池に近づけない。I keep away the children from the pond.

But there is a case in which 近づける is used without an object as the following sentence quoted from another answer.

Y: AはBにCに近づいてほしくないと思っている。A wants B to keep away from C.

Questions

When there is no explicit object given for 近づける, do we have to assume the object is actually the same as the subject?

It means Y can be rewritten as

Z: AはBにBをCに近づいてほしくないと思っている。A wants B to keep away B from C.


texts: Why is 'no smoking' 禁煙, whereas 'to smoke' is 吸う?

texts: Why is 'no smoking' [禁煙]{きんえん} (lit. 'smoke is prohibited'), whereas 'to smoke' is [吸]{す}う (lit. 'to inhale (smoke)')? In English (and some other languages), the verb 'to smoke' is related to the noun 'smoke', but since it's not the case in Japanese, it is strange to see 煙 pop up. Is it a calque?


texts: Can I use the hanzi of my Chinese name for my Japanese name?

texts: While learning Japanese, I thought it would be useful to have a Japanese translation of my name to use. Both my parents are from China so I thought it may be easier to use the hanzi of my Chinese name and use it as kanji rather than to translate my English name. My Chinese name is 陈天雨(simplified)/陳天雨(traditional) pronounced Chen Tian Yu, which i've only recently been named by my mother since my family used my given nickname since birth to address me which is 陈茜茜(simplified)/陳茜茜(traditional) pronounced Chen Xi Xi. Is it possible to translate this or would it make more sense to use a translation of my English name, Cecily?


texts: Understanding a line from Bleach Episode 45

texts: 4:47 into the episode, Yoruichi says something that sounds like "oboe ga aru yo ja no," which translates to "It seems you recall an instance" (from the English subtitles). However, I'm having trouble interpreting the last part of this sentence. Is "ja no" a colloquial way of saying "ja nai"? If so, is she saying "覚えがあるよじゃない" and what would the literal translation be? Thanks!


texts:
What is the usage difference between these three definitively? As an intermediate Japanese speaker, I somewhat understand where I would say them, but I can't point out under which contexts any of them "wouldn't be allowed" compared of any of the others.
In speech, I have no problem selecting one for usage, but I just can't pick out if, when somebody else uses one, they are using it in an "incorrect" way (I can figure out if it's natural or not).

〜が is largely a "but", where you give a contradicting statement afterwards

〜ても is closest to an "even though" suffix to a word

〜のに is a more emotional "が", with a connotation that even though an action was taken, that something has / hasn't happened.

Where is each NOT allowed under the other contexts?


texts: What is 「何しに」 in 「YOUは何しに日本へ？」

texts:
Title basically says most of it. To add more context to that 「YOUは何しに日本へ？」 is a name of a japanese TV show, found it on YouTube. They meet random foreigners at the airport and ask them this question.
I can make an intelligent guess that this is contacted form of 「何するのに」, but I have doubts, since why would they ask a question with slangy words to people who can hardly speak the language? On the other hand the use of 「YOUは」 might indicate that this whole phrase can be slangy from the start.
Many thanks.


texts: What's the difference between 食べていよう and 食べましょう?

texts:
From a glance I'm guessing て + いる (~ていよう) is the volitional casual and ~ましょう is the polite form of it?

Are these the same meaning? "Let's eat" or am I making a wrong assumption?


texts: What is the difference between these two expressions?

texts:
私は勉強するようにしています。 /
私は勉強しようとする。

What is the difference between ように and Verb-volitional + うとする


texts: Usage of じゃ in 西瓜を買うと、俺もあいつも好きじゃで両得じゃ

texts:
西瓜を買うと、俺もあいつも好きじゃで両得じゃ。

じゃ means then, well then. But what does じゃ in the above context? Seems the definition of then, well then can't fit in this sentence.


texts:
This example is from page 51-146 of Lake and Ura's Learn to Read in Japanese.

  見込みのある若い人を育てるのがベテラン社員の役割だ。

Google Translate gives

  Veteran employees are responsible for raising prospective young people.

This link seems to say that "見込みのある" is more idiomatic than "見込みがある," which is what I initially thought would be the correct particle. Is there a more general rule for using "の" vs "が" in cases like this?


texts: I've just started learning Japanese and I decided to learn hiragana and katakana before proceeding because I want to stay away from rōmaji. How is my hiragana handwriting? Is it readable? Any suggestions for improvement are welcome.


texts: What is the more natural way of saying: "I will be busy this Friday."

texts:
I only know hiragana and katakana at this stage, so pardon the long sentence; I'm learning from the "Japanese From Zero!" books. In the book, the answer it gives for "I will be busy this Friday" is:

  こんしゅうの　きんようびは　いそがしいです。

This is in response to someone asking to hang out on Friday. I used に instead of は when translating it. It seems to me that the literal English equivalents would be "This Friday is busy." vs. "On Friday, I will be busy."  Are the sentences equal either way in Japanese, or is one more natural than the other?


texts:
I am trying my hand on writing some Haiku in Japanese. As I am by far an expert, I wanted to have your opinion on this one.

七の雪
立つ竹も鷺
冬の時

A few questions I have : Can you understand the image in it, and it's metaphore?
In terms of sounds and rhymes, is that good for a Haiku? If there are rhymes rules, what are they?

I am trying to describe a picture that reminds of nostalgia, loneliness, but also grace, strength and stability.

Thank you,


texts: Correct Japanese grammar for "video recording" when in context to length of time

texts:
The exact phrase I would like to translate is

Duration for video recording is required

This would show up as a warning of a user on software to remind them to select an amount of time to record video.

The problem that I am running into is how the grammar will translate best into Japanese.

The translation that I was able to compile was

ビデオを録画する期間が必要です

But if I paste that into something like Google translate, it shows that it comes back as "I need video recording time". Which makes me question if the Japanese grammar was bad, also why the Japanese word seems possessive as it says "I need".


texts: Can 象徴 also be translated as "indication" or "omen"?

texts:
All the dictionaries that I checked translate 象徴 as "symbol". However, is it also possible that in certain contexts 象徴 means "indication" or "omen"? The reason I'm asking is because I'm struggling with a sentence that contains this word and I'm pretty sure it would make absolutely no sense to translate it as "symbol".

For example, the sentence in the link below:

https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1337988533

It seems to me like the author uses 象徴 in the sense of "indications" or "signs".


texts:
The symbol × is sometimes used in titles like 「ラビ×ラビ -パズルアウトストーリーズ-」 or headlines like this one: 「スシロー×寿司ストライカー スペシャルキャンペーン」.

I imagine native speakers who read it might pronounce it as と, since it seems to mean "and", like in the above example of a game with two characters and a joint campaign.

How is the symbol actually pronounced?


texts:
I have the following sentence in my JLPT practise book:

  当時{とうじ}母{はは}がどんな気持{きも}ちだったのか、子{こ}どもの私{わたし}には知{し}るべくもないことだった。

My faltering translation is something like, "How did my mother feel at the time, she couldn't have known it was me."

I'm unclear on the implications. It seems to be that the mother's feelings are unclear because of not knowing who the speaker is, but who the speaker is and how the mother would express it don't seem logically related to me. For example, if she shouted because she was angry, it wouldn't matter who she thought she was shouting at for an outside observer to determine she was angry.

How does knowing who the speaker is and her feelings at the time connect? I feel because I don't have a logical interpretation of the implications, my translations doesn't feel correct.

What would be a more accurate translation than mine?


texts: Actual phonetic realization of "devoiced" vowels

texts:
Descriptions of Japanese phonology (such as Wikipedia's) usually describe high vowels between voiceless consonants (or word-finally) as "devoiced". For example, the pronunciation of ⟨圧⟩ 'pressure' and ⟨悲観⟩ 'pessimism' are described as:

  /aꜜtu/ → [átsu̥]

  /hikaɴ/ → [çi̥kãɴ́]

But it often sounds to me like the supposedly devoiced vowel is actually dropped, with the preceding consonant expanding to fill 1 mora's time. Similarly, I have seen word-final devoiced vowels dropped in written pronunciations, such as "/desu/ → [des]" rather than "→ [desu̥]". In this analysis, the pronunciations would be

  /aꜜtu/ → [áts] or [áts̩] or [átsː]

  /hikaɴ/ → [ç̩kãɴ́] or [çːkãɴ́]

Which of these better describes the actual contemporary Japanese pronunciation? (Further, does this vary by dialect or speech register?)

(Related to What are the rules regarding "mute vowels" ("u" after "s" and "i" after "sh")?.)


texts:
あんまりにも痛いんで、ムシャクシャして、適当なぬいぐるみを報復したくなった。
  包丁で、無抵抗なぬいぐるみを滅多刺し。誰にでもできる惨殺行為、簡単すぎてものすごく無意味【つまらな】い。
  それはさぞかし気持ちが悪く、気色が悪く、後味なんか最悪で、つまり今のオレはそのぬいぐるみ役なのだった。

Because it hurt so much, because I got angry, I wanted to take revenge on a stuffed animal.

Is it correct?
I tought you should use に in this sentence.
Is it there a difference?


texts:
Reading a basic text in my book, I found this short phrase with a relative clause:

  あの人達もバスに乗る人達ですか。

I would probably translate this sentence with:

  Even those people will get on the bus?

If my translation is correct, what's the difference between the sentence above and the following?

  あの人達もバスに乗りますか。


texts:
毎年、日本で最も多い３万６０００人以上の人が走ります
  Every year in Japan ??? more than 36,000 people run.

I can't understand at all what 最も多い does in this sentence. Literally it means 'most numerous' right? I can't understand it's meaning in this context or even how it fits in grammatically. Presumably it modifies 人 since that's the only available noun. But thereafter, I'm lost.


texts: Why are the common strokes of these two characters written in different order?

texts:
Consider the following characters, 牛 and 生. I know both are not exactly identical for sure.

According to the textbook I am using, the stroke orders are given as follows:

My question is why the third and fourth steps are different?


texts:
「食{た}べる」 can be negated as 「食べない」. 「美{うつく}しい」 can be negated as 「美しくない」. etc. etc.

Can you negate 「べき」as in:
「明日は受験なので、勉強するべきです。」(Since you are taking a test tomorrow, you should study.)
「明日は受験なので、遊ぶべき___。」(Since you are taking a test tomorrow, you should not play around.)

Every part of speech in Japanese seems negatable, but I can't figure-out how to negate 「べき」。「遊ばないべきです」 is not the answer I am looking for.


texts: So I have recently have gotten into japanese and my close friend who is from japan is teaching me japenese, one of the sentence she wrote is this あなたわ友達ですか？ which I sort of understand and I know is refering to me, but eventually I don't have the knowledge to put it all together yet, if anyone could help it would be nice


texts:
Is it right to say "本の持ち主のために。" or "本の所有者のために。"?

I'm envisaging a situation where someone has done a simplified version of their book on the internet and it says "For book owners, see page 115 for more details".


texts: The Difference Between に and で when indicating the time when something terminates

texts:
I was reading through the Dictionary of Basic Grammar and found that one of the four usages of the で particle is to mark the time when something terminates, similar to the following sentence:

パーティーは　17時で　終わる。

It goes on to say that the に particle can often be used in place of で in this type of situation, and says that the nuance is that the に particle simply marks the end of the party, whereas で implies that the party lasts up to that point. To me, this seems a little ambiguous, since for something to end, it needs to last for a period of time. However, I might be misreading something.
Asking around to a few natives, it seems like there doesn't actually seem to be too much difference in connotation. Someone said that using で sounds more assertive / forceful like the party will end no matter what at that time.
In general, で is used to mark the means or way that something is done, while に marks the place of a state or a point being traveled to. So, with my limited experience I feel like when you use で it has a feeling that the time brought an end to something whether or not it was ready to finish. Meanwhile, if you used に it simply means that it finished at that time and doesn't carry anymore connotation to it.
Is that about it or is there another difference between the use of these two particles in this context?


texts: Is there a good reason why I can use a polite form before から but not before ので?

texts: Does anybody know why - historically, etymologically or logically - one can use polite forms (e.g. -ます) in causal subordinate clauses before から, while one must use the plain form before ので?


texts: Meaning of 「緊張しながら」 and grammar of 「〜しながら」 part

texts: Could you explain more precisely the meaning and grammar of 「緊張しながら」? I know that 「緊張」 means "nervous" or "tension", but 「〜しながら」 - I can't understand this part.


texts: Is there a difference between sabita (錆びた) and sabitsuita (錆びついた)?

texts: They both mean rusty/rusted, so is there any subtle difference between these synonyms or is one longer and that's it?


texts: The process behind キャ in loanwords from English

texts:
I'm curious why many English words that are borrowed into Japanese which have the "ca" sound as in "can" or "canvas" end up with that being mapped to キャ:

キャンバス (canvas)
キャビネット (cabinet)
キャンセル (cancel)
キャンピング (camping)
キャメラ (camera)
...

Gya also:

ギャラリー (gallery)
ギャラクシー (galaxy)

also, not at the start of a word:

スキャン　(scan)
スキャンダル (scandal)

(and why is 缶 かん rather than きゃん).

The kya sound doesn't resemble the original in any major English dialects.

It's not hard to pick up the intuition for it, but is there a linguistic explanation?

Does this choice help to avoid some ambiguity with native morphemes, essentially flagging these words as being loanwords?

There don't seem to be very many native words that start with kya; a large number of them are compounds of 客, so these prefixes do seem to occupy a sparsely populated space.


texts: Meaning of 真逆, how it is different from 逆

texts:
[真]{ま}[逆]{ぎゃく} (not [真]{ま}[逆]{さか}, which is an interjection standardly used) is another 若者言葉, or an expression that is used mainly by young generation (with low education level) that makes me feel uncomfortable.

逆 is a polarity notion; Something can be either the original (元), or the opposite (逆). There is no intermediate values like "half-way opposite", hence no room for quantitative/qualitative notions like genuine (真) or fake/quasi (偽) to come into play. I have no idea what meaning 真 is adding to 逆. How is 真逆 different from 逆? How would you justify the addition of 真 to 逆?


texts: Why ī is the only romaji that can be spelled as a double ii

texts:
I am learning Japanese, and need to enter romaji into my keyboard to enter Japanese into documents and tables on my smartphone.

My textbook shows ī as the only romaji that can be spelled as a double ii.

Is this a commonplace romaji writing convention, and if so, then why is this?

EDIT:

Would I be right in saying that it is because the alphabetical combinations いい occur in Japanese (words), whereas ああ, うう, ええ, おお do not?


texts: Same word - written with kana and kanji in two places in the same paragraph. Why?

texts:
I am aware that some Japanese words can be written in either kana or kanji and that the rules about it are not set in stone. This has already been discussed in some questions and answers here (e.g. Usage of kanji for words usually written in kana) but my question is more specific.

My question is about why sometimes the same word would appear once written in kanji and once written in kana very close to each other. For example, in Haruki Murakami's story I'm reading now (「かえるくん、東京を救う」), there's two different way of spelling of 何/なに and 僕/ぼく within the same short paragraph. This is a continuous utterance by the same one character in the story.

  みみずくんがその暗い頭の中で何を考えているのか[...]

  [...]彼はなにも考えていないのだと僕は推測します。

  ぼくには説明のつけられないことです。

Why is it spelled differently like that? Does it have any meaning? Is it just style? The sentences with 「考えている」 are very similar to each other, yet 何/なに is spelled differently.

The same difference in spelling is not limited to those words or this paragraph. It happens throughout the story and affects different words.

UPDATE

I feel that the answers below, while helpful, didn't really provide the ultimate answer to my question (or maybe such an answer just doesn't exist). I especially feel that concentrating on ぼく written with kana to mean childish language is not on the mark as the context of the story doesn't suggest that (I don't blame the helpful people who answered the question for that - they don't know this context).

I can also add an example from another story 「蜂蜜パイ」 from the same collection of short stories. Again two different ways of spelling are in the same passage, close to each other, spoken by the narrator this time.

  [...]今度は左手を袖の中にひっこめた。
  それはすぐに袖の中に引っ込められ、[...]


texts:
In this sentence:

  わたしは、ほぼほぼ計画通りに過ごすことができた一年でした。

Does the に particle make "計画通り" an adverb?


texts: As far as I know, one can say "I started doing X" by adding X-はじめました。　However, I don't think this applies to "to like", which is an adjective. So how to say for example "I started liking science"


texts: Passive ambiguity in this passage (「あなたに向けられる視線」・「殿下が判断された」)

texts:
A is a commoner right now. B is a high ranking commander. A ceremony just finished, involving A getting bestowed a role by the queen/殿下 as a reward for some good deeds. B was in the audience and was a very brief acquaintance of A, this is their first real conversation.  The 殿下 had defended A during the ceremony against criticism from some of the nobility, and demanded that there will be no objections to A's new role.

A「ま、平民出身騎士の私もよくいびられてはいますけどね」
B「あなたも平民なのですか？」
A「はい──本来なら今日みたいな謁見には呼ばれませんけどね」
B「私はあの場にいましたし・・・多分あなたに向けられる視線が選民意識の高い貴族のものばかりではマズイと、殿下が判断されたのではないでしょうか」
A「なるほど・・・それであなたも呼ばれたと」
B「多分ですけどね」

All eyes naturally should be looking at A during the ceremony and A was only looking and replying to the 殿下. So あなたに can only be indicating the direction if that were the case, and not the agent doing "向けられる".
So it seems the 謁見/選民意識の高い貴族 are the ones be doing the 向ける, as is described. But then how is it grammatically correct to use the passive form here? compare to "あなたに向ける視線が選民意識の高い貴族のものばかり" for example

Ending the with 殿下が判断されたのではないでしょうか, who is doing the 判断 here then? What did happen was a definitive ruling  by the queen that A will get the role/job without further debate. But since it was not written as "殿下に判断されたのではないでしょうか", does that mean the queen herself is being "judged" by B's interpretation? That would a very sacrilegious thing to say in this context.

I look at the sentence as:

"[多分あなたに向けられる視線が選民意識の高い貴族のものばかり]ではマズイ" と 殿下が判断されたのではないでしょうか

... but depending who is actually doing the actions, that may make no sense.
Thanks


texts: そうです or そうでした for sentences that end with でしたか

texts:
山下先生のせんこうはれきしでしたか。

To answer the above sentence, would the sentences below be acceptable?

はい、そうでした。
はい、そうです。

Is 1 the only acceptable answer since the question is in past tense?


texts: What does the expression "外ばっか見てる" mean?

texts:
I am unfamiliar with this expression, but I'm curious as to what it means and when it's used.

  外ばっか見てる

If I were to try and translate it literally, it would be something like "I can only watch outside", but I believe it must have some Idiomatic meaning? Perhaps it's like how we say "I can only watch from a distance" in English? In any case an explanation would be much appreciated!


texts:
So there was this sentence in my reading book:

  さらに絵文字や顔文字など使われ大変だが、これはこれで、解読するのが楽しい。

To my understanding, it would translated to something similar to "Moreover, using emoji and emoticon can be troublesome, but then again, to try and decipher their meaning is fun".

However, and here comes the problem, in the answer part, the book says this sentence is false:

  絵文字や顔文字を使うのが大変だ。

So I went ahead and found out that 大変 can also be used as great, immense and not only as hard, troublesome. So am I right in believing that in those two sentences 大変 has a different meaning, in the first sentence being great and in the second troublesome? Or is there a grammatical nuance that I am missing?


texts: Amusingly enough, it seems like by swapping the kanji in 始終 you can get a slightly different word. What is the difference between the two of them? I found some answers on Japanese sites but reading them I feel like I'm just going through a bunch of synonyms and very similar descriptions. An English answer would really help...


texts: What is the connection between shrimp and old age?

texts: Shrimp (えび) is written several different ways in Japanese. For example, there are the words commonly used in Chinese: 蝦 and 鰕. There is also a compound specific to Japan, 海老, and a kokuji, 蛯. Both of the latter contain the character for old age, 老. Is there some reason why the Japanese associate shrimp with old age?


texts:
時間が立てば立てるほど、頑張るのが一番大切なことがわかります。

I want to say something like: The more time passes, the more I understand that the most important thing is working hard.

Is my sentence in any way correct? Did I use ば〜ほど right?

Thank you


texts:
The character lied to someone and then narrated 優しい嘘もこの世にはある。そういうことだ。
I understand that there are a variety of meanings that this phrase can add but I am unsure what it is adding to the whole here. For example, how would this line have been interpreted differently if そういうことだ was removed completely?


texts: Could anyone confirm my poor translation of these few sentences?

texts:
For my first question I would like some help on the following message I received(the sentences are relatively simple since my Japanese skills are quite low). But before starting I would like to say that this is the answer I got from a Japanese school to who I was asking a way of contacting an old friend of mine.

  Dear Ephismen,

  こんにちは。おげんきですか？  メールありがとうござます。  こちらはみんなげんきです。
  Personさんのれんらくさきは、こじんじょうほうなので  おしえられませんが、Ephismenさんのれんらくさきをメールで
  おくることはできます。  Personさんにメールしましょうか？

Here is the interpretation I made of it:

  Hello. Are you fine? Thank you for your e-mail. Here everyone is ok. Mr. Person does not study with us anymore, moreover the information you are asking are confidential, however we could transmit your informations to him. Would you like us to send this mail to him?

As I said before this is an interpretation and not a translation.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cordially, Ephismen.


texts: What is this Kanji and where is it used in?

texts:
I found this Kanji online, what is it and what does it mean?

Is this a Japanese Kanji?


texts: Both jisho.org and Wikipedia have ドットマトリクス for dot matrix (printer), but I've tried using it on a couple of middle-aged people and they didn't understand it. Maybe I've mispronounced it, or overestimated people's ages, or their ability to know computer terminology, but is ドットマトリクス correct, or should I be using something else?


texts: What is the difference between "verb-stem + verb" and "verb-て form + verb"?

texts:
例: 吸い取る 対 吸って取る

例: 噛み殺す 対 噛んで殺す

たしかに、意味は同じではないけど似ています。区別は何でしょうか。

What is the difference in meaning between the above verb pairs, and which construction would be used when?


texts:
Edit: The link provided by @broken headphones has helped resolve my する/している problem (I think). I have one problem remaining though.
Given @Sonny365TANAKA's answer that 彼女は長い髪の毛です is not grammatical, if 田中さんは神妙な顔だ is grammatical then what is the difference? Translating directly to English, why can I say "Tanaka is a meek face" but I cannot say "She is long hair". Both describe a person's features and both sound strange to me.

End edit

  田中さんは神妙な顔だ。
  田中さんは神妙な顔をしている。
  Tanaka has a meek face.

Describing facial expressions confuses me. Firstly because of the use of "is" rather than "has" i.e. literal translation of the first sentence is "Tanaka is a meek face". I can live with that.

Is there any difference in meaning/nuance between these two sentences. How do I interpret している? Is it "is making", "has made", or simply "is/has".

Does the way I phrase it change depending on whether I'm talking about the current state of the face or an enduring feature. e.g.

  Tanaka has a meek face (and it is always like that. It's just his character)
  Tanaka has a meek face (because he's just done something shameful)

Am I right that these issues occur with other aspects of describing a person? For example I saw these two sentences in some example translations:

  彼女は長い髪の毛です
  私の髪は長い

My instinct tells me that the second one is incorrect even though that is how you would expect to translate it.


texts: Introducing yourself in Japanese when you have a Roman name?

texts: While reading online, I found numerous websites that had "Romaji translations" of names that use the Roman alphabet. For example, the Japanese version of Jordan is said to be either Jo-dan or Yorudan. So how do introduce myself? "Watashi no namae wa Jordan desu" or "watashi no namae wa Jo-dan/Yorudan desu?"


texts: This is a quick one. I read in the dictionary that どれ is only supposed to be used when there are three or more choices. What word should I use if I have only two choices?


texts: Why does は refer to a particular rather than general in some cases?

texts:
The sentence I am asking about is the following

[魚]｛さかな｝が[好]｛す｝きじゃない[人]｛ひと｝は、[肉]｛にく｝が[好]｛す｝きだ 」
Person who does not like fish like meat
Source: Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese

My understanding, which is probably flawed in some aspect, is that は after 「[魚]｛さかな｝が[好]｛す｝きじゃない[人]｛ひと｝」 should make the sentence mean "People (in general) who do not like fish like meat", since は would mean in general as opposed to a particular occurrence (が).
How, then, would the general form be conveyed (i.e. "People (in general) who do not like fish like meat")?


texts:
ここでは色々と何ですから
宿屋で お待ちいただけますか？

I understand that the speaker doesn't want to talk here and asks to wait at the inn. But I can't fully understand this part 色々と何ですから. Does it mean that the speaker has various reasons not to talk here, but he doesn't want to elaborate?


texts:
I'm a bit confused how different forms should be combined together.

Take 殴る (without tense, without ら抜き言葉) for example, correct me if I'm wrong,

(I) beat him up = 彼を殴る

(I am) beaten up by him = 彼に殴られる

(I can) beat him up = 彼を殴れる

(I) make him beat (someone) up = 彼に（誰かを）殴らせる

Then if I try to mix them up, these are what I'm really unclear about:

(I can/may) be beaten up by him = 彼に殴れられる

(I) don't allow him to beat (someone) up = 彼に（誰かを）殴らせない (?)

(I) want him to be beaten up (by someone) = ?? 俺は彼を（誰かに）殴らせられたい? sounds a bit weird to me?


texts:
In Castlevania Rondo of Blood, Death fight starts with him saying those words. Now I'm trying to figure out exactly what that means and grammar rules used in this sentence. Here's where I'm at:

ここ|から|さきに|は|ゆかせぬ

here|from|proceed|I|...

Obviously the ... should be something along the lines of won't let you but I can't find the correct translation on jisho.org. Did I even break (and translate) the first part of the sentence correctly? Any help will be appreciated.


texts: Understanding もう少しゆっくり休む - "Take the day off more slowly"?

texts:
I have a long translation I need to do. It has basically talked about how the speaker's younger brother was very sick. The last sentence of the translation is the following.

  弟が、明日、会社に行けるかわかりませんが、
  できたら
  もう少しゆっくり休んでもらいたいと思います。

Here is what I have so far.

  I do not know whether my younger brother will be able to go to the company tomorrow but
  if he can
  I think I want to receive his action of taking the day off a little more slowly

That last line doesn't sound right to me. "Taking the day off a little more slowly". Can anyone think of a better translation?


texts:
I'm beginning my study of Japanese grammar and am unclear as to the difference between the following interrogative structures. Is one more correct than the other in asking where something specific is? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm learning on my own... >< Help appreciated!

  いしかわさんのうちはどこですか。
  いしかわさんのうちはどこにありますか。


texts:
There seems to be a relatively rarely used grammatical pattern consisting of either a single か clause, or a AかBか, or else Aかどうか, followed by にもよりません。

Based on the scanty examples of this that can be found online, it seems to mean something like "irrespective of".  Aかにもよりません seems to mean that it isn't a problem if the question posed by A doesn't have an affirmative answer: "regardless of whether A". Similarly, AかBかにもよりません seems to mean "regardless of whether A or B".

But really, what is the meaning? Plus other considerations like usage restrictions and whatnot.


texts:
a sentence goes as follows:
全体をまとめてとらえるのでなく、‘「‘a1->b1, a2-> b2]のように対応する関係にあることを示す。
(an explanation of a type of expression from a text book.

Would I be right in thinking by appending まとめる with とらえる , it changes from meaning 'summarise/ put all together', to something like 一概にいう?

A kind of guess but not too sure about the nuance.


texts: How to say regrets [I should not have X]

texts:
How in the world does this:

  晩ご飯を食べるんじゃなかった。

translate as "I should not have eaten breakfast"?
This roughly translates as "It was not that I eat breakfast."


texts: How is the て form used in this sentence?

texts:
There are two cases of the て form used that I do not understand in this sentence:

  留学して本当に良かった。僕を変えてくれて友達や色々な大人の方には感謝。

The context is someone returning from overseas exchange.

When I usually see the て form used like this, I assume it means "and". Usually being used to connect two clauses together.

For example:

  勉強が足りなくて試験に合格できなかった。

I didn't study enough "and" I couldn't pass the exam.

  あの人は親切で頭が良くて分かり易い。

That person is kind, smart, "and" easy to understand.

But I don't understand why in both cases the て form is used in first sentence.

Judging from the words used, I could translate the sentence as:

  It was really good studying abroad. I thank the various adults and
  friends that have changed me.

I don't see how I can fit the word "and" into the translation.

One more thing I don't understand is how is 方 used in the sentence? I only understand 方 to be used for comparisons or "way of doing".

If possible I would appreciate a more accurate translation to help me understand the grammar.


texts:
Context: A, B and C are all students. A and C are friends who study in the same school. B wears a different uniform than them, though I don't know if this means she is from a different school or a higher grade since B is slightly older than them. B is very well known among students since there are many rumors about her. After seeing B walking somewhere, A says to C:

A: Bさんだ。
C: え?
A: Bさんだよ。うちの上の学校の.

I realize that うち can mean someone's "group" as in their family, school, etc. But I can't figure out what it means in this specific phrase.


texts:
I've watched a few anime and keep coming across a word that sounds like "henki". In the subtitles, the sentences are like "Are you ok?", "How are you feeling?". With those translations, I'd expect the word to be "genki". I didn't know if maybe in some dialects the "g" could be pronounced as a "h".

So am I crazy or am I onto something?


texts: What is the nuance of the expression "二足の草鞋を履く"

texts:
I've come across this interesting expression which doesn't seem to be listed in many Japanese to English dictionaries:

  二足の草鞋を履く

From what I could gather, I believe it has a meaning of "being engaged in two trades" (?) But since this is the first time I've seen such an expression can someone explain its nuances?


texts: I was listening to Hikawa Kiyoshi's ソーラン節 and instead of 浴びる he said 浴びりゃ， is there a normal pattern for this kind of pronunciation? Is it regional?


texts:
What does 結構好き in

  このシチュエイションが結構好きです。

mean? Does it just mean "great"?


texts: I'm trying to figure out what title would be appropriate for my business card at work. At my previous company, I was given ヘッドフロントエンドエンジニア, which is a little lengthy. I'd like a way to include seniority (Senior Frontend Engineer) without tacking on more katakana if there's an appropriate way to do so.


texts:
I would very much appreciate it if someone could tell me what 言やいー refers to. All I know is that 言 has something to do with speaking or words, but that alone doesn't help. Is it slang?

The entire phrase I'm trying to decipher is: 食えないなら食えなんって言やいーのに

So far I only understand the parts about being unable to eat.


texts: のりまきみたいにくるまればふかふかふとんになるんだもん。

texts:
In a Japanese children's book I read:

のりまきみたいに　くるまれば　ふかふか　ふとんに　なるんだもん。

For the sake of analysis, I looked up the kanjis (correct me if they're wrong):

海苔巻きみたいに包まればふかふか布団になるんだもん。

From the context, it should mean something along the lines, "I can wrap it up like a Nori roll and it becomes a soft mattress."

However, two things are unclear to me: First, is くるまれば really a form of 包まる? If so, what verb form is it? jisho.org does not have it in its list of inflections. What does this form mean, when do I use it?

Second, what does もん mean? Is it a shortened form of 物? How does this word alter the sentence?


texts: In what situations can you use ぞ as a sentence ender

texts: When can one use the sentence ender ぞ?  I've only ever heard it anime, so I'm unsure of it's actual usage in the real world.  Is it not used that often or limited to specific age/gender groups?


texts:
I have a following sentence:

娘がお世話になる職場の方として
ご近所の母親友達として
母子共々よろしくお願いします

Context: Person A is mother of a daughter working (recently joined) in the same organization as the Person B this is directed towards. I'd say that this roughly means:

As a person from the workplace where my daughter is "being taken care of"/working
and as a mother-friend?!? from the neighborhood
I leave both of us in your care.

I am aware of course that お世話になる職場 is likely just a fancy way to say workplace where the daughter is working or being trained. What I'm wondering is does this imply that the person in question (B/方) is the one taking care of/supervising the daughter? I don't think so. I think the idea is that the workplace is doing or the taking care is happening on it, and B is just working there.
So A is more asking for B to "keep an eye" on her daughter, rather than to work her well...
And yeah, I'm also wondering about that 母親友達, is it someone who is a mother and a friend (to A) or might it be more mother of daughter's friend because A's and B's daughters are friends.


texts:
I have been studying the causative, passive, causative-passive forms and found that they are very confusing. I am not confused much about the conjugation (される, etc), but in identifying the who/what the subject is and what he is doing (or what is being done by who).

Anyone who also have this confusion? Please point me to resources where I can practice (for a workbook/drill kind) or examples that can be of great reference.

Thanks


texts: How can one stop "去年【きょねん】教職【きょうしょく】" from looking like a weird 4 kanji compound?

texts:
In writing, sometimes you get the illusion of a 4-character compound:

  Xさんは去年教職を退【しりぞ】いた。

This bothers some non-natives. To correct the "problem", can I always just place a comma between the kanjis where there is a false 四字熟語?

  Xさんは去年、教職を退いた。

But to me, that does not look good at all. "Xさん" feels too far away from "退く", right? In this particular case, is this ok?:

  去年、Xさんは教職を退いた。

So...

Is there a general rule for correcting the false 四字熟語 "problem"?
Do native speakers not mind false 四字熟語?
Is it that native speakers do mind, and will try to re-word - but, if they can't create a sentence that they like, then they will just not worry about it and move on?


texts: 「拝」から始まる謙譲語 -- humble keigo starting with [hai]

texts:
What are the common 謙譲語 verbs that start with 「拝」?  I know these ones:

見る　→　拝見する (to see), 拝観する (to view something -- limited usage)
聴く　→　拝聴する
読む　→　拝読する
会う　→　拝謁する (although I've never heard this used, and know that 目にかかる is more common)
借りる
→　拝借する

Are there any others that commonly used??  Actually, I've used 拝読 before but was later told that no one really uses it, and お読みする was more common.


texts: How to contact again someone who did not reply to my previous mail?

texts:
It's a little bit awkward but I would like to know how I could contact again someone who didn't reply yet to my email  ? It's been almost 2 month since I sent some questions in Japanese to a Tokyo Museum Curator (who previously said to me 「ご質問ください」!), and once the questions asked (about Art History, nothing personal), I got no answer at all ! I'm worrying a lot, and I hope my questions didn't bother her... Are there any formal sentences to, first, apologize for contacting her again, and then to apologize if my questions did bother her ? (And If yes, that I'm deeply sorry if I said something wrong etc.)

Thank you very much for your help !!!


texts:
Based on this description below:

Vegetarians do not eat meat, fish, or poultry. Vegans, in addition to being vegetarian, do not use other animal products and by-products such as eggs, dairy products, honey, leather, fur, silk, wool, cosmetics, and soaps derived from animal products.

The word for vegetarian which I know of is : 菜食主義者
Is there any word to described Vegans in Japanese as described above?


texts: What does the も particle in this sentence do or perhaps the phrase でも大丈夫です?

texts: The sentence is 水道の水を飲んでも大丈夫です. The English translation is, "You can drink the water from the tap." I have learned ～てもいいです is for giving or asking for permission. Is this just the same thing but possibly more casually? Switching out the いい for 大丈夫? If not, I'm not sure what else a te form verb + も大丈夫 could mean.


texts: Is the interjection おう really a Chinese loanword?

texts:
In Samuel E. Martin's "A Reference Grammar of Japanese", in a section (Chapter 23, p. 1041) on putative etymologies for some Japanese interjections like さあ or まあ, he asserts:

  Although others [other interjections] seem like little more than grunts or shouts — aa, yaa, yoo — they may have originated as shortenings of more legitimate etyma; oo 'yea' is, after all, a Chinese loanword.

Really? If so, a loan from which Chinese word?


texts:
Wiktionary lists a couple of different kanji words that are verbs pronounced "みる", some but maybe not all of which are associated with looking at something in one form or another.

What's the difference between them? For example, does it depend on whether the object is flat or three dimensional, or if there's a time component involved?


texts: I see how 落 can be a failure. But how is 第 relevant to failing an exam, is this a meaning other than 'number, -th' or implicitly falling below first place?


texts: What phonetic shorthands (like 〼, 〆) are there in Japanese?

texts:
I recently learned that the symbol 〼, called 枡記号【ますきごう】, can be used as a phonetic shorthand for ます, as in 豆腐あり[〼]【ます】. In a similar vein, I am aware that 〆 is used as a shorthand for しめ in 〆切【しめきり】 = 締め切り, and sometimes in other words.

What other phonetic shorthands should a reader of Japanese be aware of? (Or, is there a word I can use to describe all of these things so I can look them up myself? 記号 is too broad, since it includes all kinds of symbols, and I don't know of any more specific word.) For the purposes of this question, let us ignore 略字, which I'm led to understand are fairly numerous.

If there are a lot of them, feel free to close as "too broad", but I imagine there can't be that many of them.


texts: Still trying to get my head around に and で

texts:
I've been trying to understand those two particles when applied to these phrases:

  私は朝ご飯にお茶を飲みます
  私は朝ご飯でお茶を飲みます
  私は朝ご飯の時にお茶を飲みます

What I more or less understand is:

  the only/main thing I have for breakfast
  at breakfast time, but not at any other time
  at breakfast time, but not restricted to that time.

So, my questions are:

What general function does に fulfill in sentence 1 (specific time, direction...)?
Is, in sentence 1, 朝ご飯 functioning as a time expression?
In sentence 2,  is 朝ご飯 functioning as a time expression and じ indicating a restrictive period of time?


texts: Can a Japanese word combine both on'yomi and kun'yomi characters?

texts:
I would like to know whether a Japanese word combining at least two kanji can combine both on'yomi and kun'yomi characters, within the same word.

Thanks.


texts:
あなたは どうして 日本語を べんきょうしていますか

I would like to say so that I can read go book but I can only say I read go book.

  碁のほんをよみます。

EDIT

Perhaps I can say:

  日本語を べんきょうしています。碁のほんをよみますから。


texts: What does the "きゃ" in "していきゃがらなかった" stand for?

texts:
I read this phrase in a visual novel:

"こいつが出かける前に、きっちり支度をしていきゃがらなかったからじゃねぇかっ！？"

I don't get what the "きゃ" means in this context. If it's short for "ikeba", I can't make sense of "がらなかった" ("didn't show any signs" of what? ) and if it's something different, I don't have a clue.


texts:
I thought that 考える was used like 思う in that particle と always preceded it. However I found the following sentence from a reading task for class:

  まるで英語を公用語と考えているかのように、英語の言葉を多く使う。

What does it mean and what roles do を and と play in relation to the verb 考える?


texts:
この前、大嫌いと言ってしまったのに*。

Translated as:

  Even though I told him that I hate him so much.

I understand most of it except for しまった。Looks like a verb in past form, しまる? 閉まる? That doesn't seem to make sense.

*from nihongonomori.


texts: Can あります be used to say: "I have to do X on a certain day"?

texts:
From what I've read あります can be used to say "There is/There are X nonliving things.  あります Can also be used to say one has something. I'm wondering if it can be used like this:

  わたし は すいようび に アルバイト が あります

My goal of in making this sentence was to say

  I have a part-time job on Wednesday

I'm not sure if this is the correct way to say this though hence the question.  The original version of the sentence did not have わたし は in it but I added it since I'm not sure if the sentence would make sense without it. If anyone can let me know whether or not this is the correct way to say that I would be grateful.


texts: usage of「ご迷惑をおかけ・・・」variants for a business apology

texts:
I have to apologize for a procedural error at work, and am unsure about selecting the right form of apology from the variants of 「ご迷惑をおかけ・・・」:

1.「ご迷惑【めいわく】をおかけして申【もう】し訳【わけ】ございません。」

2.「ご迷惑【めいわく】をおかけして申【もう】し訳【わけ】ありません。」

3.「ご迷惑【めいわく】をおかけしてすみません。」

Also, whether or not to append 「でした」to the end.

The thing I am apologizing for is a mistake in a business purchase. I charged a purchase to my corporate card, but should have had the vendor bill monthly using the 分割払【ぶんかつばら】い option. So a brief explanation, concluding with this apology, will be written in the comment section of my expense report. The reason for apologizing is not to really say I am sorry, but just to let everybody in the approval chain for my expense report know that I now know I did it wrong, and won't do it like this in the future.

I chose to write it as follows:

「ご迷惑【めいわく】をおかけしてすみませんでした。」

Reasons:

Firstly, this is an internal company communication, and the people to whom I will submit this document are of a lesser coporate rank than myself (although they are not my subordinates, since the work for the Finance Department). So I felt like 「申し訳ございません」was too much.

(Also, I confess, because I don't yet really understand the full nuance of super-polite self-humbling apology in Japanese, so I tend to never use verbs like 「ございます」or 「いたします」. )

Does that reasoning make sense?

Secondly, as for the 「でした」 at the end, I put it in the past tense because the procedural error I made happened last month. The way I think of it, I'm saying, "Sorry for the error I made last month," so I put it in past tense.

But I wasn't confident about this, because the actual bother I am causing them is actually happening at the time I submit my expense report. So in a different sense I am saying, "Sorry for the bother I am causing you right now by submitting this unexpectedly high expense report, due to the error I made last month". Thought about that way, I wondered if the apology should be in the present tense.

Which is correct? Or might either one work?

(And speaking of apologies: sorry for the two-part question; I couldn't cleanly separate these two concerns.)


texts:
I'm taking a sentence from page 49-138 of Lake and Ura's Learn to Read in Japanese

  ブラジルに行く準備ができて後は飛行機に乗るだけです。

The first part of the sentence (ブラジルに行く準備ができて) and last part of the sentence (飛行機に乗るだけです) seem pretty straightforward, but I'm not sure where 後は fits in with those. If it's associated with the first part of the sentence, it seems like it could mean

  After the plans to go to Brazil are finished, there's nothing to do but get on the plane.

but if it's associated with the second half of the sentence, it might mean something more like:

  The plans to go Brazil have been finished; later there's nothing to do but get on a plane.


texts:
I'm having some trouble to find the meaning of this word. I already saw this 2 times in a game and I can't find the meaning in any dictionary that I use.
Examples:

あやせ：「そうなると私のことなんか放っておいて…」
京介：  ブチブチと文句を言ってくる…んだけど、あれ？なんだか言葉の切れ味が鈍いような…

and...

加奈子：「イイエ、ナンデモ」
あやせ：加奈子はそのあともブチブチと何か言っていたけど…


texts:
How would you translate the below sentence?

「芸術家として生き芸術家として死にたいです」

I understand 「~として」can be translated roughly as "As~", but I'm not sure if anything changes when they are chained? Also, does 「生き芸術家」have any unique meaning, or is it just "living artist."

My current guess is something along the lines of "I want to die as an artist and as a living artist".


texts: Watching ダーリン・イン・ザ・フランキッス, I noticed how heavily stylized the logo appeared to be in the opening (see picture below). Knowing what it's supposed to read, I was somehow able to make out every kana, but as I'm not that good yet at reading Japanese, I can't really evaluate when things become kind of difficult to read even for native(-like) speakers. So my question is this: How quickly could Japanese native(-like) speakers (or readers in this case) read the logo down below without knowing what it's supposed to read? Thanks!


texts:
ＫＵＲＯＳＨＩＯのロボットは長さが５ｍぐらいで、深い海の中を時速８ｋｍ以上で動くことができます。
  The KUROSHIO robot is around 5m long and can move through the deep sea at speeds in excess of 8km per hour.

I was wondering if 中 was necessary in this sentence. If we omit it, would it be interpreted as the robot moving on the surface of the sea? I would have assumed that the addition of 深い would make the intention clear without needing 中.


texts: What does the Kanji next to the bar at the bottom right hand side of the screen mean in this video? (The small bar, not the larger one): http://youtu.be/qIKNRmdEx5E?t=20s - The bar that it's next to is a curse (or fever) meter, though I had looked up both of these words previously and this kanji didn't ever seem to appear. If it helps, for context, here's a link to the character's wiki page: http://www.dustloop.com/wiki/index.php?title=Arakune_(BBCP)


texts: Why use 見たいない instead of 見たくない? Does it infer a different meaning? I found it in this sentence: 一定の点数に見たいない者は２次試験を受けることができない.


texts: とでたしか。。。出してられます: particle and tense question

texts:
From Haruki Murakami's preface to Yume de Aimashō:

  ときどき「糸井さんと村上さんとでたしか『夢で会いましょう』という対談集出してられますね」と言われることがあるけれど、それは明らかなマチガイです。

I'm guessing that it parses as to de tashika, right? If so, questions:

What's the function of de here?
What about tashika ? Is this its meaning as "I'm pretty sure", "I suppose"?
Is dashiteraremasu better understood as present (the book is out) or future (the book is coming)? How can I tell?


texts: How do you pronounce sentences with consecutive "o" such as 日本語を話す?

texts:
I've been listening to some audio of sentences and sometimes I feel like I hear them combine the consecutive "o"s together into a long "o"? Here is two examples of what I hear from different audio sources. You can see that after ご　there is を so double "o". I hear the following two styles of saying this sentence:

nihongoo hanasu
nihongo o hanasu

In the first example I hear that they just make a long "o" sound like "ou". But sometimes in the audio I hear them pause quickly and emphasize the particle "を". Which way is correct here? I always emphasize the particle "を" but it seems that in this special case it's not as much emphasized when speaking?


texts: Are 修飾語 in Japanese different from 'modifier' in English?

texts:
I'm a native English speaker and taking Kumon's Japanese for 小学校1年生 class (which is an adventure lol), and it's trying to teach me about 修飾語 right now. I looked up 修飾語 and everything I can find is telling me that 修飾語 is a "modifier" in English. Ok, that makes sense.

But one of the example sentences in my homework is 女の子がボールをなげる。And it identifies ボールを as the 修飾語, modifying なげる。But I'm pretty sure that in English, in "the girl throws the ball", "ball" would be the direct object. Direct objects can't be modifiers, can they?

I've managed to thoroughly confuse myself. Am I misunderstanding how modifiers work? Are 修飾語 slightly different from modifiers in English? What is happening?


texts: Can some help me by explaining what the difference between these two is?


texts:
"もう駄目だと 一人孤独を抱いても"

i took this sentence from a song of uverworld (colors of the heart),
and i'd like to know what it means exactly.

i thought maybe it means something like:

"even if it is useless, i embrace the Loneliness".

this  "一人" between the sentence, confuses me;
 i don't know what it means in this sentence.
maybe it changes the meaning of the sentence, for example:

"its imposible to be alone, even if i embrace the loneliness".

also confuses me this "だと" in the sentence;
i down know what is his function.

thank in advance.


texts: What is the implicit subject of 無断利用されています。?

texts:
I got a red paper with the following message when I took my bicycle in front of a station in Japan.

  無断{むだん}利用{りよう}されています。

It roughly means "being used without authorization".

Questions

What is the subject of the sentence? Does it refer to the space on which I parked my bicycle?
Why was it phrased using passive form?
Is there a convention in Japanese language to select the implicit subjects?


texts:
As in instructions for making something. Like "leave a gap on the left side" or "leave gaps on both sides"
「左側に間をする」
「両側に間をする」
I'm guessing this is like "do a space" which makes no sense


texts: Making 「たくさん」act as a full-fledged 形容動詞{けいようどうし}

texts:
dic.yahoo.co.jp、weblio.jp、and other dictionaries, state that the parts of speech for「たくさん」are noun and 形容動詞。imho, usage cases where たくさん is used as 形容詞 is uncommon. I have seen たくさん take the な particle in sentences such as "写真{しゃしん}がたくさんな記事{きじ}" . But, I have never seen たくさん take the に particle.

I recently heard the sentence:

  "人がたくさん参加{さんか}した。"

That sounds ok to me but looks weird. I cannot help but wonder if something grammatically needs to be between "たくさん" and "参加". Surely, there must be a 助詞{じょし}, Perhaps, can you write:

  人がたくさん に 参加した

To function as a full-fledged 形容動詞、たくさん must be able to take the 「に」助詞. I've never said "...たくさんに...". I would like to add this to my vocabulary. examples please?

In the thread titled たくさん：形容動詞 Tonky seems to say that "...たくさんに..." never happens. In the lengthy thread titled usage of たくさん vs. 多い no one creates a sentence that has the "...たくさんに..." construct.

If たくさん can take な, but not a に、then it would be questionable whether it is really a 形容動詞, right?


texts: How are the working in these sentence these two: かも　and or か and も

texts:
I came across the paragraph in NHK:
ただし、国内では電気自動車のシェアは現状では1％に満たず、日本自動車工業会のまとめでは、去年国内で販売された乗用車のうちハイブリッド車が147万台余りだったのに対し、電気自動車は2万台余りにとどまっています。
ハイブリッド車などと比べ依然として割高な価格を引き下げることや充電スタンドなどのインフラを整備することが普及の条件ですが、車自体の性能や商品力を高められるかもメーカーにとっては課題となりそうです。
I have my doubts regarding the use of か ,も and in the second paragraph.
From I could figure out by breaking the sentence down, I think  か and も are working separately, but I might be wrong and it could be かも.
I broke the last sentence after the comma this way:
車自体の性能や商品力を高められるかもメーカーにとっては課題となりそうです。
car itself の performance や merchandise power を can be enhanced か(question) も(too) or かも(may) + maker にとっては issue + becomes + seems + is.


texts: Which is the difference of meaning beetween 業 and 行?

texts:
I was looking at the 20 precepts of karate and I really like this one:

  空手の修業は一生である

The translation should be something like:

  Karate is a lifelong pursuit.

Looking for it on google.co.jp I've been suggested for:

  空手の修行は一生である

Which is the difference between the two kanji?
Is the meaning correct (and the same)?

PS:
Sorry but I don't have any knowledge of the language, not sure about the  tags or if the question is even "correct"!


texts: How to say a pet/human has a characteristic rather than 'it is something'- How to say something has (adjective)

texts: I am trying to describe what my pet looks like. Let's say her name is 'inu'. I know how to say inu is big. You would say; inu wa ookii desu. You could say what she is by putting a different adjective where ookii is. But how would I say; Inu has floppy ears. Because I basically need to know how to say my dog has a characteristic rather than my dog is something. Thankyou


texts: Asking about a touchy subject: English ability

texts:
I am working with some Japanese authors and doing translations of their works, and in communicating with them I have frequently run into the need to ask them to review my translation if they have sufficient English skills.

The issue here is that I think the average Japanese person has some English skills, but I am not sure each author can comprehend enough to be of any use in the review process. I want to say this in a polite (probably indirect way), without upsetting them.

My first crack at this would be the below:

〜さんの英語力はよく分かりませんが、よかったら英訳を校正していただけないでしょうか？

However I think this is not necessarily the most natural phrasing, and may be also considered rude. Another more indirect way could be:

ある程度の英語力は必要ですが、よかったら英訳を校正していただけないでしょうか？

Also, probably unnatural. One more that is even less direct:

ご興味があれば、英訳の校正の方も是非手伝って頂きたいと思います。

I am guessing that it will be hard for me to find a polite expression if I choose to explicitly say "if you know English well enough".

If anyone can offer any suggestions on whether it would be safe to use the above phrases, or can offer any more appropriate ones, I'd appreciate it.


texts: Are there placeholders in spoken Japanese?

texts:
I've seen discussions of placeholders in Japanese which seem to centre on how to pronounce written placeholders like ＯＯ, XX, etc. See below for reference:

How do you pronounce "☓☓" as a placeholder?,
Uses of [◯]{まる} symbol in Japanese typography
What's the substitute word for missing/unimportant part of sentence?)

But what about an example of a placeholder used in natural speech (i.e. not reading text)? In English, an example might be somebody saying "Look over there at whats-his-name". In Japanese, it would seem strange (to me) to use だれだれ in such a real-time spoken example, like あそこにいるだれだれを見て。What word might replace it? Are there such equivalents to the English words like 'whats-his-name"?


texts: Confused over which is more grammatically correct here: ～たことをごめんなさい or ～たことはごめんなさい

texts:
この世に生まれたことを本当にごめんなさい！
  この世に生まれたことは本当にごめんなさい！


texts: What's the difference between differences? 差 and 違い

texts:
What's the difference between 差 and 違い?  When would I use each?

Which (if either) would I use for describing the difference between something like sample data and the best fitting equation?


texts: What is the purpose of ため in 彼は仕事のために彼の車を運転します. I translate it as "As a result of his job, he drives his car."


texts: Meaning of 「微細にわたる説明」

texts: I'm looking at the definition of 微細 in different dictionaries. One dictionary gives the example 微細にわたる説明. Does this mean "an explanation that barely gets across," or does it mean something more like 説明は微細な点にまでわたる, which was an example given in another dictionary.


texts:
in the sentence

お前は思考に詰まるとすぐこれだ.

I know that 言葉に詰まる means to be at loss of words

Does 思考に詰まる mean to stop thinking?

thank you!


texts: What to say if you want to comfort your superior who is sick?

texts: Usually, some Japanese in our company say to us 気をつけてください but in that case they are the superior. Now one of our superior is sick and we want to comfort him like "please take care of yourself and get well soon". How to say it in Japanese in a polite/respectful way?


texts:
is there a good expression for the English "a moment of weakness"?

For example:
In a moment of weakness, I strayed from my diet and ate some cookies.

I tried looking through alc but couldn't really find anything that seemed to sound right.


texts: Can より be used differently than saying "b more x than a"?

texts:
I could not find any examples of this usage, but what I'm basically asking is whether or not this is possible:

怒るより悲しいですよ
Rather than being mad, I am sad

Is this a legitimate way of using より?


texts:
For full context:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10011231671000/k10011231671000.html

The sentence in question:
来年は、今年より約１９％多い２万８２００ｔのクロマグロを取ってもいいことが決まりました。

First, my attempt at translation:
"Concerning the next year, it was decided that fishing about 19% from this years..."

I didn't finish the sentence because when I include this 多い into my translation, it becomes gibberish. Judging from the context, I would say that this sentence tells us that it was decided that fishing about 19% of this years amount of fished pacific bluefin tuna would be okay. This years amount of fished p.b.t was ２万８２００ｔ or  28200 tonnes. However, I'm also guessing a bit at this point because I just don't know what function this 多い fulfills here and wether it means something like "amount" here instead of "many".


texts:
亮二が言いにくそうに、しかしそうするよりなく、彼女に話を切り出した。

It seems difficult for ryouji to say, however ____, he initiates the conversation.

Having a hard time looking よりなく up.

thank you


texts: Other than はじめまして, what can we say in our introduction?

texts: Other than はじめまして, what else can we say at the beginning of our introduction when meeting someone for the first time? Also, what else do we need to say when introducing ourselves other than our name that will be considered polite by the Japanese people? Can someone give me an example in Japanese of a good way of introducing ourselves for the first time?


texts: even on 常用漢字表{じょうようかんじひょう}, no kanji have an official 送{おく}り仮名{がな}?

texts:
Recently, I was talking with a friend regarding the 常用漢字表 as specified here I noticed that the 送り仮名 property of kanjis is not specified. She was a little puzzled, but concluded that the 文部省{もんぶしょう} does not standardize 送り仮名。Is this true?

This might be similar to the stroke count issue. Only the 教育漢字{きょういくかんじ} have official stroke counts as explained here

Please consider these examples:
話し、話
飲み物、飲物

So, for example, in theory could I write "表れる" or "表われる" or "表る"? I think the convention is "表れる". Even though the conventions are very well-known and pretty much implicitly standardized, there really is no "correct 送り仮名" for any kanji, right?


texts:
I read in a haiku written by Bashō/芭蕉 (source - see my addendum at the end of the post) :

をちこちに
瀧{たき}の音{おと}聞く{きく}
落{おち}葉{ば}かな

My translation :

From far and near, hearing the sounds of the waterfall(s), ah, the fallen leaves...

My question deals with the word 落{おち}葉{ば}, derived from 落{お}ちる (to drop, to lose) ? I noticed the poet played with the sounds /ochi/ in をちこちに and in 落{おち} 葉{ば}.
Moreover, I know that Classical Japanese words beginning with を have dropped the initial /w/, giving words beginning with /o/, like をんな > おんな.
Hence my questions :

In Classical Japanese, did the verb 落{ちる} start with お (おちる) or with を (をちる). Or did the word 落{おち}葉{ば} begin with お (落{おち}葉{ば}) or with を (落{をち}葉{ば}) ?
Is there any online dictionary giving this information ?

Any help would be appreciated !
addendum : I read this haiku for the first time in a French anthology  : "Bashō, Cent onze haiku"(=Bashō, 111 haiku), by Joan Titus-Carmel, page 108. Titus-Carmel's translation : "De loin et de près s'entend le bruit des cascades - la chute des feuilles !". The Japanese text given by Titus-Carmel contains the word 落葉. Alas, the author doesn't give any further details about his source : nothing but a simple "the haikus translated in this book are taken from Bashō's works" on the last page.


texts:
Konna ikari ni warawa ga hirumu to demo?

In this sentence does that mean,

  Should I be scared/afraid of this (little) anger?
  (a humiliation/mocking intent is directed in this sentence)

or,

  Do I need to be scared of this kinda anger?

These are my assumptions, yoroshiku onegaishimasu :)


texts: What is going on grammatically with "Xを嫌いになる"?

texts:
I've observed native speakers use this construction (similarly with 好き).

Does this mean that なる can be used transitively and take a direct object in some cases? Is this related to the idea that something becomes liked or disliked as an involuntary action (and thus "嫌いにする" wouldn't fit)?


texts:
They seem interchangeable when used in the meaning of conveying disbelief of something.

  まさかこの時点でやめる気じゃないよね？
  よもやこの時点でやめる気じゃないよね？


texts: How do you know when to use rendaku? What are the words that always/never use it?

texts: I know there are some words that always have rendaku （花）and some that never use it. Is there a rule for rendaku or does it depend on the word? Thanks in advance!


texts: What's the 日本語 equivalent of "Wipe them off the map"?

texts:
皆さん、こんばんは！

What is the 日本語 equivalent of saying the semi-set-phrase(or whatever you call set-phrases with parts you can fill in) "Wipe them off the map"?

Like when you say "North Korea knows that if they threaten the economy of Japan, the USA wouldn't be above just wiping them off the map".


texts:
I understand that ちょっと待って means "please wait a while".
But I did hear some people using ちょっと待った for the same meaning (maybe).

So what is the difference between these two and when should we use 待って or 待った？


texts:
I was wondering what is the difference in the nuances / usage of 気に病む and 心配する ?

(E.g. If I want to tell my friend not to worry about a test (albeit an important test), is it more appropriate to use 気に病むな　or 心配するな ?)


texts: Explanation for 'noun + な + ので', is 'ので' still a 接続助詞 here?

texts:
I saw the following statement in a grammar book:

  接続助詞 'ので' can only be placed after 用言 and 助動詞 in form of 連体形.

But in another text book it says that ので can also be placed after a noun, and then the noun is concatenated with な, e.g. 時間なので.

Is 'noun + な + ので' a special case? Is role of 'ので' here different from being placed after a verb/adj?

I searched similar questions:

adj. + な
(noun) + な versus (verb) + な
noun + な (but didn't cover whether in scope of 接続助詞)
What does "nanode" mean? What are its grammatical rules?


texts:
I was wondering how to convey  "today I've completed reading a manga series" or "I've completed watching a TV series". Does "Verb(ます stem)+終わる" sound wrong? Should I use "てしまう"?
Also, how can I say that a series is completed? Meaning that all the volumes or episodes have been released and are now available. I thought about "○○シリーズが終わった" but I doubt it sounds natural.


texts: Does 耶 still hold any value in Japanese?

texts: While I was flipping through a kanji dictionary (2013's Kodansha KLD), I came across 耶{や} , which in the book, said it was the interrogative particle か. However, after a bit more research, it doesn't seem to yield anything outside of Chinese; is it nowadays no longer used as an interrogative particle, or just not used at all?


texts: What's the meaning of the particle のか in this context?

texts:
I think the sentence can be understood on its own, but I'm giving some context anyway. Editor and author talk about a character.

Editor: 彼女は作中で優しい子だと言われています。実際そうだと思うんですけど、彼女の優しさって描くのむずかしいと思うんですよ。
Author: 優しいのか無関心なのか、鈍感なのか、紙一重の所がありますよね。

I know that のか is used as a sentence ending to ask a question. But I'm not sure if Author is using this word to ask a (rethorical) question in this context, because it's not at the end of the sentence, but as an enumeration. Regardless, I translated the sentence like this:

"Is it kindness? Indifference? Thickheadedness? These things are paper-thin".

My translation may be wrong, that's why I'll be thankful if anyone can help me. Also, is Author using のか to imply that the character may actually not be kind, but rather something else?


texts:
I know you use verb stem+始める when you want to indicate that something started, so would this sentence be correct?

  特にゲームをする始めます。


texts:
How should I parse the part that comes after 許さない:

  その形容から打突こそ主体と思われるが、槍｛やり｝の基本戦術は払いにある (1)。長さに物を言わせた広範囲の薙｛な｝ぎ払いは、もとより身を引いて躱｛かわ｝す、などという防御を許さないからだ (2)。

Feels like it makes the sentence flow a bit better with sentence topic but what is it, exactly? から_だ?　から used to affirm what's stated in (1) + copula for emphasis?


texts: What's the difference between 創始者、創業者、創設者 and 創立者?

texts:
I have seen 創始者 been used in the following contexts:
仏教の創始者、プログラムの創始者、儒教の創始者

創業者 probably refers to founders of businesses:
店の創業者、紀伊国屋の創業者

However, I only have a vague idea about how these are used.
Could anybody care to explain? :(


texts:
I know the general meaning of 「そのまま」, but I can't thing of anything appropriate it could mean in this situation. The dialog goes something like this:

  A：鳴海だ。
  A: Oh, it's Narumi.

  B：おはよう。
  B: Good morning.

  A：荷造り？
  A: Are you packing up?

  B：そう、もう使わない教科書とか早めにまとめとかないと。
  B: Yeah, I thought I could collect the textbooks I won't be needing any more ahead of time.

  A：手伝うよ。鳴海、指ケガしてんじゃん。
  A: I'll help you. Your finger is hurt after all.

  B：でももうほとんど終わって…あ。
  B: But I'm nearly done... ah.

  A：あーホラそのまま入れるから。
  A: ???

  A：ヒモとかで縛んないと。
  A: You have to tie them (the books) together with something like a thread.


texts: How to say "On mondays I get home at 5pm"

texts:
Here is my attempt, wanted to see if this is correct, I'm trying to write a practice presentation for my class on Wednesday I'm a first year Japanese student.

  Watashi no Getsuyōbi no gogo goji ni tadaima desu.


texts: Patterns (and exceptions) for 自動詞 - 他動詞 pairs

texts:
As a 3rd year student of Japanese, I don't have all that wide a vocabulary yet, but have noticed that, typically, the following patterns are observable in terms of the word endings for transitive-intransitive verb pairs: 自動詞 and 他動詞 tend have the same "prefix", but end in

-u (自) / -eru (他)

開く・開ける、届く・届ける、進む・進める、続く・続ける、育つ・育てる etc.

-eru (自) / -u (他)

開ける・開く、切れる・切る、解ける・解く、裂ける・裂く、焼ける・焼く etc.

-aru (自) / -eru (他)

下がる・下げる、上がる・上げる、閉まる・閉める、務まる・務める etc.

-iru or -eru (自) / -asu (他)

出る・出す、覚める・覚ます、溶ける・溶かす、動ける・動かす、生きる・生かす etc.

as well as several other patterns
While I learned many of these words while studying, I compiled this list in part from this source, which I can't verify the accuracy of (the page links to a more updated version that doesn't categorize the pairs by their endings).
One snag that I found myself often caught by is that, especially for the u<->eru ending pairs, the first dozen or so that I learned all followed the pattern "transitive looks like potential of intransitive" (unrelated, but same sound change so it is easy enough to remember, if misleading). I imagine that most textbooks or courses would introduce 続く・続ける earlier on than 裂ける・裂く, due to usage frequency and kanji difficulty if nothing else. Encountering the reverse pattern was a bit confusing for me, because my (ill-founded) intuition was completely backwards. Even more specifically, I find it especially confusing that 開く・開ける can be read as あく・あける or ひらく・ひらける, but the two readings are respectively paired as 自他 and 他自.
Does anyone know, etymologically, how the phonology of transitive-intransitive pairs developed, and why u<->eru appears in both directions? I initially thought that I could mostly figure out which was which by intuition and pattern matching, but it seems that that might be impossible to do universally.


texts: Can you write the japanese name Hideyoshi as 秀代志

texts: I know the name has common spellings like 秀吉 or 英義 but when I type ひでよし on my laptop I once got 秀代志 as an option as well. Would it work? And why/why not?