texts: How to say "If you can't finish the food..."

texts:
I am wondering how to say "If you can't finish the food, ..." in Japanese.

Googling a bit tells me it's "料理が終わらないなら、...", but it doesn't sound very right to me.

A slightly better sentence would probably be "もう食べられないなら、...", but it doesn't really translate well, I think.


texts: How should I understand 「会社員はこの計画を部署の知識として理解する。」?

texts:
会社員はこの計画を部署の知識として理解する。

This sentence was in a document describing a company's quality management. I have seen this kind of sentence many times and the 知識として理解する part always throws me off.

"understand it as knowledge"

What does that even mean? If it just said "Employees must understand this plan" there would be no problem, but since it says "Employees must understand this plan as the department's knowledge" it doesn't make sense to me. If the goal is to have the employees understand the plan, what is the point of adding "as the department's knowledge." It doesn't add anything to what's being conveyed. At least, it looks like it doesn't in English.

So, in Japanese, what is it that is being added by saying 知識として理解する?

I'm not asking for a translation but an explanation. I get the feeling an explanation in Japanese would be particularly helpful, but feel free to use either.

This is the second sentence of a 2 sentence paragraph. The first sentence being: 経営者が会議で予算を決定し、運営方針を会社員に報告する。また、会社員はこの計画を部署の知識として理解する。


texts:
Lets say you ask someone 元気, and they reply 元気, but their facial expression and body language says somethings wrong. In this scenario what would the Japanese equivalent be to asking "Are you sure?" or "Is something bothering you?"?

Also, someone told me Japanese speakers would respond in a less contextually generic way to things like this, with things like physical injury, romantic injury, etc. getting a different response. Is this true? And if so, could someone elaborate on it for me?


texts: Purpose of ができないと in this sentence "「まああたしも今、心身共に鍛え直している最中だからね、あれぐらいはできないと」"

texts:
Context:
Two girls are talking, one compliments the other about being able to kill a bear. The complimented one answers with:

  "「まああたしも今、心身共に鍛え直している最中だからね、あれぐらいはできないと」"


texts: What does '家に、とてもおしゃべりですが、学校に、ぜんぜん話しません' translate to?

texts: I'm trying to translate the sentence 'at home, she's very talkative but at school, she never talks/is very shy' roughly into Japanese. Does '家に、とてもおしゃべりですが、学校に、ぜんぜん話しません' make sense? If not, how should I reword it?


texts: I saw the word 歪形 written in a food blog and was surprised to learn that the reading is いがみなり (Weblio Definition). If this were a standard case of jukujikun, I think it would be read differently. And it is definitely not standard ateji either since the meanings of the kanji are clearly being employed. The いがみ part seems to resemble ゆがみ and also has the い of いびつ - is it possible that it is some kind of hybrid of these two readings? Is なり sometimes used as a type of glossary reading of the kanji 形？


texts:
落ち着いて見えても、鋭い牙が内包されていることに変わりはない。

It was a sentence in a light novel (ようこそ実力至上主義の教室へ) that I've been reading, and I have an impression that it should be some kind of idiomatic words.

  鋭い (from Jisho.org) : perceptive; keen; quick (mind); astute; shrewd; discerning.

I was wondering what the true meaning of 鋭い牙が (sharp fang) in human character.

Can it be translated as sense of perception?

Sharp also has a meaning of fierce, so I was thinking an option like fierce personality.

Thank you in advance for your kind guidance.


texts: What is the difference between 適切、適当 and 適宜?

texts:
As the title says, I've been having some trouble with recognizing the difference between 適切、適当 and 適宜 as in dictionaries they are all translated to "appropriate, suitable".

According to this site

適当{てきとう} is equivalent to

  ほどよくあてはまる

適切{てきせつ} means something like

  過不足なく、きちっとあてはまるようす

and 適宜{てきぎ} is

  「適当」や「適切」、「適度」という言葉すべての言葉の意を含めて「ちょうどよい」という意味を表す便利な言葉

but that only leaves me with more questions because the dictionary translates ほどよく as "rightly; properly; moderately" and both きちっと and ちょうど as "just right".

According to this site the difference between 適切 and 適当 is that the level of "rightness": in case of 適切 is more precise. The site provides following examples of use:

  「適当な広さの土地」
  「適切な指導を行う」
  「適宜に取り計らう」

but that still doesn't really help me, I'm pretty sure 「適切な広さ」 and 「適当な指導」 are correct as well and I don't really see what "more precise" could mean when comparing these.

I've looked on other sites as well, but the examples they provide are similarly vague. I would really appreciate it if someone could provide some clarification.


texts:
I'm not sure if  should use で or に in this sentence

最近新しい医学の論文をアメリカの雑誌　で/に　読みました。

I would go with に, do you agree?


texts:
I am currently reading a manga for studying Japanese and encountered something strange. A girl exclaims「な゛?!」

The situation is that she has just had water squirted up her nose, so I am guessing it's a kind of 'gnya' sound?

So my question is, is this a real Japanese language thing, or is it just the artist taking liberties with the language for comic effect?

Cheers


texts: meaning and authenticity of Japanese proverb about shrimp and jellyfish

texts:
On this page, I see the following listed as a Japanese proverb:

クラゲはエビと踊ることは決してありません 。
The jellyfish never dances with the shrimp.
Meaning: Enmity is inborn and natural, it can never be eliminated.

However, doing searches in Japanese for this doesn't yield anything online.

My theory is that this is either:

1) A very old proverb which is uncommon.

2) Actually from another language which somehow got back-translated into Japanese.

3) 'Evolved' from what it was originally.

Can anyone speak to the authenticity of this proverb? If it is authentic, can you confirm the meaning as well?


texts:
お金が足りなくて、本が買えませんでした。

Shouldn't it be:

  お金が足りないで、本が買えませんでした。


texts:
すぐにそのことに思い至らなかったのが自分でも以外だった。

Is he saying that he is surprise by the fact that EVEN to him, not realising this immediately was/is something bad?

  Noun + 以外 : with the exception of; excepting

Is probably the only "以外" that I know..

Can you explain to me how am I suppose to interpret this "以外" ?

  それにしても、ハルカの主張は筋が通らない気がした。

And the second part is "Nevertheless, Haruka's claim, to me, make no sense"
correct?

thanks!


texts:
I've never come across "の方が格上" before, I'm wondering if it's a set phrase that would describe someone being "out of your league" in terms of power/strength so the implication is that one cannot hope to beat the person in question?

This is the original sentence I saw it in:

  ありゃ完全にあっちの方が格上だ

For context A tells B she was wants to get a little revenge on C (C beat her in battle some time ago), B rebukes her with "やめとけよ。ありゃ完全にあっちの方が格上だ"

Going by my assumption it would translate as "let it go. He's on a whole other level."

So is my assumption about ~の方が格上 correct?


texts: How would 「問わず語りの心」 translate into English?

texts:
It's a line from [寺尾]{てらお}[聰]{あきら}'s ルビーの[指環]{ゆびわ}

くもり硝子の向うは風の街
問わず語りの心が切ないね
枯葉ひとつの重さもない命
貴方を失ってから

Youtube Timestamp: https://youtu.be/ICJc53FXu4g?t=16
Now, I understand what he is trying to say overall but I find it hard to put 「問わず語りの心が切ないね」in English. I understood that line as "My painful heart which keeps talking even when nobody asks" but I wonder if there's a better way to put this thing in English. Dictionary shows "unsolicited/unprompted remark" but I think (correct my if I am wrong) it does not translate well.


texts:
I found the following dialogue in a manga.

繋がれてる【つながれてる】からって
からかっちゃダメですって

My thinking is that the person speaking is describing what the dog is "saying", i.e. "I'm tied to this pole! Dont' ???"
Where the ??? is the meaning of the word/phrase からかっちゃ which I don't know how to parse. My only guess so far was that it is a contraction, からかっちゃ = からかっては.
Looking for more occurrences of the phrase I found that it might be a catchphrase of sorts of another manga character, but that didn't help me grasp the meaning.


texts: A question about the usage of ため and spacing

texts:
上下のフロアを繋ぐ階段は各層にひとつのみ、その全てが怪物のうろつく危険な迷宮区画に存在するため発見も踏破も困難だが、一度誰かが突破して上層の都市に辿り着けばそこと下層の各都市の≪転移門≫が連結されるため誰もが自由に移動できるようになる。

There were 2 things I didn't get in this sentence (or maybe a paragraph...?):

What is the usage of ため in the two appearances of it in the text? (Marked)
I could tell that it's not the normal usage of ため+に・の and it doesn't makes sense to me as well.
How can this 怪物のうろつく危険な迷宮区画 be translated (literally)? I don't get the spacing in this part... According to the dictionary, the na-adj meaning of 危険 is "danger, peril, hazard"... What I don't get is how exactly "danger" is an adjective? There is another option of "dangerous" in the dictionary, but it wasn't marked as a na-adj meaning. Ignoring the adjective comment I made above, I'd translate it as "A maze area in which there is a danger of roaming monsters" or something like that - but I wanna know why if possible :-)

Thank you in advance!
The sentence above was taken from the novel "Sword Art Online 1"!


texts:
I saw it in the following context:

  xxは、ぐてっと俺に体を預け、胸に顔を埋めてくる

Based on the spelling, I wonder if it's similar to ぐでんぐでん, but I'm not sure about that. Based on context, I'm guessing it means something like to collapse (out of exhaustion/tiredness).


texts:
I saw ただいま at the beginning of two expressions and I couldn't understand its meaning in the context.

A : すみません。かいがいじぎょうかのぱくさん、おねがいしたいんですが。
受付：おやくそくですか。
A : はい。
受付：ただいまおよびします。しょうしょうおまちください。
もうしわけございません。ぱくはただいま電話中ですので、こちらでおまちください。

What do ただいまおよびします and ただいま電話中 mean?
And is there a rule about ただいま in grammar?


texts: How does one say "I need a place to stay"?

texts:
I assume "todomerumono" or 留める物　is the "a place to stay".

Something like "留める物が要する"?

Since 要する is to need... It's a very direct translation.

I'm trying to write stories in Japanese to learn words, and this story involves the heroine asking for a place to stay.  The land is fantasy/magical and pre-industrial in case that affects word choice.

--- UPDATE ---

The heroine is saying it.


texts:
What difference is there between ディスカウント and バーゲン?

In English, the verb "Discount" is commonly used when talking about a corporate store deciding without any negotiation with the buyer to reduce the price of products without any negotiations taking place with the customer. (Though it isn't unheard of to be used in other contexts) By contrast, the verb "Bargain" is generally used for the seller and the buyer, usually at a non-corporate store, arguing about what the price of an item should be.

The noun "Bargain" can be used about an item bought for a low price, regardless of whether the low price was the result of a negotiation, or not the result of a negotiation.

However, I've been told that "ディスカウント" and "バーゲン" don't have the same relationship in Japanese. That is, "ディスカウント(する)" as a verb can be done by the seller after negotiation between the buyer and the seller, and "バーゲン" can be the result of a corporate store reducing prices without any negotiation. Is this true?


texts:
first time asking a question on here.
What is the difference in meaning between
人々、人物、人、人類、人間　and if you know any others it would be nice to include those too.

How do you use them properly?


texts: I just realized today that for some reason I'm pretty uncomfortable with things like そう思う because the Japanese そう has a meaning akin to saying isn't that so in English. But when you say そう思う, そう is being treated as what's being thought, right? So is it more appropriate to say そうと思う？Because it is the subject in this case, right?


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

texts:
The text on which I found the following sentence is here: http://watanoc.com/post-1608-gozira
So... There's a part where it says:
『すごく面白い』とネットで評判です
So my question is what does the と particle do in this sentence? And also why "すごく面白い" is between these symbols "『    』"


texts: merging 2 verbs such as 返す and 遅れる into 返し遅れる?

texts:
Merging two verbs into one is a common structure:
繰り返す、書き直す、思い出す、乗り換える、etc.
sometimes the new verb mixes the meaning of the 2 verbs as well, sometimes not.

What about merging 2 verbs into a new verb on an ad hoc basis? This new verb does not exist in a dictionary. But, the mixed meaning of the new verb conveys the meaning I want. For example:

I received an email last week that I overlooked. Today I responded. I wanted to say "to reply late". The "mixed verb" I created is "返し遅れる"

  先週のemailを送って頂きまして誠にありがとございました。大変、返し遅れて恐縮でございます。

Does 返し遅れる work here? Can you take the liberty to merge verbs and create verbs that don't exist in dictionaries?

example #2
走り逃げる
I'd think this means "to escape by running."

So, can you merge verbs like this "when it makes sense and the meaning is clear"?


texts:
In this sentence :

  接しているうち、彼女の魅力を感じせずにはいられません。

can I translate 接しているうち as "While getting to know her "?
(and then : " X cannot help but to feel her charm " ? )

So it would end up being : " If I/you get to know her, I/you won't be able but to feel her charm" ?

Or am I completely off? Also are there others words or (better) ways of saying : "To get to know someone" in Japanese?

Thanks.


texts: 「聞こえなくなった」 or 「聞けなくなった」?

texts:
I wanted to say: "I became unable to hear."

I said: "聞こえなくなった"
but I was corrected and told to say: "聞けなくなった"

That sounds strange to me. I've never even heard the verb form "聞ける"

what does "聞こえなくなった" mean?
what does "聞けなくなった" mean?
how do you say "I became unable to hear." ?


texts: What do these ''must do'' sentences like ''ikanakutewaikemasen'' literally mean? What is gramatically going on?

texts:
As far as I get it, to create a must do sentence, you need to take the negative te form + wa + ikemasen/naranai/narimasen/dame.

What does this literally mean? Why is it a double negative? How does this change the meaning to needing to do something?


texts:
In this sentence (from a manga), what does 所があるじゃない stand for? I don't seem to understand the grammar behind it.

  それにしても鬼灯尹も結構可愛い所があるじゃないか。

(I mean, I know about 所が meaning however, 所がある meaning 'there is', じゃない as ではありません, but that seems to be something else here.)


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

texts: 待ち合わせ場所は名古屋市内。ショートカットの髪型にＴシャツ、デニムで来てくれたのはユウさん（仮名）、いま高校生です。(source)


texts: I deal with lots of formal emails (within the company) that refer to unnamed 3rd parties. The first reference is 「研究者」.　If I want to use "they" later in the email, what should I use? I've seen both 「彼ら」 and 「先方」 used, but I'm not clear on nuances of these or if there are other choices.


texts: I've heard of the terms brush-up, release, stop, etc. When natives write, do they follow this rules? Is it widely known? Would natives know if I did a release, stop, etc? Is it okay not to use it as long as the character is identical to the original?


texts:
(1)　人に薬を注射する。
(2)　人を薬で注射する。
(3)　人に薬で注射する。
A survey of sentences tells me that (1) is certainly grammatical, but (2) & (3) do not occur (At least in the ones I looked at). Both in English and Croatian, structures analogous to (1) & (2) are grammatical ("Inject Y with X", "Inject Y into X"), but (3) is not.
I'm wondering whether this pattern holds in Japanese as well, even though I couldn't find any examples, and if there are other verbs with similar behavior.


texts:
I'm writing a short story for a Japanese class (beginner level). In the story the action takes place in the Soviet Union, where we sometimes used to address each other with the "comrade ..." greeting (the military in Russia still do).

How do I express this in Japanese? In the first draft I wrote 同志{どうし}の皆{みな}さん because I had found this article. However, my teacher did not understand the purpose of the word in the sentence and recommended to replace it with 〜さん. I feel that it will affect the mood of the story though.

I'm not yet able to read books in Japanese, so I don't know the literary rules for this kind of thing. I've noticed that there's ミス・マープル who is a "miss" even in translated Agatha Christie's novels, not a "-san". And there's "Anjin-san" in the English version of James Clavell's Shōgun. Etc. etc.


texts:
It's not the full sentence but i heard this : 方法を思いついた
And i was wondering if it means that the person came up with a method alone or it could be a few people who have


texts: I'm working on a project for my Japanese class. I'm writing about Sweden's right of public access (allemansrätten) (yes, I had to look up a lot of vocabulary) and trying to say "the constitution only says..." or "all the constitution says is that, notwithstanding the protection of property, everyone will have the right of public access". My attempt was "けんぽうで、みなさんはざいさんけんにかかわらずしぜんきょうじゅけんがあるだけと言う". The grader corrected this to "けんぽうで、みなさんはざいさんけんにかかわらずしぜんきょうじゅけんがあるからと言う", but that didn't seem right to me so I talked to 先生. His correction was "けんぽうで、みなさんはざいさんけんにかかわらずしぜんきょうじゅけんがあるだけだと言う", but that seems to me like "only" is part of the quote, so I just wanted to check.


texts: Which kanji and/or hiragana are used to write this snippet of Japanese that appears in the novel Gravity's Rainbow?

texts:
It purports to be a kamikaze chant, and appears near the end of the book. Being basically a Gravity's Rainbow nerd, I have always wanted to be able to write it out in order to impress other literary geeks. It goes:

  Hi wa Ri ni katazu,
  Ri wa Ho ni katazu,
  Ho wa Ken ni katazu,
  Ken wa Ten ni katazu.

I can't make out enough of its kanji to find a match using Google, but if it's any help, it means: Injustice can not conquer principle, Principle can not conquer law, Law can not conquer power, Power cannot conquer heaven.


texts: Is there a way to differentiate て and って when transcribing speech?

texts:
I was wondering if there was some kind of rules to differentiate them, or if it was something we have to remember, like spelling in English.

The same question can also extend to お vs おう ; I learned that the "o" sound in おう is longer, but it can be hard to differentiate them in a speech for a beginner like me.

Thanks for the answers :)


texts: Why is the affixal 子 treated specially when abbreviating people’s names?

texts:
Often, names are abbreviated using the initial letter in romanization, or some random letter, like "A". However, when the name has an affixal 子, that part is often left, like "A子". I have not seen any other character been treated like this. For example, I have not seen "A果", "A史", "A美", "A明", "A郎". Why is "子" treated specially?

Someone might answer that it is to indicate that the person is female. For that kind of answers, it means that the custom (not the answer) is based on prejudice and sexual discrimination for thinking that people's gender can be identified by the name and that "子" means female, and I would have further questions:

Why don't they write the gender normally (explicitly) instead of trying to tuck that information into the abbreviated name?
Why is it necessary to indicate that the person is female just when the name ends with "子"?
Why is it not necessary to indicate that a person is male?
What happens for males whose name end with "子"?

And of course, I appreciate other kinds of answers as well.


texts: How do adjectives work in relative clauses?

texts:
This will probably be my last question regarding my prior questions. This will particularly focus on adjective + 物/こと. I was finally able to minimize the mess in my head, narrowing it down into something simple but I lacked of. I only learned about relative clause by verbs which sudden appearances of relative clause by adjective seems confusing.

I know that 見た犬 can either mean "the dog that saw" or "the dog (I/he/you) saw" depending on the context. Does that mean relative clause of adjective also have 2 possible meanings?

In this example:

  私が好きな猫

It can mean "the cat I like" or "the cat that likes me". I don't know how it can be like that (especially that like is an adjective), how can it be? 白い物 means the thing that is white, can it have another meaning? 白いこと means being white, can it have another meaning?

For verbs the relative clause can be the subject or object (except if it is non living things and if the context is clear). Please explain it to me regarding this as detail as possible. Thank you for helping! 教えてください。すみません！ありがとうね。


texts: What's the difference between ぜひ and きっと when inviting someone to do something?

texts:
You can say for example

ぜひパーティーにいらしてね
そのうちまた是非お出かけください
「今晩お伺いしてもいいですか」「ぜひどうぞ」

and

きっと来てくださいね
きっと訪ねて来てください

I would translate both ぜひ and きっと in these sentences with "by all means", but I'm sure (as always), there's a nuance in meaning when you use either. Could someone please explain this nuance? Thanks!


texts: About addressing people by -San, -Chan and -Kun

texts:
I understand that -San is a formal way to address somebody. A unisex way of both Mr. and Mrs. Kun is a way to address males, but it's used with friends? I'm wondering about that. Now, Chan is very confusing. Is it also used with close ones, such as friends and family ? I know it's mainly targeted towards females, but apparently, it can be used with males too. Why males? In which situation would you address a male with -Chan ?
If it's someone who you meet for the first time, such as a random person, a future friend, classmate or colleague do you have to use -San, or could you use just -Kun or -Chan when first meeting them ? (someone from Japan wrote me a letter addressing me with -Chan, and I have never heard nor met this person before).
Is it rude to call someone by their name and not use -San, -Chan or -Kun ? Well, if they're being addressed as -San and to stop that I'd imagine so, but what about if it's somebody you use -Chan or -Kun with often, as a friend? Do you have to use -Kun or -Chan in your family ? I know this is a lot to answer, but I have to live in Japan and I desperately want to know.

Thank you


texts:
Continuing with my reading of Underground by Haruki Murakami and comparison with the translated version by Alfred Birnbaum.
The following passage:

就職先としてはやはりＪＲに人気がありました。僕はちがいましたけれど、新幹線の運転手になりたいというような人はけっこういましたからね。でも僕が卒業した当時はＪＲは人を採用していなかったので、一般的に西武、小田急、東急というところが人気でした。でもそういうところは沿線に住んでいないと入社できないというようあ制限が、わりとありました。あとそこでアルバイトした経験がないと駄目とかね。ええ、けっこう厳しいです。
僕はもともと地下鉄に行きたいと思っていました。営団もけっこう人気はあるんですよ。給与もほかに比べて悪くないですし、たとえば鉄道をやるつもりで入ったのにデパートに出向で行かされたとか、そういうのはありませんからね。

The translation by Alfred Birnbaum is as follows

Japan Railways [JR] was the big thing to aim for in terms of jobs. So many guys wanted to be Shinkansen [bullet-train] drivers. JR turned me down when I graduated, but Seibu and Odakyu and Tokyu and other private lines were generally popular, although the catch was that you had to live in areas served by those lines to get the job. Yeah, pretty tough. I'd always wanted to work on the subway and the Subway Authority was pretty popular. The pay's no worse than anywhere else.

Isn't this translation a bit strange? I think it goes beyond the choice of words and trimming down to the point of mistranslation. My personal understanding of the passage is

As for place to work for, as expected, JR was popular. It was not the case for me, but there were quite a lot of people who want to be Shinkansen train drivers. However, when I graduated, JR was not looking to hire so generally, places like Seibu, Odakyu and Tokyu were popular. However, for those places, surprisingly, there was a rule that you have to live along the train lines to be able to enter the company. Also, if you don't have experience working part time there then it's no good. Yeah, quite tough.
From the start, I wanted to work for the metro. The Subway Authority too is quite popular, since the pay is not bad comparatively, and also there isn't anything like you entering the company intending to work on the train lines but end up being transferred to sales.

Since I am trying to learn Japanese by myself, I generally don't have anyone to turn to to make sure that I'm on the right track so I resort to comparing my reading with translation (asking questions on places like here takes quite a bit of time to set up so I only use it sparingly and as a last resort), but so far my experience with published and sold translation like this has been kind of bad. Is my understanding of the passage on track here? Again, thank you for any help.


texts:
I can't figure out the meaning of 内外 and the nuance of 親族 because of it in the following passage. I think I'm more or less understand the basic concept of 内 and 外. I also looked through the dictionary and it is written that 内外 could mean incide the country and outside. But could the author be talking about the people from family and outsiders in this context with it? One line after it, the author uses the word 親族, that's where I lost it. So is he talking about the other family members, who are the enemies of the stepfather? Or means the situation itself, where his sole daughter has to inherit everything?

Fast translation:
Being known for his shrewdness, stepfather made lots of enemies (incide the country and outside/from his family and outsiders)

  辣腕で知られた義父は内外で様々な恨みを買っていた。彼が死去した今、その責は全て一人娘である希へと降り掛かったのだ。陰謀渦巻く宮廷のように、主人公は遺産や名誉などを巡る泥臭い権力争いの渦中へと巻き込まれていく。
  主人公は誓う。 そう、主人公は愛すべき妻ーー希を親族の罠から救うべく闘うのだ。


texts: How do parents say "I" when talking to their children in Japanese?

texts:
When a parent is talking to their child in Japanese, what are the common ways of saying "I"? I've often heard parents refer to themselves in the 3rd person, ie お母さんについてきて　("come with me"), お父さんの車を洗って ("wash my car"). Is this the most common approach? To me, it would sound strange if a parent referred to themselves as 私、僕、俺, etc using the usual 1st-person pronouns. On the other hand, repeatedly using the 3rd-person お母さん and お父さん could be clumsy if you keep having to say "I". When the child is young, I've heard them saying ママ or パパ, but that might sound childish if the child is in their teens or 20s, for example.

So, what is an appropriate way for parents to say "I" when they are talking to their children? And how does that change according to the age of the child?

EDIT:
Also, are there ways of referring to themselves which would be considered inappropriate? For example, would a father call himself 俺 when talking with a teenager (or older) child? What would be considered unnatural?


texts: What's the difference between それならいい and それならいいんですが

texts:
What is the difference between それならいい and それならいいんですが?

I'm guessing that the んですが implies some sort of unsaid reservation or concern.


texts: What are acceptable ways of saying "to develop a photographic film"?

texts:
Tom Gally's Reading Japanese with a Smile has a nice story in which the author says:

  父は、フィルムを現像に回すまで五年かかったのである。

I like the connotation of the rotation here because the film has to be unfurled. However, would something like "フィルムを現像する” work just fine as well?


texts: What does "苦しいのか気持ちいのかわからん" mean?

texts:
Found it on twitter. https://twitter.com/sarukiwa/status/1157194758961299457/video/1

My literal interpretation comes to "I don't know what feels good or bad."
Why would the fish be saying that? What exactly does the phrase mean?


texts:
These are the ones I find acceptable to express the sentence but none of which actually translates to having "taken" the class. Not 'been' or 'studied' at, but 'taken'. I don't think 取る works as a direct translation right?

So which of these are correct and which translate the best to having taken a class. If possible, please give me examples that have nuances between having taken a class, but did not finish the full class/course/schedule versus having taken let's say a full year's worth of the class. Would there be any difference in your sentence (without explicitly making a second sentence to mention that fact)?

  日本語授業を取ることがあった。
  日本語授業に行くことがあった。
  日本語授業で勉強することがあった。
  日本語授業コースを完成しました。


texts: Print with Admiral Matthew Perry flanked by officers

texts:
I am interested to know at least the beginning few lines of Hiragana in the attached print. It depicts Admiral Matthew Perry. The print is titled Gasshukoku suishi teitoku kōjōgaki (Oral statement by the American Navy admiral). It has been speculated that the text refers to the letter sent by US President Fillmore to "the Japanese Emperor" via Perry.

(Image from the Library of Congress)


texts: What does「散々人を待たせておいて最初の一言がそれか」mean?

texts:
I am unsure how to translate the following phrase:

  [散々]{さんざん}人{ひと}を待{ま}たせておいて最初{さいしょ}の一言{ひとこと}がそれか

My guess as to how this phrase translates is:

  Is that the first thing people say to those who are waiting for them?

Is there a better way to translate this phrase?


texts: About ご[馳走]{ちそう}: two “runs” would give you “a feast”?

texts:
ご[馳走様]{ちそうさま}でした is the greeting that people say after being offered a meal while ご馳走 by itself means “a feast”.

I looked up this word in the dictionary to learn more about the kanji characters. It turned out that both 馳 and 走 have the meaning of “run”, or more specifically 馳 is “to gallop” and 走 is “to run”.

So how come two “run” kanji characters give the meaning of “a feast”? Would anyone explain the etymology of the word?

P.S. ご is just a prefix you add to a noun to make it sound more polite.


texts: How do you say 'the will to live' in Japanese?

texts:
Can someone translate the English phrase, 'the will to live' into accurate Japanese? Is there an equivalent phrase in Japanese?

I've tried to translate each component separately:
Component 1 = the will = ishi
Component 2 = to live/to survive = seizon

So it becomes 'seizon no ishi'?

Can someone tell me if this is accurate? Or better yet, just give me the best translation you can come up with.

Oh, and it would be extremely helpful if someone can give me romaji version of the translation.

Thank you so much.


texts:
Why is there a “は” after 以前 in the following sentence? I would have guessed it would read 以前 by itself or 以前に。

人々は人間しか言語を使えないと以前は考えていた。
People used to think that only humans could use language.

Found this sentence from the Examples in the dictionary app Midori.

Many thanks in advance!
Paul


texts:
エアコンの中のコンピューターが、部屋の壁の近くと窓の近くなど、温度が違う場所を調べて、ちょうどいい温度にすることもできます。
  The air conditioning's computer will check places where the temperature is different between near the walls and near the windows and can choose the perfect temperature.

I'm struggling with the part in bold. Does 部屋の壁の近くと窓の近くなど、温度が違う (on it's own) mean "the temperatures are different between the places near the walls and the places near the windows"? If so, I'm feeling a little uncomfortable about the lack of a と on the end of 窓の近くなど. Would it be okay to add one?

If I'm right, then I think the computer checks the places where there is a temperature difference between the walls and the windows, but that makes absolutely no logical sense. I'm very confused.


texts: Do Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi have a collective title in Japanese?

texts:
When reading up on Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi I often see them referred to as the "great unifiers" but I can't find what (if anything) Japanese people call them?

Is there an equivalent to "the three unifiers of Japan" in Japanese, or are they just Oda "kill the bird" Nobunaga, Tokugawa "convince it" Ieyasu, and Toyotomi "wait" Hideyoshi, with no fancy collective title?


texts:
I was reading the news when I saw the sentence with 上で (see the sentence with highlight).

I was thinking if it should be read as うえ or じょう。I am inclined to read this as じょう because it doesn't fit into the expression うえで which shows that something happens after one thing, but at the same time, I am not 100% sure because I haven't seen じょう (which probably means "being of the type of" based on rikaikun add-on) in this context before.

Sure, I have seen じょう in contexts presented in here where it means "for the sake of, from the standpoint of" but I don't think the sentence in question falls under this category of じょう。


texts:
I was reading a book and it used the phrase

喉からてが出るほど

but I can't remember what followed. It feels like I would use this in the same way I would use the English phrase "so bad that it hurts" as in "I want to do something so bad that it hurts". Is my understanding correct? In what kind of situations would you use a phrase like this?


texts: どうしてこの会話では、話し手と聞き手両方が「そこ」を使っているのに、同じ場所を指すのですか？

texts:
日本語

日本語の練習をしようと思ったので初めて日本語で質問を書きました。文法の間違いがあったら編集していただけませんか？

僕はここでこんな会話を読んでいました。

アリス）　図書館はどこ？
ボブ）　ここが図書館だ。
アリス）　そこは図書館じゃない？
ボブ）　そこじゃない。図書館はここだ。

僕はこう翻訳しました。

Alice) Where is the library?
Bob) Here is the library.
Alice) Is there (where Bob is) not the library?
Bob) No, there (where Alice is) is not the library. Here is the library.

見ての通り、これは矛盾があります（むしろ矛盾だらけです）。一体図書館はどこにあるのでしょうか？アリスのところかボブのところか？

ここによると、「ここ」は話し手の近くにある場所で、「そこ」は聞き手の近くにある場所です。

ですから、アリスの言った「そこ」とボブの言った「ここ」は同じ場所を指すはずではありませんか。それと、ボブが最後に言った「そこ」はアリスのところを指すのではありませんか。そこで、二つの質問があります：

どうして自分のところについて聞かれると、ボブは相手（アリス）のところについて答えたのですか。
まさかアリスの「そこ」とボブの「そこ」は同じ場所を指すのでしょうか？

English

I read this conversation here.

アリス）　図書館はどこ？
ボブ）　ここが図書館だ。
アリス）　そこは図書館じゃない？
ボブ）　そこじゃない。図書館はここだ。

And this is how I translated it:

Alice) Where is the library?
Bob) Here is the library.
Alice) Is there (where Bob is) not the library?
Bob) No, there (where Alice is) is not the library. Here is the library.

As you can see, the translation is (full of) contradictions. Where on earth is the library? Is it where Alice is at or where Bob is at?

According to here, 「ここ」refers to a place near the speaker whereas 「そこ」 refers to a place near the listener.

So if I understood correctly, the そこ that Alice said should refer to the same place as the ここ that Bob said. And that the そこ that Bob lastly said should refer to Alice's place, right? This raises two questions:

Why did Bob answer something about Alice's place when being asked whether his own place is the library?
Does this mean that actually the そこs said by both refer to the same place (Bob's place)?


texts: I am aware of the meaning of this word, but want to know the reason it is predominantly written in katakana. Thank you.


texts:
关 and 复 are the simplified Chinese forms of 關 and 復複覆, respectively. Usually simplified Hanzi that don't exist as kanji don't get any special treatment and Japanese fonts might not even display them, such as this one 简. However, not only do Japanese fonts support the glyphs, but they even display them as half-width. Every other cjk standard displays them as fullwidth.
My first guess was that the characters were somehow already in Japanese as kanji radicals (忄 for example isn't full-width), but they aren't considered radicals or even components. If you look them up on Jisho they even have meanings (if not pronunciation).
All of which begs the question, if 关 and 复 were recognized as kanji, why are they not full width like every other Japanese character? And if they aren't, how did they get into Japanese in the first place?


texts: How to say fractions and ratios in Japanese

texts:
I am trying to remember how to say things such as 1 cup of water per 3 cups milk, but in a more ambiguous manner.

Is it along the lines of １分水の３分牛乳 but with 1(smaller part)の(bigger part)?
If I want to address the bigger part first as I do in the following example, can I relate it in the same fashion of bigger thing as a topicは(smallerの分）を(some stuff)?

specifically:

  表で一般のプロットにプロットの分を題名を作ってあげられます。

I want to say for the regular plots in a table, you can create titles for the smaller/sub plots.


texts: Why are counters necessary to describe the quantity of objects?

texts:
Why are counters (助数詞) necessary to describe the numerical quantity of objects in Japanese?

I'm interested in the linguistic explanation specifically, but also curious as to how strict those who are fluent tend to be about it in colloquial conversation.


texts:
I would like to ask a question about the sentence ending particle よ and when it is okay not to use a sentence ending particle in informal japanese. I know that よ is used when the listener asks you something and you answer or when you want to correct the listener's opinion but would it be okay to use in other situations?
For example, if you want to tell your friend that you went to tokyo yesterday without your friend asking what you did the day before, is it better to say

「そういえば、昨日、東京に行った」or 「そういえば、昨日、東京に行ったよ」?

Please tell me if there are better options.
Thanks in advance!


texts:
My guess is that it's asking whether something is good or not, similar to saying いいですか.
So my question is what form is this and what does it stem from?


texts: Are anaphoric personal pronouns limited to the third person (彼, 彼ら etc)?

texts:
(I hope this question is just a sanity check but these things are sometimes worth asking.)

On p31 of the Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar, Makino tells us that anaphoric personal pronouns are limited to the third person (彼, 彼ら etc), and would therefore exclude 私 etc.

Is this an over-generalisation (rather like his explanation of how かい is used in the "Basic dictionary", discussed in another recent question)?


texts: what is the function of (だと) and (一人) in this sentence

texts:
the sentence is "もう駄目だと　一人孤独を抱いても".

i took this sentence from this page:

"http://honyakusitemita.pixnet.net/blog/post/91368550-%5Bblood%2B%EF%BC%88%E8%A1%80%E6%88%B0%EF%BC%89-%E7%89%87%E9%A0%AD%E6%9B%B23%5Duverworld-color-of-the-heart",
it is a song of uverworld.

i have understood that this sentences means someting like:

"even if it useless, i embrace the solitude", but i don't know what means exactly.

then, i also don't know what is the function of this(だと), and this (ひとり) in te sentence.

thanks in advance, guys.


texts:
I know Google Translate is not always your best friend when it comes to Japanese, but when trying to compare what I'm understanding of my lessons and what I find in guide samples I'm a bit confused about the mandatory usage of the の particle.

1. 今年春休み
2. 今年の春休み
3. 今年春の休み
4. 今年の春の休み

They all look to mean the same thing: "Spring break this year".

Now for my comprehension of the の particle usage I thought number 4 would be more correct, while the guide uses number 2.
And now I wonder: is the の particle optional? It there a general rule I can understand for when it has to be used and when not?
Thanks in advance for replies.


texts: Does また今度 imply concrete future plans in certain regions/dialects?

texts:
This question made me remember something I'd been wanting to ask.

In general, また今度 seems to be understood as a farewell ("See you later") without a later time to meet defined.

However, a Japanese friend once said, "In my area, it's strange to say また今度 unless you already have decided on a time to meet again."

Does anyone have an idea in what areas/dialects in Japan this may hold?


texts:
What's the difference between 降参する and 諦める?

Both seems to have the meaning of "to give up", for example:

ぜったい降参しない。(I will never give up.)
ぜったい諦めない。(I will never give up.)

What's the difference in their nuances / meaning?


texts: What is the meaning of について and を問われて here?

texts:
ところが、そうした人々が、神社や寺院の建物の前に立って祈願をこらす時、その対象である神仏について、それがいかなる神であり仏であるかを問われて、適切な答えをすることができるかといえばそうではない。

The phrase その対象である神仏について and the intervening phrase それがいかなる神であり仏であるかを問われて here are confusing me. I have translated it as:

  However, when these people stand before the shrine or temple buildings and offer prayers, they enquire about the various deities enshrined there and consider whether or not they will be able to give an appropriate answer to their prayers, which is not necessarily the case.

Is this correct, or at least have I got the meaning right? I've not come across some of the words before, so the Japanese sounds somewhat dislocated to me.


texts:
This is a follow-up question to Does うるさい have a "negative" connotation.
I've seen うるさい written as 五月蝿い.

現代では、is this form used often / at all?
What does this have to do with flies (蝿【はえ】) in May?  Do a lot of flies hatch in May due to excessive trash built up from Golden week?  Or is there a lot of poop outside for some reason that attracts them?  Or dead carcasses?
Is it at all related to 蝉【セミ】 and May is when they start to come out for the summer, and the [蝉時雨]{セミしぐれ} is unbearably noisy?


texts: Question about using the past form verb 「まった」 in this sentence

texts:
It is a situation that a boxing fight will begin very soon. Suddenly, a trainer of a boxer thought that his man could be knocked out very easily. He then said the following sentence. Anyway, the trainer is a middle aged man.

  まってくれっ　ゴングをならすのはまったあっ

I would like to know why the past form is used even though the gong has not yet been rung.


texts:
Tae Kim translates the following as:

他にいいものがたくさんあるけど、やっぱりこれにする。
There are a lot of other good things, but as I thought, I'll go with this one.

Here is 他 a noun, adjective or an adverb? I would think adjective, but then why the に？ Because 他 is a の (as opposed to な）adjective then the conjugation　to change to an adverb should be "他く" not "他に".  However, 他 (ほか) does not end in い　so I'm thoroughly confused as to how 他 conjugates as an adverb.

Can someone please explain to me what 他 is and why we use 他にいいもの　as opposed to 他いいもの or 他のいいもの to express "good things"?


texts: What is the meaning of ケタ外れ in this situation..?

texts:
I have a sentence which says,

  2030年、日本が迎えるのはケタ外れの「ひとりさま社会」。

The dictionary says the word means; incredible, extraordinary, exceptional or phenomenal, but it doesn't really make sense when translated into English. What does ケタ外れ mean here? What does it imply?


texts:
I have a question about how to properly answer a question.

At restaurants, the hostess will often ask 「何名様ですか」 ("How many in your party?")

For example, if you have four people in your party, is it proper to reply 「4名です」?
Or is 「4人です」 better?


texts: What is the meaning of the sentence "すごかないわよ"?

texts:
Does すご refer to すごく or すごい?

Dictionaries have no entries on すごかない. I understand that わよ are sentence ending particles though.


texts: Difference between 光景, 風景, 景色, 情景, 景観, 眺め, 見晴らし and 場面

texts:
I am aware that there is a similar question with a great answer, however I feel like it could be expanded upon. I don't have enough points to comment, so I decided to post it as a seperate question.
My question is what's the difference between:
光景, 情景, 景色 景観, 眺め, 見晴らし, 場面
I know they all essentially mean view, scenery and/or spectacle, but what are the more nuanced differences?
Also, since 光景, 情景 and 場面 have been explained in the other question, feel free to leave the definitions out; if you feel like they've been explained well enough.


texts:
擦れ違う is one of my new vocabulary words, so I try to understand as much as I can. I looked up a couple of meanings for the word and I found that it is used to describe 1) when two things pass each other (opposite direction?) and 2) When two people have differing opinions.

I think 擦る means to rub or touch very lightly. However, I'm not sure when I can use 擦れ違う. In the first case, can I only use 擦れ違う when two things pass each other in opposite directions? Is that where the 違う part comes from?

I'm also interested in how the second definition / usage came to be. Thanks for the help!

EDIT:
My sources for the above definitions were from space alc

The following example gives me trouble when trying to understand the second meaning.

[（人）と意見が擦れ違う]


texts: When is it rude to call someone by their given name?

texts:
Would it be considered rude to suddenly start calling someone by their given name, like, should you ask permission to do so first? if you don't ask permission, and this someone only wishes to be called by their family name, is it seen as though you're mocking them, or intentionally being rude?

edit: i mean, how rude would it be seen as? is it seen as taboo, or just generally greatly frowned upon in society?

edit: I have looked at the posts addressing politeness, but it doesn't answer my question here.


texts: Meaning of かけられる in the following sentence or context and its corresponding Kanji

texts:
Can any one please tell me what かけられる means in the following sentence and if it has any corresponding Kanji?

  年明けの築地市場の初競りにかけられるのでしょうか。


texts: What grammatical function is や performing here?

texts:
それで何だっけ?
  昨日の夜の話
  全然覚えてないや
  「電話が鳴って君からだってわかったら
  急に変な気分になったんだ。」

This is an excerpt of lyrics from Indigo la End's song 彼女の相談. I can't figure out what function the や in line 3 performs.

Does anyone have any input?


texts:
In *A Frequency Dictionary of Japanese:

  彼はよく詐欺に引っかかる。

is translated as:

  He is often caught committing fraud.

When reading that sentence I understood it as:

  He often falls for frauds (i.e: he is often the victim, not the perpetrator, of frauds).

Are both translations possible?

In 大辞林 they show this definition:

  だまされて仕組まれたとおりに動かされる。計略にはまる。

And even give this example sentence:

  詐欺に引っかかる。

Which explains the first thing I thought of when reading the sentence.
However, they also give another possible definition:

  やっかいな事柄や人物とかかわりあいをもつ。

Could this definition be used in this case to interpret the sentence like A Frequency Dictionary of Japanese did?


texts: 「を」 object marker in this 受身形{うけみけい} sentence

texts:
A native speaker told me that:
泥棒{どろぼう}に、お財布{さいふ} を 、盗{ぬす}まれた。
is correct.

However, I sure think that:
泥棒に、お財布 が 、盗まれた。
is correct.

Moreover, I am pretty sure that using the object marker, 「を」, in any 受身形 sentence is extremely uncommon. What is going on? Is a native speaker telling me incorrect Japanese?


texts:
hi i was looking for the meaning of the word/words and i'm not sure i got the right meaning the sentence containing the word is

あんなのと一緒にすんなっつうの


texts: Meaning of ゴルフ場を国の土地にした

texts:
Regarding an American missile system in Korea:

  韓国の国防省は２月２８日、ＴＨＡＡＤを置くために韓国の南にあるゴルフ場を国の土地にしたと発表しました。
  On the 28th of February South Korea's defence department announced that they had made a golf course, located in the south of the country, into ??? in order to install THAAD.

I'm not sure I understand ゴルフ場を国の土地にした, particularly the 国の土地 part.
Literally I think this means "made the golf course into the country's land". Does this mean that the golf course is now owned by the government, or have I misunderstood?


texts: What is それ in それどころ pointing at in this sentence?

texts:
溺れる者は藁をも掴む。溺れる火口はレムにもすがる。

    返って自分の首を絞めてしまう結果に終わりました。それどころか頼みの綱のレムにさえ破滅への道程を勧められ、それと知らずに「レム、お前頭いいな」などと頓珍漢な賛辞を送ってしまいます。

The context is that 火口 is being led to a trap(he's going to a place where he's gonna be arrested), unbeknown to him. He then asks his supposed ally Rem for her opinion and she says he should go.

As for それどころか I don't know what それ is refering to.

In this sentence:

  私は今回の試験は簡単だろうと思っていたが、それどころか追試を受けることになってしまった。

It's clear that それ is pointing at the previous statement  and what follows next is contradicting/negating that statement. A good translation of それどころか in this case is "Contrary to that". But I don't think it follows the same pattern for それどころか頼みの綱のレムにさえ破滅への道程を勧められ


texts: "Wishing for your continued success..." -- a subtlety

texts:
A simple way to wish people well is to write:

成功【せいこう】を祈【いの】ります。

Praying on success.

Wishing for your success.

However, in English at least, it has an implication that someone is not successful already. This might be bad if they are already quite accomplished. How can we write it so that it wishes for their future commercial/professional success but does not have the negative implication that they are not successful already?

The below is one attempt: wishing that success continues (続行【ぞっこう】する):

成功【せいこう】を続行【ぞっこう】するように祈【いの】ります。

Praying on the continuation of success.

Wishing for your continued success.

Note the ように construction: when we pray for a verb, it seems we nominalise with ように, hence 続行【ぞっこう】するように祈【いの】ります.

How close is the above to communicating the intended meaning?


texts:
ようでは is translated is "if", but I would like to know the conditions of use of ようでは (ie when it is appropriated to use it).
I have some sentences:

  こんな簡単な問題が解決できないようでは、困る。
  We’ll be in big trouble if we can’t solve such
  a simple problem.

  これぐらいの困難にぶつかって落ち込むようでは何事もできない。
  If I feel upset after facing such a
  small obstacle, I won’t be able to do anything.

Could you tell me more about the pattern ようでは  (and on a side note, where does this structure come from) ?


texts: Is it common to use 火を入れる when referring to a degree to which meat or any steak should be cooked?

texts:
I recently asked for a well done steak at a restaurant, while my friend asked for a medium rare. When waiter came back with two steaks, he used 「火をよく入れた方」 to let us know which one is well done. So essentially it was used as "the one cooked longer".

I then tried to re-use this expression at the other restaurant in the same situation, with the only difference that now I was supposed to tell waiter what kind of steak I'm expecting (so that he could give me the right one out of two he brought). And he didn't get what I meant.

I later asked my Japanese colleague about this expression and he claimed that it is not a standard thing to use 火を入れる　in such context. However, searching on the Internet gives me following examples, which reassures me that waiter from the first restaurant was not wrong:

「肉にはどのように火を入れるのがいいのか？」
「それはさておき、サシの多い和牛肉は、ある程度、火を入れた方がおいしいです。」

Could it be that this expression when used in context of frying meat is a professional slang of some sort? Any advice would be appreciated.


texts: What does もうここにいられる気がしない mean?

texts:
I know that "しない" means "not do", and "いられる" means can exist, but I can't put it all together.

My best guess is that it means "The mind/spirit that could be here won't do it".


texts: Is "着物" the most suitable Japanese translation for the English word "kimono"?

texts:
Is "着物" the most commonly used, easily understood, and unambiguous Japanese translation for the  English word "kimono"? If not, what alternatives would be more suitable?

One reason I'm unsure is that some English words derived from Japanese would not have themselves as their best translation in Japanese. For example, the English word "sake" would be best translated as "日本酒", rather than "酒".

Another reason I'm unsure is that "着物" has an etymology of "wearing thing" (equivalent to 食べ物 and 飲み物 having an etymology of "eating thing" and "drinking thing"). Can it mean "clothing" in general, for example even T-shirts? Jisho.org translates the word as meaning either clothing in general, or kimono (or other Japanese style clothing).

I have heard of the word "和服". Does that mean "Japanese style clothing"? Would it include things other than kimonos such as yukatas?


texts:
What makes 飲んだ、and 飲んである different?

Don't they both describe the concept of drinking in the past?

More generally, what are the differences between the past tense of a verb, and the auxiliary verb ある？


texts:
Is 眠って行きます correct?
Is it Nemutte ikimasu or nemuttekimasu?
Informally.


texts:
How to say "I'm happy to be here right now". This is my guess:

  わたしはすごくうれしい、いまここにがいるから.


texts:
Why do we write かぜ (cold) as 風邪, not just 風?

The second kanji (邪) is left unread, so why isn't it redundant?

Perhaps, that's to make sure cold doesn't sound like wind. But then why don't we read it in the word 風邪 (かぜ)?


texts:
For example,

京都でラーメンを食べたし金閣寺に行ったしお酒を買った。
京都でラーメンを食べたり金閣寺に行ったりお酒を買ったりした。

As far as I know, both are non-exclusive lists and たり isn't in chronological order (don't know about し).  Is there any other difference besides that?  The one I hear the most in Japan is し, but that might be just because it's Osaka and they have their own way of saying things.


texts: Usage of 忘れる, 忘れた, 忘れている, 忘れていた

texts:
Consider this sentence:

  それは三十年前のことだから、もう[fill in the blank]。

The answer given by the workbook is 忘れた.

Choices are:

忘れる (forget)
忘れた (forgot)
忘れている (continued state of forgetting)
忘れていた (had forgotten, currently may or may not be forgotten)

My thought process:

Choice 1 is ruled out because it is present/future tense, but the question describes something in the past.

Choice 3 cannot make sense to me. If one is able to talk about something that one forgets, the person is currently not forgetting it. (I do not see how this can make sense in the first person) (Unless it's a dynamic state of memory where the person keeps forgetting and recalling bits and pieces?)

Choice 4 was my choice. I don't understand why 2 is correct while 4 is not. I thought 4 to be correct because he had forgotten about the issue, but is currently remembering it while making the statement.

(Question) Why is choice 2 correct and 4 wrong? And under what circumstances do we use 3 ?


texts:
今この立場になって思うのは世の中で「女性活躍」ってすごく言ってるじゃないですか

The first question is why te form is used in になって? is it to connect it to 思う?

Does すごく言ってるじゃないですか means to speak a lot bout women empowerment ?

full context https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/special/news_seminar/senpai/senpai3/?utm_int=news_contents_special_003
でも、出世はしてみるといいと思います。
今この立場になって思うのは、世の中で「女性活躍」ってすごく言ってるじゃないですか。
これって女性たちにとっては、すごいチャンスなんですよ。
はい。
もし誰もやらなかったら、多分次につながる女性の道は作っていけない…自分がやりたいからというよりも、みんなのためにそういう道を作っておく必要があると思って決めたんです。


texts:
I just want to ask what is the impact of using お帰りなさい on someone who just come back from a business trip? well to elaborate a little, we have a Japanese employee in our company, and one of my colleague say that to him, sometimes she is using お帰りなさいませ on him. While my other colleague are saying like welcome back on him; So I am just wondering what is its impact on him since every time she said it to him he seems happy and sometimes laughing.

Thanks a lot


texts: What does 金 have in common with triggers/guns?

texts:
I read the word 「引き金」and the definition is:

  １ 小銃・ピストルなどの、指で引く発射装置の金具。

  ２ ある事態を引き起こす直接の原因。きっかけ。「授業料の値上げが―となって大学紛争が起こった」
  起因(きいん) 　⇒類語辞書で詳しい使い方を調べる
  誘因(ゆういん) 動機(どうき) モチーフ

But why is 金 connected to the meaning of "trigger"? How is "pulling money"「引き金」representative of a "gun" or "trigger"?


texts: Usage of beginning and end expressions in formal letters - include names?

texts:
I am new to writing formal letters in Japanese, and I am currently writing to a kind person who will be very understanding if I make small mistakes, but I would like to get as much right as possible.

Searching in a dictionary or searching online you would find that there are pairs of set phrases that roughly translate to "Dear ...," and "Sincerely, ...". One such combination would be 拝啓/敬具.

https://www.livinglanguage.com/blog/2016/06/30/composing-business-letters-in-japanese/

The part I am confused about is wether to write a name after these, as most sites explaining this don't actually include an example. And even if one does, it is hard for me to see if they are writing something that is old fashioned or otherwise seen as quirky.

Here's an example, where there is a name after 拝啓, but none after 敬具, and I don't know if that is because the example ends before the name, or because you aren't supposed to write a name there.

https://blogs.transparent.com/japanese/how-to-write-business-emails-in-japanese/


texts: 何が「The lady doth protest to much, methinks」の日本語の対等なの？

texts:
何が、ハムレットからの「The lady doth protest to much, methinks」の日本語の対等なの？

私の日本語はよくないなら、すみません。


texts: Would Painful Death Place be an appropriate translation for 痛死名地

texts:
So, I am writing a story where the MC, while native born in Japan, has a foreign mother and surname, which is Tusinachi.
I understand that typically this would make his surname in Katakana, but I couldn't help but see if there was a way to make his last name make any sense in Kanji. After playing around a bit on romajidesu, I came up with the following translation(?):

    [痛死名地]{つ し な ち}

which translates (at least according to google) to Painful Death Place

Jisho lists the traditional reading of 痛死名地 as いたし なち (itashi-mei chi). Would tsushinachi be an appropriate reading of the name and translation or should I just stick with the katakana reading of the name ツシナチ?

I'm a beginner at learning Japanese, but I've been writing this character for the last decade or so, and it would be really cool if this works (It would make him much more intimidating).


texts: Why is China ちゅうごく while Korea is かんこく? Why the difference between ご and こ?

texts: If my textbook didn't get it wrong, then China is ちゅうごく while Korea is かんこく. I checked the dictionary and 國 is certainly written as こく. So why is it ごく in China's case?


texts: What are the differences between わけ and 理由?

texts: It seems that they are often interchangeable.


texts: Meaning of オレンジ in オレンジは右側です

texts:
I couldn't find the answer to this.

Sometimes when I'm on the subway in Japan when getting close to the next stop in some trains it can be heard オレンジは右側です, not sure if it's オレンジ though. Meaning the exit is on the right or left side, any clue if it's saying オレンジ or anything else? If オレンジ is being said, why orange?


texts: can I get away with not having a subject in a sentence if the subject is not relevant to the meaning?

texts:
I would like to reference a question I have about this thread that I asked a few days ago:
「思っているようです。」or 「思っている。」 for describing another person's opinion That question was clearly answered. This follow-up question results from my studying the given answer.

I wrote this as an example sentence:
(1) Bobさんによれば、株価が高いと思っているようです。

However, this was correction offered by 2 native speakers:
(2) ボブさんによれば、XXさんは物価が高いと思っているようだ。

I translate as:
(1) _According to Bob's research, someone is thinking that the price of the stock is high.
(2) _According to Bob's research, Mr. XX is thinking that the price of the stock is high.

Given my intended meaning, the subject of #1 is in fact a meaningless, "no-op", word that must be there only to conform to the sentence structures of English. I had to have some subject, even if it is meaningless. In Japanese, I feel like I have some freedom with regard to sentence structure.

As these sentence are more about "based on whose analysis were stocks evaluated (ie. Bob)", and not about "who was doing the thinking about the stock price (ie. someone)", could I just get away with not having any subject at all? Doesn't that allow the native speaker to sense an implied (not relevant to the meaning of the sentence) subject? Would not having any subject in Japanese break the grammar? Make the meaning confusing?


texts: How does ほど work in the 〜すれば〜するほど construction?

texts:
I understand that 〜すれば〜するほど is used to mean "the more you do ~ the more ~".
However, I don't see how this meaning is derived from this sentence pattern. I assume the ば is from the conditional form and ほど is supposed to mean "extent".

人が多ければ多いほど楽しい == "The more the merrier".

However if we look at this from the actual construction it seems like: "If there are more people, the extent of more is fun."
This may sound weird, but I can't comprehend it in terms of Japanese, am I looking at it incorrectly? Is ほど a particle in this case? A noun?
Of course I can look at it and think in English "oh that sentence pattern means 'the more x the more y' and be on my way, but I would like to be able to understand in terms of Japanese grammar.
Additionally, it appears in a similar construction:

人が多いほど楽しい

In this construction, does it merely link 多い and 楽しい in a fashion that means if one is high, so it the other? Is it a particle in this case?
Edit:
To clarify, I understand the meaning and logical use of ほど in sentences such as:

彼ほど日本語がうまくない kare hodo nihongo ga umakunai   あいつを殺したいほど嫌いだ aitsu wo
koroshitai hodo kirai da

These sentences make logical sense to me. "I hate him to the extent of wanting to kill him.", etc.
However, when it is used in sentences such as the following, ほど seems closer to 方が and I can't see the relation to "extent".

多いほど楽しい  ooi hodo tanoshii  ~= The more the better.
早いほどいい hayai hodo ii ~= The sooner the better.

vs

多い方が楽しい ooi hou ga tanoshii
早い方がいい hayai hou ga ii


texts:
A friend mentioned that he's sometimes not understood well in English.  I thought his English was perfectly OK.  I responded,

  それはそうだかもしりませんが私があなたの言うことは通じます

Am I using these particles correctly?  Or should I have said

  それはそうだかもしりませんが私はあなたの言うことが通じます

If the first is wrong, could someone explain what I'm not getting.


texts:
Whilst reading Japanese manga, to assist me in learning, I frequently come across a few actions that I am completely unfamiliar with. (Section is circled in red):

It even appears in fan art (this time differently):

Now I know that normally onomatopoeia like "SLASH" and "BANG" are depicted here, so maybe this is similar? Can someone tell me what this is?


texts: What does the ending to this する　conjugation mean してんなぁ?

texts: Here is my sentence なんか俺 体力低下してんなぁ meaning "I feel like I am getting weaker." 低下 means to fall/decline and it is a noun and can be used as a suru verb. It seems suru is in it's te form here, my guess is because it's describing an ongoing state and I believe the ん in してんなぁ is the "explanatory" ~ んです. If that is the case, what purpose does the なぁ have at the end of this statement and what effect does having this explanatory statement provide instead of just saying なんか俺 体力低下して. The following sentence is 手がふるえる and this is from Yotsuba (1st chapter).


texts:
「できる」の尊敬語はありますか。「おできになる」は使われていますか。（見たことはありませんが．．．）

また、「あったら」は「おありでしたら」になると思いますが、「なかったら」はどうなりますか。


texts:
Why can't use も or は in the following sentence:

  易しい質問に答えられなくて（は・も）、とても恥ずかしかった。

In the case of ても, I was told it probably has to do with 逆条件.


texts: Is the で in という理由だけで a form of だ or the instrumental particle?

texts:
I'm trying to figure out how to say "Maybe it's just because ____, but..." in Japanese, but I'm not sure how to place 'just because' in its own clause that way.

If I'm not mistaken, the expression '____という理由だけで' roughly translates to 'just because ____'. However, since I've only ever seen it used as part of a sentence about something else, like '友達がその本を推薦したという理由だけで読んだ', I can't tell whether the で in it acts as a particle, or the te-form of the copula.

Obviously, this is a problem when I'm trying to use the expression as a clause to add が to in my sentence. Does anyone know the proper way to do so?


texts: Further "で as 動作を行うときの様態 vs で as だ" clarifications

texts:
asked this a while back: で as 動作を行うときの様態 vs で as だ. But i don't feel this aspect has ever become intuitive at all, especially for adjectives.

eg.

  爽やかで抜けるような青空と、この香りとは対照的に、大きくせり出した柵のグレーが強い拒絶を示している。

(speaker in a prison by the ocean) The gray of the large jutting fence shows a strong rejection in contrast to the "爽やかで抜けるような(invigorating, like it was escaping)" sky and ocean scent.

  結果は今ひとつでナンパにも技術が必要だと身にしみた

In the end I have come to realize "今ひとつで(i am lacking?)", even nanpa requires considerable skill.

i lean towards で as だ for both of these, but it's an very disjunctive read and very hard to naturally translate.

When does someone purposely choose to use this sort of sentence structure?


texts: is 持てる potential form or continuous tense

texts:
I am learning japanese grammar via Tae Kim (http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar). I read that to change a u-verb to potential form, replace the -u ending with a -e ending and add -ru. For example 持てる or 待てる to mean can hold or can wait.

The same verb 持つ, when conjugated to its continuous tense becomes 持っている, which is sometimes simplified to 持てる. I feel like this causes ambiguity, for example, ペンは持てる can mean "I am holding a pen" or "I can hold a pen". The question is, how does one distinguish between the 2 meanings, or is there a completely different way to say these things? I read that the topic particle (を) cannot be used with the potential form of verb, so if the sentence changes to ペンを持てる, it would most likely mean "I am holding a pen", but when the particle is は, it is unclear, at least to me


texts:
So recently I was commenting about how a song was related to a book, and I said that there were names of certain characters in the song. Then I wanted to say that when I looked up the names, I found out that they were from the book, The Plague. But I couldn't figure out how you would say that. I ended up doing this:

「ペスト」のキャラクターを見つけ出します！

So how would you say "from /a book/?" Using from in that way seems like a particular English expression. Is there an equivalent one in Japanese? Or can I just use に? "「ペスト」に" made the most sense to me, but then how would I use that with を, for 見つけ出します?

Thank you!


texts: Meaning of ところがある in this weather forecast

texts:
How can ところがある be translated in this sentence?

  今夜から明日にかけてに大雨になるところがあるでしょう。

And 大雨になる? It means "is going to rain"?


texts: Why is した used in "茶道の楽しさは、ゆっくりした時間が味わえることです"

texts:
茶道の楽しさは、ゆっくりした時間が味わえることです

Why is it した and not する?


texts:
The following sentence occurs in The Legend of Zelda:

ナンカ　コウテ　クレヤ

(This would be なんか買うてくれや！ and was famously translated as "Buy somethin', will ya!".) From the 買うて, it's obvious he's speaking Kansai-ben, and I suspect that this usage of や is Kansai-ben as well. (I know that や is used instead of だ in Kansai-ben, but this is obviously a different usage.) But what does it mean? Does it indicate some sort of insistence?


texts:
アニメについての感謝イラストを描いたんだけど、暗に「サイタマのイメージが違う」と不満言ってるみたいに取られたら嫌だなと思ってボツにした奴。  考え過ぎかな。  でも描き直します。

I was reading this tweet and did not understand the bold part.
My translation would be:

  Regarding the illustration gift for the anime I drew them but, as if complaining implicitly that "the image of Saitama is different" if someone received they would turn it down.
    Maybe I am thinking too much.
   Anyway let's draw it back

Edit:
My new translation would be:

  Regarding the illustration gifts for the anime I drew them but, implicit they looked liked they were complaining that "Saitama's image is different" so if I got one I would not be very happy.
  Thinking this I rejected those one.
   Maybe I am thinking too much but I'll redraw them.


texts:
I know that it's correct to use は　after 時, and it's also correct to omit it. For example:

  子供の 時、よく海で泳ぎました。

  子供の 時は、よく海で泳ぎました。

How does the meaning of the sentence change when the particle is used and when it's not? This may be a slight change, but still.


texts: What does 見ぬ/minu mean in this sentence?

texts: The phrase is: mada minu kimi e tsudzuku. I believe the kana is: まだ見ぬきみへつづく。


texts:
A : この音楽、ご存知でしょう。
  B : ええ、どこかで聞いたように思ったんですが。

I think the ように思う together with んですが implies uncertainty in the speaker's thoughts, but I'm not sure whether I grasped the concept or not. It seems like ように思う and と思う are the same grammatically but different in nuance or the like.

What does ように思う exactly mean?

  A : あれ、宿題を忘れたんですか。
  B : ええ、________ように思ったんですが。

I'm not sure which one is more appropriate to fill in the blank (my own answers)

  かばんに入れた or 家に忘れた

Following the first example, the latter is more suitable? I think there are better answers.

  A : 私のペンを知りませんか。
  B : さっき、________ように思いますが。

This one is in present tense, I hope there are no differences between 思った and 思う in this context.

Are there? Maybe like a realization that caused a change in mind?


texts: Is there a reason why the 濁点【だくてん】（ ﾞ）are placed below the stroke at ぐ and で as opposed to the other hiragana characters?

texts:
Most of the 平仮名【ひらがな】 characters have the 濁点【だくてん】 above the stroke but there are two cases where it is placed below the stroke:

がぎげござじずぜぞだぢづどばびぶべぼ
ぐで

Why?


texts:
I'm very confused about the meaning of「Vておく」after watching this video.
I usually interpret「Vておく」as "to do something in advance/do in preparation for future." The speaker in the video mentioned that it is not always true. He said that「Vておく」actually means to do something and put the results in effect. I'm not sure how it's different from doing something in advance. He provided some examples where「Vておく」doesn't mean to do something in advance.
For example,

子供を部屋に閉じ込めておくのはひどい。
It's cruel to lock a child in a room.

He mentioned that the「Vておく」in this sentence doesn't mean do something in advance but do something and leave its effect in place. If I think「Vておく」in terms of future preparation, I can understand this sentence like this

It's cruel to lock a child in a room (to torture the child or something).

Which of the two interpretations above correct? You can see the second interpretation directly contradicts the fact that「Vておく」don't always mean to do something in advance.
Another example,

時々赤ちゃんに泣かせておいてもいい。
It's alright to let a baby cry sometimes.

Once again, he mentioned this「Vておく」doesn't mean to cry in advance. But, I can interpret it in another way. In terms of future preparation, this sentence can also be rendered as

It's alright to let a baby cry sometimes (so that the baby can calm down).

Should I always interpret「Vておく」as "to something in advance"? More precisely, does「Vておく」always carry the nuance of preparation for future?


texts: Is 知{し}らんけど a phrase in every dialect or just kansai?

texts: I was looking on a forum of some sorts and I saw people use 知{し}らんけど. After I looked it up, some of the results said it was from the kansai dialect. Is this common throughout or just in kansai?


texts: Is "先生 / せんせい / sensei" haughty or overly-formal

texts:
If I were to tell my Japanese friend that I plan to become a teacher, would I literally say that I will become a sensei? I have always thought of this as an honorific title, and it feels odd to call myself as such. I don't know of any "general" term for teacher. Is there one?

Thank you.


texts: How can I read this kanji (Image attached)

texts:
That's the Kanji in question.

I'm trying to learn Japanese character's writing and reading (with manga) and got stuck with this one, I've tried doing a search by radicals (jisho) and from a list of kanji by strokes (wikipedia) and couldn't find a reference.

Thanks for taking your time in reading my question!


texts: Can the topic は be ordered after other words or phrases?

texts:
Consider the English sentence "I ate an apple in the train.".
This can be translated to

  わたしは　でんしゃで　りんごを　たべました。

It is possible to re-order the location and objects in this sentence.
For instance, one might also say

  わたしは　りんごを　でんしゃで　たべました。

Pre-question: Is this a usual sentence structure?
Is this sentence

good,
uncommon, but understandable or
grammatically wrong?

(If this changes emphasis is not part of this question.)

My understanding is that this can be a valid sentence, but may sound odd for native speakers.

Can the topic also be re-ordered like this?
For example, consider this sentence:

  りんごを　わたしは　でんしゃで　たべました。

Is this sentence

good,
uncommon, but understandable or
grammatically wrong?


texts: How would I express the sentiment "Remind me again tomorrow"?

texts:
Consider the following conversation:

Miss A: Mr B, could you please pick up the customer at the airport tomorrow?
Mr B: Oh yes, could please remind me again tomorrow?

How would I in a natural way express Mr B's wish to be reminded again lest he forgets.
My first guess would be something along the lines of:

Bさん：分かりました、明日も言ってくれますか？

However this doesn't convey the meaning of "reminding". Another way could be:

Bさん：分かりました、明日また思い出させてくれませんか？

But I'm not sure you can use 「思い出す」 in this manner. Is there some better way of expressing the intent to "remind me again later"?


texts: Understanding わかんないこと言うんじゃないのっ

texts:
A) 「ちがうっ、量が肝心だよォ」
  A) That's wrong. Quantity is vital.
  B)「わかんないこと言うんじゃないのっ」
  B) Didn't I say that I don't understand.

The context is that A is trying to get B to buy more stuff. B explains that quantity is not important.

I think my translation of the second sentence must be wrong. Neither A nor B say that they don't understand anything. Furthermore, why is こと used rather than just と? And, why is it わかんない rather than わからない? Is that just a standard contraction? Also I'm guessing there's a を that's been omitted?


texts:
This is the first time I have seen this and I don't know its meaning or what does in the sentence

  素質はなんとなくあったかもね

Best Regards


texts: Is 三角 pronounced "sangaku" in any dialects?

texts:
The word 三角 is often used in judo to describe a position enclosing your opponent's head and arm in a "triangle" created by interlocking your legs. However this word is occasionally spelled sangaku (as opposed to the expected sankaku):

  37. Omote-sangaku
  38. Ashi-sangaku-garami
  ...
  45. Yoko-sangaku

  Fighting Judo, Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki

Is this just a typo, or an example of rendaku in the author's dialect?

i.e. is 三角 ever pronounced さんがく?


texts: What is the difference between 有る【ある】 and ある？

texts:
I found these example sentences plus their translations from WaniKani by Tofugu, but I got confused by the differences between  有る【ある】 and ある.

  マヨネーズなら、まだ少し有ります。
  We still have a little mayonnaise.

  彼には金も有るが、屋根の上に銀もある。 He has gold as well as a silver on his roof.

Why in the second sentence, they use both 有る and ある？

To me it seems that they both mean "to have", so why the change in kanji/hiragana?

Are they interchangeable?

Also, how often and when do people use 有る?


texts: How to say [even for somebody] vs just [for somebody]

texts:
これは私に難しい。
This is difficult for me.

I want to say
[This it is difficult EVEN for me.]
The closest way to say it that I could find is using とっても [totte-mo], but for my understanding this word is not [even], it is [very]. As far as I understand it, it modifies the adjective [difficult] to [very difficult], but I want to modify the person to whom it is difficult.

これは私にとっても難しい。
This is VERY difficult to me.

As far as I understand every word which ends with も[mo] means [too][as well], but I want to say the meaning, that when it is difficult even for me, then you have no chance at all and therefore it makes no sense for you to try it at all. For you it will be a waste of time.
It is like: if even he can not do it, than you will 100% never do it. It is hard even for him.
Question:
What pattern should be used to modify the person, marked by に[ni], which is [to whom][for whom]? What general pattern is used to emphasize [even for someone][even for somebody][even for me/him/her/them/...]

Update
Downthere was a long way to final simple solution which is

これは私に難しい。
This is difficult for me.
これは私にでさえ難しい。
This is difficult even for me.

It's simple like that.
Just add でさえ after に and we get [even for somebody] instead of plain [for somebody].
Source: Difference between さえ、でさえ
Huge thanks to @henreetee for support!


texts:
The speaker was hired by the queen to manufacture enhanced armour, but not many of the 貴族騎士 has requested an order as of now. The speaker is trying to give his special armour as a gift to a poor soldier that did the speaker some favours in the past.

  poor soldier「・・・私にはあなたに依頼するようなお金はありませんよ」

  「とんでもない、お金はいりませんよ」

  「貴族騎士からお代をいただいているのは、殿下が定めた基準を超える能力や装飾を施しているからです」

  「本来は私の技術を軍に生かすというのが、殿下のお考えーーー過度な物でなければ、普及優先のためお代は貰いません」

In regards to what i charge the nobility, the  "能力や装飾を施している" exceeds the standard the queen has set, so i don't need money from you.

Originally, the queen's idea was that my craft is to be used by our forces, --- if it's not too extreme, for the sake of prioritizing the popularity  of the armour, payment isn't needed .

I find it difficult to fit a definition J or E, for 能力や装飾を施す in this context

thanks


texts: Does the も particle mean "as far as" in the following sentence?

texts:
I'm translating a sentence, and I come across the particle も. I remember learning in my Beginner Japanese class that the particle も can be used to mean "too" in various situations, but that meaning is not applicable here.
So then I went to https://jisho.org/search/も, for some possible alternative meanings. The Japanese sentence is

  「ここにじっとしていてもしょうがない………か」

I believe a literal, word-by-word translation would be equivalent to the following:

  Here at patiently to be (も) it can’t be helped…… I guess.

Adding what I think も means, and then turning the sentence into proper English resulted in the below translation:

  "As far as patiently remaining here it can't be helped...... I guess."

My question is, did I use and therefore translate the particle も correctly, despite never learning this function of も in my Japanese classes?


texts: Are there any words which use 'カ', the on-yomi of 何?

texts:
I started finally learning kanji's readings not only meanings and words. And in two sources I use I see that 何's kun'yomi is なん、なに and on' is カ.

I've seen 何 in many words as

なん: 何度、何と、何で

なに: 何人、何か

ど: 何処、何の

何れ (いずれ)、何時(いつ)

I know, that ど and い readings can be exceptions.

But never as カ. Are there any words that is it as カ?


texts: どうして「お聞き遊ばして」が現代語訳では「お吸いなさいまして」になるのか分からない

texts:
現代訳を頼りに、泉鏡花さんの「外科室」を読もうとしているところですが、分からない箇所があります。

原文の

  　看護婦は医学士の旨を領してのち、かの腰元に立ち向かいて、
  「もう、なんですから、あのことを、ちょっと、あなたから」
  　腰元はその意を得て、手術台に擦り寄りつ、優に膝のあたりまで両手を下げて、しとやかに立礼し、
  「夫人、ただいま、お薬を差し上げます。どうぞそれを、お聞きあそばして、いろはでも、数字でも、お算えあそばしますように」
  　伯爵夫人は答なし。

は現代訳ではこうなる。

  　看護婦は医学士の指示を承知した後、あの侍女に向かって、
  「もう、時間ですから、あのことを、ちょっと、あなたから申し上げてください」
  　侍女はその言葉の意味を理解して、手術台に擦り寄り、膝のあたりまで両手を下げて、しとやかに深く立礼し、
  「奥様、ただいま、お薬を差し上げます。どうぞそれを、お吸いなさいまして、いろはでも、数字でも、お数えなさいますように」
  　伯爵夫人の答えはない。

「お聞きあそばして」を見た時に、「お聞きなさいまして」と解釈したが、現代訳によると、「お聞きなさいまして」ではなく、「お吸いなさいまして」という意味だそうです。理由は何ですか。


texts: I don't understand the use of ようなこと in this context

texts:
recently I came across the following sentence:

アタシ。。。お前らを応援するようなこと言ってたのに。。。

I'm really confused by the use of ような in this context. Hope someone could help me understand it.

Thank you.


texts: Dictionary form (解ける) as potential form (解けられる)?

texts:
Suppose I wanted to say to someone, "Can you solve this question?" According to my Memrise app and some Google results, this is the model sentence:

  (1) この問題が解けますか。

Since potential ("can") is involved, shouldn't the Japanese sentence be:

  (2) この問題が解けられますか。

Perhaps the literal meaning of (1) is "Will this question be in a solved state?", similar to ドアがしまりますか。Is the (automatic, maybe) door going to be closed? Perhaps this literal meaning is widely taken to mean "Can you solve this question?"

I've asked a similar question about dictionary form vs potential form, but due to the limited context of that question, I would like to know if the dictionary form can be used as the potential form in general.


texts: The word for "season" (US) or "series" (UK)?

texts:
I previously asked how to count episodes but I forgot to ask how to say "series". How can I say

  I watched 13 episodes of season 1.


texts: Pronunciation of silent consonants in English names

texts: My surname ends in a silent H, which makes the last two letters, TH, pronounced like a hard T. I've read that Japanese tends to "make close approximations (of names) based on spelling, not pronunciation". So, depending on which is true, my name ends in either "to" or "tsu". Which one is more accurate?


texts: What's the difference between がんばれ and 頑張って 【がんばって】?

texts:
This one stumped my Japanese friend that I was having dinner with earlier tonight. We were talking about the fact that tomorrow is Monday and I had a tough work week ahead. She said ガンバレ, I paused, and asked what was the difference between that and 頑張{がんば}って . She paused, then said I should ask someone else. Like a lot of native speakers, some word choices just come naturally and she's never examined the hows and whys.

I notice just now that when I type them in, my IME's first suggestion for がんばって is in kanji, and the first suggestion for がんばれ is in katakana. Is that indicative of a difference in meaning and usage, or merely convention in writing?

Also, I do know that がんばって can be followed by ください, and I think がんばれ can't. So perhaps it's just a matter of the form of the verb? Still, even if that's the case, I'm wondering if there are different implications for choosing one or the other.

Anyone know what the difference is?

Please note: In accordance with the discussion on meta regarding linguistic terminology, I'm going to request that answers be in plain English (and Japanese) so that everyone can understand. Or, at least, please know that I wouldn't mark an answer as correct if it only contained technical linguistic terms. Thanks for your understanding.


texts: Why can は and を sometimes be used interchangeably?

texts:
For example:

  肉は食べますが、すしを食べません。


texts: Can object in a compound sentence be ommited in order to avoid repetition?

texts:
ナイフでお肉を切ります、それからフォークで(お肉を)食べます。

Cut the meat with a knife, then eat the meat with a fork.

I wondered whether the second (お肉を) could be omitted in order to avoid repetition. Is it totally acceptable in grammar?


texts:
Duolingo translates "Where is the classroom for the Japanese class?" as 「日本語の授業【じゅぎょう】はどこの教室【きょうしつ】ですか？」.

I don't understand the construction 「…はどこの教室…」. My instinct would have been 「日本語の授業の教室はどこですか？」. Are both used? In what circumstances?

My first idea was that this is a の-adjective, with a literal translation of "The Japanese class has a where-ish classroom" but the 「…か？」 at the end tells me that is unlikely.


texts: How to parse 彼は甲殻のように固い背中を下にして横たわり

texts:
I am (still) reading Metamorphosis(from Kafka) and can't figure out how to parse

彼は甲殻のように固い背中を下にして横たわり

Translated as

He lay on his armour-hard back

I suppose the japanese version litteraly looks more like

He lay on his back hard as a nutshell (or is it "on his hard back which looks like a nutshell" ?)

Here is what i don't understand :

How to parse のように ? i know about ように ~ "trying to do something", Aのよう　~ seems/looks like A (exemplification) and the adverbial ように but none of them seems to apply here : am i wrong ?
Does に in 背中を下にして横たわり make 下 into an adverb ? If not what's its meaning ? And if so then see 3.
What's the use of を particle here ? Doesn't 下にして横たわり already have the sense of "to lay on his back" without the 背中を part ?


texts: How do you say "She looks good in everything" in Japanese

texts:
How do you say "She looks good in everything" (in terms of clothing)? Context is, someone said a certain girl looks like in a certain outfit, to what I'd like to say the above. My first idea was 彼女なら何でも似合ってる but it feels a bit off.

Thanks!


texts: What is the difference between できました and しました?

texts:
The answer to this question explains how できる can have more uses than just as a potential verb. However, are there any differences in usage between できます and します? They both seem like they can be used to describe something being completed.

e.g. 宿題ができました!　vs　宿題をしました！


texts: What does it mean for the 'feel' of a sentence / text when it's written in all hiragana?

texts:
When a Japanese-language sentence is written out in all katakana, it's supposed to be either stilted, robot-like speech or something to simulate ALL CAPS.

How is that with hiragana? Does it make te text look like it was written by a nine-year old when all kanji are written phonetically?

Are there nuances in meaning when the same word is written in kanji or in hiragana?

Related, but not containing the answer I'm looking for: What does it mean if a sentence is in all-kana?


texts: Why does 背く sound like そむふ in this sentence?

texts:
The clip and subtitles:

http://clyp.it/fmzowhxt
組織の命令に背くという事は どういう事か お前は わかってない！

So why is 背く being pronounced like that? I don't hear a く at all and hear a ふ instead.

Also, maybe the following is related(if not, I'll remove it and put it in its own question):

http://clyp.it/g01r22ei
自宅からウィルスを送ってたら、先走った刑事にウィルスが揃う前に捕まっちまうところだった。
I'm hearing おくfってたら instead of of おくってたら

http://clyp.it/hv3yjmeo
バトー！　ナナオはそこを経由して分割したウィルスを送ってきてる
Similarly I'm hearing おくfってきて(And no ～る, but I guess that's a question for another day.)

Edit: Revised to clarify that I'm not hearing a full mora but just an 'f' sound in 送fって. I would describe it as a single syllable "okf", but the last time I tried to describe Japanese in terms of syllables(yak'sok'), I was chastised and felt great shame..


texts: What is the Japanese for "I'll check it out, I will try and see"?

texts: I found a form using 見て, and it seemed very useful, but I could never remember it. It means something like "I will try it out" or "I will try and see", and the Japanese form is something like 自転車見て... I know this is vague, but I am also some form like this is pretty common and I can't remember what it is. Can anyone recall?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Usage of ～じゃん (～じゃない)

usage of ～じゃん　for verbs

Sometimes when i talk to a japanese, they use a lot this. I dont know if there's a rule for it, and when i can or cannot use it.

some examples

  あるじゃん

  やるじゃん

  いるじゃん

  くるじゃん

  ...


texts:
I really like how the word "yoko" is pronounced, and I'll like to use it in my bussiness. I think that my bussiness will be named "yoko garage".

Do you know what yoko means? Does it have any bad or good meanings/concepts related to it?


texts: Is There A Japanese Word ( preferably a single Kanji ) For Owner of Black Stallion?

texts:
I am looking for a Japanese word, preferably a single Kanji character to mean "owner of black male horse". I checked some dictionaries, but could not find a single word for it.

Currently, I found the following on jisho.org and Google:

  驪 = Black horse
  牡馬 (Boba) = Male horse (stallion)
  黒 (Kuro) = Black
  闆 = Owner
  馬主 = Horse Owner

  馬 = Horse (Google Translate)

Just one more question, can I just put these kanji characters in sequence to get the meaning I want? e.g. 牡馬 + 闆 = 牡馬闆 (black horse owner?)


texts:
I saw this phrase:

描いていた忘れていたこと

Can there be a sentence or phrase with two verbs in  progressive past state?
What does this phrase mean?
Which type of nuance provides こと to the verb?
This phrase makes sense?
Given that:
描いていた is progressive past form of 描く (to draw; to paint; to sketch; to picture in one's mind; to imagine)
And:
忘れていた is progressive past form of
忘れる (to forget)


texts: Should I use 「なすぎる」 or 「なさすぎる」?

texts:
As I was taught, with verbs and adjectives, when you want to express an excessive degree, you simply attach 「すぎる」 to the stem of the word, as below.

食【た】べる　食べ過ぎる
多【おお】い　多すぎる

However, when it comes to negative forms, there seem to be cases where 「さ」 is appended before 「すぎる」, and cases where 「さ」 is not.
For example, I have recently heard:

おもしろくなさすぎる
知らなすぎる
知らなさすぎる

When is this 「さ」 needed? Is it perhaps optional only for verbs? In the case that it is optional, is there a difference between having and leaving out 「さ」?


texts: Are Japanese stories usually written in past tense or present tense?

texts:
This is a question that I have been pondering for a while.

As anyone who has read stories written in English can tell you, most stories are written in past tense. Why? Well, the main reason is that writing stories in past tense has been the convention for as long as anyone can remember. Moreover, stories written in the present tense have a reputation for being poorly written.

That doesn’t mean you can’t write a good story in present tense. “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens (written mostly in present tense and includes sections written in past tense) and “Rabbit, Run” by John Updike (written entirely in present tense) are considered to be classics.

The following are the pros and cons of writing in present tense. The cons also hint at other reasons that most stories are written in past tense.

The pros of writing in present tense:

Stories written in present tense feel like a movie
Present tense creates more intense emotions
Present tense works well with a deep third-person point of view
Present tense is the best choice for short-time frame stories with constant action
Present tense works well with unreliable narrators

The cons of writing in present tense:

Some people simply hate reading stories written in present tense
Present tense is not as flexible and it can be awkward to shift to past events or future events
Present tense is hard to use effectively, because it is not as flexible
There is little to no narration in stories that are written in present tense.
There are 12 verb tenses in English, and you will be limited to 4 verb tenses (simple present, present progressing, simple future and sometimes simple past) if you write in present tense.

By the way, you can write stories in future tense in English, but they are very rare. I know of only two stories that are written in future tense, and they are “The Book of Revelation” and “Gylfaginning”. Both stories give details on the upcoming end of the world and its subsequent rebirth.

I got the above from this source: (https://thewritepractice.com/past-tense-vs-present-tense/).

That’s how English stories are written. So how about Japanese stories? The few Japanese stories that I have read so far seem to be written in present tense, but they have some parts written in past tense. I am willing to guess that there are probably no Japanese stories written in future tense. The Japanese language treats the base form of verbs as having present or future tense and the reader has to rely on context to figure out which tense is being used, so trying to write a Japanese story in future tense would be difficult at best.

I look forward to your answers!


texts: Use of は particle when talking about doing things on a certain day

texts:
English
One thing that I still don't exactly understand is when to use は when talking about doing things on a certain day.
For example,

明日は学校に行く。

or

明後日は映画館に行く。

Should the は be included or excluded from these sentences? Is there a specific situation where it should be included (besides emitting particles in a casual situation)?
日本語
文に特定の日を表す語がある場合、日に「は」をつけたほうが良いかどうかがまだよくわかりません。
例として、

明日は学校に行く。

と

明後日は映画館に行く。

という文に「は」はあるほうが良いですか？ないほうが良いですか？
「は」をつけないといけない場合はありますか？（タメ口で話している場合以外）「は」をつけるべきでない場合は？


texts:
I've seen several translations of the following song lyrics from Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory" online, and none of them look quite right.

I'm on the edge, the edge,
the edge, the edge,
the edge, the edge,
the edge,
I'm on the edge of glory,
and I'm hanging on a moment with you
I'm on the edge with you.

Here's an example

果てに私が果てに
果てに、果てに
果てに、果てに
果てに
栄光の果てに私がいるの
あなたといる瞬間にしがみついてる
果てにあなたと私が一緒にいるの

After thinking about it, I realized that different Japanese words for words for "edge" have implications that don't exist in English.

I think that 果て with regards to "glory", implies that glory has already been achieved. The above translation would be wrong then, since "edge of glory" means the same thing as "about to achieve glory."

Are my observations correct? What is the correct Japanese word for "edge" in this case?


texts: Help me understand the grammar of this sentence: ～のこと～のこと、～なってもらえたかな

texts:
The Sentence:

Recently, I've been trying to broaden my understanding of Japanese by stumbling through translating some blog posts. I came across this sentence:

  見に来てくださった方、
  チームAのことも、私のことも、
  好きになってもらえたかなー？

For a bit of context, the writer is talking about a concert event that various people attended, and she (appears to be) asking them if they liked it. But any nuance beyond that is lost on me.

Things I don't understand:
There are three main things I don't get about this sentence:

1) How does the middle clause (チームAのことも、私のことも) connect with the other two clauses, i.e. is it the object of 見? The "subject" (i.e. ～が) of 好き? Both? Something else entirely?

2) Why is the middle clause 何のことも何のことも rather than just 何も何も ? What does のこと add?

3) Everything about the final clause. I think I understand some of the pieces (好きになって ～ come to like, come to love; もらえる ability (and willingness) to receive something, presumably here a helping verb like もらう and くれる that indicates who benefits from the action rather than describing an action on its own but... what does that mean here?; か question particle; な emphasis), but I have no idea how they are meant to go together.

Somehow all these together add up to "Did those of you who came to watch team A and me like/love (it/what you saw/etc.)?" (Per my own analysis and that of a Japanese teacher, though she didn't have time to explain further.)

What I'm looking for
My main concern is understanding what is going on here and how the pieces fit together, so I can understand it if I see something like it again, and so I can use the same constructions myself. I'd especially like references to specific discussions on these words/structures, whether on the web or in printed books (as long as they aren't too obscure) so I can investigate on my own (I did some already but didn't turn up much).

Secondarily, I'd also love pointers on how to translate sentences like this.


texts:
The sentence is "諸星先生は元々住んでる星が違うし". This looks to me an idiomatic expression, but I cannot find this in dictionary.

Another interpretation I was thinking about is that the teacher in the above sentence "lives in another star/solar system", which is to say that it's just a completely different person (in character). It fits, but not sure if it is accurate; for one, living in another planet feels more accurate, and if so 星 should be short for 惑星？


texts:
I've found the dictionary definitions of 手数 and 手間, both that are translated to "time, labor":

手数
１ それをするのに要する動作・作業などの数。てかず。「―のかかる料理」
２ 他人のためにことさらにかける手間。てかず。「お―でもよろしく」「お―をかけて恐縮です」

VS

手間
１ そのことをするのに費やされる時間や労力。「―を省く」「―がかかる」
...
３ 手間賃を取ってする仕事。手間仕事。また、その仕事をする人。「―を雇う」

What I don't understand are the nuances. I.e., when can/should one be used and not the other, or when can both be used.


texts: Usage of の following て-form in お申し込みにあたってのご注意

texts:
I read the answer to this question Grammatical Pattern : VerbてのNoun but I do not see how it applies to the following sentence お申し込みにあたってのご注意

It cannot be "you must apply to be careful".


texts:
I'm trying to translate sentence, here it is:

  なにかあったら呼んでくれ、と言いたい所だが、悪いが呼ばれても何もできん」

And my attempt to translate:

  I want to say, call me if something happens, but I can't do anything if you call me wrong.

I think I got something wrong, but I don't know what...


texts:
I have seen both used like 笑颜 and  笑顔 to mean smile (noun). afaik both are pronouced as えがお (somebody correct me if I'm wrong, ビギナーだ).

So what exactly is the difference?


texts: The という in things like 〜ということ・〜というの・〜という感じ・〜というわけ etc

texts:
I have been trying for ages to understand the reason という is used so frequently.  In other words, what does it add to the sentence and what connotations does it have in Japanese? I understand the meaning of each word individually in many of the set phrases it belongs to, but if you were forced to name who it is doing the いう'ing, would it be the speaker, Japanese society or just some abstract entity?

All I've found are silly and questionable English translations like:

  今日のテーマは愛という事だ
  "Today's lesson is the thing they call love"

The problem for me arises when I see just how often stuff like ということ appears in conversation, even twice in a sentence, like:

  彼が金を貸してくれたということは私は彼に信用されているということだ。

Why isn't it just

  彼がお金を貸してくれたことは

I was hoping someone could give me a (hopefully in-depth) understanding based more in how it is understood in Japanese. Even a link to a good Japanese explanation or a summary would do.


texts: Did I say "I shall bring glory to God in all that I do." right?

texts:
I have to write a list of goals for this year for my Japanese class and one of them is "I shall bring glory to God in all things" or something of similar meaning.

Using my many Japanese grammar, conjugation, etc. workbooks and resources that my teacher has equipped us with in past years, I came up with 「私はすべてのことに神の栄光のためにすべきである。」

For those of you who are fluent in Japanese, is this the best way to translate my thoughts?


texts: What is オー・マイ・ガブリーヌ?

texts:
It's from a video game called Xenogears.  You can play rock-paper-scissors with a man and when he loses he says this:

  負けたのか、この俺が！？
  そんなバカな……！？
  オー・マイ・ガブリーヌ！

Is it something like "Oh my God!"?


texts: How do I say "it was the first time X (of this extent) happened?"

texts:
おはよう！

I've across come this sentence and I've been wondering how to deconstruct its grammar for my own understanding/use (if I understood it correctly in the first place, that is).

  ここまで乱暴｛らんぼう｝な召喚｛しょうかん｝は初めて｛はじめて｝でね、正直｛しょうじき｝状況｛じょうきょう｝が掴｛つか｝めない。

It looks to me like ここまで [noun clause]　[conj.] 初めて [copula＊] [sentence ending prt.] ~~ [sentence 2]。

＊Well, rather a '連用形｛れんようけい｝ form of だ' as I learned today, but we could just forget about sentence 2 and revert it to だ?

So if I wanted to say something like "it was the first time such a thing happened", would

  ここまでそんなことは初めてだよ

be grammatically correct?

I may have gotten this all completely wrong since I'm basing it off another person's translation so please correct me if that's the case.

よろしくお願いします。


texts: What is the Japanese word for the Australian bush/outback?

texts: I don't know if it would just be the Australian forest, or something else. I would like this for a speaking task at school, and I cannot find any good translations.


texts: In actual Japanese society, how often are second-person pronouns used?

texts:
My Japanese professor (I'm in first-year Japanese) advised us to primarily avoid the use of second-person pronouns like あなた or 君 or おまえ throughout the year, and essentially treated their utterance as something of a faux pas. However, I've been exposed a lot of Japanese language media (primarily anime and music) and their use therein seems to be pretty okay.
I understand that あなた is used by wives to refer to "their dear husband" or something, and that 君 and おまえ are ostensibly inappropriate (the latter considerably more so), but do Japanese people in Japan actually pay attention to these distinctions? I'm inclined to think that my professor advised against their use (as well as the use of a slew of other words I attempted to use from my experience, including 俺、彼／彼女 and あいつ／あいつら) simply to avoid beginning our instruction with something overly informal.

tl;dr version: Are second-person pronouns as societally ill-advised as my professor would like to have me think? In what contexts (e.g., with friends, with older family members, with colleagues, or with superiors) are their use acceptable?


texts: Is it like 平安 is used mainly when talking about the 平安時代 or in terms of historical peace?


texts: Can 影響がある・する be used to express all the concepts of 'influencing', 'inspiring' and 'affecting'?

texts:
See these example sentences:

  Xsan's beautiful pictures inspired me to start traveling.
  Who influenced your painting technique the most?
  What factors affected your decision to become an artist?

Can 影響がある (or possibly 影響する) be used in all these cases, or are there better options for some of them (eg. for inspiring)?

Also, is there a big difference between 影響がある and 影響する? A previous thread (Differences between する, 及ぼす, 与える with 影響?) suggested that 影響する has a stronger meaning.


texts:
やっぱオシャレな雰囲気になるお声だなぁ〜

It seems the definition of おしゃれ is something like "stylish", but it doesn't seem right in this case. What does that mean?