texts: A little help with the usage of 「……わけだよ」

texts:
I came across the following sentence in my dictionary :

  下手なわけだよ，習い始めたばかりなんだから

Because of the absence of context, I imagined one by myself. Suppose I ‘m cooking unskillfully and a friend who sees that says ,“お前料理下手だな”. Then to make excuses I say,  “下手なわけだよ，習い始めたばかりなんだから.”

The above is the context I imagine, but a native speaker said that in this case in which I want to make excuses for myself, わけ is not suitable, and はず is OK.He didn’t explain more.

I know the nuance between the following two sentences:

A.彼は七年間も日本にいたから、日本語が上手なわけだ

B.彼は七年間も日本にいたから、日本語が上手なはずだ

I just want to know why the usage of わけ such as in sentence A couldn’t be used to make excuses for oneself. It’s very anti intuitive to me..

Thanks in advance, and sorry for my poor English..


texts: Difference between "私達" and "われわれ" when used as possessive pronouns?

texts:
When you are talking to a 3rd person, fundamentally

  (1) それは、私達の出来あげたものです。
  (2) それは、われわれの出来あげたものです。

mean:

  That is something that we all created together.

With regard to using them as first person, plural, possessive pronouns, this a nuanced choice. I'm not asking about using them as subjects, objects, topical nouns, etc. Just as possessive pronouns.

My feeling is that #1 is about taking more direct credit for what was accomplished? It sounds rude? Like you considered yourself the lead in a small group of 4 or 5 people?
Even if you were the lead, always express to outsiders that a team of equals, among them yourself, accomplished something? That is choice #2?


texts: For how long has Japanese been the official language of Japan?

texts:
That is to say, in Japan, at which point in time, was it declared that official documents had to be written in the Japanese language?

I am also looking for any additional information like where it was decided, how was is decided, who decided that, etc...


texts: Please illustrate the differences between 数 and 量. Also 番号？

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数 refers to something's corresponding number. For example, a reading on a monitor.

量 refers to an amount, something that can be measured.

However, if you wanted to say that the number of something was increasing, (for example, the types of fruit in a supermarket) how could that be phrased? I'm guessing both terms could be used.

How does 番号 figure in here?


texts: Meaning of this dialogue in Fukuoka dialect

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A: 朝ご飯はなんだった？
B: こげん大きか茶碗に水のごたまずかおかゆと、梅のあのやおか...

Is ごた＝こぐ（すごく） and　まずかおかゆ＝不味いお粥？


texts:
For hearsay (伝聞), one can append そうです to the plain form of an adjective and verb. For example:

  体にいいそうです - Heard it's good for the body

There is also another way to say that and that's using って. For example:

  体にいいって - Heard it's good for the body

The question is, what is the difference between these 2 sentences?


texts:
According to this, "noun + の + こと" mostly means "regarding noun" when it is used.

By adding a だけ to the end, (so that it's now "noun + の + こと + だけ") does this change the meaning to something else, or does it change the amount of regard given to the noun?


texts: Most natural way to say "absolutely not"? 決して 絶対に?

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I would like to say:
"He never comes to Osaka (no matter what)"

彼は決して大阪に行かない。

To express the "never" part, I know there are words like 決して、絶対に、全然、全く, but which sound more natural to the Japanese ear when spoken and when written?
And are there other words to express this as well?


texts:
I’m reading a story, and in it 2 students are talking about a teacher. One says, ね、榎本先生ってさ。。。 男子にエロ本って呼ばれてるらしいよ。This is followed by a scene where the boys were caught with a prön mag, and the teacher telling them they have to be more careful about it. She later confronts him about it saying, 先生はエロ本って呼ばれてるじゃん。

I have no clue how to interpret this usage of 呼ばれてる as I’m certain it can’t mean “call” as that wouldn’t make sense.


texts:
Coming from a place that gets lots of snow, I think of roofs as being slanted and inaccessible. For me, the word 'roof' does not conjure an image of usable space. However, from the looks of it, the top of Japanese buildings (ie roofs) are largely accessible and put to good use.

Most dictionaries define 屋上 as "roof" or "rooftop". Does the term 屋上 refer specifically to the human-usable space on top of a building, or more broadly to the top of a building, whether or not it is accessible?


texts: What is the difference between とはいえ and と(は)いっても?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  と言っても vs とは言え           .

Apparently they mean the same thing (although, that being said) and yet there are cases when only one of them can be used. For example: 梅雨とはいえ、これほど雨が続くのも珍しい。


texts: Would a japanese person recognize this icon (fa-language) to represent translation or language change?

texts:
https://fontawesome.com/v4.7.0/icon/language

https://fontawesome.com/icons/language?style=solid

(Somewhat unrelated but what are those kanjis? I guess the lower one is 文? Is the upper one just a variation of the same kanji or is it a different one? -Sorry, I'm illiterate when it comes to kanji.)

I assume that to an English reader the kanji here doesn't matter much and I think any non-english symbol would pass (at least in the right context), but for a Japanese reader? Are those kanji a Chinese thing only perhaps or recognized in all kanji-using countries?

And most importantly: Would it be weird to use those on a Japanese website?

Thanks for your help!


texts:
I'm reading several short texts as a part of a university course that's starting this fall, but I'm having problem understand parts of this one text. It's called 絵本 and is written by 林芙美子

http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000291/files/24368_15542.html

I know it's an older text, and I figured out some things, like how there's no small っ　and how ゐ is used instead of い and they use some older often more complex kanji for a lot of words. I also think ぢ is used instead of じ, and that わ is replaced with は for some words like ふわふわ that becomes ふはふは. I also figured out that ゝ repeats the previous hiragana (is this ever used in modern japanese? it seems pretty useless).

  何かいつも愉しさうだつた。娘の子のつかふやうな針箱をそばに置いて、涼しい処でゐねむりをするので好きだつた

I can't for the life of my figure out the part (in bold text).

  家ぢゆうあけつぱなしなので白い蝶々がお婆さんの鼻さきにまで飛んで来た。

Is this 家中開けっ放し?

  初めは何かい喃と、ぢつと眼をこらしてめやにのたまつたまなじりをぱちぱちさせてゐたが、白い蝶々なのだとおもふと、お婆さんは手を宙へあげてひらひらさせてみたりした。

What is 喃と and おもふと?

  土の上に冷えた、土鍋のふちに、もう蟻が四五匹這ひあがつてゐる。

Why is there a ひ in the text shouldn't this be 這い上がっている? (はいあがる）


texts: Why does 考えて need も in the "て + ごらん" pattern?

texts:
Consider these three lists:

てごらん
考えてもごらん
てもごらん

In the verb-te form + ごらん structure, it seems that only the verb 考える needs to have も. (It seems that 考える can be used without も, but a cursory look over at Google suggests with も is more commonly used on the internet.)

Does this change the meaning at all? Why is the the case for 考える?


texts:
I've recently been reading Tobira and there was a sentence that I was really having trouble finding exactly what was going on in it.

  そして、「どこに住んでるの？」と「い」を言わなかったり、「どこ、住んでるの？」と「に」を落として言ったりすると、もっとくだけた感じになります。

I think I figured out the meaning which I would interpret as

  "Not saying the 「い」 in 「どこに住んでるの？」 and saying 「どこ、住んでるの？」 while dropping the 「に」 gives a more relaxed impression."

But my issue is specifically with そして、「どこに住んでるの？」と「い」を言わなかったり,

Normally, from my interpretation when a phrase marked with と followed by the verb 言う in this manner it would be quoting what was said/will be said. However, what's being said in this case seems to be marked with the を? Intuitively, I initially thought 「どこに住んでるの？」と「い」を言わなかったり carried the meaning of "Not saying 「どこに住んでるの？」 and 「い」".

My logic behind this being that the 言わなかったり is of course in the negative form. If someone could breakdown the grammar for this example (especially regarding using both particles in a single sentence with 言う) I would be super appreciative!

I've seen the particle を with 言う a lot recently but haven't considered the differences between と and を with 言う until now. What exactly is the difference between using を or と with 言う and what are some cases one would be chosen over the other?

Thanks!

Note: The question this was claimed to be a duplicate of does not have an answer that addresses the concurrent use of both particles within a single sentence.


texts: What is the Japanese sound word for the clinking of money?

texts: What is the sound of coins being handed from one person to another?


texts:
My friend recently played through a game called Persona 4, and he took plenty of screen shots.  He showed me this one containing 死す:

It says:

  巽　完二
  「言っとくがなぁ…
  　可愛すぎてキュン死すっぞ！」

I understood it as 死 + す, a literary alternative to 死ぬ.  I have to admit, though, it doesn't sound very literary to me in this context.  完二 is a tough guy, and he uses lots of verbal forms like 言っとく, so I'm guessing I misunderstood.

To sum up my question, I'm wondering why it was appropriate to say 死す here.


texts: Whats the difference between なんで日本語を話せますか vs なんで日本語を話せるのですか

texts: What I understand is that the の is used when an explanatory tone is needed, but is there anything fundamentally different with these statments and which is used when?


texts: Hiragana Unicode Chart has two characters for each

texts:
Below is a unicode chart for Hiragana characters. I see there are two a, i, u, e, o and so on, small and big ones.  Please help me explain this as I am just starting to learn Hiragana today.

I got this unicode chart from this page.


texts: Question with this sentence わたしはえをみるのがすきです

texts:
Just started learning Japanese and have question with the following sentence.

  わたしはえをみるのがすきです

Do I have to use の in this situation? Can I just say わたしはえをみるがすきです without the の？


texts:
「さっきから七夕に関係ねェもンばっかり吊りさがってやがるなぁ」
  These days they only hang things which are unrelated to Tanabata.
  These days, on Tanabata, they only hang unrelated things.

I would have expected the particle と to be used in place of に for my first translation attempt, which is why I also gave the second attempt.

Which translation is correct? Is there any ambiguity? Can 関係 take both と and に? Is there a difference in nuance?


texts: Difference Between かなり～ and 結構～ as Adverbs

texts: Is there any difference in meaning between かなりうまい and 結構うまい? How about other usages?


texts: Meaning of 向き合う姿勢が出来

texts:
向き合う姿勢が出来つつある。

I couldn't find any references to help me understand the meaning of this sentence.

向き合う: 1. to be opposite; to face each other, 2. to confront (an issue); to face.

姿勢: 1. posture; pose; position; stance; carriage (of the body), 2. attitude; approach; stance.

出来: 1. workmanship; craftsmanship; execution; finish, 2. grades; results; score; record, 3. quality (e.g. of a crop), 4. dealings; transactions.

Does it mean: "I'm taking a stance to confront/face it (problem/issue)"?

Thank you for your kind guidance.


texts: 「思っているようです。」or 「思っている。」 for describing another person's opinion

texts:
As explained in the thread Difference between そうです、 ようです and らしいです., when describing what you think are the thoughts of another person, might 「思っているようです。」 be more appropriate than 「思っている。」?

(1) 今{いま}の景気{けいき}では、Bobさんによれば、株価{かぶか}が高{たか}いと思っている。
(2) 今の景気では、Bobさんによれば、株価が高いと思っているようです。

I think that #2 sounds better.

Other than speaking for myself, or a group that I represent, is not 「思っているようです」 the better option? After all, you are only capable of stating what you think the other person appears to be thinking.


texts: What are these vertical lines called in Japanese?

texts:
I was reading the newspaper and saw these vertical lines. I'm guessing it's saying that 川上尚志 is in 広州 or something along those lines. But my question is what are they called and why they are used instead of say the interpunct/中黒（・）or a black dot （●）

EDIT: Okay looking at the electronic version it seems that it might just be an equals sign:

  広州=川上尚志

However, I don't see anything on Google about a vertical equal sign 垂直イコール or something like that, so the naming and usage are still something I'd like to know.


texts:
Doing more reading in mangas and found ～めぇし. Here is the sentence:

  ここは地獄じゃあるめぇし! お前が死にそうな顔すんなよ！

I perceived this as "This isn't hell." Though, it confused me when saw めぇし. I always thought it was まい or meant to be ねぇし. Can someone clear this up?


texts: Use of が in article about Midsummer Day of the Ox and selling eel

texts:
I was reading over this article about Midsummer Day of the Ox and selling eel. I'm wondering about the use of が in this sentence

  この会社は今年、牛肉のステーキや、ビタミンが多いしじみなども売ることにしました

Roughly: This year the company decided on selling things like beef steak, also many items like basket clams with added vitamins

Why is the が not a で? A part of me reads this as: Vitamins have many basket clams. Which definitely does not make sense


texts:
What are good sites to study JLPT N1 Grammar and Vocab.
Please share me a link ,if you know a nice site to practice JLPT N1.
I googled it and can't find a good site that contains  Quizs for Vocab and Grammar.


texts: What's the difference between 円い and 丸い?

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I already know that 円い 「まるい」 means circular, but I am watching a hundred of times 丸い, and I think it's also pronounced まるい.

Could you give me some examples of both 丸い and 円い？

Also, are both exchangeable in all senteces?


texts: Why do people use です／ます in some intimate situations?

texts:
2 things recently have just not made sense to me

1) is from a visual novel. In one scene the main character is on a date with his superior from work. She's confessing her love for him, but the main character uses です　ます the whole time. Even though they're literally on a date?? His superior uses the plain form too.

Another scene from the novel is a flashback to the main character being rather intimate with his high school senpai. Again, the whole time he uses です　ます and she doesn't.

2) is an answer for this question about the difference between はい and はいです
https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/273470

One answer said

  はいです is some slung to break はい. we seldom use はいです except among very closed or trusted relationship.

I assume they meant slang, and ignoring whether はいです is common or not, I don't understand why the です version would be used in close relationships as opposed to the plain version.

So my questions are

Could someone explain to me just how important it is to acknowledge that someone is your senpai? And what effect would it have if you DIDN'T use polite speech with your superior, even when you're close to them?

I don't understand in the examples above why the character still seems to be respecting that someone is their senpai even though they're outside of work or school, and ESPECIALLY since they're on a date or being intimate.

And could someone explain why はいです would be more intimate than はい? If はいです isn't really a thing, then are there situations where using です ます is better for a close relationship?

Thank you! ありがとうございます


texts: Specific use of になる together with て-form

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I am learning Japanese via Glossika. I have now come across a construction which I do not really understand and cannot find an explanation online.
The sentences in question are always of the form

て-form of a verb + になります。

E.g.

日本語 を 勉強し 始めて に なります。

(slightly altered to not use the concrete sentence from Glossika)
Here are orignal examples (as well as a similar one I found online)

あなた は 先生 に なって どのぐらい に なります か?

英語 を 勉強し 始めて 半年 に なります

日本 に きて どのくらい に なりますか?

Can someone explain the usage of になる in this case. I know that this means 'to become' but so far I have only seen it used either with nouns or adjectives.


texts: Use of と and meaning of 色々 in this sentence

texts:
I came across a sentence and was wondering what the と in it functions as, as well as the exact meaning of 色々

  色々とお母さん、 言いたい事が溜まってるの

The context is that a high school boy has been doing things that his mother disapproves of, and his mother has been tolerating them but one day told him to sit on the floor and said the sentence above.

I'm thinking that it's quoting the mother's thoughts, and that an unspoken あって follows と. Furthermore, I'm thinking that the 色々 is there to remove the need of completely telling what happened along with the feelings the mother may have and just say "various things".

My translation is: "Various things (many things along with her feelings/opinions on them unspoken) happened and I have a lot of things I want to say (lit. things I want to say are accumulating/piling up)"

Is this correct?
If it is, can あって be replaced by 思って, making the sentence to mean that she has been thinking on various things instead of various things happened"?


texts: What is the difference between てある and the passive (ら)れる?

texts:
For example:

"昼ごはんは作ってある" and "昼ごはんは作られた". Don't both mean the lunch has been made?

As a second question, what would be the difference between 昼ごはんは作ってある and 昼ごはんは作ってあった?

Much appreciated


texts: When is 兄弟 interpreted as "siblings" and when is it interpreted as "brothers"?

texts:
I know that people often ask [兄弟]{きょうだい}いますか but does this mean "do you have siblings?" or just "do you have brothers?".

Since the answer would be different in either case:

(Has a sister) "No, but I have a sister" or would it be "Yes, I have a sister"
(Has a brother) "Yes I do"


texts:
Context: a guy complaining about his boss with a colleague.

振り回されて意識せざるを得ない

I don't know how to translate the sentence due to the 意識. I have two interpretations

I cannot help being controlled/jerked around (by the boss) and be conscious (about the fact he's being controlled)

I cannot help being controlled/jerked around (by the boss) and be conscious (of the boss)

Which would be correct? Thanks in advance.


texts: Which is the more common reading of 仏陀 - ぶつだ or ブッダ?

texts: I realize that 仏陀 is probably more common in writing where the reading is ambiguous anyway, but I am curious to know: do people tend to read it as ぶつだ or ブッダ? For what it's worth, my IME recognizes both, and the one time I did hear it in speech it was ブッダ.


texts: Why is an anachronistic modern conjugation thrown into the lyrics of 軍艦行進曲?

texts:
軍艦行進曲 seems to be written mostly using Classical Japanese grammar. Here's the first stanza:

守るも攻むるも黒鐵{くろがね}の
浮かべる城{しろ}ぞ頼{たの}みなる
浮かべるその城{しろ}日{ひ}の本{もと}の
皇國{みくに}の四方{よも}を守{まも}るべし
眞鐵{まがね}のその艦{ふね}日の本に
仇{あだ}なす國{くに}を攻{せ}めよかし

Details like using the 連体形 なる in combination with ぞ, べし, 連体形 as a nominal in the first sentence, etc seem to be correct CJ grammar, and are more than the token き ending for adjectives and なり randomly thrown in J-pop songs so often. Obviously を and その are used in a very modern way, but most people aren't very familiar with を's old sense either.
However, 浮かべる stands out like a huge sore thumb to me. Clearly it should be 浮{うか}ぶる, the 連体形 of 浮{うか}ぶ? The song even gets 攻むる correct, and using 浮{うか}ぶる wouldn't disturb the meter in any way.
Is there some sort of reason, or is this just a random artistic choice? Usually songs are full of Modern Japanese and throw in Classical grammar for effect. This song is full of Classical gramamr and throws in a fragment of Modern grammar, for...effect?
Did 浮{うか}ぶ have an 一段 variant?


texts: Are なぬand ぬぬ like slangy/cute ways to say なに？

texts: When I say them out loud, it makes sense like someone in english saying "wuuut" instead of "what?", but that mostly applies to written casual conversation I guess. Anyway is this correct or is it something else?


texts: Question on expressing a half-completed action -- 動作が中途である状態

texts:
手紙を書きかけたんですが、まだ書いていません。
I got started on the letter, but I haven't finished writing it yet.

The ending かける indicates that an action has been started but has not been brought to a finish or an end. However in this example I am puzzled by the second half of the sentence.
If I break it down literally, this is the way I comprehend it:
手紙を書きかけたんですが、I started (but did not finish the letter), but...
まだ書いていません。 still am not writing (the letter).
Assuming the highlighted translation is correct, what am I misreading in the second half of the sentence? I am puzzled by the use of the negative in the second half, as I would have assumed まだ書いています would make more sense to correspond with the desired meaning of the translation. I guess in this example using 書いています would have expressed a completed action, so 書いていません means "not finished writing" rather than "not writing"?
Let me try making another example:

ごはんを作りかけたんですが、まだ作っていません。
I started to make food, but I still haven't finished yet.

Compare the latter example to this:

A 　ごはん作った？
B 　まだ作っていません。
A 　Did you make food?
B　Not yet.
(perhaps implying that food preparation has not yet started?)

If one writes the original sentence in the positive how does the meaning change?
Would the following translation be correct?

手紙を書きかけたんですが、まだ書いています。
I got started on the letter, but I'm still writing it.


texts: Difference between passive voice and causative-passive form

texts:
I am confused with following question.
What's the difference between たべられる and たべさせられる?


texts:
Found this in book that I've just read

  きっとその魅力がわかていただけるかと思います


texts:
I'm a super beginner in Japanese, so excuse me if this question is really simple. Or stupid.

As an exercise, sometimes I count up the things on nearby desks or tables and try to list them in Japanese, just to get used to the counters. Today, I was waiting to get lunch and I saw a table with three sandwiches (amongst other things) on it, but I don't know what the counter for the sandwiches would be. I know if I was to count the slices of ham within one of the sandwiches, I could use -[切れ]{きれ}. Otherwise, I don't know. Is there a counter for something made up of smaller pieces of something else?

I suppose I could use a general counter, but I was wondering if there was a counter for things like loaves of bread or blocks of cheese that could also apply to things like sandwiches?


texts: What criteria decides whether to print 「氏」 or 「さん」 at the end of a person's name in newspapers?

texts:
I just realized that newspapers sometimes end a person's name with 「さん」： 後藤さん不明、昨年１１月に把握　首相、答弁で明かす：。And then sometimes end a person's name with 「氏」：
自民・山本一太氏、人質事件で与野党結束訴え：。 In this forum, I found this thread
What does 氏 mean after a name, how is it different from さん or 様?。 However the accepted answer explains that the difference is 敬語{けいご}。I cannot imagine that the impersonality of a newspaper allows for 敬語？

What criteria decides whether to end a name with 「氏」 or 「さん」in a newspaper？


texts:
A common word in Japanese, meaning "all-you-can-drink", is "飲み放題". It is "放題" - as much as you would like - appended to the verb-stem of "飲む". It is the same rule for instance, for: 食べ放題, 読み放題, （電話）かけ放題 etc...

Why is it then "やりたい放題" as opposed to "やり放題"?

A Google search for "やりたい放題" returns 1 790 000 results.
The same for "やり放題" returns 500 000 results, with the top results being from manicure salons.


texts:
The following sentences are from the JP children's book よだかの星:「ね、まあ、あのくちのおおきいことさ。きっと、かえるの親類か何かなんだよ。」The 2nd sentence feels like an implied question e.g. "Surely, [he] is kin of a frog or something." (implying that the speaker suspects the nighthawk isn't the kin of a frog, but something else entirely")

But (as far as I know) a sentence that ends in だよ is always declarative unless a "question word" is included. e.g. "Surely, [he] is kin of a frog or something." (The speaker has no suspicions. It's simply a matter of fact that the nighthawk is the kin of either "a frog" or "something").

Now since the expression 何か uses the 何 kanji (which is also used in other interrogative words, like "what") I wondered if 何か in this context could function as a "question word" and carry a questioning tone. e.g. "I am going to do something?"

Another example of the 1st tone: "My dog is a hound... or something...." (this sentence isn't technically a question, but it's still implying a question of authenticity and a suspicion that the dog isn't really a hound)

Another example of the 2nd tone: "My dog is a hound, or something."(there are no implications in this sentence. It's just a simple matter of fact the dog is either a hound or something else.)

So, I guess my question has three parts:

Can 何か be an interrogative word or indicate a question tone?
Does Japanese even have implied questions like this?
What's the best translation of that 2nd sentence?


texts: What is the difference between plain form and dictionary form of the verbs?

texts:
Can someone explain to me in colloquial term the difference between plain-form（普通形【ふつうけい】） and dictionary-form（辞書形【じしょけい】）of the verbs? As far as I can tell there is no difference between the two but my school book says plain-form and dictionary-form separately.

I would really appreciate it if someone can clear this up for me. Thanks.


texts: Problem with understanding the action of いる in 決まった場所にいる代わりに

texts:
In a recent article 仕事で外国に行く前にＰＣＲ検査の予約ができるようにする from NHK Easy Japanese I found this sentence, (which I give here in a bit abbreviated form):
[...]着いてからしばらくの間、決まった場所にいる代わりに、PCR検査で[...]ウイルスがうつっていないことを証明する必要があります。

I believe the sentence could be translated roughly as
 "It's necessary to verify with a PCR test that the virus didn't hit INSTEAD of testing after arriving at the respective locations."

But I have trouble to fully understand this sentence, because I do not know where the いる from 決まった場所にいる代わりに is connecting to.
Thanks a lot!


texts: Are the Japanese and Korean spoken languages somehow related?

texts:
According to Wikipedia,

Historical and modern linguists classify Korean as a language isolate. [A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical ... relationship with other languages]

Yet whenever I hear Korean spoken, my ear is tricked for a short time into turning on "Japanese mode"; there are resemblances to Japanese in vocal cadence, pitch variation, syllable enunciation, morae timing, etc. Then I start wondering why I'm not understanding a single word, until I realize I'm not hearing Japanese at all.
The first time this happened to me I was at a hotel in Los Angeles and was flipping through channels on the TV. I was much newer to Japanese at that point and thought I simply didn't have enough practice to understand any rapid speech at all. I watched for about a minute, puzzled, until the screen showed an American speaking English together with some subtitles in Hangul, and I realized this was a Korean show.
Are the two languages actually related in some unrecognized way? Or am I perhaps the only one whose brain initially tries to run Korean through a Japanese filter?


texts: Issue identifying the topic of a sentence

texts:
I've been staring at this for a while now and can't seem to decide on what is actually happening. The sentence in question is:

さっきから動物に餌を与えるのを楽しんでいるかのようなシンシア

Now does this refer to an actual animal being fed, or is Cynthia feeding someone like they were giving an animal treats?
For context, here is the surrounding exchange:

「ロエル、これ食べる？」
「食べる食べる、ぽりぽり」
さっきから動物に餌を与えるのを楽しんでいるかのようなシンシア。
何でも吸い込んでいくから、面白いのかもしれない。
今ではシンシアの手持ちのお菓子を半分近く消化している。
「はい、あーん」
「もちゃもちゃ」

So is Cynthia feeding animals or ロエル?


texts: The book says use ～ている for a) an action in progress and b) a past event that is connected with the present, and it has examples like スーさんは本を読んでいます, and all the examples are using ています. But when I look it up in the dictionary, it says その本なら読んでいるよ. So when do I use ～ている and when do I use ～ています?


texts: Switch between transitives and intransitives

texts:
There are situations where transitives and intransitives are switched without any clear reason. For example, a transitive verb is usually used to describe a situation like this:

  タクシーが街を流す

rather than the logically more reasonable intransitive version:

  タクシーが街を流れる

I am not particularly discussing the availability of the latter, and to compare the frequency of these forms is totally irrelevant to my question, but suppose you want to do an estimate. I know of a search engine called Google, which, at this moment, returns 35 hits for the string for the illogical "タクシーが流す", most of which are the relevant phrases, and 14 hits for the string for the logical "タクシーが流れる", of which 7 are the relevant phrases (excluding this very question), so that indicates that the illogical form is used almost five times the logical form (keeping aside the hits made by another "Google" that I am not aware of, which returns 16,700 results for the illogical "タクシーが流す" and 507,000 results for the logical "タクシーが流れる", leading to the opposite conclusion, according to a user of this site).

Outside of this peculiar usage, the transitive 流す requires an animate and volitional agent as the subject, which is distinct from the theme that is the object, and cannot be used reflexively.

  * そうめんが流す
  店員がそうめんを流す
  そうめんが流れる

  * 気球が空を流す
  冒険家のチームが気球を空に流す
  気球が空を流れる

  * ニュースが電光掲示板を流す
  ディレクターがニュースを電光掲示板に流す
  ニュースが電光掲示板を流れる

Similarly, in stock exchange contexts, transitive verbs are used instead of their intransitive counterpart:

  株が高値をつける
  株に高値がつく

  株が引ける
  株が引く

On the contrary, when directions are given in cooking, intransitives are used instead of the more logically appropriate transitives:

  酒とみりんが入ります
  酒とみりんを入れます

Outside of this peculiar context, the intransitive 入る either 1) requires an animate volitional agent 2) or the sentence has to describe the potential/ability rather than a single event.

  * 日曜日の晩に辞書がかばんに入ります
  日曜日の晩に私が辞書をかばんに入れます
  この小さな辞書はかばんに入るけど、この大きいのは入りません

Why do these switching happen?


texts: Is it ok to use 電車 for non-electric trains?

texts: 電車 has the kanji for "electric" in it, but is it more or less ok to use it even for non-electric trains, such as steam trains? I saw a steam-powered train being used as the picture for that word in Duolingo.


texts: How do these parts connect to each other

texts:
For full context:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10011217511000/k10011217511000.html

The sentence in question:
そして、外国人が来たときの準備をしている近くの病院を地図で知らせます。

It's basically the part in bold which I fail to integrate into the sentence.
I also feel a bit unsure about the use of the causative here.
However, first my attempt at translation of the sentence without the bold part:

"Furthermore...it makes the hospital aware (lets the hospital know) with the map ."

When I try to integrate the bold part, I can't put the individual parts together:
For example:

外国人が来たとき
の
準備をしている近く

Here, the first part, which gives a temporal information, is somehow an attribute of
病院

my attempt at full translation:
"Furthermore, with the map it makes the nearby hospital doing the preparations of the when the foreigner came aware."


texts: If someone is speaking about a subject that  you're not comfortable with can you say "dewa" to change topic?


texts: What does this sentence from Dazai Osamu's 「人間失格」 containing 「女の修行」 mean?

texts:
はたから見て、俗な言い方をすれば、自分は、淫売婦に依って女の修行をして、しかも、最近めっきり腕をあげ、女の修行は、淫売婦に依るのが一ばん厳しく、またそれだけに効果のあがるものだそうで、既に自分には、あの、「女達者」という匂いがつきまとい、女性は、（淫売婦に限らず）本能に依ってそれを嗅ぎ当て寄り添って来る、そのような、卑猥で不名誉な雰囲気を、「おまけの附録」としてもらって、そうしてそのほうが、自分の休養などよりも、ひどく目立ってしまっているらしいのでした。

I am confused about the parts marked in the bold.

  ...淫売婦に依って女の修行をして ...

Can I translate 「女の修行」as 'learning about women' ?

  ... 淫売婦に依るのが一ばん厳しく、またそれだけに効果のあがるものだそうで ...

What does「依る」signify here ? I understood this as 'according' (to the prostitutes)

Would the above be a close to correct translation of the block of Japanese text ?

  My translation for the above sentence
  If you look closely, to put it in layman terms, the prostitutes thought I was learning about women. On top of that, I got remarkably good recently. According to the prostitutes, learning about women from prostitutes is a really difficult thing in itself but getting good only through that was quite something. Soon, I was getting followed by women. As if by instinct (not limited to prostitutes), women would sniff me out and try to get close to me. That kind of indecent and shameful atmosphere was so called "service" from them. It was more of an eyesore than a break to get away from it all.

Thank you :)


texts: Grammar question: プロジェクトスタート当初の目標のひとつであった

texts:
共催は、プロジェクトスタート当初の目標のひとつであった回復力のタクソノミーを、具体的な例に沿って検証する機会として大変有意義だったと考えている。

Having a problem understanding the above sentences and trying to break them down, would love any ideas on understanding better:

  プロジェクトスタート当初の目標のひとつであった

Is this meaning "(the taxonomy of resilience) was an original goal at the start of the project"? This is my best guess but it feels off.

  具体的な例に沿って検証する機会として大変有意義だったと考えている。

I take this to mean "I think this is a meaningful opportunity to validate specific examples.", but I am not sure how this relates to the first part of the sentence, so I suspect my understanding is off.


texts: Reading of 組 as a Counter Word With Numbers

texts:
I'm confused about how to pronounce a word such as 一組. Are Japanese or Chinese numbers used when using 組 as a counter, and if the former how does it change phonetically?

For example,　jisho.org lists both いちくみ and ひとくみ for 一組. My IME accepts both of those as 一組 and also takes　いちぐみ, いっくみ, and いっぐみ. Which if any of these is the correct or at least most common pronunciation?


texts: Providing definitions/explanations with というのは　～　のこと/ということだ

texts:
Recently I've been trying to wrap my head around the Tobira textbook grammar point on というのは and from my understanding [Aというのは　Bのことだ/ということだ] essentially means [A means B]. However, I can't seem to understand the nuances of the sentence ending のこと/ということ.

In one of the examples
｢関東地方」というのは東京のことですか。　- Does Kanto Region mean Tokyo?

Why is 「のことですか。」 used here? Would ｢関東地方」というのは東京ですか。　and ｢関東地方」というのは東京ということですか。 also be appropriate? Do all three mean the same thing? When would one form be more appropriate over the other?

Thanks


texts:
I am a beginner in Japanese and so far, I've met two words for "neighbor": 隣人 (りんじん) and となり, as in となりのトトロ :)

In Danish, there are different words for neighbor, depending on the location of his/her place in relation to yours.  For example, the word for neighbor living across the street is different from the word for neighbor living just next house.

Does the word 隣人 give any information as for where the neighbor is located in relation to my place? For example, is it neighbor to the left, or above (in apartment complex) or across the street?

If there is no such separation, what is the most commonly used word for "neighbor" in Japanese?

Thank you for reading this far, and any answers are very appreciated!


texts: Meaning of "さすがにそこまではしません！”

texts: The basic context is this is in response to someone explaining themselves after an accusation was thrown at them. The speaker was a listener in this conversation who trusts the accused. I just can't wrap my head around the "そこまでは" part of the sentence. The まで in particular confuses me.


texts: Is「どっちかの～は～」a non-slang Japanese expression?

texts:
So, this catchy song, "U.S.A." by DA PUMP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr--GVIoluU

https://www.oricon.co.jp/special/51204/

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_(DA_PUMP%E3%81%AE%E6%9B%B2)

has the following in the lyrics:

  どっちかの夜は昼間

Because this is a (cover) song by Japanese artists about the U.S.A., I figure that it means "where it's nighttime in one, it's daytime in the other".

Anyway, this is the first time I've seen this sentence structure (どちらかの～は～). Is this accepted, formal Japanese? If not, does it have a formal equivalent?


texts: Is starting with a と a typo? Is ending with a し a typo?

texts:
The following is an excerpt from a dialogue between me and my language partner.

  「ささやく」についてですが、この動詞は、自動詞と他動詞、両方の使い方ができます。

  「大蒜の神さまです」 と彼女はうやうやしくささやいた。
  と他動詞として使うこともできますし、

  「大蒜の神さまです」 と彼女はささやくように言った。
  のように、自動詞として「ように」とつなげて使うこともできます。
  （「ように」 については、あとで説明します）

The parts in bold are the ones which I'm not quite sure wether they were intended.
1) I have no idea what the first と is supposed to do there. Really nothing.
2) できますし。I guess it could be し making the verb chuushi form, but I don't see how this would lead to a meaningful sentence combined with 「大蒜の神さまです」 と彼女はささやくように言った。
3) のように confused me at first, but I guess it is a casual way to say that she is going to say something about ように. "About ように" I guess is what shall be expressed by that?


texts: The difference between 幸 and 運 as "luck" or "fortune"

texts:
I've come across these two kanji in a few cases for "good/bad fortune" and even in combination with eachother.  I'd really like to understand if there's a subtle difference that I'm missing so that I know when to use each. Up to this point I've seen:
Good luck/fortune: 幸運/幸福
Bad luck/fortune: 不幸/不運

I've also seen 不幸 mentioned as "miserable"  and 幸福 as "happy"

Some insight would be awesome... Thanks!


texts: Why is a blackboard called 黒板, but a whiteboard is not called 白板?

texts: I'm curious as to why Japanese uses a 外来語 for whiteboard ホワイトボード, but a native word for blackboard, 黒板. Is there a historical reason this emerged? If you called a whiteboard a 白板{はくばん}, would people understand you or would they laugh at you and think you were strange?


texts:
文字は、言語と直接結び付いて意味を表すものであり、その結び付いた意味によって字種に分類される。

I have a rough understanding of the first sentence, but the usage of 「と」 here goes beyond me. Does it mean "and" or "to" here?


texts:
しかもこんなオマケまで見られるんなら、ほんと、子供の頃にも遊びに来るんだったなって

Furthermore, if i were able to see this kinda of bonus (sunset) , honestly, i (should have?) came here to play when i was a kid.

There is an entry for なう　meaning "to do" as a suffix, but how does it convey the meaning that i think it conveys in this sentence?

should have =  んだったなって  ?


texts:
Both  過ち and 間違い mean mistake but I think that 過ち has the "moral" meaning while  間違い is more a mistake in the context of wrong/right answer (exam, etc ...)

Am I wrong ?

Here is some context:
A detective in the police is writing to his superior (whom he admires and likes a lot) a letter about his future defection since he came to the conclusion that by adhering to the procedures, they cannot capture a certain criminal who has managed to evade conviction so far. So he's saying he is on the verge of leaving to track the criminal alone.

  「俺はあくまで身勝手に自分の意地を通すためだけに‌あんたと違う道を選んだ」
  「これが過ちだと理解はしている」.

  I chose a different path solely in order to have my own way.
  I'm aware that this is the wrong thing to do.


texts:
I have the following sentence that has been troubling me.

  準備術式や詠唱を必要とする大魔法のプロセスをある程度省略し、高速発動させる事が可能な他、魔力を充填したページを武器・装甲として使用可能。

Yes it's unfortunatelly Anime bs, but I put it in it's entirety for context's sake. It is from a description of a certain item.

The first segment is easy enough to translate:

  Somewhat shortens the process of Big Magic that requires technique preparation and arias

the part I have issues with is the next one:

  高速発動させる事が可能な他

specifically the role of here 他 and how it's used in the form of

  subject が可能な他

高速発動させる of course is high speed activation (of magic). But I don't really see how one should then put that together with the 可能な他 which is I think possible others.

As of now I think this means that other types of magic, that is not BIG magic, whose cast time is a bit shortened, are significantly sped up since presumably they weren't as long in preparation initially...

But that's still wierd to me. If I lacked context and got a sentence of the like:

  verb 事が adjectiveな noun

I'd assume it's trying to say that the action described by the verb is somehow the noun described by the adjective...

Edit:

I'm editing the question, to add some more context since I was not able to get the answers I got, and how they would fit here.

The item in question is a magical/mage's tool used for doing magic. The user of the item is known for long cast time but massive damage spells. Such spells have been referred to as big magic before.

While 詠唱 is more singing chanting, in this verse, in translations "aria" was used, and it basically describes the incantation performed by the mage to activate magic. So shortening/abbreviating the "aria" and other preparatory tasks makes sense.

発動 is activation or in the parlance of the setting the triggering of magic. This term is used for activation/putting into effect/casting magic.

Mana, pages etc. Previously one of parts of the setting was the ability to store mana (魔力) into objects that can then later be used for doing things. This user in particular has had a book before where pages were composed of mana. So the last segment seems to say that the object can be used as weapon or armor, which is in some way connected/described by pages filled with mana.

I'm kinda beggining to think that all fragments basically share として使用可能 as an ending, but I"m still confused by how 他 and ページを武器・装甲 fit here


texts: が and passive verb referring to modified noun

texts:
落ち葉が敷き詰められた庭。

Why is the passive form used here?

Is it because it's reffering to 庭?

I thought with passive it should have been:

庭は落ち葉に敷き詰められた。

Can someone explain the rule here?


texts:
Wikipedia says that Osaka used to be spelt 大坂, and is now spelt 大阪. Is there a term for what happened, and does it happen often?

Related question: On the replacing of kanji made obsolete in the 1946 reforms with similar-looking kanji. , but the question and answer seem to refer to changes that had different circumstances than this change.


texts: Grammar question with verb in past tense plus houga

texts:
Here is the question I have;  the following sentence is what is causing me grief.  I might be overthinking it but I'm not getting anywhere.

  チップの習慣があったほうが、サービスが良くなると思いますか。どうしてですか。

Now, based on my own understanding of this grammar, あったほうが　＝ if you had.

I would translate this sentence as, do you think having a tipping culture results in better service?

Is this a correct translation of this sentence, or am I misunderstanding the question?


texts: Is this referring to an Idiomatic way to say someone is smiling?

texts:
Here's a line from a piece of Japanese fiction:

  切れ長の目が、さみしげに細められていた。

I'm wondering if this is simply saying:

  He narrowed his lonely(?) eyes

(? - It's hard to tell without Kanji but I think this is the meaning)

But I've been told that in Japanese, when it says someone is narrowing their eyes it means they're smiling. Is the above perhaps referring to this idiom or is it simply someone narrowing their eyes literally.

(From the context I think could go either way, character A tells character B that they wish them a good life before B leaves them for a new life abroad. The above was describing A right after A says "I wish you a good life" to B)


texts:
Reading through a list of questions on a small questionnaire that came with a Japanese textbook, I found the following:

どんな本があったら買いたいと思いますか？

I am puzzled by the combination of the conditional of ある with かいたい.

どんな本が買いたいと思いますか？

Clearly means "what kind of book would you like to buy?". Normally I would expect an あったら to split the sentence into two clauses, but that would split どんな from 買いたい. What, grammatically is going on here?


texts:
I want to say "I don't know of any delicious restaurant.", and I'm not sure how to say this :

何も美味しいレストランを知りません.
美味しいレストランは一つも知りません.

But is it grammatically correct to put a noun after 何も ? which one sounds natural ?
Thank you for your help :)


texts: What is the difference between using こと and かた in a sentence with できます and わかります?

texts:
e.g. はなすこと and はなしかた
I am trying to learn about this grammar point for a test

My notes for できます and わかります


texts: How to say things must be done, but in the past tense?

texts:
I learned it from this guide, detailing 「だめ」,「いけない」 and 「ならない」constructions.

I was able to assume that the past-tense of "I must not do" is て-formはだめだった (correct me if I'm wrong), but how can I do the same for things I must do? I guess maybe it's negative て-formはだめだった, but as Tae Kim says, that's super long and thus would probably sound weird if I used it outside formal situations. Up to now, I've used the "replace なくて with なくちゃ" slang form, but how would I put that into past tense?

I was thinking about using 行けないだった, but that's even longer than だめだった so it's a no go, I'm guessing. Any advice?


texts: Is てもらう・てくださる the same thing as ご・おverbstemいただく・ください(but less formal)? What about ていだたけませんか etc（て constructions) then?

texts:
Is てもらう・てくださる the same thing as ご・おverbstemいただく・ください(but less formal)?
Example sentence:

  安全にご使用いただくために下記の点にご注意願います。


texts:
I didn’t quite understand how ため is used when it indicates something different from finality,

Here for example what is the exact nuance?

ダムができたため、村は湖のそこにしずんだ。

Obviously it can’t be that the village was submerged for the sake of building the dam.


texts: I'm a little confused as to why it's 浴びる as opposed to する. In nouns like 掃除 or ゲーム, the verb used is する. Can anyone clarify?


texts:
仏教絵画 and 仏画 each have their own Wikipedia article, which is an almost sure sign that they are different concepts.

仏教絵画:

  仏教を題材とした絵画である。寺院の壁画、絹、紙、板に描いた絵画、版画等を含む。

仏画:

  広義には、仏教絵画全般を指し、仏伝、本生譚、浄土変相図（当麻曼陀羅など）、来迎図、二河白道図、六道絵などの仏教説話画、祖師絵伝、絵巻、祖師図、禅宗僧の肖像画でいう頂相、一般僧の肖像画なども含む。

I still don't clearly understand how they differ. Can you enlighten me?

For instance, when given a particular painting, on what criteria can I declare "This painting is 仏画 but not 仏教絵画", or the opposite?


texts: Most appropriate word for 'antonym' – 対義語 or 反対語?

texts:
I just created an antonyms tag on our site.  We usually make tag names in English, and then put the Japanese equivalent in the tag description, but I'm not sure which Japanese word to use.

Wikipedia lists all sorts of words for 'antonym':

  対義語
  アントニム
  反義語
  反意語
  反義詞
  反対語
  対語

The two most common words on this list are 対義語 and 反対語, so I think one of those two would work best.  Both seem to have the same meaning, and both seem to be equally common.

Is there any difference between the two that would make one or the other more appropriate in this case?  Or would both be equally appropriate?


texts:
I have just started learning hiragana, and am confused about the pronunciation of some of them. I have heard some pronunciation guides for け which say it should sound like kay, and some which say it should just be ke (with an e sound like the one found at the start of the English word edge), and some for か say it should be kar, while others are telling me it should be ka (like the a sound at the beginning of apple). Can I have some verification as to which of these is correct, apologies if the question is deemed too basic.

EDIT:
Apparently both sets of guides are incorrect, as they try and put the sounds into terms of English pronunciation. This being the case, can someone link me to a guide that explains how to properly pronounce them?


texts:
I first came across it in a manga, in which office ladies discuss what their boss' girlfriend would be like, and one of the guesses is:

きっとすごい派手な女性とか？
オトナーな感じの？

My dictionaries turned up nothing, and searching for the term on the internet, I found オトナーな下着、オトナーなかばん、オトナーなケーキ... I just couldn't figure out a pattern; I thought it was "mature" at first, but a "mature cake" makes no sense. So what does it mean? How come dictionaries haven't registered it?


texts: Understanding the negative potential form

texts:
In this sentence:

無用なものを入れると、無用なものしか取り出せない

Which I interpreted literally as
"If you put in useless things, nothing but useless things aren't able to be taken out."
It seems that a more accurate translation would be something like
"If you put useless things in, you can only get useless things out."
My question here is, wouldn't the translation be more indicative of a regular, non negated potential inflection as opposed to a potential negative?


texts: On 「夢だけど、夢じゃなかった」 from 「となりのトトロ」

texts:
In 「となりのトトロ」, the two heroines (kind of) had a dream in which, with the help from Totoro, they made the seeds they had just put in the ground grow into a big tree.
Having woken up, they found there was no tree in the field but the seeds did sprout. Then they started to exclaim: 「夢だけど、夢じゃなかった」.

メイ「木がない…」
サツキ「あっ！」
メイ「あっ！」
サツキ「やったー！」
サツキ・メイ「わあああ…」
サツキ「夢だけど…」
メイ「夢じゃなかった。」
サツキ「夢だけど…」
メイ「夢じゃなかった。」
サツキ・メイ「バンザーイ。やったー。うふふ…　わはは…」

I wonder why they had not chosen to say 「夢だったけど」 instead of 「夢だけど」 (since the dream had ended).


texts:
I'm practicing JLPT mock test and there's the following sentence:

  どうしても時間がないと言う人でも、一日に15分くらいは捻出できるだろう。（中略）
  「時間がない」と嘆く前に、まずは一日15分間の勉強を始めてみる。なかには、時間が＿＿できる勉強というのもある。

「短いながらも」and「短いからこそ」are two choices. IMO, I think that 短いながらも is the right answer but the correct answer is 短いからこそ. I don't understand why it is so.


texts: I recently encountered the sentence 「あなたに嬉しくなって欲しい」, which means “I want you to be happy.” Why is に used to mark “you”? If you rephrase the sentence as 「あなたが嬉しくなることが欲しい」, the meaning still comes through but the に drops out. So why is the に used in the first variation? Do similar patterns exist for Vstemたい and/or other adjectives?


texts:
I am searching for a book (preferably in Japanese, English also okay) on kanji and / or word etymology. Basically I am looking for something that explains the origin of words, for example: why is 馬鹿 written with horse and deer. Or why does 虹 consists of the insect radical. I know "学研新漢和大字典 普及版", but it's still too hard, so I am looking for something around the level JLPT-2. Children's books are also welcome of course ;)
Thanks a lot!


texts:
So in English, we might talk about a family by saying (for example) "the Johnson family" or "the Johnsons." Is there an equivalent you use in Japanese? And would you use the same language when talking to a member of the family you're referring to and when talking about that family to a third party?

Thanks!


texts: What does 「あの日のお前に 戻れるはずさ」 mean?

texts:
I am trying to translate lyrics of 「涙をふいて」a song by 三好鉄生 for fun.

This might be a silly question but I wanted to confirm its meaning.

I understand the line as

  あの日のお前に 戻れるはずさ

You might (should be able to) return to that old you (from that day)

Would this be the correct translation here based on the context ?

Here's the context:

  ぬれた まつ毛 ふきなよ
  あれからつらい 暮しをしたね
  やせた お前の肩を
  この手に抱けば
  すべてがわかる
  涙をふいて
  抱きしめ合えたら
  あの日のお前に
  戻れるはずさ
  涙をふいて
  ほほえみ合えたら
  遠い倖せ きっとふたりで

Link to the song : https://youtu.be/0mHvgPZf4LA?t=81 (starts one line before the line in bold)


texts: The many ways to request something from someone else

texts:
From what I gathered, there are many ways to request something of someone. For example, consider:
1.　伝えてくれませんか
2.　伝えてくれれば助かります (This sounds like if you relay (the message), I will be saved, but my colleagues told me it's more like saying thanks, so its real translation is I will be thankful if you relay the message)
3.　伝えてくれれば感謝します (This sounds exactly like sentence 2, but I have never heard it before for some reason)
4.　伝えて欲しいなぁ (This sounds like I am forcing someone to do something)
5.　伝えてください (Translates to please relay the message, but sounds like I am forcing again, such that he doesn't have a choice)
6.　伝えてくれるといい

So now the question is, under which circumstances should I say each sentence? I'm looking for a semi casual-ish style (to put it in a fashion sense, almost like a man wearing a polo shirt and jeans to work instead of a full body suit), and also one that doesn't give the impression that I am forcing someone to do something (like in sentence 4 and 5).


texts: 私の人格もよく知らずにガンガン言う人は、ろくなもんじゃないと思って。

texts:
Been a while since I've dabbled in Japanese so I'm a little rusty, maybe somebody can help me out here with my question.

Quote in question:

  でもね。結局のところ、自分は自分、人は人。私の人格もよく知らずにガンガン言う人は、ろくなもんじゃないと思って。「はい」とは言いながらも、気にしない。私は私よ、勝手に言ってれば？って。Source

The way I interpret this quote is as follows:

  But, you know. In the end, I am myself and you are you (alternatively: everybody is their own person). I think those people who say things about me without actually knowing me aren't good people. Even if I say "yes", I really don't care. I am myself, you just keep saying whatever you want.

What I'm unsure about here is the bolded part; does 「ろくなもんじゃない」 refer to the people Tetsuko actively chooses to condemn here and is 「と思って」 an action done by her as well? Why does she end the sentence with 「思って」 and not 「思う」 anyway? Is it a casual speech thing? Also if anybody has a nice translation for 「ガンガン」 here as well, it'd be much appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!


texts: what is the dakuten katakana character in the image?

texts:
what is the dakuten katakana character in the image ?

Seem the image say Xサ?What is the X ?


texts:
ちょっとこれ１本でどうやって食べろっていうのよイヤがらせ？

I was watching Gabriel Dropout, Episode 2, and then I came across with that sentence, but I don't get the logic behind it.
Why is taberu even in imperative form? What does verb in imperative form + っていう mean?
For more context, this is their conversation:

Vignette:ガヴ割り箸取ってくれない？
Vignette:ありがと
Gabriel:ほれ
Satania: ちょっとこれ１本でどうやって食べろっていうのよ
Satania: イヤがらせ？


texts: 言われたこと自体は気にしてないけど meaning

texts: Does it translate to " he doesn't mind being called that" ? Edit: 言われた means to be said, 自体 means itself and the context is about a person that gets called by a certain  nick name so I'm not sure if i should understand it as "he doesnt care being told/called that "or " he doesn't care about the nick name on itself "


texts:
青森県鰺ヶ沢町の店にいる雄の犬の「わさお」は、１０年前にインターネットで紹介されて、ライオンのように長い毛と小さな目がかわいいと人気になりました。
  Wasao, a male dog in a shop in xxx was shown on the internet ten years ago and, with cute lion-like fur and small eyes, became popular.

I can't work out the grammatical function of と (in bold) in this sentence. The only と I know that can come after an i-adjective is either the conditional or the quotative. The conditional certainly doesn't make sense to me.

My only guess is that this is quotative with a missing verb. I was thinking maybe I could insert 思われて after と. But I fear I may be way off here.


texts:
From researching about the word 水気 in Jisho, I found that it has two different readings: すいき and みずけ. Unfortunately, the information on the site did not really help me in differentiating on what the proper reading was. The only noticeable difference that I could observe was that すいき has a greater variety of possible meanings than みずけ.

With this in mind, I would just like to know what exactly are the other differences between the two? Also, what is the more common reading, and what are the scenarios wherein one reading is preferred over the other?


texts: From which language did it come to Japanese? And why does it have its own kanji?


texts: How to ask someone in a phone call to pass the phone to someone else?

texts:
Example in English:

You are on the phone with John, and you know that Mary is in a room with him, you may say
"Can you put on Mary, please?".

Is there an idiom for this request in Japanese?


texts: けど/が at the end of sentence but doesn't indicate contradiction?

texts:
先生から授業がないと聞いたんだけど...

There is no implication of contradiction yet けど is used. Please explain?


texts:
あそこだったら、地下鉄で行くといいよ。
千里で乗り換えて、西千里で降りればいいんじゃない。

Are 千里　and 西千里 proper nouns naming the stations, or is http://jisho.org/word/%E5%8D%83%E9%87%8C　meant here? 西千里　seems to be a composition of 西　and 千里, but I can't make sense of it.
And just to make sure that I got the basic meaning of the sentence right, in the second sentence the speaker basically says that it should be okay if it is required to change trains once before arriving at the destination/ultimately exitting the subway?

EDIT:
For context, the person here is answering a question where someone asks how to get to 芸術センター.


texts: Meaning of 性懲りも無く頭を過ぎった

texts:
I started translating a manga to get a better real world grasp of the language. I also have the english version to help me cross check my translations. But the following sentence is giving me a hard time and doesn't match the english version at all (from what I can tell):

  性懲りも無く頭を過ぎった

Edit: The same "box" from the english version (usually it matches perfectly):

  I wondered if this person might want to be my friend.

I found this text at another location. (Web Novel vs Light Novel but 99% matching) This could be the corresponding translation: I often wished I could find someone like that.

What I gathered so far with the help of Google translate and weblio.jp:

性懲り -> discipline

無く -> without

頭 -> head

過ぎる / 過ぎった -> pass / passed

Full Google translate is I passed my head without discipline
which doesn't make any sense here.

Context: Person A meets Person B but is afraid of people and wants to chase her away at first. But what she really thinks is that she wants to make friends and talk to people.

From the manga ぼっち怪物と盲目少女

What is the meaning of this sentence?


texts:
世界の動きを見ると、日本の経済はますます厳しくなっていきそうですが、新しいことにどんどんチャレンジしていくつもりです。

First, my attempt at translation:
"When I look at the worlds development, even though we seem to enter a time in which Japans economy becomes harder, I want to rapidly challenge new things."

My main issue lies with the parts in bold.
First, I don't know how to interprete this 行く in チャレンジしていく.
I know of two ways to interprete this 行く, one is in the way I did it in the first half of the sentence where it marks that change will happen in a timespan starting now/soon, and one is that VERB is pointing in the direction away from the speaker. The latter doesn't seem to make any sense to me, but I also have problems "adding" the "I want to" from つもりです to the チャレンジしていく group which already points into the future. I also don't feel too confident about my interpretation of に in relation to チャレンジしていく.


texts:
All the methods I know failed. My count is 7 strokes, but may be wrong. I think the key is the bottom part, but no radical matches its shape.

The rest of the word, including particle, is: きながらでも

The full sentence is: パンなんか [?]きながらでも 食{た}べられるでしょー！

I tried to stroke the kanji here http://kanji.sljfaq.org/draw.html with no success.


texts: 「弱者」vs「若者」Any rules to use On-reading or Kun-reading

texts:
I'm extremely confused about whether there are any rules to use On-reading or Kun-reading for kanji words.
A good example is 「弱者」vs「若者」. The former one is On-reading 「じゃくしゃ」, while the latter one is Kun-reading 「わかもの」. However I can't notice any significant differences just from the kanjis. Without checking dictionary, I might guess 「若者」 is also pronounced as 「じゃくしゃ」, similar as 「若年」（「じゃくねん」）


texts:
I just want to ask how people get over the vagueness of description in this language. Let me explain. Today I saw my friend say "これを見た電車の中で..." and I was just wondering... how do you deal with the lack of connecting words as are in English.

We would say "In the train IN WHICH/WHERE I watched this..." and as you can see, we have words for joining. I'm not saying our method is more correct I am saying I don't understand their method. Doesn't it get confusing when people start talking fast or with lots of pauses?

How do you differentiate "これを見た。電車の中で...”　From "これを見た電車の中で”.

If it is a thing you just have to get used to, can I have some advice of how to practice it or understand it better?


texts:
I've started reading my first Japanese book and the word 畸端検査官 keeps popping up. I know 検査官 means inspector, but I can't find a reference anywhere to 畸端.

Can anyone help?


texts: How would say something like "I hate to break it to you, but..." in Japanese?

texts:
"I hate to break it to you, but..." or "Sorry, but..."
For example: "Sorry, but I don't like cake" or "I hate to break it to you, but I didn't like your performance". What popped into my head was to say "ごめんけど", but I've never heard anyone say that and thus I'm sure it's 100% wrong.
I'm curious as to how to say something like this, even if I'll never use it, but I haven't been able to find anything substantial online yet.
An example sentence would be helpful too.


texts: Grammaticality of two kanji verbs without their conjugating part

texts:
A friend told me he's going to get a tattoo with "頑張".

頑張 doesn't exist on the dictionary without its -る conjugating part, so is it grammatically correct using it alone, as if it was a noun? Does it make any sense? More generally, does it make any sense omitting the conjugating part from a two (or more) kanji verb and using it as a noun? Wouldn't it be better to use the 連用形 form? Should I suggest my friend to rather get a "頑張り" tattoo?

Thank you for your help!


texts: What Japanese word is used as a classification for all profanities?

texts:
What is a classification word for all profanities and obscenities?
Does Japanese have a euphemism similar to "f-word" in English?  Does 悪口 fit the definition?


texts:
I'm going through a Nintendo DS instruction manual and trying to do a bit of translation. I'd like to ask about the difference between 遊びます and 遊べます。

本ゲームは、　ボタン操作とタッチスクリーン操作の　どちらでも遊べます。

I'm sure this is "you can play using both the buttons and the touch screen".
Is this a simple rule? I can change a verb -masu form from 'bi' to 'be' (for example) to become "can"?

I am certain I've seen this elsewhere, the changing of 'i' to 'e'

本が　読みます - The book is read
先生が本を読めます - The teacher reads the book

I'm a bit confused as to how/when this changes.


texts: Could ルフレ be considered a gender-neutral name?

texts:
In the Fire Emblem: Awakening game, the avatar character — that is, the main character whose name and gender you pick — has a default name. In English, the default name is Robin, because the character can be male or female. Robin is arguably a gender-neutral name in English, so it seems to be a good choice.

In the Japanese version, the default name is ルフレ (Reflet). Does this reasonably come across as "sounding" gender-neutral in the minds of Japanese players? Or do they have no such context because it's a foreign name?


texts: How can [わかんないとこがあった？ 私 にわかるとこなら 教 えるけど？] be translated?

texts:
I'm tring to read a novel, but am completely dumbfounded with this sentence. Context goes like this:

  A: {Suddenly stands up}

  B: 「どうしたんですか？」「トイレ？」

  C: 「わかんないとこがあった？　　私にわかるとこなら教えるけど？」

My questions are:

why is it あった and not ある?
is こと completely interchangeable with とこ? I see a lot of them in the novel like this another one 俺は壊れたとこがある (which also a complete mystery of a sentence)
what is the meaning of 私 にわかる?
if 私 にわかる translated as "Want to know from me about it?" then why けど at the end which translates as but/however? (even if my translation of 私 にわかる it still doesn't make sence for me why it's translated like that)


texts: Why is this [二番目]{に・ばん・め} counter used for a person?

texts:
Here is a small passage from my Japanese Bible, where a king is summoning his servants.

  さて、彼は...帰って来ると、...[僕]{しもべ}を呼んで来させ、...。 最初の者が...。二番目の者が来て...

Why is it referring to the second servant as 二番目の者 instead of the more intuitive (at least to me) 二人目?  Is this derogatory somehow, or is it essentially relating [僕]{しもべ} to a 番人, and 番人 are simply counted with ～番?

Are there other acceptable times to count people this way?


texts: Is it possible to use ～さえ～ば with more than one requirement?

texts:
I have not found any sentence using ～さえ～ば with more than one requirement. Let's consider the following sentence with 3 requirements

I am healthy
I have enough money
I can speak English

to be confident. The sentence I want to say is as follows.

  If only I am healthy, have enough money and can speak English, I am confident to go everywhere I want.

My attempt is as follows.

  元気で、お金が足りて、英語で話せさえすれば、どこでも行きたいのは自信がある。

Is my sentence correct grammatically?


texts: The "3 highs" and "3 lows" when choosing a husband

texts:
Recently I was told about a popular concept among japanese women concerning choice of the future husband. The concept was called '3 高' - three high points, meaning that a good husband should have: 1) high salary; 2) high social status; 3) and be tall.
Later I was told that '3 高' is not valid anymore, as is nowadays replaced by '3 低' - three low points. Could someone please tell what these 3 low points are?


texts: How to describe something as hypocritical

texts:
I know that the word 偽善者 exists in Japanese and is listed in Japanese-English dictionaries as the translation of 'hypocrite'.

But the kanji 偽善 and the definition make me wonder what the actual word I'm looking for is.

The definition given for 偽善者 is usually something like: 偽善を行う人。

And the definition for 偽善 is usually something like: うわべをいかにも善人らしく見せかけること。また、そういう行為。

The meaning I'm thinking of when I say 'hypocrite' or 'hypocritical' in English is engaging in the same behaviors that you condemns others for, whereas the Japanese definitions make me think of someone just pretending to be good/nice to hide their true feelings.

What would be the best word choice for the same meaning in Japanese?


texts:
What is the effect of putting よ after an infinitive verb form?
Example:

世界一のパティシエになりよ!

Thanks in advance! ありがとうございます！
^^


texts: What's the difference between に and で when speaking of time of an action?

texts:
What's the difference between に and で when speaking of the time of an action? I know に is very specific about time, but I'm not sure when, or how to use で. Can で only be used in certain instances?

Supposing we want to say "After eating breakfast, I will watch TV." What would be the difference between these two:

  朝ご飯を食べた後にテレビを見る。(asagohan o tabeta ato ni terebi o miru)

vs.

  朝ご飯を食べた後でテレビを見る。(asagohan o tabeta ato de terebi o miru)

Thanks!


texts: Meaning of 時間がありますか。

texts:
I've come across the sentence "時間がありますか" in Genki.
It was translated as "do you have time?" and I don't know if it is used in a context like "do you have time to talk?" or "what time is it?".
Also, could I use just 時(とき)?


texts:
So I just encountered the grammar "te aru" and according to Japanesetest4you it means that something has been done. They provide the following sentence as an example:

  君の靴下も全部洗濯してある。
  Kimi no kutsushita mo zenbu sentaku shite aru.
  'All your socks have also been washed.'

Would it be wrong of me to just say:

  君の靴下も全部洗濯した。
  Kimi no kutsushita mo zenbu sentaku shita.

Would there be a big difference in meaning?


texts: When translating a text, do you use "we" or "i" or "you"?

texts:
I'm translating a random text our teacher gave us in school, but I never know which subject I should use. For example, this is the first sentence of the text:

  小学生や中学生のころは、友達とお小遣いの話をよくしました。

I have no idea if I should translate the second sentence with I, you or we: "In the times of primary and middle school, I/we/you talked with my friends about pocket money a lot."

"we" as in "it is talked about" even though there´s no passive form of a verb. "you" as in adressing the reader.

Plus, I'm translating it to a Slavic language (just in case anyone here is familiar with that).

thanks!


texts: Am I understanding this alright? あの武器のプレイは、皆さんが想像している通りのものになると思います

texts:
I was reading an interview from a game magazine and I'm not sure if I understand what the director of a game is saying when he was asked a question. He was asked if he could tell some details about some weapons, how will will the gameplay be like, but he does not answer directly because he did not want to reveal more information, saying that us players should wait a little longer.
The director says:

あの武器のプレイは、皆さんが想像している通りのものになると思います.

I don't know if I am translating properly. Is it: "I think I will let the gameplay of those weapons be up to everyone's imagination" OR "I think the gameplay is what everyone imagines."
Also, not sure if it would be the same, but I wanted at first to use "expectation" as in, "the gameplay is what everyone expects", but the word is not 期待している.
Pretty sure I am misunderstanding, so I hope someone can help me out.　Also, is
ものになる the same as ことになる？
Thank you in advance!


texts: Specific question about the use of "sugiru"

texts:
I learned you can use stem + sugiru, I adj - i + sugiru and na adj - na + sugiru to say "too much".
How would you translate "I woke up too early"?

Hayasugiru okimashita

Hayaku okisugimashita

Or neither?


texts:
Coming across these kind of constructs:

カニでもわかる＋名詞句

カニでもできる...

カニでも使える...

etc.

What does it mean? How is it used?

In general, what main associations would a "crab" create from a Japanese cultural perspective? E.g. lion - brave; tanuki - sly; crab - ???


texts: Why も in 私も暇な時、犬といっしょに・・・

texts:
Can somebody explain も here to me please? And why it is not の?

私も暇な時、犬といっしょに近所を散歩します

I know it is used to mean with or also (私もです - me too), but the above to me would be 私の暇な時 showing possession. Or is も meaning "when" somehow?


texts: Meaning of となら and とやら in these sentences

texts:
I've encountered those two words in a manga I'm currently reading. Here are the sentences :

  きさまとならまちがいなく勝てるぞ。

I don't know if となら is a specific particle or if it is と+なら(ば) (and in that case is と related to まちがう　or 勝てる?)

  てめえの罠にまんまとかかってやる。完全体とやらになるがいい。

I suspect とやら is related to the やら particle and has a meaning close to など... but I have seen somewhere that it is equivalent to one of the uses of the quotation marks in english. Like : You pissed on the rug again! - No I didn't my love, it was the dog! - Right, "the dog"...


texts:
According to The sounds of Japanese (Vance 2008):

When /ɾ/ is the first phoneme in an utterance, the tip of the tongue is already resting lightly on the alveolar ridge, and /ɾ/ is produced by rapidly releasing this contact. Strictly speaking this utterance-initial allophone isn't a tap.

Can anyone elaborate on this utterance initial [ɾ] and its allophonic derivation, perhaps giving a reference for further reading? If it isn't a tap, then what is it? It sounds like it might be a voiced plosive, but it doesn't feel similar to either alveolar plosives [t, d]. It certainly sounds like there is an r-quality to it, but I wouldn't know how a plosive might acquire an r-quality.
Are you actually realizing, and furthermore aware of, an allophonic variant of [ɾ] (specifically the apparent utterance-initial allophone)?


texts: 「守りが甘い[上手]{うわて}」…どういう意味ですか？

texts:
守りが甘い上手【うわて】と打つとやられるぞ

  "If you play this stronger player for whom 'protection is sweet' you will be done for."

is my best attempt to understand. The context in which this happens is the teacher of this go club sits down next to this group of first years to play the strongest arrival to his go club, a first year who is in fact at a professional level and should not be there. This teacher is making an offhand comment to Uno and the other first years sitting nearby. If necessary here is the panel just before this.

So far I am getting the sense that が甘い can mean is relaxed and so on from the entries at eow.alc.co.jp, so perhaps "player for whom defense is easy?" but I am not sure.


texts: When to use は as a topic marker instead of わ?

texts:
I just learned that は is pronounced the same as わ ("wa"), instead of "ha" when it's used as a topic marker. But I couldn't properly find information about the grammatical rules in place to decide when to write わ or は in sentences. Could anyone explain to me when should I use one or the other?
I believe the example below is correctly using は, but why?

お母{かあ}さんの車{くるま}はそれです。

Thanks in advance.

PS.: I just noticed after the first answer that I got really confused when I was studying the subject, people don't use わ as a topic marker in sentences. But it seems that it's too late and now I'm not allowed to delete the question anymore.


texts: I heard in anime a phrase related to risk, like "all or nothing". It sounded like "icka backa" but I can't find the exact phrase.


texts:
I was watching a cartoon that said something like:

  にいにいのオニ

Chinese subtitles said

  妮妮欺负我

I can only guess that オニ is the same as おに or 鬼 to which jedict says:

  noun

  ogre, demon
  spirit of a deceased person (see also: 亡魂)
  ogre-like person (i.e. fierce, relentless, merciless, etc.)
  it (i.e. in a game of tag)
  Chinese "ghost" constellation (one of the 28 mansions) (see also: 二十八宿, 朱雀)
  prefix
  very, extremely, super- (slang) (see also: 超)

I'm still at a loss at how xxx's "ghost" could equate with - picking on or bulling though.

If I remember correctly the person on the cartoon was answered with:

  誰のオニ

where Chinese subtitles said:

  谁欺负你？

Who's picking on/bulling you?

How does "xxxのオニ" equate to "xxx is bullying/picking on me"?


texts:
体は睡眠状態にある。

On this site, it's explained that "you can think of this sentence as meaning the body is existing in the “睡眠” (suimin, “sleep”) state." and thus the sentence means "The body is in a state of sleep."

The problem is that for the sentence ""両者は不可分の関係にある。" it doesn't work because it should be いる instead of ある...?


texts: Adverbs that can modify other adverbs / adverbials?

texts:
I assumed that adverbs modify only verbals (noun + copula, adjectives, verbs, however blurred their actual distinction). However, today I came across an entry in a grammar book [ISBN-13: 978-4789012959] on an adverb　さらに　（更に） that can (apparently) modify other adverbs, which proves this assumption wrong. Example sentence:

  クローバル時代に向けて企業の国際化をさらに強力に押し進める必要がある。In our global age, we must promote the internationalization of businesses even more forcefully.

Here, it is explicitly stated that さらに modifies 強力に and not any of the verbals that follow.

My question: is there a special name for this class of adverbs (in that entry only さらに、もっと、より、なお、　and 一層 are listed)? Is there a list or some kind of way of identifying this kind of adverbs? Do such adverbs apply only apply to nouns that can take an adjective form (like 強力な)?

Edit: I've thought about it a bit more and it seems indeed some other extent adverbs can modify an adverbial if it's formed from na-adjective, e.g. そんなに深刻にX. Is that all there is to it, just treat a noun-form na-adjective + に　as something that an adverb can modify?


texts: How to translate「業魔灰燼剣」"Gouma Kaijinken" to English?

texts:
How would I translate 「業魔灰燼剣」"Gouma Kaijinken"?
This is from Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut (テイルズ オブ デスティニー ディレクターズカット)
And here is a short video showing what it looks like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm4DSjqDK8w
I've tried Google Translate, DeepL, Microsoft Bing Translator, and looking at the characters individually, or pairing them up as 「業魔」 + 「灰燼」 + 「剣」
Some things I've come up with so far:

Daemon Ash Fire
Daemon Hellfire
Daemon Ash Sword
Devil Ash Blade


texts: What are the implications of 「～だこと」「～ですこと」？

texts:
I have seen these constructions (「～だこと」「～ですこと」) in drama and anime several times now, though, as far as I remember exclusively used by female speakers. Here is one of the sentences I came across...

  「美しい友情だこと」

The context is that one guy makes fun of his friend in front of others and then this sentence is uttered by a female speaker.

My question is what exactly stands behind these patterns.  Moreover, are there any 'gender-implications' here? Besides, are there any nuances that may sound weird in daily conversation?


texts: I've just learnt that AといったB means "B such as A". I was wondering how this differed in formality/usage/popularity from AなどのB.


texts:
I understand what なぜか and こういうのって mean in a rough sense, but I'm having a hard time grasping the meaning well enough to make a sentence out of it while translating something.

The context is that Person A just realized that Person B might not understand the language he is speaking.

Page 1

Page 2


texts: Use of やと in 「日本人やとそれが当たり前やから、いまいちわからない」？

texts: I understand や = だ in Kansai-ben but I don’t understand what either やと or だと would mean here. I’m guessing the meaning is close to “For Japanese people that is normal so I don’t understand.” Thanks!!!


texts:
Source: https://b.hatena.ne.jp/entry/4685177829409008642/comment/kincity

  こういう語りをするやつがほんとに音楽業界全般見てるの？という疑問がいつもある。ジャズ寄り音楽家とかは毎晩ライブやって生きてたりするよね。CD3000枚でドヤるのも正直うざいどす。

goo.ne defines 「うざい」as:

  ［形］《「うざったい」の省略形。「うぜえ」とも》あれこれとうるさい。わずらわしい。

〜どす is another way of saying 〜です in 京都弁 according to goo.ne

Why did the commentor use うざい here? Or perhaps うざい has a nuance meaning of 多い here?


texts: Tense and conjugation: いないみたいでした v.s. いなかったみたいでした

texts:
Consider the following four sentences:

1.誰もいないみたいでした。ノックしましたが、返事がありませんでした。
2.誰もいなかったみたいでした。ノックしましたが、返事がありませんでした。
3.誰もいなかったみたいです。ノックしましたが、返事がありませんでした。
4.誰もいないみたいです。ノックしましたが、返事がありませんでした。

There are two verbs 「いない」 and 「です」 to conjugate， my question is which verb should be conjugated, or maybe both should be conjugated?
Does it have anything to do with whether the two verbs are simultaneous or not?


texts: Which sentence is grammatically correct?

texts:
I'm unsure how to write the sentence "That (near you) is a pencil." in Japanese.
Is it "Sono pen wa desu." or "Sore wa pen desu." ? Or are both of them right/wrong?
I'm a beginner so I can only read and write in hiragana at the moment (haven't started with kanji and katakana yet).

Apreciate your help!


texts: How did "little tsu" become a lengthener?

texts: How did it come about historically that っ preceding a sound would geminate it? Is it really a little つ or are they just near homomorphs?


texts:
例えば、東北地方に「なげる」という方言がある。これは「捨てる」という意味だが、方言を知らない人が「これをなげて」と言われて、「投げる」だと解釈して、ごみを投げ返して怒られたという話がある。

My question is about the word 「怒られた」. For the dictionary form「怒る」, there are two meanings in the dictionary, one is to "to get angry"（自動詞）, the other is "to scold"（他動詞）.

Which interpretation is better "indirect passive" (A got angry and B was negatively affected) or "direct passive" (A scolded B)?

My teacher (who is not a native speaker) said that to use the "indirect passive voice", there must be 「に」, the one that takes/took the action: （Bは）Aに怒られた。 But there is no「に」in the above sentence, so it must mean "got scolded". I have some doubt about his explanation.

For reference, the definition of 怒る from 大辞林:

  おこ・る ［2］ 【怒る】

  （ 動ラ五［四］ ）
  　　① 腹を立てる。立腹する。いかる。 「真っ赤になって－・る」
  　　② しかる。 「先生に－・られる」 〔動詞「おこる」は自動詞で，「…をおこる」とは言えない。「先生におこられた」はいわゆる迷惑の受身の例。迷惑の受身とは，「（雨が）降る」「（父親が）死ぬ」のような自動詞で作られる，迷惑を受けた人を主語とした受身表現「（私は出先で）雨に降られた」「（彼は幼い時に）父親に死なれて苦労した」をいう。それに対して「しかる」は他動詞で，しかる相手が存在する。相手は動作者よりも目下の者で，動作者は教育的な立場から行い，意図的におこったようなこわい顔をすることはあっても，原則として非感情的である〕

  ［可能］ おこれる


texts:
「そうだ！家で音楽聞こうっと」
「もう寝ようっと」
「英語でブログを書いてみようっと。」

How does it differ from a volitional form without っと?
My best guess is that it's a monologue marker, like な is.


texts:
In my writing assignment, I wrote this paragraph.
テレワークのように、オンライン授業もいい経験だと思う。パンデミックの前は毎日、通学しないといけないし、何度も乗り換えをしないといけないし、往復だと４時間以上、つまり一日の６分の１以上かかるのであり、私にとっては面倒くさくて疲れることばかりだった。
It was corrected to
テレワークと同様、オンライン授業もいい経験だと思う。(I think と同じように would work too.)
Was there something wrong in the usage of のように to show likeness or similarity between telework and online class?


texts: What's the difference between 退屈 and 飽きる?


texts: What is the difference between 「本物」 and 「本当」?

texts:
Originally, I had the following sentence:

  人形は本当の人のように動きました。

A Japanese native corrected to be:

  人形は本物の人のように動きました。

I just want to understand what the difference between the 2 words is, and why 本物 is more appropriate in this sentence.


texts: Better way of expressing without using ”のための”？

texts:
Last time I noticed that I am misusing the phrase "ため". For example in next phrase:

管理職｛かんりしょく｝のための雇用契約書｛こようけいやくしょ｝

Do you think I could say it better? For example using "向け" or "用" as in next example?

管理職｛かんりしょく｝向け｛むけ｝雇用契約書
管理職｛かんりしょく｝用｛よう｝雇用契約書

Thank you in advance for your comments!


texts: What is the correct pronunciation of 精撰寒晒?

texts:
I'm reading the front of a pack of 白玉粉{しらたまこ} and have run into something I think is a name. However, searching online doesn't produce results in any dictionary I can find. From what I can see, 精撰 is usually pronounced せいせん, and 寒晒 only shows up in dictionaries as:

寒晒し{かんざらし}
n. exposure to cold

I've also seen that the 選 character in:

精選{せいせん}
n. careful selection

sometimes has alternate spellings as 撰, such as 選ぶ{えらぶ} and 撰ぶ{えらぶ}.
Is this a name or does it mean "exposed to cold and carefully selected" or "careful exposure to cold", e.g. 精撰の寒晒し?


texts: Is there any rhyme or reason to hiragana?

texts:
I'm just beginning to learn Japanese. The grammar and kanji I can follow along thanks to similarities with Korean, but the hiragana is confusing the heck out of me. There seems to be no pattern at all whatsoever, even in letters that look very similar:

ね (ne), れ (re), わ (wa)

こ (ko), た (ta), に (ni)

ち (chi), さ (sa), き (ki)

Is there any rhyme or reason to how the hiragana letters are shaped? Or do Japanese speakers just memorize them growing up?


texts:
What's the difference between these 3 forms of a verb:

1) 勝てるんじゃない

2) 勝てるね

3) 勝てるんですね

?


texts:
I upload videos on niconico and sometimes I get

  はなちゃああああああ

commented on my videos. I did tons of googling but I got nothing.


texts:
I want to say something like "After thinking about it, I decided not to take the class."

Would 考えてから、授業を取らないと決めました。be an accurate translation? Or is there a better one?


texts: expressing opinion adding し at the end of adjective

texts:
I have two dialogues:

  かわい ： 沖縄料理は 食べましたか。
  ホセ   ： ええ、もちろんです。おいしいし、ヘルシーだし、つまも 私も 気に いりまた。

  かわい ： ホテルは よかったですか。
   ホセ ： ええ。へやは ひろくてあかるいし、へやから 海が みえたし、さいこうでした。
          かわいさんの おすすめの ホテルに して よかったです。

I don't understand why in the first one they added だ to ヘルシー to make ヘルシーだし but they didn't add it to ひろくてあかるい to make ひろくてあかるいし. Am I missing some rule?


texts:
I am trying to translate some text, but I hit a sentence that I could not understand completely.

  悪いんだがここ片付けといてくれ

From what I read up to now, this means something like "This place is in bad shape. Clean it." roughly speaking, but I am having trouble understanding the 片付けといてくれ part. jisho.org simplifies it to 片付けて, but there seems to be so much lost in this simplification. What exactly does this extra part mean?


texts:
While browsing Youtube, I came across a comment which said the following:

  はじめしゃしょーを思い出した人は返信せよ

My question is about the ending. I understand that せよ is an imperative form of する just like しろ. However, I was wondering what difference, if any, this makes to the meaning of the phrase?

I found an explanation on another forum saying that せよ is more literary-sounding, and is used in exams. However, I wouldn't have thought that a Youtube commenter would use particularly formal language, so I wonder if there's more to it than that.

Apologies if I've made any mistakes in how I asked the question, this is my first time posting!


texts:
A customer in a store is hesitating which of the two items to buy. A shop assistant or a friend encourages him:「どっちも買っちゃいましょう」.

Could this mean "You should buy both"? Could this mean "You should buy either"?

To clearly say "You should buy either", how should this be reworded?

Thanks!


texts: What is the different between おい and こら? (Interjections)


texts: is there any evidence that ばら is commonly understood as gay

texts:
My japanese speaking but not native friend talked about a foreign friend whose name translates to "ばら" (bara - 薔薇) with some native japanese.
They quickly objected that she shouldn't call that friend ばら as this means "gay" (homosexual) in japanese.
I couldn't find any evidence for this and am curious now.
The only thing I found is that the first gay magazine is called "barazoku" which could be shortened to "bara". Maybe becoming a synonym for gay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barazoku

Is "ばら" an actual word with the meaning "gay"? Or is it just a common term? Or is it just common in the LGBT community and most japanese would be clueless?


texts: The personal agent and indirect object in a passive sentence

texts:
I came across this sentence:

  私はどんな動物に例えられるの？

And i was wondering how do you express the personal agent (the one who is doing the comparing) in this sentence? Are they also marked by に? Or does the sentence structure have to change in order to make this more natural?

  私はどんな動物にアリスに例えられるの？

In all fairness this probably isn't the best example to use. I also came across this topic with the following example:

  お金は田中に渡された - The money was given to Tanaka

How would you express who gave the money to Tanaka in this passive construction? And does this have a double meaning to also say The money was given by Tanaka?


texts: What is the origin of pharmacists being called 'yakuzaishi' in japanese? Is there some relation to the yakuza?

texts: I was doing a quick google translate search to look for the Japanese word for pharmacist. Turns out it is yakuzaishi. Ishi means doctor & Yakuza is obviously the well-known criminal syndicate. It beats me as to how this combination of words came to be regarded as the word for pharmacists in Japanese! Does it stand for a criminal doctor / useless doctor!!?


texts:
It is bold in the below sentence.

まあ そんなのはまだまだかわいげがあるほうでよ


texts:
I was experimenting with these phrases to check if they could be used in a normal, everyday conversation in Japanese.

Do these phrases  make sense?

Yoroshiku. (Nice to meet you.)

Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu. (It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.)

Watashi no namae wa Angela desu.

Watashi wa Angela iimasu.

Watshi wa Angela desu.

Also, if any of these phrases are correct, could anyone transcribe them into kanji?


texts:
The full sentence is:

  文章を短く要約したいために、彼の例のはにかみや駄洒落はめいてある。

めいてある is written in hiragana so I don't have the kanji, but I assume the verb is めく(to show signs of, have the appearance of). However, this results in a strange translation:

  The passage shows signs of his characteristic bashfulness and puns, because I wanted to shorten and summarize it.

The first half of the sentence doesn't seem logically connected to the second. Any suggestions for a better way of translating this sentence? Do I have the correct meaning for めいてある?


texts:
平和を保ちたいとする利己的な意志が戦争を起こし
So, I'm rewatching Naruto and I'm finally able to understand more than 70% of the words and grammar.
I'm currently on the war arc and Madara said the above sentence.
I'm not sure what たいとする means. I know として (I work AS a teacher) but とする？
Ok, so I searched a bit by myself and what I found at Weblio.jp got me thinking.
‐とする
regard 《A as B》
consider [assume] 《A to be B》
treat 《A as B》
So would the literal translation be:
Wanting to preserve peace regarded as a selfish desire causes war. ?


texts: Meaning of 首を傾げてしまいたくなる

texts:
Evernoteにはかつての輝きが薄れ始め、100年企業を謳っているけど、それは本当に可能なのか？？と首を傾げてしまいたくなるような停滞ぶりです

is it I want this to leave me confused? It doesn't make sense

It's from this text:

  情報管理LOGの@yoshinonです。
  私が、Evernoteを使い始めるようになってから９年経ちます。使い始めの当時は、「画像の中の文字を認識して検索できる！」「どんな情報も蓄積しておける！」「タグや検索ですぐさまメモを呼び出せる」と感動したものでした。しかし、現在2018年段階では、Evernoteにはかつての輝きが薄れ始め、100年企業を謳っているけど、それは本当に可能なのか？？と首を傾げてしまいたくなるような停滞ぶりです。当初に見られた、勢いのある機能の追加もなければ、ほかのサービスと比較しても、革新性に乏しくなってきました。そこで、ノート数20000超えの私が、停滞しているEvernoteの尻を蹴飛ばすべく、提言をしていきたいと思います。


texts: 「勉強{べんきょう}を続{つづ}ける」 vs.「勉強をやり続ける」

texts:
Do 「勉強を続ける」 and 「勉強をやり続ける」 have the same basic meaning: "to continue with one's studies"?

Is 「やり続ける」 a slightly rougher, less formal, way of saying「続ける」？ But, the difference in nuance is minimal at best?


texts: How to correct myself or somebody else when speaking

texts:
For example, if I were in a situation where I said something and it was misunderstood (maybe because of bad Japanese), what would be the best way to attempt to correct myself?
In English one could say, "Sorry, I meant ..."

e.g., Saying, 「これは兄がもらった贈り物だ」(This is the present my brother got) when you meant, 「これは兄にもらった贈り物だ」(This is the present I got from my brother), and you want to tell them this correction after the other party has replied.

What would be the equivalent phrase to use when correcting somebody else?
In English it could be, "Did you mean ... ?" or, "I think you mean ..."

e.g., Someone says to you, 「これは兄が私に上げた贈り物だ」 and you want to correct them to say, 「これは兄がくれた贈り物だ」 (presuming they didn't know they made this mistake)


texts: Why is the Japanese title of Dante's "Divine Comedy" 『神曲』?

texts:
Dante's The Divine Comedy (whose English title appears to basically be the same as the original Italian title, Divina Commedia) is titled in Japanese 『神曲』. Why is this? Naturally, translations need not be literal, but a title meaning roughly "The Divine Song" (or "The Divine Poem"?) seems a bit odd when something along the lines of 「神喜劇」 could've been done.

I read the section 題名『神曲』の由来 in the Wikipedia article, which indicates that Mori Ougai's translation of Hans Christian Andersen's novel The Improvisatore contains the passage 「神曲、吾友なる貴公子」 and Mori's choice of 『神曲』 stuck. That explains the history of it; so my question is really more, why might Mori have chosen this translation? Did 曲 mean something closer to "comedy" at the time he wrote it (c. 1902)?


texts:
I'm reading a manga and having problems with a sentence. For context, one character just recommended going after the leader of the monsters so as to prevent more damage to their town from happening. The main character's response is:

  成程。上を失えば化け物と言えど、烏合の集という訳か！

I'm actually having problems with the entirety of this sentence, but especially 上を失えば. The only thing I've guessed after looking various things up may be that it means "losing again"? I know と言えど means something like "having said that", but probably because I'm confused about the beginning of the sentence I'm having problems parsing.

Since it's in the same sentence I'll quickly also ask about 烏合の集. I can't find any info (I'm guessing this is a saying), and Google autocorrects this to 烏合の衆. Can someone confirm that they mean the same thing? Thanks very much.


texts:
I found here the definition of 春闘 as the annual spring wage bargaining round; the annual spring labor offensive.
And upon searching my electronic dictionary 集約 means intensive.

Can I assume that this phrase pertains to an action from a Japanese Labor Union discussing wage improvements for the union participants?

Is it limited to just wage or does this include all benefits of the employee?


texts: As far as I know, おはいりください might be used to invite someone in when they are visiting your home. I was wondering if this would be used by friends who have visited each other's houses a few times before. Also, would the guest reply しつれいします, おじゃまします, or ありがとう, or is there some other more casual way to say this?


texts: Can somebody please please help me translate this...?

texts:
Can you please help me translate the writing on this piece of paper? I've been working on this for the past four hours by looking up the characters one by one and using translation websites and Google translate, but it's so hard for me because I'm  not that familiar with the Japanese language. It came from inside a wooden box with a pair of chopsticks in it that was given to me by a Japanese guy (an acquaintance from work).I don't think it's that important - it's probably just a set of instructions or something - but I am really really really curious about what it says.

Based on my research, the first two characters on the topmost sentence mean 'lacquerware', and sentence number one I think says something about the intended purpose of the item? That's about as far as I got with google translate... the rest of the translations didn't make any sense to me at all.


texts: What is a good way to translate “They mistakenly charged both the school and me for the same thing”?

texts:
As the question states, I'm trying to translate “They mistakenly charged both the school and me for the same thing.”

According to this link (https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E5%90%8C%E3%81%98%E4%BA%8B), “The same thing” can be translated as 「同じ事」.

Also, according to this link (https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/charge), the example “He always charges me too much for his goods,” can be translated as 「彼はいつも品物に対し高すぎる値段を請求する」. That example seems to come pretty close to my question.

However, I am stumped with “Both the school and me”. I've looked at the different translations for “Both” and “And”, but they don't seem to cover the situation I have.

Do you know a good way to translate it?


texts:
I learnt the phrase 再生可能なエネルギー today. The meaning of 再生可能 is clear, but it doesn't appear in any dictionaries I've looked at. In this case 可能 is like adding the suffix '-able' in English.
I wonder if this could be applied more generally. Can I freely add 可能 onto a word to get the 'word-able' version? If so, what would the grammar construction be to add it to the different parts of speech? Could you give some more examples please?


texts:
What is the difference between 生成{せいせい} and 作成{さくせい}?

  例:ソースファイル生成

As per my point of view 生成 and 作成 gives same meaning. Please explain clearly with example where should we use 生成 and where should we use 作成.

Dictionary

  生成 - creation; generation
  作成 - making; producing; creating; creation

Thanks in advance.


texts:
I saw this in a tweet just a few minutes ago.

アメリカ…俺よりカイデーな選手がゴロゴロ(ﾟoﾟ;;

This could be talking about the world cup.

I can't find カイデー defined anywhere. What does it mean? What does that tweet say?


texts: How can I differentiate between 「もう」 that means "already" and 「もう」 that means "more/additional"?

texts:
I noticed that 「もう」 can mean both "already" and "additional", such as the following sentence:

  もう二本飲みましたよ。

Can mean either one of:

I already drank two glasses.
I drank additional two glasses.

How can I differentiate between the two meanings?


texts: Meaning of 連絡入れる前の話が筒抜け in this exchange?

texts:
I need some help understanding the below conversation. A bit of context before this:

JD asked them to go somewhere and 'call' him when they arrive (he can use powers to realize they are trying to contact him if they say his name and then he can use telepathy to talk to them).

I'll put my understanding of the passage below.

  Character 1「 じゃあJDに連絡しましょう」

  Character 2「了解だ。JD様、JD様、どうぞおいでください」

  Character 3「いや、呼んでも来るわけじゃないぞ。完全にこっくりさんみたいになっているじゃないか」

  JD『そもそも「はい」と「いいえ」の書かれた紙がなければボケられぬであろうが』

  Character 1「そっちはそっちで連絡入れる前の話が筒抜けみたいなんですけど」

  JD『ぐ、偶然じゃ。それで場所には着いたのか』

From what I can see it starts with character 2 calling to him with

  "JD様、JD様、どうぞおいでください"

is the same way used to contact the spirit kokkuri san

  "コックリさん、コックリさん、おいでください".

Character 3 (liberal translation) - Even if you call him, he won't 'come' here. What do you think we are trying to do, call a kokkuri-san?

JD - How am I meant to "boke" if there is no piece of paper with "Yes" and "No" written on it?

However, I am confused about what character 1 says next.

Looking online it looks like  筒抜け has two definitions:

  １ 物音や話し声が、そのまま他の人に聞こえること。また、秘密の内容などがそっくり他に漏れてしまうこと。

  ２ 人の話などが頭の中にとどまらないで通りぬけてしまうこと

Based on context I don't see how #2 would make any sense, so it most likely is #1 however I'm not quite sure what she is saying. Is she saying that they could hear JD before he made contact with them or something else?


texts:
while working on some translations I ran across the phrase: 輝く鎧の騎士.  A character was refered to as this.  Google tells me it translates to "knight in shining armor".
My question is thus:  Is that the idiomatic equivalent of the phrase in English, and if not what is?


texts: Is there a difference between 終わりたい and 終わってほしい

texts:
Actually, I'm not even sure, if the ～たい-form of a intransitive verb is possible, or grammatically correct, but I sometimes read 終わりたい or 終わりたくない like for example

  まだ終わりたくない

But from everything I learned I would guess that 終わってほしい or 終わってほしくない is like 'grammatically right', but also I know, that there are some special rules for like 終わる, so I guess both is possible.

So, if both is possible, what's the difference?
Is it, that for 終わりたい it is meant for something I'm doing oneself and 終わってほしい is for something I'm just 'begging' and can't change myself?

Would my question change for verbs like 助かる or 見つかる?


texts:
For example:

  一日{いちにち} = one day (duration);
  一日{ついたち} = first day of the month.

First of all, are the meanings correct? Because I found contradicting answers.
I suspect the meanings are overlapping in some cases?

Then, after a quick search, I found out that okurigana is efficient to disambiguate them. Didn't the author mean furigana instead? Maybe I didn't grasp something here.

Lastly, what are the most important (to know)/most frequent homographic Kanji out there?


texts:
This is the sentential question I found in Sou Matome :

  母親「さあ、もうねなさい。」 こども「この_ _ * _ ちょっとまって。」 A. おわる、B. もう、C. ゲームが、D.まで

I answered:  ゲームがもう終わるまでちょっとまって。

but the answer is :

ゲームが終わるまでもうちょっとまって

Why is もう placed before ちょっと and not おわる? I thought since もう is an adverb then the safest place is before a verb? Is there a rule where もう should be placed?


texts: What does うさ晴らしとばかりに mean in this context?

texts:
I have read some similar answers, which mostly point out とばかりに as meaning "as if to say", but I am having trouble understanding this meaning in this excerpt I have from a manga I'm trying to read:

  鬼は７００年の眠りから覚めるや否やうさ晴らしとばかりにオレに襲いかかってきた。

What I can make out of this, is this:

  As soon as the demon wakes up from its 700 years of sleep うさ晴らしとばかりに it rushed on towards me.

Now, うさ晴らし means distraction... so the demon rushed on towards me as if it was distracted? I don't know how to give this meaning.

addition: Now that I'm rereading the sentence I have another question... shouldn't 覚める be in the past tense as well? Because the 'demon RUSHED on towards me as soon as it WOKE up'...

Thank you very much.


texts: What meaning does とこ have in this sentence?

texts:
とこの状況で思っちゃう僕はちょっとおかしいのか。

I'm not sure how to interpret this sentence. What function is とこ serving?


texts: Missing Watashi from Textbook Translation

texts:
I'm using Japanese From Zero 1, though I've already memorized both symbol libraries and a hand full of Kanji.
I'm at section 3, Q & A E -> J, Group 4.
My issue is that I'm still a beginner and I think it's giving me the wrong translation.
It wants me to translate the English statement;

No, it's my friends car.

I translated this as;

いいえ、わたしのともだちのくるまです。

But the book claims that the translation should be;

いいえ、ともだちのくるまです。

Which removes わたし. How can it mean My Friend and not just Friend, if I'm not in the sentence? Is it assumed or is it because the first sentence Asks,

Is this your car?

It seems like the topic is shifting from My car to My friends car, so shouldn't I change the topic?
Full Question;

Is this your car?
Yes, it is.
No, it's my friend's car.
No, it's her car.
No, it's her's.

Edits:
Yes, it's くるま Kuruma ^-^, I was typing too fast.


texts: 名詞になる versus 名詞する versus 名詞だ

texts:
I noticed there are certain nouns that can be used in  名詞になる, 名詞する, and 名詞だ forms.

For example:

彼女が・妊娠・うんざり・怪我・看護師・うつ伏せ・している。

彼女が・妊娠・うんざり・怪我・看護師・うつ伏せ・になっている。

彼女が・妊娠・うんざり・怪我・看護師・うつ伏せ・だ。

She is pregnant/bored/injured/a nurse/lying face down.

I seem to me that the nouns in this case must represent physical states. Correct me if I am wrong.

Is there any difference?


texts:
I've been trying to self-translate the lyrics for Secret Base, and this line somehow confuses me.

突然の 転校で どうしようもなく

What exactly is the use of the で here? And what is its translation?


texts: I understand that "dou" means how, and for example おちゃはどうですか means that I'm asking how is the tea? But, in Busuu app it says that I can use the same question to offer something, as if I'm asking "how about a tea?" I'm not really sure about this last thing so I hope you guys can help me.