texts: されている vs. している for certain objective verbs

texts:
This has always confused me a bit and the answer might just end up being "it depends," but I was wondering if there's a way to properly evaluate this.

For example if I wanted to ask "Is this a shared PC?" I might say
このPCは共有用？ and I'm not sure if that means 共有されている or 共有している。I almost always think されている sounds better but as for whether 共有する is transitive or intransitive or not - I don't know. As for which sounds stranger to Japanese people I get the impression that in the case of 共有 leaving out する and its conjugations all together is better.

I know that for intransitive verbs its simply the stative form of it, for example "It's been decided" is 決まっている rather than 決められている, but the differences in nuances of those two I think has to do with how direct you want to be, and whether the agent of the action is knowable. Obviously I might be trying to apply logic to this that doesn't work but...

Another example that confuses me:

"Is this applicable to everyone?"

  みんなには適用している・されている？ 当てはまっている？

My intuition tells me that using される vs している means that there is some agent in the background or contextually that had an influence, whereas している just implies that it is a certain way. What's a good way to think about this?


texts:
Here are the sentences I have found these words.

警察の者じゃが。
ジョーという少年はおるかの?


texts:
It's considered proper (though often ignored) to write ください in 待ってください and 下さい in 赤いのを下さい, i.e. Kanji as a main verb and kana as an auxilliary. But a thought came into my mind: in お待ちください, is it an auxilliary and thus ください, or is it rather a main verb wanting the Kanji?

(Of course, using the kana would be correct in any context. I was just wondering if お待ち下さい was correct.)


texts:
橋 reads as はし but 新橋 reads as しんばし

澤 as さわ and 金澤 as かなざわ etc.

any rules for how to pronounce?


texts: Can the ~ほうが~より pattern be used with both an い adjective and a な adjective?

texts:
In my grammar reference book the pattern is layed out like this:

[高い/高かった]　＋ ほうが　＋　いAdjective ＋　より...
[静かな/静かだった]　＋　ほうが　＋　なAdjective　＋　より...

This indicates to me that I could say, for example,

男としては、強いほうが弱いよりいいです

(because both 強い and 弱い are いadjectives), but could I use this pattern with both an い and a な adjective?

Many thanks.


texts: I'm writing a birthday card and got stuck figuring out how to sign it. I want to sign as "Older brother Misha", but I'm not sure if it should be ミシャ兄さん or ミシャ兄さんより. I'm also not sure if writing ミシャ兄さん is correct, but I want specifically sign by name and as an older brother (if doing it is not completely weird).


texts:
先日の会議の内容は、後ほど書面にてご報告する次第です。

I think the sentence means something along the lines of: "As for the contents of the meeting the other day, it will be reported in writing later."
But this kinda ignores the 次第です...
I'm used to thinking of 次第だ as meaning "depending on", but I don't see how it fits here.  Looking in a dictionary, I see that 次第 can also mean "as soon as" when used with verbs, but that also seems off.
Any hints on what the 次第 means in this context?


texts:
Can anybody explain why 私 is a sixth grade kanji?

I find it funny that such a common word appears on the list so late.


texts: Is a phoneme nasalized when it has long sound?

texts: For example, as in はい and ます, I think は and ま each happen to have a long sound in addition to a nasal sound. Is it real?


texts: What does 男前 mean when used to describe a woman?

texts:
I just encountered the phrase 「男前な女」in the book I am reading.  When I looked up 男前, it was defined as "good looks in a man," much like "handsome" in English.  What does it mean when used to describe a woman?

Here is the context:

  もし、兄の連絡を受けるようにすれば、あの生意気で男前な女の被る負担は少しでも減るのかもしれない。
  Roughly: Maybe, if he was willing to put up with his brother's phone calls, he could lighten that cheeky, [?] woman's burden just a little.

(For what it's worth, the woman in question had been repeatedly described as a conventional beauty.  The man who describes her as an 男前な女 is probably attracted to her but still oblivious at this point.)


texts: How do you describe or specify a person with verbs? (convert verbs to adjectives)

texts:
How do you describe or specify a specific target person by their current verb in action?
Or perhaps more simply, how do you use a verb as an adjective?

Here are some examples:

The man wearing a hat is handsome. (alt. The hat-wearing man is handsome.)
Is the person singing your friend? (alt. Is the singing-person your friend?)
The child screaming is holding candy. (alt. The screaming-child is holding candy.)

If I was to guess the grammar, perhaps:

帽子【ぼうし】をかぶる男【おとこ】の人【ひと】はかっこいい。
歌う【うたう】人は友達【ともだち】ですか？
叫ぶ【さけぶ】子供【こども】はキャンディを持って【もって】いる。

or do I use the present continuous:

帽子をかぶっている男の人はかっこいい。
歌っている人は友達ですか？
叫んでいる子供はキャンディを持っている。


texts: How to say "I've never done it" without saying what "it" is

texts:
I know how to say "I've never done verb-phrase" using verb-phrase ことがない e.g. ケーキを食べることがない. But how would I say something like

  "Even though I've wanted to try eating cake, I've never done it"

Here's my attempt:

  ケーキを食べてみたかったのに、そんなことがない


texts: Meaning of 掛かってるも掛かった

texts:
I'm not quite sure how to understand the bolded part in the below. What is the も in the sentence doing?　I get that the joke is a play on words but I'm not sure what is being said.
「飯食ってる最中に漫才聞かされんのかよ！　噴飯ものだぜ！」
「ご飯とご飯が、掛かってますね！」
「噴飯だから、掛かってるも掛かったな！」


texts: Can number + 部 mean the number of copies?

texts:
For an upcoming conference, I'm supposed to bring copies of my own materials. One sentence contains a phrase that I'm a little unsure how to understand. First the Japanese sentence in its entirety:

  参加者に配付する資料がありましたら,当日90部をご持参願います。

I believe I understand the conditional part and most of the rest. I understand it to say "if you have any materials to distribute to the participants, please bring then on the day [of the conference]."

Where I'm confused is the 90部.

My first instinct was to understand 90部 the name of an office or room at that university. But nothing else is named in that way in the document.

OR

My second guess is that it is saying I should bring 90 copies of the materials.

What does it mean in this context?


texts: I'd love to know what these symbols mean if you have any idea. Thank you very much.


texts: How are similar-looking words (e.g. names of medications) distinguished?

texts:
In English, it is considered a best practice to emphasize differences between the names of medications that are fairly similar, so as to minimize the risk that a medical practitioner will misread the name of one medication as another medication, thereby potentially causing a harmful or fatal medication error.

The preferred way of doing this is via so-called "tall man lettering", in which one capitalizes the section of the name that is distinguishing. For example, the drugs "hydralazine" and "hydroxyzine" are typically typeset as "hydrALAzine" and "hydrOXYzine" in medical contexts. (Other methods of sub-word emphasis, like boldface or use of a different font, are not preferred, since they may not always be available. For example, if you have a system that prints prescriptions using a dot-matrix printer, you're boned if you rely on boldface or multiple fonts being available.)

What is the equivalent of this in Japanese, if any? I would be interested in knowing the answer in any context where distinguishing between similar-looking words is critical, whether in medicine or elsewhere.

(Note: I am aware of various ways to emphasize individual glyphs in Japanese, such as by using 傍点. I am specifically interested in knowing what is actually used in practice in medicine or other fields where distinguishing between similar-looking words has implications for safety/etc.)


texts: Understanding censorship in the game "Vivid Army"

texts:
Recently I played a game which is call Vivid Army and there's a little conversation between me and this guy but I found that there's some word is censored.

7873 is me. As you can see I have written "hehe n..."** but this is not what I original wrote. What I wrote is "hehe nice..." So why the "i-c-e" is censored?

Here is another example of some word's that censored.

Is it those censored words mean swear word in Japanese?


texts: What is this kanji? It's too small for me to understand right now

texts:
If the image doesn't show up here is a link to it

http://i.imgur.com/VOH3FlR.png


texts:
I've been reading more novels in Japanese recently (かもめ食堂: recommended!), and have noticed that it's unusual for 言う to be written in kanji. Not just in set phrases like という and とはいえ but in attributions such as 「みどりはいった」。

My question: are there any situations where it's required or would be more natural or unambiguous to write 言う rather than いう? If I'm emailing a friend would it seem pretentious to use the kanji?


texts: ないで vs なくて: combining phrases with negative verbs

texts:
Can you use 〜なくて instead of 〜ないで in the following sentence without changing the meaning?

  病気になると、一切化学薬品や抗生物質を使わないで、鍼や指圧や漢方薬で直します。風邪の時は何もしないで暖かくして、寝ているだけです。

In general, what's the difference between 〜ないで and 〜なくて?


texts: Do both 思い and 想い mean "feeling", and if they do are they used interchangeably? If not, what is their difference in meaning?


texts:
It's a dialogue from a game. Two girls talk about breast.

ニーナ:「あー‥アースラさんって意外に‥‥
アースラ:「ふん‥‥ 大きいから　どうだと言うものでも、ないがな‥

I know that どうだ means "how; in what way" and と言うものでもない means "doesn't mean that; it's not (true) that; not necessarily", but what is どうだと言うものでもない?
My attempt - they’re big, but it doesn’t mean anything, though..


texts:
When I was learning how to use だけ and しか, I was told that だけ and しか both means "only". But the latter requires the verb to be in the negative form.
For example:

あの人だけが好きだ。
I only like that person.
これしか買わない。
Only buy this.

But out of all the examples I've seen, だけ and しか are only used with nouns or verbs. I never seen it used with amounts.
For example:

A: これは高いね
A: This is expensive, isn't it?
B: 全然高くない！１００円だけだよ！
B: It's not expensive at all! It's only 100 yen!

Is that correct? Also, can I use it wih other counter words like 一人 and 三つ?


texts: How do I express "I'm better at doing X than Y"

texts:
How would I form the phrase, "I'm better at understanding (spoken) Japanese than speaking it," both casually and politely?

Like this?:

私は日本語｛にほんご｝を聞いて｛きいて｝分かる｛わかる｝のほうが話す｛はなす｝のよりいいです。

私は日本語を聞いて分かるのが話すのよりいい。

How could I share these ideas in a natural way?


texts: Particle usage of は and が in this sentence

texts:
I had some particle trouble translating these lines:

四月の魚は風が吹いて

長い髪が揺れている

The first two lines seem to go together in one sentence, but then there would be too many particles. I have it as "The April fish is blown by the wind, long hair swaying" but I don't think the "by the wind" is supported by the text. Is this correct? Whether it's correct or not, could someone please explain how the particles all work together?

The lines are from the song April Story (full lyrics here: https://www5.atwiki.jp/hmiku/pages/31606.html), but they flash by on the music video and so are not sung or contained in the lyrics. For context, the line before is "If I died, I'd want to die in a small water tank," and after is "Spring came to us." (I'm having trouble typing Japanese on my computer, or I would type them out).

Thank you!


texts: Words request: "Top" and "bottom" (of a page)

texts:
I am localising my app to Japanese.

In the app, there is an option to set the position of the image (イメージの位置) on a page that is going to be printed. It can be either on the top of the page, or at the bottom of the page.

I need to translate the words "top" and "bottom", basically.

Currently, I am using 上 and 下, but I don't think they can be used to describe the position on a page:

I searched on jisho.org and found 頂上 and 底部, but I don't think they are "exact" opposites like 上 and 下. Or are they? I thought the antonym of 底部 was 頂部 but I am not sure if that is a word (I can't find it on jisho.org)

Can anyone suggest a pair of opposites that means top and bottom.


texts: Function of に in this passive construction

texts:
I understand the basics of the "suffering passive". For example, it's my understanding that in a sentence like 友達にビールを飲まれた, "tomodachi ni" marks the person who drank your beer.

  ぼくにもんくいわれても困る

Who does ぼく refer to and what is the role of ぼくに in this sentence?


texts: Was "乎" the man'yōgana spelling of the accusative/object particle "を"?

texts:
In the English Wiktionary entry for "を" there is a quote or example sentence using the character "乎" with no explanation seemingly where the particle "を" would normally occur.

Now I couldn't find anything in either the entry for "乎" or "を" about them being historically connected via man'yōgana, and Google searches failed to turn up anything conclusive either.

In fact I don't know much about man'yōgana at all so could it be that any character with the right reading could be used for "を"?


texts:
無理難題さらっと滑り込ませるのやめてくだい.

I can't understand the meaning of this sentence, someone is asking the permission to stop doing something because it's impossible to (?)

Could you please explain me? Thank you.


texts: 何 + te-form + も (何 by itself to mean "something")

texts:
I recently came across this sentence, and I'm having trouble figuring out what 何 is doing. (I'm fine with the rest.)

  何があっても、大丈夫だろ。

Based on context, my best attempt is: even if something were to happen, it'd probably be fine.
But I thought 何 means "what", and only 何か could mean "something".

Does 何 always mean "something" when used in the pattern 何 + te-form + も? Or is this a fixed expression that I haven't seen before? Can 何 mean something without か in other situations as well?

Is 何かがあっても、大丈夫だろ。also a grammatically correct sentence?


texts:
Found a sentence:

  屋上に来てしまったのもそのせい

What does そのせい mean in that sentence?


texts: Does 仕事があれば bear a notion of "if you pay me"?

texts:
I sometimes hear a phrase 仕事があれば used in situations where a freelancer or an artist says something that in English would be "if you pay me I will do it" (まぁ、仕事があれば〜), "if you pay me I will go" (仕事があれば、どこへでも行く).

However I can't find any dictionary or usage example in which 仕事 would be likened to the actual compensation for work. Work, task, duty, assignment - all refer to an obligation of a person doing the actual work, but not the person who orders the work to be done. These two are closely related, but does 仕事 always mean a work done for a compensation?

Am I interpreting the phrase 仕事があれば correctly?

The reason I am asking is that usually I heard it is spoken with a grin or it caused a few chuckles around. Something unusual for a dry, literal interpretation.


texts:
I don't even know if this is the correct place to post this. The only source that I'm in touch with the Japanese language is through anime. So my question, which I understand that could be kinda silly,

Gomen'nasai translates to I'm sorry.
Kiri-sute gomen is the right for a Samurai to "Cut and leave" in case a commoner insults his honor

So does "gomen" mean something literally ? or is it an untranslatable word?


texts:
中山さんは普段からよく運動するようにしています。

I think it means

  Mr. Nakayama tries to do exercise regularly

But I'm confused about what 普段からactually means and how it differs from 普段and 普通


texts: 口ロ Those are supposed to be different characters. How can you tell?

texts: The first is supposed to be the kanji for mouth, "くち" and the sencond is supposed to be katakana. When I typed them in google translate, the sizes were different so I could differentiate them that way, but now just like in the title, they look exactly the same. How do people tell the diffence when reading?


texts: oshirase [今日は日本の授業がありません 私の女の子が熱が痛いですから... 学生たちのほかに調べてくださいね...お願いします...明日宿題は学校の後でSMP Regularの事務所でMr.Jayに取ってください. 月曜日Mr.Jayに出してください.] と私の先生が書いたのです.   It turns out that in "学生たちのほかに調べてください", my teacher wanted to say "please tell the other students". So it should be 教える not 調べる. However this context is only dedicated to my initial question.  What is the meaning of 'noun + の + ほか + に'? Please refrain from over focusing the mistakes here(but if you did, I appreciate it).


texts:
I am looking for a way to express the equivalent of "statistically speaking, ..." (followed by a quote from a paper, or something like that), or pretty much any other grammatical construction that works well for the subject of quoting statistics or papers.

I know the word 統計, but that always results in very cumbersome (and probably wrong) sentences, such as:

  統計の論文を読んだ、
  統計の見方から、

I am sure Japanese people will understand what I try to express, but it's hardly correct.

While I honestly care about the answer and do not know it, I have also made this question for meta-discussion: Who is our target audience?


texts:
A few years ago I was told by a Japanese friend "社会の窓" (shakai no mado).

It was explained after some giggling that this is what is said to a man who has inadvertently left his fly open, and that it means literally "society's window".

So why use "society's window" for this situation? Is it actually an additional sense added to a more straightforward older one? Or does it provide some insight into Japanese culture why such wording would be used?


texts:
In English, there are a few ways we could read out a year like 2012 - e.g. "two thousand and twelve", "twenty twelve". Does the same thing exist in Japanese, or is there only one way ever actually used by people?

Is there a way to shorten years? E.g. 2009 could be referred to as "oh nine" in English.

Thanks!


texts:
Do na-adjectives need a な before a は?

  もっと きれいなは どうですか。

  もっと きれいは どうですか。

Which is correct?

Personally I think な is needed as the sentence is a shorter form of もっと きれいな ハンドバッグは どうですか。(replace ハンドバッグ with any noun). References say to use な in front of modified nouns, but nothing about は particles. I have tried Googling for もっと (na-adj)なは but I am still not sure.


texts: Dictionary form + と for a single occasion

texts:
自由が丘の駅で、大井町線から降りると、ママはトットちゃんの手を引っ張って、改札口を出ようとした。

As far as I know, a dictionary verb form + と is used to mean "when/if", "whenever" (e.g. 秋になると、木が赤くなります (it's always like that)).

But the sentence above is about a particular day, a single occasion. As I understand it, they should say,

  ... 大井町線から降りた時...

or

  ... 大井町線から降りてから...

Why is と used in this situation?


texts: The implication of 段々 with a non-past verb (なります)

texts:
A sentence from my current favourite bugbear:

息子の成績が段々よくなります。
My son's grades are getting better and better. (given translation)

I have two problems with the given translation:

"getting better and better" implies that the grades were good to start with. This translation sounds like the parent is showing off; "My son was already great but now he is even better still". Whereas, I feel that the actual meaning should be more like 'gradually improving' i.e. the grades were previously unacceptable but they are becoming better. What is the actual, natural interpretation of this sentence?

I'm not sure how 段々 and なります interact with each other. To me this seems like it ought to be a future sentence i.e. "My son's grades will gradually become better (but they haven't yet).
I want to use なっています、or something involving the auxiliary くる (but I'm never comfortable making my own sentences with くる so I'm not sure about that).

So, is this sentence natural for the meaning given in the English translation? If not, how would you make a Japanese sentence that better matched the English translation?


texts: In some older learning material I came across, they use 「電話をかける」 for "to make a telephone call". When/why did this come to be replaced by 「電話する」 in popular usage?


texts:
男性名 is supposed to be read だんせいめい.

But according to デジタル大辞泉（小学館）

  ［接尾］助数詞。人数を数えるのに用いる。「40名」［接尾］助数詞。人数を数えるのに用いる。「40名」

Obviously, it is not a 助数詞 here.

な【名】has the following meaning:

  一般に、その事物の呼び方。「人と名の付く生き物」「花の名」

めい【名】 also has the following meaning:

  なまえ。な。「姓と名」

So should 男性の名 be read だんせいのな or だんせいのめい?


texts: Different ways to translate “Pain is the gateway to growth,”?

texts:
Are there more appropriate/creative/natural ways this could be translated other than a literal sense?

Literal to me would be like...

痛みは成長の門口です

Thanks for any and all ideas!


texts: How to ask if a connection/relationship exists between two things

texts:
I would like to ask if there is a connection or relationship between two different parts.

For example, would this be an appropriate way of asking "Is there any connection between the two compilations/volumes?"

  2つの編に何か関係はありますか？

I'm not certain if I'm missing anything required when discussing the connection/relationship (for example の間, etc.)


texts: Question about some grammar structures in the sentence

texts:
While I was learing Japanese  through 小1くちばし音読・授業・クイズ2, I came acorss sentences at at about the 7 minute mark (thanks to @Leebo) as this:

正解ですね、ここの部分なんですね、この羽がさ頭の部分からぴょんと違う方向に出ているでしょう。これのことを「冠羽」という風に言うんですね。冠のような羽という意味です。けれども、この羽があるものがオームになります。羽のないもの、似てるけれども小さくて羽のないものが、「インコ」という風になっています。たまにね、インコなんだけどをオウムって名前がついたりもするそうなので、見分けるときに気をつけてください。

The teacher is talking about the way to distinguish 「オウム」 and 「インコ」, and she says:

インコなんだけどをオウムって名前がついたりもするそうなので、見分けるときに気をつけてください。

I don't quite understand the grammar of 「なんだけど」, 「を」, and 「そう」 here. Also, I don't quite understand the phrase 「名前がつく」.
My understanding:

「なんだけど」 measn "A, but B", as in 今日は休みなんだけど、朝早く起きた。(I'm off work today, but I got up early this morning.) But this rule doesn't work here, because what comes after 「なんだけど」 isn't another sentence, it's a particle 「を」, it's strange for me.
「を」 is mainly used to indicate the object, but the verb used here is 「名前がついたり」, which doesn't need any object.
「そう」 may be used as a 様態の助動詞 or 伝聞の助動詞, but it seems neither fits here.

Thanks for you help in advance!


texts: Who should pay, or not pay, who in this letter written in business Japanese?

texts:
In my JLPT textbook, I have a short letter in business Japanese, which is where I'm definitely weakest.
The letter is from 山口商事 to 森山工業, and here it is as it appears in the book. Sorry for all my markings. I hope it's readable:

Here is what I think is the relevant part of the letter:

当社は、上記上田物産株式会社に対し、金100万円の債権を所有しておりますが、同社はその後倒産し、貴社に対しても売掛金の支払いを催促した様子は見られません。
つきましては、上記債務を当社にお支払いいただきたく、ご通知いたします。

The question about the letter is  この文書は何を要求しているか。　And the given answer is, 山口商事が森山工業に100万円支払うこと. My understanding from that answer is that the topic of the letter is the Yamaguchi company paying a million yen to the Moriyama construction company.
What I can't figure out, though, is if the Yamaguchi company intends to pay that money. The part where it says 売掛金の支払いを催促した様子は見られません makes me think that they're saying they don't think they have to pay. They "can't see any indication of their obligation to pay", or something like that.
However, the 上記債務を当社にお支払いいただきたく、ご通知いたします part makes me think that maybe they do intend to pay. Actually, it's very confusing to me, because I thought いただく meant to receive, so do they expect to receive payment of some kind?
Where am I getting tangled up in all this formal business language, and can anyone help me untangle it?


texts: Double くれる?「教えてくれてくれませんか」

texts:
I just came across this on a Japanese forum. Someone asking a question says:

どなたか教えてくれてくれませんか？

I personally have never seen double くれ. I can see how it'd make sense in a different context though. I found this weblio entry:

くれてくれる
[多]＝「くれる（物を与える）」と「くれる（好意的な行為）　・「おじさんが　お金を　くれてくれた」

But do people say it like this?

本をくれてくれてありがとう。

Also the line that I encountered didn't seem to be the same case, as it was not about about giving/receiving a physical object. Does it work?


texts:
For full context, see here:
https://www.docdroid.net/ipTEvqI/1.pdf

The sentence in question is from もんだい number 2, line 1 (おんな):
あるテレビ会社が、夫は妻に、妻は夫にどうしてほしいと思っているかアンケート調査をしました。

I marked it in bold. Considering the context of the full text, where we are told what husbands wish to have done by their wifes and vice versa, I think this "how (to) do" in the sense of "what to do".
Therefore, I'd translate the sentence as follows:

"Some TV-Company did an investigation (here: evaluation?) of a survey/questionnaire about what husbands want their wifes to do (for them) and what wifes want their husbands do (for them)."


texts: What is the meaning of 「れど」 in the waka poem title 「忍ぶれど」?

texts:
「忍ぶれど」 is the title of Taira no Kanemori's waka poem in Ogura Hyakunin Isshu and I'd like to know the translation of this title in English.

I already looked up the meanings and

「忍ぶ」 means

to conceal oneself; to hide
to endure

But I can't find the meaning of 「れど」

Can anyone help me?


texts:
あしたなにをしますか。
  あしたはなにをしますか。

Hi everyone!
I want to know if there is any difference in the meaning for the above sentences?


texts:
I have been wondering this for a while now, but hesitated to ask.

I have been studying jouyou kanji for several years, yet I do not know if there is a general way of how to read a list of kanji out loud. How do Japanese people generally read a single kanji?

Or is it unusual to read a list of kanji out loud, as some kanji on themselves are rather to be understood?


texts: What is the difference between 「一応」and 「一時的に」

texts:
I wrote the sentence:

  一応、私の日本人妻の親と同居しています。

The appropriate word to use is 「一時的に」as suggested by a native speaker. However, when I asked the difference between the two words, I wasn't given an answer. As far as I understand, both words mean "tentatively" or "for the time being". Is this not correct?


texts: help with translation! what's ようわからんなんて?

texts:
In a manga I found this line:

  よう わからんなんて、こっちの台詞だ。

What's that よう at the beginning? Is different from "you ni"?

And わからんなんて?

Since the character is confused about a phrase another one said, he's talking about it with another, but I'm not sure about the meaning.

Is it correct: "I don't understand his speech."
I'm confused...


texts: Dictionary says both mean 'view', and when I google image both words, more or less the same comes up.  What would the difference be? And if both share the same meaning, which is more common in day to day speech?


texts: What's the difference between 魔{ま} and 鬼{おに}?

texts: Both seem to mean "demon". Are they synonyms?


texts: In what contexts might one say "風呂{ふろ}" instead of "お[風呂]{ふろ}"?

texts: In what contexts might "風呂" be used instead of "お風呂"? "お巡りさん" has been lexicalized. "お茶" is almost lexicalized. What about "お風呂"?


texts:
With regard to talking about one's "personality", such as one being out-going, stoic, cold, not trustworthy, etc. I've always said "人柄{ひとがら}". And, the natives seem to basically understand what I mean.

With regard to how it sounds, are "性格{せいかく}" and "人物{じんぶつ}" both really formal to use in a conversation?
What are a few contexts where "人柄" is not understandable / very inappropriate, and "性格" and/or "人物" must be used?


texts:
This is in the beginning of the Oregairu manga (it's on the 10th page of volume 1, which is in the free sample on ebookjapan):

  近頃の高校生はらいたいこんな感じじゃないでしゅか

What does らいたい mean here?  I would also be interested in how I could have found the answer on the internet, since I couldn't find anything useful via various searches on google and jisho.


texts: When asking for the bill - かんじょう or かいけい

texts:
Google translate tells me one thing and another dictionary the other.

Is the casual way "Cheku o negaishimasu"

How about the other two words for bill. Are either of those used when asking for a bill?


texts: JLPT N3 Grammar - Passive form AND passive + te iru

texts:
I picked up the 日本語総まとめ book and I don't quite understand their explanation of passive.
The book says that passive can be used when you mention a fact without a subject. However, in the example (below), to me the subject is the entrance ceremony.

入学式は、このホールで行われます。
昔は、その考えが正しいと思われていた。

Can anyone offer a clearer explanation of this and also the usage of the te-iru conjugation with passive?


texts: Transitive, Intransitive and Potential Verbs

texts:
Do all tadoshi verbs have a jidoushi verb to pair with?

How do you differentiate volitional and non-volitional form verbs? Do we categorise them like we do for jidoshi (intransitive form) eg. Action performed without an object

Are all jidoshi verbs, potential form?


texts: How to "feel bad" for someone in Japanese

texts: I suppose that the English phrase is very general but in Japanese how do you express that you feel bad for others? (something similar to pity but not particularly looking down on the person)


texts: Can Sempai be used to address a student of the same year/age

texts:
I've been working on a script for a Visual Novel, in it one of the heroine's Sakura address's the main hero Talavaliau (Tala for short) as Sempai because she has a crush on him and can't bring herself to actually call him by his name even with honorifics but also as a sign of respect for his nature

i base this on a number of anime/manga/books/games i have seen where a younger girl addresses an older crush as sempai and in most cases their just a class year's difference or have a year gap between their age

i know that sempai is used as a form of respect for younger students to address older students however in my script, Tala ends up being reassigned into Sakura's class so they are in the same year in the school, Tala's and Sakua's age are the same but Tala's birthday falls on the same day as his foster sister (he no longer remembers his real birth date and uses the day he was saved/adopted) which is only 1 month before Sakura's

so i am wondering if Sempai can be used to address a student of the same year/age or if i should use another term which doesn't involve using a person's name


texts: What does it mean this kanji from Kong movie?

texts:
sorry, I am curious about what does this japanese symbol represents.
It's from the latest Kong's movie, Skull Island , and I believ it is taken from the fight airplane of a japanese pilot during second world war.

Thanks in advance


texts:
I am reading Osamu Dazai's 「人間失格」.

  また、犯人意識、という言葉もあります。自分は、この人間の世の中に於いて、一生その意識に苦しめられながらも、しかし、それは自分の糟糠の妻の如き好伴侶で、そいつと二人きりで侘びしく遊びたわむれているというのも、自分の生きている姿勢の一つだったかも知れないし...

When I read this sentence as a whole, I think 姿勢 means attitude, way of thinking etc., but when I read the phrase 「自分の生きている姿勢」, without the context of the entire sentence, it does not make sense.

Here are the possible meanings I can think of for 「自分の生きている姿勢」

my living posture ? (this sounds weird)
the way of thinking I am living with ?

Why is 生きている used with in this sentence ? What exactly does 「生きている姿勢」mean here ?

Thank you :)


texts:
In the anime 少女革命ウテナ (Revolutionary Girl Utena) one of the shadow girls often says

かしら、かしら。ご存知かしら？

which is translated in the subtitles as "I wonder, I wonder. Do you know what I wonder?".
I'm familiar with adding かしら after the predicate but I've not come across it as a standalone word before. Is this usage standard? If someone asks me, for example, "do you think my cunning plan will work?", and I'm not sure of the answer, can I just respond with かしら? It feels unlikely to me.
Unrelated, but I also have no idea how ご存知 works in this phrase.


texts:
Watashi wa hon o yomeru hayai dekiru. = I can read books quickly.

I know that you can either conjugate the verb to be -eru or -rareru, or you could leave the verb in the plain form and add "koto ga dekiru". So, for when you conjugate the verb, do I still add dekiru, or do I take it out? Then will the sentence make sense?

ありがとう！


texts:
Today when I came across the verb [訴]{うった}える in a sentence somewhere, it suddenly hit me that I don't very often see verbs like that: ones that have a sokuon (little っ) in their stem. The only verbs that come to my mind are ones of the type ホッとする、[発展]{はってん}する、[決定]{けってい}する et cetera, i.e. verbs that stem from a noun.

It so happens that the noun 訴え is the heart of 訴える so this verb, though not ending in する, also belongs to that category of verbs stemming from nouns.

My question is the following: Are there verbs that do contain this little っ in their stem, but do not derive from some noun? Even more strongly, could you state as a rule that a っ does not occur in the stem of a (let me just call it) "pure" verb?

I would be interested in reading more on origins of Japanese verbs, so any recommendations on this are also very welcome!


texts: How do these elements work in this sentence?

texts:
for full context:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10011218521000/k10011218521000.html

the sentence in question:
このため、東京や大阪、京都以外にも泊まる人が増えるように、いろいろな観光地を紹介していくことにしています。

My attempt at translation:

"To achieve this (or: because of that?), it was decided that they (will?) present various tourist attractions, except for tokyo, oosaka and kyoto, so that the number of people taking sleepovers increases."

First, I translated both ように and ため in a final sense ("they did X, so that..."/"...in order to..." etc.). In previous questions about ように it often happened that ように didn't represent this, but here I wouldn't know which else case could apply. It seems odd though that there are two final clauses "sandwiched" into this sentence.^^

Second, 東京や大阪、京都 by itself is already a bit confusing, because first there is a connective や, and then 京都 follows without any particle. I guess it belongs to the other two, however, I'm not sure because I didn't encounter this case so far and I could also imagine that concerning 以外, maybe 京都 alone is the exception. However, in thise case I wouldn't know how to implement the other two 東京や大阪 because there wouldn't be any particle embedding them into the syntax of the sentence.

And finally, is 紹介する used in the meaning of some form of publicity/marketing?


texts:
I'm currently reading a short paragraph here that has the following sentences:

男{おとこ}はそう言{い}うと、もう一枚{いちまい}マントを出{だ}して、急{いそ}いで着{き}ました。北風{きたかぜ}は二{に}枚{まい}のマントを脱{ぬ}がせるために、もっと強{つよ}く風{かぜ}を吹{ふ}きました。

In particular, the first sentence uses the counter directly without の as 一枚{いちまい}マント, while the second uses it with a の as 二{に}枚{まい}のマント.
I checked this answer for particles after counters, but that's for different particles. Looking at this answer that mentions の, it implies it should be either マント一枚{いちまい} or 一枚{いちまい}のマント. And yet, this Tae Kim page on counters has this as an example:

紙｛かみ｝、二｛に｝枚｛まい｝ずつをホッチキスで留｛とど｝める。

which is without の, but I imagine that's an exception, as ずつ is a suffix and not a noun, and would perhaps be shuffled around into something like this:

二｛に｝枚｛まい｝の紙｛かみ｝ずつをホッチキスで留｛とど｝める。

However, I'm not too sure then if the original article's lack of の is a typo or if there's a slightly different meaning like the suffix.


texts:
好きになる means fall in love/come to love, but what about 好きになれる? Does it mean "can come to love"? What does 好きになれる mean in this sentence?

先輩と一緒にいられないなら、わたしに誰が好きになれるの嫌だ


texts: What is the difference between 経験 and 体験?

texts:
I was wondering what the difference is between 経験 and 体験? I've come across both terms a couple of times, and I know they both mean 'experience', but what is the difference between the two?

Based on the kanji, I would guess that 体験 relates more to a personal experience? Maybe it's only used for your own experience?


texts: The meaning of ぐっぽぐっぽ ; グッポグッポ ; グポグポ(?) ; ぐぽぐぽ(?)

texts:
I came across this ぐっぽぐっぽ word while reading doujinshi.
"ぐっぽぐっぽセッXス穴ほじくってる"

From the images shown when I searched for its meaning, it seems to be the sound made when sucking something.
Does it have more specific meaning(s) or usage(s)?

Many thanks in advance.


texts: What is the difference between [新規]{しんき} and [新]{あたら}しい? Both mean "new". What are the nuances here?


texts: Is it possible to make a V-causative-te construction?

texts:
According to Genki II, "any causative verb can be interpreted either with the "make somebody do" reading or the "let somebody do" reading".

In English, it's not uncommon to hear a construction such as "Let it drop" or "Make him do it". So are there constructions such as 「落ちさせて」?


texts: Best way to say "if you don't mind ____" in this circumstance?

texts:
I'm not too sure if what I think I should say is correct so I would like to ask for some help. I'm trying to say something like, "If you don't mind, I'd like to know what game software you use" or something like that. I'm trying to be polite since I've never spoken to this person before, but at the same time I want to sound natural and not too formal if possible. Here's what I think I should send:

  もしよろしければ、ゲームソフトは何をお使いのは教えていただけませんですか。

Is this too polite? Or too messy?

Would something like this be better:

  聞いてもよろしければ、どんなゲームソフトを使っていますか。

So much for passing N4, haha. But anyways, that's all! Thank you!


texts: 漢字の読み方 versus 漢字を読むの

texts:
漢字の読み方はおろか

Can I also say

  漢字を読むのはおろか

Do they have the same meaning?


texts: What is the equivalent to old wives tales in Japanese

texts: What is the equivalent expression to "old wives tales"?


texts: What does 幸せになれると信じています mean?

texts: I was thinking it meant "I believe I can be happy"


texts: Could either どこに男の人がいますか and 男の人はどこですか be used?

texts: Another quick one here. Just wondering if both of the above are appropriate ways to voice the question 'Where is the man' (as well as contextually similar questions). Thank you!!


texts:
I've heard someone say that "一匹{いっぴき}" was used at the end of the original Godzilla movie, with Dr. Yamane saying that Godzilla wasn't the last one of "them".

Why did he use that, as opposed to "一頭{いっとう}"? Do Japanese speakers sometimes use the wrong counter to be ironic, or is there another reason?


texts: Difference between "doko desu ka" and "doko ga"

texts:
I've read: Difference between Xはどこ and どこがX.

I understand the top answer but I'm unsure of the "why" for why those two statements mean differently.

A) 「病院はどこですか。」
B) 「どこが病院ですか。」

They say that (A) is when the speaker has little idea of where the hospital is, or if it even exists while (B) assumes knowledge of a hospital. What part of the structure gives them this difference? I've only been learning Japanese for two weeks so I'm still pretty foreign to this. Is (A) structure used more? It's consistent with what I've learned like "nan desu ka".

Thank you!


texts: "y"-sound insertion after intervocalic ん

texts:
The pronunciation of intervocalic ん is a topic by itself, with the surrounding vowels tending to become nasalized, and ん itself maybe being pronounced as a nasal vowel. But that's not what I'm asking about here.

In 千円{せんえん}, I sometimes hear a "y"-sound inserted after the first ん, although I believe I don't pronounce it that way myself. On the other hand, in the city name 田園調布{でんえんちょうふ}, I don't hear this "y". (I hear this word less often, though).

At first, I thought it had something to do with whether the え came from ゑ or not, but it seems both 円 and 園 used to be with ゑ.

Am I just imagining things, or are the cases where this "y"-sound is and is not inserted? If so, what determines this?


texts:
I'm having some trouble understanding the "と言いうるほどに" grammar in the following excerpt from Natsume Soseki's Sanshiro. Does this mean something like: "to the point of being able to say (danger, danger, while being in a safe position)"?

  つまりあぶないあぶないと言いうるほどに、自分はあぶなくない地位に立っていれば、あんな男にもなれるだろう


texts:
I have came across the word in the following situation.

A: What is coming to your mind when I say the word 「両{りょう}親{しん}」？
B: おれは植木等のファンでね　とくにあの無{む}責{せき}任{にん}とかいう[歌]{うた}が大好きなんだ　両親イコールってのは...な　いい答{こた}えじゃないか

Another question: Does the word 「は...な」 mean 'flower'?


texts: What is the difference between まだしません and まだしていません?

texts:
These are the two sentences in question:

いいえ、まだしません。
いいえ、まだしていません。

From my understanding they both mean something like "No, I didn't yet" or even simply "No, not yet" but there must be a difference in translation/meaning or application that I'm missing obviously based around the ています which is present continuous correct?


texts: What's the difference between the ni and de particles?

texts: Okay, so I am studying the Japanese language and i am struggling to understand the に and で particles fully. from what i understand the de particle shows an action happening within a location, while ni shows the 'existence' of something or a specific direction something goes in. My two examples being ライブラリで眠った (i fell asleep in the library) and ライブラリにだった (i was in the library(is it right to use datta? or should it be ita?)). Not sure if the sentence is 100% but are they the correct particles in context?


texts: What is the difference between 残念ながら and 残念なことに

texts:
I hear both 残念ながら and 残念なことに when expressing that something was unfortunate before the actual sentence, much like the English "Unfortunately, ...".

However, I'm not sure on where these two phrases differ. Is their usage the same?


texts:
The author is complaining that she hates men's cooking but acknowledges that somewhere in the world there may be some that she likes. She then says:

  だからただしくは、今まで喰らってきた男の料理を私は好きにはなれなかった、と言うべきなんだろう。
  However, more accurately, I should probably say that I haven't come to like any of the men's cooking that I've eaten up until now.

I don't understand the function of the は in bold. I assume it's contrastive but I don't see what is being contrasted. I must admit that I'm not 100% happy with the は in ただしくは either. Perhaps it's related but I don't see how.

In fact the part I would expect to be contrasted, given the context, is 今まで. That's where I (no doubt wrongly) would have put the は. Confused.


texts:
When unit tests run successfully, in English I would say:

  Unit tests are passing.

But how to say that in Japanese?

My Japanese colleagues always say something that sounds a bit like "ユニットテストXX(tawli)ます". For years I have believed it was "ユニットテストが通ります" but I am pretty sure I am wrong since Google only has two hits for that sentence.


texts:
I found this sentence in a character quiz from a manga.

彼{かれ}のこれまでをクイズ形式でおさらいしていきましょう。

What does「彼のこれまで」mean in this sentence? It means "him up till now," right? How it is different from「これまでの彼」?


texts: What does 「予定調和」 mean? Not that stuff about Leibniz, but in daily chatter.


texts:
さらに冬になれば雪が積もって交通の便が悪いし、暮らすにはいささか苦労が多いのも難点だ

I'm familiar with Vのは　→　Vのも　for multiple nominalized items, but this use of it has me stumped.

"Because of the transportation issues after the snow piles up, the slight hardships: (consists of) many issues"?


texts:
Isn't の at the end considered feminine? Also, what should I use if I want to sound masculine or gender neutral?

See:


texts:
メアリーと翔子は友達のトムのことを話しています。(A)

The English translation was given as "Mary and Shoko are talking about their friend Tom."

The following two sentences I guess would mean the same.

メアリーと翔子は友達のトムのことについて話しています。(B)

メアリーと翔子は友達のトムについて話しています。(C)

So how does the feeling differ between (A) and (B)? Do people say (B)? Do people say (C)?　How does the feeling differ between (B) and (C)? Would anything change if they were talking about say a test rather than their friend Tom?

Sorry, if this is a duplicate. Please help explain what's happening here! よろしくおねがいします


texts:
兄ちゃんも行きたいって言ってたし。

I'm pretty sure it's 言. The only difference is the top mark is horizontal. Every time time I analyze it, though, I wind up with 言.

Anyway, my question regards the 行きた. According to my dictionary, it's the た form of 行く, though the inflection chart claims that would be 行った.

However, the き makes it look like the infinitive followed by a た.

If it is the た form, I would guess the literal translation to be:

Brother as well is going to have gone having said, definitely.

Possible meaning:

My brother also says he definitely is going to go.

If it's the infinitive imperative:

Brother as well is going to go having said, definitely.

Which, I'd make the same guess about meaning.


texts: Can't understand どんなに変わっていこうと笑い飛ばしてよ

texts:
I have already passed N2 exam, but I can't understand this sentence...

  どんなに変わっていこうと笑い飛ばしてよ

Please laugh away by "どんなに Let's change it" ??
It doesn't make much sense??


texts: How to write hiragana and katakana in Windows?

texts:
How to write hiragana and katakana in Windows (XP/Vista/7)? My current locale is Swedish and I have a hard time writing hiragana and katakana characters.

Usually I have a txt-file open in notepad and copy the individual characters, but that is (obviously) not efficient.

The same also applies for kanji.


texts:
In reference to Japanese sweets (わらび餅), I found this sentence:

見た目も透明感があり、涼しげで夏にピッタリです。
Its clear and cool appearance makes it perfect for summer.

Is 涼しげで two words?
涼しい　＋　で？
Could I also write the sentence this way, or would it make it grammatically incorrect or change the meaning?

見た目も透明感があり、涼しくて夏にピッタリです。


texts: when to use formal and informal conjugations?

texts: wakatta and wakarimashita are used sometimes in anime. I understand one is informal and the other is formal past tense. When do you have to use the informal and when to use the formal tenses of the verbs? Are there a set of rules or is it something vague?


texts:
Also seen as 「ハイきたぁ～！」.

Maybe it's used among young people.

It seems to express the idea that you have achieved your expectations, or something like that.

I hope someone can explain it better.

Yoroshiku.


texts:
What's the difference between 済ませる【すませる】 and 終える【おえる】?
I've tried looking at jisho.org, goo.ne.jp, ALC, HiNative and here, but I'm still unsure about the difference between these two words. I think it might be that 済ませる【すませる】 is used for things that are unpleasant to do. Am I right, is the difference something else, or are these words just synonyms?


texts: Is it true that we cannot say the feeling of a third person using たい, ほしい, 楽しい?

texts:
I heard that we cannot describe the feeling of a third person using たい, ほしい, 楽しい, and others? Is it true?

For example, the following sentences are considered incorrect.

あの人は楽しかったです。
亀は寂しいです。
彼はお好み焼きを食べたいです。
彼女は赤ちゃんがほしいです。


texts: Help understanding the uses of 「とても」in this sentence

texts:
This is an isolated example sentence from my kanji practice workbook:

  土地の値段が高くて、とても家など買えない。

I think the gist of this sentence is: "The price of land is high, and I can barely afford to buy a house, etc."

I know that, if the sentence wanted to say "many houses," they would use 「たくさん」, so I am making the assumption that 「とても」goes along with 「買えない」, and thus has the meaning of "barely" or "hardly", but I'm not confident that that's actually what is happening. I'm also wondering why 「あまり」wouldn't be used, given the negative verb conjugation?

If anyone knows a specific rule, I'd appreciate your insight!


texts:
I recently started watching 宇宙よりも遠く場所 on Netflix and there's a catchy reoccurring insert song that gets stuck in my head. Looking at the lyrics, I'm confused by the second to last line:
波に揺られてかたふりして進んでゆくよ
To parse it, I tried adding some particles back in:
波に揺られていかたのふりをして進んでゆくよ
Giving me my guess of:
Pretending to be swayed (rocked?) by the waves, (we) move forward.
But I've never seen the かた (way of doing something) + ふりをする (pretending) structures used together before and it seems awkward somehow... Am I close?


texts: What is the subject when time passes in a narrative (eg １ヶ月を経る）

texts:
(This might be a quick easy question but sometimes the answers to these are unexpected.)

What is the subject in the following sentences？ I've given my best efforts for the examples 1-4 below.  (I am increasingly in favour of my alternative answer but still not sure.)

  1か月を経ても音沙汰{おとさた}がない｜A month has passed [elapsed] and we have had no news.
  なす事もなく日を経る｜spend [pass] one's days in idleness
  事故以来3年を経た｜It has been three years since the accident.
  2年を経て彼らは結婚した｜They got married [two years later / after two years

For what they are worth, my initial answers were:
1. 時,
2. 彼／私／自分,
3. 時 (same as 1) ,
4. 彼ら

But alternatively perhaps they are all 時 as in the sentence:

  時は止まる ことなく 流れる。
  Time passes with out stopping (equivalent to "Time waits for noone")

In sentence 2 there is a clause modifying 日 and in 4 we have two separate clauses.

This is because:

Although the clause is transitive in Japanese (or at least has a "spatial を" as in 鳥が湖を飛ぶ, the bird flies over the lake), the English equivalent has a specified period as the subject with an intransitive verb (as in "two years passed")


texts:
What may be the difference between the usage of チャンス and 機会 ?

For example:

1) これは機会だぜ！

2) これはチャンスだぜ！


texts: Should it be のにです or ですのに when stating an omitted 2nd sentence in polite sentence?

texts:
In polite sentences when the 2nd sentence is omitted, should the です be before or after the particles?

  A: 彼女はいつも勉強しません。

which one should B say?

  B: 学生なのにです。

or

  B: 学生ですのに。

  A: お金はありませんのか。

which one should B answer?

  B: 学生なのでです。

or

  B: 学生ですので。

(Feel free to correct any wrong grammar in either B or A. If no one points it out, I'll assume I am right.)

The real question is the position of です. ので indicates reason for the 2nd sentence and のに means despite. And in plain sentences the です is omitted. Am I right guys (for the facts I have shown)?


texts:
I want to say "many Dutch (go by | take the | use the ) bike". (or car,...)

I've come up with:

  おおぜいのオランダ人は自転車{じてんしゃ}で行{い}きます。

and

  おおぜいのオランダ人｛じん｝は自転車{じてんしゃ}を使{つか}います。

But they seem very constructed to me and I'm not sure whether you can omit the thing for which they use a bike. But I want to omit that!

How can I say this properly?


texts: Meaning of XXをYYと認める：「形容動詞を品詞と認めない立場」

texts:
On the 助動詞 wikipedia page there is this sentence and I can't make sense of the part in bold:

  助詞「の」「ので」「のに」等が続く場合に使われる。連体形だが名詞を修飾することはできない。なお、形容動詞を品詞と認めない立場では別の考え方になる。

Here is my try :

  (Those 連体形 are) only used when preceding things like 「の」「のに」「ので」. However, a noun cannot use those 連体形 in order to modify (another element). Moreover, from the view point which does not recognize na-adjectives and (???) parts of speech, there is another way of thinking ???.

May somebody help me so as to understand this part?


texts: What's the difference between 閉じる and 塞ぐ?

texts:
So i was doing Kanji Quiz, and i stumbled with 塞ぐ Kanji. I know 閉じる is used for eyes,etc. But 塞ぐ also has the same definition with 閉じる.
Here are the definitions.
Definitions

塞ぐ

to stop up; to close up; to block (up); to plug up; to shut up; to cover (ears, eyes, etc.); to close (eyes, mouth)
...

閉じる

to close (e.g. book, eyes, meeting, etc.); to shut

Source : jisho.org

My Questions :

What's the difference between them?
Are both have the same nuance ?
When to use ?
Both are often used in daily ? (e.g. Daily Conversation , News, Educational term, etc)

Would be great if someone could provides some Example sentences too, Thank You in advance!


texts: Use of personal pronouns when talking to different "ranked" people. (In the same conversation)

texts:
First time posting here.

I have a question that have been bothering me for quite a while.
I wonder how to use the personal pronouns (僕/俺 & お前/きみ/あなた) in a conversation with different "ranked" people. In the same conversation.

Let me put it in a made up example, and let's just say I am talking to my best friend (which to whom I would use 俺 for myself and お前 to my friend) and a teacher that we both respect (which to whom I would use 僕 for myself and あなた[or his/her name] to the teacher).
Can the japanese pronouns be mixed depending on who you are talking to in the one conversation or should I just stick to the formal pronouns?

I know that you can skip the formal verb and sentence endings when talking to the friend but should I also stick to one pronoun instead of changing back and forth?

Hope I didn't make the question too complicated and thanks in advance!


texts: Can someone help me determine what this SFX/onomatopoeia is?

texts:
Here's an image of it:

It kind of looks like ダダ (da da) to me, but then I'm not sure what to make of the last mark. Could someone offer his insight, please?


texts:
I am curious how many kanji a normal Japanese person is able to read. Since the Joyo kanji are learned by middle school, I assume that as a person goes through high school and university many more beyond the basic 2,000 are picked up.

For a typical 30-ish year old person in Tokyo with some university degree, how many kanji would he be able to read?

Furthermore, how often would he have to look up unknown kanji?


texts:
日本語を話す
  日本語で話す

I found that those two sentences can be translated as "I speak Japanese".
Is there a difference regarding the particles?


texts:
「熄み」appears in a song「インフェルノ」

  照らすは闇 僕らは歩き慣れてきた日々も淘汰
  夢は安泰な暮らしだが 刺激不足故にタラタラ
  照らすは熄み 僕らの歩き慣れていた道はどこだ
  時はたまに癪だが 温もりに包まれ只

It is pronounced やみ in the song, the same as 闇. I have never seen this word before. And strangely enough I can't find out much about it. A page that strives to explain the song lyrics shows 「熄み」 in the lyrics but a couple lines down in the explanation section it is replaced by 「闇」. Do they have the same meaning? What is 「熄み」's deal (etymology, currency, literary examples)?


texts: help with breaking down this sentence: 私が今まで見た中で最も面白いもの

texts:
私が今まで見た中で最も面白いもの

I (think?) understand the meaning of the sentence but I have a hard time understanding the grammar.
My two questions are:

What is the role of the で In mid sentence? I’ve been told that で  particle can be used to specify the context to a verb which means it can only be used when there’s a verb in the sentence and I don’t see a verb here. The only other で That I know of is the transformed version of だ for compound sentences which I don’t think would make much sense here?

Why use 私が Instead of 私は? Is there a specific reason/ what would it imply otherwise? I’m still new to particles so I have a hard time telling apart the exact conditions for using either of the two, so this might help me understand a bit more. (I do know the basics of the differences between が and は)

I found this somewhere on Twitter so it might not be abide by the grammar rules and if so I would like to see how it should be said in a way that’s grammatically correct.


texts: According to jisho.org they have the same meaning. How to know which to use?


texts:
I'm wondering about these, mainly because I don't see how they change the meaning.

  これほど確かな証拠がある上は、Ａが犯人だと認めないわけにはいかない。
  Since there's such solid evidence, there's no denying that A's the culprit. [?]

Could I replace 上は with 上 or 上に, if so how would the meaning change?

How about in these cases?

  彼の姉は成績優秀な上、スポーツもよくできる。
  彼の姉は美人の上に性格も良い。

In reading them I think "in addition to" but if I were to use them I might stutter because I don't get how they differ.

Thank you!


texts:
Currently going through my textbook and we are learning about どの

例えば: サントスさんはどの人ですか。。あの背が高くて、髪が黒い人です

This sounded awfully familiar to me. So I went back and remembered we learned どれ too.

例えば:ミラーさんの傘はどれですか。。。あの青い傘です

It says in the grammar book we use どの with a noun. Could this be the difference?

for example can we say:

サントスさんはどれひとですか

Im not sure why, i am not a japanese speaker or an expert but this just sounds really really weird to me. For some reason サントスさんはどれですか, seems to sound better and seems to imply the same thing.

Is there a way I can rewrite ミラーさんの傘はどれですか using どの?

Any insight is appreciated.


texts: How to refer to something from a certain country?

texts:
I am beginning to learn japanese all over again (its been over 10 years) and I have started taking classes.

My teacher spoke of 3 suffix to describe people, language and item from a certain region

  Nihon-go = japanese languange

  Nihon-jin = japanese person

The third was how to describe an item, but he said he would explain what the suffix was later.

My curiosity has gotten the best of me, can someone tell me what the suffix is for describing an item from japan?

Thanks!


texts: Female names containing "black" and "white"

texts:
What are the most common Japanese names with the word black and white?

According to google "white" = shiro and "black" = kuro.

For example white and black princess: Shirohime, Kurohime. I'm not sure though if these are valid names in Japanese.

I'm looking for names with meaning as I'm currently writing a non-fictional story.


texts: What's the difference between にしたら and の上では

texts:
There has been a post for the difference between にしたら and として and にとって, but I haven't been able to find anything about the phrase の上では which also supposedly means "from the viewpoint of" or "according to"
So what's the difference here?


texts: What's the difference between 両方 and 双方? I am definitely more acquainted with 両方, so I guess it is used for a wider variety of things, but could anyone tell me the specifics of what they can or cannot pertain to?


texts: How should we read/translate long sentences that end in a question?

texts:
This is a question how to read long complicated sentences, and by default how we should translate them because you can't really be sure you have understood something if you can't say it in your mother tongue.
It took me a while to work out what the writer was saying in the sentence below. I may still be wrong but it consists of a very long sentence ending in a question (in bold). I turned this in to one short question followed by an explanation of that short question.
Is this the right way to do it?
Background: This is an essay on Ralph Emerson, an American philosopher who said that people spend too much focussing on the future. They should live for moment. He drew a comparison to   a rose which is no less for not being in full bloom all its life.

一本のバラがそうであるように、自分が今ここに生きていることが、自分や神と言った人間を越えた大きな存在に、無条件で喜ばれていると気づく時、歯を食いしばっても力みが抜けて、前を向く勇気と力が、穏やかな喜びとともに、心の内側から沸いてくるのではないでしょうか。そのように気づくことが、エマソンの言う「今を生きる」ことのように思えます。
Just like the rose, is not living for the moment the time you become aware of the pleasure of an existence which transcends yourself or a person such as a god? When you are gritting your teeth and losing your strength, the power and courage to go on comes with that serene pleasure aroused in your heart.  It seems that  this awareness is what Emerson meant when he talked of "living for the moment".

(And please feel free to improve on my "flowery" translation. I am still not sure why 喜ばれている is passive.)
Source: 中上級日本語、April 2014


texts: What is the difference 「光景」「情景」and 「場面」？

texts: I know that these terms translate roughly to scene, spectacle, or scenery. What's the difference among them?


texts: Meaning of フレンチでは in 知る人ぞ知るシェフ

texts:
This is from a review for a restaurant:https://www.tripadvisor.jp/ShowUserReviews-g298110-d7405583-r439370408-Salle_a_Manger_F-Fukui_Fukui_Prefecture_Hokuriku_Chubu.html

  フレンチでは知る人ぞ知るシェフ

Does it mean: "A chef known  by a selected group of French (people)"?
I guess では is marking the agent 'フレンチ'. This seems to be the case with other example sentences I found like:

  神ならぬ身では知るよしもない
  There is no way of knowing by a simple mortal

which apparently is the same as saying:

  神ならぬ身の知る由もなし

Here の is marking 神ならぬ身 as the agent/subject same as では.

Is this right so far? Is フレンチ refering to people?


texts: Grammar vs. politeness: a tale of two evils

texts:
In "The structure of the Japanese language", Susumo Kuno uses the example (p. 130)

  John wa sensei ni kono hon o {moratta / itadaita}.

Both have a problem:

itadaku should be used only in the first person,
morau "would result in sentences expressing a lack of proper respect for the teacher".

itadaku is "used often because there is no better way of expressing the intended meaning"

Is there really no third option?


texts:
I've been trying to figure out how to say something like:

"I'd like to familiarise myself with XXX before the meeting so do you have any information that you can pass me before hand." (I.e. I have an agenda, but it's the first time I am interacting with the project so I don't know what the project is. I am asking for an overview of the project)

For "familiarise" the only thing I could find was 慣れ親しむ{なれしたしむ}, but I'm not sure if it's natural or not.

So my sentence would be:

事前に慣れ親しむために共有できる情報や資料などありますか？

Any comments / improvements?


texts:
In my understanding, the particle の can be used to concatenate two nouns, such as

私の本
アメリカの選手

Today, I found

先生へのプレゼント
私達からのプレゼント

Question

Why can の be preceded by へ and から (or maybe other particles) when concatenating two nouns?


texts: What is differences between 頑張ろう　と　頑張りましょう?

texts: I am reading Choukai script and I dont understand what is difference between Ganbarou and Ganbarimashou. Both mean "Lets do our best" ? When to use masshou pattern and rou pattern ?


texts:
私は漢字ドリル本から漢字を勉強している。例文は”耳をすます”。

The sentence stands alone with no context.


texts: Choosing the right prefix of the ko-so-a-do series

texts:
When talking to native speakers, I find that I'm often corrected for picking the wrong prefix when using words from the ko-so-a-do series (as in これ、そちら、あそこ、どんな、etc). My confusion mainly involves ko-so-a (the do prefix being simpler since it  indicates a question).

What I've been taught is to choose based on a concrete or abstract idea of proximity, which is simple enough for the following particular series:

これ: thing close to in-group
それ: thing close to out-group
あれ: thing distant from both in and out-group

which also works nicely for the その、この、あの series. But I find the following difficult:

Quotation of oneself or another person:

  彼女は{そう、こう、ああ}言いました。

Talking about location of oneself or another person:

  Xは{ここ、そこ、あそこ}で旅行している間に、...

Emphasis of some property:

  {こんな、そんな、あんな}に美味しい魚を食べたことがないって。

Those are maybe not the best/most natural example sentence, and the particular choice here is maybe not so relevant. Rather, I am interested in a more general description of how to make these types of choices in an abstract context where proximity is not well-defined.


texts: What is the name of this song? Is it for voice tone practicing?

texts:
The mother of pianist, Nobuyuki Tsujii, sings him this song. What is the name of the song? A link to the lyrics, or perhaps a better video of it being sung, would be so appreciated.

It's purpose is to train your singing voice to consistently hit different octaves? Similar to "do re mi fa sol la si do", but is she actually singing lyrics? Is this a lullaby?


texts: As the title indicates; I'm doing some kanji studying, and these two came up with the exact same translation which is "rank", there are no synonyms given so I'm not sure what is the difference between these two and in which circumstances I'd find vocabulary with one or the other ?


texts:
I tried searching on Jisho for the following kanji (凶々) as written in the book, but nothing shows up, even after I type in only the ruby script (magamaga), none of the kanji match what is in the book.

  手には、凶々{まがまが}しく光るナイフではなく、　ボアのついた防寒服を抱えている。


texts:
What is the difference between ばよかったです and べき?

  あのバスに乗ればよかったです。
  I should have taken that bus.

  あのバスに乗るべきだった。
  I should have taken that bus.

  このバスに乗れるはずじゃなかった。
  I wasn’t supposed to get on this bus.

  簡単なはずです。
  It should be easy.


texts: 雨を降っています - grammatically correct sentence or just typo?

texts:
It seems that there are around 14-17K Google results on each of "雨を降って" and "雪を降って" keywords. Is 降る yet another intransitive verb that are used with を? Does it mean something like "rain on me" and "snow on me", or is it simply typo?

Some sample usages taken from Google results:

今夜雨を降っている
雨を降っても傘ささないのが仇となった
沢山の雪を降っているの画像

N.B. I don't think either "through" or "leaving something behind" interpretations can work with "を降る".


texts:
For full context see this document, exercise two (bottom of the page):
https://www.docdroid.net/a1B7uAr/img.pdf.html

I don't know what the following expressions mean exactly:

  女の人はご主人にどうしてほしいですか。

  どうかしたんですか。

This に in sentence 1 irritates me.
Shall it mean "the woman, what/how does she wish from the clerk to do?"

In sentence 2 I just dont recognize the phrase and Im somehow able to get through it bit by bit ^^


texts: Meaning of 率いる in the following sentence

texts:
Context: in a manga, a boxer is talking about the president of a boxing gym. What is the meaning of 率いる in the following sentence? I know it means to lead or to command, but I don't think it is the exact meaning here. Could it be similar to to train or to guide in this case? (I split the sentence as it is in the manga)

  何せ会長は… / / 世界・日本ベルト保持者複数を率いるジムの責任者… / / 結果出せる選手しか相手できないですからね。

My translation attempt:

  If the president is the manager of a gym that trains (?) many World and
  Japanese title holders, it is because they can only fight boxers that
  achieved good results.

Also, could you help me understand the general meaning of the sentence? What it means is that the many boxers of this gym won a title because the president forced them to fight only the strongest opponents? Thank you for your help!


texts: What are the different ways of saying to agree or disagree with a person?

texts:
There seems to be many different ways of saying either to agree or to disagree with a person.

Which words are there, in what circumstances should they be used, and are there any relevant examples of their usage?

One example is I'd like to be able to say "It's OK if you don't agree with me" but I don't know how to.

(This is a spinoff question as I thought the original was getting too broad. For finer points and examples on using に同意する to agree/disagree with a person, see also How to use ～に同意する to agree or disagree with a person?)


texts:
What's the 2nd kanji in the image below?
I know that the first one is for oni, the second is 'mushi'.
Can't seem to figure out what comes before 'mushi' though !


texts: "に"の連続使用は避けるべきでしょうか？

texts:
A {
    B {
       C {
           D
       }
    }
}

以上の構造を説明したい時に、僕はいつも「AにBにCにはDがあります」とか「AにBにCにDについて」というな言葉を使います。自分が書いた文章を声出して読んでみたら、何か違和感を感じます。こういう場合は言い換え言葉、またもっといい表現の書き方がございましたら、ご教示をお願いします。


texts:
I was reading 雪女
Can anyone please explain me the difference between 白い女 and 色の白い女. Especially the usage of 色の and why, 色の precedes 白い. Also, shouldn't be more like 白い coming before 色, as in 白い色の女 (Women with white colour, or literally women with colour (that is white)). As, 色の白い女 sounds more like white women of colour, or colour white women.
教えてください


texts: How to ask "Is your name common in Japan?"


texts:
「雨にぬれる」
Why does it have to be used に in this phrase


texts:
Context is the song 「その血の記憶」：

空白のラストページに…　　 　　　　Into [dative of motion towards] a blank LAST PAGE,
そのこぶしを叩き込めーッ！　　　　 [Star Platinum] will throw that fist (???)
End of THE WORLD！その血の記憶！ End of THE WORLD! That blood's memory!
(オラオラオラオラオラオラオラオラ／無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄{むだむだむだむだむだむだむだむだ})

Point of confusion is 叩き込め. It definitely derives from 叩{たた}き込{こ}む. The conjugation is the problem.

It ends in an e-series mora so it should be either imperative or participial.
me is not a valid contraction for any *ite, so it can't be participial.
Therefore it's imperative, "Throw that fist into a blank LAST PAGE!"

Although this makes syntactic sense it seems wrong, as if this were an imperative it would be the only imperative in the entire song which would be a massive shift in structure. What is the syntax here?
(For the record, the JoJo wiki translates this into english with a future indicative.)


texts:
I found a similar.question here on stackexchange, but I can't properly understand the answers given there. And the textbook Genki doesn't give much of a detailed explanation on the plural form.

What I've got so far is たち -　the ultimate suffix which helps to make the word plural, for example 私たち or あなたたち.

I think it only works with pronouns? If so, can it be loosely translated as "and company"?

But then how can I form the plural form of other words? As far as I know it's not right to add this suffix to every existing noun to make it plural.

For example, if I want to say "pictures", would that be something like 絵画たち or 絵画ら? Or are you supposed to find a proper kanji that represents the plural form in this case?

The other way I know of doing this is to just "double" the noun like this: - やまやま.　２ｘ山 = mountains, right? But does it work for the example above?

And what about ら, eg. かれら. Can it be
used for living things etc. as well?

Finally, can you use this way of turning words into a plural form in a formal/informal context?


texts:
From: No Game No Life ep.2 timestamp: 00:05
Context: One of the characters is asking what's going on, and the other is confused about what exactly is being asked.

どういうことですの？
え？何が？

What's supposed to be understood after 何が in this incomplete sentence?


texts: Does しとこう mean what I think it means in casual speech?

texts:
Dear fellow lovers of Japanese language,

I've come across this dialogue in a visual novel:

  …って、もうじき七時か。秘密の話はこのヘンにしとこう。いつ人がやってくるか判らないし、朝になったら学生らしく振舞わないとな

The implied meaning is unambiguous here, as it is that they should stop talking secrets and act more like students.

However, I'm at my wit's end with the grammar in the second sentence. Is しとこう a volitional form of しとく (a shortened ～しておく)? That is, does 秘密の話はこのヘンにしとこう。 carry the meaning that they should put these stories down [in preparation] for what happens in the next sentence? It would make sense to me this way but I'm very inexperienced with Japanese language so please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thank you for your patience.


texts: When should an embedded question take と?

texts:
From this article:

  ＮＨＫは６月〜７月、１８歳と１９歳の人に平和についてどう考えているか(*)聞きました。
  Between June and July NHK asked 18 and 19 year olds what they thought about peace.
  この日を知っているかと聞くと、...
  When they were asked if they knew this date ...

I don't understand why と is absent in the place I marked (*) in the first sentence, but is required in the second sentence.

I thought I was happy with the idea of embedded questions with verbs like 知る that don't use と, but I'm a bit confused about when I should use と with verbs where it can be used.

How would the meanings of both sentences change with and without と?


texts: For example I want to say "I ran 5km in 23mins 59 secs" or "It took me 23mins 59 secs to run 5k" or "It took me an hour to tidy my room" etc etc etc.


texts: How do you say terms of endearment (pet names) in Japanese?

texts:
I have this list of 愛称

  "My dearest Heart," "Dearest Mine," "my love," "my dear," "my darling," "my pet"

that I need to quote in my academic paper (the Japanese author is listing possible pet names[1] that his Japanese friend could use to speak with his new wife plus the ones he himself uses for his fiancée), but when I tried looking up Japanese translations for them, I only found a few phrases repeatedly show up as equivalents for English terms of endearment, but which don't seem to differentiate between the English terms specifically or literally:

  「いとしい人」、「親愛なる」、「愛しき人」、and「ねえ君」(this last one seems to be also applicable to people other than non-romantic partners)

Did the author have any Japanese equivalents in mind when he made this suggestion? In Japanese, how can these 6 expressions be differentiated? I especially don't know how to translate "heart" and "mine" (「私のいとしい心」?「親愛なる私のもの」? 「私のもの」doesn't sound right to me, as if the speaker thought of the wife as a possession).

[1] Source: Private letter, 宮部金吾


texts: What is the origin and usage of the word いい?

texts: According to Denshi Jisho, いい and よい share the same kanji, and that both roughly mean "good". Why are there two different pronunciations despite the similarity, and what are some ways to figure out which one to use?


texts: Why can't passive be used to express dissatisfaction from somebody failing to do something?

texts:
From Genki II:

  You cannot express your suffering from somebody failing to do something either, because you cannot add the passive suffix to an already negated verb.  Therefore you cannot use the passive to say things like "Professor Yamashita was annoyed because students did not come to his class".

I don't understand why I can't just use the negative form of a passive verb.  So from the above example, I can use 休まれる, but これない can't express the same idea?


texts:
I'm trying to translate a song as practice and I absolutely cannot figure out what this one line means:

  「蝕んだ身体に愛を入れて欲しいと
  慣れない産声を上げた」

(It's a bit graphic, and I apologize!)

Anyway, I get the whole wanting-to-put-your-love-into-a-rotted-body thing, but the second part is throwing me off.

Is the と particle in this case being used as a quotation marker? That's what I'm thinking because of the 「産声を上げた」...though apparently that phrase can also mean "being born". And the adjective before it confuses me even more.


texts:
I ran along this sentence while reading a novel online. To put it into context, 3 guys were drinking beer at home to celebrate something. Guy 1 had his arm around Guy 2's neck in a friendly way. Guy 2 then said this.

早く外さねーとオトされっぞ

I'm slightly beyond a beginner in terms of a japanese but the only part I understand here is the 早く. As far as I know, 外さねー has mupltiple meanings and the biggest problem is I don't know what オト here is supposed to be.

If this info helps at all, Guy 2 was in his 20s while Guy 1 was in his 30s


texts: Why does 見合せ mean a service interruption?

texts: Etymologically, why does 見合せ ("exchanging a look") mean "interruption, postponement"?


texts:
What is the meaning of this phrase?

たなかさんも[たまに]{LLL}はどうぞ

I don't understand the meaning of たまに.


texts:
In my JLPT workbook, it has a section which gives a list of idioms that use [虫]{むし}.

  仕事{しごと}の虫 (worker bee)

  点取{てんとり}虫 (derogatory term for a student who tries too hard)

  虫がいい (selfish)

  泣{な}き虫 (cry baby)

  弱{よわ}虫 (weakling)

  腹{はら}の虫がおさまらない (extremely angry)

  虫が知{し}らせる (forebode)

  虫が好{す}かない (antipathy to)

  虫の居所{いどころ}が悪{わる}い (in a bad mood)

  娘{むすめ}に悪{わる}い虫がつく (daughter has a lousy boyfriend)

I'm curious about the origins of the "bug" being used in these phrases.

In one sense, some of them are evocative of a sort of character, a "bug" that is present when things are bad, when there's a sense of foreboding, when one feels down. Almost like the bug is an entity that causes trouble wherever it goes.

In another sense, sometimes the person being described is the "bug", as if they have become the "bug" by being weak, by being a drone, by being a whiner, or whatever the case is.

So, do some or all of these uses of 虫 come from the same origin?

What exactly is "the bug" when it's the first sense of a character that is present, such as when it's "in the stomach"?

Bonus questions:

Is there any connection in terms of origins between the phrases 「腹{はら}の虫がおさまらない」 and 「腹が立つ」?

Is 「仕事{しごと}の虫」 equivalent to "workaholic"? Or does it not have negative connotations of over-work?

Is 「点取{てんとり}虫」 equivalent to "teacher's pet"? Or does sucking up to the teacher having no relation?


texts:
I found this example sentence in grammar book:

門の前に車が止まっています。
A car is parked in front of the gate.

I was told that instead of 止まる,　停まる would be a more accurate fit for "parked".
Does that mean the original would mean- "A car is stopped in front of the gate."?
Furthermore, I was told that the correct way to translate the original English sentence would be

門の前に車が停まっています。

Looking at that, I wondered the right way to say: "A car is being parked in front of the gate."
These are the responses I got from Japanese natives. Please tell me if all of them are correct translations or which one is the most accurate.

A car is being parked in front of the gate.
門の前に車が停まろうとしています。
門の前に車が止まろうとしています。
門の前に車が停められつつあります。      (*written language)
門の前に車が止められつつあります。      (*written language)
門の前に車が駐車しようとしています。
門の前に車が今ちょっと停まっています。
門の前に車が停められようとしています。

I guess I am confused because it is my understanding that -ろうとしています can mean "trying to -" as well is "verb-ing". If 門の前に車が停められつつあります is the most accurate way to translate the sentence, what would be the most common, colloquial way?
Bonus question- are any of these examples of げんざいしんこうけい
【現在進行形】?


texts: Why are Japanese vowels occasionally rhotacised in songs?

texts:
This might be a bit weird, but when I listen to Japanese music, sometimes I notice "r"-like sounds in syllable-final positions, or between vowels where there should be no [r]. I know that /r/ is not allowed in a syllable-final or word-final position, so I'm trying to figure out what exactly I'm hearing in these songs. If there really is an [r] sound in these positions, why is it legal?

I've tried searching for information on Japanese dialects and allophonic variation, since I thought that's what it would be related to, but I can't find anything that seems related. I mostly find things about language acquisition, like native Japanese speakers learning English, or vice versa, and generally concerning syllable-initial [l/r]. My only guess is that what I hear is nasalisation that I'm interpreting as rhotacisation due to my own dialect, but the vowels I hear rhotacised aren't always connected to nasal consonants or anything, so I'm left wondering why they would be nasalised...

The first example that comes to mind is in the song "Smile Ichiban Ii Onna" by An Cafe, right around 3:28, where I hear a very distinct [r] at the end of 「たいよう」. Immediately followed by 「さ」:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlO2N2t6MA8&feature=youtu.be&t=3m28s

The other example is from a band called 摩天楼オペラ. The singer's pronunciation is often rhotic to my ears. The first line of this song is 「どれだけの善意が どれだけの悪意が この地上にへばりついてる」, but when he sings 「善意」（ぜんい） it sounds like he's replacing the ん with a schwar or something similar. And when he sings 「悪意」（あくい） I hear an [r] inserted between the く and い. As the song goes on, I continue to hear rhoticisation in various vowels, but not as remarkably...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxCie8nujj8&feature=youtu.be&t=40s

Sorry if this question isn't as detailed/focused as it should be. It's just something strange I noticed and can't seem to find anything about.

**Possibly relevant information: The other day, I happened upon a pinyin pronunciation chart, and noticed another vowel sound that sounds rhotic, but technically isn't (probably). Obviously, this is a completely different language, but it made me remember my long-time question here. In the first paragraph below the chart itself, it talks about the difference between production of the "sh" and "x" sounds. And while I can't hear the difference between these consonant sounds themselves, they drastically change the following vowel. Specifically, the "x" makes the following vowel sound rhotacised to my ears.... but that's as far as I can get with it. Having my tongue in such a low position (for "x" production) lowers the following vowel production as well, and also seems to prevent my lips from rounding or stretching to the same degree as when producing my normal "sh" sound... But again, I don't notice anything that would cause a similar lowering effect in all of my examples...

I also realised looking back that I didn't include the very first example of this I heard: Miyavi's "Jibun Kakumei." I don't hear it anywhere else in the song except in the word 「言葉」, which sounds like "kerterba" to me. It's softer than the other examples, the [o] sound has become like the German "ö," or [œ] in IPA...


texts:
The fact that ドンピシャ (meaning "right on, fitting to a T") is written in katakana makes me wonder if it comes from a foreign phrase, but I can't figure out which one (out of the European languages I speak). Does anyone know?

Or, if it's an originally Japanese word, can it be spelled with kanji, and if so, how?

Thanks for your answer!


texts: Would a Japanese person say "Yay, no school!" or "Yay, no classes!"?

texts:
Quick question about word choice, but do the Japanese more often refer to school sessions as "school" like most in America, or "classes" like some parts of Europe?

Also what words would be used most often to describe a school session?
And lastly, what exactly would a child say that's equivalent to "Yay, no school!"?


texts: What is the commonly used phrase (if any) to convey the meaning of "detail-oriented analyst"?

texts:
I found the phrase

  オブジェクト指向プログラミング

for "object oriented programming".

Does 詳細指向な分析者 sound natural for saying "detail-oriented analyst"?


texts: What is the difference between 希望（きぼう）and 気持ち（きもち）？

texts:
I am new to learning the Japanese language.  I am a bit confused about the difference between 希望{きぼう} and 気持{きも}ち.

Can someone please explain the difference between them and show how to use them in a sentence?


texts: Should: ほうがいい、べき、ことだ

texts:
So far, I have learned about three different ways to say "should" in Japanese. I'm interested in knowing the differences among ほうがいい、べき and ことだ. What are some situations that each form would be better suited in? Isn't べき more formal and stronger?

お菓子を食べすぎないほうがいい。(I've noticed that ほうがいい is sometimes translated to "it's better to do")
お菓子を食べすぎないことです。
お菓子を食べすぎるべきではない。

All translate to "You shouldn't eat candy too much" but what is the nuance in each?


texts: "A:　いつごろ切符を予約しましたか。 B:　３か月前です”　why should it be です but not でした?


texts:
Source: 「スピーチ・バルーン」by 大滝詠一

想い出のブラス・バンドが
耳元を過ぎる

The Brass Band of memories
Passes by close to the ears (playing)
Would that be an accurate translation of 耳元を過ぎる?
よろしくお願いいたします。


texts: 96人も遅刻するような学校なんだな。- Confusing use of ような

texts:
96人も遅刻するような学校なんだな

In this sentence, I've done my best to translate as 'that is like 96 people being late for school'

but, ような here is confusing me. it makes me think of this sentence as 'that is like a school where 96 people are late'


texts:
It has long been a pet peeve of mine when people talk about apes calling them "monkeys".

Recently I've seen bonobos being called 猿 in an anime, so from that it's pretty clear that 猿 also refers to apes informally in Japanese. So I've been wondering:

Does 猿 also mean ape in technical/scientific Japanese speech?

From what I was able to gather from Wikipedia and dictionaries, apes (Hominoidea) are ヒト上科 and great apes (Hominidae, which is what a bonobo is) are called ヒト科.

But that does not clarify whether 猿 can be used technically to refer to them, or even if 猿 is accepted nomenclature in scientific/technical speech at all.


texts: てんで方向ちがいじゃない！ DB Chapter2 Double negatives

texts:
Translated as: "It's completely in the wrong direction!"

  てんで = Completely / At all

  方向【ほうこう】 = direction

  ちがい = wrong

  じゃない = is not

I'm struggling with doble negatives in japanese. In my mind I'd translate this as: "Is not the wrong direction at all!".

For the intended meaning, I wonder why is not correct to just say: てんで方向ちがいだ！

I'd understand that meaning if the ending was a question, as in: てんで方向ちがいじゃないの？ , but this was not the case.


texts: I have a doubt about this sentence that i found in a book : 太古から続く闇が降り落ちるよりな部屋が現れる

texts:
I am reading a japanese book in order to learn kanji and i found this sentence :

太古から続く闇が降り落ちるよりな部屋が現れる

In case if you are wondering about context, a character has just opened a door in a dark basement. As far as i understood he discovered a room and darkness dissapear or something like that. My problem is first part of sentence :
太古から続く闇が降り落ちる... (it says something about darkness falling down but what is confunsing me is first part "since ancient times 太古から" because it does not makes sense in that context)

If someone can help me to understand, that would be nice :D


texts:
Context: the manager of a boxing gym is arguing with a strong but problematic boy (問題児, he is arrogant and often violently beats other trainees) named Kamishiro and his trainer-sister that train in the gym. It is not clear (at least to me) if he doesn't want them in his gym anymore, but he says that his gym won't support them in their next match:

じゃ今夜の試合は神奈ジム【オレら】の支援抜きでな
キミ達２人で勝手にしたまえ
これ以上はつき合いきれんよ

In the end, the manager and other guys from the gym show up in the locker room the night of the match, but Kamishiro doesn't look happy to see them:

Manager: おちょくるのも大概にしろよ……  神代オオ
Kamishiro: 有難メーワクな支援　拒否るのにどこがおちょくってるって？

I understand that the boy is rejecting their support, but what exactly 有難 means here? Why is it used without い or く ending? I think the missing ending should be く, so my translation attempt is:

I am thankfully rejecting your annoying support, in which way am I
making fun of you?

Is it correct? Here you can see the page where they first argue and here the page with the sentence in question. Thank you for your help!


texts: What is the hiragana sound that monkeys make in Japanese (like わんわん for dogs)?


texts: Is there any difference between 意志薄弱【いしはくじゃく】, 薄志弱行【はくしじゃっこう】, and 優柔不断【ゆうじゅうふだん】?

texts: ...Because they all seem very similar to me.


texts:
I was under the impression that the word 翻る（ひるがえる）is an intransitive verb (which is also how it appears to be defined in dictionaries), but I've come across a use of it that appears to be transitive, in the phrase "今世紀に入ってからの歴史を翻っても…".

My question is, how should the word be interpreted in this context?


texts:
I'm in the planning stages of programming my own Katakana => Romaji converter. However, I've noticed that every other converter already out there just converts literally. I want to try and employ a more "intelligent" converter (note that the end result will be a default, the user will be able to tweak the transliteration if they so choose)

As an example, have this name of a character from one of my stories: ネックスス

Converters will give the result: Nekkususu... but nobody who isn't familiar with Romaji would read that as Nexus...

So I'm trying to figure out some rules for better transliteration. So far, I have the following:

The substring kkus can be replaced with x
A u at the end is most likely silent and can be dropped (these two rules already "fix" Nexus)
Tu is better as Tsu, and Ti as Chi.

However, that's where my knowledge ends. What I'd like to know is, for starters, are the above three rules correct? Are there exceptions I should be aware of? Are there other rules that could make my converter more accurate?

As mentioned before, perfection isn't required because the user may adjust the result, but I would feel better about the feature if it at least made an effort.


texts: Why is the word オタク written in katakana?

texts:
Why is the word オタク(otaku) written in katakana?

I thought only foreign words are written in katakana. Is this word maybe foreign after all? But it is used in Japanese, so I am confused. Please give me an answer.


texts: In a sentence, do you use 'waga' or 'onoga' for possession?

texts:
Words in their kana:
我が

Or do I use

己が

Which is more natural?


texts:
I'm trying to say, "I went to Oarai Town in Ibaraki Prefecture last year."

  昨年に大洗町茨城県に行きました。

Is there supposed to be a comma or particle (perhaps で) between the city and prefecture? Please let me know if there is a better way to write this sentence.


texts: What's the difference between 去年 and 昨年?

texts:
I learned 去年 well before 昨年, so I just always use 去年 out of habit. But now I'm wondering if they really are interchangeable or if there's even a subtle difference that would make one more appropriate in some situations over the other.

So are they interchangeable, or does a subtle difference exist?


texts:
How should the phrase おこの[沙汰]{さた}だ be translated in the following sentence?

  [太陽光発電]{たいようこうはつでん}に[馬鹿高]{ばかだか}い[補助金]{ほじょきん}を[出]{だ}すのはおこの[沙汰]{さた}だというのが[正直]{しょうじき}なところだ。


texts:
I'm going through some basic grammar and this one website teaches the "extended" use of the word する. There is a confusing example which looks like:

  波の音 がする

The translation is: "(I) hear the sound of waves". The way I learned it prior to this site is:

  波の音 を聞く

What is the difference between these two?


texts: What's the difference between 限り(は) and 限りでは？

texts:
I understand that 限り(は) means that "as long as ", as in :

  親である限り子供を第一に考えるべきです。

Moreover, I get that 限りでは means "from that area/information" the speaker draws a conclusion, as in this sentence:

  私は知っている限りでは彼は犯罪だ。

But then I found out two examples with 知る and 限り, that seem to have been used as 限りでは:

  私が知っている限りのことをお話しします。
  私の知る限り、それはありません。


texts:
I need to translate "fight for the present" for a personal poem and I would like to divide it into two rows: "fight" and "for the present". Is it possible?
I'm pretty sure that something like this "現在 (to head) のために戦う" doesn't make much sense. How can I correctly do this?


texts:
So I ran across this example sentence: 食べている人はいますか？ And the translation was "Is anyone eating?" However I thought the sentence would be: 誰でもが食べていますか？ Is this correct?

Also is Xはいます = is any X? Examples: 猫はいます = is any cat,　車はあります = is any car, 花はあります = is any flower.

EDIT: I've added this question based on the answers so far. Based on what everyone has said, 花はあります = There is a flower, but I thought that　花があります is the (only) construct for that sentence structure.


texts: What's the difference between 選び (erabi) and せんたくし (sentakushi)?

texts: 選び (erabi) and せんたくし (sentakushi) both relate to choice and selection, but I am not sure what the difference is?


texts: There seems to be many Japanese verbs that are mysteriously compounded with 出る, like 出来る and 出会う. What is the actual semantic role of the 出? I'm especially curious about the difference between 会う and 出会う.


texts: Can I always use が to mark the subject when talking about phenomenon

texts:
I understand that が can be used to describe a phenomenon.

雨 が 降って います。

But in Japanese, there are always many exceptions.

So, does this have any exceptions?

Like I can use は or　を?

雨　は　降って　います。

雨　を　降って　います。


texts: Are there any ways to know whether Verbてくる is about time or space?

texts:
Are there any ways to know whether Verbてくる is about time or space ?

My friend told me that

when the verb involves changing from a state to another state, ～てくる is usually  about time,
when there's place available in the context, てくる is usually  about space.

Are there any other ways to know?


texts: Colloquial grammar question: ...が出来たから...ってくれって言ってきたんだろうが！

texts:
My colloquial Japanese needs some brushing up on, in particular with grammar. I'm currently reading a manga, the context is that Character 1 showed up and Character 2 seems surprised that he's there. In response, Character 1 says:

  いや、どうしたじゃねぇよ！お前が良いイチゴが出来たから、買ってくれって言ってきたんだろうが！

The first part of the sentence is fine, it's from お前... onward where I get confused. Breaking it down, here is what I understand (and I'm pretty sure I'm incorrect somewhere):

  お前が良いイチゴが出来たから

"Once you'd grown some good strawberries"

  買ってくれって言ってきたんだろうが！

"I said I'd come and buy some of them, didn't I?"

I feel like I'm close, but might be missing something or understanding something incorrectly and would love to be corrected if I'm wrong.


texts: What is the best word of 'Clunky' as in "clunky translation, clunky apps" in Japanese?

texts:
My question is simple: what is the equivalent Japanese of the word 'clunky' in Japanese? (possibly in one word, or two/three words at most) to convey the sluggishness of something walks/works/operates. (How to say it in Japanese and I want to emphasize it).

I looked it up on google, it's translated as 不器用な = clumsy, awkward.. and it's labeled archaic..
On the other translation: 魅力のない = no appeal/no charm -> I don't think this is the correct translation.
When I searched more, I found this> ぎこちない -> Can I use this one?
Is there any word that doesn't have 'ない', and no 難しい please.

Sentence context:

  This translation feels clunky and hard to read.
  この翻訳は気難しくて読みにくいです。
  This apps feels clunky and hard to use.
  このアプリは使いにくいと感じます。

Is there anyone that can help to convey it better?
Thank you very much everyone!
皆さん、よろしくお願いします。


texts:
I found this sentence in the wild and I cannot find anything about it on the web appart from a David Bowie album that translates Klinko to クリンコ. But what does that word mean in these sentences?:

And another


texts:
I know some size adjectives like 小さい (small), 大きい (big), and 並 (normal). Does anyone have a list of other size adjectives: something that could describe things ranging from micro things like Legos to massive things like sky scrapers? My friend said that I can modify the three adjectives. Can you help me understand how that works?
There is something called "personal watermelon" in American supermarket term, which can get up to 2.2kg and can serve two people: size comparison (the top one), close up. I don't want to call it a 西瓜. Would 小さい西瓜 (small watermelon) work? I feel that using that combination may make people think it is so small only a few scoops and you are done. -- Answered in comments: 小さい西瓜 should work.


texts: いろいろ質問する versus いろいろな質問する

texts:
Most people use いろいろ質問する. But if I analyze it, いろいろ is な形容詞.

So I think it should be いろいろな質問する. What do you think?


texts:
Let's say there is a 1km race, and here is the ranking:

A: 170 seconds
B: 301 seconds
C: 308 seconds
D: 312 seconds

We can say that A is fastest by a wide margin, because he was much faster than all other runners.

How to say fastest by a large margin in Japanese?

Adapting from ALC, I wrote 大幅に一番速い, but a Japanese colleague taught me that 大幅 and 一番 can not be used at the same time. She advised me to use only one or the other, but I feel that the idea I want to convey (much faster than all others) is lost.


texts:
原文は、

  目黒にある「バランス食品」では、糖尿病患者やダイエット中の人向けのメニューが用意されている。 厳密なカロリー計算をした健康メニューで専門の栄養士が献立を考える。

  厳密なカロリー計算をした健康メニューで専門の栄養士が献立を考える

これを

  厳密なカロリー計算をした健康メニューを通じて、専門の栄養士が献立を考える

として理解してもいいですか。

そして、メニューと献立の違いはありますか。

私はGoogleで探しましたが、

https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/献立

これによると、英語ではmenuの意味のようです。

この２つの意味は同じmenuなのに、menuでmenuを作るということですか。なんだか変だと思っています。


texts: Is the conditional, volitional, AND passive form of verbs used?

texts:
I found myself wanting to write something analogous to "if you want (some する verb) done to you"

I know the passive form of する is される.

I know that the volitional form of an ichidan verb is stem + たい. This brings me to されたい.

I know that the ば form of an い adjective drops the い and adds ければ. Hence: されたければ.

Whew. I looked this up on Google and found over 41,000 results, but that seems low for what I would assume would be an extremely common construction. My hypothesis then is that this is grammatically correct, but unnatural in most cases.

Is there a more natural way to construct the meaning of "if you want something done to you" in the general case?


texts: Is 「かれがしょうねんですしかよ！」 grammatically correct? (「です」 before 「しか」?)

texts:
I was thinking today of how I would describe things in Japanese. One of these things was 'He's just a boy!', which I more or less worked out to be 「かれがしょうねんですしかよ！」which I THINK is correct, but still feels sorta 'off' to me. Something about the final noun using the particle 「しか」 AFTER stating the polite form of it.

Can't really put my finger on it, just feels like something's incorrect about it, thus I thought to ask.


texts: Difference between tatami mat counters 帖 and 畳

texts: What is the difference between tatami mat counters 帖 and 畳 (both pronounced じょう)?


texts: Difference between 「答え｛こたえ｝」 and 「回答 ｛かいとう｝」 and 「正解 {せいかい}」

texts: What is the difference between 「答え｛こたえ｝」 and 「回答｛かいとう｝」 and 「正解{せいかい}」? They mean "the answer", but.. when each should be used?


texts:
鼻から、デロデロ、ビー！

I heard デロデロ is 'soggy' or 'drunk/intoxicated',

so that means something soggy from the nose... Is it a snot?

And what is ビー?


texts: Conjugation of い adjectives - when do you conjugate them and difference between 新しい車 and 新車?

texts:
I'm studying Japanese at University (first year) and the only thing I can't get my head around so far is い adjectives.

I understand how and what factors are needed to conjugate them, but do you only conjugate い adjectives if they are at the end of the sentence working like a verb or do you also have to conjugate them if they are before a noun? I've been told different answers to this so it's a little confusing.

Also, in my Basic Kanji Book which we use to learn Kanji, two examples of ''a new car'' are given in different places - 新しい車 (read as あたらしいくるま) and 新車 (read as しんしゃ). Are there certain conditions needed to decide which one to use?

I know that I'm probably asking simple questions here and I'm probably just being silly by not thinking about this in the right way but I've tried understanding them by studying and searching online but I'm still confused so I would be really grateful if someone could explain where I'm going wrong.


texts:
So, here's another nuances question: what are the differences between 返る and 帰る?
Apparently, they have different "secondary" meanings, but are they interchangeable when referring to "returns"?
Feel free to also include 戻る, although some questions already tackled the 帰る vs 戻る issue.


texts:
I came across 当て字 in my N1 vocabulary list, and while I think I understand what it is from the definition "kanji used as a phonetic symbol, rather than for its meaning", I'm not sure what the point of that is--there's already hiragana and katagana to do that.

What is the purpose or purposes of 当て字?


texts: Does the Japanese language only have negative terms for flirting?

texts:
I am looking for terms in the Japanese language which can describe the act of flirting in a positive light. This probably requires inventing terms to close a lexical gap, because as far as I know, all terms that are related to flirting in Japanese carry a negative connotation.

"Flirting" has a couple of meanings in English. However, here I am speaking specifically about flirting in the sense of when a person shows their attraction to another person. It's a deliberate act, and can range from covert to overt.

The thing is, where I come from, flirting generally is seen as a playful, positive thing. It is flattering to the recipient. It is also can be considered harmless, in that it might be that the person doing it does not necessarily intend to seduce the other, but that they want to test the limits of their attractiveness by provoking a small response.

The only time flirting is negative in English is when a larger context makes it so. If a person flirts with a third person while in a committed relationship, the action of flirting itself is not what defines it as negative, it's that the committed relationship comes with an implication of promises that are being broken.

In Japanese, however, all the terms I know of that approximate the act of flirting tend toward the negative.

浮気する【うわきする】 is all about cheating, so this is clearly the dark side of flirting.

ナンパする I would translate as "to hit on," and it is clearly much more aggressive than "flirting". With ナンパ one necessarily has the goal of seducing the other. The feeling of the word to me is of a meat-market night club, although I know it can be used in much more mild and neutral circumstances.

いちゃつく might be the most mild, and therefor the closest to the English. However, it does seem a bit cutesy, like a child's view on flirting ("... sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g..."). Also seems almost entirely on the overt end of flirting, in that it is more like a public display of affection, like kissing and holding, than it would imply any clever or subtle behaviour or words.

In essence, I want to convey the idea of being at play with showing and getting signals of attraction without it necessarily taking on an aggressive sexuality. Flirting can be a sophisticated interaction between adults.

Is there a way to convey flirting in the positive light I am describing?

Is there a way to say "I'm not really hitting on you, I'm just flirting." Something like:

  実際はナンパじゃなくって、ただ___しているだけだ。