texts: Is 「何に」 read 「なにに」or 「なんに」?

texts:
As far as I can tell, this same question has been asked before here.

However, I am asking it nonetheless because I've noticed that the Genki textbook uses both readings and I find the inconsistency weird on their part if the difference is only a matter of formality.

So, can anybody confirm that both readings are the same? Is there no usage difference besides formality?

I also ask because I've found this article that seems to discuss the difference, but I cannot understand it.


texts: A question on narration: does きいた mean 'asked' or 'heard'?

texts:
「おかあさん、すきやきの支度、できた？」
  まる子は台所をのぞくと、おかあさんの背中に向かってきいた。
  「もうすこしだよ。待ってて」
  "Mum, Did you prepare the sukiyaki?"
  When Maruko peeked into the kitchen she faced Mum's back and xxx.
  "It will be a little while. Keep waiting."

In this extract does きいた refer to what Maruko asked in the first line or what she heard in the third line? Or is it my choice?
If it's not my choice what is it that makes the correct answer obvious?

In general in this book I find that both options are used but the "said/asked/heard etc" is generally in the first clause of the narration if it's referring to the previous quote.


texts: Passive form + ところ? Is this different to present progressive + ところ?

texts:
この本がユニークな点は、文章の全てがメモで構成されているところです。
I am having trouble understanding the usage of ところ in this scenario. My understanding is that present progressive + ところ means 'to be in the middle of...'.


texts: The obvious translation of "subtle" is 「微妙」, but in current usage it seems to carry a bit of a pejorative sense, even implying "dubious". Are there better translations for phrases such as "subtle hint", "subtle meaning" and "subtle colour"?


texts: 夏目漱石‘s use of question marker かい for an open instead of closed (ie yes/no) question

texts:
Can anybody explain why かい is used in the following sentence from 第三夜 (Dream #3 - from Natsume Sōseki's Ten Nights of Dreams, 夢十夜):

自分が御前の眼はいつ潰れたのかいと聞くと、何昔からさと答えた。
"I asked [him] when [he] had gone blind to which [his] casual reply was "Oh, ages back".

According to the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar and the answer to a previous question, linked below, かい is for yes/no questions, だい is for WH-questions.
In what situation can I use ~かい (for interrogative question)?


texts: interpretting お前を倒さずして、消滅などできん！

texts:
enemy returns a while after being defeated by the mc

  mc「ど、どうしてあなたが……！　この間滅したはずなのに……！？」

  enemy「お前を倒さずして、消滅などできん！」

  enemy charges....

i will "do it" without beating you, i can't extinguish you, makes no sense in context.

What is he trying to say?

thank you


texts: What is the difference between 首相 and 総理?

texts: I learned 総{そう}理{り} as the word for Prime Minister, but I've recently learned that 首{しゅ}相{しょう} is also used. Is there a difference in usage or meaning? Is one more polite than the other?


texts:
I would like to know what's the meaning of 利く with this kanji 利. Could you also give me some examples, please?

I've searched in kotobank for a difference between 効く (to have effect) and 利く, but I haven't found any.

The only example I have found with 利く is the expression (気が利く), but I don't know in which kind of situations 気が利く is used.

Thank you!


texts: Why is the term for can as in ''aluminum can" written in kanji?

texts:
I noticed that the term "can" is written with a kanji term but pronounced as in English. Why use a kanji? The word coffee has a kanji, but is commonly written in katakana.

It might be ateji, but I always thought that ateji was accompanied by a katakana spelling or the katakana spelling would be the one predominantly used.


texts: Is there a common way to express the reason for something after stating what the something is? All the ways I can think of explaining situations involve putting it before. I.e. ～から～です. I was hoping to say something along the lines of "I had this thought because ~".


texts: Which one is the appropriate preposition for the sentence below?

texts:
I was playing some game where one has to choose the appropriate preposition.
In the sentence below, は is the correct answer as per the game but I got confused and didn't understand why は is the correct one from the options に、は AND で。

にほんは　ぶっかが　たかいです。


texts: What is the difference between 週一回 and 週に一回?

texts:
I have seen 週一回 and 週に一回. I was wondering if anyone could explain the difference.
Examples:

トレーニングは週2回です。
週に一回ダンスを習っています。

I couldn't find an answer, I'm sorry this question has already been answered.


texts: どうやってしますか versus どうすればいいですか

texts:
I have a difficulty to decide which one I have to use between どうやってしますか and どうすればいいですか.

Is there any important thing to differentiate their usage?


texts: What does 「飛びついては止める傾向」

texts:
Context:

高校も不登校中退で通信制を卒業、転職歴20回以上の息子の母です。よろしくお願いします。幼い頃から頑張りがなく飛びついては止める傾向があり遂に高校も続きませんでした。

goo.ne dictionary defines two meanings for 飛びついて

１ 勢いよく身をおどらせてとりつく。飛びかかる。「子供が母親に―・く」「柳に―・く蛙」
２ 興味をもったものなどに、軽率に手を出す。「もうけ話に―・く」「流行に―・く」

I think second meaning suits better here. So my translation for the phrase in bold is:

幼い頃から頑張りがなく飛びついては止める傾向があり遂に高校も続きませんでした。
Since he was a kid, he did not have the tenacity you need, to throw yourself at the things you are interested in. This eventually led him to stop going to school as well.

Am I understanding this correctly ? This might be an obtuse question but if I had to pull out 「飛びついては止める傾向」and translate it, what would it mean ?


texts: Saying "It's the principle of the matter"

texts:
How does one say "it's the principle of the thing", in particular for when giving feedback.

For example, it's not the 1$ over change but the principle of the matter.
(as in the one dollar doesn't really matter but the principle of being overcharged is what is at issue).

I took a look at ALC and it gave me 原則{げんそく} and 基礎{きそ} but these don't really seem to fit the definition very well.


texts:
I'm having a difficult time understanding the use of の-Adj in the JLPT N5 grammar examples and practice I've been studying and haven't found a good resource for finding the answer. The sentence is fairly simple but I can't tell what the purpose of the の at the end of the Adj is in it. It goes:

  大きいのは　いくらですか。 Ookii-no wa ikura desuka?

Does anybody have any clue? Thank you!


texts:
When does one use 欲しがる instead of 欲しい?  For example, in phrases like:

  先生は野菜を食べて欲し｛いです・がっています｝。

My incomplete understanding is that the がる form is more formal/polite, but it can only be used when the subject is not currently present in the room.  The "subject in the room part" is the part I'm most unsure about, as it doesn't seem right.

Could I say this to my teacher?

  先生は野菜を食べて欲しがっていますか?

To clarify the above sentence.  What i was trying to say was "Sensei, do you want me to eat vegetables?"


texts:
I have been listening to にじいろ／絢香 and started to translate some of the lyrics but I got stuck with this part: ずっと長く道は続くよ。
The whole sentence is like this:

  これからはじまるあなたの物語
  ずっと長く道は続くよ
  にじいろの雨降り注げば
  空は高鳴る

My question is: What is the purpose of the は here? What I know about は is that we use it to introduce the topic. So if the 長く道 here is the topic, and 続く is the verb, what exactly did it do to the topic since we use は instead of を which I learned that we use with verbs.


texts: use of すんな and ってもんがある

texts:
It's a male character saying thing this

  抜け駆けすんなっ、まずは順序ってもんがあるだろ

"Don't get a head start, first of all, there is a proper order of doing things" (?)

Is すんな = the negative imperative するな?

Is ってもんがあるだろ = というものがあるだろ?


texts: What does "da" mean in "tabeta bakari da"?

texts:
I understand (correct me if I'm wrong) that da is a short casual form of desu. But what does it mean in this phrase? or why it is used?

  Tabeta bakari da.


texts:
What's the meaning of しなければならず in this article?

  「拘束中に、事情があってイスラム教に改宗しなければならず、そこで自分で『ウマル』というのを選んでいた。彼らが設定したルールに従って言った」と説明し

link to the original and complete phrase


texts: Is there a difference between using 「である」 and 「の」 before 「はず」?

texts: Is there a difference in meaning between using 「である」 and 「の」 before 「はず」?


texts: What is the meaning of お気の毒に and how is it used?

texts:
Although the there are several definitions in the dictionary:

my condolences
that's too bad
my sympathies

What does お気の毒に literally mean? I'm guessing that it might have something to do with "poisoned ki".

After checking the dictionary, this phrase seems to be said to someone who has had a death in their family. Is it also used in other situations, such as:

To someone who has a family member with a terminal illness (cancer), just diagnosed with cancer, living with cancer, dementia, parkinson's, etc?
Said directly to the person who has the disease or debilitating condition?


texts:
I am Slightly confused about the word order for に And で
Are both of these examples correct and the only difference the emphasis?

私は夏に公園で先生に会います: I am meeting my teacher at the park in the summer
夏に公園で私は先生に会います:In the summer at the park I am meeting my teacher

Any help would be appreciated thanks.


texts: For adjectives which one applies? ように or ような

texts: Is ように solely for verbs while のような for nouns? What about adjectives?


texts:
Talking about pregnancy with my Japanese friends has been a challenge because I have struggled to translate some English concepts.

Ultrasound is one of those words.

超音波｛ちょうおんぱ｝ is the word I find as the translation for ultrasound. However, because of the existence of the 波 character, I find that this is referring more to the ultrasonic waves, and not the procedure.  Is my suspicion warranted here?

Would it make more sense to say:

  明日、超音波を受けてから赤ちゃんの性別が分かる。

or

  明日、超音波で赤ちゃんの性別が分かる。

I'm leaning towards the use of で after 超音波, but I can't put my reasoning to words.  It just feels better to me.

Finally, is my next translation nonsensical?

  On the 24th, we are getting an ultrasound of the baby.
  24日に超音波で赤ちゃんの写真をとる。


texts: Can someone translate this sentence please? Thanks in advance!

texts:
わたしは誰かに買いたかったものを買われた。

Hi there I’m slightly confused with this sentence means, and also why is 買いた used?isn’t the past tense for買う 買った？


texts: why つぎの じゅぎょう is correct?when おもしろい じゅぎょう is without の?

texts: Why つぎの じゅぎょう is correct when おもしろい じゅぎょう is without の? Can you explain, please? つぎ and おもしろい are both adjectives, are not they?


texts: 今(temporal counter) vs. 本(temporal counter)

texts:
Aside from levels of formality, is there a difference in the meaning/nuance of

  今日・今週・今月・今年

as opposed to

  本日・本週・本月・本年

?


texts: How do you say “or” at the beginning of a sentence?

texts:
For example, if I was saying something like “Did you buy the groceries?” and then I wanted to add “Or do you want me to?” how would I translate the “or” at the beginning?

Another example: “Do you like my new car? Or did you not see it?”

My only understanding of “or” in Japanese is か but that definitely would not work here.


texts:
I know two verbs which are translated as "to get/receive," namely, 得る and もらう. From the usages in which I've seen them used, they seem to be interchangeable; are my suspicions correct or is there a difference I should be aware of?

For what it's worth, I see 得る usually translated as "to get" and "もらう" usually translated as "to receive." In the textbooks I'm using, もらう was introduced much, much earlier than 得る- but obviously curricula aren't necessarily indicative of actual usage.


texts: Meaning of 言いだしっぺとして

texts:
I stumbled upon the following sentence:

  言いだしっぺとして、10人がんばります！

Context: a person is told to invite 10 persons, and seems to answer "言いだしっぺとして, I will try my best to get 10 persons!"

What does the 言いだしっぺとして part mean?
What nuance does it bring to the sentence, compared to a simple "10人がんばります！"?


texts:
Is 「Aのこと読んだ。」a correct sentence?
I know that usually「Aについて読んだ。」is the correct way of saying "I read about A", but I've seen sentences like 「Aのこと考える」and just wondering if it's correct to substitute 考える with 読む.


texts: Difference between "現住所" and "連絡先" on Japanese resume?

texts:
"現住所" and "連絡先" are 2 fields on a Japanese resume. If both are the same address, do you:

delete the "現住所" and just list the "連絡先"?
delete the "連絡先" field and just list your "現住所"?

Or, are there any other options?


texts:
ケーキはお好きですか

So I started learning Japanese and something caught my attention quite often.

In some sentences there is an お in front of a verb. What is it doing?

How does it affect the sentence. Can I let the お out?


texts: How to understand the last character 枚 in 福田熊治良枚

texts:
In the context of a C19th print of the actor Iwai Hanshirō, the publisher’s name and address is included: 長谷川丁十九バンチ  福田熊治良枚. How should the last character 枚 that comes after Hasegawachō jūku banchi Fukuda Kumajirō  be understood and read? The references I have for 枚, mai, are “counter for flat objects (e.g. sheets of paper),” or bira, “bill, handbill, flier, leaflet, poster, placard.” Why is it placed directly after the name of the publisher Fukuda Kumajirō? I often see shuppanjin (出版人), where the suffix jin (人, じん) attaches to the name of the occupation, and there is also hanmoto (版元).

Edit (after Naruto's request to include an image):

The characters in the cartouche were not all equally clear. I have increased the contrast in Photoshop. Yes, the character is 板, not 枚.


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "下町職人魂"

texts: I'm aware that 下町 means downtown, and 職人魂 means craftsmanship, but what does it mean when the two are brought together?


texts: Usage of しか～ない in this piece of anime monologue

texts:
This monologue piece is is taken from an anime (魔法少女まどか☆マギカ, episode 2, this starts at ~10:55). It makes sense to me except for the highlighted part:

  別に珍しくなんかないはずだよ
  命と引き換えにしてでも 叶えたい望みって
  そう言うの抱えている人は 世の中に大勢いるんじゃないのかな
  だから それが見付からない私達って
  その程度の不幸しか知らないって事じゃん
  恵まれ過ぎて バカになっちゃってるんだよ
  何で 私達なのかな
  不公平だと思わない
  こーゆーチャンス 本当に欲しいと思っている人は他にいるはずなのにね

Audio extract. [I've included the earlier bits for context as well]

The way I've seen Xしか～ない used is normally (always?) to stress that there is nothing but X.

In this sense, it goes something like:

Us, who have haven't found it [the wish], know nothing but the unhappiness of that degree [???]. This makes little sense within the rest of the monologue that stresses how much of "happy fools" she and her friend are [context: they are granted a free wish in exchange for becoming magical girls but can't think of anything worth risking their lives for].

This makes me think I've fundamentally misunderstood this part of grammar. Is that so, and where did I go wrong?


texts: meaning of 「気遣ひいたすも一致なれば」

texts:
Looking at the definition for 一致 I can't seem to understand the example sentence for the second meaning

  ２ ごく普通の道理。
  「気遣ひいたすも一致なれば」

The second meaning for 一致 means "common sense" I think, but I'm not sure what "気遣ひいたす" is conveying, since I've seen "気遣い"　"気遣う" and　"気遣わしい", but never "気遣ひ"


texts: Can an individual Kanji character have more than one radical?

texts: I am learning about radicals and their use in forming an individual Kanji character, but I am wondering if more than one radical can be used in developing one. Thank you.


texts: How to translate 'She got him bitten by a vampire on the neck (so that he becomes one)'?

texts:
How to translate 'She got him bitten by a vampire on the neck (as in: she succeeded)'?

Can I translate it as:

  彼女は彼が首に吸血鬼に噛まれたようにした。

My doubts are:

Where should I put 首 in the sentence?
するように means 'attempt to do something' instead of 'manage to do something/succeed in doing something'?


texts: What is the meaning of ゴト in the context of 鮎

texts:
I ate in a place with 鮎ラーメン. The store employee can't explain it but I think it's something to do with the cut of the 鮎. It was butterfly cutted.

For cutting what would be the kanji for go-to. 毎? 丸毎 shortcut for the marugoto?


texts: Why the past tense is used in this sentence?

texts:
It's about this passage:"インターネットの安全のための仕事などをするＩＰＡによると、銀行やクレジットカードの会社など、本当にある会社の名前を使った、うそのメールが多くなっています。"

First of all, "本当にある会社の名前を使った" is modifying "うそのメール" but the comma is written for more visibility, isn't it ?

And to follow, my main question, why the verb 使う is in the past tense ?
"うそのメールが多くなっています" is in the present and so the usage of false name is continuous too no ? Why it is not "本当にある会社の名前を使う"  or "本当にある会社の名前を使っている"

Thank you


texts: Can おいてない act as a contraction of おいてほかにない

texts:
仕事疲れのストレス解消方法は、仕事を少し忘れてみること、それをおいてないでしょう。散歩や旅行などで気分転換を図りましょう。

The above sentence appeared in my grammar textbook in the same chapter that introduced the ～をおいてほかにない grammar point with a "is the best in comparison" meaning.
This meaning seems to fit the above sentence in that 仕事を少し忘れてみること is the best way to reduce work-related stress but I can't seem to find anything about をおいてない specifically on the internet or in my grammar books. Is the ほかに simply omitted or does it have a different meaning?


texts: Is this a 仮定形 (kateikei) form, and how to analyse it?

texts:
I'm stuck with the word かけ in the following text below (towards the beginning of Japanese tale, Kachikachi yama).

Obviously, "(こしを)かけ" stands for "(腰を)掛ける" (to sit down). But what's the grammar behind 掛け ? Is it a 仮定形 (kateikei) ? I don't understand what's the grammatical construction. Any help would be appreciated !

An old man wants to catch a mischievous tanuki, and ...

  そこで、 つぎ の 日、 たぬき の すわって いた きりかぶ に とりもち を べっとり ぬりつけて おきました。 おじいさん が まめ を まいて いたら たぬき が やって きて、 きりかぶ に こし を かけ、 せん つぶ まいたら ひと つぶ に なあれ ひと つぶ まいたら くさって しまえ と からかい だしました。

Translation from Tom Ray and Sachiko Matsubara, which was available during some years here.

  Then, the next day, the tree stump where the raccoon had been sitting, had been prepared with a lot of tanglefoot. While the old man was sowing beans the raccoon approached, and sat on the tree stump : "if you sow a thousand seeds they become one seed, if you sow one seed it will completely rot", he begain to tease.


texts:
I came across these lines in a song (0:59):

  十日ともに

  投げた賽は

  赤く色づいた

As far as I know, ともに means something like "together with," but "together with ten days" doesn't really make much sense.

There's also the less common meaning "both," but again, "both the 10th/ten days, and the die I cast, turned red" doesn't make much sense either.

Am I misinterpreting this? What's going on here?


texts: Japanese don't learn kanji meaning only readings? Does it make sense for a kanji to have a key meaning to identify it?

texts:
As I understand it works like this. By the time Japanese kids enter first grade they have more or less decent vocabulary of words they know. So when kanjis are taught I can't even imagine how to tell in Japanese that, for example, 女 means "woman"(おんな) and has a kun-reading おんな, since meaning and reading is the same word.
「女」漢字は意味が「おんな」です。くん読みが「おんな」だ。Something like this? It looks like only readings are taught and kids kind of figure out the key meaning on their own, based on the vocabulary they possess.

Note that I'm self-taught in Japanese and though I use JLPT N3 materials, I can mess up in basic things.

Another example. When person wants to explain using what kanji to write his/her name how do they explain that? How to identify exact kanji if one reading links to numerous characters?

In English I rely a lot on using key meaning to identify the kanji, but what exact wording do I use in Japanese?

Hope you can help me out. Thanks.


texts:
I've gotten in the habit of transcribing/translating Japanese fanart for my friends. I do well with typed characters, but this artist's handwriting has me stumped:

Here is my loose transcription, with ... replacing the unknown characters and () around characters I'm very unsure of:

(せ)っかく...ったお...立ち(そ)...さっておりますのに，そのように...されてはもったいないです！

I'll also admit I thought the っs were commas at first, because they're so small. They might still be. I have no idea.


texts: Distinguishing meaning of 「 庭」 and 「には」aurally

texts: In the sentence, 「私の家の庭には小さな池があります」 the sound 「には」 appears twice in a row. When listening but without any writing to inform interpretation, how will I know whether to interpret the first 「には」 sound as the kanji 「 庭」 or as the hiragana 「には」?


texts:
Can we predict if a kanji has a reading that ends in long う? By "long う" I mean that the preceding mora also is in a u-row syllable such as ふう, くう, つう.

Consider these. I will list the kanji followed by its Mandarin Chinese pronunciation followed by its Japanese pronunciation:

風 fēng→fuu　（ふう）
空 kōng→kuu　（くう）
龍 lóng→ryuu　（りゅう）
通 tōng→tsuu　（つう）
痛 tòng→tsuu　（つう）
勇 yǒng→yuu　（ゆう）
中 zhōng→chuu/juu　（ちゅう・じゅう）
終 zhōng→shuu　（しゅう）

It seems that it starting consonant is maintained (except zh which seems to be able to go to ch, j, sh) while ng maps to the long う sound. It also seems that the vowel sound in Mandarin is limited to e and o for the penultimate mora in Japanese to also be in the u-row.

And if the vowel were a (e.g. 方 fāng→ほう, 放 fàng→ほう, 講 jiǎng→こう, 郎 láng→ろう, 浪 làng→ろう, 様 yàng→よう, 障 zhàng→しょう) then it seems to take a おう ending instead of うう.

In summary this is my hypothesis:

The ng ending in Chinese corresponds to a final う mora in Japanese.
If the vowel is a in Chinese it corresponds to a penultimate o-row mora in Japanese.
If the vowel is e or o in Chinese it corresponds to a penultimate u-row mora in Japanese.

Restating the question, what are the sounds that allow me to predict if a kanji reading ends in a う sound with the penultimate mora in the u-row in Japanese?


texts:
My dictionary lists both 辞書{じしょ} and 字引{じびき} as simply, "Dictionary."

On tatoeba.org I can only find example sentences of 字引 where it is used in the phrase:

  生き字引 = A walking dictionary

Example:

  僕の父は、いわば生き字引だ。

  My father is, so to speak, a walking dictionary.

Is 字引 used in any other situation?
Does 字引 have connotations that 辞書 does not?


texts: Are 結局 and てしまう equivalent in terms of expressing "end up doing something"?

texts:
Out of the following two sentences, which one is more natural to say "I ended up eating all ice-cream"?

結局はアイスクリームを全部食べた。
アイスクリームを全部食べてしまった。


texts: Usage of と in 明日は来られないと先生に伝えてください

texts:
Is this mean, if you don't come tomorrow, please tell the teacher ?
Can we use なら instead of と
Is there any imply that when should they tell the teacher, such as if they plan to not come tomorrow then tell the teacher today or if you decide tomorrow that you don't come then tell the teacher


texts: Using なるほど (naruhodo) and やっぱり (yappari) in the same situation

texts:
I know, since they are of different word classes, なるほど (naruhodo) and やっぱり (yappari) may not be used interchangeably within the same sentence, but can they be used within the same situation instead?

Does it make sense if the same person says the following two statements one after another?

  やっぱりそうだったねえ。なるほど。

Or maybe the other way around

  なるほど。やっぱりそうだったねえ。

Or are they mutually exclusive?

EDIT:

After reading answer from Derek, and after pondering on it for some time, I realized that what I actually wanted to ask also includes the following:

  Are there any situations where we can use なるほど but not やっぱり, or vice versa?

Sorry for the confusion.


texts:
A and B are talking about a technology.

A: Bは"technology"の導入には反対だったな
A/B: reason 1 しreason 2 から,  どうしても……ね

I'm not sure what is the supposed meaning of どうしてもね here. Also the reason I'm using A/B is that I'm not 100% on who is supposed to be saying this (because manga). I at first thought that this is B replying to state their concerns. But now, I think it's A. Stating what they presume to be B's concerns.
I think どうしてもね might be a sort of saying "Is there any other reason?/anything else" and like. But I'm not sure.


texts: Translation of 友達【ともだち】に 嘘【うそ】がばれてしまった

texts:
I have some trouble to translate this sentence:

  友達【ともだち】に 嘘【うそ】がばれてしまった

is that: "I have discovered that my friend is lying" or "My friend found out I was lying"?

この文の翻訳に迷っています：

  友達【ともだち】に 嘘【うそ】がばれてしまった

その文の意味は「友達が嘘をついていることを気づいた」また「友達が私の嘘していることを気づいた」ですか。


texts: Is チョンボ commonly used to mean mistake (outside of conversations about 麻雀), even by people who don't play it?

texts: I heard someone say チョンボを犯した in a situation where they could not possibly be talking about 麻雀. I don't know if he plays 麻雀 or not, but it made me wonder, how common is using チョンボ to mean mistake among people who don't play 麻雀?


texts: How to resolve two indirect objects? (Prohibition of two に in a sentence?)

texts:
Based off sawa's comment from this question:

"you cannot have two ...に phrases. Remove either."

And using the same verb "同意する", I looked up the dictionary and found:

1.（人）に同意する - to agree with a person
2.（意見・提案・計画など）に同意する - to agree with an opinion/suggestion/plan/etc.

Let's say I agree with a person about an opinion/suggestion/plan that does not necessarily belong to that person. This way I'm not using the genitive-の to connect the parts together as in (人)の(意見・提案・計画)に同意する. Instead I'm trying to express that I agree with a person with something.
Deducing from the above dictionary excerpt, I would form a sentence with two にs (Which I now know is wrong from sawa's comment).
Flawed (pun　not intended) attempts at constructing the sentence:

ｘ 私は計画に彼に同意します
ｘ この計画が彼に同意します　(I just realised that this means "This plan agrees with him" (Unless sarcasm is taken into consideration, this sentence cannot make any sense))

(Question) What would be the proper way to construct this sentence?


texts: How should I translate “power distance”?

texts:
According to Wikipedia, “power distance” is the extent to which the lower ranking individuals of a society "accept and expect that power is distributed unequally".

Power: I could pick 力, 能力, 権力, 勢力, 支配力, 政権, 権限, 職権 or パワー.
Distance: I could pick 距離, 道のり, 間隔, 遠方 or ディスタンス.

Which terms should I pick in translating “power distance”?


texts: the particle も in 「ここには１人もしっている人がいません」

texts:
ここには １人（　　） しっている 人が いません。

(from #25 of http://jlpt.u-biq.org/3g1.html)

  A)　が　　　　　　B)　は　　　　　　C)　で　　　　　　D)　も

I know the answer is D, but what does the sentence mean? If しっている with kanji is 知っている, then I can guess the idea is "There isn't one person here I know"?


texts:
The sentence at hand:

  サンタクロースをいつまで信じていたかなんて事はたわいもない世間話にもならないくらいのどうでもいいような話だが、・・・

I assume なんて here serves a derogatory role as など does in the following sentence:

  あの人の言ったことなど気にする事はありません。

As far as I know, the particle can be removed without significantly changing the meaning of the sentence completely or making it ungrammatical.

However, if we remove the particle from the first sentence, we have the following noun phrase.

  サンタクロースをいつまで信じていたか事

As this is the first time seeing a question modifying a noun, this looks rather odd to me. I would have probably inserted a という or って in between.

Is this a common construct? Can questions modify nouns other than こと?
Would it also be correct to insert という or って in there? If so, how would the meaning change?
Perhaps this getting is off topic, but are my observations regarding なんて・など accurate?


texts: What does this に　do in this sentence?　And this わ in the following?

texts:
A: 結婚したいけど、僕にはお金がないから...
  B: お金なんか要らないわ。あなたといっしょにいるだけでいいの。

They are printed in bold. I dont really have problems understanding the sentence. But I wouldn't know what nuances are brought in by the elements in question.


texts: How to say 'only' when there is only one of something

texts:
I want to say a sentence of the form:

  This is the only shop in this town that sells socks.

i.e. there are no other shops in this town that sell socks.
The best I can do is:

  この町で靴下を売る店だけある。

But I think this means that there is nothing in the town other than a shop that sells socks.

How do I express this use of only?


texts:
I've been studying Japanese for about 3 years, passed N1 last December (was not expecting that) and wanted to brush off one of the biggest questions I've ever had on Kanji (bugging me for about 2 of the 3 years).
You see, there's this Weird Kanji on this rock that I can't seem to find anywhere else:

The second two say 大山{だいせん}, which is already 表外読み, so this is obviously a rather old inscription I'd assume.

I've tried looking this kanji up everywhere, such as on https://www.kanjipedia.jp/sakuin/soukakusu/4
(which tbh doesn't even have that many kanji, only those needed for 漢検一級 and a little more)
and https://kanji.jitenon.jp/ which claims to have 12,300 kanji entries. No luck though.

I've even looked through Chinese Hanzi dictionaries to see if it's some old form or whatever. The closest I've come is http://www.zdic.net/z/86/js/20A2C.htm
which is supposedly a variant of 巵{さかずき} which means "sake cup". Pretty sure this mountain has nothing to do with Sake Cups.

Honestly it's probably lurking somewhere in the Daikanwajiten, but I don't really have that huge thing at home (nor in my city I think)

I did find this though: http://www.zdic.net/z/8b/wy/21BC3.htm
It seems like a pretty lonely hanzi/kanji, with no definition of any sort...
I went to the "web discussion" on the hanzi, and some user talked about stone inscriptions...
Does any Kanji God know what this Kanji means/is?

Thanks everyone!

Edit: I realised that the user in the discussion was actually stating dictionaries of characters (I assume those that contain the mystery character). These included 興聖寺四十人等造碑像記, 增訂碑別字, 碑別字新編, and
異體字字典 廣碑別字, the latter of which led me to an online　異体字 database.

http://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/variants/rbt/word_attribute.rbt?quote_code=QTAxMTUxLTAwNQ

oh. This was an archaic 異体字 of 左 all along. How whimsical.
At least now I know that this is on the left of the mountain, instead of having to mentally associate the mountain with sake cups.

Geez. And there's like 8 variants of 左.


texts: In the sentence 雑誌のほうは彼に渡してくれ, what does のほう mean?

texts: I found this sentence in an anki deck, which gives its translation as "Give him the magazine" or something to that effect. I understand the rest of the sentence but I'm not sure why it has ほう in it, especially since I've mostly seen that word in the "x より　y のほうが” construction.


texts: Can a subject introduced by が persist between sentences?

texts:
If an unknown subject is introduced by が in one sentence, can it still be the subject in a subsequent sentence?

As an example:

  よだかはむねがつかえたように思いながら、又そらへのぼりました。また一疋の甲虫が、夜だかののどに、はいりました。そしてまるでよだかの咽喉をひっかいてばたばたしました。

At first glance, it seems more natural to me to read the 3rd sentence thinking the beetle (which is identified by が in the 2nd sentence) is the one scratching the Nighthawk's throat and making a commotion as it is being eaten.

But if が subjects can't persist between sentences (I think they can't), then よだか must be the subject of the 3rd sentence by default (since よだか is the topic). And that would mean that the Nighthawk is scratching his own throat and making a commotion as he swallows the beetle.

So I guess it's a straightforward question,
Can a subject introduced by が still be the subject in the following sentence?


texts: Does this Japanese sentence sound right?

texts:
I'm trying to translate a line from an English song (Journey) and it goes like this:

"She took a midnight train going anywhere"

So far, I've ended up with this:

彼女は真夜中列車が乗りましたどこ でも行きます
(Kanojo wa mayonaka ressha ga norimashita doko demo ikimasu)

but I feel my sentence structure is probably wrong.

Oh and one more from the song that goes, "Their shadows searching in the night"
As easy as that one may seem, I'm having major difficulties translating that into Japanese.

I just need these two lines.


texts:
Does anyone have an opinion on the etymology of the word マラ, a crude term for penis?
Any thoughts on usage are also appreciated.

(via archive.org)　http://gogen-allguide.com/ma/mara.html


texts:
When I was sixteen I got my first tattoo and I choose this kanji " 兵 " because I saw that stands for warrior. A couple of years after, I saw that the kanji stands more for "soldiers" than "warrior" (meaning a brave man).

I don't know if the meaning is wrong or it can be disrespectful to the japanese culture.

Thank you for answering!

M.


texts:
What is the differences in nuances between とうとう and やっと?

is it true that やっと has a more "happy" feeling attached to it?


texts: Do unit words belong to a word or a specific object?

texts:
I recently though about words that have multiple forms as real objects. For example a ticket can be a paper slip, or an email receipt.

Does the way of counting them change based on what it is, or does the unit word belong purely to the word itself (with the traditional meaning)? For example, are 2 tickets emailed to me still 2枚きっぷ if it's not printed?


texts:
Playing through the intro of Let's Go Pikachu, I came across what looks to me like the greeting おはよう, but written instead as おはよ.

Is this a known alternate spelling, or perhaps a simplification aimed at younger audiences?


texts:
I helped someone fix something, and I'd like to try and express that it was mostly the other person doing the work and I just provided assistance.

The best I can come up with is 「問題の解決に田中さんを手伝いました」but I feel like this is wrong.


texts:
This question is in response to an answer given here

言っていた Conjugation

It is my understanding that ～ている in general is used to show that the state reached after the verb has been initiated is continuing.  This manifests itself in English as the present progressive or the present perfect.

  帰っている　⇒ I returned and am currently in the state of having returned.

  歩いている　⇒ I started to walk and am currently in the state of walking.

Logically extending this understanding to ～ていた, I come up with it meaning that an action occurred in the past, it continued for a period, and then the state ended.

  帰っていた　⇒ I returned, was in the state of having returned for a bit, and now I am no longer in that state.

  歩いていた　⇒ I started to walk, continued for a bit, and then stopped.

Based on this understanding, I would have assumed that 死んでいた does not make sense as it would imply that the dead person is no longer in the state of being dead. However, the linked post includes 死んでいた (translated as "He was dead") as an example suggesting that it is perfectly acceptable. In English, stating "He was dead" really only makes sense if the discussion taking place is about the past. Therefore I reason as follows.

Consider the following

  人A: 鈴木さんを知っていますか。
  人B: 知っていました。

  vs.

  人A: 鈴木さんを知っていましたか。
  人B: 知っていました。

  vs.

  人A: 鈴木さんを知っていましたか。
  人B: 知っています。

Are these conclusions correct. If not, would you please be kind enough to explain my errors?

This states that Person B became acquainted with Suzuki at some point in the past but is currently not acquainted with him.
This states that Person B became acquainted with Suzuki at some point in the past and does not make any implication about the current state of his acquaintance.
This states that Person B became acquainted with Suzuki at some point in the past and is still currently acquainted with him.


texts: Do you think it's a good practice to learn writing hiragana using Gothic fonts?

texts:
When I was searching for a mobile app that lets you practice writing hiragana, I noticed that a lot of them uses the Gothic font, meaning that さ will be written as 2 strokes and not 3. The most common font in educational textbook uses さ with 3 strokes, and is the recommended font in Japan. So I want to ask you guys something.

Do you think this is a potential problem? Because I heard some beginners being confused with differences in さ,き and り on Gothic font and textbook font. I feel this can be distracting when starting to learn Japanese.

If you are a teacher who wants to teach writing hiragana to a beginner, would you prefer an app that doesn't use Gothic font?

I am trying to develop an app regarding this problem. Any answer will help me tremendously!


texts:
From Japanesepod101:

象は灰色をしている。
The elephant is gray.

The meaning of the sentence is not in doubt but I've been trying to figure how する is being used here. Checking a dictionary, definition 2エ might be applicable here.
ある状態・性質であることを示す。(To show something's state/nature)


texts:
Where does the furigana split on the word 小路{こうじ}? Does the う belong to 小 or does it belong to 路? Or is the word considered to have a 熟字訓読み (i.e. no split)?

小 has the reading こ

路 has the reading じ

Where does the う fit in this?

小路{こうじ}、小{こ}・路{うじ}、 or 小{こう}・路{じ}?


texts: Is there any difference for using 連用形 vs 連体形 when listing 形容動詞 to modify a 名詞?

texts:
E.g.

危険な投機的な事業
危険で投機的な事業

Are they both grammatical and mean the exact same thing?


texts:
最近、忙しくて。昨日だって帰ったの１２時すぎだったよ。

Please explain the use of の in the above sentence.


texts:
I am organizing an event and posted a flyer on a famous SNS.

Someone commented on it saying: イベント立てちゃいなよ

From the context I guess it is advising me to create an event (SNS feature), am I mistaken?

QUESTION: What are the different grammatical parts in 立てちゃいなよ ?


texts: What is the equivalent of ningen for deitys and demons?

texts:
I know ningen is a word (at least in entertainment media) that is used to refer to something as human or simply mundane.
In this context, what are the words used to describe something as "godly"/"heavenly" or  "ungodly"/"hellish"?


texts: This is something that has confused me for a while. I am no Japanese student, but I do shotokan karate. We are often told to get into a "ready" stance by the sensei using the command "yoi". Wikipedia seems to treat "yoi" as used in the context as interchangeable with shizentai (natural stance). Most karate sites do also translate the meaning as "ready". However, when I try to find the appropriate kanji, the only "yoi" I find is 良, which (as far as I can tell) means good, but has no translation equivalent to "ready" in English. Is the command as used in karate represented by a different kanji or does this same kanji have that meaning in some contexts?


texts: Which word is this use of かめ specifying?

texts:
In Kenji Miyazawa's poem "Thief", many words are left as hiragana:

青じろい骸骨星座のよあけがた
凍えた泥の乱反射をわたり
店さきにひとつ置かれた
提婆のかめをぬすんだもの
にはかにもその長く黒い脚をやめ
二つの耳に二つの手をあて
電線のオルゴールを聴く

What does 提婆のかめ signify? (I tried doing a few searches, but I can't tell if this is related to a shogi piece or an Aryadeva figure). According to this site, it refers to Datta Daiba, but that doesn't clear up the mystery with かめ.


texts: What does "俺も俺か" mean? Anyone please help me >__


texts: How do I ask about the specifics of a general activity (like watching TV, reading) with correct grammar?

texts:
For example, テレビをみませ　is "I will watch TV". I would like to say なにをテレビをみますか but I'm not sure the double を makes any sense, for example in なにをみますか the person may answer テレビ but I want to know what is on the TV that they watch?

EX2:

  としょかんでほんをよみませ
  I will read book/s in the library.
  なにをほんをよみますか
  What book/s will you read?

EDIT: Note that I am not looking for an adjective answer like good, scary, fantasy, but the specific name of the book/show.


texts: -ei/-you alternation in some kanji: what's going on?

texts:
There's a reasonable number of kanji that have on-readings like めい・みょう, へい・ひょう (possibly modulo voicing), etc. For example:

平: 平均【へいきん】 vs. 平等【びょうどう】
兵: 兵士【へいし】 vs. 兵庫県【ひょうごけん】
明: 不明【ふめい】 vs. 明朝【みょうちょう】
京: 京阪【けいはん】 vs. 上京【じょうきょう】
令: 命令【めいれい】 vs. 律令【りつりょう】

Is there some historical reason for this, or is it just a coincidence that all these kanji have -ei and -you readings? (My guess is that it has something to do with sound changes in Chinese resulting in borrowings at different times coming with different on-readings; am I right?)


texts: Does the たり in Modern Japanese come from the Classical たり?

texts:
For example, in the sentence 飲んだり食べたりした. Does this たり have anything to do with the -(i)tari ending in Classical Japanese that meant the present progressive (and later semantically shifted to past, and then even later truncated to -ta)? As in われ食べたり = 私は食べている?

It seems quite similar, attaching to the 連用形 (albeit with 音便), and with the same form. The meaning is very, very different though. Are they related?


texts: Why is the Japanese word for Brunei ブルネイ and not ブルナイ?

texts:
The English pronunciation of Brunei is /bɹuːˈnaɪ/ and the Brunei Malay pronunciation ends in something like /ai/, as far as I can tell (I'm not totally sure about this, but here's the Sultan and the Second Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade saying it that way - although they're speaking in English - and this news reader clearly says it here), yet in Japanese the country's (short) name is ブルネイ, not ブルナイ.

Wikipedia lists 4 ways of writing the country's name in 漢字 that all end with /ai/:

文莱 (ブンライ?)
文萊 (ブンライ?)
芠萊 (ブンライ?)
婆羅乃 (バラナイ?)

and the Simplified Chinese 文莱 (wénlái) and Traditional Chinese 汶萊 (wènlái). In Korean it's 브루나이 (beurunai).

Given all this, how did Japanese end up using ブルネイ?


texts:
Here is a sentence said by a boy who talked to an officer.

はてね　脱走未遂の罪は　たしか二週間ほどぶちこまれっぱなしときいていたが　まだ　十日やそこらしかたっていねえじゃんか

My translation as following, please also help me correct it if I'm wrong.

Well, I committed a crime of planning to escape from (in this case, a reformed school) so I have to be punished by being left (in this case, a room of repentance) for 2 weeks for sure, but it has not passed 10 days as yet.

I'm not sure if it means "or so".


texts: What is the difference between 判{わか}る and 分{わ}かる?

texts:
Until now, I though the only verb for "to know" was 分かる. I saw the verb 判る used for the same meaning today.

  判{わか}ってるから言{い}ったんだけどね。
  I knew that. That's why I said it.
  (source)

It has the same reading and verb conjugation, but is written with a different Kanji. What is the difference between these two?


texts:
There are two sentences I'm looking to combine together:

説明ありがとうございます。
教えていただいてありがとうございます。

The first follows the [noun] + ありがとう pattern, while the second follows the [te-form] + [いただいて] + ありがとう pattern. Would joining them together with と work, as in this?

説明と教えていただいてありがとうございます。


texts:
I studied that when there is a verb in negative form plus かなあ it means "I desire that", like in: 早く始まらないかなあ。

But, I came across this sentence: "見ないでくれないかなあ", which apparently means "I don't want you to see it". The problem is that I don't understand all these negative forms one after another, could somebody shed more light on this matter?


texts: 体操でもしてこよっと DB Chapter 2

texts:
This is Goku translated as: "Alright. Exercise time!".

体操 = excercise

でも = but

して = doing

こよっと = ??

I couldn't find any reference to understand でもして. Also the ending こよっと, I couldn't find it in any dictionary.


texts: What to say to in-law when their spouse has passed away

texts:
What would one say to their mother/father/brother/sister-in-law when their spouse has passed away?
「ご愁傷様でございます」「心からお悔やみ申し上げます」, which are the phrases one typically uses to convey their condolences, feels too distant but I am not sure there are other options available.


texts:
So, i was reading a podcast script and came across this sentence :

  はい、何に四苦八苦しています?　そんなの秒で答えられます。　コロナです

Does そんなの秒で答えられます mean something along the lines of i will answer you in a second ?


texts: When is it appropriate to say ご[機嫌]{きげん}よう?

texts: Denshi Jisho seems to imply that ご[機嫌]{きげん}よう is for really formal situations. I've only heard it spoken by older women, so I was just curious what the appropriate usage for this word is. Would it be awkward for it to appear in everyday speech?


texts: Help with understanding 「すそをはじく ように引っ張ると」 in sentence

texts:
The full sentence is this:

  撥水がすごいので屋内に入る前に着たまますそをはじくように引っ張ると水を払うことが出来る。

The part I am having trouble with is:

  すそをはじくように引っ張ると

Can anyone shed some light?


texts:
Consider the following:

良い yoi — 良く yoku
いい ii — よく yoku

When typing いい, IME offers 良い in the lookup table. It makes me wonder whether いい is just an alias of 良い but it is pronounced differently only in the dictionary form.
What is the difference between 良い and いい?


texts: Does this に particle affect the whole phrase?

texts:
I am confused about this sentence I found.

しかし彼が悪いヤツにはどうしても思えないのだ。

My take would be that に is used for an adverbial construction similar to "疑問に思う". So would "悪いヤツに思う" mean having a "bad-guy" feeling? Referring to this question asked before, you would use the を particle to mark the object you are having the feelings about, but it's が instead. Could に by itself encapsulate the whole phrase before it, i.e., "彼が悪いヤツ"? Or is there a part which is being omitted?


texts: How to say "X movies" that are movies about X

texts:
How do I say 'X movies' in Japanese? By this I mean a movie about X, not X made that movie. An example to illustrate what I mean is:

  There are a lot of Steve Jobs movies

It is clear that Steve Jobs himself did not make the movies. How I thought to phrase this would be スティーブ・ジョブズの映画。But doesn't this mean 'Steve Jobs' movies', indicating Steve Jobs is in possession of the movie?


texts:
I saw on a pic that said this phrase in my language is " I didn't mean to do it "
But when I google translate to English its said " It was not such a mental count " ???? So confused.


texts: なかったこと in なかったことにできますよ

texts:
それが私にとっての「写真を撮る」という行為の大前提だったし、いまでもそうだ。
  撮れた写真の背後には、膨大な量の、思うように撮れなかった写真や、シャッターを切る勇気がなく、存在すらできなかった写真がある。写真は偶然に撮れるが、撮れなかった写真に偶然はない。逆に、撮れなかった写真にこそ、撮る人間の本質が隠されている。
  デジタルの世界は私たちの目の前に、「消しますか？ あなたが望むなら、なかったことにできますよ」という禁断の選択を提示する。

May I know what  bolded sentence actually means?

  My attempted translation: Do you want to erase it? If you wish to, you
  can do something that you have not done.

But this sounds a little bit illogical, how can one do something that he/she has not done? Did I misunderstand the sentence?


texts:
While studying I came across this short 会話{かいわ}：

  A:　この本をもらってもいいですか？
  B:　ええ、いいですよ。どうぞ。

A was translated as: "Can I keep this book?" Now, I've learned that もらう means to receive (something). I would have thought that another word would be used for "keeping" or "taking ownership" of another object. Am I wrong?


texts: What would a differential translation be for 「先住民」 and 「先住民族」?

texts: I am trying to translate the phrase: 「先住民」又は「先住民族」 into English in referrence to international laws and treaties concerning indigenous people, and I am not certain what the difference is between the two, or at least how they would be translated differently in English.


texts: Meaning of もクソも in 何かもクソも寝るだけだよ

texts:
I know that ～もくそも（ない) is is an expression that can mean:  not at all; not even a little

However I'm still confused at what もクソも in 何かもクソも寝るだけだよ means.!


texts: What is the function of the は + ない structure in「初デートで本屋はないだろ」?

texts:
Context: https://streamable.com/det3c2

初デートで本屋はないだろ

what is the meaning of this は + ない?


texts: Hearing いらっしゃいませ when leaving the building. Why?

texts:
Whenever I leave my office building for lunch a guard in charge greets me (everyone) with a:

  お疲れさまです。いらっしゃいませ。

Edit: This is a recording of what I heard. Based on comments I received under this question and what I set my ears to hear, I do hear either いらっしゃいませ or いってらっしゃいませ when playing back.

Original question:

I am used to hearing the phrase いらっしゃいませ for "welcome" (explained to come from 居る "be" or or 来る "come"), but in this case I am leaving, it's not my destination and I won't spend more than a second hanging around the guard.

Why isn't it odd? If it's indeed いらっしゃいませ what image should I create in my mind when told so? Me coming to the guard's place, me leaving the building, me being, me leaving and coming back?


texts: Which verb does くらい modify in this sentence?

texts:
Which verb does the phrase ending with くらい modify in the following sentence?

  気の遠くなるくらい　むこうにある何か見つめて

Does it modify the ある or the 見つめる?
So is it

  He is staring at something that is overwhelmingly far away, ...

or

  He is staring at something far away to the point that he becomes overwhelmed, ...

Or maybe both of these translations are off? In situations like this when two verb follow くらい, is there a general rule which verb is modified by it or does it depend on context?

For context, here is the entire passage:

  必死にただ闇雲に空に手を伸ばして
  あんなに大きなカタマリを打ち上げて
  気の遠くなるくらい　むこうにある何か見つめて
  遠野くんが他の人と 違って見える理由が 少しだけ分かった気がした。


texts: I don't understand こちらは手が出せないのをいいことにやりたい放題だ。

texts:
From:

今日もようやく長い一日が終わった。この屋敷で働き始めて今日で三年になるが、ここの仕事は本当に辛い。旦那様と奥様はお優しいのだが、お嬢様がとても厳しく、理不尽な方だ。気に入らないことがあればすぐに怒鳴り、殴ってくる。こちらは手が出せないのをいいことにやりたい放題だ。

The text might be a bit above my Japanese skill...I'm around N4 level.

But anyway, this chapter has been fan-translated, so I did have something to check it against. The translator translates the final sentence as: "I’m just a nice maid girl who can only smile politely while receiving such abuse."

But I'm not sure how this connects with the original Japanese. Although, I'm pretty sure what I'm failing to understand has something to do with the use of いいこと.

The best I've been able to come up with in understanding the spirit of the original Japanese is: "As much as it would serve her right, I'm just a maid, so I can't raise my hand against her."

I'm still confused as to how the first clause relates to the second clause through the を particle, though.

Thanks!


texts:
How can I interpret できた in this paragraph:

  昨日、リング上でも言いましたが、最高の空間を作って下さった会場のお客様に、感謝しますよ。まあ、最終戦の13日・両国大会に限らず、全大会、素晴らしい雰囲気の中、素晴らしい空間の中で試合ができたと思いますし、過去最高の『G1 CLIMAX』だったんじゃないかなとボクは思ってます。
  Naito ‘I said as much in the ring last night, but I’m honestly grateful for all the fans for the atmosphere they all created in Ryogoku. But that’s not limited to the last match yesterday. This G1 I was able to put on amazing matches in front of amazing audiences every night. I think this was the best G1 Climax of all time.

I don't know if the subject is the public (会場のお客様) that produced the ambience for the matches, or the event itself (全大会) that produced the matches. Or should I interpret できた as "ended" like in:

  The matches ended with a wonderful atmosphere for the whole event


texts: How to parse the proverb [艱難]{かんなん}[汝]{なんじ}を[玉]{たま}にす?

texts:
I found this particular proverb on WWWJDIC when I looked up for なんじ : [艱難]{かんなん}[汝]{なんじ}を[玉]{たま}にす. It is translated into English as: Hardship makes the man.

How do we parse the proverb? I know 艱難 {かんなん} means "hardship". But 汝 {なんじ} means "thou" (archaic 'you') so what nuance does it contribute when suffixed to 艱難? And does 玉 {たま} mean jewel or actually refer to the family jewels? And what about にす, is it an archaic verb, or simply abbreviation of にする? How are all these in the end summed up as "hardship makes the man"?


texts: What are the plastic meals featured in restaurants called?

texts: I can point at the food that I would like to order, because there is a plastic representation of it. Is it called purasuchikku shokuji?


texts: Why does 生 change pronunciation. e.g. 生 = nama but 生きて＝ ikite

texts: I am currently teaching myself japanese and I was listening to a japanese song and one of the words in that song was 生きて and as I am learning, I wanted to see what the first letter meant (or radical, whatever its called) and saw it is pronounced "nama" but when in the 生きてform is pronounced as "i". Why is this and how exactly should i know what to say if it changes?


texts: My friend which are Japanese always says きたー when he did something finished, then I asked him the meaning behind it. He said that it was similar よっす！ that kind of expression that you already did something clearly. But again, even my friend are Japanese, and can speak english, sometimes I doubt with his explanation because he always explain it on his own english version (which I found there are many mistaken here and there for word-choice). So what is the actual mean of that word?


texts:
I saw those words in the textbook Marugoto A1. There is no explanation, just some examples of those stores (すしや、うどんや、ピザや).

The ーさん ending suggest that is a person, maybe the person that cooks that dish.


texts:
This sentence ending has started to creep up more and more in my current Japanese classes, and I'm still a bit unsure what all it can mean, how to use it, or even when I should think to use it. My Japanese teacher in a previous class mentioned that it can be used to "give emotion" to a statement or to inform the listener of new knowledge. Something along those lines. But I'd love a more formal explanation.

What does it mean?
Is there a particular usage pattern to follow?
What are some good examples of the various uses of this pattern, and how would they compare to the same sentences, only without んです?


texts: Two different polite forms of the conditional conjugation

texts:
I've noticed some dictionaries give two different results for the polite form of the conditional form, I'll use the verb 戦う for example.

I am familiar with 戦いませば but not with 戦いますれば.

Some dictionaries give just one, others give both.

Is there a difference in these two in anyway?

Are both frequently used?


texts:
The whole sentence is:

  子どもたちは小さな雪だるまを作って、楽しそうに遊んでいました。

What is the role of そうに in this sentence?


texts: Natural way of saying "Once you take away the unnecessary bits, it works"

texts:
In my earlier question "Line of code" in Japanese I was trying to figure out a word for the following sentence:

  余計【よけい】な行【ぎょう】を抜く【ぬく】と状況【じょうきょう】が直った【なおった】。 "Once the unnecessary lines were removed, things worked properly."

In the exchange that followed, it was pointed out that while the intended meaning is discernible, it has a distinctly translated-into-Japanese feeling.  What is a better way of  expressing my intent per the translation above?


texts: Do you use あります or います when talking about a sports team?

texts: I know you use いる to talk about living things, but is a team separate from its players enough to refer to it as a non-living thing?


texts:
I usually do not ask a question here unless after trying multiple times I am still stumped and admit defeat.
I understand that かわりもしない would mean "has not changed even a single bit" putting emphasize on the verb as part of the negative, but I do not know the meaning of this も in a positive.
For now I tentatively understand かわりもします here to mean either "he has definitely changed" (ie, emphasis) or "he has changed, among other things" (meaning of 'also' implying other things in addition) but I don't know which or if it's something else altogether.
<img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yxz7D.png" alt="市川：…かわったわね、アキラくん…
広瀬：そりゃあかわりもしますよ。今までライバルらしいライバルなんかいなかったんだもの" />


texts: Understanding the use of だった in this sentece

texts:
あの人はいい人はいいだったけれど頑固だったね

I think I understand that だった but Im not completly sure, is it implied that Its refering to 人? Can you say よかった instead?


texts: Basic Grammar - の particle as an explanation

texts:
I'm an absolute Japanese learning beginner. I came across this confusing sentence while I was reading a grammar guide book. Please help me :
飲むんだ。
I understand that の is substituted by ん as we speak, but I'm not sure what's the exact meaning of the whole sentence. "I drunk" or is it only an adjective and if so, what does it mean ?


texts:
I realized when looking for the kanji for chopsticks that you can actually find 2 versions of the 箸 kanji (see for example 箸 (Jisho) or 箸 (Jitenon)). Namely, there is sometimes a little stroke above the 日 part of the kanji. Whether or not this stroke is present seems to depend on the font used, maybe it is just a mistake implemented in some fonts.

Does anyone has information about that? Is there a right and a wrong way to write this kanji?


texts: What does 血路 mean in this passage? Is it actually Blood Road?

texts:
What does 血路 mean in this passage?
From here:

照らし出す血路に　指先を絡めてく
Terashidasu ketsuro ni yubisaki wo karameteku
In the shining path out, we entwine our fingers

Did the translation just remove the 血 and translate only 路?


texts: Help to choose answer that fit paragraph context

texts:
I want help with the following paragraph:

最終的に私が出版を決断した理由はただ一つ、
本書を手に取ってくださった方が、改めて物語の魅力を確認し、
物語の役割に目覚め、「ああ、本を
a. 読めば
b. 読むことは
c. 読んでいれば
d. 読んでいる人は
何と素晴らしいことであろうか」と思ってくれたら、との願いが
a. ありました
B. あったというのです
C. あったからなのです。
D. あったはずなのです

I wonder why the answer is 読むことは-> is this grammar relate answer? If i answer 読めば is it wrong?
The last part the answer is あったからなのです is this because との願いが->との=という？ That's why あったというのです -> wrong answer?

Entire paragraph --
最終的に私が出版を決断した理由はただ一つ、本書を手に取ってくださった方が、改めて物語の魅力を確認し、物語の役割に目覚め、「ああ、本を読むことは何と素晴らしいことであろうか」と思ってくれたら、との願いがあったからなのです。

もし他所の星から来た生物が、本を読んでいる人間を見たらどう思うだろう、と私は想像することがあります。小さな箱型の紙の束を手に、ただじっと座っているだけで、あるいは寝転がっているだけで、時折、一枚紙がめくられる以外変化はなく、ただ静かに時間が過ぎてゆく。いくら辛抱強く待っていても、何か新しい製品が生み出されるわけでもない。一体何の得があって人間たちはこんな地味な営みをしているのか？きっとそんな風に首を傾げるのではないでしょうか。

その時人間の心がどれほど劇的に揺さぶられているか、それは目に見えません。効果を数字によって測ることも不可能です。だからこそかけがえがないのだ、自分が自分であるための大切な証明になるのだ、ということを、くどいくらいに繰り返し語っているのが、 → refer to what? Reading a book?
a.本書です
b.理由です
c.本書で明らかになります
d.本書の中で言いたいことです。

First paragraph the author decide to publish his work(?) and the reason is because he want people who read his book to think that reading a book is wonderful thing(?)
Maybe its about how wonderful is reading a book(?) and its about people who wait next publication of book(?)
地味な営みをしている->読書=地味？？
The author wondering about 宇宙人 who see people on earth reading book and wondering what's profit ppl will get by reading a book (?)(?)(?)(?)
How exciting something is(?) cannot be seen through eyes neither measure by number. Dont get the point
Last part the answer is 本書です
First i thought that the answer is 本書の中で言いたいことです


texts:
In this wiki: https://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/うらめしい, the word "恨めしい" is simply explained as "憎らしい" in one of its items.

Are there any differences?


texts:
50 second short interview. Since I am doing this myself and I'm not a native Japanese speaker, Japanese transcript may not be 100% accurate. Ocarina of Time Japanese Promo

-Shigeru Miyamoto interview-

10:35-11:25/43:00

  こんにちは。任天堂の宮本です。
  Hello. I'm Shigeru Miyamoto, from Nintendo.

  え、本当に長い間お待たせしました。
  Sorry for making you wait for so long.

  やっと「ゼルダの伝説」が完成いたしました。
  We've finally finished another Zelda game.

  基本的にはその10年前のゲームといっしょです。
  It has the same atmosphere of the game released 10 years ago.
  (Fundamentally it is the same as the game of 10 years ago.)

  けどもそれが３Ｄで、いろんなアイテムが３次元の中で動いていくこととかで、全然違う使い方になったりですね。
  けどもそれが３Ｄで、いろんなアイテムが３次元の中で合意ということとかで、全然違う使い方になったりですね。
  But many items are used in a completely different way now in 3-D.

  非常に発展してきています。
  It has evolved a lot.

  ゲーム時間はおそらく、今までのゼルダの中で最高になると思います。
  I think this game may be the longest of all Zelda titles to date.

  50時間を保証します。あと同じか 遊ぶかは面白させたいということで、かなりボリュームのあるゲームになっているはずです。
                 あとな時間 遊ぶかは面白(い)させたいということで、かなりボリュームのあるゲームになっているはずです。
  I can guarantee 50 hours, plus some more hours just for fun. It's a game with a lot of content.

  映画のようで映画でなく、ゲームのようでゲームでな、本当に触れる映像ということをテーマに作ってきました。
  It's not like a movie and it's not like a game either. We truly wanted to develop interactive graphics.

  とても楽しい世界が出来上がりましたので、皆さんで楽しんでください。
  We've created a very fun world. Everyone, please enjoy it.


texts:
I am looking at the following problem:

  自分の考えに自信を持ち、これで良いのだと自分に言いきかせるだけは充分ではない。他の人の考えにも、肯定的な姿勢を(  　)しなくてはならない。どんなものでもその気になって探せば、必ずいいところがある。それを称揚する....

The four possible answers are :

a. とるように
b. とられるように
c. とらせるように
d. とらされるように

The book says the answer is とるように. Why doesn't the 受け身 work？

他の人の考えにも、肯定的な姿勢をとるようにしなくてはならない-> we have to adopt another person positive attitude and consider what they think(?)


texts: Can we optionally include (or exclude) an を particle in between the noun of the する-verb and the する itself?

texts:
When we have a する verb (e.g. 支{し}度{たく}する、案{あん}内{ない}する、心{しん}配{ぱい}する), is it true that we could optionally insert an を particle in between the noun and the する?

Because in the example sentences here and here, we can see this usage (the usage of を particle appearing between the noun and the する).

So basically am I right to say that for all する verbs, we can optionally include (or exclude) an を particle in between the noun and the する?

If not, how exactly should we decide whether or not to include that を? I mean I know with a lot of usage we will just know it, but are there any rules that we can apply here?


texts:
recently I started watching samurai champloo & someone asked mugen for his name.
he answered: ムゲンだけど
I was wondering what the role of だけど in this context was. I thought maybe it's the same as adding "..." after mugen in English.


texts:
I'm constantly practicing and creating new japanese phrases in my head, so far it has been easy to speak it, although without a computer it's hard to write the alphabets, I get confused with all the Kanjis, Hiragana and Katakana, I do know how to distinguish them but sometimes I can't read them, especially the Kanjis, therefore, I wrote this sentence and I'd like to know if it was correct.

  明日私達は映画をみる私はみきーちゃんを好きですでもみきーちゃんは私をすきじゃない。
  Tomorrow we'll watch a movie, I like Miki-chan but Miki-chan doesn't like me.

About this sentence I'd like to know if I can put another は instead of でも, I heard that I can use は to emphasize the phrase following it. Is it correct?


texts:
When exactly do we use うれしい(ureshii) and たのしい(tanoshii)
Ureshii - glad , pleasant
Tanoshii - happy

Ureshii is when you see someone being happy
Is ureshii also with event already happened


texts:
魔力で刃を編んだレイザーブレイドタイプの<カレドヴルフ>に比べ、実剣の表面を魔力で覆うタイプの<ヴォルフテイル>は、その構造上どうしても最大出力値ーー要は一撃の威力に劣る。

I know the pattern「AがBに劣る」means “A is inferior to B”. But in this context it doesn’t seem to be the case. So what would be the function of に here?


texts:
韓服 literally translates as hanbok (which in turn literally translates as Korean clothing), and チマチョゴリ literally translates as chima jeogori, which in turn literally translates as a chima skirt plus a jeogori top, but when do Japanese-speakers use 韓服, and when do they use チマチョゴリ?

A native speaker of Japanese said that チマチョゴリ is more commonly used than 韓服. Is that true? I suspect that in English, hanbok is more commonly used than chima jeogori, based on personal experience plus google hits.

In Japanese, would you say "She wore a hanbok" using 韓服, or チマチョゴリ? If the latter, would a man wearing a hanbok be described as wearing a パジチョゴリ (baji jeogori)?

I'm mainly concerned with what's used in normal conversation, rather than technical correctness.


texts:
From a book about space:

  近年になり、観測技術の向上や大きなプロジェクトとして取り組まれるようになって、惑星の存在の確認が待たれていたのです。

And from a ghost story:

  そんな訳で、小学生の頃は友達と学校帰りや家に帰ってから山へ入り、虫取りや秘密基地を作ったりして泥だらけになるまで遊んでいました。

The や seems like some kind of "and" but I can't quite grasp how it's working grammatically in these situations. What is this? (not 100% sure these are even the same grammar, but they appear similar)

I know や in the sense of 「トマトやオレンジが好きです」but I fail to see the connection between that grammar and these sentences, if there is any.


texts: I know that it means that the person don't really care, but the sample sentence I keep seeing with it, 私の忠告にどこ吹く風という顔だ, doesn't really make clear how it's meant to be used. Anyone have any clues?


texts:
レベルが高い大学なので、簡単に合格できない。

Which of the following has the closest meaning with レベルが高い in this context?

授業料が高い
高級な
難しい

Putting aside number 1, both 2 and 3 seem correct. But usually 高級 refers to the quality of goods and services, and while この大学の入学が難しい might sound correct, I don't know about 難しい大学.


texts:
What's the meaning of にあたって/にあたり? How can I translate it?
For example, how can I translate it in these sentences:

留学するにあたって受けた説明は、とても役に立った。

「討論を始めるにあたり、ちょっと注意をしておきます。」


texts:
「くじけずに、前を向きたい」
I can't find this word in vocabulary, but somebody me said that its meaning "Don't give up" or "Work hard". But I'm not sure in it.
  If it's truth, the sentence must be "Don't give up, I want to be suitable for you"? or maybe correctly "Don't give up, I want to see(to meet?) you"
Thanks for answer


texts: わける vs 振り分ける -- What is the ふり doing here?

texts:
Consider the following example:

divide the main folder into sub folders (in case of mail)
フォルダを振り分ける
フォルダをわける

What I want to know is why do we add "ふり"? Why can't we just use "フォルダをわけて"?


texts:
In the manga I'm reading, there's a part that I can't decipher if the character is Ya or Yu. I tried searching, かなまや or かなまゆ, but there seem to be no such word.

The context before the statement was said is that the female protagonists thinks that she's stronger than the male protagonist. But she is not definitely sure because, the male protagonist always refuses to have a fighting match with her. In this statement the female protagonist is so angry to the point of grabbing the male protagonist in the collar and is challenging him to have a fight with her. But the male protagonist just keeps on declining.

I place the screenshot of the manga below.


texts: Teaching the difference between "see" and "she" in English

texts:
I've been teaching ESL for over 30 years, but for the last three I've had almost exclusively Japanese students (I teach mostly 1-on-1 classes over Skype, to students from High School to Business Executives.) I'm also a professional linguist and somewhat of a hyperglot, but very much still a dilettante when it comes to Japanese. My question is this:

Is there any way using kana to represent the unpalatalized /s/ before /i/ or /ɪ/? When Japanese students read /si/, most of them invariably pronounce /ʃi/ because... well, you know why. I have many workarounds and ways of demonstrating the difference, but I thought it might be a truckload easier if there were a way of demonstrating this unequivocally so that when they saw it, the light would go on immediately.

事前にありがとうございます!


texts: How should I select what first-person pronoun to use?

texts: I've always had trouble choosing which first person pronoun to use - 私 (watashi), 僕 (boku), or 俺 (おれ). What kind of factors should I keep in mind when choosing between these? Is it common to vary one's choice by the social context, or do people tend to select one and stick with it all the time?


texts: Can なら be used as "rather than do..." by itself, without くらい？

texts:
So instead of

  再度感じるくらいなら　死んだほうがマ

use

  再度感じる**なら（むしろ）**死んだほうがマジ


texts: Can anyone please tell me what this character is? I've typically never struggle with identifying kanji, but I've been stuck on this for hours.


texts:
I have this sentence:

  仕事のあと、私のパワーは完全に消え、勉強しようというモチベーションは湧いてこない

which means:

  After work, my energy completely vanishes and I don’t have any motivation to study.

But I don't know what いう means in 勉強しようというモチベ...


texts: Help understanding some corrections on my sentences made using あげる、くれる, もらう

texts:
my japanese friend corrected some sentences I made and unfortunately can't speak the greatest english so I was looking for some explanation. I made the following sentences. I recently learned about て＋あげる、くれる、もらう and so I set out to make some sentences.

毎朝、犬にボールを持ってくれました -> 毎朝, 犬はボールを持ってきてくれました

The right is the correction she made. From my understanding my book says that に marks the person who receives. So my sentence should actually be 毎朝、犬は私にボールを持ってくれました right?
I have not learned the きて grammar after the て form yet, but I looked up briefly an explanation, is it necessary here?

毎朝、犬は私にバボールを持ってもらいました, my friend says this sounds weird and 持ってきてもらいました sounds much better, did I make this sentence correctly?

友達に掃除を手伝ってあげました -> 友達の掃除を手伝ってあげました。
Do we not need to use the に here? To identify that I am doing a favor for my friend by helping him clean?

兄は弟にお金を貸してくれました -> 兄は弟にお金を貸しました.
Im not exactly sure whats wrong with this sentence I made. Although her correction makes sense to me.


texts: Problem parsing this sentence, particle (postposition) の

texts:
(中尉は）両手で刃｛やいば｝を腹｛はら｝の奥深く押さえつけながら、引き廻して行かねばならぬのを知った。

My trouble lies with

  刃を腹の奥深く押さえつける

If I consider 奥深く to act as adverbial form of 奥深い, then I don't know what is modified by 腹の: taking の　助詞 to work in attributive role modifies nouns, and there is no noun here; taking の to work as an agent case marker doesn't make sense to me, as there is nothing for 腹 to act upon.

Taking 奥 as a noun doesn't make sense either because it's missing a case marker, something like

  刃を腹の奥に深く押さえつける　（with に in allative role)

In other words, how does の work here?

A bit more if necessary for context:

中尉は右手でそのまま引き廻そうとしたが、刃先は腹｛はらわた｝にからまり、ともすると刀は柔らかい弾力で押し出されて来て、両手で刃を腹の奥深く押さえつけながら、引き廻して行かねばならぬのを知った。


texts: If I form a group of people who plan to study photography together, and I want to name that group "Photography Study" or call it a "photography study group," what word should I use for "study" in both of those contexts?


texts: というものでもない vs. というわけではない

texts:
I recently saw the sentence on a grammar example site:

多ければよいというものでもない。

From this example, it seems that this sentence means the same thing:

多ければよいというわけじゃない。

Do these sentence in fact mean the same thing? Are there any differences between "というものでもない" and "というわけじゃない・というわけではない"?


texts: What is an appropriate translation of 親和感?

texts:
In 1970, Masahiro Mori proposed the theory of the Uncanny Valley, which states that

  "when human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers."

English translations (like the above linked Wikipedia article) depict Mori's Uncanny Valley in graph form as a function of human likeness versus familiarity, which is an odd term to use, as a low familiarity would not be expected to cause revulsion in the common use of the word.

In his original article, Mori used the term 親和感. I have translated 親和 to friendship, fellowship according to Denshi Jisjo and 感 seems to mean sense of.

However, sense of friendship still doesn't seem like a particularly adequate translation. I am wondering if there are any other interpretations/translations of the term that Mori could have had in mind.


texts:
お客：寿司を五人前届けてもらいたいんですが。
寿司屋：かしこまりました。

Is 前 being used as a counter word here? If so, what meaning of 前 is being assumed as a counter--perhaps the serving placed "before" a person?


texts: Old fashioned grammar structure?　「きいてみたくてならなかった」

texts:
I just read the short story 高瀬舟 and I got a bit confused by this sentence:

  ［...］庄兵衛、まだどこやらに腑に落ちぬものが残っているので、なんだかお奉行さまにきいてみたくてならなかった。

In particular the last part of it, きいてみたくてならなかった

きいてみたい + くて + なる-in-negative-past-tense-form

In this some old fashioned form of きいかなくてはならない ?
By the flow of the story I claim it means something like "I have to ask the magistrate ...", but I am not entirely sure if this is really correct.


texts:
The following is a JLPT N4 question:

  旅行の荷物はもう___できました.
  １。 やくそく　２。りよう　３。せわ　４。ようい

I don't really understand the meaning of the sentence.

Is it "I was already able to do the preperations for the trip" as in "I already did the preperations"? But then できました doesn't neccessarily mean potential?

Or is it "I was able to do the preperations (even though I didn't do them)"? Since then the sentence just sounds odd, doesn't it?

(The correct answer according to the answer key is 4 by the way)


texts:
In a song I was listening to, there was the sentence:

  僕はＥ缶だけは最後までとっておく

With the given translation:

  I will only take the E-Tank at the very last moment.

I don't understand why だけ comes before は, since は seems to apply to Ｅ缶. It seems strange to me, I would expect: Ｅ缶は, i.e. I'm going to say something about Ｅ缶. Which is the case in the song. But with Ｅ缶だけは it seems like something is said about "only E-can". i.e. "I will take only the E-can at the end", instead of "I will take the E-can only at the end". Where the thing that "only" applies to changes.

Why does だけ come between は and the noun? Is this perhaps something that is done to make the song sound better?


texts: What is the difference between それでも and ところが?

texts: I think both mean "Even so" or "nevertheless"


texts:
ボクラなんて、印象に残らないだろうね、
  People like us probably don't make an impression.

I belive 残る is intransitive so I suppose the literal translation is more like "For people like us an impression is probably not left".

I don't understand why the particle に is used here. Why is it not が? How would the sentence change if I replaced に with が?


texts:
The first sentence below is just for context.The second is where my problems lie.

  日産は、工場から日本の店に車を出すのをしばらく止めると発表しました。
  Nissan announced that, for a while, it will stop sending cars, from the factories where the safety inspectors are unqualified, to Japanese shops.
  そして、車の検査をする場所には資格がある人以外入ることができないようにするなど、同じ問題が起こらないようにする方法を考えます。
  And, they will make sure that no one who isn't qualified can enter the places where the cars are inspected など they are thinking of ways to make sure that the same problem won't happen.

I have three problems with my translation of the second sentence. Point 1 is my main problem but I'm uncomfortable about the other two points.

I Have no idea how など is supposed to link these two parts. Is this a bit like たり?
入る has no subject. Am I right to assume it is just an implied 'no one', or have I mis-parsed the clause?
The final clause feels incomplete. I would expect words like 'again' or 'in the future'.


texts: What is the term for a word which can be written with one kanji or two kanji but where the meaning is the same?

texts:
I'm asking mostly about verbs like 陥る / 落ち入る though I'd also be interested in nouns and adjectives.

I'm not really looking for synonyms, more words where the meaning and pronunciation are the same but the kanji changes. I know there are instances of this though I don't know what it's called and ideally I'd like some more examples.


texts: Confusion with に、を、と particles used with verbs like 感じる

texts:
Consider this sentence:

  私は試験のために勉強しなかったことが残念に感じる。I feel regret that I didn't study for the exam.

1.Why is the に particle used instead of と?

I have read the answer to this post which considers how 感じる can be used with the を, と and に particles under different circumstances. But I still have trouble understanding it.

In this part of the answer:

  "4. When it appears to take に, the に particle is actually marking an adverb. This happens with transitive and intransitive uses of the verb."

I interpret this to mean that 残念に would be translated as "regrettably" into an adverb. So 残念に感じる means "to feel regrettably". If I translated it literally: "I regrettably feel that I didn't study for the exam."

But why is it also wrong to use と in the sentence above if it is a "defining or quotative" particle?

Here is my interpretation of the answer to the post but I am not too confident, correct me if I'm wrong (I numbered my questions in this section respectively):

を can only be used in circumstances where the person has a:

physical sense: e.g. 揺れるのを感じた、風を感じる
spider sense: e.g. 将来に不安を感じる、彼は生命の危険を感じた

と is used as a "quotation/sound or manner adverbial" phrase

(I have trouble understanding how と particle is used the most)

Used as a spider sense: 彼は何かを隠していると感じた (2. does this mean that 彼は何かを隠しているのを感じた is also correct?)

3.But what about this sentence? Is に or を also correct in this case?

  良書を読むというも幸せと感じる。I feel content in reading good books.

4.What are other cases where you can only use the と particle with 感じる?

に (or i-adjectives + く) is only used as an adverb to express emotional sense

その時，初めて母の愛を深く感じた。

と cannot be used with verbs that only express a knowledge/forgetting of facts. e.g. 忘れる、思い出す、知る.

But it can be used with verbs that can express feeling or belief e.g. 分かる、信じる、思う、考える

However, considering something from my previous post

  私はあなたがいつも忙しいと分かっています。

5.Would it be incorrect to use the adverb rule as stated above?

  私はあなたがいつも忙しく分かっています。

I might have answered my own question already but I am still not too confident of my interpretation. I would appreciate further clarification on how these particles are used with these kinds of verbs, and some examples would be great.

Apologies for the long post, I did my best to keep it as brief and organized as I could. I hope this makes sense.


texts: How to choose the reading of 埋{う}める and 埋{うず}める?

texts:
埋める has two possible readings 埋{う}める and 埋{うず}める.

Of course kanjis have tons of inconsistencies. While (same furigana / same okurigana / different kanji / different meaning), such as 熱{あつ}い and 厚{あつ}い, is standard fare, what about (different furigana / same okurigana / same kanji / ??? meaning), such as 埋{う}める and 埋{うず}める?

the writer writes the furigana?
the reader gets to choose the difference in nuance by reading it as うずめる or うめる?
I'm sure that there are a few more cases such 埋める in the 常用漢字. Are the differences in meaning for each such pair always so great that only one of the readings is appropriate? Therefore, context always dictates which reading to use?

I totally don't understand this. thanks.


texts: How does なんていう + のも function in this sentence?

texts:
その龍が神様だ、なんていうのもウソくさいし、うちみたいな田舎の占い屋が、人間界の代表であることもウソくさい。

My translation:

  "That dragon is a god - this is what I'd call a sham, as is some rural fortuneteller being the god's representative for the human realm."

I'm not too sure. I want to keep the main idea intact. I'm learning how to translate and localize text.

A breakdown of this sentence would be extremely helpful.

Thank you!


texts: Can I use a Chinese newspaper to learn kanji radicals and maybe some kanji?

texts:
Upon looking for ways on how to start learning kanji, I have found that many people recommend learning the radicals first.
After exposing myself to the radicals, I plan on practicing by spotting them in kanji in texts. Although I can use the Internet, I prefer things I can hold (books, newspapers, magazines, etc...), but there are no Japanese "things I can hold" near where I live!
There is, however, a Chinese supermarket I frequently visit and it has tons of free newspapers. So my question is, can I use these newspapers for my practice on spotting radicals and maybe learning some new kanji OR is learning "Japanese" from a Chinese newspaper a bad idea?
EDIT: I know about the ON and the KUN-readings of kanji, but I am not concerned about them yet. I just want to know whether majority of the kanji in Chinese texts are also found in Japanese texts.


texts: The meaning of いた in this sentence related to be left surviving

texts:
The whole sentence is:

  だが、偶然にも生き残ったサイア人たちがいた。

Could it be:

  However, fortuitously surviving sayajins remained.

In this case, this いた is the past of 居る? If this right, 居る could have the reading "to remain" or "the be left" in this case?

Thanks.


texts: What is the use of て-form at the end of this sentence?

texts:
何かヒーロー友に守られ血を流させて。

I interpret this sentence from the manga 「僕のヒーローアカデミア」to mean "Some hero I am, making my friends spill blood to protect me." However, I have two questions:

What is the use of the te-form of 流させる at the end of the sentence? Usually, when I see the te-form alone, I assume it's a request (i.e. shortened form of 〜てください), but I don't see how this quote could be construed as such. It's part of a character's inner monologue.

Also, though not my main question, is it acceptable to drop the る from 守られる as is done above?


texts: Why is 左必之佐 read as サビシサ in 万葉集 entry 3734?

texts:
Entry 3734 of the 万葉集 reads as follows1:

  等【ト】保【ホ】伎【キ】山【やま】 世【セ】伎【キ】毛【モ】故【コ】要【エ】伎【キ】奴【ヌ】 伊【イ】麻【マ】左【サ】良【ラ】尓【ニ】 安【ア】布【フ】倍【ベ】伎【キ】与【ヨ】之【シ】能【ノ】 奈【ナ】伎【キ】我【ガ】佐【サ】夫【ブ】之【シ】佐 【サ】

Transcribed in more modern Japanese style, this reads:

  遠【とほ】き山【やま】関【せき】も越【こ】え来【き】ぬ今【いま】さらに逢【あ】ふべきよしのなきが寂【さぶ】しさ

It is noted that in certain 万葉集 transcriptions, the last four characters are transcribed as 左【サ】必【ビ】之【シ】佐 【サ】 （寂【さび】しさ）. However, what interests me about this alternate transcription is that the 万葉仮名 used for ビ is devoiced; generally it is read as 必【ヒ】. I do understand that, at least for the subsequent thousand years or so, the marking of voicing was inconsistent at best, but I was under the impression that in 上代特殊仮名遣【じょうだいとくしゅかなづかい】, a distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants was in use.

So why is this read as ビ? Am I wrong that a 清濁 distinction is in use generally within the 万葉集?

Note: incidentally, every other usage of 必【ヒ】 in the 万葉集 is devoiced. Sadly, the reference above is the only usage of サビシ in the 万葉集.

References

1 http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/manyoshu/Man15Yo.html

Note: I originally mistakenly claimed that the 万葉仮名「夫」 was normally read as 夫【フ】. This is not true and I have updated the question to reflect this.


texts:
A Japanese friend of mine explained to me that many people often incorrectly use the honorific お in the example sentence. The correct sentence is without the お.

I have two questions regarding this point, has anyone seen, or heard this mistake? Secondly, can anyone explain the rule that is governing this particular part of language and why the お is incorrect in this case.


texts:
Seems that I stuck with modifying a noun again, in the following sentence is it only「破壊し尽す」 modifying 「背徳の欲望」 or both verbs 「玩弄し、破壊し尽す」 ?

  浮世離れした幼い少女を思うさま玩弄し、破壊し尽す背徳の欲望が掻き立てられてやまない。

Full sentences: http://s.vndb.org/sf/17/17217.jpg


texts: Why does this sentence has a negative connotation and what does 外れ mean in this context?

texts:
I came across this sentence "予報外れの雨が降った" in a manga, and it's translated as: " It rained despite the forecast for today". Few things I want to ask:
First, a look up in the dict tells me that "外れ" means "edge, outskirts", but that combined with "雨" doesn't make sense to me.
Second, I don't get where the structure "despite" stems from. I initially thought it meant "I predict that...", but it turned out completely different. Is there a contraction of some sort going on here?


texts: Is omou transitive verb or intransitive?

texts: I learned that it's transitive from a dictionary but i can't see any "を" before the word 思うthat's why I'm not completely convinced that it's transitive. Is it intransitive or is there exceptions?


texts: Difference between かわいいのは私です and かわいいの私です?

texts:
Can someone check and explain the difference, along with literal translations, between these two sentences for me?

かわいいのは私です and かわいいの私です.

I got the former as an answer to one of my questions and came up with the latter after reading an article about no-adjectives. I believe they both mean the same thing, but I'm not too sure because of the は particle and when given more context.

Thanks!


texts: What is a シドギャ? ギャ doesn't mean girl, does it?

texts:
At first I thought ギャ meant girl, but after doing some googling, that doesn't appear to be what it is. What is シドギャ?

シドギャ is related to the band シド, the most popular Visual Kei rock band in Japan for all of you who don't know.


texts:
In lots of contracts I see the word 支払.
When should one use 支払 instead of 支払い?


texts:
So, we have the kanji 上・下 which can be read as either かみ・しも or うえ・した, and as I understand it, those two are antonym pairs. But what are the differences between the two?

The thesaurus isn't very helpful. For instance, it says, for うえ

  何かとくらべて高い方の位置、場所。

and for かみ it says

  位置が高いこと。また、ひと続きのものの初め。川では上流、和歌などでは前半をいう。

If I understand this correctly, this is saying that うえ is simply the place or position above some reference level, while かみ is the state of being above, or the start of a series. But the dictionary entry for かみ goes on to give definitions like

  位置の高い所。

which bring it right back into the territory of うえ, or at least very close. It almost looks like the distinction is supposed to be relative vs absolute, but this just confuses me since, at least in my mind, above/below are inherently relative.

Question. What are the differences between かみ・しも and うえ・した? Are there minimal pairs illustrating these differences?


texts: Can you omit the action when using と and help understanding/parsing this sentence

texts:
『監視されているみたいだ』と不評の声も多い見回りだけど, 案外さっきみたいな事柄のためにやっているのかもしれないな。

The complete sentence is given above. As the title has said, can you omit the action when using と? From some sentences I've seen, an action verb often accompanies と when used with direct quotes. I am aware of って being used as a casual quoting particle where we can omit other parts of the sentence but can that also be applied for と when used with direct quotes?

If that is so then, would it go『監視されているみたいだ』という不評の声... and mean something like

  "The numerous watchmen are also like the (unpopular) voices saying 'It seems like we're being watched' but/and..."

Like a simile/metaphor? My attempt at translation would then be (not that it makes much sense)

  "The numerous watchmen are also like the (unpopular) voices saying 'It seems like we're being watched' and It might be because of unexpected things like earlier happening."

Maybe I'm misinterpreting the と？ I haven't had much experience with sentences like this and even with context I could barely understand the statement. This sentence is probably way above what my current abilities are capable of understanding and that any help pointing me in the right direction would be appreciated.

For some context, the previous scene was showing the student council doing their routine patrol when they stumbled upon an incident involving the speaker and the current scene is a narration.


texts:
I ran into the following sentence in a video game called 善人シボウデス:

俺の腕は暴力的なまでの勢いで、後方に向かって手{た}繰{ぐ}り寄{よ}せられた。

I decided to look online, and I found similar examples, some of which used に rather than の:

危険なまでに美しい
異常なまでのこだわり

Dictionaries describe まで as a particle.  Depending on the usage and which dictionary you check, it seems to be described as a 副助詞, or sometimes as a 格助詞 or 終助詞.
It looks to me, though, like まで is a noun that means ほど in these examples.  I think I could substitute ほど in place of まで.
But dictionaries don't appear to list まで as a noun.

Am I right to call まで a noun in this usage?
Am I right that まで means ほど here?

If not, how would you describe it?


texts:
圧倒的だなんて言葉では表現しきれない、絶望的な戦力差である。

しかもそれらが皆、親でも殺されたかのような調子で士道に憎々しげな視線を送ってきているのだ。どれだけ肝が据わった人間でも汗くらい滲ませようというものである。

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

Hi. Are both というものだs used to emphasize the speakers’ assumptions (推量形:〜よう)? If not, what nuance would they have?
Thank you.


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

texts:
it usually means "steady; honest; sober; straightforward"  but it appears to have a different meaning in the following sentence:

  地道な勉学にはあまり向かなかった、性格が明るく、多くの人に好かれた。

Source: it is a novel from Mr Haruki Murakami and it is about a person who is kind, is strong in sports, but has not very good results at school.

Remark: response edited due to the remark of Ben


texts: What is the etymology of the word Katsu?

texts:
I heard from an English man that the katsu karē (カツカレー) dish was from English inspiration originally: he told me that the word 'katsu' is coming from cutlet and 'karē' would be curry.

Please can anyone confirm this ?


texts: Direct objects of motion verbs and help with the difference between を and に

texts:
まちをぶらぶらあるく。
  English translation: Walk aimlessly through town.

I understand that aimlessly walk takes the object town and that’s why we use を, but wouldn’t it make more sense to use に as the town is also the target of the motion verb?

Also can someone please explain these two explanations on the differences since they confused me and is there any resources/worksheets for constructing Japanese sentences?

  CHAPTER 3. BASIC GRAMMAR
  3.8 PARTICLES USED WITH VERBS

  Unlike the direct object we're familiar with in English, places can also be the direct object of motion verbs such as ｢歩く」 and 「走る」. Since the motion verb is done to the location, the concept of direct object is the same in Japanese. However, as you can see by the next examples, it often translates to something different in English due to the slight difference of the concept of direct object.

  The 「に」 particle can specify a target of a verb. This is different from the 「を」 particle in which the verb does something to the direct object. With the 「に」 particle, the verb does something toward the word associated with the 「に」 particle. For example, the target of any motion verb is specified by the particle 「に」 particle.


texts: What is the best translation of ''address'' in this context?

texts:
I want to post a handwritten letter to a Japanese penpal.
I want to ask: What is your address ?
貴方の address は何ですか ?
The dictionary gives the following translations:
住所、現住所、宛先、アドレス、表書き、所番氏，...
The list goes on.
What is the most appropriate translation for my situation ?
Also if you'd like to go into the nuanced difference and usage between the various translations listed that would be very useful.


texts: Meaning of ボケに被せて小銭を落とす

texts:
I was reading something and I came across the following lines, however the bolded part of the third line had me confused as to what they are saying.

清少納言、いわく
春って明け方やばくない？　と言っているのだが
本来、春の良さとは、入学してくる後輩がいきってボケたときそのボケに被せて小銭を落とすのが良いと思っている
ほどほどにしてやれよ
しかもどうやって歌で詠むんだよ、それ

This seems to be a set up for the joke that comes up later where one of the people listening to them makes a fool out of them　and then they drop some money on the floor:

おい、まだボケてねぇよ
お前は存在自体がボケだからな
存在するだけでチャリンチャリン落とすとか、正気かよ

Based on this and my understanding of the bolded line above, I think it does mean to drop coins/change when they ボケ. However I am still a bit confused as to well why one would do this (is it a reference to something I am missing?)


texts: When stating the time does minutes 分 need to be stated?

texts:
For example: It's 6:15.

六時十五分です

Could I just say:

六時十五です

or just:

六時十五


texts: If I want to say the dog barked, which is more grammatically correct: inu WA naita or inu GA naita? I'm thinking the second one because it's identifying what's barking, but I'm not sure I fully understand the usage of ga.


texts:
I've been reading a novel and found this sentence.

  牛のデカイ後頭部を見下ろしたのもつかの間、頭部と胴体の間から鳩がでてきた.

What does もつか mean here?


texts: Difference in usage between exclamations: クソ vs. しまった

texts:
I apologize in advance for the possibly vulgar language, but I am asking purely from an academic perspective.

My understanding is that both クソ and しまった translate roughly to the English "damn" when used as interjections. My question is, is there any particular difference in usage between the two? From what I have observed, it seems that しまった is more likely to be used in reaction to circumstances that were under the control of the speaker. But I have heard enough exceptions that I have my doubts. Can anyone verify this? And are there any other differences in usage?


texts: Do I have a good grasp on the basics of what the continuative form is?

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I'm doing some research as to what continuative forms are, due to naruto's previous answer to a earlier question of mine.
To make sure I understand correctly; roughly; the "continuative form" is what results when you have dictionary verbs, attach a suru verb in dictionary form to the end of the dictionary form verb, then conjugate the verb stems as you would via te form; WITHOUT ADDING THE TE.

I.E. for Taberu (to eat);

drop the ru (to make the stem form);
add suru to the end of tabe (now tabesuru)
Conjugate the suru to its te form equivalent (i.e. shi, thereby forming tabeshi)

I don't think I was really taught the continuative form as the continuative form when we were going over te form in my Japanese class, it was just something I did and subconsciously understood then picked up without recognizing it for what it was.

If you want to say how I am wrong or minorly correct but still wrong when my idea is applied to non ru verbs, by all means, I appreciate the corrective... constructive criticism; or whatever its called, as its early morning and I need some sleep.


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What are the differences in use between 普段{ふだん} and 通常{つうじょう}?

I'd written

  カラオケもですね？通常どんな曲{きょく}を歌{うた}いますか？

which was then corrected to

  カラオケもですね？普段どんな曲を歌いますか？

What is the general distinction?


texts: I was watching My Boss My Hero, and I could have sworn he said わかね instead of わからない. Is this feasible? Is there some dialect that drops off ない for ね?


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こんにちは、みなさん！

Hey guys, so, I'm familiar with the verb '聞く' when translating the verb 'to ask', as in for information. But, what about when asking/requesting someone to do something? (Similar to 'preguntar/pedir' in Spanish)

I've seen the verb '頼む' before, but I'm not sure how to use it nor if it's even the correct verb to use.

Let's look at the following sentences:

  I played football on Wednesday because my friend asked me to.
  My brother asked me to play football

My attempts:

  私の友達は私に頼みましたから、水曜日にサッカーをしました。
  兄は私にサッカーを....?

Thanks in advance guys!

よろしくお願いします！


texts: Can 燃える be used with the context of being embarassed?

texts: I was just wondering if 燃える could be used in a context where someone gets embarassed to the point where they "burn up." Would it be taken literally or could it be used as an idiom?


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As I read 「ノルウェイの森」 by 村上春樹, I noticed some words that are probably mistyped.

しかしそのおかけでクラスの中で僕の立場はもっと孤立したものになった。

Shouldn't it be そのおかげで?

A few more examples:

「...」と彼は黒いボストン・バックに衣類やノートを詰めこみながら言った。

バッグ => バック (no dakuten)

そしてそんなことを考えれば考えるほど僕の体は余計に飢え、そしで乾いた。

そして => そしで (extra dakuten)

彼にとつてはそれはただのゲームにすぎないのだ。

とって => とつて (っ grows up to つ, this is another kind of transformation, but I'm not sure if I should create a separate question for it)

Are these words just misprinted or they are used correctly?


texts: What's the difference between と思いきや and と思った

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What would the difference between と思いきや and と思ったが in the following sentence:

やっと富士山の頂上に着いたと＿＿＿＿＿、まだ８合目だった。

I feel that they can both translate to "I thought~" but I think there's a finer nuance involved.


texts: How is the volitional + と pair being used in the sentence "たとえ何が起ころうと私は主を信頼する"?

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In the praise and worship song here, there is the following setence:

  たとえ何が起ころうと私は主を信頼する

To me, this looks a lot like, "Whatever should happen, I will trust in the Lord."  But the volitional + と construction here, 起ころうと, is a little hard to get the exact meaning of.  I did check the answer on this question, but am still having a slightly difficult time seeing why 起ころう was used, not 起こる or 起こるだろう.

It is also slightly difficult to tell for sure whether the construction involves the 信頼する phrase at the end, although the subject of the first is different from the topic of the second.

What is the exact meaning here?  Thank you.


texts: How are Japanese dictionaries organized?

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I want to know how Japanese dictionaries are organized, as Japanese doesn't use the roman alphabet "a,b,c,d..."

Do they instead organize words by あ、い、う、え、お? Or do they do it but kanji radical? Or something else?


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Yesterday, I answered a question on the Anime SE site about a consistency between Japanese audio and English subtitles.

To summarize:

From what I could understand of the dialogue, the character in question was saying

  2秒いないにまどから捨ててるな。

Which I tentatively translated as

  [My argument] didn't last for two seconds before being thrown out [the window].

Edit: I have found a clip on YouTube of the dialogue in question, that should hopefully not be region-locked. The phrase is at about 0:30. It could very well be the case that I misheard what was being said, and that my question is way off-base.

After performing a sentence search on jisho.org for similar phrases using 捨てる as well as a cursory Google search, I couldn't find any authoritative evidence that the phrase 「まどから捨てる」 can be used in the same figurative sense as its translation can be in English, as in "to dismiss something completely."

My question is, was this usage of the phrase atypical, even in Japanese? Or is it commonly known and used, and I have just been looking in the wrong places?


texts: Why do so many kanji for body parts have the radical 「月」？

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What is the etymological reason for words like 胸, 肘, 腹, 腕, and 脚 to have 月?

Is it phonetic at all or does it contribute meaning?


texts: I was told many years ago by a native Japanese speaker that saying 知っていません instead of 知りません was a huge mistake. I would like to know the reason of this fact. Is it because the meaning of the verb 知る expresses by itself the progressive aspect ?


texts: Why do some Japanese words use a dash such as ホットケーキ

texts: I've noticed this is mainly for Japanese words that are similar to English words such as ホットケーキ (Hot Cake/Pancake), but I don't really see it used for Hiragana mostly it's for Katakana? I also know that Katakana is mainly used for Western words, is there a specific reason why the dashes are used for those words?


texts: Topic は vs. direct object を for "I have never X"

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The sentence pattern for "I have never X" is covered in this question:  Is there a form for "I have never heard of"?

However, I'm confused on which particle to use for the noun in this sentence pattern.  For example:

From a Japanese children's book:

  こんなに大きなももはみたことがない。
  "I have never seen a peach as large as this."

Notice that it uses は after もも.  Here is a second example from the cited question.

  その歌{うた}を聞いたことがありません。
  "I have never heard that song before."

It uses を after うた.

Are both particles acceptable?  Do they convey different meanings?


texts: Does 特別に戦 mean 'special battle' or 'specially battle'?

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特別に戦が神 (とくべつに いくさが かみ)

I think placing に after とくべつ makes it into an adverb, right?
However, I'm having a lot of trouble working out whether it means 'especially' or 'specially' or just 'special'. (I occasionally see adverbs used like adjectives in Japanese.)

It would be nice if you could also explain why the adverb とくべつに is used instead of just saying とくべつな いくさ. What difference is there between the two in meaning?

Quick note: 神 means 'incredible, fantastic' in otaku (anime fan) slang. This phrase was taken from a Youtube comment. Also, this is in the context of a Pokemon battle.


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First time poster on here, currently learning from the Japanese from Zero books.

In Chapter 13 of the book there is the sentence ‘what time are you going to the airport?’, now it’s written two different ways within the same chapter which is slightly confusing to me at my beginner level and so was just looking a short explanation if possible

The sentence is written as follows

  くうこうになんじにいきますか
  (Kuukou ni nan ji ni ikimasu ka)

And it’s also written as

  なんじにくうこうにいきますか
  (Nanji ni kuukou ni ikimasu ka)


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I am reading Genki II. And I found a report sentence (a sentence that states what somebody else said) that ended with と言ってた:

  チョコレートを食べすぎたって言ってた。
  He said he ate too much chocolate.

I've got two questions:

Why is 食べる in its stem form (食べ)?
And, why are we using 言ってた instead of 言っていました?


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beginner Japanese language self-learner here. I hope my question isn't a bad question.

As title suggested, I would like to know about the difference between the two verbs which I understood have the same dictionary meaning, "to dedicate." However, beyond the fact that ささぐ is a 五段 verb and ささげる is an 一段 verb, I really have no idea how/when to use which.

Thank you,


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I am confused with the word form 会いたくなる belongs to.

This phrase is found in this sentence:

  ひとりでいると 会いたくなるよ

So far, what I know:
会う: meet
会いたい: want to meet

But I don't know what is 会いたくなる and how this phrase is formed?


texts: How do I write an foreign name that ends with consonant?

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Possible Duplicate:
  Any rules for a suffix on english words?

Since Japanese doesn't have consonant endings (except for 'n', of course)

How do I end the name I'm trying to transcribe? Names like Eric or Robert...


texts: What does 正宗で大根を切る。 言い出しっぺ。 mean?

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I'm not sure if this off-topic for this site but I would like to know what "正宗で大根を切る。  言い出しっぺ。" means. I tried translating it through google but I don't think it translated it properly. I found this on a user's profile.

Thanks!