texts: Purpose of adj+kucha and noun+ja in this sentence

texts:
Though I think I've understood the gist of the following sentence, I struggle to interpret two of the used terms.

こんなに小さくちゃ一人じゃ生きていけないわよね。

  This small (cat) mustn't live alone. (?)

What exactly does chisakucha mean? I've found smt online about verb+kucha ... ikenai being a structure to express must not in casual speech, but it was very vague (and this is an adjective).
Is the ja in 一人じゃ a variation for だ ? Or does it mean so/then (as in cause so/then effect)?

Thank you for any answers/explanations!


texts: What's the difference between になり and になる?

texts:
Came across this sentence while reading:

  もう雲は鼠色になり、向うの山には山焼けの火がまっ赤です。

Assuming I'm reading it right, I'd expect it to use なる, not its masu stem.e.g.

  もう雲は鼠色になる、向うの山には山焼けの火がまっ赤です。

Is になり just another way of saying "is" or "be" as in "Already the clouds are grey"? Or is there some greater nuance?

EDIT: Chocolate posted some great links in the comments on this post explaining how a verb's stem form can be used as a conjunction.Is there a term for using conjugating verbs such that the sentence continues with another clause?and なく vs. なくて and stem form vs. てform as conjunctions


texts:
呆れた顔で微笑む先輩は、もういつもと同じ雰囲気に戻っていた。

What is the meaning of "で" in this sentence? Looks like the same function of から but I'm not sure...


texts:
I'm reading this interview with a voice actress, and this phrase came up pretty much out of context from the interviewer (in the sense that they weren't talking about baseball or a literal ball).

-- さすがにもっといますよ！（笑）
[interviewee] : でも、「私はファンめっちゃいる」って思っちゃって、天狗にはなりたくないし……。　常に初心の心を忘れずに、感謝を忘れずに生きていこうと思っています。
-- 球{たま｝が速｛はや｝いです！

Is this perhaps an alternative to saying ”ストレート” /the interviewee gave a "straight" answer?


texts: もし and たら. verbs of giving and receiving

texts:
もしつごうよかったら、どこかゆうめいなところをあんないしてあげてくれませんか.

In the above sentence if both もし and たら translate to "if", why are they both used?
Does あげてくれませんか mean "Won't you do it for me"?


texts:
I know that verb + ~ている+ 瞬間【しゅんかん】　has a similar usage to ~ている+とき,  for example 目を閉じている瞬間 and 目を閉じているとき.

I want to know what is the difference between these two in general, will it change the meaning of the sentence if I use しゅんかん　over とき？


texts: Katakana ダメ to end a sentence - emphasis?

texts:
In the following sentence (from the Legend of Zelda guidebook I am translating) this sentence appears when talking about fighting enemies.
My question is about the purpose of ダメ at the end.

  全ての敵を倒す必要はないが、逃げてばかりではダメ。

From this SO question
dame written as katakana
I think that ダメ is simply adding emphasis. Otherwise, it makes no sense to me:

  It is not necessary to beat all enemies, escape is no good (?)

How do you all translate the sentence?


texts: Why does one have to use ながら instead of つつ in this sentence?

texts:
I'm going through an exercise book to prepare for the N2 exam, and I got confused by this question:

＿たばこを吸わないでよ

There are choices for 歩きつつ and 歩きながら, and the answer is 歩きながら.

What's the difference between つつ and ながら in this case and why does one have to use the latter?


texts:
Does "しぇんぱい" mean someone, who seems to be having a grudge. Or does it mean some who seems to be rehearsing?

I made this assumption since the only words that appear in my dictionary that has the word "しぇん" and one that might fit to the scenario of what I'm reading is "私怨" and "試演".

There are also other "しぇん" words like: "支援" "紫煙".

But which among these 4 Japanese words are commonly written in hiragana and connected with "~ぱい"?


texts: What does it mean when someone says まあ a couple of times?

texts: I was watching something and he was like mamamamama (ne?)


texts: Can みせ（店）be translated to something other than "shop"

texts:
I've read a sample sentence that says:

あの　みせで　[食]{た}べましょう。

Apparently it translates to "Let's eat at that place", but what is the exact usage and meaning of みせで ?

  " [店]{みせ} is commonly translated as 'shop'.  Are there other meanings?"


texts:
If you want to say "things like" you can use とか、など、and し。

What if you don't want to list out several things. You want to say, "things like A." Then what do you do?


texts: Using "ha" instead of "wa" with QWERTY keyboards

texts: Why is it standard practice to type "ha" when you are translating は{wa} using a QWERTY keyboard? This has always confused me. これは... is pronounced "Kore wa" but when you type it out you type "Kore ha". Hiragana は{ha} when used as a particle is pronounced "wa" so why do we not type "wa"?


texts: Why is みんな sometimes used with a particle and without?

texts:
I've seen in Genki I みんな used without a particle (no particle follows the word). For example:

たいていみんな寝ています
私のかぞくは四人です。みんなとてもしんせつです。

However, I've also seen sentences in which it is followed by a particle:

あなたがみんなを救った
みんなが日本に興味をもっている

Using it with a particle makes sense to me, since I translate it as everyone. Why is it sometimes followed by a particle and sometimes not?


texts: Why is ガラスというガラスused in this sentence instead of just ガラス?

texts:
Context: I'm reading the first volume of "The Twelve Kingdoms" (月の影・影の海). The protagonist, Yoko, is in the school's staff room when a strange man appears and tells here she is in danger. Indeed, a window pane next to her suddenly breaks - the sentence that says this is "裏庭側の窓ガラスが割れたのは".

The last sentence in the chapter is:

  どん、と低い地響きのような音がして、裏庭側に残ったガラスというガラスが白く濁った。

My question: Why is ガラスというガラス used here rather than simply ガラス?

When I looked for "ガラスというガラス" in Google, it seems to be used to describe types of glass "glass called 'crystal glass'" and the like. Which makes sense. But this doesn't seem to fit with this sentence.


texts: Is this the most accurate translation of 二つめの言葉は風　行くてを教えて?

texts:
This sentence from a song

  futatsume no kotoba wa kaze
  yukute wo oshiete

it's translated as

  The second word was "wind"
  directing my journey

Would you translate it the same? What would be the most literal translation?
What I get for the second line is this

The second word, wind
showing my way


texts:
How do the Japanese actually pronounce words such as マッハ (Mahha - Mach) or シャッフル (Shaffuru - Shuffle)?
I know gemination is a feature of Japanese phonology, but I've only managed to articulate such clusters as /pp/, /kk/, /tt/, /ss/. I'm not sure about /hh/ or /ff/ (?). Any suggestions?


texts: Transitivity of つる with the meaning "to cramp"

texts:
泳ぐ前に、しっかり準備体操をするのを忘れない、というのを注意した方がいいと思います。
  I think I should warn (people) not to forget to warm up properly before swimming.
  そうですね。私も時々水の中で足をツッてしまいますから、みなさんも注意してください。
  That's right. I also sometimes get cramp in my legs in the water, so please pay attention.

It first I thought ツッて came from 吊る and I read it as "dangle my legs in the water", but that makes no sense from context. So I checked the dictionary and found "to cramp". But the dictionary doesn't say that this is a transitive verb and it doesn't seem to me like it should be. So how can I understand 足をつる. How should I use this verb normally?


texts: For words like 帰ります is there a specific reason they're Godan instead of Ichidan in any case? Things like a change from an historical pronunciation of the word, grammar relating to the radicals of the character or is it literally random with each of these decisions genuinely being made arbitrarily? For 帰ります just for the sake of example, what was the original reason it's Godan and how many other いる/える Godan verbs have similar stories?


texts:
Besides わるい, can we flexibly change the adjective いい in grammatical structures such as てもいい?
Moreover, can we completely change the entire いいです into like a phrase?

For example:

  このものを使かないでも時間がたくさんかかるでしょうね。


texts: Is それが人生{じんせい} , 仕様{しよう}が無{な}い, or something else the most natural equivalent to "that's life", "c'est la vie", etc?

texts:
For years I have been saying それが人生{じんせい} in Japanese to mean "such is life" / "c'est la vie". In fact English has a few other ways to express the same thing, and so do the other European languages I am familiar with.

Well my Japanese friends and acquaintances always understood, seemed to enjoy it, and never corrected me.

On my current trip to Japan I also learned 仕様{しよう}が無{な}い as having a similar meaning, perhaps literally more like "it can't be helped".

But only this morning for the first time have I been told that the first one is not actually a set phrase in Japanese, that it's merely the literal translation of the English (or French) phrase into Japanese.

So is it true that only 仕様が無い is used in idiomatic Japanese or is it just that the person who corrected me just isn't used to それが人生 even though other people in other parts of Japan, or people of other generations, might use it in their normal speech?

And what about other ways to express this sentiment? Since I originally asked this question people have added other variants in comments:

世の中はそんなもんだ
人生ってそんなもんだよ

Is one any more idiomatic, natural, Japanese-sounding? Is this a sentiment Japanese actually express at all?


texts: Please help me translate this sentence from english to japanese

texts:
So I have seen this relatively intricate sentence on a website and tried to translate it in japanese, but at this point I have no other way to know if it's any good.

Here is the original sentence in french :

  Elle a grandi dans la religion de la gastronomie de prestige qu'elle a su adapter à l'époque actuelle, si bien que de sa cuisine peuvent sortir des chefs-d'œuvre.

It's translation in english : (not mine)

  She grew up in the religion of the prestigious gastronomy which she updated to nowadays standard, so that master pieces can come out of her kitchen.

And here's my attempt :

  「彼女は名誉な美食の宗教で育って、それを現代の基準に適応する方法を知っていた。このように、傑作が出られます。」

Since there is no context, I thought it would be correct to put "彼女は" but the rest felt like I was piling up legos.


texts: What does the word 「しのう」 mean in this sentence?

texts:
It is said by an old man who looks like wanting to teach boxing to a young man.

  青山くんよ　ふたりきりの人目につかんところにいこう　折り入ってひみつに伝授したいこともあるしのう

I'm not sure if it is related to the word 死ぬ in volitional form because it unlikely fits into the context.


texts: ひらく / とじる vs. あける / しめる

texts:
The verbs ひらく　and あける both mean to open, and  とじる　and しめる both mean to close. I understand that ひらく and とじる are antonym pairs, as are あける and しめる, but have never been clear on the difference between them. I have heard it explained in several different ways, but have come across several cases which seem to refute them. Some of the explanations I have seen are:

  ひらく/とじる refer to an abstract or figurative opening or closing, such as opening a store, account, or ceremony. あける/しめる are literally opening or closing something (physically).
  ひらく/とじる are opening or closing something in 3 dimensions (such as a laptop or a car door),
  where あける/しめる are only used when the opening/closing action only spans one dimension (such as a sliding window or a Japanese style closet).

On the other hand, I have seen buttons on an elevator say ひらく and とじる (which refutes #2). I have never heard ひらく or とじる applied to a door--it's always あける/しめる, whether it's a hinged or a sliding door. I have always heard あける / しめる used when referring to the opening of a store or business (e.g. レストランはあけていますか。). What is the difference between these terms?

And as a secondary question, is ひらく both transitive and intransitive?


texts: About the kanji 鱈 where 魚's bottom is written as 大

texts:
I was looking at the picture of a newspaper during the times of the Hibiya riot (1905) and it took me a while to find the headline word 出鱈目{でたらめ}. In fact, in every dictionary I have checked so far the kanji 鱈 is written as I am typing it, with the left part being simply 魚. However, as you can see in the picture the bottom part of 魚 seems to be 大 instead of 灬.

I could not find any dictionary where the kanji is written as in the picture below. Is it just a typographical difference? Are 大　and 灬 somehow related and I just don't know about it?


texts: ~ていられる - present progressive and potential?

texts:
This a line from "good morning call"

その横で平気な顔していられるか？
Next to that can you wear a cool face ?

How would one explain ~て いる  in its potential form ~て いられる ?
I understand it as "Next to that can you be wearing a cool face ?"= so a nuance of ability/potential with emphasis on being a continuing action rather than say  顔できる [can wear a face] which is more declarative.
Am I correct ?


texts:
The kanji 読　appears to consist of 言　and 売.

How come 言　(say) + 売　(sell) = 読　（read)?

Could you please shed some light on the origin of the kanji?

Thank you!


texts:
When written as a standalone kanji, the following metals have longer, "full" names (based on their colour):

  [金]{こがね}　→　こがね
  [銀]{しろがね}　→　しろがね
  [銅]{あかがね}　→　あかがね
  [鉄]{くろがね}　→　くろがね

In my Japanese Bible, there are various places where they appear in lists of materials, etc.  I rather prefer to read them by these full names, but I don't know if that is correct or not.  Are these full names ever used in modern Japanese?  If so, in what kind of situations are they read this way?


texts: if they are just being called out to like  「女将さん！」 I read that it was translated Mr./Ms. followed by their profession and was wondering if Ma'am or the like would be acceptable and what variations would be fine.


texts: I know that 父 means father and it's readed "chichi". I thought the other reading of it was "tou" since I've heard many times o tou san to refer to a father. But according to this list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_j%C5%8Dy%C5%8D_kanji the readings of 父 are "fu" and "chichi". Is that list incomplete or does tou of o-tou-san written with other kanji?


texts:
I'm trying to play around with words I know already to form simple sentences and I thought of making short sentences using the verbs 行きます and 前記{ぜんき} (it should mean "said"; I only use Google translate, because that's the only translator I could use for Japanese. Suggestions on a better one will be appreciated.)

So, here's my example sentence in English:

  And he said, 'Do I go to the store?'
  I said 'Yes.' He went.

Here's what I written in Japanese:

  と 彼は 前記 「私は みせ へ 行きます か。」
  私 前記「はい。」彼 行きました。

Is this correct?

If you type using Kanji in your answer, please show Hiragana next to it in parenthesis, too. (I do not know a lot of Kanji yet.)


texts:
I understand you can say something like

  “彼は強くなるばかり”

To express this meaning but could you say

  “もっともっと強くなっている“

Sorry if this seams like a stupid question I think I just heard it somewhere and I need clarification.
To add to it are there any other ways to say more and more. (And by this I mean the -er and -er construction.)


texts: What is the difference between 防止 and 予防?

texts:
My dictionary defines both 防止 and 予防 as "prevention", with 予防 having the additional definitions of "precaution" and "protection against".

I sort of understand the latter definitions for 予防 as acting to stop something which is happening from getting worse, which explains its use in medicine, but I've also seen 予防 used in the "prevention" sense similar to 防止.  For example, from the Tanaka Corpus:

  森林火災の防止はすべての人が負う義務です。
  The prevention of forest fires is everyone's responsibility.

  今週は火災予防週間です。
  This is Fire Prevention Week.

  交通事故の防止対策を講じなければならない。
  We must take measures to prevent traffic accidents.

  予防運転は事故を防ぎます。
  Defensive driving can help you avoid accidents.

  鶏卵生産におけるサルモネラ汚染を防止することが必要です。
  It is essential to prevent salmonella contamination in hen egg production.

  予防は治療にはるかにまさる。
  Prevention is much preferable to cure. [sic]

In what situations is it preferable to use 防止 over 予防?  What are the nuances that govern the choice of one word over the other?


texts: Scope of よ particle, when used to convey new information

texts:
よ particle, has among other uses, is used to convey new information, which he believes that the other person does not know about/he assumes that the other person does not know. E.g. One person, who attended a party, to the other person (who did not attend), 楽しいよ.
However, I am confused as to what extent can it be used to convey new information. E.g. when introducing yourself to someone new, you don't often hear 私はXyz-sanですよ, even though it is a new information. So, I wanted to ask was, what is the scope of よ in context of introducing new information. Like can we use it, every time we convey something new? E.g. Like I read XYZ book, and B does not know about it, can I generally speak 私はXYZを読んだよ, e.g. my mother is asking me what is my brother doing (as she does not know and wants to know), to convey this can I use 兄貴は食べ物を作っていますよ, or is there a limit on the type/form of new information we can share by using the particle よ?
教えてください


texts:
Hi^^ I'm studying the usage of せい and せいで, and it says (I'm using "Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar" as main reference) that it cannot be used to express a reason :

  1)宿題がたくさんある　*せいで　パーティに行けない。
  2)誰も手伝ってくれない　*せいで　一人でやらなければならない。

(in both cases it uses から・ので・ために)

I'm not clear on these sentences: can't we consider the presence of a lot of homework as a cause for not having time? [or is it related to the fact that maybe homework are a "controllable" thing? ]
what is the difference between n°2 and, say, 私のせいで作業が遅れてしまった。[other than the past tense]?

I would really appreciate if you could also give me some other examples of sentences where I can't use it. Thank you in advance.


texts:
What does v-た+であろう mean?  For example:

  ほんの一、ニ分のやりとりであったであろうが、いかに屈託のない若い人たちの闊達さがさわやかであった。

Does it mean something is likely to be that way? But what then if it appears that this thing has already happened?


texts: What are these Okinawan kana-like characters?

texts:
I was taking a look at Wikipedia's page on the Ryukyuan languages when I came across the following picture:

The billboard on the left features three kana-like characters that I have never seen before, and that are not part of the gojuuon system. Interestingly, they are not listed on Wikipedia's page for Okinawan scripts either, despite this page detailing four different transcription systems (Conventional, Council, Ryukyu University, and New Okinawan).

Given that the caption below this picture says that it was taken in the town of Kin, I presume that the sign is written in a Kunigami language variety? However, I can't seem to find any references that describe a unique kana system for this area. Would anyone be able to provide any references that list the readings for these characters (and any others that may be in use for this language variety)? Thanks!


texts:
My question essentially boils down to the following: Is it always possible to assign a (regular / irregular) reading to a single kanji within some word?
It is related to this post: Kanji that don't use their specified readings:

The context is somewhat technical: I'm writing software that should map a kanji to its reading within a certain expression. I'd like to collect all irregular readings for the kanji and want to know, which irregularities are most common. I'm using a database of all official on/kun-readings and Jim Breen's dictionary and  for this: For each of its ~190.000 entries, I try to match the native (kanji) expression character-wise to its reading defined in the dictionary. I reuse all irregular readings that could be uniquely determined (i.e. if a single kanji remains unresolved in an expression, I use the remaining reading part as irregular reading for this kanji. E.g. お兄さん　-> 兄's reading in this case is にい). I'm not sure, if this is always correct though, here are some examples:

今日 -> きょう (is 今[きょ]日[う] correct?)

明日 -> あした (is 明[あ]日[した]correct?)

越幾斯 -> えきす (is 越[え]幾[き]斯[す] correct?)

Around 300 (exotic?) entries remain, where it is not possible to uniquely determine the reading of each kanji. How about the following exemplary ones:

七週の祭 -> ななまわりのいわい

海月 -> くらげ

Do these ones have to be learned as a compound? Thanks in advance for your help!


texts:
In Emperor Hirohito's announcement of the end of World War II, there was a section that's been translated into English as "not necessarily to Japan’s advantage".

  But now the war has lasted for nearly four years. Despite the best that has been done by everyone – the gallant fighting of the military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of Our servants of the State, and the devoted service of Our one hundred million people – the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest.

The phrase has sometimes been interpreted as an understatement, for example this blog post interpreted it that way.

I came across a blog post saying that maybe the statement was difficult to translate accurately, but I don't know how expert the person being quoted by the blog post is.

I'm aware that the Japanese used in the speech is very different from everyday Japanese. I'm not interested in learning how to understand the Japanese used in that speech, but knowing whether understatement is used in Japanese.

Was "not necessarily to Japan’s advantage" meant to be an understatement?


texts: The name ジューリオ: is it wrong to write it like this?

texts:
I have a doubt about the correct way of writing my name in katakana. My name is Giulio, it is an Italian name. When I started learning Japanese, my teacher wrote it as ジュリオ. However, later I found a book in which my name was written as ジューリオ. Searching the internet, I've found both instances, for example:

ジュリオ:

ジュリオ・アンドレオッティ, a politician

ジューリオ:

オルタ・サン・ジューリオ a place whose name comes from that of a person, San Giulio (St. Julius)
ジューリオ・アグリーコラ駅 the name of an underground station of the Rome Metro (and "Giulio Agricola" is written in Italian, not Latin)

Looking here, I see that ジュリオ is used more often than ジューリオ. Personally, since I read it in a book, in a section dedicated to the Italian names in katakana, I've always used ジューリオ.

What do you think about it?


texts: Translation to Japanese: "The test will determine which university I will go to."

texts:
How do you say

  "The test will determine which university I will go to."

in Japanese? I only can figure out the first part of it, which is 「あのテストは…」

Can anyone here help me complete it?


texts: What's the difference between dato, nanode and kara?

texts:
I know they all indicate consequence.
kara implies an opinion, while nanode is objective, but what is the exact difference between all three words?

Edit: Update with example:

Example 1:  da to

I think there should be more choice
motto sentakushi ga aru beki dato omoimasu.

Example 2: na no de

   Watching children's show is a good way to learn Japanese as the dialogue is simple.
    Kaiwa ga tanjun nanode, kodomo muke no bangumi wo miru nowa ii nihonngo gakushuu houhou desu.

Example 3: kara

….Therefore, this was my first thanksgiving.
...Desu kara korewa watashi no saisho no kanshasai deshita.


texts: What is the origin of the contraction では→じゃ? I googled around for a bit, but I wasn't able to find any answer at all.


texts:
In the sentence, how do verbs interact?

時を表す同じ語を前後に置いて、それを強調する意を表す。

I understand 時を表す同じ語を前後に置いて as place identical time representing words at the front and rear but I don't really know if this is correct. Is it a similar to the following それを強調する意を表す?
How does it work?


texts:
I would like to ask for help or make a request to a person to whom I should show respect. Are the following both ok, or is one of them better?

例：Teacher, can you teach me OO?
先生、OOを教えていただいんですか。
先生、OOを教えてくださいますか。

例：Teacher, can you show me OO?
先生、OOを見せていただいんですか。
先生、OOを見せてもらえませんか。
先生、OOを見せてくださいますか。

本当にありがとうごさいます。


texts: What does そうではないいわば mean in this context

texts:
言語に対する深い関心が現代において具体的にどのような形で現れてきているかということ --- このことを考える前に、そうではないいわば伝統的な言語觀とはどのような性格のものであるか、ということをまず確認しておいたほうがよいと思います

From my understanding, this paragraph, ignoring the そうではないいわば means:

  Before considering the form of which the deep interest in languages emerges at present, I think that it is better to check out the character of the traditional view on languages first.

But what does そうではないいわば mean in this sentence? I am not sure what そう is referring to here.


texts:
I wanted to say: there is a pen. Hence, I said

ペンはある

But my girlfriend said to me that one has to say:

ペンがある。

But she can't explain to me why, and I don't understand.
Do you have an explanation?
Thanks in advance!


texts: Meaning of くる in 鼻の奥まで染みこんでくる

texts:
独特の臭いだな。鼻の奥まで染みこんでくるぞ。

  穴から水が溢れてくる

  水槽に手を入れると舐め回してくる人なつっこいホトケドジョウ

てくる is something I've never really seen a clear and comprehensive explanation of the different uses and what they mean. They all just focus on the difference between the meanings and not going into depth about them.

Taking http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/64270/meaning/m1u/%E3%81%8F%E3%82%8B/ definitions

1)
少しずつ移行したり、程度が進んだりして、しだいにその状態になる
Indicates gradual change
e.g.
最近太ってきた

2) ある動作・状態が前から続いている
A certain action or situation has continued from the past
e.g.
俺はこの国を守ってきた

3)
ある動作をしてもとに戻る。…しに行って帰る
To do something and return
e.g.
ちょっとビール買ってくる

4) ある動作・状態をそのまま続けながら、こちらへ近づく
To describe a motion coming towards the speaker.
e.g.
先生が歩いてくる

In the examples above what 'meaning' does くる represent?


texts:
I was reading this and came across a use of など where I wasn't confident in my interpretation:

アメリカから来た人が５０人、中国とインドが３０人、韓国とフランスが２０人などでした。

My interpretation of this sentence is "50 people came (to Japan) from America, 30 people came from China and India (each), and 20 people came from Korea and France (each)." Reading the sentence gives me the sense that this list isn't exhaustive, so people from other countries than those listed also came to Japan.
However, I have really only seen など used after nouns in a list, or sometimes just after one noun that is a part of an unwritten list. I can see a list being :

アメリカから来た人と、中国から来た人と、インドから来た人と、韓国から来た人と、フランスから来た人などでした。

and then obviously wanting to get rid of the repetitive から来た人 phrase, and then adding the people counter to specify the number per country.
In this sentence would the "phrase" 中国とインドが３０人 be considered the "noun" in the list or is it more the just phrase アメリカから来た人 that are being listed?
Additionally, does it give any sense that the numbers are approximate values? It seems unlikely that a multiple of 10 people came from each of the countries listed.
Finally, would changing the copula to ありました be an acceptable substitution when using など like this?


texts: "applause": What's the difference between 「喝采」 and 「拍手」?

texts: My dictionary translates both 喝采{かっさい} and 拍手{はくしゅ} as "applause". Are they interchangeable or do they have different nuances?


texts: Meaning of 流石に甘いとか言うレベルじゃなかった

texts:
To provide some context, the character speaking was fooled by their mother into eating a cake that was supposedly "not sweet", but turned out to be very sweet(she doesn't like sweet things). The cake was called シュガーパレット.

まあ名前からしてシュガーだもんな。そりゃたぶん相当千歳が言うとおり甘いんだろ
うん、あれは大変だった。流石に甘いとか言うレベルじゃなかった

甘いとか言うレベルじゃなかった, from context looks like she is saying like it was a 'level above' sweet. However, I'm trying to understand how 流石に modifies this sentence.


texts:
What is the difference in usage and meaning between 勝たねば and 勝たなければ?
I have only learnt how 勝つ get conjugated to be 勝たなければ. How does 勝たねば come about?

試合の終わりには、どちらかが勝たねばならない。
(source)


texts:
前に「知るタイミング」みたいなこと言ってましたよね、それってどうやって測ればいいんですか。

I can't understand what 測る means here. I know its dictionary definition is to measure or to weigh, but it seems to have another meaning in this sentence.


texts:
子供達の負担になりたくない。

なりたくない meaning is: don't want to be or don't want to become?


texts: How to say "Indicates something that is not easy for one to do."

texts:
I'm trying to write my grammar explanation notes in Japanese. I'm trying to write an explanation like "Indicates something that is not easy for one to do." I've come up with

  自分にされやすくないことを示す。

but I'm not sure if 自分に and passive voice is the right way to do this.


texts:
「ま、あんまり張り切りすぎて怪我はしないようにだがな」
「……なんだ、何か言いたげだな」
「なんか、結構ビックリ。アタシが稽古してて、怪我の心配してくれる人なんてあまりいなかったし」
何を馬鹿な事を……と思ったがそれもそうかと納得する。
「やはり血筋に振り回された様だな？」
勇者としての血筋からか、稽古しても期待されても心配されるような事はないのだろう。

I've looked up and 血筋 seems it can refer to a few things, like that a certain ability or appearance etc is inherited from one's blood relatives, or to refer to relationship between people. What does it refer to in this excerpt?


texts: "感動した！(like ex-primeminister Koizumi)" Where does this reference come from?

texts:
After showing a project to a Japanese coworker, he answered me the following:

感動した！、小泉元総理風

I found this amusing, but I couldn't get the Mr.Koizumi reference. Is there a story behind this?


texts: As the title says: What does やっちまえ mean?


texts: Is it appropriate (and friendly) to say こんにちは to random people?

texts: For example, if I pass a random person on the sidewalk in Japan, would it be appropriate to say こんにちは?  I've had people do that to me.  Is it considered friendly?  Polite?  Rude?  Does it depend on the situation?  If so, when is it appropriate?


texts: Are hiragana letters written with their small nuances?

texts: I'm talking about some nuances that appear to make the symbols look better. I mean everything from small, end of simple line swoops like the KO that has two lines and the first line can either look like a simple flat line, or a line with a small swoop downward and to the left. or for the right part of the NA, the diagonal line on top can either be connected to make it look nicer or unconnected for simplicity. I'm just confused as to whether these decorative things are part of the symbol or letter or if they're unnecessary. I also see a similar thing on the MU character that might either be three lines or two for simplicity, and if they're connected it would be to look decorative. The YA also looks like the small nub on the top right might connect to the vertical-ish line. RI also might either have two lines or they might be connected for beauty and decorative purposes. also the KE might have a little swoop off the bottom of the left line for decorative purposes. that's all the hiragana that I noticed might look different depending on whether you want it to look simple or decorative/pretty. please let me know if the simple or decorative version of the symbol is more common or if it matters which kind you use. Thank you if you are willing to help me with this question


texts:
According to weblio, 節｛ふし｝がある is defined as follow:

着眼点としてある。そのようにも思われる。「思い当たるふしがある」や、「県警は当初、事件を隠蔽しようとしていたふしがある」などのように用いられる。
"Interesting" point. Considered to be like this. Used like 「思い当たるふしがある」 and 「県警は当初、事件を隠蔽しようとしていたふしがある」.

But I can't grasp what it would mean. 思い当たるふしがある is like "if someone mentions it that appears to be evident" and 「県警は当初、事件を隠蔽しようとしていたふしがある」 would maybe mean "At first, the police tried to keep the case secret". But I fail to get the nuances.
I have found a lot of examples here but I can't still make anything of it.
In particular,

頭と胴体と、強い方が相手を制するのではないかと思われるふしがある。

The combination 思われるふしがある makes little sense to me.
Could someone clarify a bit what it means? or how can it be reformulated?


texts: "Tsh" sound like someone would say, I'm not sure what to call it, a snort maybe? Vegeta in Dragon Ball often makes this sound.


texts: reading 明日 – ashita why kanji for 日 – nichi dont have shita reading in any dictinary online?

texts:
in word 明日 – ashita character 明 –has kunyomi reading (a) in every dictionary but 日 – dont have any shita reading or atleast i haven't found it in jisho or other online dictionary. same goes for other words like 今日 etc. and not only using 日 kanji thir are other words i came across where kanji reading is not mention in dictionary but they are pronounced like that.
下手  Heta  like that下 dont have he reading
Also 山田-yamada rice field dont have da reading in dictionary
Are they special cases? is their a name for these kind of word or im just mistaken?
Thanks.


texts:
Very often I'll see a whole sentence said/written but then another sentence with けど at the end that is related to the previous sentence.

e.g.

  この広い中庭には、あの校舎以外にも実技訓練や試験などが行われる闘技場や、様々な儀式の行われる大聖堂などが存在している。

  まあ、休み時間なんかにそこらの芝生とかで休んでる学生も多いけれど。

Out of the 7 definitions in 大辞林:

  一  （ 接助 ）
  活用語の終止形に接続する。

  ある事柄に，それと逆の，または関係のうすい事柄を結びつける。 「登りは苦しい－，山頂はすばらしい」 「ちょっと淋しそうな顔だ－，美しい人だ」
  前置きを本題に結びつける。 「つまらない物です－，お受け取りください」 「勝手な言い分です－，帰らせてください」
  二つの事柄を単に結びつける。 「本が届いている－，支払いはすんだの」 「日本の象徴という－，富士山はほんとにすばらしい」

  二  （ 終助 ）
  活用語の終止形に接続する。

  事実とは反対の事柄を願う気持ちを表す。 「もうすこし背が高いといいのだ－」
  実現しそうにない，はかない願いを表す。 「ちょっとでも晴れてくれるとありがたい－」
  軽蔑し，軽んじる気持ちを添える。 「どうせろくなことはあるまい－」
  はっきり言わず，遠回しに述べる気持ちを表す。 「そろそろお時間です－」 〔くだけた言い方では，「けれど」「けども」「けど」などの形で使われることが多い〕

Which suits the usage seen here?


texts: How to decide whether to read 「昨夜」 as 「さくや」 or「 ゆうべ」?

texts:
I found an answer saying that 「さくや」is the correct reading of 「昨夜」, but despite that I often encounter it as「ゆうべ」.

Is there a difference in meaning or are both readings interchangeable?


texts: I’ve stumbled upon the sentence しゃべんだったら, which was translated as “if you are talking”. I get it’s the past conditional, but then why wouldn’t you say しゃべったら or like why does it say んだった?


texts:
Up until now, I think have I never seen a space in the Japanese textbook I'm using (Genki). However, when I started trying to read this まんが, I realised that, sometimes, there are spaces. Since this one is the very first I'm reading, I don't know if it's specific to this series, or happens normally. Anyway, I've attached a picture where this appears (last panel, on the left, between また and すげー).

Due to the lack of punctuation, I'm guessing this is a way of separating sentences, but I'm not sure. Another option that comes to mind is that it is used to facilitate the reading, like how they do it in children's books. Still, that shouldn't be applicable here (at the very least, this isn't supposed to be a book meant for children, I'd say). Could someone clarify this for me?


texts: The verb 引く gives 引き出し ('drawer'), which is a straightforward etymology shared by Japanese and English (and French and probably more). But 引き分け seems to also have an etymology similar to 'draw' (as 'tie' in sports) in English; and this etymology is not so self-evident. Is there a shared logic, is it a coincidence, was the word imported and translated?


texts:
In previous lesson, my teacher gave me this grammar. And there's an example about it:

どんな人がいれば、結婚しますか? (*)

Generally , it can be translated as: What kind of person would you marry? But what makes me confused is:

どんな人と結婚しますか?

Are there any differences between them? I just can't get enough with the Vば. Can anyone help me literally explain that (*) ? Also there're also some similar,such as: どこへ行けば,...


texts:
In what situation might a Japanese person say:

  「おしたいして おりました。」

and what is it most commonly used to imply?


texts:
In the context of tying things, e.g. shoe laces, rope, neck tie etc, I think 結ぶ is the correct verb. In all these cases can I replace 結ぶ with つなぐ? Would it change the nuance?

I have a feeling that つなぐ is more general than 結ぶ. My feeling is that 結ぶ can only be used for the sort of things I listed above, but つなぐ can also be used for other things like bridges connecting islands、connecting people etc. Is my feeling correct?


texts: What is an example of how the 推量の助動詞 「む」 can be used to mean 反語?

texts:
One of the listed meanings of the 推量の助動詞 「む」 on Wikipedia is that of 反語, which I understand to mean "saying the opposite of what one means for rhetorical emphasis" in this context (as opposed to just a literal "antonym").

I have seen uses of most of the other meanings of 「む」 in my (limited) study of 文語, but have not encountered 「む」 used to mean 反語. What would an example of this look like?


texts: Relative and passive and how to parse sentences

texts:
Is a relative possible with the passive form?

誰もが残された時間を、駆け抜けて、過ぎていく。

Is this indirect passive? How would I make 誰もが残された時間 not relative?

誰もが残された時間
誰もが時間を残された

I also would like to add another question because it seems I am lost. I thought in Japanese what comes before a verb refers to it, then that verb modifies a noun that comes after it.
For example:

僕が彼にくれたペンで書いた手紙をメールで彼女に届いた。
[[僕が彼にくれた]ペンで書いた]手紙をメールで彼女に届いた。

In this example 僕が彼にくれた modifies ペン and 僕が彼にくれたペンで書いた modifies 手紙. Am I wrong?
I really do not understand what modifies what in Japanese apparently -- my previous idea doesn't work with sentences like the original example. Could somebody explain this to me?


texts: Can anyone here help me understand the difference in nuance between 区別 and 分別 (in terms of the 'classification/distinction' meaning)? I have checked dictionaries but they seem pretty much the same in this case. I would have considered them interchangeable had I not just gotten a question about the difference wrong in a mock test.


texts: How to express "It's becoming too [adj]"

texts: I'll use "cold" as an example. It appears to be that one of the ways would be to say 寒くなりすぎる, but this construction baffles me as すぎる here works in joint with なる rather than 寒い. Is it still the only correct way of doing it? Also, would it be possible to say 寒すぎてなる, and if so, how would the meaning change?


texts:
台北 (or 臺北) is the name of Taiwanese city, Taibei, read [tʰaɪ̯³⁵ peɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾] in Mandarin. In Japanese, it is normally rendered with the sequence タイペイ. But what is the reading of this sequence? ペイ is obviously none of the systematic 音読み of the character, but does the norm that -エイ ending is pronounced [e:] instead of [ej] still apply? Or does the pronunciation follow the Chinese version, where the diphthong actually exists? In short, タイペ-イ or タイペー?

(If the correct answer is “people actually say たいほく,” that also is accepted. But still, how does one pronounce 台北 if タイペイ?)


texts: Is "悪くならない” an okay replacement for "日持ち”?

texts:
Would "悪くならない” be used correctly if we're referring to food and how it won't go bad as fast because of preservatives and can it be used instead of using "日持ち”? I know that "warukunaranai" means "it won't go bad" or "it won't turn bad" but is it an appropriate replacement?
For better context, we saw a video in class about food additives and we were righting down pros and cons of food preservatives, and for one of the pros the teacher typed "悪くならない（保存料）”　"warukunaranai (hozonryou)".


texts: Why can't 最中(に) be preceded by an adjective? (Adj. + 最中(に) )

texts:
You can use 最中（に）as follows:

NOUN ＋ の ＋ 最中（に）
V ている ＋ 最中（に）

Why can we not use 最中(に) preceded by an adjective? Can anyone provide me with a grammatical reason for this?


texts:
What's the difference between 創造的{そうぞうてき} and 創造性{そうぞうせい}?  I know they both relate to creativity, but I am not sure what the exact difference between them is.

Do the 的{てき} and 性{せい} endings signify anything?


texts: Recently I saw it used and I don’t quite get it. The only source i found said it was like asking if you would do something or if it’s normal to do something? Please help!


texts: How do I know what the questioner wants me to answer?

texts:
I am learning Japanese from a book. The excerpt of a dialogue is given as follows.

Q:　夏休みに国へ帰りますか。
A:　いいえ、夏休みには帰りません。冬休みに帰ります。

My question is how do we know what the questioner wants us to answer?
In my mind, I will answer as follows.

Q:　夏休みに国へ帰りますか。
A:　いいえ、夏休に国へは帰りません。論文を書きます。

More precisely, in the first answer, "夏休み" is followed by "は". But in the second answer (my answer in mind), "国" is followed by "へは". I think it is related to emphasizing but I don't know what the questioner what to emphasize.


texts:
My question is about using から when writing short form/informal speech in a sentence ending in a verb. For example, if the formal version is:
A「猫はちょっと太っていますね。」
B「ええ、よく食べますから。」
Would the informal/short version of Speaker B's part be written:
うん、よく食べるから。
Or:
うん、よく食べるだから。
Or some other way?
(This is for an assignment where we take a written long form/formal conversation and rewrite it as informal/short speech.)


texts: According to jisho, one of the kun'yomi readings for the character 孒 is 「ひだりのうでがない」. This feels like it is not an official reading, but is that reading ever used in conjunction with this kanji? It feels like a humorous descriptive for the shape of the kanji, but is there any basis for it?


texts: verb た-form + そう, hearsay or observation?

texts:
Verb る-form + そう indicates hearsay.

  帰るそうだ
  'I hear he will go home.'
   帰らないそうだ [Negative]

Verb masu stem (i.e. conjunctive form 連用形) + そう shows information obtained through the senses, observation:

  帰りそうだ
  'It looks like he will go home.'
   帰らなさそう [Negative]

With this, how do you achieve past tense?

For "hearsay", do you say:

  帰ったそうだ
  ' I heard he went home.'

Whilst for "observation", do you say:

  帰りそうだった
   'It looked like he went home.'


texts: What are the grammatically valid sentence structures for Japanese?

texts:
This is a hard to explain question, but if someone found this board through stackoverflow (I guess that happened to many of us) he/she will understand better what I'm asking (moreover if once you had to make a compiler). Is there a list with all the valid Japanese syntactic structures? (well, I guess translators have to work with that, so it has to exist?)

For example, one structure ("rule") would be subject-wa-object-verb . And this would be useful to check if you are writting or saying rightly any sentence when you have doubts.

For example, a common question is, where can I add a word that refers to time? is there only one place? (today, yesterday, tomorrow, etc.). What are the rules that prevent me from doing so? I.e. What is the set of syntax rules that inform me if a particular modification to the sentence is valid?

I know real languages are more complex than programming languages but yet maybe all these set of rules can be written and someone did.


texts:
I have question regarding the use of verbs as "adjectives" for nouns.
When should I use the passive form of the verb? When should I use the standard form of the verb?
For example, when should I use: 「胸に描く夢」、 「胸に描かれた夢」and「胸に描いてる夢」？


texts: What's the difference between には及ばない and までもない？

texts: Both までもない and には及ばない bear the meaning of "there is no need to do something". I know that には及ばない can also means "not reaching a certain level", but besides this case their meaning really seems to be really similar. Can somebody help me to understand the difference in usage? Thanks in advance!


texts: How are these two sentences not negating their premise?

texts:
In my JLPT textbook, 日本語総まとめＮ１読解, on page17, there are these two sentences (which are both part of a larger paragraph, but I hope I have included enough):

  自分{じぶん}なんかにできるわけがないとあきらめる態度{たいど}ほどじれったいものはない

  それ以上{いじょう}は望{のぞ}まないというような考{かんが}えの人{ひと}が少{すく}なからずいるのは残念{ざんねん}でならない

A translation for the first sentence is offered in the book, which is, "it is very frustrating to see people giving up on things even before they start." There is no translation given for the second sentence, but it is clear from the lesson it is being offered in that it is saying something like, "it's disappointing that it's no small number of people that think they won't hope for more."

Both sentences seem to be asserting something. That it is frustrating that people give up on things and that the number of people who don't hope is too many.

But when I read the sentences, they seem to me to be negating those premises because they end with ものはない and でならない. My reading of them is "it isn't very frustrating to see people giving up on things even before they start," and, "it's not disappointing that it's no small number of people that think they won't hope for more."

Me and the book disagree on whether these sentences are positive or negatve assertions, but I assume it's me that is mistaken somehow.

How is it that these sentences are not negative, in spite of ものはない and でならない?


texts:
As I know, the verb can only be intransitive verb but when I found the following sentence, I'm not sure if it can be both types.

Homeメニューや内蔵ソフトで、機能やソフトの追加があるときに本体の更新を行うと、本体を最新の状態にできます。

What does it mean in this sentence? I guessed it would be 'to make the console to be in the latest version'.


texts: Another は and に question for 「わたしゃキモチ悪くて見れないんだよ」

texts:
「わたしゃキモチ悪くて見れないんだよ」
  It's disgusting and I can't look.

Sometimes は still confuses me. I assume I should parse this as わたしゃ(キモチ悪くて見れないんだよ) with an implied subject for 気持ち悪い i.e. 'it'.

I started reading as "I'm disgusting and ...". So the question is, is:

  私は気持ち悪い

ambigous as a standalone statement ? Can it mean both "I am disgusting" and "It's disgusting for me"?

Can I disambiguate it by adding particle に:

  私には気持ち悪い

?


texts: Can I use Xさんから。。。かりました？

texts:
私は山田さんから本を借りました。
私は山田さんに本を借りました。
(I borrowed a book from Yamada-san.)

Is it ok to use から or do I have to use に ?


texts: What is the inheritance order of も and は topics?

texts:
Can a topic that is identified via the も particle be included in a は topic that comes AFTER it?
e.g. Two sequential sentences from a book I'm reading:

1st Sentence: ほかの鳥は、もう、よだかの顔を見ただけでも、いやになってしまうという工合でした。

2nd Sentence: たとえば、ひばりも、あまり美しい鳥ではありませんが、よだかよりは、ずっと上だと思っていましたので、夕方など、よだかにあうと、さもさもいやそうに、しんねりと目をつぶりながら、首をそっぽへ向けるのでした。

... but is ひばり (the skylark) being included in the previous topic (ほかの鳥は) or the upcoming one (あまり美しい鳥では)?

Can も mark a topic for inclusion in an (as yet) unintroduced は topic?


texts: Why did Japanese evolve to have a ''she'' mora instead of a ''see'' mora in さしすせそ?

texts:
In the さしすせそ series, し is an exceptions to the pattern.

Is ''she'' easier to pronounce than ''see'' or why does Japanese have this feature?


texts: When is it appropriate to refer to yourself by これ?

texts:
I have occasionally heard and read instances, where a person has referred to themselves as これ. My Japanese dictionary also lists "Me, I." as a definition of これ.

Now, this obviously isn't used as frequently as 私, 僕, etc., so it makes me wonder: When can it be used to refer to one's self? and Does it have any extra or particular meaning as such?

Thanks! :)


texts: I have an ornament, the picture, and I do not know what it means. I'm not even sure if it's Japanese but any help would be gladly taken.


texts: What is the small tray called when paying for something in person?

texts: When I pay for something I don't hand the money over directly. I put it in a small tray.


texts:
I understand that しまう means unintended action, or the completion of an action. However, recently I came across this usage in the comment section on a website:

遅くなってしまいすみません。

While I understand this sentence perfectly, one part of it puzzles me greatly. So far, I've only seen ています, or てます where the い is omitted. Nonetheless, I've never see a case where ます is omitted. Here's how I'd parse this sentence:

遅い=>遅く
なる=>なって
しまう=>しまい（ます）
+すみません

After some homework done, I believe てしまい/しまって+すみません/ごめんなさい/etc. is a common usage. However, I still can't figure out how ます is missing here. Could it be that some other entirely different grammar is at play here? Please enlighten me. Thank you. (*Am I allowed to say thank you here?)


texts:
When writing the title of a book name together with the volume number, what type of space (if any) is usually used? (The context is the listing on a website.)

  \u20: そらのおとしもの 第01巻

or

  \u3000: そらのおとしもの　第01巻

Should there even be a space?


texts: What's the difference between わけではない and というものではない？

texts: Can somebody explain to me the difference  beetween these two grammatical forms? They both seem to have the same meaning of "it doesn't mean that" ,and also they are both used at the end of the sentence. Perhaps, the difference is that というものではない, must be preceded by a verb or adjectives in ば form?


texts:
Here is the context it was used in:
"また来たのかい？"

What does かい mean here? Is it a suffix?

Thank you in advance!


texts: Are kanji characters made up of radicals only or could they contain strokes that are not radicals?

texts:
Inspired by this question of rounded or circular strokes in kanji, I got an idea to prove that there is no circular strokes in kanji by examining all kanji radicals, which is a lot less that examining all kanji characters.

But that would work only if kanji characters are made up of radicals only, and would not work if kanji characters could contain strokes that are not part of the list of all radicals.

So, are kanji characters made up of radicals only or can they contain strokes that are not radicals?


texts: What additional meaning that なんだ add to the sentence

texts:
A. 彼は大学生ですよ
B. 彼は大学生なんだよ
What difference that なんだ makes in this sentence?

For A, I understand it well as "He is a college student!"
For B, eventhough i have read much article written about なんだ... I still cannot understand it.

I notice that there are な+んだ or 何だ.
I feel that it was the な のだ, but i still wasn't sure as to how it changes the meaning of sentence.


texts: Can you help me understand the grammar of this sentence?

texts:
外国人は無意識にやるけど、日本人は好きじゃないこういっていうのがあるんですね。

The translation is: there is an act that foreigners do unconsciously but Japanese people don't like.
The only part I don't understand is "こういっていうのが"
Could you please explain? Thank you very much in advance :)


texts: Diference between to be verbs and to verbs

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


texts: Figurative meaning of 「総動員{そうどういん}する」 with 語彙{ごい}

texts:
Context: these are thoughts of the one who 冬馬{とうま} is teaching to play the guitar.

  だって、心地良いから。
  冬馬が、俺のミスを一生懸命探すのが。
  冬馬が、俺の拙い指の動きを笑うのが。
  冬馬が、俺を[貶す]{けなす}ために、いつもは貧しい語彙を、今だけ総動員するのが。

The problem areas are marked bold. I understand that the one thinking finds Touma's behavior pleasant (although the actions are not polite...) and lists examples of it. I think I understand everything until the last one.

  俺を[貶す]{けなす}ために: to speak ill of me
  いつもは貧しい語彙を: her usually poor vocabulary?
  今だけ総動員するのが: "mobilize" only for this time?

I don't understand how は changes the meaning of いつも. Is the vocabulary "poor as usual" or "usually poor but not this time"?
Related to the previous meaning, can 総動員する in some contexts (maybe even here) mean "finding nice words" or is it like the previous sources of pleasure, "finding especially rude words"?


texts:
In English if someone asks a question in a narrative it would go something like:

"Where are you going?" he asked.

but rarely, if ever:

"Where are you going?" he said.

Is the same true in Japansese? For example:

「根っからのほめられ好きだね」まる子はあきれたように言った。
"At heart, you're a fan of being praised aren't you?" said Maruko disgustedly.
*"At heart, you're a fan of being praised are you?" asked the astonished Maruko.

I'm pretty sure my first translation is the correct one. But my question is can you still use 言う if the part in quotes is a question? Is my second translation a possibility?
I fear my use of a tag question (ね) might confuse things. Just noticed that both my translations actually have questions in the quotes and yet in English the second would definitely take "asked". The first could either take "asked" or "said" depending on the intonation of the quote. If you could give an answer that covers both normal questions and tag questions that would be great. Thanks.


texts: What does どくしんでハンサムだからね mean?

texts:
I can't understand what どくしんで means (I know there is the のです here but I can't understand the verb before it).

Also, in the second part ハンサムだから, I studied that から is Place at the end of the first sentence with the second part of the sentence following it (...だから...), isn't it?

Thank you


texts: Translation of 魔法みたいあなたしか見えない全てが初めての私

texts:
Last week I've stumbled upon a japanese song and have been struggling with the translation ever since. Here are the culprit lines:

  [連]{つ}れていって

  [知]{し}らない[世界]{せかい}

  ずっと[手]{て}を[放]{はな}さないで

  [魔法]{まほう}みたいあなたしか[見]{み}えない[全]{すべ}てが[初]{はじ}めての[私]{わたし}

So far I've come up with the following:

  Take me
  [to] The unknown world
  Never let go of my hand
  Like magic, I can't see anything but you ... everything is?? ... the new me??

To a newbie like me this [全]{すべ}てが[初]{はじ}めての[私]{わたし} doesn't make a lot of sense in the given context (and [初]{はじ}めての[私]{わたし} by itself... "the first me"? "first time for me"? "the new me"?..). How should I interpret the last line of the song?


texts:
I have not seen な used with a noun in this manner before (I know it can be used with な "nouns" but I do not believe that 日曜日 is one of these) and was wondering what is the exact effect of な in this passage and if there are any particular grammar rules around its usage here.
今日は日曜日なので銀行は休みです: Banks are closed because today is Sunday.
Any help would be much appreciated.


texts: Does といったところ translate to "approximately" or "at most" in this sentence?

texts:
How would you translate the following sentence:

  明日参加予定なのは、田中さん、林さん、川田さん、原さんといったところです。

Is it either:

  According to tomorrow's schedule only/merely/at most Tanaka, Hayashi, Kawada and Hara will participate.

or:

  According to tomorrow's schedule in all likelihood Tanaka, Hayashi, Kawada and Hara will participate (but more participants are also possible).

Generally, would this also work with というたところ instead of といったところ?


texts:
In the examples below

彼は私のところに荷物を送ってきた。
彼は私のところに荷物を送って来た。
荷物が私のところに送られてきた。
荷物が私のところに送られて来た。

would it be better to use the termination/set phrase てきた？ (no kanji) because this is changing the nuance of the sentence?
Or should it be understood literally (arrived) and therefore we て来た (with kanji) is more natural?


texts:
Is it true that all nouns must be able to accept a が particle and a を particle?

I was curious about how we could form a sentence with:

特別が
特別を
出色が
出色を


texts: Can 故の mean "because" without a が preceding it?

texts:
I came across this line while reading a manga but was stuck on the 故の portion.

知識欲が行き過ぎた故の職業病なのぉ？

I understood this sentence as, "It's an occupational disease because of (your) excessive thirst for knowledge."
However when I tried looking up for more sentences with 故の functioning as "because", they all had が's before them. Furthermore, I read that 故の is also not a term that'd be used in daily conversation, which has me puzzled since this conversation is between two friends in a cafe.
Could it be that the が was simply just dropped because of the casual nature of the conversation? Or does 故の mean something else in this context?


texts: I want to say "There is a convenience store behind the bookstore on the left"

texts:
In my book, they translated it in to:

Konbini no hidari ushiro ni honya ga arimasu.

But from earlier examples of the book it should switch konbini with honya

honya no ... Konbini ga... .

the previus example is:

There is chair in front of the desk.
tsukue no mae ni isu ga arimasu.

Sorry if its a trivial question, but I can't wrap my head around it


texts: Can まで be dropped in the XからYまで structure even though the Y is said?

texts:
軽く１００人から２００人は超えている

What I think it means: It easily exceeds 100 to 200 persons.

I have thought about the fact that 超えている could take the place of まで but in this case I think it would be 軽い instead of 軽く...?

More context:


texts: About 忙 and 忘 using same radicals but having different meanings

texts: Today I confused 忙 with 忘 and now I can see why: they are made of same radicals and yet they have different meanings. Is there a logical reason for this?


texts: Do Japanese people call their money "yen" even though there is no YE sound in their language?


texts:
わたしのむすめはもうもじをよむことができます。

What is the meaning of もう and もじ?


texts: And if so, how is this negative (情けねえ) different from 情けない?


texts: Is it common for non-European words to share similar pronunciations between Japanese and other languages in East Asia?

texts:
I saw a sign at the back entrance of a Japanese restaurant (in Gordon, Sydney, Australia) "Kashin 가신 Japanese restaurant". The word written in hangul, "가신", sounds similar to the Japanese word "kashin", with the Korean edition of Wiktionary describing three romanization schemes of hangul as giving it "ga.sin", "ka.sin", and "ka.sin".

I assume that "kashin" is 嘉辰 (lucky day) and not 家臣 (vassal) (which is what the Korean edition of Wiktionary refers to).

I know that some words derived from European languages have similar pronunciations between Japanese and Korean, such as アルバイト in Japanese having a similar pronunciation as 아르바이트.

However, I assumed that with non-European words, what would happen is that the different languages would faithfully preserve what Chinese characters are being used, and then choose to pronounce it however they like to pronounce the Chinese characters.

Is it common for non-European words to share similar pronunciations between Japanese and other languages that have or had Chinese characters such as Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese?


texts: Why isn't a large amount of money a good enough reason to kill someone?

texts:
In my JLPT workbook, there is this example question:

  適当{てきとう}な語{ご}を選{えら}びなさい

  この殺人{さつじん}事件{じけん}の裏{うら}には（　　）上{じょう}のトラブルがあるようだ。

  A　金額{きんがく}　　B　大金{たいきん}　　C　金銭{きんせん}　　D　基金{ききん}

The answer is... (drum roll, please)... C, 金銭{きんせん}.

First, I'm a little vague on the meaning of 金銭{きんせん}. Seems to just mean "money", but how is it different from just saying 金{かね}?

More importantly, while it does fit as an answer, I don't clearly see why it's a better answer than B, 大金{たいきん} (can also be read おおがね), which means "a large amount of money".

To me it makes more sense that a large amount of money is more of a motive for murder than just money in general.

Why is 金銭{きんせん} a better answer than 大金{たいきん}?

Rough translation of the question:

  Select the appropriate word

  It appears that underneath this incident of murder there was
  some trouble with (  ).

  A An amount of money  B a large amount of money  C
  money(?)  D a fund


texts:
How would I say "Sorry, I don't understand" in Japanese?

I know wakarimasen means I don't understand, but what's the equivalent of making it apologetic? Would it be something like wakarimasen gomennasai?


texts: Is 蛛 from the word 蜘蛛? Is it a silent kanji?

texts:
The word 蜘【くも】蛛 consists of two kanji, 蜘【くも】 and 蛛, but in only 蜘【くも】 has the furigana くも.  Does this make the  蜘 part silent?
 If this is the case, are there rules for silent kanji?


texts:
I am a beginner in Japanese.

I want to say "There is a car, that I want to show you."

There is a car, should be: 車があります

I want to show you: 私はあなたに見せたい。 (may be? Is this right?)

I want to show you this: 私はあなたにこれを見せたい。

but this sounds really weird to me: 私はあなたに車がありますを見せたい。

What is the right way to say this?

Thank you for reading this far. Any help is appreciated :)


texts: Reading of 味 as a suffix in "X-flavour" /　as a counter in "X flavours"

texts:
This question brought to you by the existence of カレー味のラムネ

In my head, the reading here is あじ。 But I know 七味唐辛子{しちみとうがらし}, so it seems like as a counter it's み。

I'm almost 100% sure that カレーの味 would be "あじ", but what about カレー味?


texts: Referring to Korean people as an ethnic group and not as political entities?

texts:
While rereading a question and answer I posted here I started thinking about how one would refer to Koreans as an ethnic whole rather than as the currently separate political countries they are.

I generally know that 韓国人 can be used to refer to the people of South Korea and 北朝鮮人 can be used to refer to the people of North Korea. But, what would one call Korean people all together in a way that isn't clumsy such as 韓国人と北朝鮮人?

Are there political implications to using the de facto term of 朝鮮人 to mean Korean regardless of which country they come from? Is there a more neutral way to express this, possibly 高麗人, or is that not in use?


texts:
I am preparing for my exam and have a question about the purpose of using と in a sentence.  Does anyone know why と is used but not を before the verb 使います in the sentence below? Thanks so much!

Quoting from my textbook みんなの日本語 II (pg.67):

  「頑張る」は日本人がよく使う言葉です。スポーツの試合で「頑張れ」、スビーチのまえに「頑張ってね」、いっしょに何かをするとき、「頑張ろう」などと使います。


texts: Is the volitional form of i-adjectives often used?

texts:
According to this question the volitional form of i-adjectives is used quite often -- on a daily basis. But I almost never hear it. I almost see it exclusively in books (or written documents). And if it would be used in a dialogue it would almost always be used by a man.

On the other hand, I hear quite often adj-i+でしょう.

So my question is the ～かろう form that much used?


texts:
What is the Japanese expression for:

  Sorry, I wasn't listening

For example, for when you're asked a question and realize that you have no idea what it's about as you've been thinking about something else instead of listening to your collocutor.


texts:
ぼく の ほう から ちかよる き が なくても、きみ に ぶつかられたら、ぼく は こなごな に なってしまうん だから.

What do the words in bold mean? I understand most of the text but can't find the meaning of き and the role of ん in the sentence.


texts:
I'm having a little trouble understanding the difference in these two contexts.
What would be the difference between these two sentences.

友達に晩ご飯を食べました
友達と晩ご飯をたべました

My understanding is that と can mean "with" or describe taking an action with a secondary object (as well as mean "and")
So maybe another example.

彼氏にキスした
彼氏とキスした

Would the difference for that be "I kissed my boyfriend" vs. "My boyfriend and I kissed"
Thank you!


texts: てくる appended to a verb can mean go and come

texts: I have heard natives saying 渡してくるto mean "go and hand over" rather then "come and hand over". I'd thought that くる means to come and 行くmeans to go. So literal translation should theoretically give "come and hand over", which in English is wrong. The question is, why use くる instead of いく?


texts: What is なく doing in the following sentence?

texts:
I have a sentence that I read in a manga that has caused some confusion for me. It is an unsaid sentence by a girl who was surprised by an accidental encounter she had with a boy. She was in a robe and seemed to have just left the shower. Here is the sentence and my attempted breakdown follows,

  あの時はびっくりしてらしくもなく追い返しちゃったけど.

あの時 is the non logical topic.

The unsaid subject of the first clause is the speaker.

びっくりしてらしく - I believe to be 「びっくり」 + 「する（て form）」and 「らしく」 is 「らしい」, meaning seeming or appearing, in its て form but with the て left off

も - additive particle. In this case it is following the て form so it will have a meaning of "even though."

なく is the start of the second clause - ???

The subject of the second clause is still the speaker.

追い返しちゃった - "Done" sent away. The action has completed and is a fact. She done sent away the boy.

けど - trailing but, something may be implied.

So my likely incorrect and current best guess and what the speaker is thinking in her head with this sentence is, "That time, even though I seemed surprised, I turned him away."

I'm not sure at all how 「なく」 fits into this or if my thinking that there are two logical clauses here is correct. I think that the "even though" part of my translation sounds a bit funky as well. Of course someone would turn the other person away if they saw them at an embarrassing moment. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks


texts:
白き布 もて盤上を 磨きたり 人は心に 鏡をもてり。

Is もてり 持てる？ If so, in that case why does a potential verb have the が particle?


texts:
What nuances are carried when addressing someone as きみ?

I often hear a (Japanese) manager addressing his subordinates using きみ
My partner told me that addressing him as きみ made him feel like we were having an argument.

So I'd like to know what nuances are in that word (or if it really does vary from person to person).


texts: Is there a casual alternative for よろしく. For example, when speaking with close friends, I want to say something along the lines of "from now onwards, lets continue getting along", or something along those lines. The best I can think of is これからよろしく but that sounds extremely stiff and formal


texts: Difference between usage of ように and ようにして

texts:
包み込むようにして、彼を抱きしめる
  包み込むように　　　彼を抱きしめる

The example could either use ようにして or 包み込むように抱きしめる（albeit written
differently). What is the difference between these two usages? Can anyone explain the usage of ようにする as I can't seem to find it in any Japanese dictionary. (I've seen some explanations for this in English but I generally try to avoid random explanations about Japanese grammar on the internet because they normally don't go into enough detail and only explain one usage.)


texts: How do you say "question", and which counter should be used?

texts:
I'd like to know the word for "question" itself. For example if I wanted to say:

I have a question
わたしは (question) があります。

I've had a hard time finding an answer to this question because when I search, Google turns up results for question words instead, and I'd rather ask a fluent speaker than a dictionary.
I'd also like to know what counter should be used for counting questions, and if it is regular (so if, when pronouncing the number before the counter it just follows the regular sequence of いち, に, さん, し etc. or if there are any exceptions.)
Apologies for asking three questions, I can move them onto separate threads if need be, but they're all related which is why I didn't.


texts: sentence structure and extent of quotion in this statement

texts:
speaker「だから、お前が俺のことをよく見てくれてるって思ったらなんかちょっと嬉しくてさ」

  girl  「……べ、別にあんたのことそんな風に見た覚えはないけど、そう見えたのよ」

  speaker「ってとは、自分でも気付かぬうちに俺のことをよく見ていたってことになるな」

  girl 「ば、ばっかじゃないの！？　なんでそうなるのよ！？」

  speaker 「俺としては出来ればそんな感じに見てくれてたらって思うけどな。その方が嬉しいし」

-

  that why, after thinking about the fact that you really understand me, i'm kinda glad

  it's not like i see you in that way, that's just how you look.

  that means, before you realized it yourself, you you've really come to
  understand me

  are you dumb? How the hell did you come to that conclusion?

  For me personally,if possible, thinking  " if you looking at me with that sort of feeling" ....,  that makes me happy

how much does the the 思う quote emcompass?

[俺としては...見てくれてたら]? [出来ればそんな感じに見てくれてたら]? [そんな感じに見てくれてたら]?

When would you use に over で for the  原因/理由/means/agent purpose like with 感じに見る？

is there a better way to interpret the ...たら in this quote?

Thank you.


texts:
知らされる means "to be informed".

知らせる means "to inform"

Why is 知らせされる not used? I almost always hear/see 知らされる。Is it a different verb entirely?


texts:
The context of my question is the usage of a grammar point from a JLPT 文法 textbook. It is not the grammar point itself that I am asking about, but rather the grammar used to explain the grammar point. Sorry for this complexity.
The textbook explains how to form sentences using the pattern 「〜（の）なら...」:

普通形（ナ形 だ／-である・名 だ／-である）＋（の）なら
ナ形 だ、名 だの場合は「のなら」にはならない

(Basically, the second line is saying that if ~ is a na-adjective or a noun, for instance 雨, one can have 雨なら, or 雨であるなら, or 雨であるのなら, but NOT 雨のなら.)
My question is this. How to break down the にはならない in bold font in the second line above? I think it could be one (or neither) of the following possibilities:

Is it just the negative of ...になる, with は in にはならない being there for emphasis? If so, what exactly does になる mean in this context? To become? To be?
Alternatively, does ならない here mean "must not"? If so, what exactly is the usage of には here?

I would greatly appreciate it if somebody could explain this. Many thanks!


texts: What would be the Japanese name of a person with a native Chinese name?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When Chinese personal names are written in Japanese in kanji is there always an obvious reading?

What would be the common ways to convert a Chinese name for a person to Japanese?

Would the name be written in the same characters but pronounced like if it was Chinese, for example? Or would the name be entirely written in katakana? If it's the latter, then how would characters with a "ng" in them be converted to katakana like the common surname 杨?


texts:
I can't figure-out why certain words are categorized as サ変接続 such as

  発表{はっぴょう}
  機能{きのう}
  仮想{かそう}

All those words are definitely サ変名詞. So, what do those words have that also make them サ変接続? What would be some words that are exclusively サ変接続 and not also サ変名詞?

Perhaps is サ変名詞 really just short-hand for a word that can be (名詞 + サ変接続)?

NOTES
I am using the Kuromoji Japanese tokenizer. Part of the metadata for a word/token is the part of speech. Here is a snippet of output from tokenizing a newspaper article. I decided to display the reading and part of speech:

  ...
  発表 --> ハッピョウ --> 名詞,サ変接続,,
  など --> ナド --> 助詞,副助詞,,
  新 --> シン --> 接頭詞,名詞接続,,
  機能 --> キノウ --> 名詞,サ変接続,,
  を --> ヲ --> 助詞,格助詞,一般,*
  導入 --> ドウニュウ --> 名詞,サ変接続,,
  仮想 --> カソウ --> 名詞,サ変接続,,
  現実 --> ゲンジツ --> 名詞,一般,,
  ヘッド --> ヘッド --> 名詞,一般,,
  ...

Actually... I just noticed I mistakenly said 'サ変接続詞' instead of just 'サ変接続'. Even so, サ変名詞 seem to act just like サ変接続?


texts: くれてやる/くれてあげる meaning

texts: I get that くれてやる・くれてあげる means "I'll give you" from an anime. To be frank, I have no idea how it translates to that. In fact, I didn't even know such a word is possible. くれる is receiving something whilst あげる is giving something. How is it even possible to combine them both?


texts:
I assume you don't -san about the company or organization that employs you, on the grounds it'd be akin to using it about your own family members.

But when is it usually used? Is it merely when you're talking about the organization itself (eg "This event was supported by Microsoft") rather than when you're merely talking about something associated with the organization (eg "This product runs on Microsoft Windows")?


texts: Can the volitional form be used to nominate yourself for something?

texts:
I did a quick search on this site to see if I could find any answer to this and found this question: Does the volitional form of a verb mean both "let's" and "I want to"?

But unfortunately that didn't really clarify things enough for me.

I know that the volitional form can be used to say "Lets do ~" or "Shall we do ~?" but I wanted to know if it can be used for your own actions without including the meaning of "Lets".

For example could the volitional form be used to nominate yourself for something?

I know that if you wanted to say something like "I will go" you could probably say "私が行くよ", or something to that effect.

But can I also use this to nominate myself to go? For example if a group of people were together and it was decided that only one person needed to go somewhere would it be correct to say "私が行こう"?

I'm under the assumption that saying something like just "行こう" could be interpreted as "Lets go" including everyone in the group, but by being specific about yourself by saying "私が行こう" it sounds like you are nominating yourself.

Is this correct or am I just making stuff up?

I'm sorry if my explanation isn't sufficient enough, but if you need me to add any more detail please let me know and I will try the best I can.

Thank you.


texts:
From https://www.imabi.net/theparticleto.htm,

と may mark a subject being compared. As for 似る, ～に似る and ～と似る are possible but slightly different. と in this case marks one side of a mutual relation(ship) whereas に only shows the standard of comparison. They both, though, make the second person the basis of comparison when the pattern is XはY｛に・と｝似ている. Consider the following:
31a その父と子は似ている。〇
31b.その子はお父さんと似ている。　〇
31c. その子はお父さんに似ている。　〇
31d. その父は息子と似ている。　〇
31e. その父は息子に似ている。　　X
The child resembles his father.

I don't understand why 31e is incorrect. It seems like it is wrong only because of the relationship between 父 and 息子 but wouldn't that also make 31c wrong?
To be honest, I still don't understand the distinction between the two particle uses (bolded sentence in the quoted section). When you compare X and Y, doesn't Y naturally become a "standard of comparison""? Does に also work with asymmetrical relationships? When you say X is similar to Y, aren't you also saying that Y is like X.


texts: Pronouncing Kanji when combined with other kanji

texts:
I have only just started learning Kanji, I know that 中国 means China and is pronounced Chūgoku . However 中 is pronounced differently (naka instead of chū).国 is also pronounced kuni on its own instead of goku (when combined).

Why is this?

Does this mean I have to remember how to pronounce kanji in lots of combinations of other kanji?


texts: 「〜ますです」: is it correct, and what kind of speaker would talk this way?

texts:
In the game あつまれどうぶつの森, フータ the owl's job is to evaluate fossils that the player brings him. If you bring him a fossil that's already in the collection, he will say that if he had enough money he would buy it from you:

ま、それも　かなわぬ夢なので
とにかくこちらは　お返しいたしますデス
Well, that's just an impossible dream.
Anyway, let me return this to you for now.

My question is: what kind of affectation is 〜ますです? In what speech register would it even be appropriate? If it is appropriate in some speech register, who typically speaks like this?


texts:
My wife is studying for the JLPT exam, and came across the following question:

  ２時間、＿＿＿＿＿立って話しました。

She narrowed the choices down to:

すわらずに
すわらないと

Or another similar question:

  あの花は５日に＿＿＿＿＿とさきません。

ならず
ならない

In both cases, the two answers seem "correct". According to the answers 1 is correct is both cases, but many people suggested number 2 seems better.
What is the difference between ずに and ない-form? Why would the ない-form be wrong here?


texts: Is there a Japanese equivalent term(s) to describe a brain fart/absentmindedness? I noticed the term karahenji in Jisho.


texts:
I have a question pertaining to the following line in a manga.

  いや実【じつ】は最近【さいきん】下【した】の名前【なまえ】で呼【よ】び合【あ】う事【こと】になってよ

The speaker just called his girlfriend by her first name, and this surprises someone. That person then asks about it, and the speaker is explaining it to that person.

What confuses me is the て form ending the sentence. What would be the difference between 「なって」 and 「なった」 here?

I am fairly confident that this is not a request or command. If something is being omitted, I am not sure what it could be.

There have been other circumstances, though never in formal written material. In conversation, are sentences perhaps occasionally ended in the て form out of carelessness?

I would appreciate any help understanding this.


texts:
A mother is telling her kid: 「お風呂わいたから入っちゃって」. From the context, I am guessing it means "The water's heated up, come in (take the bath)!".

I don't understand how「入っちゃって」 could mean a request / command here. Is 「っちゃ」is short for 「しまう」or 「ては」? Neither makes sense to me here. And what is the role of the final「って]?

Thanks!


texts: What does 「社会に向けて作品を問う」 mean?

texts:
I am currently translating course descriptions in to English as part of my job, and I came across this expression in a description for an Art class which I found completely baffling. As far as I know, 「問う」means to ask, but to ask an art piece? What does this mean, and why is it said in this way? Thanks in advance for your answers!

Edit: My apologies, I should have included the original sentence. Here it is!

「芸術家は社会の中で創作活動を行い，社会に向けて作品を問う。」


texts:
(だれかこの単語の使いかたを説明してくれますか。辞典にはたくさんの意味が載っているようです。)

Can someone explain the usage of this term 出鱈目{でたらめ} to me?  It seems to have a lot of meanings.


texts:
I don't have any kanji reference books so I have to rely on kanji sites for kanji information.

A lot of websites list 入 （いる） as the radical for 全:

Jisho beta (as well as other sites which use the Kanjidic database)
Go-kanken
Kanjijiten
Quus

just to name a few.

But, two sites, which seemed pretty reliable to me up until now, list 人 （ひと） as the radical.

Kakijun
Kanji Alive

I'm more inclined towards 入 right now due to the number of sources saying so, but I want to make sure.


texts:
This was dialogue from a detective manga where a police officer is interrogating a suspect.

脅迫気味に二人切になれた

(I got intimated with just the of us alone (?))

もののなかなか口を割らないので
ゴリ押し...

(I'll force through this)
I did find this https://thesaurus.weblio.jp/content/口を割らない so I assume it means to "keep one mouth's shut" Is that correct?
But my main issue here is I don't know what もののなかなか means here. Is it an adjective here? There's also a lot of different meanings for it so I'm confused.
Japandict says it means "by no means, not readily" when using with a negative verb. Though in that case, I'm not sure what the function of "ものの" is.
Is it "They won't reveal the truth by any means"?


texts: Use of なさい in ごめんなさい

texts: Why is なさい used in ごめんなさい when it is usually used as a command form?


texts:
とは思うのだが、口に出すわけにもいかんか。My personal translations would be these: Those are my thoughts on that (previous statement), so I might as well say it out loud.

and

出動後はそうはいかんぞ。。。 "but after they move out, how it goes..."

I'm not sure how "いかん" works. Dictionnary says it means: how, in what way.
Or is it an abbreviation of "いかない", or even "いけない" or something else?

Thanks in advance!


texts: Unsure of meaning for sentence found in article about an automatic train test

texts:
I'm reading this article and there is a sentence towards the end that looks like this

  自動で走る電車の研究は、ＪＲ東日本が将来働く人が足りなくなると考えて始めました

I'm not entirely sure about the meaning of this sentence as I could read it several ways. How wrong is my translation?

My translation breakdown:

  自動で走る電車の研究 = The research of the automatic train

  ＪＲ東日本が将来働く人が足りなくなる

  人が足りなくなる → People will become insufficient

  ＪＲ東日本が将来働く人が足りなくなる = People who do future work will become insufficient for JR Eastern Japan

  考えて始めました

  考えて → 考える → to think

  始めました → 始める → to start
  考えて始めました = started to think

Final sentence

  自動で走る電車の研究は、ＪＲ東日本が将来働く人が足りなくなると考えて始めました

  The research of the automatic train has started thoughts about if people doing future work for JR Eastern Japan will become insufficient.


texts: Help interpreting this sentence using 「あんまり」?

texts:
Reading Harry Potter I came across this:

一人の男が現れた。あんまり突然、あんまりスーッと現れたので、地面から湧いて出たかと思えるぐらいだった

To me it seems to say "A man appeared. So quickly, so suddenly, that it could be thought he emerged from the ground."
What confuses me is 「あんまり」, which when I look it up, seems to me the same as the negative 「あまり」. However, wouldn't that then change the meaning to "not quickly, not suddenly"? Is 「あんまり」 not being used as a negative in this context?


texts: Meaning of "ー" at the end of a sentence in written Japanese?

texts:
I wondered if anyone could help me as I've come across this a couple of times now but don't know if it actually has any significance, but the internet has been no help.
I'm reading a text surrounding compulsory education, and near the end of the paragraph the author writes "...教育カリキュラムもつくり替えるー。" Followed by a sentence stating that this has been the authors theory for a while and they have repeated it countless times.
Is it just a way to mark the end of the author's thoughts? Or is there something more that I should take into consideration when translating?
Thanks in advance!


texts: How to describe someone who has a "radio voice"?

texts:
I would like to tell someone to talk more, because she has a radio voice.
The term I am looking for should be either non-formal or slang.


texts:
I decided to split this into a thread by itself because I was afraid of cramming too much into the first thread.

Is it true that only movement verbs can take [V-stem]に to express a purpose?

Will it be possible for a non-movement verb to take [V-stem]に to express a purpose?

For example (let's take a really wild example), could 遊びに食べる even imply something like "Eat. Reason: Play." / "Eat your vege, so that you can play."


texts:
そのころ、この広州は南海貿易のもっとも殷賑をきわめた港であった。古く漢代に番禺と呼ばれていたころから、この港には犀角、象牙、瑇瑁、珠璣、翡翠、琥珀、沈香、銀、銅、果布が多くあつまり．．．
What is 果布? (from 澁澤龍彦『高丘親王航海記』）


texts:
I know (i) adjectives end ai-ii-ui-oi
I adjectives are close cousins to verbs and na adjectives are nouns and my question  きらい is na adjective or i adjective
I think i adjective because end ai please answer my question


texts: How to tell よく (often) apart from よく (good)?

texts:
Whenever I see 「よく」, I have to ask someone whether it means "often" or "good".

For example, here is a sentence from my book:

  クラスへ行って、先生の講義をよく聞いて、ノートをよく取り、それをよく覚えれば、試験でいい点がもらえる。

I thought all three 「よく」s meant "often" (eg. "often takes notes"), but a Japanese friend said they all mean "good" (eg. "takes good notes").  He said "often takes notes" would be 「よくノートを取り」. However, he doesn't know why.

How can you tell the two usages apart?


texts:
There is a general rule that for a kanji compound of the form 大＊, you tend to read 大 using 音読み (タイ・ダイ) if ＊ is 漢語 and with 訓読み (おお) if ＊ is 和語.    See e.g. this question on goo (in Japanese).  (Of course there are many exceptions, and this rule is not special to 大---see General guidelines for choosing 訓読み vs. 音読み in kanji reading)

Are there any rules of thumb or broad etymological reasons for which 音読み to use for 大 at the beginning of a kanji compound?

For instance, you typically read the following examples as タイ＊:

  大木、大金、大量、大気、大変

and in these as ダイ＊

  大事、大体、大地、大名、大学

One subjective impression I have is that if you have some 漢語, at least in the case of 二字熟語, and modify it with 大 at the beginning that it is typically read as ダイ, e.g., 大人気 or 大家族.  (Compare this with 大使館, say, where the root word seems to be 大使.)


texts:
What differences are there between にとって and として ?
To the best of my understanding, both have meanings of stating something from a certain point of view or perspective. However, I think that there's some kind of nuance/grammar pattern between them that renders them noninterchangeable.
For one, I guess it's ok to say

僕にとって、これは大嫌い。
人間として、人殺しはいけないことだ。

But you couldn't reverse the two to say

僕として、これは大嫌い。
人間にとって、人殺しはいけないことだ。

Intuitively, I'm thinking it has something to do with volitionality?


texts: How to read the 動＿下一, ＿下二 pattern found in dictionaries?

texts:
There's a common abbreviation system in dictionaries and I'm wondering how they're read and used.

Here's an example:

I'm guessing it has something to do with how to fill in the blanks in the example sentences, but hoping you can save me the detective work.


texts: Omitting は when the topic did not change

texts:
I am on Dr. Kim's Japanese site and want to make sure that I have this right.

Am I correct in understanding that as long as the topic of conversation does not change, は need only be used once in a dialogue or paragraph?

For example, a conversation might look like this:

  彼女は(topic defined)大校生ですか？

  ううん、(topic did not change)高校生です、僕は(now it is about me)大校生です。

  (Is she in college? -- No, she is in high school, but I am in college.)

Do I have that right?


texts: Is there an official Japanese dictionary?

texts: The Indonesians have KBBI (Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia or Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language of the Language Center) which is the official dictionary of Indonesian language. It contains the official definition of words in Indonesian. What is the equivalent for Japanese, if any?


texts: What is 「たもうた」 in 「 神の創りたもうた世界」?

texts:
I'd like to know what is the suffix たもうた used in the example phrase 「 神の創りたもうた世界」. I've found several more occurrences of it and it seem to work like some honorific equivalent of くださる used in ceremonial speech when referring to divine activities, attached to the masu-stem of the verb. Am I correct?

While たもうた obviously is past tense, it doesn't seem to follow regular conjugation rules. My question is: what is the base verb form and which grammar rules (if any) were used to create this past form?


texts: What's the difference between 申し出 and 提案?

texts:
In the Kanzen Master N2 listening textbook, there's a table of phrases to be aware of, and it includes both 申{もう}し出{で} and 提案{ていあん} in the "function" part of the table:

提案:

〜たらどう？

  こっちの色にしたらどう？
  ("How about going with this colour?")

〜たほうがいい

  もっと大きくしたほうがいいよ。
  ("It'd be best to go with a larger (sized one).")

申し出:

〜ましょう（か）

  荷物、持ちましょうか？
  ("Shall I/we take your luggage?")

But what is the difference between 提案 and 申し出? Both seem to me to mean "proposal", and the Genius J-E dictionary definition for 申し出 includes 提案 in it:

  もうしで【申し出】

  proposal: …【…する／…という】提案【to do／that節】…
  offer: …【…しようという】提案【to do】…


texts: Can やら be considered a casual substitute for か?

texts:
In trying to understand the word やら, I have seen various example sentences where it is used the same way you might use か.

  彼は何と言ってよいのやらわからなかった。

  いつの間にやら日が暮れていた。

  彼が何やら言っているがよく聞こえない。

  彼は来るのやら来ないのやらはっきりしない。

I feel like in all the above sentences, if やら was replaced with か, the meaning would be about the same, if perhaps a touch less casual. So would it be a correct interpretation that やら is often used as a casual substitute for か?

Note that I wouldn't apply this rule to the other forms of やら (e.g. とやら, 〜やら〜やら, or 〜やら -- I wonder).


texts:
I've just learned to nominalize verbs with のを but as I was looking for more info on the web I saw that this is also done with のが and こと. The question "What is the difference between the nominalizers こと and の?" uses のを and のが as if they were the same thing but does not explain if they can be used interchangeably. Can they? What's the difference?

水{みず}を飲{の}むのが好{す}きです。

水{みず}を飲{の}むのを好{す}きです。


texts:
お前の姿に瓜二つだからこそ、むしろ許せない…！

Is it something that goes along with だからこそ and therefore means "because"? I know that this is one of the meanings of に but I'm not sure if this is the one used in this case since だから already expresses the idea of "because.."


texts: I have a question. Why is the particle に instead of は for this sentence? Isnt the one doing supposed to be は not に? Thank you

texts:
I have a question. Why is the particle に instead of は for this sentence?
“私に何かできることがあれば”
Isnt the one doing supposed to be は not に? Thank you


texts:
I'm starting to read some images that talk about tail holes in clothing, for anthropomorphic animals, and I'm already stuck on the first sentence.

  しっぽ穴とその周辺についての連ツイのまとめです。

What does 連ツイ mean in this sentence? 連 by itself means "group," but I'm not sure how that fits into the sentence.

Without it, I translate it as: This is a summary of the tail hole and its surroundings.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!


texts: Two は acting as contrastive terms but not verb (apparently)

texts:
I'm trying to translate or at least understand the meaning of this sentence

  人を知ってゆくのも同じように、あの人はうちのお父さんの銀行の人、この人はお母さんの親類の人という風に、やはり自分が中心になって考えられている。

it seems there are two men (あの人,この人) used in a contrastive fashion (apparently), father and mother's relative playing an identical key role. I am wondering if 考えられている is the same verb for both two "subjects". The speaker is この人, referring to a kid (自分).

Many thanks in advance.


texts:
Our teacher has given as an example question:

  なに　いろ　が すきですか？

But has told us that we cannot use the same construction for asking a question about food, instead we have:

  食べ物　は なに　が すき　ですか

What is going on here?

Elsewhere I've read things that suggest that 'naniiro' is a question word and that 'nani' can combine with some words like that.

Is there a good linguistic explanation of what is going on?


texts: こぇのか instead of こわいのか

texts:
I have two questions regarding this.

1) Since, modern Japanese doesn't have a "we" character, they use "ぇ", right? I've heard many shows where they say "suge! yabe!" but is "koe" used often? I said I wanted to use this "こぇのか" instead of the "こわいのか" because I wanted to make it sound slangy and informal.

2) is the の necessary in these sentences, if we were to remove it, can we still get the same meaning?
Like, "こわいのか" translates to "Are you scared?", so we remove the "の" in this and hence we get, "こわいか" Does this still mean "Are you scared?"


texts:
I have started to learn japanese recently and tried to translate some lyrics.

But I pumped quickly on words I was unable to translate even with jisho.org and romaji version of the songtexts.

Talking about:

  最高になりたくって　一番になりたくって

(FAKE IT by Perfume)

  つまらないノイズ　かき消すように

(Thrill by BAND-MAID)

So I found out (with help of the translation) that き消す means "come to erase" and なりたくって "want to be".

Now, I looked up that it is possible to combinate verbs with V1 ~i + V2. Am I right, when saying なりたくって is a combination of なる and たくる, where なる was changed to なり and たくる was just appended in vTe?

The same for き消す - き comming from 来る in ~i Form and 消す was just appended to get the phrase "came to erase"

But if this assertion is correct, how do I determine if I have to translate it to present (want to be the best...) or to past (came to erase...)?


texts:
Background situation: In a drama I'm watching, the main character is a women who wants to marry, quit her job and become a housewife. The guy she's interested in doesn't want to get married. Another guy WANTS his wife to be a housewife and asks her to marry him - although they haven't even dated. Main girl is at a bar telling her friends about guy #2's proposal.

Her friends point out that guy #2 meets all her criteria, including the "high bar" of being okay with her housewife dreams. She's hesitating because she doesn't love guy #2. One friend says that "仕事早いくせに そういうとこ全然 はっきりしないよね," and comments that main girl is only hesitating because of guy #1. Her other friend says to her "営業しなさい｡ 営業｡"

Obviously, 営業 usually means sales or management, but in this case (even though her working ability was just mentioned) it seems to be referencing more to her love life. Is her friend telling her to "manage" her love life? If so, is more of a "be practical/ business-like in your love life" or a "manage the men in your love life" kind of statement?


texts: What is the difference between 知れる and 知られる(passive form)?

texts:
Examples:
物事が多くの人に知れること vs 物事が多くの人に知られること

"the condition of things being known by many people"


texts:
Here is the sentence including the phrase.

  こうなりゃ自｛じ｝分｛ぶん｝の力｛ちから｝でなんとかするさ。

I am not sure if 「なりゃ」 is equivalent to 「なれば」.


texts:
This question came to my mind while playing 漢字読めるカナ for Android to pass time.

温故知新 is a 4-character idiom from the 論語, Confucian Analects, meaning to learn from the past.

It is a Chinese phrase* and its kun-reading is usually given as

  故【ふる】きを温【？】て、新【あたらし】きを知【し】る。

  To ??? the old, and learn/understand the new.

Dictionaries and gogen-allguide disagree how one should read the first character 温. The reading 故き温【たず】ねて "to revisit the old" seems to be a bit more common. The problem I've got this reading is that the character 温 does not mean たずねる or anything close -- I cannot find such a nuance in a kanji dictionary either. Kanji dictionaries such as the 漢字源, however, list the alternative interpretation that has been suggested, that is 故きを温【あたた】めて "to warm up the old".

(1) Did 温 ever signify something like たずねる? Was it ever read as 温【たず】ねて in other contexts?

(2) Can anybody shed some light on the intended meaning of 温 in 温故知新? Presumably, this would involve knowledge of Classical Chinese.

* The original Chinese phrase in the Analects is 子曰、温故而知新、可以為師矣. See the link for the kanbun reading.


texts: Are personal names spelled in hiragana or katakana if the kanji isn't known?

texts: I understand that a foreigners name is spelled in katakana, but wanted to know the appropriate way of spelling a Japanese persons name. Would hiragana be preferred? Would a choice be made between a foreign name (katakana) and a native Japanese name?


texts:
What exactly are the differences between using について and につき? In the following sentences, my grammar book says they are not interchangeable, but I don´t quite understand why. Thank you very much for your help.

  この記事についてのご意見をお聞かせください。

  新しい事業計画につき、これから御説明いたします。


texts: 腰が逃げそうになる >> What does this mean about a person's hip? Does it mean that it became disjointed/tired?

texts:
腰が逃げそうになる
When I searched this phrase on Google, it showed me some images about golf, so my guess is that it means a person's hip became dislocated and/or tired due to excessive exercising.
Can someone tell me the correct meaning? Thank you.


texts:
For example:

  楽しいししたいよ～

The し is added to 楽しい. What does it do?


texts:
［彼は］銀行に入って２年目にアメリカの大学に留学しました。

I'm not sure how I should translate this sentence. The text where I found it describes the life of a japanese guy who graduated from a japanese university and then was hired by a japanese firm.


texts: What does this mean 想索者 >> the subtitle said Diver but I want a correct translation for this term

texts:
I'm reading a JP web game and this is the prologue, 2 characters seems to be some kind of cadet in a facility under the ocean. They're talking about training to become a 想索者 (Diver), but I don't think this is a correct TL so I want someone give me opinions about this
Cadet 1: 戦いって、やっぱり怖いのかな、とか。(I heard that the battles are really scary right?)
Cadet2: それはまた気の早い話だね (Well that's too early to tell)
私たち候補生はしばらく訓練を積んで、その成績次第で正式な想索者に選抜される。だから、その心配はけっこう先の話だと思うよ. (We cadets will train for a while, and depending on our performance, we will be selected to become official "Diver". So I think that worry of yours is quite a long ways off.)
それまでに、心の準備とかしておけばいいんじゃないかな (In the meantime, I think you should prepare yourself mentally and stuff like that instead)
I think they will "dive" inside some kind of dream world to battles against monsters/nightmares? Can someone explain to me this term 想索者


texts: I often see "deshou" instead of "darou" in text where only plain, casual verbs are being used, that is, a converstation between friends, for example. Why is that? Why not darou?


texts: "Ungrammatical" 丁寧語 used by tour guides and museum narrators

texts:
I noticed on my trip to Japan that tour guides in museums etc use a very interesting type of language. It seems to be used almost exclusively by people in Osaka and Kyoto.

There are two features that stand out to me: the first one is that 〜ます seems to be used attributively very often. People say things like ここにありますもの and 〜ますので, while IIRC in standard Japanese ます does not have a 連体形. Forms like 〜まして, 〜ましょうと〜ます are also very commonly used, while supplantion by plain form is supposedly correct.

Secondly, people use けれども a lot and almost never use けれど or けど. This is not really "wrong", but I personally have never ever seen けれども in print. Obviously ど can be followed by も ever since Old Japanese, but 〜ども seems to be quite rare in Modern Japanese. Also, a weird invalid accent pattern seems to be used: けれども{LLLH}.

What is this type of 丁寧語 language? Is it a variant of 標準語 from Kansai area? I am sure that in situations where correct language is more mandated, like newscasting and text-to-speech train station announcements, this kind of "overgeneralized 丁寧語" is not used.


texts: Can anyone help me understand ’箱物’ in this sentence？

texts:
近年の中国経済の牽引役は固定資本投資であるが、箱物に大きく
依存した成長には歪みが生じ易い。

The first half makes sense but I am really struggling with the second part, particularly the meaning of ’箱物’。In general it seems that in this case ’箱物’ is too do with buildings- specifically buildings built using public funds that may be seen in a negative light ie. as a waste of money.

However, I am having problems marrying this up with the start of the set which I believe means something like ' In recent years, the driving force of the Chinese economy has been fixed capital investment'. So the end of the sentence I think has something to do with growth being hindered by money wasted on public buildings but am not sure if this fits.

Thanks for your help．


texts:
I found this sentence

  言ってみただけだよ

and it is translated to

  I'm just tried to say / I'm just saying

I don't understand why and I have a feeling it's because of みた. I know that みた is "to see" in the past, but maybe it's something else here?


texts: What do we know about the phonetic distinctions between the 甲類 and 乙類 syllables in 上代特殊仮名遣い?

texts:
上代特殊仮名遣い【じょうだいとくしゅかなづかい】 is a Nara-period practice in which two distinct versions of certain syllables (called 甲類【こうるい】 and 乙類【おつるい】, and denoted by subscript 1 and 2 in Latin script) were consistently denoted using different manyogana. For example, the word we now write as 上【かみ】 is /kami1/, which could be rendered with the second syllable as 美, while 神【かみ】 is /kami2/, which could be rendered with the second syllable as 尾.

The Wikipedia article states that "the phonetic difference [between the two types] is unclear", so it looks like this isn't a solved problem. Even so, I would like to know what we do know about the phonetic differences between the 甲類 and 乙類 syllables (if we know anything at all).


texts: What are the conventions for refering to male VS female トイレ?

texts:
I just came across a sentence that used 男子トイレ and 女子トイレ and it got me wondering. What is the difference (if there is one) between the 男子トイレ and the 男性トイレ, and of course between the 女子トイレ and the 女性トイレ.

In English I would say the "men's room" and "boys' room" are, for the most part, interchangeable, but I wouldn't use "men's" to refer to a bathroom in a primary school, or use "boys'" in a formal setting.

If I had to guess I would say that this is the case in Japanese as well, or if not it was simply a change in the degree of formality.


texts: Is there any difference in Yoku (well) and Yoku (often)?

texts: I see two meanings for Yoku. Is the only way to decide which meaning to use by looking at the context they are used in or am I missing something? I also see Yokunai.  Is this a 3rd word or just the negative of the Yoku meaning "well"?


texts: What does a w at the end of sentences signify?

texts:
Sometimes I see people attaching a w at the end of sentences (or multiple ws):

  なんか知らない間に人がめっちゃ増えてるｗ

This is in an informal context, usually while chatting. And sometimes, just:

  wwwww

What is that w doing there? How do I read it?


texts:
Here is the sentence including the word.

  計画{けいかく}の一!

  それは この広{ひろ}い川{かわ}っぷちの両{りょう}岸{がん}一[帯]{たい}の おとなも子{こ}どももあそべるでっかい遊{ゆう}園{えん}地{ち}を作{つく}ること!


texts:
I already know of the construction that takes the て-form of a verb + も and means "even if". But can this construction also be used with i-adjectives? For example, would saying the following be correct?

  高くてもそのレストランに行きたいです。
  I want to go to that restaurant, even if it's expensive.


texts: What's the difference between というか and というより?

texts:
From what I know, both というか and というより are used to correct or improve on a previous statement, but are there any differences between them? For example, are the following two sentences different?

  病気だというか、ちょっと疲れただけなんだ

  病気だというより、ちょっと疲れただけなんだ


texts: What is the difference between う and お when they come after an -o sound? Ex. とお and とう

texts: I've seen some words with とお and とう and I was wondering how are you supposed to know which one, and if there is any difference in pronunciation.


texts:
The までついて in the following paragraph is presenting some difficulties to me, especially the ついて, which I'm not sure is the て-form of つく or is conjunction ついて(就いて).

だけど、この１月号のすばる脳のすばるはいつも以上に可愛くて可愛くて仕方なく、しかも付録までついてこれは買うしかない！！ (source)