texts:
I know 「アニメ」 as short for 「アニメーション」, meaning an animated film/cartoon; I tried on Jisho and Weblio, but I couldn't find any other meaning.
Yet I found these senteces, which I'm not sure about by reading 「アニメ」 with that meaning:
First (and less problematic) one; context: three middle school students are using the school ground to practice baseball, and one of them says he is going home earlier than expected:

日はまだ中天{ちゅうてん}にある。影浩{あきひろ}はわずかに目を細めてみた。
「どうした？何かあったんか？」
「別に。三年やし、ちっとは勉強しよかて思うてな」
「は？ふざけんなや。おまえが勉強するなら、うちのアニメだって問題集を広げてるぞ」

Is this something like "Eh? If even you study, we should add anime to the exercise collection" (lit.: we should expand the exercise collection with anime)? If so, why 「うちのアニメ」 instead of just 「アニメ」?
Second (and more problematic) one; context: Akihiro is home, his father is watching television; sometimes news about Koushien appears, and Akihiro is pissed off by this:

同じ国に生まれ、同じ年齢でありながら、自分と彼らの間には無限にも思える隔たりがある。
「ほんま、格差社会やな」
ほろりと言葉が零れた。父がテレビの前か振り返り、なんだ？と問う代わりに、瞬きをする。画面が変わり、女子ゴルファーの頭が大きく映し出されたのを潮に影浩は腰を上げた。老猫{ろうびょう}のアニメが遠慮のない欠伸を漏らす

Does this mean something like, "He didn't hold back and yawned, like a cartoon old cat"? If so, I'm not sure about the sentence structure, since by reading it I'd say it means "The old anime cat yawned without holding back", but even so I'm not sure about why 「老猫のアニメ」 (which sounds to me like "The anime of the old cat") instead of 「アニメの老猫」.
With that translation it could make sense if it were speaking about an anime on television, but since there were Koushien news and a female golfer appeared, this doesn't seem to be the case.


texts: possible traduction of the suspensive form/ と particle

texts:
when I have to make a translation I always find hard to translate the suspensive form. I know that I can translate it with "and", but can I translate it in a different way?
as in this case with "because"?

中学、高校とずっと受験勉強に追われて、大学に入ってから突然遊び始める人も多いんですよね

and the と particole, how can it be translated? "With"?


texts: いる or ある for the possession of a living thing

texts:
We all know that 「ある」is to be used with inanimate objects and 「いる」with animate, living things. However, almost all examples of usage that I've seen thus far is in the context of something or someone being there. There is a cat there. There is a man there.

What happens when it comes to listing the ownership of items? If I were to say that I own a cat, does the rule to use「いる」still apply?

  私は猫が一匹いる。

  私は猫が一匹ある。

（I get that usually one would use かっています here, but this just for the sake of example)

In this case, the former sounds wrong (at least to me), even though it follows the rule. The latter vice versa.

In another example, what if I don't physically own something, but rather have someone?

  私は弁護士があります。

  私は彼女があります。

Both the above sound correct to me, even though in both example, the subject is living and 「いる」should be used.

Can someone clarify?


texts: What is the function of というのは in this sentence? Is there a relation to the word because?

texts:
今日私が話をする、皆さんにお伝えする話というのはユーズフル、役に立つ話ではないです。

Translation from subtitles:"I'm not going to talk to you today about something useful."

Source:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=86&v=3xs-XWk_oQA
1:25

Is there a sense of "because" in this というのは like there is in some sentences?


texts: なっている when does it mean resultant state, and when does it refer to progression?

texts:
バスに乗っている間に眠くなっている

Take for example the sentence above. My question is about when なっている appears with adjectives/verbs such as 暑い、眠い、寒い、酷い　(i.e. adjectives/verbs unlike 死ぬ) and that also have a time duration included e.g. バスに乗っている間に. When does なっている indicate a resultant state and not progression?


texts: Is this 8px height font understandable for japanese knowing people?

texts:
I am translating my mobile game from english to japanese. It is pixel art style, so I need pixel art font. I found one with 8px height, but I don't know if it is too small to understand, because I don't know any japanese myself. These kanji glyphs worry me the most.

So my question is, do you understand these glyphs or are they too hard to read?

Here is a full image: http://i.imgur.com/loWb8xw.png

Here is just a part of it:


texts: I have some questions about transitivity: 貯める and 貯まる

texts:
I can usually hear people say 'お金を貯めるために、アルバイトをする’, but if I use the 自動詞 '貯まる' instead of the 他動詞 in the sentence, like 'お金が貯まるために、アルバイトをする', is it also acceptable?
You know I have a big problem with using Japanese 自動詞 and 他動詞 properly, I always get confused with the differences between them. For instance, '車がへいに突き当たる’, in this phrase, the subject 'the car' has a direct action on the wall. Why is the verb '突き当たる' a 自動詞 and not a 他動詞?


texts: Can I say なるほど when talking with customers?

texts:
I was told in class by a Japanese teacher that なるほど can not be used when talking with people above, but in the same lesson we listened to a CD (training material) where a student was saying なるほど to his teacher.

Here at work I often hear my Japanese colleagues saying なるほど when talking with customers (consulting). Can I do the same?

EDIT: A Japanese friend just told me she would never write it to a customer, even by email, but it is perfectly acceptable over the phone as an 相槌 (sound given during a conversation to indicate comprehension).


texts: Past negative informal sentence before から

texts:
A native Japanese speaker said to me "見たことが　ないから　～です。" to mean "because I didn't watch it, …." (we were talking about a movie).

As I have learned the sentence structure using から is "[reason: informal sentence] から [result: sentence]", I felt this sentence was too complicated.
So I asked her if it was possible to say "見なかったから　～です。", as 見なかった is the informal version of "did not see". However, she refused and said that would sound strange.

So my questions are: why is the informal past negative form unnatural here? Are there other informal sentences that cannot be used in front of から? What is the pattern? Do the same rules also apply to other compound sentences (like と　おもう) and other situations?


texts: What is the meaning of 「ほう」in the following sentence?

texts:
日本の労働時間は世界でも長いほうだ。

I guess the sentence means something along the lines of "Even within the [whole] world, the working hours in Japan are long". But I think it could be expressed simply without the「ほうだ」bit:

  日本の労働時間は世界でも長い。

I know that 「方【ほう】」can mean direction; side; way or manner, but none of these meanings seems to fit well here. According to the dictionary, there is also the meaning "type, category" which could be a good candidate. I'm thinking of something like working hours of the "long type" (長いほう), but I'm just speculating.

I also have the feeling that some sort of comparison is happening here as ほう is used for comparison in patterns such as (〜より 、〜ほうが), where the working time in Japan is being compared to the working time in the world, but I can't figure it out.

Mind I'm not sure about the 「世界でも」part, so if my "even within the world" translation is not right, please feel free to correct it as well.

よろしくお願いします！


texts: Why isn't there any "original" japanese word for "page"?

texts:
In my last Japanese class, I asked my teacher, who is a native speaker, why the japanese word for "page" was taken from the English language ("pēji"), because apparently there were already books ("hon"), who had a Japanese name. My teacher could not answer me this. Is there a reason and, more important, how did the Japanese people called a sheet of paper being part of a book?
Please feel free to replace with Kanji/Kana. I have some trouble with my IME,  sorry for this.


texts:
I'm currently learning the Desire Form of the verbs and I'd like to know why in this phrase, it's used 行き and not 行きたい.

  私はショッピングモールに行き、自分のために服を買いたい

The たい form should be added only at the last verb? Like in this case that it goes to the 買います verb. Is that a rule? Does it work for other verb conjugations such as Past and/or Conditional?


texts: How to say "See you soon" when meeting up with someone

texts:
I'm just wondering a simple way to say "See you soon" when the context is that you are talking to your friend remotely (via phone/messaging) and you plan to meet up with them in the very near future (1 or 2 hours).

Would it be as simple as "Sugu ni miru"?

Thanks for your help,
Bazz


texts:
I have accidentally typed "あんた" instead of "あなた" and had some people tell me that there is a negative connotation with "あんた".

I just want to understand what connotation "あんた" carries and why it is considered something bad to say.


texts: How to say right now, right over there etc

texts:
I was wondering how you could say right now or right over there.

Say you haven't done any of your assignments and you want to say something along the lines of "If my boss walked in right now (right this second), I'd be done for."

I usually just used ちょうど今 in these situations, but I came to doubt whether this is actually correct, and I thought there has to be a better way of phrasing this.

Same goes for right over there. Say someone was asking where a certain thing is, and it's extremely close or in plain sight and I want to emphasize it being close.


texts: How did 達 (~tachi) come to mean `pluralize` something?

texts:
When doing some studying, I came across the verb 達成する which means to achieve/accomplish.

When looking up 達 I realized that this is the commonly used ~達{たち} suffix which used to pluralize something. I don't know why I've never thought the character was a strange character for plural, as the compounds seem to have more to do with travelling or walking than plural.

I see how it could be used in the context of 達成{たっせい} but does anyone know how it came to mean plural? My guesses is that to accomplish a long journey you'd need a large group of things or people or animals to be successful, but that's just a shot in the dark.

Context:

日本語

  ...平和{へいわ}が 達成{たっせい} されたと主張{しゅちょ}します

English

  ... claim/insist to have achieved peace.


texts: Is 言っちゃうんですね similar to よく言えますね in this example?

texts:
Could someone help me with this sentence?

  自分で可愛いとか言っちゃうんですね。

Is it similar to よく言えますね?


texts: Japanese 使役｛しえき} and 使役{しえき}受身{うけみ} grammar

texts:
その映画から、事故で子供を死なせてしまった母親の悲しさが伝わってきた。

from this sentence,

  Translation: conveyed the sadness of the mothers of the children who killed in accident

or

  conveyed the sadness of the children whom mother was killed in accident

and also I don't understand why they used shieki and not shieki ukemi.

Besides that also the particle を is really confusing, who is the subject and also the object in this sentence 「じこでこどもをしなせてしまった」 ?

Could you explain to me?


texts:
For full context, see here: https://www.docdroid.net/bv19a5D/img-20170817-0001-new.pdf
It is in the very first 5 lines (paragraph 1, example)

それでしたら、こちらのがよろしいんじゃないでしょうか。

I guess the customer simply agrees to buy the recommended bag, but this time I wanted to ask what exactly this huge appendix ...じゃないでしょうか means. It probably is some kind of reaffirmation, I'd like to have some more information on this ^^


texts:
I'm reading Install from Risa Wataya and right from the start, there's a sentence I had to read many many times before I could make any sense out of it:

  「バカだねみんなと同じ生活が嫌なんて一体自分をどれだけ特別だと思ってるんだ努力もせず時間だけそんな惜しんで、大体あんたにゃ人生の目標がない、だからそう、うだうだと他の何百人もの人間が乗り越えてきた基本的でありきたりな悩みをひきずってんのさ。」

Here's my (poor) attempt at a translation:

  Isn't it stupid? Not wanting to live the same life as everyone else. With time you'll regret not putting any effort in thinking about how much you're special/different. First off, there's no goal in your life if you're not part of it(?). That's why you're having to drag the basic (?) and common trouble of surpassing hundreds of people.

I feel about 0% confident in that translation, especially because of all those subclauses. Did I get some of it right? ^^

Thanks!

EDIT:
Here's my attempt to add punctuation:

  「バカだね。みんなと同じ生活が嫌なんて。一体、自分をどれだけ特別だと思ってるんだ努力もせず、時間だけそんな惜しんで（す）。大体あんたにゃ人生の目標がない。だからそう、うだうだと（他の何百人もの人間が乗り越えてきた基本的でありきたりな悩みを）ひきずってんのさ。」

I'm assuming that's incorrect? ^^;


texts: What does "焼き" (sorry if i spelled it wrong) mean?

texts: In Japanese, some foods end in "焼き". What does it mean? some examples: たこ焼き, お好み焼き, 照り焼き, etc. I apologize if I miswrote any of these because I just started learning Japanese. But what does the suffix "yaki" mean?


texts: What`s the meaning of のを and だと in this text?

texts:
**

  この羽織は、三輪田のお光さんのおっかさんが織ってくれたのを、紋付に染めて、お光さんが縫い上げたものだと、母の手紙に長い説明がある.

**

I can grasp the overall meaning: in mom's letter there is a long explanation about the fact that omitsu's mother wove a haori that omitsu herself later dyed and ended. But I don't understand exactly how "のを” and ”だと” relates to the verbs. I mean, how to explain them "grammaticaly"?


texts:
私は[二人]{ふたり}のおにいさんがいる。
  私は二人のおにいさんがいます。

I am trying to say "I have two elder brothers."

Someone told me that I should say "私には二人兄がいます/いる。"

I have some doubts:
1. Why is it 私に but not 私は?
2. Can't I say "二人のおにいさん"?
3. Actually I do not quite understand why います and いる are both acceptable. Any difference in meaning between them?

I am a beginner of Japanese....


texts:
Could someone enlighten me on how to say: "I think I understand (it) right now, but I'm not entirely sure (I will understand it) in future"? The speaker feels their understanding could go either way: either they'll remember, or they won't. 50/50.

My (laughably poor) attempt would be:

  せめて今の所は分かるけど、未来は分かるのかどうか分からない。

Again, I'm sure that's probably riddle with errors. Yikes!

Many thanks in advance!


texts: Repeating the vowel sound of the mora that precedes gemination in songs

texts:
I noticed that in songs, the vowel sounds of the morae that come before geminations are sometimes repeated.

For example, the first lyric line of “マジカルちょーだいっ” is sung as しらんぷりをしたあって where the line is actually しらんぷりをしたって.

Another example: in the second lyric line of “片道きゃっちぼーる”, the final あった sounds like ああった.

Also, at the beginning of the song “Gem Stone”, the repeated もってる is pronounced as もおってる.

My questions are:

Is this way of pronouncing gemination limited to songs, or are there instances where it's used elsewhere?
It seems to be limited to songs with children or children-like voices, so is it by chance the way Japanese children initially pronounce gemination?


texts: How does わかってもらえればいい work

texts:
The following is the conclusion of a dialogue between the concierge and a resident.
The concierge falsely accused the resident to be putting his bike in front of the stairs, which is not allowed.
The misunderstanding is finally resolved and the concierge apologizes to the resident.

  Concierge: そうですね。申し訳ない。気を悪くしないでください。
  Resident: いえ、わかってもらえればいいんです。

My translation:

  Concierge: So that's how it is. I'm sorry. Please don't take this as an offense.
  Resident: No problem, when I can receive the favor of understanding it, it is okay.

As apparent from my translation, I analysed もらえれば as a combination of the potential form and the conditional form. If it was solely conditional form, I'd expect もらえば.

I therefore tried to translate both the potential and the conditional form. It sounds a bit iffy though, that's why I wanted to ask whether that's correct and how you would translate it in a more elegant way.


texts: What could a phrase like アルコールはダメなんだ possibly mean?

texts:
The phrase アルコールはダメなんだ is from a manga I read, in which a guy responds to his friend when being asked if he wants a beer. He appears not to be into alcohol, even goes so far to say that "I don't like the taste, nor is there any occasion for me to drink".

I'm not sure what possible meanings that phrase could have though. Literally, it'd be "Alcohol is not good", and it could be reasonably thought of as "Alcohol isn't good for your health" (in which case he might be advising his friend not to drink).

I'm curious whether there's a possibility for it to mean "I'm not good with alcohol" > "I can't drink". After all, this seems to be an example of the various ambiguous uses of "wa", in which the topic isn't necessarily grammatically tied to the modifying phrase that follows.


texts:
This is from Yuki-onna:

  Mosaku no kao ni iki wo fu-tsu to fukikaketa.

The "fuutsu/fu-tsu" is written in katakana and is most likely an onomatopoeic word, related to breathing. It's not essential to the translation, but it's really bugging me.


texts: What term is used to describe the color of the Japanese race?

texts: I see the words white and black but can not recall a reference to Japanese with regards to color.


texts: Most common everyday phrases in Japanese

texts: Does anyone have a list, or know of a list of the most commonly used phrases in japanese? The bigger the list the better.


texts:
Just found a sentence:

  そんなふうに笑い飛ばす人は死ねばよかった。

I tried to find what it means in dictionary but to no avail, so what does it mean and how do you use it whether in daily conversation or literature works?


texts: Parse the sentence 「この保証書は、記載の内容で無料修理を行うことをお約束するものです」

texts:
The above sentence is taken from a 保証書 (from a reading exercise). Having searched for the sentence, it seems to be a fairly standard sentence in warranties.
I have two question about the sentence.

What does で mean in 記載の内容で? Because of? According to?
Then sentence ends with ものです. Regarding the もの here, does it simply mean “thing”, “object” (so that the sentence means “this warranty is the thing that guarantees ...”)? Or is this a special usage of ものだ?


texts:
At my old job, I knew someone by the name of Takahashi (last name).

Sometimes I'd see their name spelled 高橋 and sometimes 髙橋.

Why was 高 sometimes used and why was 髙 sometimes used?


texts: Is there a difference between 事務室 and 事務所?

texts: I want to say that I work in an office. I researched both terms. Shitsu is a room, but I assumed that sho is used more for location. Which term is more appropriate to use?


texts:
I've seen several native Japanese sentences, particularly in novels and music, where there are two words that both mean the same thing but are still used together.

My most recent situation is as follows:
「記憶のすべて何もかも黒に沈めて堕ちていく。」

「記憶のすべて」 is referring to the entirety of the speaker's memories. But why has 何もかも been added after? It is perhaps to add emphasis? Is there a way to translate it into natural English?


texts: Can you use the "Ha, Heh, Hee, Ho" method for learning Japanese vowels?

texts:
In Spanish, you can use the "Ha, Heh, Hee, Ho" method for learning Spanish vowels.

For example,
A in Spanish sounds like the 'a' in Ha!

E in Spanish sounds like the 'e' in Heh!

I in Spanish sounds like the 'ee' in Hee!

O in Spanish sounds like the 'o' in Ho!

and then U is like the OO in food.

Does this apply to Japanese vowels as well? I have listened to Japanese vowels and they sound identical. But I thought I should double check, so I don't learn them wrongly.


texts:
I posted a sentence to be corrected which was:

  私は辛い野菜が不味い。

and they told me to use 「嫌い」 instead of 「不味い」.

What is the difference between the two when it comes to food?


texts:
Are unit abbreviations like mm for millimetres or % for percent used in Japanese?
I've seen people translate those two words in to ミリメートル and パーセント respectively and that is what makes me raise this question.


texts:
The way I thought of past tense working with なら was that if X had happened in the past, then Y would have resulted. For example,

車ががけから落ちていたなら彼らは死んでいただろう。
They would have been killed if the car had gone over the cliff.

However, there are times where I feel that past tense with なら doesn't always work that way.

もう一度奈良を訪れたなら私は４回訪れたことになります。
If I visit Nara again, I will have visited it four times.

I don't see how this sentence works if we that is how past tense works with なら. If so, then なります should be なりました instead to reflect something like "If I had visited Nara again, I would have visited it four times." When a past tense of a verb works with なら, does it indicate what would have happened if a particular event occurred in the past, or does it indicate a general result if a particular event occurs, regardless of when it happens? Right now, from the translation of "If I visit Nara again, I will have visited it four times," I don't see a difference between もう一度奈良を訪れたなら私は４回訪れたことになります and もう一度奈良を訪れれば私は４回訪れたことになります.


texts:
I need the Japanese transcription.

Here's the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IXWhFAD4SQ#t=2m04s (from 02:04 to 02:42).

Here's what I could understand so far (mistakes included... I also didn't understand Naruto's first word):

ナルト「？」

ミナト「ナルト！」

ナルト「なんで？なんで？なんで息子の俺に九尾なんか封印したんだよ！おかげで俺ってばすっげえ大変だぞ！暁日柄寝られて！。。。」

ミナト「すまなかった。いろいろ大変だったんだよな。息子のお前につらい思いばかりさせてしまった俺が父親ヅラして謝るのも違うかな。」


texts: 人前｛ひとまえ｝ and 人前｛にんまえ｝

texts:
I have been conviced for a long time that both 人前｛にんまえ｝ and 人前{ひとまえ} existed. Which is backed by this wikitionary page.

Recently, I just wanted to warn another Japanese learner about this pair of tricky words. By any chance, at this time, a native speaker was with us. Some minutes later she asked me where I heard にんまえ. I did not remember so I could not answer well. (According to the meaning of にんまえ I should have seen it in a recipe or something of this kind).

Nevertheless, the fact that she was a bit troubled by にんまえ made me investigate a bit. The result of my investigation is that neither 明鏡辞書 nor goo nor 大辞林 have any record about にんまえ but all of them reference ひとまえ.

This leads me to wonder whether にんまえ really exists as a word. And if so, what does it really mean and what is its usage?

Edit: It seems that 一人前{いちにんまえ｝ exists and mean 一人分｛ひとりぶん｝


texts:
I have seen these forms used in manga:

  1) いや一概にあほとは言えん

  2) そう思わんですか！

  3) 入らん人々は...

Are these simply the negative forms, or are they something else?


texts: Difference between 回復【かいふく】, 修復【しゅうふく】, 復旧【ふっきゅう】 and 復興【ふっこう】

texts:
Here is the sentence:

  約{やく}３００年{ねん}前{まえ}の絵{かい}画{が}の ＿＿ が終{お}わり、～。

This sentence fragment is taken from JLPT1 test book. And there you have to pick one correct answer from 4 words to fill in the blank:

回復
修復
復旧
復興

The correct answer is 修復, which means "repair", "restoration".

But the meanings of the other three are almost the same. What I want to know is the differences between these words and when each should be used?


texts:
I'm playing through Toradora right now, and there's a scene where Ryuuji apologizes to his mom because he can't remember anything. She responds with 「ううん、謝んなくったっていいんだよ。」

I understand she's saying don't apologize, but I've never seen an ending with なくった before. Is this some kind of colloquial contraction?


texts: Referring to a diner in your own party as お客様?

texts: Suppose I'm speaking to waitstaff at a restaurant explaining that a diner in our party has an allergy. When speaking to someone working at the restaurant, would it be appropriate to refer to such a person as お客様 (seeing as the person is not actually my customer), or should they simply be referred to as こちら?


texts: How do you "replace" second-person pronouns?

texts:
I know that second-person pronouns should generally be avoided from being used, but how exactly do I replace it?

Do I just reply the pronoun with someone's name? Or is the pronoun just completely taken out of the sentence, with no substitution, etc.?

For example: Could "Would you like some tea?" be changed to "Sarah, want some tea?", or "Want some tea?" You would take out the 'you' and perhaps replace it with someone's name.


texts:
暴風は擬神化された龍の如く、廊下と髑髏の面を飲み込もうと、その蛇体を螺旋らせる。
The strong wind, similarly to the quasi-deified dragon, makes its serpentine body twist like a spiral with the intention of swallowing the corridor and the (man) with the skull mask.

I think this could be an acceptable translation, but I consider らせる as a typo for される.
Is it another form completely?


texts: At what age is a person considered to be シルバー?

texts: I read this term in an online article and it was referring to people. I assume it means elderly people. Is there an age that one must be to use this term?


texts:
What does the "marker" (?) やや書 used in Japanese-English dictionaries indicate?
In addition how would you pronounce the phrase when citing someone a definition from a dictionary? やや書{しょ}? やや書{かき}?
I cannot pinpoint any pattern in below examples and I can't find a definition of the phrase itself. Trying to devise its literal meaning "usually in writing" (?) does not really match the examples (why "insecure" would be marked as a written form?)

ときの声を上げる
:  shout [｟やや書｠ raise] a war cry.
[2] 疑わしい doubtful
:  （不確実な） uncertain; （不安定な） unsteady, ｟やや書｠ insecure; （信用できない） unreliable.
やや
: 〖少し〗a little, ｟話｠ a (little) bit; 【少しばかり】slightly; 【いくぶん】rather (!控えめにいってかえって意味を強める) , ｟やや書｠ somewhat (!rather より客観的な語) ; 【ある程度まで】to some extent.
さしおく 差し置く
: (意図的に無視する) ignore, (やや書) disregard; (そのままにしておく) leave.


texts: Why is it that when words get combined, the sound often gets softened?

texts: I can't come up with an example right now.  But hypothetically let's say there was a word that was ka. And they combined it with ku to make a new word. then it'd  become kagu instead of kaku. It usually gets softened like that. Why is that?


texts:
If I use the plain past tense of a verb before とき, do I have to use the plain past tense in the sentence that comes after it, or is it okay to use the polite past tense? For example, I'm trying to say, "When I went to Japan, I did not ride the shinkansen."

日本に行ったとき、新幹線に乗らなかった。

vs.

日本に行ったとき、新幹線に乗りませんでした。

Are they both correct? If so, which one is preferred? There's an example on this page that uses the polite past in the sentence that comes after とき.

日本へ行ったとき、カメラを買いました。


texts:
Even with a dictionary and Google translate I don't understand what this means (the company president is saying this while at his employee's home on new year Eve, explaining why he's come specifically at that time):

  何しろ君社長ともなれば年始の挨拶に来る客が入れ代わり立ち代わりとてもじゃないがつきあいきれんよ

Let's break this down:

  君社長ともなれば

"Even if you become president"?

  年始の挨拶に来る客

"Guests who come to New Year greetings"

  入れ代わり立ち代わり

This is a single word that means "by turns" according to my dictionary.

  とてもじゃないが

"Simply (cannot)" according to my dictionary.

  つきあいきれんよ

つきあい is to socialize, or go out with. きれ or きれん I have no idea.

From there I don't see how to make sense of the whole thing. "I simply cannot socialize by turn (with?) guests who come for New Year greetings"?


texts: Using appropriate old characters with people's names

texts:
What is the general etiquette about about using the newer characters （新字体） or even a more modern version of the old character (旧字体） when used in names? Is it generally considered rude?

For example, my partner's family name is 濵 which is often somewhat problematic to type into a computer and so I often see it just replaced with 濱 (you might have to look close to see the difference) or sometimes even with the new character, 浜.


texts: how to parse すごい綺麗 (連続の形容詞と形容動詞の活用について)

texts:
Japanese
標準語か方言か独自の喋り方かわからないのですが、僕の友達はこのようによく話します：

すごい綺麗な景色

この文に対して気になるのは、なぜ「すごい」は形容詞の活用になっているのでしょうか。
形容詞を連続する場合、「すごく、綺麗な」のようにするのが標準語だと思っていました。また、副詞の場合「すごく綺麗な」のようにするのが普通だと思っていました。
上述のように言うのは普通ですか。僕はどこか勘違いしているのでしょうか。
English
I don't know if this is standard Japanese, a dialect, or an idiolect, but one of my friends often speaks in the following way:

すごい綺麗な景色

What interests me here is the "すごい" which is being conjugated as an adjective, right?
I thought when you have two adjectives next to each other (I guess more precisely here a 形容詞 and 形容動詞) that the adjectival conjugation would be すごく、綺麗な and the adverbial would be the すごく綺麗な.
Is the above version correct? Am I misunderstanding something?


texts: Is there a Japanese version of urbandictionary?

texts:
I came across this phrase today:

  むぎゅむぎゅ

From context, it looks like it should mean something like "cute" or "poor you", but I couldn't find it on jisho.org or goo.ne.jp.

Is there a Japanese equivalent of urbandictionary, somewhere I can look when standard dictionaries fail?

Thanks!

Edit: Removed mention of かわいそう, as it was a distraction from the question.


texts:
I'm currently reading 灰と幻想のグリムガル (Hai to Gensou no Grimgar) and currently having trouble with these sentences:

1)　いたりもする

  石の前に花が供えられていたりもする。

Which I read it as: Flowers where offered in front of (some of) the stones. (For reference there are a lot of gravestones around)

I've read about the use of ~たりする from Tae Kim but I dont understand it in this sentence in regards to what the い and も are doing to the sentence.

Question: Have I parsed this wrong or have I missed something basic?

2)　いそうな

  やたらと身体が大きくて見るからにおっとりしていそうな男が低く唸った。

The English novel adaption of this is: An excessively large, but seemingly quiet, man let out a low groan.

I understand how it comes about this result, but the いそうな part kinda gets me a little. I know how そう works in general but the use of い just before slightly confuses me.

Question: Once again wondering if I have missed something here?

Many Thanks,

Archie


texts:
I have the following sentence to translate.

だれが来てもいいですが
少なくても
一人は
必ず
来させて下さい

So far I have the following.

Anyone can come but
even if there is few/little
1 person
definitely
please let me come/please make them come.

I just don't get what the translation is suppose to be saying. Can any think of a good translation?


texts: What is the difference between 山道【さんどう】 and 山道【やまみち】?

texts:
To provide context, I stumbled upon this new term for me when reading this sentence:

  田舎の山道を車で走っていたら、突然サルが飛び出してきた。

I looked 山道 up in a dictionary and I saw there are two possible readings. さんどう and やまみち. Is there a difference in usage or nuance between both readings? I've been researching for something relevant on this but I couldn't find a definite answer. According to my research, some people just prefer to use one reading over the other without a particular reason. Is it just a matter of style?

I found this passage of an online discussion particularly useful, though not conclusive (italics added by me):

  厳密にいえば、状況によって、読み方が変わります。
  ネイティブスピーカーでない区場合、別しなくても問題ありません。
  どちらでも理解してもらえます。
  権威ある辞書では
  「さんどう」を先に紹介しています。
  その次が「やまみち」です。
  Yurika_I (another interlocutor) は「さんどうと読む方が多い」といっています。
  山で働いている人も「さんどう」と読むでしょう。
  しかし、文学作品では、以下のようになっていて、
  圧倒的に「やまみち」と読まれています。
  85.7% やまみち.
  9.5% やまぢ
  4.8% さんどう
  私も「やまみち」と読むことがほとんどです。

If I understood correctly (I struggled to translate the passage), people who work in the mountain and such tend to say さんどう, while in literature やまみち is by far more used. The author of the post themself prefers やまみち over さんどう, but other people in the discussion just prefer さんどう over やまみち.

So, is there an objective criteria to read 山道 one way or the other based on the meaning or such?

よろしくお願いします！


texts: Is there a pronoun for plural speaker but not including the listeners?

texts:
Consider the following sentences.
Case 1

speaker: 私たちは毎日野菜を食べないといけない。(We must eat vegetables everyday.)
listener: そうですよね。(I agree.)

In this case, 私たち includes the listener in the group.
Case 2

speaker: 私たちはアメリカから来ました。(We came from US.)
listener: 日本へようこそ。(Welcome to Japan.)

In this case, 私たち excludes the listener in the group.
Question
From both cases, 私たち can include and exclude the listener in the group.
Is there any special Japanese pronoun to replace 私たち in the second case?


texts:
だが、改変後の折紙の意識が『士道への思い三〇パーセント:節度七〇パーセント』だったところに、『士道への思い一二〇パーセント』が足されたなら、バランスも崩壊してしまおうというものだった。

Hi. What does the bold ところ mean? And why is past form だった used there? (Rather than present form である, for example)?
Thank you.


texts:
溢れ出す魔力は、もはや抑えが利かない。
  一の回路に満ちた十の魔力は、その逃げ場を求めて基盤を壊し―

に満ちた=full of.
感情に満ちた顔=A face full of emotions.

In the sentence at the beginning this construction does not make much sense:

  Ten units of Magic full of 1 circuit look for an escape and break through the foundation.

But I also found an example:

  香りが部屋に満ちる
  The smell is filling up the room.

So the sentence in the beginning becomes:

  Ten units of magic which fills a single circuit look for an escape and break through the foundation.

Which is the correct one?


texts: Do Japanese stative verbs have the inchoative aspect?

texts:
In English, a verb that expresses a state can also express the entrance into a state. This is called inchoative aspect. The simple past is sometimes inchoative. For example, the present-tense verb in the sentence "He understands his friend" is stative, while the past-tense verb in the sentence "Suddenly he understood what she said" is inchoative, because it means "He began to understand"

I'm not sure if a sentence similar to that in Japanese would work. For example, 突然信じた sounds wrong, but I'm not sure. There are some other parts I'm not too sure about.

  Dowty gives some tests to decide whether an English verb is stative.[6] They are as follows:
  They cannot be complements of "force":

I forced John to run.
*I forced John to know the answer.

This one is tricky. 信じさせる is a valid word, but I'm not sure if that's because there is an inchoative aspect to it or something like Japanese perceiving stative verbs differently.

  They do not occur as imperatives, except when used in an inchoative manner.

Run!
*Know the answer!
Know thyself! (inchoative, not stative; archaic)

Since expressions like 信じて and そばに居て are valid, one would be inclined to think Japanese stative verbs would also have an inchoative aspect, but I'm not so sure if it can be used similarly in a way like 突然信じた. I'm also curious if verbs like 信じられる and 信じがたい have the inchoative aspect like "can believe" and "hard to believe" do.


texts:
My textbook has this example sentence:

  試験中、となりの人の答えを見ているところを先生に注意された。

The interpretation of this sentence hinges around ところを, and I'm not 100% sure what that means. The textbook simply indicates that it marks "while something is happening," and the ending particle (を in this case) matches whatever verb comes at the end.

If that's the case, then to me it looks like one of those "suffering passives" of the form "X suffered the teacher-warned-not-to-look-at-the-neighbour's-answers," where X is the subject. The gist of it being something like,

  "During the test, we were warned by the teacher to not look at our neighbours' answers."

However, in my dictionary of particles it says that ところを "Indicates that something unexpected has happened or is happening."

That definition doesn't seem to fit in this case, because it would leave the passive construction in a weird spot...

But I'm still not sure how my textbook's explanation of "while something is happening" fits in, exactly. It made me think that maybe the translation should be something like,

  "During the test, while I was looking at my neighbour's answers, I was warned by the teacher."

Which one of these is correct?


texts:
Continuation from my other question:
if we were asking as a question, 'みたことがありますか。' Can we use the question はparticle interchangeably? Or which to use under which circumstances? Thanks!


texts:
This is an example from an iPhone app called Tae Kim's learning Japanese:

子供だったアリスが立派な大人になった。
- The Alice that was a child became a fine adult.

The part "fine adult" or "立派な大人" confuses me.  The "な" between 立派 and 大人, what is it?  A particle, part of the word 立派 or what?


texts: Oldest Japanese Pronunciation for "When Is It?"

texts:
I'm writing a story with some... very old people, so I'm chasing down some very outdated pronunciations. What's the oldest known pronunciation for the sentence "When is it?"

(I'm not directly asking for an archaic pronunciation of「今、いつか？」because for all I know they'd've used different words entirely, but that's the sentence as it'd appear in modern Japanese.)


texts: Common ways of asking for someones phone number

texts:
I saw somewhere today that [電話]{でんわ}[番号]{ばんごう}は何番ですか is used to ask for someone's phone number. It seemed strange to me since I usually hear it as [電話]{でんわ}[番号]{ばんごう}何ですか, and also because the literal translation "What are the numbers, in your phone number?" sounds like it has some redundancy in it.

So my question is, which is more common?


texts:
Both 怒り{いかり} and 怒り{おこり} are nouns and mean "anger".  Even the kanji are the same!

How can we distinguish these two?


texts: My last name/surname is West. Can I just write it as the kanji 西 nishi? It means West but it's also a last name. If not, how do you write West in katakana?


texts: I've been unable to find the difference from example sentences online. Is it a matter of formality? Something completely else?


texts:
Roughly, my textbook taught me two major usages of -ため:

First, in context of a final clause, it is the colloquial equivalent to -ように and marks that the verbal expression connected to ために is the "goal" one tries to achieve through the verbal expression followed by the -ために phrase.
Example:
他日泳げるために、毎日練習しています。

The second one is ため in context of causal clauses. For example:
大雪が降ったために、空港が使えなくなりました。
Especially in this case, except for paying attention to context and the general sense of the sentence, are there any other "hard" criteria by which I can distinguish ため being used in a causal function and ため being used in a final function? For example, when ため was used in a final function, I think the preceding verb was always in present tense. In the case above, the preceding verb is clearly set into past tense.


texts:
最近、小松未歩という歌手の「謎」という歌をよく聞きます。
全体の意味は(想像のもとで)たぶんわかりやすいですが、1行目の歌詞が何回聞いても読んでもわかりません。

この世であなたの愛を手にいれるもの
踊るライト見つめて忘れない ahh 謎が解けてゆく

「手にいれたいもの」のほうがよくないですか。
なぜこんなところで「もの」を使いましたか。どういう意味でしょうか。
歌詞: http://www.kasi-time.com/item-14804.html
ビデオ: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sQnznXS_MJs


texts: Is the 'h' in Japanese pronounced the same as the 'f'?

texts: I'm aware that the so-called 'f' in ふ isn't pronounced with the English labiodental fricative [f], but rather the bilabial fricative [ɸ]. I'd like to know if Japanese speakers also use the bilabial fricative to pronounce は, ひ, へ and ほ. The reason I ask is because in romaji, I see these written as 'ha', 'hi', 'fu', 'he', 'ho', and wondered if ふ was a special exception in terms of how it is pronounced.


texts: Giving a reason for asking for a letter of recommendation

texts:
I have a quick question about giving a reason for asking for a letter of recommendation. I'd like to ask for a letter of rec from a Japanese language teacher and also explain that I need it for a scholarship. This is not the entire letter I will be writing, just a single sentence.

I was thinking:

  私は奨学金が欲しいので、推薦状をお願いいたします。

I would like it to sound as natural as possible. Please let me know how I might improve it.

Thanks!

Edit:
Thank you for your help! It seems my question was missing the forest for the trees.


texts: I would like to use Kanji for my first name (Winri) when I go to Japan. Is this okay to do? If so, what characters would go into the name?


texts: How to ask if someone has to do something

texts:
recently I've been talking to some japanese people and came across a problem that might sound stupid but I really had troubles expressing what I wanted.

I know the different forms to express obligations, it's been a while and I have no problem using them when I need to talk about what I have to do, however, I've found myself in a really stupid situation when a japanese friend asked me something about a game, and I wanted to say something like :

  After you do this, you will have to do that.

But I had no idea how to express this kind of "obligations".

【～ないといけない】, 【～なければいけない】, 【しなくてはいけない】 etc. just sounded wrong to me...

In this kind of moments I stress and panic it really frustrates me not knowing something like that, so I end up speaking gibberish and changing the topic which makes me look like a complete idiot

So I would like to know how to express this sort of obligations in the third person, and how to ask someone what he has to do?

Thank you!


texts: Why is this written in katakana instead of hiragana?

texts: Why in this image ノ is written in katakana and not in hiragana?


texts: Is there a reason for the days of the week being written and pronounced without the 日?

texts: I sometimes see the days of the week written without 日. Are there specific reasons on when 日would not be used?


texts: Does ばかり (meaning 'just happened') have to be a voluntary action (like たところ?)

texts: Is ばかり the same as たところ in the sense that the action must be voluntary? e.g. Winter just ended, could you use ばかり？


texts: How should I express "somebody else is good at/bad at/dislikes/likes XYZ"?

texts:
I'm writing about a group of people disliking the act of choir.
I guess that my question generally would be talking about a certain thing from someone else's perspective; I think it could be [person] は [thing] が好きじゃいでした。


texts: What does 私はお願いしたいんですけど mean in this context?

texts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4WlniHylrU&t=143s

This is a part of a legendary speech made by the former president of Nintendo at SpaceWorld. From my understanding, he is talking about the upcoming 64DD peripheral and how the technology could be used in games like Dragon Quest VII. Such a shame that over 2 decades later and not one sentence has been translated of this epic video. Even one minute translated would be nice. I wish translators would not view languages as simply a means of making their wallets fatter but rather be more giving and help translate timeless videos like these that embody video game culture. What a disgrace that translators don't even give back to the fans by helping with even one fan translation, instead, they are too busy doing jobs for the highest bidders of the richest clients.

私はお願いしたいんですけど、堀井さんも非常に興味を持っていただいて、なんとかやりたい。

しかも、そんな長い期間じゃなくて、新しいタネや仕掛けを使って一年半ぐらいで。<(this last part was added by me from ear)

今までのドラクエファン(dragon quest fan)が驚くような新しいタネや仕掛けを持ったドラゴンクエストを書き込めるソフトとして出すことに対して非常に積極的でありました。

Google translate:

I would like to ask, but Mr. Horii is also very interested and wants to do something.

Moreover, it's not a long period of time, but a year and a half using new seeds and devices. (what are seeds?)

Until now, Dragon Quest fan was very active in creating software that can write dragon quests with amazing new seeds and devices.


texts:
「どうせ誰もいはしないと高をくくっていたところもある。」

This one's throwing me for a bit of a loop. The translation says "He also didn't really take the possibility of anyone being there seriously."

It makes sense to me except for the いはしない part. What does this mean?

I looked up い and saw that it can mean stomach, so my first thought was that いはしない was perhaps some idiom like "not doing his stomach" that means "not being there" but I can't find any evidence to justify that on the internet so I have to assume it's wrong.


texts: Which one is correct for this sentence 欲しよう or 欲しがる

texts:
If I want to say " I think my grandma wants me to stay over tonight as well."

Are any of these ok?
祖母は 今日も 私に泊まって欲しよう。
祖母は 今日も 私に泊まって欲しがる。<-- but i'm not sure how I should add "I think(と思う)" into this sentence


texts: What is the difference between 勝利 and 勝ち?

texts:
Both mean "victory" so I would like to know when is it more convenient to use 勝ち, and when shoud I use 勝利 ?

Is one of them more polite ?


texts: What's the function of "と" in "海に行きたいといつしか話した"?

texts: It's not hard to understand the meaning of this sentence but I just want to know which function the "と" serves in this case.


texts:
I have the sentence from 合格できる、日本語能力試験N２:

  私は外国旅行をするたび、「　」専門の勉強をしている日本人の若い学者に会うと、思いがけない収穫をえる。

The choices for the blank are A）あそこで　B）そこで　C）ここで　D）どこかで

I narrowed it down to either A or B, but then I realized that I don't know the difference between them. Would someone mind explaining when either should be used and the difference they make?


texts:
A: でも好きな子ぐらいはいるんじゃないですか
  B: そういうのも含めて分かんなくなりました
  誰も僕の話を聞いてくれなかったから

How would you translate this dialogue between 2 people without any context? My class is doing translation pratice out-of-context to familiarize ourselves with stuffs like characters who has unidentified gender and I'm stuck at this dialogue.

My attempt:

  A: But isn't there anyone around that likes you?
  B: Even if there is, I wouldn't be able to tell.
  It's not like anyone is willing to listen to me.

Since there is a severe lack of context, that's the best I can do with being liberal. I'm having trouble identifying the subject of the first sentence and I couldn't tell how it relates to the second one.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why is particle で used instead of particle と in 家族で出かける (Kazoku de dekakeru)?

For example:

  今晩家族でレストランに行きます。(Konban kazoku de resutoran ni ikimasu)
  Tonight, I will go to the restaurant with my family.
  私は来週父と京都に行きます。(Watashi wa raishuu chichi to Kyouto ni ikimasu)
  I will go to Kyoto with my father next week.

Does it matter which I use? I think と is more common for saying "with someone" right? Just curious, thanks.

Also, is there a different connotation or feeling given if you use one over the other?


texts: Reference of そのこと in the following passage

texts:
I can't figure out the reference of そのこと in the following passage. Does it means that この後の事態 is much more important than 成立しない会話? Or the opposite?

リリス「お兄さんのことを、今も君は考えている？」
ソフィア「・・・・・・・・・・・・」
リリス「・・・・・・そう。待っているのね、彼のことを」
返答は、相変わらずの沈黙だ。 それに伴い、階下の騒ぎも聞こえない。
沈静したのか、それともこれは嵐の前か・・・・・・
リリス「どちらだと思う？ストライフが来てくれたらいいのだけど、彼は彼で忙しそうだし・・・・・・」
リリス「それでも待ってみましょうか。貴女は彼を、私は・・・・・・そうね、あの人を。待つ女っていうのも、それほど悪いものじゃないと思わない？」
ソフィア「・・・・・・・・・・・・」
先ほどから成立しない会話を、しかしリリスは楽しんでいるようだった。少なくともそう、この後に事態はどう転ぶのか・・・・・・そのことよりも重要だ。
リリス「・・・・・・マスター、駒はそろいました。後は貴方にお任せします」
どこか祈るようなリリスの声に、答えるものは・・・・・・

Master is not ソフィア, he doesn't even present in this scene.


texts:
Regarding すごい:

What is the right way to spell it?
Is it vulgar, or is it slang like the English "cool"?, or informal or colloquial? Is it archaic?
If it is slang, does it have a non-slang meaning?
If it would be considered too slangy or informal, is すばらしい the right word to use in its place?


texts: I asked my teacher why is "が”はじまる instead of ”は”はじまる. She said "が” is always put before はじまる. But she said there are circumstances that ”は” is put before はじまる too. She said there are rules meanwhile couldn't clarify. Anyone can explain this? Many thanks!


texts: Meaning of 「かくや（という）」

texts:
A quote from 80日間世界一周:

  巨大な湖が凍ったらかくやという景色だった。
  It seemed like a vast frozen lake.

I'm guessing the 「かく」 is this one, but I don't understand how the 「や」 works. Could this be a set phrase?


texts: The difference in からandに as location markers in the following

texts:
In the sentenced circled below "The 100 yen coin is found under the desk", It usesから to mark the location.

so this made me wonder "oh! if it's used like this, then certainly に should work to as it's also a location marker!" But when I looked for answers on "HiNative" they told me It's not natural, but when asked why they didn't know how to answer me. Here's the thread in question: https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/13891892

so Any information on this is greatly appreciated thanks!


texts: What's the difference between saying 私は日本語を話しません vs 私は日本語が話しません?

texts:
私は日本語を話しません

  私は日本語が話しません

I've seen both versions on the Internet. Maybe only one is the correct version? Maybe both?


texts: I noticed that in my dictionary 29日 is read either as にじゅうくにち or にじゅうきゅうにち but 19日 doesn't have じゅうきゅうにち reading, only じゅうくにち. Can 19日 be read as じゅうきゅうにち?


texts:
たくさんの階段を昇った後だったので彼女は完全に息を切らしていた。1 (original example sent.)
  たくさんの階段を昇った後で彼女は完全に息を切らしていた。2

My guess: there is a strong causal link between this and that in 1. 2 just means "A happened, then B happened". Is that correct?


texts:
I would like to ask about the following words: 父親【ちちおや】 and 母親【ははおや】. They refer to father and mother, right? But why do they exist? When do we use them instead of お父【とう】さん and お母【かあ】さん?

I have a similar misunderstanding regarding the following two words: 両親【りょうしん】 and 父母【ふぼ】

Basically they both mean parents or 'father and mother', but what is the difference?

Thank you for your help in advance! Have a nice day!


texts: Question about this use of the conditional form

texts:
I'm trying to understand an exchange:

A: まともに行ってもここを通り抜けるのはキツイがな

B: 見りゃぁわかるぜ

In this case person B starts their sentence with a contraction of the conditional form of 見る, but I'm not sure why. It's my understanding that the verb that precedes the "ば" is the "If [X]", part, so would this sentence just mean "If I can see that, I understand it"? The subtitles translate it as just "I can see that", so I'm just a little confused why the conditional and "wakaruze" are even needed here.

I appreciate any help.


texts: Dazai Osamu - 人間失格 「自分は[無]{む}だ、[風]{かぜ}だ、[空]{そら}だ」 grammar?

texts:
I have a question regarding the following passage:

  何でもいいから、笑わせておればいいのだ、そうすると、人間たちは、自分が彼[等]{ら}の[所謂]{いわゆる}「生活」の[外]{そと}にいても、あまりそれを気にしないのではないかしら、とにかく、彼等人間たちの[目障]{めざわ}りになってはいけない、自分は無だ、風だ、[空]{そら}だ、というような思いばかりが[募]{つの}り、自分はお[道化]{どうけ/どけ}に[依]{よ}って家族を笑わせ、また、家族よりも、もっと[不可解]{ふかかい}でおそろしい[下男]{げなん}や[下女]{げじょ}にまで、必死のお道化のサーヴィスをしたのです。

(I do not own the book in Japanese, I found the above text here.)

Would it be possible just for the part 自分は無だ、風だ、空だ to stand on its own as a full-fledged sentence, would it be grammatically correct? Also in the book I own it is translated as "I shall be nothing, the wind, the sky.", which sounds all right to me as a sentence in English, but I am not sure about this bit in Japanese.


texts:
I have learnt that these are both ways to say "let alone, all the more.. etc"
Are these two grammatical structures interchangeable, or meant to be used together? Many thanks in advance.


texts: ”ないし”-Unable to understand the use of this phrase here

texts:
基底ないしパターンの数ｍは、5.3.3項で説明した方法を使ってデータごとに求めるべきパラメータです

I am unable to understand the use of "ないし" phrase in the head of the above sentence after the "基底". This phrase is a form of the adjective "ない", meaning no/is not, which is mainly used when the speaker wants to continue after the negation. So why is this being used in the head of the sentence ?
If necessary, this sentence is speaking about a machine learning algorithm and its tuning.
Please help.


texts:
Context:

  ５月の素案で示した「７０代での発症を１０年間で１歳遅らせる」という初めての数値目標は参考値に格下げし、患者の精神的負担にならないよう配慮した。

Source: https://www.sankei.com/life/news/190618/lif1906180018-n1.html

I understand the sentence in bold as,

Delay the outbreak of illness in 70 year olds, in 10 years, by one year (?)

Am I understanding this correctly ?


texts: When is it good to use "ダサい" (out of fashion, boring)? Is it an everyday word?


texts: Concatenating two verbs to describe a noun

texts:
I would like to say "Alive animals that arrive to Europe" and my attempt would be something like ヨロッパに着く生きている動物が.." but it seems kinda wrong to concatenate the two verbs in that way. I'm not sure if by simply changing 着く to 着いて would make any sense.

Thanks


texts:
What is the difference between the "わ" sentence ender used by women in general and the one that is used by both Males and females in the Kansai area?

I've asked my Japanese co-workers about it specifically and they said that there is a difference to them, but unfortunately, like most native speakers of a language, couldn't concretely explain what that difference is.

One comment was that women can say "~わね" where this cannot be said by men in the Kansai area.


texts:
I'm trying to construct a short post for my social media, in Japanese, because many of our customers are Japanese.

I don't want to make a mess.

I am using a quote from a Japanese review left on Tripadvisor from a customer. I want to know if this is the correct way to express it is a quote from Tripadvisor, because I don't understand how to use the quote marks in Japanese correctly!

This is the original text:

  本格的アルゼンチン料理で、美味しい肉を堪能させて頂きました。tripadvisorのレビュー

So do I just use these marks to make it into a quote? And then state the origin of the quote? 「」

e.g

  「本格的アルゼンチン料理で、美味しい肉を堪能させて頂きました。」tripadvisorのレビュー

Because I read on another site that I may need to add some other characters...


texts: Why is "でしょう" the norm in weather forecasts?

texts:
In weather forecasts on the radio or on TV, I frequently notice the announcers suddenly starting to add "でしょう" to almost all their sentences. Now I know this is used to indicate uncertainty, which seems understandable given that weather forecasts are uncertain. However, I would say such constructions would be considered quite unusual in other languages (at least in Western European languages it is), in which the (majority of) sentences do not imply uncertainty, at least not explicitly.

Is this a phenomenon occurring only in Japanese? Is it simply by custom, that is,  something someone started doing at some point and simply became the norm? Or is there some more important (cultural or linguistical?) reason behind explicitly using "でしょう" in such contexts?


texts:
できることが僕にある

This sounds like "the things I can do is in me", which doesn't makes sense. Translation tells me it actually means "I can do something". Why is に used rather than が? What rule does this に follow? I haven't seen this kind of に anywhere so far (with my limited japanese). Also what is the difference in using に and が here?


texts:
I have always been interested in the negative polite (〜ません) and negative past-polite (〜ませんでした) inflections of verbs.

My understanding is that ます is an inflectable function word (助動詞), so I'm wondering why the negative form ends with ん. Is that a contraction of ぬ perhaps? (Also why is the 未然形 ませ rather than something more regular, like まさ?)

The really weird thing for me is でした (the past inflection of the polite copula), showing up for the negative past-polite form. Has this always been the way to handle this sort of semantics, even in Classical Japanese, or is this a recent introduction to the language?

Although I think there is probably no really satisfying answer to why things are like this, I do think it'd be interesting to know how things evolved through time, so any answers revealing some of that information are welcome!


texts:
My questions relate to the following two sentences taken from the website referenced below. The goal of the lesson was to explain the uses of ということ but I'm more concerned with the choice of particles in bold.

冬に北海道に行ってみればどんなに寒いかということがわかるだろう。
冬に北海道に行ってみればどんなに寒いかがわかるだろう。
If you go to Hokkaido in the winter, (I bet) you'll see how cold it is.

First, is the second sentence grammatical?I thought か replaced が when it marks indirect questions? If it is grammatical, how does including both particles change the meaning?
Second, is it possible to mark an indirect question with が rather than か?For example, is - 冬に北海道に行ってみればどんなに寒いがわかるだろう。 - grammatical?
Last, why is か used in the first sentence at all.
I was under the impression that と alone is proper and かと actually serves the purpose of reducing the certainty which is not the intention in this sentence.
Reference: http://maggiesensei.com/2010/04/24/request-lesson-%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%86toiu-%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%86%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%EF%BC%88toiukoto-and-many-more/


texts: Can any nationality be expressed by adding + jin to the country name?

texts:
So, many country nationalities are written by adding +jin to the country name like
Itaria-jin イタリア人 , Oranda-jin オランダ人, Kanada-jin カナダ人,
Supein-jin スペイン人 , etc.

but there are some like american who can be written 米国人 Beikokujin or アメリカ人 Amerikajin.

And some others you only commonly find it with an original name like ドイツ人 Doitsujin or 中国人 Chūgokujin. How about countries like these last ones. Can they also be written country name + jin or it's only valid to call them with their original names?


texts:
This is a (no spoilers) line from the recent Attack on Titan S4E5 (ep64).
やっぱり俺はお前と同じだ

And I understand it, but I'm just a bit confused because I expected it to be:
やっぱり俺はお前に同じだ

Because the translation is:
After all I'm the same as you

I thought the と was as

やっぱり
俺は
お前
と
同じ
だ

After all
I am
you
as
same
is

Does this と mean with? Am I misunderstanding the phrase?


texts: How to go about differentiating って meaning

texts:
にしかたって字は書けなきゃダメでしょう

(にしかた is a surname)

How do I differentiate whether this って is used to quote "にしかた” or if it is used to act as a topic marker as a replacement for は?

However, in this sentence, a は is already present after 字, so I assume the latter meaning of って does not apply? I heard that using って as a topic marker instead of は is suitable in situations where the speaker is trying to address something being said earlier. Hence, I am pretty confused on which meaning is to be applied.

Besides the two meanings highlighted in the question, is there any other meaning of って I missed out that could justify my question? For now, I understood って can refer to とは, does it also apply to というのは?


texts: What's the difference between 勝つ可能性 and 勝てる可能性？

texts:
In English I think there is a subtle difference between "there's a possibility we'll win" and "there's a possibility we can win". I think the former implies "if things keep going as they are now, we might win" while the latter implies "if we start trying extra extra hard (or do something else differently) we might be able to win".

Is there a similar difference in Japanese?


texts:
Please explain more in detail and clearly that phrase "信じて行動する".

Context:

  僕とハルはある男を信じて行動していた

Am I to understand that definition like "man of word + man of action", a person who is completely self-controlled and achieves the goals set for herself, a successful man?


texts:
I know the basic use for adverbs, but I found this sentence

飛行機が飛ばなくなると、地方の経済が悪くなるかもしれません

and I just don't understand the く in 飛ぶ.


texts:
How do you translate the "nan" in "kore wa nan desu ka" from rōmaji to kanji?

Is "これわなんですか" correct?


texts: I've seen several of my Japanese friends use "orz" in various types of posts on Facebook.  What does "orz" mean?  It's driving me nuts!


texts: What is the difference between 特別 and 特殊?

texts:
特別 and 特殊

I think they both mean "special". But are they used in different contexts?


texts:
I came across the word from the following dialogue.
After a boy told an old man with this sentence.

しっかりしねえか おっちゃん！　いったい なにがあったんだ きょう！

The old man punched him at the face and said this sentence.

やかましい　つべこべぬかすな　てめえなんざ　けぇっちまえーっ


texts: Have a question on this sentence 「ていうか、今日めっちゃ寒くね。」

texts:
ていうか、今日めっちゃ寒くね。
Today I've met this sentence and got confused. Why the sentence used 寒くinstead of using 寒い?Thanks very much in advance.


texts:
I recently came across the phrase じゃないんじゃない in this sentence:

  Clerk: 「でも うちで売{う}ってるアイスじゃないんじゃないかしら。」

For context, some kids are claiming they have a winning popsicle stick but the clerk can't seem to recognize it.

Here, I believe the clerk is saying But I don't think we sell this kind of ice cream here.

However, the じゃないんじゃない is throwing me off because it looks like it's negating the sentence while also asking for confirmation, as if the clerk doesn't believe her own words or something.

How should じゃないんじゃない be translated here?


texts: Does わけ as in わけではない and わけがない genuinely mean "reason" or actually means "translation/interpretation?

texts:
I've been struggling with the word わけ which is taught as meaning reason, but I am not convinced "reason" is its true meaning because it doesn't make sense, especially with the the expression わけがない, sentences become nonsensical. I have done some research and found that わけ or 訳 is used to mean translate, translation, interpretation. If I see わけではない and わけがない from the perspective of "translation/interpretation" these expressions make more sense.

Am I correct?


texts: Particle "に" in sentences with "です" and "あります"

texts:
I do not quite understand why some sentences do not need particle に.

For example:

  いすはテーブルの上です

Instead, is it gramatically correct to say:

  いすはテーブルの上にです

Like in this sentence:

  いすはテーブルの上にあります

What is the difference here in using に particle???
Why あります needs using this particle and です does not???


texts:
I just came across some of the "contracted forms" used in conversations, which I'm not really familiar with. May you help me decoding the ones that I found impossible to understand and to translate them into the more "common" form?

I will explain it better, for example in this sentence: "あしたいちんち、どっか出掛けよっか。", I do understand that どっか is どこか and that 出掛けよっか is 出掛けようか, but I cannot figure out what いちんち means.

I also found: "何すんの", which I believe corresponds to "何するの", but I'm not really sure about it.

The last one that I cannot understand is 買ってこよっか, as in: "何か飲むもんでも、買ってこよっか".

Thank you in advance.


texts:
A while ago I was chatting with a Japanese man and when he introduced himself instead of using 「申す」 or 「言う」 he used 「垂オます」, as in (His name)と垂オます.

Can this be used in the same way as 「申す」　and 「言う」 or is reserved exclusively for introductions? How is it read? What's the origin? I initially assumed it was a typo but it seems unusual to get those kanji from a typo for the above (unless I'm overlooking something).

I haven't talked to him since so I haven't been able to ask him personally about it but if you guys have seen it before or could clarify it I would be greatly appreciative.


texts: Do Japanese people use formal or informal language for internal monologues?

texts: I assume informal. Are there any cases when you would use formal, perhaps to be sarcastic? And general, is informal or formal language used more in life (I mean for the average person - is it around 50-50? Or lopsided to one direction?)


texts:
I am familiar with the particle の.
Either it be using it as in "possessive" cases like 私の家族.

Or its usage as the word "of" like in 日本語の本.

But in this special case I can't figure it out why we use the の, and if there's an alternative to it like in "every type" すべてのタイプ. It feels like the の translates to "The" in the alternate translation "all the types". In the following sentence I can use の in two different ways, can someone, please, help me with that?

Eg: 私は音楽のすべてのタイプが好きです。


texts: Difference between progressive verb forms and i-adjectives

texts:
I'm wondering, for adjectives such as 太い and　悲しい that also have a progressive "to be" verb counterpart (i.e., 太っている and 悲しんでいる), what is the difference between using the i-adjective form and the verb form?

E.g.:  太っている人 vs　太い人。　悲しんでいる人　vs 悲しい人。


texts:
I thought that "suki" was a verb which meant "to like". It is hard to me to make sense why it seems to be always used with "desu".

Now in a webpage I read that suki is an adjective, which means something like "liked" like some sort of passive voice I guess? That's why it uses the verb desu almost always I supposed. But I also see in another webpage that suki is a verb with all its conjugations.

The question is, is it suki an adjective, a verb, or both, and if it's also a verb, when it's used like a verb with its respective conjugations and without desu? (Assuming it can be used without desu.)


texts:
I'm trying to say something like "how much EXP do you get for defeating that monster?" Is there a particle I should be using here?

My attempt is this:

そのモンスターを倒したらどれくらいの経験値が貰えるの？

But at least to my native-English-speaking brain, this feels more like "how much EXP do you get IF you defeat that monster?" whereas I'm looking more for something that takes the monster-defeating as a given. But perhaps I'm just thinking too much from an English perspective here, so I'd appreciate any clarification. :)


texts:
In Instagram, there is a activity notification that is

aさん、bさん、他2人があなたをフォローし始めた。

Is 他 read as "ほか" or is there another way to read?


texts: What kind of periods can I put before にわたって?

texts:
I came across this question when doing some JLPT N2 practice.

  （　）にわたってこの町には観光客が大勢きた。

  a 五月

  b 五月の連休

  c 一週間

I think that all three options are correct syntactically. All three are periods of time, so I thought I should choose the semantically best answer - b. This is because the other two options are not as worth talking about. I mean, "consecutive holidays" sounds more like a topic to chat about/discuss than just "May" or "a week". b also makes sense because during consecutive holidays, people do tend to travel a lot, so it would be natural for a town to have a lot of visitors during that time.

However, the correct answer is c and I don't see why. My book says this about the use of にわたって:

  場所・時間・回数。範囲など、幅が大きいことを表す語につく。

So I should put a long period of time (幅が大きい) before にわたって. However, the correct answer is just a period of one week. And speaking of 五月の連休, I can only think of Golden Week, so my answer also is a period of one week.

Why is the correct answer c and why are the other answers wrong?


texts: What's the point of adding とした here in this sentence?

texts:
Here is the sentence of my question.

希望に満ち溢れていたはずの"あなた"がなぜあんなに荒凉とした場所にうずくまっていたの。

I can understand what it's trying to say to some degree yet it confuses me why とした is used in the sentence.

With the wonder I checked とした up in the dictionary and got no explanatory answer. And I wonder if it's an adjective or a particle added to modify nouns and turn them into adjectives.


texts:
It is in a sentence said by an old man who is speaking to a group of children.

おめえらはだまっとれ！

I think it should be an imperative form of 「黙る」 but I found, in an online dictionary, that the form is written as 「黙れ」.

Is this word in a form of a certain dialect?


texts:
A mid-19th century title reads Daimotsu-no-ura ayakashi no zu, 大物の浦罔像[あやかし]の圖, which I would translate as Picture of the 'Sea Phantoms' at Daimotsu-no-ura.

I cannot grasp why the kanji 罔像 have been used to represent the word ayakashi. Preliminary research indicates that 1. 罔 can have a Goon reading of mō (もう), Kan'on reading of bō (ぼう), and Kun reading of ami (あみ), shiiru (しいる), nai (ない), basic definition of "net," and 2. 像 has a reading of zō (ぞう, historical hiragana ざう), meaning "image, figure, statue, picture, portrait" and "figure, form, shape, appearance." I can't find 罔像 in any online dictionaries, and originally pondered whether 罔像 might allude to some kind of "deceptive image" or "deceptive figure" given other compounds using the character 罔. Any insights?
The furigana あやかし in the title definitely indicates that 罔像 should be read as ayakashi. Wikipedia indicates that ayakashi is usually seen as 妖 - which brings me to the other part of my question: how does 妖 read as ayakashi when 妖 = yo/yō (よう); yao (やお); aya (あや); but the kashi is not accounted for? Yō (妖) can be interpreted as "mysterious, bewitching, unearthly," or "weird." Zack Davisson ('What Does Ayakashi Mean in English?', and 'What Does Yokai Mean in English?'), suggests that yō (妖) hints at paranormal or supernatural phenomena that are perplexing, intriguing, and enchanting, rather than phenomena that are frightening or horrifying, and is seen compounded in words such as yoka (妖花), an "ethereally beautiful flower," or ayashii (妖しい), "bewitching, charming." So why is ayakashi represented by a single kanji?

The word Ayakashi is said to be a collective name for yōkai (妖怪, ようかい), ghostly forms that appear above the surface of water, that is, tend to appear at boundaries - the places where one thing becomes another thing - the boundary between the ocean and the air rather than the dark depths. They might be thought of, or translated as, "strange phenomenon of the sea." General references indicate that ayakashi are sea ghosts, apparitions, phantoms, or spectres: in various Japanese prefectures they are largely considered to be "atmospheric ghost lights that appear above water," and are clearly linked to the funayūrei (船幽霊, ふなゆうれい, "boat ghosts"), for in Yamaguchi and Saga prefectures ayakashi refer to yūrei who drowned at sea and try to sink boats and drown swimmers either for revenge or to swell their ranks. They are known to float up to the surface of the water, appearing first as kaika, then transforming into figures. Zack Davisson also mentions that in Noh theatre the "male mask of a ghost or violent god is called ayakashi" though the word uses particular kanji, 怪士 (ayaka, 怪, "strange," and shi, 士, "warrior").


texts: sentential modifiers(?) and relative clause question

texts:
I just finished Japanese level 2 in college, which as I have come to understand is ~the most important~ and I came away with quite a lot of questions.
We learned about relative clauses and something my teacher referred to as a "sentential modifier" and they seem very similar, but clearly have different functions. Hoping someone could help.

コーヒーを飲んでいる男の人です。
the man drinking coffee

So as I understand this is an example of a relative clause (i.e. the preceding clause modifies the noun).
However, when my sensei brought up a "sentential modifier" she kind of glossed over it. But here was the sentence

これは私が使う水です。
That is the water I use.

So, these things are pretty similar, but I was hoping someone could clarify this for me.  Both sentences use the short form of verbs and no particle between the verb and the ~leading~ noun.
If these are both correct, how commonly are clauses/sentences like this used? Are there any "rules" about use of particles in these instances?


texts: Is the し in はじめまして pronounced as "shi" or as "sh"?

texts: Is this always the case for words that end in して similar to how です is pronounced "des"?


texts:
There is a variety of words such as ”友”　”相棒”　”仲間”, etc. to describe a person as a friend or partner.

Is there a casual way to call out your friend in Japanese, instead of having to call his/her name everytime?
Ex.
English : Man, Guys, Bro, etc.

Mostly, I have only heard one being called by nickname.


texts: Is there an idiomatic Japanese equivalent of the construction "Let [infinitive verb]"?

texts:
In English, we have constructions like "Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York" (MLK's I Have A Dream speech) and "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3, KJV and other versions).

Is there an idiomatic Japanese equivalent of this construction? I can imagine circumlocuting around it with something like ニューヨークの偉大なる山から自由が響くようにあろう, but I'm not sure if that's idiomatic (or even correct) Japanese.

The Japanese Living Bible seems to translate "Let there be light" as 「光よ、輝け」, but that seems to me to mean "Shine, light", which is not really the same thing.


texts: How come some jōyō kanji for everyday concepts are very new additions?

texts:
I'm trying to understand the implications of the jōyō list. From the wikipedia page, I understand that it's an "official" list in the sense that it is:

maintained by the Ministry of Education
an exclusive list of kanji available for official government documents
a list of mandatory kanji to be taught in school

Looking over the history of changes and the latest batch of 196 new kanji from 2010 I was surprised that, even with my little knowledge, I could recognize three:

呂 as in "風呂" (bath)
椅 as in "椅子" (chair)
阪 as in "大阪" (Osaka)

Does that mean that, prior to 2010, school children were not necessarily taught how to write the words for "chair" and "bath"; or that official govt. documents could not reference Osaka? Were kana/other kanjis used?


texts: Heisig story #30 (Nightbreak) 旦, shouldn't it mean "daybreak" instead?

texts:
I believe that the tittle already covers my question, but I will explain it better here.

When I was reading the Heisig book (Remembering the Kanji, the sixth edition I believe) I came across the kanji 旦, which Heisig defines as Nightbreak. I looked at http://www.edrdg.org/cgi-bin/wwwjdic/wwwjdic?1MMJ%E6%97%A6 and found the following definition:

  daybreak; dawn; morning

Which lead me thing that 旦 means the start of the day and NOT the start of the night, as the key-word and the story Heisig provides leads me to think.

But the story also talks about a more cultural aspect... I will quote the story from the book here:

  While we normally refer to the start of the day as "daybreak," Japanese commonly refers to it as the "opening up of night" into day. Hence the choice of this rather odd key work, nightbreak. The single stroke at the bottom represents the floor (have a peek again at frame 1) or the horizon over which the sun is poking its head.

I know that are two different languages, but I think it it worth mentioning: I also have access to another book from Heisig, the Remembering the Simplified Hanzi (Chinese) and there the Hanzi has the meaning of daybreak; making me think that he really wants to give the kanji #30 the meaning of nightbreak.

I am super confused about this Kanji now. Can someone explain to me what is happening here regarding the meaning of the kanji and possibly give me an explanation about why Heisig chose this key word?


texts: Beginner: book/ website for reading comprehension and vocabulary

texts:
I'm looking for a book/website that helps me to increase my reading skills and vocabulary. The only "problem" is, that it should be only written with hiragana and katakana. At the very best there should be an English or German translation.

This question seemed to be a good starting point but later I saw that all of the texts contain kanji.


texts:
I set my phone's language into Japanese to make me more exposed to the Japanese language. Therefore, many apps also turned into Japanese, following the system's language.
I have searched for a lot of kanji and words I can find on my phone, but there is this word written in kanji 白分 (shiro bun)?
I don't really know how to read it but I know the kanji. I can guest the meaning but I am not sure. So I wonder if anyone knows what it means and how to read the word.
Thanks in advance


texts: Sentence translation: 昨日、学校が終わってから、桜子の家に子犬を見に行った。

texts:
I was reading online when I saw this:

  昨日、学校が終わってから、桜子の家に子犬を見に行った。

Translates to

  Yesterday, after school was over, I went to see the puppy at Sakurako's house.

Now the question is, in 学校が終わってから, if 学校が終わって is a noun, then the から here would mean "from". Whereas if it's a verb, then it would mean "because". I have two questions: First, is the て form a noun? Secondly, how does 学校が終わってから possibly translate to "after school was over"?


texts: What is 露わになる affecting in the following sentence, '才能の持ち主' (持ち主 to be specific) or '才能'?

texts:
それも生死に関わる窮地に陥って、　初めて露わになる才能の持ち主です。」

I know that 才能の持ち主 (as the の is a possessive の) can mean 'owner of talent'.

Question is, what is 露わになる affecting in the above sentence, the 'talent' itself, or the 'owner of talent'?


texts:
In a bit old Japanese, the phrase:

  草鞋{わらじ}を召{め}されなば

means "if you (talking to a superior) put on the straw sandals" (I assume from the context).

Where does the conjugation ～なば of 召される come from?


texts:
I had always thought that when you were talking about percentage, fractions, portions, etc., it was always pronounced ぶん. However, I saw its pronunciation listed as ぶ on Imabi, a renowned website for self-learners.  The likelihood of its being an error was rather low, since the author seemed to really know his stuff, solid.

On Imabi, a couple of examples were given:

  五分五分{ごぶごぶ}の確率
  九分九厘{くぶくりん}勝てる。
  *八九分{はっくぶ}

*Strangely, MS-IME does not show 八九分 for はっくぶ, I have to type each kanji separately. Could it be due to its not being an idiom?

The first two seem to be 四字熟語, so I would simply assume the pronunciations are not up for discussion. However, what about other combinations, such as 九割九分? According to this native speaker (ID: ywja):

  It's either きゅうわりきゅうぶ or くわりくぶ. Personally, I find that きゅうわりきゅうぶ is more common. Also, it sounds more colloquial and casual to my ears, probably because きゅう sounds more casual than く as the reading of 九.

Question #1.
Her/his explanation appears not to be about personal preference, or regional/dialectic difference. If there is indeed room for variation, as this person suggests, what are some common examples (other than 九) where multiple readings apply for the sake of nuances? For instance, for 四分, what are the possible readings? よぶ, よんぶ, and/or しぶ? In addition, how does one read 何分, 一分, 三分, 八分, 十分, 百分, and so on?

Unfortunately, that is not all.

First of all, as far as I know, 分 should be read as ぶん for fractions, such as 三分{さんぶん}の一{いち}. The same goes for portions, such as 千人分の生ビール, or 三十年分のビール.

Next, I looked up 分 again in a dictionary, and for this specific pronunciation, ぶ, 研究社 listed only one English translation, "percent." The following are all the sample sentences provided:

  銀行は 4 *分の利子で金を貸してくれた。 The bank lent me the money at 4 percent interest.
  日本チームに*分がある勝ちそうだ。 The Japanese team is likely to win.
  今回は我々のほうが*分がいい。 We have an advantage this time.
  その仕事は 9 *分どおり済んだ。 The work is 90 percent done.

For 2. & 3., I think ぶ is the only possible reading, since only under ぶ is this meaning listed. In goo辞書, 1st entry under 分（ぶ）:

  どちらに傾くかの度合い。自分のほうに有利になる度合い。

Question #2.
For 1. & 4., can you read it as ぶん as well? Moreover, shouldn't it be 9 percent in 4., or 九割?

Again, under 割（り）（わり）, goo辞書 has this definition：

  歩合の単位。1割は10分の1。

And for 分（ぶ）:

  全体を10等分したもの。10分の1相当の量。
  単位の名。㋐割合・利率で、1割の10分の1。全体の100分の1。

I guess one does not simply consult a dictionary, and go "Eureka!"

Question 3.
How does one decide, then, when （一）分 means one-tenth, but not one-hundredth? Moreover, how does one read it? ぶ, or ぶん?

長文ですみません… いつも迷惑をかけてばかりんですが…どうぞよろしくお願いいたします！


texts:
さっき、図書館でマリアさんという人に会ったんだけど。

I know けど only as a colloquial version of -が


texts: Few questions about this quote 力求むるも、修羅に染まれぬか！腑抜けが！

texts:
I have several questions about this quote which is spoken by the character Akuma in the Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 game. It's very different from the English localization ("Now you have witnessed what a true demon can do.") and I can't quite grasp it and have some questions, because I noticed how this character speaks in old fashioned way, evidenced by the presence of the suffix ぬ here, which, if I am right, it's not the classical form for ない, but the marker that (quote from wiki) "was used mainly for verbs that indicated intransitive, naturally occurring, or unintentional actions" and this might have been a little tough to understand.I will start by breaking down the quote:
力求むるも=here I want to say 'pursuit of power' (even this verb I mostly see it written as 求める, didn't know about this variant)修羅に染まれぬか！=here I would say either 'strife' or 'conflict', but I don't know how 染まれぬ should be interpreted. Even if I regard it as 染まれた, how should it sound? The only idea I had was "(the pursuit of power) is steeped in conflict". This has been giving me problems...also, another thing that I'm curious about, sometimes I hear it in anime, but just what nuance is there with が at the end?  Finally, there is 腑抜けが which I see translated as either 'coward'or 'fool', mostly I've seen example with the former, though it's something I'll determine when I understand the rest better.I'm sorry if I could not explain well enough, I was quite intrigued by many ways characters spoke in this game and this one I spent some time trying to figure it out, but it's clear that I need some opinions about it.Thank you in advance for those who can help me out in any way.


texts:
I have found a sentence with 作戦 (tactics; strategy; (2) {mil} military operation;)

  ここはウィットなジョークでも飛ばして、堀北の内部ポイントを貯める作戦に出よう。

  Now I could finally score some points with Horikita by telling some
  witty jokes.

I understand globally, of course if refers to psychological tactics but still I do not understand the grammar specially the association with に出よう

Could someone explain this to me ?


texts:
I'm struggling with figuring the function of the particle と in this sentence from a book of Japanese literature in parallel text from the beginning of 夏目漱石's 夢十夜:

  腕組をして枕元に坐っていると、仰向に寝た女が、静かな声でもう死にますと云う。

The parallel text to this sentence translates this to:

  I was sitting with my arms crossed by the bedside of a woman. She was lying on her back.  . . .

I do understand how the sentence was thus translated; however, I don't understand the function of the particle と in the sentence.  Can someone elaborate on the use of と in this sentence?


texts: Is there a reason why numbers in Japanese are delimited into blocks of four?

texts:
As I understand, Japanese numbers are divided into blocks of four, so while we would think of the number 89123889 as 89,123,889, in Japan they would think of it as 8912,3889 (八千九百十二万三千八百八十九). So English uses thousands and Japanese uses tens of thousands.

Is there any particular reason for this? Not that it matters either way, I'm just wondering at what point either culture chose to delimit numbers by thousands, or tens of thousands.

If you reply with Japanese, please use hiragana and furigana only, except for number kanji.


texts: I'm a beginner and I would like to know how あまり is used.


texts: This is something I haven't seen commonly, since people react with strangers less often (at least compared to America or Great Britain). However, if you wanted to say "excuse me miss/sir", what would you call them? Thank you!


texts: How can I find the pitch-accent pattern for 頭高型?

texts:
I don't mean the meaning of 頭高型, but the pitch-accent pattern of the actual word 「頭高型」. I've found several pitch-accent dictionaries including the two OJAD sites (here and here), but the first site doesn't give the pitch classification (like 0 if it was 平板), and the second doesn't have an entry for it.
This seems like a word that should be in pitch-accent dictionaries, given it's a pretty common word for talking about pitch-accent.
Does anyone know any better resources, and/or the pitch-accent pattern for 頭高型?


texts:
I was reading a joke:

  [長寿村]{ちょうじゅむら}

  [旅人]{たびびと}：この[村]{むら}は[世界一]{せかいいち}の[長生]{ながい}きの村だって？

  [村人]{むらびと}：はい、[未]{いま}だに[死]{し}んだ[人]{ひと}がおりません。

  旅人：じゃ、あの[葬儀]{そうぎ}の[列]{れつ}はなんだ？

  村人：はい、[葬儀屋]{そうぎや}が[自殺]{じさつ}をしたんです。

I understand most of the joke except the end of the second line:

  死んだ人がおりません。

I see that おりません is used here and I don't understand why it is here. I checked the dictionary on my Mac for the word おる and it told me to look for おりる where I found 下りる, 降りる. After I read the meanings, I can't find anything that would make sense in this context.

Then I started to think that this is a typo and it should have been いません instead:

  死んだ人がいません。

literally, "there does not exist a person who died".

Question: Is this a typo? If not, what is the meaning of おりません and how will the meaning change if I used いません?


texts:
Is there, even if it's speculative, any explanation to the squareness of kanji characters?

Why are 口, 回 or 円 not circles or round like の, for example?

Was making circles with early day tools too clumsy? If at the beginning they had to scratch a hard surface, I can imagine that straight lines were easier to draw.


texts: Does 逆さまにする ever mean rotation on the Y-axis? a twist?

texts:
I've thought さかさま to mean to rotate 180" over the X-axis. In dictionaries, I see the definition "to invert, upside down; to flip" ok.

But "to reverse, back to front" is also included in some dictionaries as a "secondary" definition for さかさま。This seems strange.

In daily use Japanese, さかさま 99% of the time means "rotate over the X-axis and turn something upside down. to invert / flip", right? And saying "さかさまにしろ" is like telling someone to "stand on their head"?


texts: Why are the high-pitched voices of children 'yellow'?

texts:
I was reading a little book called 『ひらがな物語』 and came across this passage on page 119:

  　大臣といえば明治初期の文部大臣森有礼が
  「めんどうだから、いっそのこと、小学校教育は英語にしようか」
  　と、おおまじめで、いい出したこともあった。もし森文部大臣の発言が通っておれば今頃、
  　パパ　ママ　マイホーム
  　と、小学生が黄色い声を、張りあげていたかも知れない。しかし森発言は、エール大学のホイットニイ教授のアドバイスで中止された。一国の文化を、外国語で継承するとは、不見識も甚だしい。それも東洋の文化を、東洋の文字でならともかく、東洋の文化を西洋の文字では、話にもならないという次第である。

I wondered why their voices would be 'yellow', which doesn't seem to make much sense literally.  I looked up 黄色い in 広辞苑 and found this definition:

  ②（声が）かん高い。主に、女性や子供の声につけていう。

That seems to explain the meaning of the phrase, although I'm still curious why 黄色い 'yellow' would be used to describe the high-pitched voices of women and children.

Is there an explanation for why 黄色い has this meaning?  Is it some sort of figure of speech?  Or is the reason behind the expression unknown?


texts:
Can someone use 涙ぐむ in a way to say "could bring a man to tears" or something along those lines?

Wanting to translate some English phrases or sayings into Japanese in a way that could be either literal or natural.


texts: Who is the narrator speaking about here?

texts:
The bold line in the below appears ambiguous to me. His friend asked if they can stop by the crepe cart on the way home and they both bought one. Based on what has been said here and a bit before we know that they are childhood friends and often buy crepes from here. However, I am unclear whether his statement is about himself, or his friend. I'm guessing their is some word choice/context that makes it obvious that I am missing.

Protagonist「またかよ？　本当にあそこのクレープ好きだな」
Girl「へっへー。そりゃね？　あたしを育ててくれた味なんだから」
Protagonist「うん、うまい。ここのクレープはクリームをケチってないのがいいよな」
Girl「同感、同感。至福だよこれは」
はちきれんばかりのクレープを夢中で貪るうちに、口の周りがべたべたになるのもガキの頃から変わらない。
いつもの駅前広場の、いつもの時間。中央にある噴水を眺めたり、ハトに餌をやったり。
様々な人たちが、この場所では思い思いにくつろいだ時間を過ごしていた。


texts: Do the 「 なんやら」and 「なにやら」have the same meaning?

texts:
I have encountered the following sentence.

はあ　なんすか？... なんやら手つづきがあるようだけど　さっさとかたづけちゃってくれませんか。

I have searched meaning of the word on several web sites but I only found the meaning of 「なにやら」. I'm not sure if they are interchangeable.

In addition, can I replace the word 「あるよう」with 「ありさま」without losing the original meaning?


texts: Is there a term used for the closing music heard at malls and schools at the end of the day?

texts: I sometimes hear melodies at malls and near schools prior to closing. Is there a term used for closing music? I researched 閉鎖音楽. Can other terms be used?


texts:
天気予報【てんきよほう】によると今年【ことし】の夏【なつ】はあついだろう(ということだ/そうだ)

Both ということだ and そうだ can represent an 'externally induced' opinion/conclusion.
How do we identify the context to choose one over the other then?


texts: How can the uses of 「は」and「が」 in this sentence be justified?

texts:
The sentence:

  ほかにも先勝{せんしょう}は午後{ごご}は良{よ}くない日{ひ}とされ、反対{はんたい}に、先負{せんぶ}は午後{ごご}が良{よ}い日{ひ}とされ、また赤口{しゃっこう}は昼{ひる}だけが良{よ}い日{ひ}だとされています。

No matter how much I progress in Japanese, the 「は」and「が」 distinction still gets the better of me. I can't justify why 「は」 was used to many times, especially. Is this kind of sentence pattern unusual? It's in my Japanese textbook.

I was under the impression that in sentences that have a passive voice (e.g. される, right?), then 「は」 would normally become 「に」. E.g., 食器洗いが誰かにされた → The washing up was done by somebody.


texts: As far as I understand, nani and nanda are roughly translated to "what" in English, though they have other connotations and meanings. When do you have to use one and when do you have to use the other?


texts:
So I'm in the beginning stages of learning Japanese, and I'm a little lost on combination characters such as kya, sho, ryo, or even the voiced characters such as gya, jo, and byu.

My question is: Are the combined characters representing a specific word in translation, or is it like a conjunction in English? (i.e. can not -> can't, do not -> don't, would not -> wouldn't) Or, is it something totally different? Any explanation on this would be much appreciated. thank you!


texts:
I've been looking online but having really found what seems like a suitable translation.

I'm try to say something like

  people who self-identify as LGBT

The best I can think of is:

  LGBTとして自己意識する方々

Any alternative/better ways to write this?


texts:
I was googling how to say "to be impressed" in Japanese and I found a few options:

感動, 感激, 感銘, and 感心

感動 seems to me to be the most commonly used (?)

The sentence I'm trying to translate is "I was impressed by your way of thinking". Would 感動 be okay in this case? The dictionary translates it as "being deeply moved emotionally" as first option, and I don't feel like I was that deeply emotionally moved, more along the lines of admiring/thinking that someone is cool.


texts: Which reading/meaning of 入り込む is more common？

texts: The word 入り込む has two possible readings いり込む and はいり込む. What exactly is the more common reading and the difference of the two? Based on my research online, it seems that はいり込む is more frequently used than いり込む. Is this a correct assumption?


texts:
How do I say "slice of life anime/manga" in Japanese?

I've tried looking this up.  Perhaps it is only english speakers who categorize anime this way?


texts:
A sentence from JapanesePod 101:

  米は、多くの食事で、重要な糖質源になっている。
  Rice is an important source of carbohydrates in many diets.

The になっている seems unnecessary here. Could one simply end the sentence with 糖質源だ without changing the meaning? i.e.

  米は、多くの食事で、重要な糖質源だ。


texts:
I'm often asked about my home country by Japanese people and wish to discuss the unique polynesian culture of the indigenous people there. How do I describe them in Japanese? I understand that this is a sensitive topic in Japan but there is much interest in foreign cultures and the pre-colonial past of my country.

What's the difference between 土{ど}着{ちゃく}人{じん} and 先{せん}住{じゅう}民{みん}? Why is 土{ど}着{ちゃく}人{じん} considered to be offensive?

Are these terms appropriate to describe the native peoples of Japan such as the Ainu and Ryukyu (Okinawan) peoples? Would it be appropriate for native people of foreign countries?

What is a positive word (that doesn't imply that they're uncivilised) for people who consider themselves to be belong to the land or be the original guardians of it? For example, to describe cultures such as New Zealand Māori, Hawai'ian, and native Americans that view themselves as belonging and European settlers as foreign.


texts:
in a manga I was reading this expression appeared.
It was about a lazy girl, who was thinking about getting herself a boyfriend (so that he can do the house chores for her), and then her friend replies:

"そんなホイっと見つかるもんか"

From the context I'd just guess the sentence means something like "As if it would be so easy (for you to get a boyfriend)", but it's still bugging me what the "ホイ" here means.

It would be nice if someone could tell me! :-)


texts: Transitive, Intransitive Verbs and Particles

texts:
I think that these sentences are both correct:

  旅行の日程が決められました。

and

  旅行の日程が決まりました。

But if I use

  旅行の日程を決まりました。

is this correct?


texts: How does うんざり work in the Present Indicative, Causative, Passive, and Causative-passive tenses

texts:
Consider the following:

そいつはひどく鼻持ちならないやつで、私をすっかりうんざりさせる。(That guy is so obnoxious that he really turns me off.)

あなたをうんざりさせるものは何ですか？(What turns you off?)

痛み以上に私をうんざりさせるものはない。(Nothing turns me off more than pain.)

自分の悩み事で人をうんざりさせてはいけないよ。(Don't bore people with your problems.)

非常にうんざりさせる人　(thundering bore)

うんざりさせられる状況　(irksome situation)

うんざりさせられる試験　(boring exam)

あの子にはうんざりする。(The kid is a pain in the neck)

This may be due to a lack of adequate understanding of Japanese grammar, but I'm a bit confused as to how a number of different formations are used with this word to mean the same thing.

うんざりさせられる状況

a situation that makes me bored/turned off

あの状況にはうんざりさせられる　　（is this correct?)

That situation turned me off/irked me.
Could I also say
あの状況にはうんざりする
or
あの状況にはうんざりさせる
?
I apologize if this question is too broad.


texts: what is the difference between 肝臓 and 肝 • 胆?

texts:
I saw that both can mean liver.
Is there a specific context for each of these words? Some situation where it would be more correct to use one and not the other.

And i  read that 肝 is also used as a metaphor for the most important part of something, can someone give me an example?


texts: In technical usage, is there any difference between 間投詞 and 感動詞?

texts:
デジタル大辞泉 gives the following definition of 間投詞:

  《interjection》「感動詞」に同じ。

It also gives the following definition of 感動詞 (emphasis added):

  品詞の一。自立語で活用がなく、主語にも修飾語にもならず、他の文節とは比較的独立して用いられるもの。話し手の感動を表す「ああ」「おお」の類をはじめ、呼びかけを表す「おい」「もしもし」の類や、応答を表す「はい」「いいえ」の類も、文法的性質が同じなので、国文法ではこれに含まれる。間投詞。感嘆詞。

Both terms are identically glossed as "interjection" in all the J-E dictionaries I can find, and the definition for each in デジタル大辞泉 gives the other as a synonym.

This is the only case I'm aware of where there are multiple ways of referring to a part of speech (a la 動詞, 名詞, etc.), and so I cannot help but wonder if there is some technical sense in which these two terms differ.


texts:
I'm fairly new to the language so please bear with my stupidity regarding these type of questions.

Okay so why is
お願いします (onegaishimasu in Hiragana and 願 from i don't know) = "Please"
but
おんえおねがいします (same but all in Hiragana) = "I'm planning to do my best?"
(google translated, I don't know the accuracy)  Yep I'm stupid.

Same to 神様 (Kanji, I guess?) and カミサマ (Hiragana) which both means god.

are these what they call Kanji? When should it be used?


texts:
Today I noticed during practicing kanji that lately I've been going through a lot of kanji that all mean help / save / assist :

助ける
扶ける
救ける
援ける
輔ける

and I found two more that I had yet to learn (guess I don't have to anymore now)

佐ける
佑ける

What are the different usages of these kanji? Are all of them even used?


texts: What are the rules of connecting two adverbs?

texts:
Slowly but surely, quickly and precisely, etc. You get the idea.
Some people say that "slowly but surely" is "ゆっくりと着実に", others "ゆっくりだがしかし着実に"
So which is it? Are there other connective particles I can use, and can I use them with all kinds of adverbials or just with simple adverbs?


texts: I reckon that ふい is a kango word (不意), but I usually see it written in hiragana, even in print. Neither of the two characters are hard, and if people are typing it shouldn't matter that ふい is easier to write, so I wonder if there are any other reason why ふい is usually writtein in hiragana.


texts: To what extent can a noun be used as an adverb?

texts:
彼女の細い指先を、舌がぬらりと踊ると、明かりに反射した光がうっすらと手に貼りついた。

  Once her tongue slid around in a dance, she gently stuck the the "明かりに反射した光" (spit?) onto her hand using her slim fingers.

(normally there isn't anything that hard to read in a H-scene, but if you havn't realized the context is a BJ, with the speaker asking her to used her hands along with her mouth with spit as lubricant :X)

can 明かりに be an adverb, as if  明かり is a na-adj? Is 明かりに反射した光 gibberish regardless?
Is the meaning between 指先を光が手に貼りついた and 指先が光を手に貼りついた interchangeable?


texts: What is the difference between 相棒 and 相手?

texts:
I’ve been playing Ace Attorney lately and I’m curious about the differences in the localization compared to the original.

For this one, I’m curious about Edgeworth’s choice of words for “partner”. In AA3, he stated a very iconic line to Phoenix, “‥‥それでは‥‥　あとは、たのんだぞ。‥‥相棒。” which was localized as, “And with that... I leave the rest in your capable hands... partner.”

In AAI1, Kay talks about how she hopes to find a partner (相棒) that she’s able to trust one day, referring to the partnership between Edgeworth and Gumshoe (prosecutor+detective, similar to her Dad and her “uncle” Badd.) Edgeworth then replies to her with, “...However, I can say that it is truly wonderful to find a partner (相手) you can trust.” The full scene can be watched here, starting at 10:17. https://youtu.be/mZlxE4m2sqI?t=617

Exactly what is the difference between 相棒 and 相手? Edgeworth refers to Phoenix using 相棒, but refers to Gumshoe using 相手. The fact that he uses 相手 despite Kay using 相棒 is interesting to me.

Mostly unrelated, but in DGS, Asogi refers to Ryunosuke as partner (相棒) multiple times in the first case.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Can someone explain to me the function of に in this phrase?

texts:
So, I was reading my favorite manga, until I got stuck all of a sudden in this particular phrase highlighted in red. I had to go check the english translation, and it translated as "there's nothing your powers can do that mine can't".
I believe this is right and it makes sense, but even so I just can't understand the logic of the phrase in japanese, because of the に. This particle is by far the one that gives me most nightmares and its the last one for me to conquer.
What would be the function of に in this phrase? Wouldn't be also right if it was が instead of に? Do both に express the same meaning or they express different meanings?
Fortunately I understand the majority of the に appearances, but sometimes I just get hit by some awful phrases that I have to solve like its some sort of rubik's cube. I would love some help with this one, because I just can't connect it in my brain and with the translated version. Thanks!


texts:
For full context:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20180127/k10011304581000.html

The sentence in question:
日本で働く外国人労働者は去年１２７万人余りと、統計を取り始めた平成２０年以降最も多くなったことが厚生労働省のまとめでわかりました。

My attempt at translation:
"Concerning the foreigner employees who work in japan, through the conclusion of the ministry of health, labour and welfare we know that last year it became more than 1270000 since 20 years heisei era where they began taking the statistics."

So I basically ignored the と in 余りと because I didnt know how to interprete it. The entry on jisho didnt seem to fit either http://jisho.org/search/amarito .

Im also not sure if I resolved the nominal phrase 統計を取り始めた平成２０年以降最 correctly by making 統計を取り始めた a relative attribute.

I think that 余り and 多くなった are somehow related, since the foreigners "became more than...". However, the more semantics already is in the word あまり, which is why it seems like a doublette if 多くなった follows.

Ultimately, Im very skeptical about my interpretation of まとめで. I interpreted で as a particle indicating a means because it fit my interpretation well, but since my interpretation had a lot of guesses, I feel like this is probably not right xD


texts:
My doubt is, when using the structures ようだ and らしい, when do you congujate the verb or adjective before ようだ and らしい in negative or in past or both, and when do you conjugate NOT that verb or adjective, but instead the ようだ and らしい and say, for example, ようだった or ようではない or らしくない.
Sometimes I feel I don't know if, for saying the negative form or the past tense of ようだ and らしい, I should modify the verb or adjective before them or modify ようだ and らしい.
Thank you so much for your help in advance!


texts: Change in self-address for emphasis or to express frustration or dissatisfaction

texts:
Building on from this comment,

It is possible that in English, a mother may opt to refer to herself in the third person: using "Your mother" instead of "I" to create emphasis.

It is observed from the comment that お母さん is a common way for mothers to refer to themselves regardless of the fact that she is irritated or not.

What strategies are available in Japanese to achieve the same effect? Can changing the term of self-address cause the desired effect?

Possible Situations (please include other situations if you find them relevant):

  If the mother typically refers to herself using:

  お母さん
  ママ
  わたし

We cannot change from お母さん to お母さん so there is no effect there. So what are the other options (if possible/applicable)?

Does changing from ママ to お母さん express displeasure/irritation?

Does changing from わたし to お母さん express displeasure/irritation?

Is it possible for the person convey a stand-offish or confrontational nuance by using a different self-address term from the one typically used by that person?