texts: Vocabulary doubts: 「眼の所が少し高くなっているが、［…］一文字に結んでいる。」

texts:
I'm having vocabulary difficulties with this story about a frog hibernating in one's backyard:

  ちらっと見たぐらいでは、おそらく誰も蛙とは気がつかないであろう。わずかに、眼の所が少し高くなっているが、その眼をこれ以上は閉じられないほど、しっかりと一文字に結んでいる。 ―  ああ、冬眠なのだ  ―  とわたしは呟いた。

一文字に結んでいる： Does this refer to eyes completely closed, eyelids forming a thin horizontal line (I guess so)? Or does it have to do with a frog's horizontally-shaped eyes, like this? (Same for later: 「泰然と目を真一文字にしている。」)
これ以上は閉じられないほど： "To the point that [the eyes] couldn't be closed any more than this"? Does this means that the eyes are completely closed, or that they are eyes that can only close up to a point?
眼の所が： What's the role of の所 here? Is it "the area of the eyes", or just an abstract noun (形式名詞) thing?
眼の所が少し高くなっているが： What does this mean? That the eyes are protuberant/salient? If so, why does it connect with adversative が to the next sentence?


texts: How is this sentence "working" after として?

texts:
I came across the following sentence in a manga I was reading, 急いでるみたいだけど間に合ったとして赤点回避なんてできると思ってるの.

A boy is being accompanied by a group of girls and they are hurrying to school so they can make it in time for a mid term exam. While on their way to school, they run into a young boy who lost his mother and is asking for help. One of the girls says the sentence in question to the boy. I would also like to add that the boy (not the lost boy) was making a big deal about getting to school on time and hurrying.

In the first part of the sentence (before として), 急いでるみたいだけど間に合った , I believe that she says, "It seems that we were hurrying, however, to be in time (past tense)." The past tense threw me off. I believe that is because it relies on the second part of the sentence.

Then として, from what I've seen, seems to only come after a noun, and what came before it isn't modifying anything that bundles it into a noun. I've also seen a few English translations for it that make it out to be "as for" or "from the viewpoint of" and the following post, What does として mean here?, makes me believe that this may just be an instance of と する.

What comes after として seems to be saying that the speaker thinks that they can avoid getting a failing mark on the test and the use of なんて seems to be downplaying the importance of the situation. (They would fail if they were late.) So the whole sentence would be something like, "It seems like we are hurrying, however I think we can make it in time and avoid failing our tests." I believe this to be right but I just can't see how the Japanese is working here.

So my question is, how is everything working here? What's the translation of this sentence? How is として used? Does the と particle have one of its typical functions here like its conditional use and why is 間に合った in the past?


texts:
suppose there is a finite list of actions i want someone to do for me. How would i go about expressing this?
(perhaps naively) I would try say something like:

  晩御飯を食べてお風呂に入って寝てください

or

  晩御飯を食べてくださってお風呂に入ってくださって寝てください

What about expressing a finite list of actions that i'd like to try by using てみたい?


texts:
The sentence is

それがいかなる彼女の琴線に触れたのかはわからない

I believe that かは is embedding the question (as seen here) but I'm a little confused at what role の is playing here. Is it simply nominalizing the previous sentence? and if so why is it playing this role?


texts: Changing of diphthongs at the end of words to え in exclamations

texts:
I've observed that in many cases where people are speaking informally and want to make an impact especially in exclamations, the speakers will change diphthongs at the end of words to an elongated え.

Examples are:

すごい -> すげえ

お前【まえ】 -> おめえ

手前【てまえ】 -> てめえ

うるさい -> うるせえ

ひどい -> ひでえ

ない -> ねえ

Some of these being extremely rude.

I'm wondering about how general this is and in what cases it can be used. I'm going to limit myself to 東京弁【とうきょうべん】, as I can imagine there is a lot of variety depending on where the speaker comes from.

Though, in some cases I can see it leading to confusion, like with:

嫌【きら】い -> きれえ

Which sounds like きれい, though maybe just to foreigners and not native speakers, context and tone of voice might also make it abundantly clear.

Also, it'd be nice to get a list of some common words where this can be done, if it is in fact not a very general thing. How productive is this change, and what are the exceptions or rules that prevent this change?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for any Japanese mistakes.


texts: Meaning of 生命線を守る in the following sentence

texts:
Context: a boxing champion is arm-wrestling against another boxer. The champion is on the verge of losing, but he still doesn't give up, so the other boxer thinks:

このチャンピオン君
ちぎれそうでちぎれへん
生命線ってヤツを守る〝底力〟はなかなかやね…

In Kenkyusha dictionary I found these two examples:

生命線を守る guard one's lifeline
生命線を脅かす threaten [menace] sb's lifeline

So it seems that it is a common collocation, but what is the meaning in the sentence above and in general? Other than referring to the lifeline on the palm of one's hand or to something of vital importance, can 生命線 simply be a synonym of "life"? Can it refer to a person's survival istinct?
In the manga page, there's actually a line that is "tied" to his fist.
While here you can see how he "breaks" the line of the opponent when he beats him.
I would also be grateful if you could explain the value of that で after ちぎれそう. Thank you for your help!


texts: I saw 未来のミライ the other day. The boy said 〜好きくない regarding many people. Was he making a grammar mistake?


texts:
“それありき”で、あとから選手を選んでんじゃないか？ と。『Aブロック、10人選ばなきゃいけない』『じゃあ、まあしょうがないけど“コイツ”入れておこうか？』みたいな。なんかそういうのを凄く感じますよね、今年の最終リーグ戦を見ても。だから『そうじゃないだろう』と（言いたい）。

In the context the speaker is talking bad things about the organization of a tournament (リーグ戦). He talks about how they (the organization in charge) select the participants of the tournament and then he says how much he hates it (凄く感じます).
Is there something implied after 見ても?


texts: Need help understanding causative and passive form: 外国人に質問を聞かれたが、答えられなかった。

texts:
I was reading up some lesson on causative and passive form online. I am still a little confused as to when and why use these form. For this example:

  plain form: 答える
  passive form: 答えられる

  外国人に質問を聞かれたが、答えられなかった。
  I was asked a question by a foreigner but I couldn't answer.

Why do we use passive here? What if I say:

  外国人に質問を聞かれたが、答えなかった。

Does this mean the same? Or is this sentence even correct in the first place?


texts:
What is the meaning of 巻ノ + number next to a book?
I know that

巻 = volume
ノ = ?
七十二　= 72

So it's Volume [?] 72


texts:
One of my dictionaries tells me that 世話になる means 'to receive a favour', but another dictionary gives this as an example 「おばさんの世話になりました」which it translates as "I was looked after by my aunt".
I guess in this example I can't treat 世話になる as a verb because you can't write nounのverb, so what is the best way to understand this construct?

In another example I see

  くまがたいへん世話になった人...

  The person from whom the bear received a favour (my translation)

I think I'm happy with the grammar in that one.

My question is how do I use 世話になる correctly? How can I say

  Bob received a favour from Alice,

  Bob helped out Alice

  and

  Bob was looked after by Alice

Please also help me to understand the grammar in each case.
And if at the end of that you're still feeling generous with your time, how does 世話をする fit into the picture. Many thanks.


texts: Is there a difference between さみしい and さびしい？

texts:
Both mean "lonely" and appear to be valid readings for 寂しい.

Is there a difference in nuance? Is this difference due to dialect?


texts:
When I looked up "lesbian" in jisho.org, I came across the six kanji term "女性同性愛者", which I'm concerned may sound too formal or clinical, like using "homosexual" as a noun in English, plus katakana words of varying lengths.

The English edition of Wiktionary doesn't have a Japanese language translation for "lesbian". Looking up weblio doesn't help much, because the entries for the English word "lesbian" mainly provide information addressing native Japanese speakers.

The accepted answer on Yahoo answers gives a couple of different answers, and doesn't seem that authoritative: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070712193145AAHuB7J

I would prefer a term that's acceptable for polite, respectful but friendly conversation.


texts:
I'm happy that the following is correct:

金曜日にケーキを食べる.
I will eat cake on Friday.

But what about this:

今週の金曜日にケーキを食べる
I will eat cake (on) this Friday

In English putting "on" in the latter sentence is wrong.　Should I use に in this case? Thanks.


texts: Indirect questions nested inside phrases

texts:
Trying to use interrogative words in nested (indirect ?) questions has been troublesome for me.

First came things like:

  先生が何を言ったか知らない

Which I guess means "I don´t know what the teacher said". So far, so good.

However, I have been looking into using と for quotations, or for reporting to a whole phrase.

For example:

  彼はこれは何だと言ったか

Which I think means "What did he say this is ?"

But what if I just wanted to know if he said this is something or not, like: "Did he say this is something, or didn´t he say it ?"

Would it be something like this ? (below)

  彼は「これは何か」と言ったかどうか?

Lastly, if I wanted to say "Do you remember what he said this is ?", would it be:

  彼はこれは何だと言ったか覚えていますか?

If there is anything wrong with my guessed meanings, please let me know...


texts:
Both 僕たち and 僕ら mean we. But is there any difference between them? I.e. one of them is more formal than the other, or any grammatical nuances?

Edit: How is this a duplicate? The question linked by Szymon discusses the necessity of using the pluralizing affixes rather than the difference between them. The "Bonus" question asked by Amanda was not answered either.


texts: What's the difference between 気がする vs 思いをする?

texts:
During my flashcard reviews, I once again encountered 思いをする filed under N1 grammar. I find it difficult to believe that such a self-explanatory grammar point would be classified as N1 or maybe I was just having some Dunning–Kruger moments taking place.
Anyway, I'd like to ask if 思いをする sends a different "feel" or nuance compared to 気がする.


texts: What does 言っちゃえば mean? And what does 地面を蹴っていた mean?

texts:
I don't know what is the meaning of 言っちゃえば.
The sentence is the following:

言っちゃえばこれがダンジョンでの直接の稼ぎになる
"That is, this will become a direct gain coming from the dungeon."

Is it correct the meaning "that is"?
The other problem is "地面を蹴っていた"
The sentence is the following:

そいつの目とこちらの目があった時,　 既に僕は地面を蹴っていた
“When we found ourselves face to face, I already had my feet on the ground.”

Is the correct interpretation the his feet were already on the ground in that moment?


texts: Blue Hearts song - 英雄にあこがれ - underlying meanings?

texts:
Hi japanese language enthusiasts and Blue hearts fans!

英雄にあこがれ　seems to have another quite obviously dark urban theme
"惜しまれながら死んでゆく…月曜の朝の朝礼で手首をかき切った"...

, so it seems some kind of irony and sarcastic lamentation with perhaps depressed, drug addicted or gloomy aggressive youth with imminent tragedy? In blunt and straight moralization of modern society, A way very typical to blue hearts.
Is this case or did i miss the point?

How about　悪魔　 A demon mentioned twice ? - first being raised in the corner of sports field, and then laughing in same place in the end. Seems about A "time time bomb" of society of some kind, Could be even about being bullied…?

皆さん教えてよろしくお願いします!
Marko/Rathergood

PS. I Bing-ed/ Baidu searched with english and Japanese but it was difficult to find any comment about this song text - perhaps for Japanse natives the intent and meaning of songs is clear not worth writing about and foreigners don't know the song well enough...


texts:
I was reading this article and noticed it had some ▲ symbols.

「われわれは欧州合衆国とでもいうべきものを成立させねばならない。その最初の一歩、欧州評議会創設の緊急事業を成功させるためにフランスとドイツは協働しなければならない」。はて、誰の発言か▲実はこれ、根っからの保守主義者でナショナリストだった英国のチャーチルの言葉である。１９４６年、チューリヒでの演説で、２度の大戦で荒廃し米ソに分断された欧州の文明の再興を、政治家なら誰もが真剣に考えた時代だった▲時は流れ、欧州２８カ国が加盟した今日の欧州連合（ＥＵ）からいよいよ英国がきょう（日本時間あす朝）離脱する。戦後ほどなく仏独の提携から始まり、東西冷戦の終結で欧州全域に広がった欧州統合の流れに生じた初の逆流である▲４年前の国民投票で離脱を決めた英国だが、ＥＵとの合意なき離脱も心配させたこの間のすったもんだである。総選挙に出たジョンソン政権の与党勝利でようやく離脱実現となったものの、離脱派と残留派で割れた世論の分断は続く▲今後はＥＵとの経済関係が維持される年末までの移行期間に入るが、その間に新たな自由貿易協定の合意ができねばまた大混乱の危機が訪れる。離脱派が夢見る「栄光ある孤立」を新たな成長の軌道に乗せるのは依然容易でなかろう▲グローバリズムへの草の根の反発により欧州統合の理想が足元から揺さぶられるＥＵも。。。」

What are they supposed to indicate? They seem to indicate breaks, but they probably don't mean the same thing as a comma or a period, which both also exist in the article.


texts:
I see this written in furigana and hiragana as 'あいて / aite'. However, every source I have looked at also seems to be pronouncing it with an additional syllable before it making sound as if it were 'ひらいて / hiraite'.

What is going on here? This is the first time I have encountered a word that wasn't pronounced exactly as written in hiragana.


texts:
I'm someone who always tries to get behind the logic of every grammar point, and for Japanese, my endeavor has been fruitful most of the time. But not always, for example when わかる is used as an imperative, as in わかってくれ, for example. What is understood is marked by が in the case of わかる, so わかる doesn't have the meaning of actively "understanding" something, but instead of something "trickling down" and being "dissolved" and thus unterstood. At least that's how I've always understood it.
Here's my question: If it's not about actively understanding, how does it make sense to say「わかってくれ」to another person? After all, they are not the agent of わかる. Instead, the thing understood is the agent.
My guess: わかる is one of those words (like 好き) which theoretically demand が, but where the semantics of the words themselves have made them quite susceptible to grammatical change in that regard, making it far easier for them to tolerate を. わかる originally just meant "to be divided" as far as I know, so of course it would take が. But its current meaning might be disconnected far enough from that original meaning for it to now mostly be perceived as just "to understand", where the usage of が that comes along with it would only be an old grammatical relict that is starting to vanish in casual speech. I presume English might have had some influence here, too. All of that is just an educated guess, but it seems plausible judging from my experience.
Thanks for reading! This could have been a two-liner, but I always end up writing half an essay...


texts: Etymological connection between 戻る and 元

texts:
It just crossed my mind that both 戻る and 元 sound really similar. The Japanese Wiktionary page on 戻る even lists its first definition as "元の場所に帰る". Consonants becoming voiced also seems to be common in Japanese, such as through the process of 連濁, so と becoming ど doesn't seem too far-fetched either. Since I don't have access to (or know of) a good etymology dictionary, I figured I could ask here if 戻る derives from 元.
(In before the connection between the two words is really obvious to every good speaker...)


texts: Verbal short form の for expressing the idea of doing a verb ＋ のほうが / より

texts:
Okay so the のほうが / より combo is to my understanding used to say something is more than or less than in Japanese and if you add の to the short form version of a verb it the expresses the idea of doing that verb. If I wanted to say I like doing something more than doing something else would combining these two together be the correct way to say this? If so, how would this be written? I have two different ideas about how it would be written, but I'm not really too sure on either so I'll leave them in examples below.

ex1. ぼくは　およぐののほうが　さんぽするより　すきです
ex2. ぼくは　およぐのほうが　さんぽするより　すきです

As you probably noted immediately the only real difference between the two is the double の. Since they both use の I'm unsure if I would put two in like example one or merge them together. Other than that I've really only seen examples of the のほうが / より combo with nouns so I'm not too sure if this is even the proper way using verbs.


texts:
It's from one of the Gaki no Tsukai Batsu Game shows:

  被ったらあかんとか知らなかった

I think I have a general idea of what it does. I think it's similar to "のか" in:

  彼らは何を言ってるのかわかりません

These particles seem to be separating the sentences into 2 distinct parts, or defining one part so you can then make a comment on it.

In any case, I'm not sure what this aspect of grammar is called, and don't know the difference between の, か, のか, こと, and とか when they are used in this way. Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.


texts:
I was discussing with my Japanese colleagues about expressions peculiar to contemporary bourgeoisie.
One expression I already knew was ご機嫌よう!, meaning またね!.

My question is about another one: おきばりになさって！, meaning 頑張れ！ according to them.
Apparently it can be heard at certain sport competitions, said to お嬢様s by her mothers.

Surprisingly enough, Google has no results for this expression. How can it be?

Did I misspell the expression? I am pretty sure my colleague said that, though.
Is it so rare that even Google does not know about it?


texts: Translation of 気を遣わせたことへの申し訳なさ

texts:
I have been agonizing and researching this line from もしドラ by 岩崎夏海 for a while now and I'm throwing in the towel.

The context describes a girl's thoughts as she is made to recount an unpleasant memory by a friend. The sentence is:

それと同時に、苦い思いも込みあげてきた。それは複雑な感情だった。一つには、夕紀が語ろうとしたことへの苦い思い出。もう一つは、夕紀に気を遣わせたことへの申し訳なさだった。

My translation so far is:

In the same instance she felt blackness and bitterness well up inside her.  It was a complex feeling, as while what Yuki was about to recount would stir dark emotions inside her, it was no excuse for making her friend worry.

I know 気を使う is defined as 'to attend to, to pay attention to' etc, but I have tried to stretch it here to mean 'worry' to go with the causative.

Literally, I imagine it's:

The other point was, the apology to having made (taken) Yuki's attention.

Basically, I'm utterly confused and not at all confident about this one line, so any help would be much appreciated, thank you!


texts:
I was translating this song (full lyrics here: https://www5.atwiki.jp/hmiku/pages/37091.html) and I had trouble with the third line in this phrase (the rest are there for context)

ああやってこうやって

どうしようもないと思った

結局は何だって

才能が肝心なんだ

I was confused since 結局は何だって seemed to go by itself, but I don't really understand how it could. I was thinking it was just, "In the end, anything" which would go with the "I thought there's no other way;" that is, the speaker didn't know what to do, so they just did anything. I thought perhaps it could go with the next line, i.e. "In the end, having any talent is crucial," though I thought that was even less supported by the lyrics. I feel like I'm reaching with either interpretation, though.

How is 結局は何だって translated in this context?

Thank you!


texts:
I found a poem by Nagai Kafu entitled 震災 (The Earthquake) in a volume of Japanese prose and poetry. It's a short poem about the Ansei Edo Earthquake (安政江戸地震) in 1855 which destroyed the red light district Yoshiwara. I reproduce the parts of the poem which I have some questions about:

今の世の若き人々
われにな問いにそ今の世と
また来る時代の藝術を

What is the structure of われにな問いにそ? I understand it's construed as a negative imperative ("Do not ask me ...") but I don't recognise the syntax.

われは明治の兒ならずや

I understand that -ならず is the 未然形 of なり, but what is the correct translation of ならず + や?

わが感激の泉とくに枯れたり

Is there an adverb とくに in this line, or am I parsing it incorrectly?


texts: I have found a manga name called 覇王伝説 驍. Then, I have looked up several Kanji dictionary and they do not give such the pronunciation, the almost close one is 「たけし」.


texts:
Recently I am reading 走れメロス, and there is a sentence pattern that I am not familiar with (Group 2). Compare the following sentence groups:

Group 1

    訪ねて行くのが楽しみである。

    疑うのが、正当の心構えなのだと、わしに教えてくれたのは、おまえたちだ。

Group 2

    自惚れているがよい。

    その身代りを呼ぶがよい。

    勝手にするがよい。

There is a nominalizer の before the verb in Group 1's sentences, whereas it doesn't in Group 2's. I am aware that it is always plain verb followed by "がよい" in the text, but what does "plain-verb がよい"exactly mean? Does the meaning remain natural or the same if a nominalizer (say, の) is added? (Though I speculate "plain-verb がよい" approximates its volitional counterpart, but I am not sure).

Furthermore, can "plain-verb が" followed by other kinds of 述語 rather than "良い"? Is "plain-verb がよい" still used in modern Japanese? If so, would you use it personally in everyday life, hear it from other people's utterance, or the sentence pattern is more likely to be used in a play script spoken by actors?

It is my first time to see this sentence structure, so I have many doubts. Would you tell me as much as you know about this sentence pattern?


texts: Meaning of それだけだと言い切っても構わない

texts:
I'm looking for some help understanding それだけだと言い切っても構わない in the following exchange.
For some context, his sister noticed that he was happy (because he got a girlfriend the day before) and he tried to pretend that nothing had happened but she saw right through him.

「昨日から妙に機嫌が良さそうだなーとは思ってたんだけど」
「そうか？　前からこんなんだろ俺は、いつも通りの兄だ」
「これからバイトだっていうのに鼻歌交じり……そんなに勤労に喜びを覚える人だったっけ？」
「これは私の知らないところで何かあったとしか……」
まあ別にそれだけだと言い切っても構わないが、こいつには中途半端な嘘は通じないのが怖いところだ

From my understanding と言い切っても構わない could mean something like e.g. I don't mind if you say, or I don't mind saying something, but I am not quite sure if I understand what is being said.
Taking a guess I think it is something like: I wouldn't mind saying "that's all it is", however the scary part is that half-assed lies won't work against her.
I'm not sure if this is correct, or exactly how to interpret the それだけだ in context.


texts:
I have the following title:

やり終えたことはチェックしておこう！

which I think is roughly saying there is a that in advance of finishing there is a checklist (can anybody help with the literal translation?).
My question is regarding やり as a prefix. I assume this is やる - to do. And 終える to finish or graduate. But to me やり seems superfluous.
What is the difference between these two?

やり終えたことはチェックしておこう！
終えたことはチェックしておこう！


texts: How do you express "did" + verb in Japanese?

texts:
For instance, you can ask someone:

  Did you go to the store today?

or

  You went to the store today?

Would those both be translated as: 今日、乾物屋{かんぶつや}に行ったか？

Or is there another way to express did + Verb?

Note: how do you do furigana + kanji on this board?


texts: How do parents obscure spoken messages in front of their children in Japanese?

texts:
Let's say I'm a very young child and I love dessert. After my family goes out today, my dad is going to buy us ice cream; he needs to tell my mom in front of me, without me finding out. In English, he might spell it out like:

  After ..., we'll go get some I-C-E C-R-E-A-M. (Eye see ee, see are ee eh emm.)

Since very young kids can't usually spell well enough to make out a message like this, it's encrypted to them but not to mom, who needs the information.

However, in Japanese, I feel like saying each kana of アイスクリーム would be equally obvious to the child as saying the word since, to my knowledge, kana do not have an alternative pronunciation to the sound they make.

How do parents obscure a Japanese word so that a very young child will not understand it?


texts: Understanding a colloquial sentence and meaning of やっぱ

texts:
The kids are discussing whether they want a male or female trainee teacher. One of them runs in from the playground and says:

  「やっぱ男じゃねぇとな」

I assume this is a colloquial form of

  「やっぱり男じゃないと言ったな」
  As expected, I said that it's not a man.

I think my translation must be wrong because afterwards we have:

  「...上品で清楚なレディだとうれしい」
  「いやいやいやン。ああ神様、どうか男の人が来ますように」
  ...I'll be happy if it's an elegant well groomed lady
  No way! Ah, please God, let it be a man.

which suggests that they still don't know the identity of the teacher.

How should I understand やっぱ男じゃねぇとな?


texts: How to make sense of 呪縛から解放されるウソという名の魔法

texts:
I'm having problem figuring out the idea or meaning of a sentence while reading manga.

The context is that a character A told someone (character B) a big lie, and influenced by that lie, B started to act in favor of character A, without even realizing it. The liar states now that character B is under his "spell" (魔法). There's no magic involved, just an expression.

After that, character A says:

  呪縛{じゅばく}から解放{かいほう}されるウソという名{な}の魔法{まほう}

I'm able to understand each word individually but not as a whole phrase. What is the main idea of the sentence?


texts:
I know that "逆に" means "on the contrary", but in english "on the contrary" can be used either for contrast, or for saying "in addition" (or similar terms).
Can the japanese "逆に" be used to say "in addition" (or something similar) too?

I have seen a few people that said "逆に" can be used to say "moreover" or "in fact", but I would like a confirmation.


texts: From a Japanese PoV, what's the explanation of 「に」 particle corresponding to both western concepts of "to" and "in"

texts:
自由に歩いて。
人の中に心臓がある。
学校に行きます。

If I'm correct:

Walk freely. (Walk in freedom)

Inside a person there's a heart.

I go to school.

So, I'd want to understand why 「に」 covers both "to" and "in".
A possible theory that I have thought of is that in sentences similar to 2, the literal translation is in fact: "There's a heart to (に) the inside of a person"
Is this solution correct? Am I missing something or some cases for which it wouldn't be correct?
Also, as in sentences one, why are na-adj. followed by 「に」 rather 「で」when they explain a manner?


texts: What do dots next to Hiragana mean in literature?

texts:
I've been reading more Japanese literature, and in doing so I've come across hiragana with something that looks like 、to the right of some characters where ふりがな would be (keeping in mind that Japanese is written from top to bottom in books. It's not a comma, and it seems to usually appears on hiragana in succession.

I was thinking it was for emphasis, something like italics, but don't know what it means for certain.

I've attached a picture to clear up any confusion as to what it looks like. They're on the very right of the image by 「いわし」.


texts: What is the meaning of the following build 「信じられない事に～～ではありませんか」?

texts:
Taken from a game of "Alice In Wonderland" as you might guess:

  「信じられない事にチョッキを着た白ウサギが懐中時計を見ながら走ってゆくではありませんか！」

I guess this is sort of a fairy tale language right? I fail to see how I should combine the three parts, or what is the point of the third part 「～ありませんか」, how does it alter the sentence further than the first part?


texts:
彼の性格が読めてきたような気がしないでもなかった

しない is a negative conjugation of する

And from what I understand でもなかった is the equivalent of "was not"

So it's a double denial? How does this work?


texts: Does "クラッシュ" correspond to both the English words "crash" and "crush"?

texts:
I've occasionally seen native speakers of Japanese refer to a "crush" rather than a "crash" in English-language bug reports.

Is "クラッシュ" the main way of transcribing into katakana not only the English word "crash", but also to the English word "crush"?

A search of jisho.org mentions クラッシュシンドローム, which is mentioned on 挫滅症候群, but I don't know if it's an abnormal way of converting "crush" to katakana.


texts: One of the things you learn when studying Japanese is that おう is pronounced like a long おお as in words like そうです (soo desu), but I would like to know if this rule also applies to verbs because there are some verbs in Japanese that would seem almost incomprehensible if following this rule for pronunciation at the same time that perhaps it would create too much ambiguity. Take for example 追う and 覆う or cases like 作ろう and 繕う. Do Japanese people pronounce the final う distinctively as a う in う-ending verbs?


texts: Difference between the following phrases

texts:
I was coming up with a phrase that means "don't look at me too much." in a very formal tone. I thought of many sentences but I don't know which one is the most correct one.

1) あまり見ないでくれ

2) あまり見ないでくれませんか

3) あまり見ないでくれないか

4) あまり私を見るな

5) あまり見ないで

I'd like to know the difference between each one of them.

(Also, the fourth sentence feels informal but I can't seem to find a formal wording for it)


texts: What do Japanese say when they call their pet cats/dogs?

texts:
We sometimes say in English,

  Hey kitty come over here.

Do they say,

  CatChan iku yo...


texts: "I wish" は日本語でどう言いますか。

texts: "I wish I could be there" , "I wish I were there" , "I wish I could do that", etc. in Japanese is "______れば/けべ/ければ/いべ_____たいと思っています" ？ Does it follow this pattern? And is there any other ways to relay the feeling of "I wish_____" in Japanese?


texts:
Looking for a phrase that has the same meaning as "May I?" in English. One that would work in situations that would indicate I would like to try to solve a problem at hand, or receive control over something. For example, if someone is stuck with a Rubik's cube, or maybe I want a user to get up from a workstation so I can sit down and try a solution.

I know I can use words in a sentence to say what I want, but is there a phrase that accomplishes the same?

I'm thinking よろしいですか？ could work, but is it enough alone?


texts:
Would appreciate some help here. The picture shows a nametag that's meant to spell Reina in hiragana, but does the last character look off? Specifically the top right bar.

Additionally, do Japanese speakers pronounce this name as "Ray-na" or "Ray-ee-na?"

Many thanks in advance.


texts: 第3月曜日 3rd Monday or Monday in the third week

texts:
第3月曜日 I'm not sure the actual meaning.

3rd Monday that some month may not have this day ( Monday that the date is the third ) for clearer explainantion in picture below

Monday that is in the third week ( 1 month has 4 weeks and this 第３月曜日 is Monday that's in 3rd week )


texts: "に(して)" and the "for (purpose) に" clarification

texts:
とりあえず目覚ましにシャワーだけ浴びて、さっさとメシの準備をしよう。

speaker has already gotten outa bed

に（して）anyways, i'm gonna (fully) wake up, and just take a shower,...

(purpose) に anyways, I'm just taking a shower so i can (fully) wake up...

the AをBに construction in question

Is に（して）strictly only for that construction and nothing else?

Otherwise is there a implied とりあえず目覚ましに(行って)シャワーだけ浴びて to satisfy the movement verb requirement for the "in order to do something に"?

thanks


texts: How to parse the following "N1+に必要となる＋N2"?

texts:
I am not sure whether or not I have learnt this grammar before. I am reading a book about OpenCV and found a sentence as follows.

  OpenCVを効果的に用いるのに必要となるコンピュータビジョンについての一般的な背景知識もあわせて説明します。

The confusing part is the grammar

N1+に必要となる+N2

where

N1=OpenCVを効果的に用いるの

and

N2=コンピュータビジョンについての一般的な背景知識

I know

N1をN2とする that means let N1 be N2.
NをNa-adjにする or Nをi-adj-stemくする that means making N a condition represented by the adjective.

Is it possible to say the following?

  OpenCVを効果的に用いるのに必要とするコンピュータビジョンについての一般的な背景知識


texts: Is it possible to use causative sentences to say "not to do"?

texts:
How to use Japanese causative sentences to say the following?

  He had me not wash the dishes.

I believe that "彼は私に皿を洗わせませんでした。" is not the answer because its translation becomes "He has not made me wash the dishes.".


texts:
In my textbook it says that to say:

  There is a good restaurant in this building.

the translation is:

  このたてものにいいレストランがあります。

However, why is が used and not は? Would は be indicating a contrast (for example, a good restaurant exists in this building but not something else, like a shoe store)?

This leads me to a general question about intransitive verbs: it seems that intransitive verbs almost always have が before them so why is が used over は in these cases?


texts: I’m confused about the sentence 「何も悪い事は聞いた事がありません」

texts: To my understanding the sentence 「何も悪い事は聞いた事がありません」means something along the lines of “I have’nt heard any bad things”. What I’m confused about though are these words: 「何も悪い事は聞いた事がありません」As far as I now all three of these mean “thing”. So why is this word used three times in this sentence, what use does each one serve?


texts:
今回の二亜は、どちらかというと前者の要素多めの配合となりましたが、そのおかげか今まで『デート』にいなかったキャラに仕上がってくれたかと思います。なんだか妙に楽しく書けました。

I know 仕上がる means 完成する and is an intransitive verb. So what would be the function of the bold に?

Mark the result of some change, like 「〜になる」「〜に変わる」;
Means something like として or “as”.

Which one would be the case here?


texts: What is this しちまって？and this 実現しなかったら and the I didnt get the function of とか here. If someone could explain to me this things, Id appreciate it. Thanks in advance.


texts:
i just saw やっぱり used to mean “after all” and another place it was translated as “definitely”. later on was the sentence 「やっぱりこういう風になると」and the translation was “But, when you became like this”

basically, what are some different uses of やっぱり besides “just as i thought” or “i knew it”?


texts:
I was practising a grammar pattern, so in my personal example I wrote:

多いオーストラリア人

However, a native speaker corrected me with:

多くのオーストラリア人

I understand that in relative clauses that adjectives go before the noun (e.g. おいしい牛乳). How come they corrected me like this? How does this work? Or did I learn relative clauses wrong?


texts: Ordering food at a restaurant with 私は何々がいい

texts:
Quite some time ago, I came across the phrase

  私は何々がいい

in the sense of "I'd like to have (dish)" when ordering food in a restaurant. However, due to the long time elapsed since then, I can't say for sure anymore whether this was really the way it was phrased. So, I'd like to know if this is the correct phrasing and what its connotations are. I remember it to be fairly nonchalant, if I'm not mistaken.


texts: How to get this form and how to translate it 思わざるを得なくなる

texts:
Found in the book for JLPT N2 and can't understand the sentence. I have highlighted the text I cant understand, rest of the text no need to translate, added just for clarifying context.
Google translates this as "Because the person who said it has no choice but to lose."

文句を言うことはとても大切です。文句を言う力をつけることも必要です。　ただ、いまは、言う「ちから」そのものが若い人から奪われている。なぜか。文句を言うことで、言った人自身は損をしてしまうと思わざるを得なくなっているからです。言ったらもっと状況が悪くなる。職場で[疎]{うと}んじられて、クビを切られるかもしれない。[藪蛇]{やぶへび}だろう、ってことなんです。


texts: Can using ある in place of いる be offensive?

texts: Considering that ある is objectifying wouldn't it be offensive to use it in いる's place when talking about a person, or would it just be seen as a mistake?


texts: What's the difference between 変態 and 痴女 (or 痴漢)?

texts:
In the Dead Tube manga, a girl is being accused of being a 痴女【ちじょ】, at which she replies:

  私変態だけど痴女じゃないもん！！

What's the difference between the two words? Is 変態 just a pervert and 痴女 someone that actually sexually assaults people?


texts: Is "速読" somewhat a different reading technique, or is it just "reading really fast"?

texts:
I consider speed reading to be reading without thinking too deeply, especially if you already know the author's conclusion. To me speed reading is actually a different reading technique. Sure, some people brag about reading War and Peace in less than a week, but only if they use the speed reading technique.

So, I want to say:

  To prevent people from speed reading English documents, you need to ..."

My sense is that 速読{そくどく} just means fast reading without any real change in technique.

I'd like to express speed reading, but I don't know how. This is a lame paraphrase that also sounds natural to me as well:

  英語の文章をゆっくりでよく読んでくれるように、...

But, how do I express that speed reading as a different reading technique concept? Maybe you can't speed read Japanese text because of no word spacing (and kanji)???


texts:
This sentence is rather confusing. あの人は、二度と嘘をつくまいと誓ったのです。

Apparently the translation is: 'That person had sworn to never lie again' but I previously thought まい is a negative intention so surely it means 'they won't swear to never lie'. Obviously that makes no sense though... any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance


texts:
While reading Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's "In a Grove," I came across the sentence; 「山科の駅路からは、四五町ほど隔たって居りましょう。」山科 I understand to be a place and everything else is understandable for me other than 四五町. While doing further research, I learned that 町 when read as ちょう was a unit of measurement comparable to a mile. This leaves the question of the 四五 preceding it. What number is this referring to? There is no 十 in the text to make it 45, nor is there a comma separating them which would lead me to think it's meaning to be "four or five (measurements)." While this tiny bit is not crucial to understanding the text as a whole, I would like to have a better understanding of the author's intended meaning.
I appreciate any response.
Thank you in advance.


texts:
I was thinking, and I can't express the word "some" in Japanese.

Examples:

There were some fruits on the table. (I would say "テーブルの上に果物があった）

Maybe 少しあった - but then I would translate as "there were few fruits".

There are some people here I know, and some I've never seen!
I still have some things to buy for that trip.
some of those CDs were broken.
we will have some news soon, just wait some minutes.

Yoroshiku!
Thanks


texts: How do you say "You have gotten better at X"?

texts: I was just reminded on another site that "being good at something" is expressed as [上手]{じょうず}/[上手]{うま}い, not いい. How do you tell someone they "have gotten better at something"? Xさん, 料理することがもっと上手いですね。 would be my thought. Is that right? Would that be the way a native would say it? Is that even how a textbook would word it?


texts:
What does the なる and the と mean in this sentence?

  でも男のことになると、どうにも弱いとこがあってさ…

From what I have learnt so far:

と can mean "and", eg. 私は水とジュースを飲んだ
と can be used to imply an inevitable outcome, eg. 六時になると、太陽が見える
と can be used to quote a thought or something that somebody said, eg. 「強くなりたい」といったでしょう？

But it seems that the と in this sentence doesn't fit any of these usages.

As for the なる, it usually means "to become", right? But in this case, it says 男のことになる. 男のこと means "about guys", and that is not something you can "become"...


texts:
I came across a sentence that doesn't make sense no matter how I try to break it up. The context is a person's reply to a question about cutting their hair.

切るタイミング逃しちゃっただけ。

I'm not 100% sure whether the や and つ are little or big from the handwriting, but I'm pretty sure the above is correct.

The first and last parts are easy.

切る  タイミング  ...  だけ。

However, I'm not aware of any words that follow up a 逃 with し, so I suppose maybe it stands alone. In that case it's probably:

切る  タイミング  逃  し  ちゃった  だけ。

However, I usually see し at the end of the sentence terminating a list.

(On a side note, I'm not sure how the English word is being used here either.)


texts:
I found 強くあるために in this song http://www.kasi-time.com/item-21360.html and

http://j-lyric.net/artist/a00968f/l00381a.html

I'm a bit sure that it means "to be strong" Is 強くある same with 強くなる ?


texts:
Due to some circumstances a guy brings a girl to a hotel in order to loose some pursuers. In there they get swept away by the situation and end up doing some foreplay. The girl ends up fainting halfway and after she wakes up they leave the hotel and the guy apologized for getting carried away. Then the girl responds with this
(the 3 hours below is the time she lost consciousness)

What I don't understand how the なきゃ used in this situation

３時間だっけ？
アタシが寝てるあいだ、なにもしなかったんだろ？」

「無抵抗のときはなにもしなかった。
　アタシがブッ飛ばしていい状況でなきゃ変なこと
　しなかった」

「この点を誠意と受け取っておいてやる。
　あやまらなくていい」


texts: た＋ではないか　or た＋のではないか can someone enlighten me?

texts:
I encountered a question in my JLPT n1 practice book , and I got really confused because I was sure my answer was right but when I look at the answer sheet the answer is really far from what I have learned so far.

the question was

その日、私はホームに入ってきた電車に飛び乗った。ところが、電車は反対方向に走り始めた（　　　　　　）。
私は電車の行き先を確かめなかったことを後悔した。
１．ではない
２．ではないか
３．のではない
４．のではないか

my answer was 4 but it says on the book its 2. Up until now I know that I have to put の after verb+た or verb +る in order to place ではないか.

and the sentence "私はホームに入ってきた電車に飛び乗った。" really confuse me
Does it mean " I took the train that just arrived" ?

can someone help me with this one?


texts: What is the term for off limits to foreigners?

texts: There are certain establishments that are exclusively Japanese only. Thank you.


texts:
I am reading Fate Zero 1 by [虚淵]{うろぶち}玄{げん}, this book likes using archaisms and very precise vocabulary which is challenging.

Somewhere in the prologue there is this line:

  その日{ひ}から、彼{かれ}は天秤{てんびん}の計{はか}り手{て}たろうと志{こころざし}を固{かた}めた。
  He firmly conviced himself that from now on he will be a servant of the world's balance.

I looked up in a dictionary and I got this:

  たろ・う
  （ 連語 ）
  〔過去の助動詞「た」の未然形に推量の助動詞「う」の付いたもの〕
  活用語の連用形に接続する。ガ・ナ・バ・マ行五（四）段活用の動詞に付く場合には「だろう」となる。
  ① 過去の事柄やすでに完了し実現した事柄についての推量・想像などの意を表す。 「その時は，さぞ困っ－・うね」 「あの人の口から出たんじゃなかったら，僕も頭から信用しなかっ－・う」
  ②（多く上昇調のイントネーションを伴って）過去の事柄やすでに完了し実現した事柄について，相手に念を押したり同意を求めたりする気持ちを表す。 「お父さんもまだ小さかっ－・う。ちょっと怖かったよ」 「この間話し－・う，そんなことは考えない方がいいよ」

Which roughly translates to

  たろう
  (Compound word)
  (Auxiliary う showing supposition/guess that binds to the unrealis form of the auxiliary た) When sticking to a strong verb ending in ga, na, ba or ma, たろう becomes だろう.
  ① Shows guess about a situation of the past or a situation that is finished. (There is no doubt that that time it must have been troublesome) (If it was not him who said that I would have not believe it.)
  ②  (Often with a raise of intonation) Try to convince about a past fact. (My father's still a child. That's freakin'.) (not sure about the translation: It's better not to think that this discussion has been a quiet one.)

So it's about auxiliary た and う. A quick look up leads to the fact that う is a deformation of auxialiary む according to goo.

  む
  （ 助動 ） （ ○ ・○ ・む（ん） ・む（ん） ・め ・○ ）
  〔中古の半ば以降，発音が mu から m となり，さらに n に変わったので，後世「ん」とも書かれる〕
  推量の助動詞。活用語の未然形に付く。
  ① 目前にないこと，まだ実現していないことについて予想し推量する意を表す。…であるだろう。…だろう。 「現（うつつ）にも夢にも我は思はずき古りたる君にここに逢はむとは／万葉集 2601」 「我が背子が国へましなばほととぎす鳴かむ五月（さつき）はさぶしけむかも／万葉集 3996」
  ② 話し手自身の意志や決意を表す。…するつもりだ。…するようにしよう。 「見れど飽かぬ吉野の川の常滑（とこなめ）の絶ゆる事なくまたかへり見む／万葉集 37」 「弓矢を取り立てむとすれども，手に力もなくなりて，萎えかかりたり／竹取」
  ③ 相手や第三者の行為を勧誘し，期待する意を表す。…してくれ。…してもらいたい。…すればよい。 「逢ひ難き君に逢へる夜（よ）ほととぎす他（あた）し時ゆは今こそ鳴かめ／万葉集 1947」 「若宮など生ひ出で給はば，さるべきついでもありなむ。命長くとこそ思ひ念ぜめ／源氏 桐壺」 「子といふものなくてありなん／徒然 6」
  ④ （連体形を用いて）実現していないことを仮定していうのに用いる。…であるようなものなら。…としたら。 「二人して打たむには，侍りなむや／枕草子 9」 「年五十になるまで，上手に至らざらん芸をば捨つべきなり／徒然 151」
  ⑤（連体形を用いて）実現が可能だったり予想されたりするとき，推量する形で婉曲に述べるのに用いる。 「恋しからむをりをり，取りいでて見給へ／竹取」 「これが花の咲かむ折は来むよ／更級」 〔 (1) 上代では，形容詞活用にはその古い未然形語尾「け」に付く。「大魚（おうお）よし鮪（しび）突く海人（あま）よ其（し）が離（あ）ればうら恋（こお）しけむ鮪突く鮪／古事記 下」 (2) 現代語でも文語調の文章の中に「ん」の形で用いられる。「幸多からんことを祈る」「政治家たらんとする者は」「あらん限りの力」「まさに出発せんとする時」〕

And た

  た
  （ 助動 ） （ たろ ・○ ・た ・た ・たら ・○ ）
  〔古語の完了の助動詞「たり」の連体形「たる」からの転。中世以降の語〕
  動詞・形容詞・形容動詞および助動詞「れる・られる」「せる・させる」「ない」「たい」「らしい」「そうだ（様態）」「ようだ」「だ」「ます」「です」などの連用形に接続する。ただし，サ行以外の五段活用の動詞には，その音便の形に付く。また，ガ・ナ・バ・マの各行の五段活用の動詞に付く時は「だ」となる。
  ① 動作・作用が過去の事柄であることを表す。 「大昔，この辺一帯は海だった」 「去年，北海道に移った弟が，先月帰ってきた」
  ② 動作・作用が完了したことを表す。 「やっと手紙を書き終えました」 「飛行機は無事着陸した」 「日はすっかり沈んだ」
  ③ 物事が実現することを表す。 「何年ぶりかで当地方にも雪が降った」 「一番になった人には賞品をあげる」 「シャボン玉が屋根までとんだ」
  ④ 物事や事態の確認を表す。 「見ると，それは若いスマートな青年であった」 「国境の長いトンネルを抜けると雪国であった／雪国 康成」
  ⑤（連体形を用いて）動作・作用がすんで，その結果が状態として存在していることを表す。てある。ている。 「壁にかけた絵」 「弟の写した写真」 「とがった鉛筆」 「整った身なり」
  ⑥（終止形を用いて）
  ㋐ 強い決意・断言や軽い命令などを表す。 「承知しました」 「わかった，わかった」 「邪魔になるから，そこをどいた」
  ㋑ 疑問・質問などをもちかけることを表す。 「今度の会合は何日でした」 「上りの列車は何時だった」
  ⑦ 仮定形「たら」は，接続助詞「ば」を伴わないで，それだけでも用いられる。
  ㋐ 仮定条件を表す。仮にそうであるならば。もしそうなったらば。 「雨が降ったら，中止にする」 「電話があったらメモしておいてくれ」 「その本を読んだら早く返してくれ」
  ㋑ 未来の確定条件を表す。 「春になったら暖かくなる」
  ㋒ 遠回しに命令する意を表す。主として女性が用いる。 「早くお帰りになったら」 「後片付けだけはしといたら」

I emphasized what I think is relevant.
My question has a bit evolved since I started and I would like to know

whether the first sense of たろう is equivalent to たでしょう?
whether the second sense of たろう can be found in recent works (that do not try to sound ancient), if not what is an equivalent?


texts:
According to Google Translate, おでんとか is "Toka Oden".  What is Toka?
What is おでんとか?

Context:

  アツアツおでんとかそういうのはやらないので

Is it a name? Or is it an incorrect translation?


texts: Is オージー understood by non-Australian Japanese speakers?

texts:
Is the word "オージー" (in the meaning of "Aussie", not as in "old girl" or other meanings) understood by non-Australian Japanese speakers?

Also, in English, non-Australians have a tendency to use "Aussie" as noun to mean the country, which Australians don't do. Do Japanese use "オージー" to mean the country?


texts:
How may I express concern without asking if the person is 'OK' but wanting them to be 'OK'?

It's not obvious how to do so in English. In English you might say something like "get well soon", but that's not quite what I mean

  A friendly or polite phrase used to wish someone well when they are
  ill.

I'm looking for a standard phrase or idiom.


texts: If I were named San, and somebody wanted to write out my name with the san honorific, what would it look like?

texts: A fiend of mine wants to name a plant San-san, but written correctly.


texts: Is there any differences between 表す and 意味する?

texts: Everything is in the title. Is there any context where 表す is used and not  意味する and vice-versa ?


texts: "Less empty" and similar "double negatives"

texts: In English, we can apply a negative adverb to a negative adjective to end up with a positive-pointing adjectival phrase - "less empty," "not small", "less mistaken", and so on. How would I say this in Japanese? Ah, in context I'm trying to maintain a parallel to an existing quote, so I definitely would like to say something of the form 「～[空]{から}の」


texts: 〜ものだから　〜もの　～もん What are the differences?

texts:
What is the connotation when using 〜ものだから　and 〜もの in a sentence? In my text, they state these examples:
The first set is 〜ものだから：

上着を脱いでもいいですか。　暑いものですから。
Can I take my jacket off? I'm feeling a bit hot.
遅くなってごめん。　道路が混んでいたもんだから。
I'm sorry I'm late. I got caught in a traffic jam.

The second set is 〜もの:

パーティーには行かなかったよ。　知らなかったんだもの。
I didn't go to the party, because I didn't know it was on.
しょうがないよ。　子供なんだもん。
It can't be helped. He's just a kid.

I was told that one is used more often to assert a reason or excuse for something being done, and the other for expressing feeling. Is this true?
Other than that, is there any defining line between the two examples?
EDIT: I removed the question about whether a form was meant for subjectivity or objectivity.


texts: What is the meaning of function of the と (無駄と) in this sentence?

texts:
士道はもう何を言っても無駄とつっこみを諦め、はあと息を吐いて問い返した。

Hi. Dear teachers.

What is the meaning and function of the 「と」 (無駄と) in this sentence?

Thank you.


texts: I need help understanding this に際しての昂揚はすでに収まり sentence

texts:
I am having trouble understanding the meaning of this sentence.  For context I put the whole sentence.

  [数日来]{すうじつらい}の[上京]{じょうきょう}に[際]{さい}しての[昂揚]{こうよう}はすでに[収]{おさ}まり
  [京一郎]{きょういちろう}の[心]{こころ}は、ひとときの[凪]{なぎ}にあった。

My translation may be wrong but I have roughly translated the first part to mean "a few days since proceeding to the capital".  I have part of the second half translated as "at the time of promotion". But the last part I am unsure of how to interpret it to make sense of the whole sentence instead of just parts of it.


texts: 先 looks like a teacher holding a pen, and 生 looks like a person sitting cross-legged with a pen, learning. maybe the symbols together mean someone who instructs someone else. Was this originally a Pictogram? just thought that was cool...


texts: Is either 霊験 or あらたか used outside the phrase 霊験あらたか?

texts:
Is either 霊験【れいげん】 or あらたか used outside of the phrase 霊験【れいげん】あらたか "miraculous"? (I believe れいけん is also a possible reading of 霊験?)

The goo辞書 entry for あらたか has 「霊験―な神」 as its example phrase, and the entry for 霊験 has 「―あらたか」. I'm also not seeing much else for either word alone on Google besides companies named あらたか and proper-noun looking things like books named 霊験記.

(I know this isn't a terribly interesting question; it's just that I have 霊験あらたか on a flashcard for some reason and I'm wondering whether I should learn it as two separate words or as one indecomposable phrase.)


texts: How common is こちらこそ used? Is it considered very formal?

texts:
If i meet a friend's friend and he/she says よろしくお願いします, would people usually say こちらこそ?

I saw this in the NHK japanese lesson page and was wondering if this is considered very formal and weird if i used it in a casual setting.


texts: Usage of 手伝う and お手伝いをする

texts:
I want to say "If I can help with your English studies ...".

I thought of three ways, none of which I'm sure is natural:

英語の勉強を手伝ってあげられたら...
英語の勉強のお手伝いをしてあげられたら...
英語の勉強のお手伝いができたら...

I looked up the parts in bold on Google and got hardly any hits for 1. and 2. So I tried 3., and that seemed a bit better.

So my question has three parts:

Is there any difference between using nounを手伝う and nounのお手伝いをする?
Is it weird to add てあげる to these constructions? Is the 'giving' part already implied because the verb is about helping?
What are natural ways to say "If I can help you with noun phrase"?


texts: I know this isn't important, but I am curious about the connection between 足りる (be sufficient), 足す (add) and 足 (leg). Is there any meaning to the common kanji usage? I can see the connection between the first two, but I don't quite understand how they connect to "leg".


texts: If a compound noun is made from a na-adjective suffix, is it followed by a な particle?

texts:
There are a few compound nouns that are made by compounding something with na-adjectives like 好き and 嫌い, for examples:

花見好き
子供好き
水嫌い
人嫌い
負け嫌い

Are these compounds followed by a な particle? Or do they lose the na-adjective status and become 名詞 nouns (followed by a の particle)?

  水嫌い な 犬
   or
  水嫌い の 犬
   ?


texts:
I am reading something but I can't decipher the meaning of this: よーちぇん時から忘れた事ないぞ、みーくん and おらん

The first one I can grasp the sense since it tells Mi-kun not to forget the time but  よーちぇん is affixed before 時. Upon searching google, many of the searches returns something about time like "おはよーちぇんだよ".

On the second one, I am confused if this means "I" as おら is a northen dialect for 俺. However, the speaker speaks in Kansa-ben so maybe that's not it. I know there's おる in Kansai-ben which means いる in standard dialect. With ん affixed to it, does it mean negates おる?


texts: What is the difference between だらけ and ばかり

texts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flfi38e0NKk

I'm watching the above video, and they are explaining だらけ, as being synonymous with ばかり. However, as is always the case when I come across words that have the same meaning, I am given no way to differentiate them.

May I know which is more polite, which is more common, if there is any nuance in usage or grammatical rules?
Anything that can help me unconsciously decide which to use when, it would be most welcome.

Thankyou!


texts: "What am I doing here?"/ Excuse yourself

texts:
Question 1

I was curious about the phrase "What am I doing here?" in Japanese.

I know that if you want to ask someone "what is he/she doing here?", it should be like

  ここで何をしているんの？

However, how can you make it refer to yourself? Will adding 私は at the beginning be enough?

Furthermore, in this context what is the different between

  何をしているんの？

and

  何がしているんの？

Question 2

I was watching some drama and I heared the character say something, which implies that he would like to excuse himself (based on the eng sub).

I couldn't clearly hear what he said, but it is something similar to

  つりします

What is the phrase that he said exactly?

Thank you so much in advance


texts: Translations of「しっとり」for describing food

texts: On the television the other day, there were some people talking about how the word 「しっとり」 applied to food can't be translated exactly into other languages. It seems that 「しっとり」 could be translated into "moist" when talking about a cake for example, we say a cake is "moist". Are the TV people right that 「しっとり」 is untranslatable?


texts: Are JLPT vocab taught in the same order as it is taught in japanese schools?

texts:
I'm wondering if it is true that words in JLPT5 are taught first in japanese schools, then JLPT4, then JLPT3, 2, 1.

Or is that in japanese schools they have another order altogether such that it may be possible for them to learn a JLPT1 vocab before they learn a JLPT5 vocab?


texts:
Do the two blurbs of text detailed below say something like:
-"Pitiful and lost serene soul(s)"
-"Jailer of Chains"
I've tried to zoom in on this image to decipher the text to the right of the center of the mask. It's unfortunately not high resolution enough to easily make sense of it, but my best guess based on the context of the character this art is tied to is:
晴朗なさまよう哀れな魂よ
I'm guessing from some research that this is the translation they made for a voice line where the character says "Poor lost souls." But it seems like in that case they have added some meaning through localization or whatever the process may have been.
I'm reasonably sure there's probably not much else it could be, but due to the fact that Riot Games/League of Legends is not a Japanese company/game and the Japanese stuff they have put out here and there before has generally just been character names, I'm unsure if the Japanese they've used is odd or not and so therefore could be something else due to strange translation of the source English material.
On the front of the jacket it also says:
縛鎖の看守
From what I've been able to find, the first two characters are not a real compound word and are probably a made up thing for the purposes of the game and its fantasy themes and vocabulary; how would it be read? ばくさ? It's most likely a translation of the character's title, "The Chain Warden."
I guess as a follow-up question, assuming that the source English I found is indeed what the Japanese blurbs are translations of, is this accurate/natural sounding?


texts: I don’t understand the structure of 英語が伝わる楽しさをより多くの方へ

texts:
I found this ad/sticker in a restaurant, in a Philippine city where a large number of Japanese students study English.

  英語が伝わる楽しさをより多くの方へ

I have no idea how to make of this statement.

I understand the individual phrases/words but not why the sentence is formed as such.

伝わる楽しさ: is this a common formation (ru verb+ noun)
Is there another way to say this sentence? (In japanese?)


texts: Could someone please explain the usage of なる here?

texts:
I'm trying to make sense of a song (純潔なる愛-Aspiration-) and there is this construct of noun+なる that confuses me. I know the "to become" grammar, or になる, but this is missing the に particle and also, it seems like it isn't exactly about becoming something/some way. Here are the lines:

  (1) 純真で孤高なる歌を
  未来に奏でたい

  (2) それは純潔なるAspiration

  (3) 届け純潔なるAspiration

  (4) 伝え純潔なるAspiration

Now, I see that three out of four are pretty much the same in this regard - but I'm just too confused at this point and want to provide some context. Also, the translation on the fandom Wiki doesn't translate it as "to become", either, just using "to be", as in "this is..." but then, it's poetry.

Could someone please explain? Is it maybe just poetic shorthand or is it a different grammar altogether?


texts:
In the English of iOS, when the phone can't recognize your Touch ID when unlocking the device, it says on the top there "Try Again". After I switched the language to Japanese though, it turns into "やり[直]{なお}す".

After looking up the dictionary, 直す means "to fix/repair", which kind of makes sense. That is because it is kind of asking the user to "fix" the position of the finger or something like that (The user might be partially touching the home button and that may be why the identification failed).

However, why is やり used here? I looked up the dictionary for やり and found that it means a "spear" (槍). Since that makes no sense in this context, I did some more searching.

Then I realized that やり might be 遣り, 演り or 飲り written in Hiragana for ease of understanding. And one of these verb stems combine with 直す to form a compound verb, like 思い出す. But I don't know which one it is since none of these makes sense.

What is the meaning of やり?


texts: What is the function of と in this sentence?

texts:
学生時代にもっと勉強すればよかったと、今ではとても残念だ。

This doesn't seem like the ～と...　pattern:

  Expresses the idea that when ～ arises or happens, it will definitely lead to ...


texts:
I came across 相手 in this paragraph:
「どうしていいか分からないな！」と、スクルージは笑いながら、同時にまた泣きながら喚いた。そして、靴下を相手にラオコーンそっくりの様子をして見せたものだ。「俺は羽毛のように軽い、天使のように楽しく、学童のように愉快だよ。俺はまた酔漢のように眼が廻る。皆さん聖降誕祭お目出度う！　世界中の皆さんよ、新年お目出度う！　いよう、ここだ！　ほーう！　ようよう！」
How is it working inside the sentence?
In the sentence 「そして、靴下を相手にラオコーンそっくりの様子をして見せたものだ。」I think it is saying something like 「He showed the appearance of Laocoon by making his socks his partner」
Is my translation ok? Would it be ok if one omitted 相手?


texts: Different ways to report one's impression/guess (~そう/~みたい)

texts:
雨が降りそうです
雨が降るみたいです

Is there any difference between the two? Which one would be the most common way to say this?

このセーターは家で洗えそうです
このセーターは家で洗えるみたいです

Both these also seem valid, but imo the second one sounds a bit more awkward. Can I take away from this that ~そう is used for general impression and ~みたい for more visual impression?


texts: What is the suitable phrase/word to say "break time"

texts:
I currently use "休憩時間" to refer to break time, however not sure whether it is correct.
"break time" here is interval for rest/food etc. for employees, students etc.


texts:
I'm totally a beginner in Japanese.

I'm confused about the pronunciation of 研修生. In the textbook, it's written as けんしゅうせい. When I listen to the tape, I found that う is not pronounced. Could anybody explain this phenomenon to me?

Furthermore, could somebody recommend a reference for this kind of pronunciation question?


texts: Is there an English equivalent to 「ふん」とする

texts:
Ok so I think I've typed/spelled that right, but so I came across this phrase in a random children's book at a cat cafe I go to frequently. So I know what this means, it's like when you just act all sassy, lift your head dramatically to basically tell the other party to f-off as if you don't know them anymore.

But I could've sworn there is like some equivalent to this in English or at least something reasonably close. For the life of me I cannot really put my finger it, I feel like it's something along the lines of onomatopoeia in English as well or something similar to that. The two things my brain keeps coming to are like huff and puff but I feel like that's not even close.

Sorry for the vagueness but it's about all I can come up with.


texts:
I've searched for a while now but haven't really found anything that answers my question.

I would like to know where ほど and くらい come from and how they got to mean such different things.

I know that ほど is 程, which means "extent", and recently I found out that くらい is 位 so it means "rank". But I can't find a book or a site or anything that talks about them.

Does anyone have any information?


texts:
How would I distinguish ない as in the negative of ある and 無い the adjective? For example, if we have the sentence

  食べ物がない

is the ない there just the negative form of ある or is it specifically the i-adjective? I always assumed the former, but recently while reading an older novel which used kanji for words that have mostly dropped them more recently, I did see 無い used in that way, and obviously the kanji made the distinction clear. I'd mainly find this concerning for polite speech, since there's a more obvious difference between ありません and ないです.

Thanks!


texts:
context: A person complaining about some raunchy conduct

  女の子同士でも羞恥心とかそういうのってあるものでしょ

Even between girls, there should be some display of shame, right?  (?)

Not Sure how to parse the long winded  "とかそういうのってあるものでしょ" section, aside from the ambiguity of のってある, it feels redundantly wordy.

Thanks you


texts: What's the most common way to say you are bad at something?

texts:
Would I just use わるい？　Or is there a more specific word for being unskilled at something?

私の日本語は悪いです。< Would something like this suffice?


texts: Japanese equivalent for "get to do something"?

texts: I'm looking for a natural way to express that you're happy or surprised about an action. In English, "I got to spend the whole day reading", or "I get to interview him tomorrow". Does something like this expression exist in Japanese? Thanks!


texts: When ending a sentence with an adverb, do I need to use copula?

texts:
pretty basic question, but I was curious if an adverb needs copula (like a noun, or na-adjective) or not (like an i-adjective).

For example:

たいへんだそう or たいへんそう
ぴったり（+だ？）
私はズバズバ（+だ？）<- can i even use a sentence like this?


texts:
everyone. Just today I was remembering an old videogame, 星を見る人. "Problem" is, if you look at all official images and such, they write the title as 星をみるひと.

Now, I've been searching about possible explanations for this, but none of the ones I found sounds quite convincing to me. The two kanji that are replaced by hiragana are quite simple and basic-level (much more so than the kanji for star).

Could it be that the people who designed the title were looking to draw attention away from "see" and "people" to focus mainly on the "stars" bit? As an occidental foreigner I find it odd, since to me one of the most beautiful aspects of the japanese language is the aesthetic beauty of kanji.

Thanks in advance, mates!


texts: Superlatives: How do I say "X is the nth most [adjective]"?

texts:
Trying to say "LAX is the 4th busiest airport in the world" and that "Narita is the 5th".

Couldn't find any info online about superlatives with ranking so if there's some site detailing this grammar, I'd love to see it too!


texts: What does ぼうしのどんぐり mean on this page of Yotsuba&!! ?

texts:
I am reading Yotsuba&! manga ch.82, pg.16. Here's the page

What does the lower left panel ぼうしのどんぐり mean? Does it mean acorn which looks like a cap or a cap which looks like acorn (there are caps which look like acorn)? I think it means acorn which look like the caps that Yotsuba has seen before but I am not sure if I am correct. Or does the ぼうしhere mean something else ?

Manga page source : http://raw.senmanga.com/Yotsubato!/82/16


texts: うそだ isn't really a serious accusation. How would you say 'you're lying' more seriously?


texts: Translating 「こんなばかな私をどうして愛してくれるの？」

texts:
Someone I know PM'd me this and I honestly don't know what it means.

  こんなばかな私をどうして愛してくれるの？

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is roughly:

  Konna baka na watashi o doushite ai shite kureru no?

And for the individual words I've got

Konna - this is
Baka - stupid
Watashi o - I
Ai - Love

But from that, I don't know how it transforms into an actual sentence or at least its meaning. Thanks a bunch.


texts:
There is a word イレーザー, which means 'eraser'. I suspect this comes from the English word eraser. But the "s" sound in eraser is not voiced in American English, and a closer approximation in kana will be イレーサー. How did it become voiced as イレーザー?

Edit: After fefe's answer, it turned out I was wrong in writing that "s" is not voiced in English. It turned out to be true for American English.


texts:
I'm sorry I can't provide a more specific headline, but it's the overall meaning or the structure of the sentence that I'm struggling with.
It's from a manga (Plunderer, vol. 4). Here's the context:
Licht, the hero, is regarded as a deserter. First lieutenant Jail is hunting him. A lot of things happen and Jail actually ends up helping Licht. In doing so he violates military regulations. He hides Licht, but his superior finds out. On returning to their hideout, Jail tells Licht that he has to take him into custody. He doesn't actually tell him why, but Licht seems to know and says the following:

Bubble 1: さしあたりボクを連行すればボクを信頼させるため止{や}むをえずということにできるとかで...
Bubble 2: 部下たちの命は助けられるって言われた...
Bubble 3: って所かな...？

Now, I think that all of this is one sentence which reads as "You were told that the lives of your subordinates could be saved by/if you [whatever bubble 1 means], or something along those lines, right?"
I thought that bubble 1 must mean something like "If you take me into custody [for now] in order to regain your superior's trust", but that doesn't seem to be the case after all. The parts seem to be there, but they just don't fit together (also, why "ボクを信頼させる"? I feel like I'm missing something here) and then it's all enclosed by "ということにできる". I'm at a loss and I hope that someone can shed light on this issue.


texts: にしても and としても...Don't they both have a meaning of "even if"? Is there any subtle difference between these two forms?


texts:
I have been reading this book and I came across this paragraph, which is aa conversation between two people:
『では、一つどういうわけでわたしがその愛のお蔭で、ああいう事件をし出かしたか、あなたにお聞かせしましょう。』
『どうぞ、もしあなたに苦痛でなかったら。』
『いや、わたしは黙っているのが苦痛なんです。まあお茶をおあがんなさい‥‥それとも、あまり濃すぎますか？』

いかにもお茶はビールのようだったが、わたしは一杯飲み干してしまった。ちょうどこのとき車掌が通り過ぎた。彼は毒々しげな眼つきで、それをじっと見送っていた。やがて車掌が出て行ってから、ようやく話を始めた。
My translation regarding this part would be:
『いや、わたしは黙っているのが苦痛なんです。まあお茶をおあがんなさい‥‥それとも、あまり濃すぎますか？』
No, My silence is painful. Well the tea .... なさい, or is it too strong?
I have tried looking for the meaning of that word, but I have been unable to do so.


texts: What's the difference between 図る、測る、計る、量る、諮る、謀る?

texts:
These six words are all pronounced はかる, and many are listed under the same definitions in dictionaries.

What are the difference between these words?


texts: What does 「…間違いを覚えてしまいそう…」 mean in this sentence?

texts:
Below is a sentence from a light novel. (The context of the sentence is that a guy is traveling on a bus and the sentence is from his inner monologue about the congestion inside the bus.)

  「そして気が付くと、仕事に追われフラストレーションを溜めたサラリーマンが、ついうっかり痴漢しちゃおっかな？と間違いを覚えてしまいそうなほどに車内は混雑している。」

I couldn't understand the part 「…間違いを覚えてしまいそう…」, so I asked a friend from Japan. She did some explanation, but I couldn't understand it very well since she did it in Japanese as well. But she said that she hadn't heard it before.

I also asked this in another Q&A platform, and someone from Japan said to me "I have never heard such Japanese. You shouldn't imitate the language that stupid Japanese people use." And another Japanese person said that it may just be a typo or mistake of author.

Is this an incorrect sentence? If it is correct, what is the translation of it? And what does 「…間違いを覚えてしまいそう…」 mean in this context?

Thank you.


texts: Connotations of words referring to anger

texts:
I have encountered four words referring to anger, and would like to know how they differ.

The first is 怒る{おこる}. It seems to be the most neutral option.

Next is 怒る{いかる}. It's very rare as a verb, and seems to be a little archaic.

Now we have ムカつく. I haven't encountered it very much, but it seems extremely informal, almost vulgar.

Finally there is イラつく. It seems to be just a little less informal than ムカつく?


texts: Are the following standard ways of using katakana?

texts:
あなたの得意なスパニッシュフードを教えてください！私はそれを作ることにトライしたい。

スパニッシュフード (Spanish food).

トライ (try).

I'm a bit surprised, because I'm almost sure that there are no-katakana equivalents for words like food and try.

Is this a standard way of using katakana? Or the speaker is using more katakana than usual to sound more "Englishly"?

(Another one: ハードだろう)


texts: Progressive form of movement verbs (or other stative verbs)

texts:
This is a fork from the question What's the progressive form of 来る, 帰る and 行く.

So the question explained that when ている is conjugated with these movement verbs (or other verbs that are more or less instantaneous, causing state changes), it does not translate into the progressive form of the verb, rather than the subject now being in the state of having the verb happened. (Correct me if my understanding is incorrect)

So my question now is, how do I conjugate them if I really want to convey the progressive form? For this discussion, Let's narrow it down to movement verbs like 来る, 帰る, and 行く. (Or does the same applies to other stative verbs as well?)

例えば、この会話を考えましょう。

私が今電車に乗っていて、友達と電話で話していると想像してください。

友人：「もうそこにいた？」

私：「ううん、まだいていない。(I am going there now.)」

How should I translate the statement in bracket? Is there a way to translate the progressive tense of such movement verbs (In this case i think it should be 行く?) into the progressive sense literally as we have in english -ing, without changing it into other phrases with similar meaning (e.g. translating it to something like "I'm on my way there")?

P.S. sorry if my Japanese sounds weird. Still learning the language.

よろしくお願いします。

EDIT: P.S. the sentence in the bracket is not the translation of the dialogue in Japanese, it is meant to be the second sentence after the first sentence, i.e. the sentence which I wanted to translate.

EDIT: Also related: When is Vている the continuation of action and when is it the continuation of state?


texts:
たえ子が入っていったのはジュエリーの有名店である。高級店のたたずまいに怖じ気づきつつ、たえ子に続く。

(from the book おまえじゃなきゃだめなんだ.)

I understand this sentence as

  The store Taeko entered was a famous jewelry store, and while she was intimidated by the fancy shop, たえ子に続く.

I don't get the last part, whether it means "she went on" or something else because に denotes a place at which something is or a direction towards something, so shouldn't it be たえ子がつづく？


texts:
While it sounds perfectly alright when said in English, as in "My English is rusty", is there an equivalent in Japanese language?

I have used this line before when I said "私の日本語は錆びている" and "私の日本語は錆びっちゃっている" but only to be met with silence from the other person. So I wondered if I had said something wrong or awkward?

Or does it makes sense to say it as 私の英語は錆びついている. But is it even natural for Japanese to say that?

Therefore, my question is, can it be directly translated into Japanese or is there an equivalent to that line of sentence when said in Japanese?


texts:
I am listening to a song and I came across the sentence,

  分かりたくもないのさ.

What does the く-form of the たい form of a verb turn into? In other words, what is 分かりたく? Is it a noun? Or does it stay a verb? And what is the purpose of turning it into the く form?

And for those interested, the song is pretender by official dism.


texts:
I am trying to understand this sentence:

  君{きみ}は逃{に}げなくてもいいのかな～

But having some trouble working out what the second half means.

君{きみ} - you; buddy; pal

逃{に}げる - to escape; to run away

Where 逃げる is given in the negative form (to not run away).

I am struggling to understand:

Can ても be translate to but? If so, what role does the く beore it play? Or am I not splitting that up correctly?
I suspect いいのかな to mean "I wonder if it is good"

So the best I can come up with is

  You are not running away, but I wonder if that is good?

Another thought I had was is にげなくて negative て form of 逃げる, in which case も would translate to also giving

  You do not also run away (like the others), I wonder if that is good?

Would really appreciate any advice or pointers!


texts:
The text I'm asking about comes from a brochure selling pens with bodies of traditional decorated Imari porcelain. Here's the pen design, with its name:

黄緑彩兜唐草

From another brochure, I gather that the reading is: おうりょくさいかぶとからくさ.

I understand that 黄緑彩（おうりょくさい） describes the yellow-green color, and 唐草（からくさ） describes the arabesque pattern. But what's the 兜（かぶと） doing in there?

I have a theory that it might refer to a plant called 鳥兜（トリカブト）, but I can't confirm it.


texts: What to call the phenomenon where a rectangle is shown because a font is missing a glyph

texts:
Is there a name to describe the situation where a particular character is shown on a computer screen in a particular font, but this font does not have a glyph for this particular character?

Usually, the result looks like this: □
A kind of empty rectangle. Sometimes it shows the code for that character within the rectangle.

How do yo call this phenomenon in Japanese?
If there is no name, is there a common term referring to this "missing glyph square" in Japanese?

(It is not 文字化け. 文字化け happens when character encoding meta-information is lost. It is not the problem here. Using a better font solves this phenomenon, but does not solve 文字化け. Selecting a character encoding solves 文字化け, but does not solve this phenomenon.)


texts: I ran across this quote from the famous samurai Takasugi Shinsaku: "動けば雷電の如く、発すれば風雨の如し". My (really) clumsy translation would be something like "If thunder and lightning were to waver, water and wind would follow," but as you can read, it sounds weird and doesn't seem to make much sense. Further I really haven't been able to find out the context in which he said it, so I don't think I really understand what it means. Thanks for any help!!!


texts: What is the difference between 「なく」 and 「なしに」?

texts:
I know there is an adjective 「関係ない」 which is basically a noun + ない, but I recently came across 「なしに」 in this sentence :

  準備なしに発表した。

And I noticed that the に in なしに was making it act like an adverb. So I just wanted to know if I can say :

  準備なく発表した。

And if yes, what is the difference between なしに and なく?


texts: How to tell whether a building is マンション or アパート

texts:
Given a building, how to classify it as マンション or アパート?

Non-subjective set of criteria preferred.
In particular, if there is any legal definition of these terms that would be the best.

I used to think that the difference was subjective, but apparently it is not, as this bank asks its customers to declare formally whether they live in a マンション or アパート (among other options):


texts:
I am on page 32, Ch.82 of よつばと！

Source : http://raw.senmanga.com/Yotsubato!/82/32

My translation of the highlighted text bubble is,

  Now, sleep quietly okay.

But I am confused as to why 寝てろ is used here as opposed to 寝ろ ? Is it because sleep is a resultant state (something like 知っています or けっこんしています) ?

After some probing I came across this but it doesn't answer the difference between usage of 〜てろ and 〜ろform.

What I did come to know is, 寝てろ is a compact form of 寝ていろ which is imperative/command form of 寝ている. All in all, 寝ていろ is something like a command to sleep (or be in state of sleep or keep sleeping ?). why is the progressive form used here ? What kind of subtlety does it add ?


texts: Word that means "flying" but in the sense of "growing" and "not to give up" and "be free"

texts: I was looking for a word in Japanese that means "flying"/"fly" but I wanted it to be a metaphor for "growing" and "not giving up" and "be free". Something along those lines. Since Japanese has so many words for the same concept (I am almost a total noob in Japanese) I am kinda lost.


texts: What is the difference between「ものなら」 and 「(の)なら」?

texts:
I would like to understand the nuance between two sentences. I found on a website the sentence :

  この問題{もんだい}を解{と}けるもんなら解いてみろ。 : If you can solve this problem then try solving it.

And I wondered what would the difference be if I just used 「なら」 without 「もの」 in a conversation for example :

  この問題を解けるんなら解いてみろ。

I feel like the second sentence using 「のなら」 would be bad without context, but after reading one more time the first one it feels the same.

So what would the nuance be in these two sentences?

And do we use 「ものなら」 only after a potential verb?

In a sentence like :

  お金持{かねも}ちに成{な}れるもんならこの仕事{しごと}を辞{や}めるよ。

Here, without context I don't think replacing the 「ものなら」 by 「なら」 is correct. Am I right?


texts: Clarification on Compound Japanese nouns

texts:
I've sort of thought of making sentences for words in my custom Anki deck to sort of improve my sentence writing skills.
Now, the word is 矛盾{むじゅん}, which means "contradiction"
The sentence I've come up with is:
あなたは歩くの矛盾んだよ
(You are a walking contradiction.)
Was my translation of "walking contradiction" correct?
I kind of feel that 歩き矛盾 or 歩く矛盾 works too, although I'm not that sure. The latter seems somewhat  correct as a noun phrase, but the former somehow sounds more...natural(?), although I'm not sure since it seems more like a compound word I just invented, so it feels kind of wrong too. Please correct me on this.
Also if there is a more direct Japanese translation to the phrase, please tell.


texts:
Will someone please explain what this word いざ means?  I've found several definitions, but I'm very unclear on what it really means and its usage.  I've heard it mostly in the following ways:

  ～（は・なら）いざ知らず　→　"I don't know about ～, but ..."　→　This pattern makes sense to me, but it's about the only one.
  いざ尋常【じんじょう】に　→　I've heard this in the video game series Samurai Shodown (さむらいスピリツ).  The announcer says it before the fight, and it means something like "Fair and square".  EDIT:  The full pre-round announcement in the game is いざ尋常に...（一・二・三）本目...勝負【しょうぶ】！

EDIT:  I also saw this on a Japanese friend's Facebook picture.  The caption said いざ新天地へ and the picture is of their child inside a cardboard moving box.  This seems to correspond to "After all this time, finally (we're moving!)" that @sawa posted below.

Even though I understand the pattern ～（は・なら）いざ知らず, it would seem to still make sense even without the いざ in it.  It seems that いざ is some type of emphasis word or interjection.

How do you use it?  When can you use it?  What types of words can you use it with?


texts:
Regarding the foreigners that Trump doesn't like:

  このため日本航空と全日空は、先月３０日から、この国の人たちがアメリカに行く飛行機に乗る予定だとわかった場合、断っています。
  Because of this, from the 30th of last month 日本航空 and 全日空 are refusing cases in which it is clear that people from these countries are planning on getting on a plane going to America.

I think I might be mistranslating this.
I'm unclear on what is being refused with 断る. Why is there a comma where I'd expect to see を? And what exactly does "rejecting cases in which ..." mean? Are they stopping them at the point of boarding the plane or what?


texts:
Does the honorific prefix お/ご have an effect on pitch accent?

For example, can it make an unaccented word accented or an accented word unaccented?

If this prefix does have an effect on pitch accent, what are the rules?


texts: Does ところ mean the exact same thing as こと in this sentence?

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  お金じゃないところが好きだから一緒にいるの

  【おかね　じゃない　ところが　すき　だから　いっしょに　いるの】

I think it means "I'm with you because of the parts of you that don't have to do with money".

I'm wondering about the use of ところ here. It seems to mean the same thing as what こと was said to mean in this question, which is a vague collection of qualities that a person can have.

Question one: Does ところ mean exactly the same thing as こと here, or are there differences? Would 「お金じゃないことが好きだから一緒にいるの」 change the meaning?

Question two: I think this question refers specifically to a person who may or not have money, because of a wider context. However, from purely a grammatical point of view, could it also mean "I don't like things to do with money, so that's why I'm with you"? In other words, the speaker is expressing more about the fact they aren't materialistic, as opposed to commenting on the resources of the person being spoken to.

Question three: If you read this statement without other context, would you assume that the person being spoken to does not have money, and the speaker likes that person in spite of that fact? Or, would you assume the person being spoken to may or may not have money, but either way it is not relevant to the speaker?

Bonus question: I'm a little confused by the の at the end. I thought の at the end of a sentence indicated a question, but that doesn't seem to be the case. What's の up to here?


texts:
In a short story I found a sentence I'm having difficulties understand no matter how I look at it or how I try to parse it:

  これは、心の病かもしれない、と思い、私と母はやがてじょじょにだが公にする祝い事をとりやめていった。きっとそれは父の深いところにある傷に触れるなにかなのだろう。それにしてもよくそれで独立して事業をはじめることができるものだ、と私は思ったが、外で無理すればするだけ、できてしまうほころびがそのポイントだったのだろう

I can't wrap my head around なにかなのだろう, I have no idea how to parse it: is なにか + なの + だろう? なに + かな + のだろう? Something else I'm missing?

I found that なにかな is a word you say someone else and なにだろう one you say to yourself; here it seems kinda a mix of the two; it could be something like "I wonder if that struck some wound in my father's heart"; that would be consistent with the translation, since it's "it seemed that", but I'm not sure since the かなの part, and I'm not sure if you can suffix なにかな and なんだろう like that to verbs.

As a side note, the second half, それにしてもよくそれで独立して事業をはじめることができるものだ、と私は思ったが、外で無理すればするだけ、できてしまうほころびがそのポイントだったのだろう, is translated as "I couldn't help marveling that he had been able to launch his own business when he had a problem like that, but I suppose the truth of it was that the harder he pushed himself outside, the more he unraveled inside"; is the "marveling" part in the ものだ? (I'm guessing so due to #1 here.)


texts:
I am currently studying Minna no nihongo. I came across these two sentences

Why was de used in gakkodewa , instead of gakkoniwa in second sentence?


texts: What does it mean when someone refers to themselves as この + name?

texts:
When watching taiga dramas, I have noticed that people often talk about themselves in the third person.  Also, they say kono before their name.
Example, "kono Musashi will fight them".
I'm a beginner in Japanese.  It's that normal?  Would I use my name like that if I was speaking to someone in Japan?  Also, why use kono before the name?
Thank for any input!


texts: "Yale並みに学費の高い大学". Is "並みに" a suffix? "の" between "並みに" / "学費" is optional?

texts:
original sentence:

  私が選んだのは、Yale並みに学費の高い大学でした。

I think that "並みに" is a noun suffix?

A "の" between "並みに" and "学費" is optional:

  私が選んだのは、Yale並みにの学費の高い大学でした。

Why is that original sentence grammatically correct?


texts: What is the meaning of は in this context?

texts:
Context: A car approaches ルパン, 次元 asks over the radio who is in driving it
次元「ルパン、スコーピオンか？」
ルパン「いやぁ、違う。我が宿命のライバル。ご存じ警視庁は銭形警部さ」
I can't tell what は is supposed to mean in this context, is it the same meaning as の? If so, how common is this usage?


texts: Any rules for a suffix on english words?

texts:
(Note: I'm part of the "I know bits and pieces of Japanese from watching anime" group, so I lack an in-depth knowledge of Japanese)

As I'm hearing Japanese occasionally there will be an English word said. Lots of the time there seems to be a suffix on it. Here's a random sampling of words and what the suffixes sound like:

print-o
fight-o
deep-eh
speed-o
rock-uh
type-eh
print-eh
rope-eh
boss-eh

As you can see there seem to be 2 major suffixes: -eh (or -euh, depending on the person saying it) and -o. Are there any rules on which to use? Does it even depend on the person or area the person is from?


texts:
I'm currently studying Japanese from Nihongo Sou Matome N1 book, and I would like your help in order to understand this grammar pattern.

I'm a little bit confused about its meaning, because in the first sentence, ～ては seems to mean "when". However, in the second sentence, ～ては seems to mean "since, because, due to". So, as these two meanings are quite different from each other, I would like to know what does ～ては really mean.
Thank you so much in advance for your help!


texts:
This is an extract from a piece of fiction:

  基本的に『除隊』は『レベル・ゼロ』という特殊牢送りを指す『The Tower』において、彼が職を辞すには正式に引退する必要があったのだ。

I am having a bit of trouble understanding what "送りを指す" means in this context and it's not a phrase I've come across yet in my studies. How is it being used here?

From my attempt at a translation, I think it would be something like:

  Basically, as for a "discharge from military service" it was necessary to officially retire in order to quite his job at "The Tower" [送りを指す] which is special prison called "Level Zero".

So what could the 送りを指す mean?

To me the best I can think is:

  Selected to be sent

Which doesn't seem to fit in the sentence at all. I think there's a possibility it's some sort of set phrase that can't be translated too literally since I've seen a lot of that in Japanese. But if someone could clarify that would be awesome, I'm really curious about what the extract is actually saying!


texts: What's the difference between "gohan" and "meshi"?

texts:
In answer to my question on the difference between "gyūdon" and "gyūmeshi" I learned that "meshi" just means cooked rice. But I thought "gohan" meant cooked rice, so please, what is the difference?

I do already know that "go-" is an honorific prefix and I think I've been told that "gohan" can sometimes be used as a general word for food. But is that all there is to it?


texts: What are the equivalents of millionnaire, multimillionaire and billionaire in Japanese?

texts: I'm talking about the "cultural" ones, because with the yen currency the scale is completely different (millionnaire with yen is only about having approximately 10 000 usd so I don't think it's the real equivalent).


texts: When I am downloading something, this comes up. I guess it would mean that the download is in progress or something but it seems a little unexpected to have that there. Is it something that you'd say out loud for something else that is progressing or would it be exclusively for digital progressions?


texts: What is the difference between Okaa-san/Onee-san/Ojii-san and Kaa-san/Nee-san/Jii-san

texts:
i was playing Katahane last night, in it Light and Wakaba refer to their mother as Kaa-san while Light refers to Wakaba (his older sister) as Nee-san and when meeting with Rien he says for them to call him Jii-san by commenting

  If you did not know my name or who i was i would just be an old man to you correct?

^ (he's not saying that in a bad way mind you)

also in Fate/Stay Night, Sakura refers to Rin as Nee-san and the 2 of them are sister however Sakura was adopted out to prevent a potential fight over Magus Succession between them (like what happens with Touko and Aoko)

from my understanding, Okaa-san is Mother, Onee-San is Big Sister and Ojii-san is Grandfather, now while Kaa-san and Nee-san i can still determine refer to Mother and Sister i'm assuming Jii-san is something close to Grandfather as Rein in Katahane is almost like a grandfather to Cero and since Wakaba is close to Cero (potential love interest in one route) i'm assuming he doesn't mind being though of as a grandfather but that's seculation,

so i am wondering, what is the difference between Okaa-san/Onee-san/Ojii-san and Kaa-san/Nee-san/Jii-san apart from the obvious drop of O from each word


texts: Fun with synonyms - "to grab/catch/capture"

texts:
Here's a question for you experts.  I've actually asked this to my Japanese friends, but I want to see how you guys answer too.

Explain the differences in the following verbs and which one(s) appear more commonly in everyday speech:

[掴]{つか}む
[捕]{と}る
[捕]{と}らえる
[捕]{と}らえられる - passive
[捕]{つか}まえる
[捕]{つか}まえられる - passive
[捕]{と}らわれる
[捕]{つか}まる - see update below

Update - 2012/05/08:  Looking back at this question after all this time, I knew there was a reason I was including the passive verbs (4 and 6 above).  It's because I left a verb out of my original set:  [捕]{つか}まる.  So then the question with the passives is, what's the difference between 捕まる, 捕らえられる, and 捕まえられる?

Based on @Derek Schaab's answer below, it seems that 捕らえられる would mostly apply to animals/things that "are caught".  But which would be the most correct/natural way to say "The criminal was finally caught"?

  犯人がやっと(捕まった・捕らえられた・捕まえられた）


texts:
So I know that すぎる means too much, like 昨日お酒を飲みすぎた, etc.

but when it comes to something like:

  何々をすることができなさすぎる

Does it mean:

1 - I can't do "this" at all.

or

2 - I can't do "this" too much.

So if I say:

  納豆を食べることができなさすぎる/食べられなさすぎる。

Do I mean I can't eat natto at all, or do I mean I can eat it just a little, but can't eat it too much?

And if "1" is the right answer, how different is it from things like 全然できない/全くできない?


texts: 関西弁 「～せんと」- More than just「～しないと」?

texts:
Following scene: Evil henchman grabs girl threatening her and asks her if she won't become his woman to which the girl reluctantly declines and says that she already has somebody in her life. The bad guy starts laughing and lets her go, shooing her away. Cue good guy:

読めねぇな・・・あんただけは

You're the only one I can never predict.
Bad guy responds:

俺は　正直モンが好きなだけや人の顔色うかがったりせんと俺がそうやからなぁ

I just like honest people who don't care about the other party's feelings. I'm like that, y'know.
In italics my translation. My question pertains to the bolded「せんと」. My initial thought was that this meant「～しないと（だめだ）」but that wouldn't make any sense in this context (I like honest people. They gotta consider the other party too.) I've googled this construction and found out that it can also mean「～しないで」or「～せず」. Given that, would I be correct to assume that the latter meaning here is intended and that the guys line is simply abbreviated - if I were to take a guess, the whole thing could go like this:「人の顔色うかがったりせんと［しないで］言いたいこと言うだけやから（正直な人が好き）」?
Thank you in advance!
EDIT：The scene in question, the relevant part starts at 21:55, the lines mentioned above occur at 23:15.


texts:
I've been told that number 1 wrong and number 2 is correct, but I'm wondering why exactly.

出身は何ですか。
出身はどこですか。

In English, what's your origin vs where's your origin has the same meaning to me and my first instinct is to use what instead of where for this. Does anyone have any insight on why this is exactly?


texts: What is the difference between "ato ichinen" and "ichinen go"?

texts: Both mean "after 1 year" right? Are they the same or a bit different in usage? When do you use "go" and "ato"? Example : "ato ichinen shitara Nihon ni iku" and "ichijikan go ni iku". Are they interchangable?


texts:
In a manga I am reading, I found this sentence:

  "私も最近は寝るの朝の９時くらい"

I understand its meaning from context:

  I also sleep around 9 in the morning these days.

But I don't get why there is の between 寝る and 朝. I would like to see word to word translation. Is it a contraction of

  私も最近は寝るのは朝の９時くらい

or something like that?

Source: (働かない二人)
http://yamakamu.com/archives/4077130.html


texts: What is the basis for kanji frequency? For example, 悠{ゆう｝ has the Frequency of 1921　in the kanji dictionary of Yomichan. What does it mean? Does it mean that in everyday conversation or in newspapers published every day, 悠{ゆう｝ is being used 1921 times? Also, is the frequency of a kanji the same in all the dictionaries?


texts: Choosing the correct level of politeness when translating foreign material

texts: Here is my question: how do you choose the correct level of politeness in Japanese, when translating foreign material that may not follow Japanese rules? Let's say we have a formal setting, e.g. a shop clerk and a customer. The shop clerk was a former collegue of the customer's mother, so she speaks in a very casual way (let's say the equivalent of plain form), and actually ask "do you mind if I speak like this?" Although she knew his mother, it's still the first time they meet, moreover he is a customer, so I guess in Japanese she would at least use the polite (-masu) form, but I was wondering if that would be a faithful translation and, on the contrary, if her speaking in plain form would be perceived as rude (it's only meant to convey intimacy). What do you think?


texts: What is the difference between 箸【はし】 and 割【わ】り箸【ばし】? Do both terms refer to chopsticks?


texts:
The writer is complaining that men are useless at cooking. They burn pans, they make more mess than is necessary and:

  ...、何枚も皿をつかう、...

I can't fully understand this construction. I know the essence is that men use too many plates but that's all I can understand.

In particular I don't know what も is doing. I'm not sure if this is a question, a rhetorical question or a statement. Nor am I sure of the intonation (i.e. rising at the end or not).

In English we might say "and how many plates do they use". Depending on the intonation this could be a plain question or a rhetorical question where we simply mean that they use too many plates. I'm guessing the Japanese is this latter usage but I have no idea.


texts: What particle should I use with "motomeru"?

texts: In the sentence Honne o motomeru is o/wo (を) the correct particle to use?


texts:
I'd like to know what is the meaning of the previous pattern I mentioned in the following sentence:

  職場ではそんな話ばかりきこえてくるぞ！

I guess きこえて is the てform of 聞こえる.
But what is the meaning of きこえて + くる and what does exactly that ぞ mean?

I really hope you can help with this.
助けてください


texts:
I have a question regarding えば〜ほど. My understanding of it is that it means, the more/less (property), the more/less (property).
If I want to say, the more experiences one has, the more ~ , should it be

経験があればあるほど、〜

or

経験が多ければ多いほど、〜

The second one seems slightly confusing to me, because in many example sentences that I see, such as

その本は、読めば読むほどわからなくなる
The more you read the book, the less you will understand it.

The more/less part is embedded in the construction えば〜ほど, so the second option 経験が多ければ多いほど、〜 would translate into: The more more experiences one has. Am I getting it wrong?


texts: My online language class taught us how to reply with our age(s) in a sentence. We were also told that you could reply with "naisho" meaning secret if you weren't going to provide your age. However, I've not seen anywhere that uses this term in a sentence. How do say this correctly in Japanese and not just use a one word response of naisho? Such as "my age is a secret."


texts: Help with understanding why "のか" is used in this sentence

texts:
I read this sentence:

"私はなぜ彼がこれをしているのか、分からない"

The sentence is supposed to mean "I don't understand why he is doing this," and I think it is grammatically correct since I found it in a japanese site ( but if it is not, please help with correcting it  ? ). My question is, why is のか used in this sentence? When is のか　used? I know how to use のが and のは、but のか looks new to me. Can it be replaced by のが？　(　私は彼がこれをしているのが、分からない　).


texts: What are the differences between 田{た}, 水田{すいでん}, and 田圃{たんぼ}?

texts:
Jisho indicates that all three of the words are common, and gives me the following definitions:

田{た}: rice field

水田{すいでん}: (water-filled) paddy field

田圃{たんぼ}: paddy field; farm

Other than 田圃 having the alternative meaning of "farm", I don't notice any differences between their meanings; As far as I am aware, rice fields and paddy fields are the same, and all rice fields are flooded. Are they simply synonyms? If so, which one(s) are more commonly used? If not, what are the differences between their meanings?


texts: How do you say thank you for or sorry for?

texts:
the "for" should be followed by an arbitrarily long and complicated sentence like:

  Thank you for waiting for me after the football match!

or

  Sorry for spilling my drink on the carpet that you got for your birthday.


texts:
Even here in Osaka I don't hear it very often among anyone even remotely young, but where does this come from originally? Does anyone have a reference on hand?

If I myself had to guess from what I know of classical Japanese I would think it could be

（打ち消し）ぬ　→　（連用形）に　+　あり　+　たり　→　にありたり　→　にありた　→　なりた　→　なんだ

Thanks.


texts: I was chatting on the internet and the term was used in response to a question that I had but the person was unable to explain the term to me. I am thinking that it may be an abbreviated form of ふうんいき。Thank you.


texts: 出てこないと気持ちは落ち着かない meaning

texts:
「ハリー・ポッター」シリーズには、ロンやハーマイオニーだけでなく「ネビル・ロングボトム」が出てこないと気持ちは落ち着かない。

My western brain can't comprehend the final part of the sentence! I know でてくる is something like "show up" and 落ち着く something like "calm down, harmonize".


texts:
It was mentioned in a comment that 「どこからきた？」 is not only informal, but outright rude. The way the comment is written makes me think that this goes beyond grammatical politeness and would be improper even in -ます form. Is that true?

A naive translation to English (I'm not a native speaker) could perhaps be "Where do you come from?" or "Where did you come from?" which seem to sound fairly neutral with no rudeness in them...

What makes the Japanese sentence rude? Is there some generic guideline that would apply not just to this sentence? So that we don't avoid it here while committing a similar rudeness elsewhere

Perhaps it has something to do with directness of the question and having listener as a subject on top of it. But in my materials it seemed like a preference (especially for highly polite speech) rather than a hard universal rule, they mentioned it briefly and not discussed in much detail...

Thank you!


texts: Left (ひだり) and right (みぎ) as cardinal directions

texts:
In many Indo-European ancient languages, there used to be a strong connection between the words for right and left on one side and the words for south and north1 (respectively) on the other side.
This suggests that the sacred orientation used to be facing eastwards - in the direction of the rising sun2.

In Chinese instead the character 左 (zuǒ) means both left and east (an older version than 東/东) while instead 右 (yòu) means both right and west (an older character than 西).  In this case, this seems to suggest a preferred orientation towards the south.

I have, in light of this preamble, the following questions.

Are there any evidence for ひだり (hidari) or みぎ (migi) being used in the sense of east and west respectively?
If not, are there any older words for left and right that would be used in the sense of cardinal directions (whether in the Chinese way or in the Indo European way)?

Note 1:
For instance:

Celtic languages: Gaelic : deas (south and right); Gaulish dexsiuo (south and right); Old Irish desse (south and right); Welsh de (south and right); Breton *dehou
Sanskit daksinah (south and right), Avestan dashina (south and right)
Ancient Latin scaevus and Archaic Greek σκαιὀς (meaning both "left" the side of the shadow).

Note 2:
Other indications include:

European Bronze Age tombs generally orientated towards the east.
The word orientate itself.
Orientation of ancient maps towards the east.


texts: The repetition of "取れる" in this sentence and it's meaning?

texts:
I  am trying rather confused by the way the following sentence is constructed thus making it hard to understand its meaning.

  あたしも取れる手を取れるだけ取らせて頂きました

I believe I understand the last part "取らせて頂きました" which would mean something like "I had the permission to take…" but the part preceding it is causing some confusion.

To me it seems "取れる手を取れるだけ" Would literally mean "only the hands which will obtain it, takes it", which doesn't make an awful lot of sense. I can make a few guess at what the speaker might be saying, but I would prefer some clarity here.

(For context the speaker is a merchant speaking to his client about a specific item amongst his wares)