texts: Syntax and peculiarities of this sentence/text

texts:
2)
For full context, see the following document:
https://www.docdroid.net/6ruXJ6r/img-20170802-0002-new.pdf

This excerpt was taken from line 8-10:
イギリスの少女はキノコ雲をかき、「科学者は時にダメージを与える」、日本の少年の絵は髪やひげは伸びたままにしている科学者で、「仕事のことばかり考えている」というイメージだ。

First, my attempt at translation:
The English girls draw nuclear mushrooms and the image says: “scientists sometimes cause damage”, and the picture of the japanese boys is a scientist, in whom they made the hair and moustache long (=in which they elongated hair and moustache) and the image says: “In my job I must think all the time”.

Because the context is rather strong in this sentence, I didn’t have too many problems understanding it. So unless I’ve fallen for a huge misunderstanding, I guess the translation in itself would work as it is.
However, the translation required me to make quite a lot of assumptions about either lacking or seemingly superfluous elements. So I want to ask about them now:

1) というイメージだ
This element could relate to both the first part of the full sentence =>
イギリスの少女はキノコ雲をかき、「科学者は時にダメージを与える」
And the second part:
日本の少年の絵は髪やひげは伸びたままにしている科学者で、「仕事のことばかり考えている」

The problem is that things get really complicated if I wanted to incorporate the というイメージだ in my translation of the full sentence. Just to give an example, another more “bumpy” translation:
“The English girls draw a nuclear mushroom and it is an image which says: ‘scientists sometimes cause damage’ and the picture of the japanese boys is a scientist, in whom they made the moustache and hair long and it is a picture which says: ‘In my job I must think all the time’.

For that reason, I wanted to know wether my assumptions were correct, because they imply quite far reaching, rather complex relations.

Besides that, another question centered both around this specific sentence, but also touching the whole text: Is the text switching tenses?
Line 1-2 and 3-4 (half) and 6-7 are in past tense. The rest seems to be in present tense.
I can’t really make out a contextual reason. For example, as we can see in line 6-7, wether the text cites the childrens drawings or not doesn’t seem to be of importance. In line 6-7, the “narrator” ultimately narrates in past tense, although he always talks to us in present tense when citing the drawings in all of the other cases in the text.

Do you see any contextual requirement for this? Or even a grammatical requirement?
Or is it just a stylistic phenomenon? For example, in fictional literature this is often used to increase the suspense.


texts: What is the difference between がる and ぎみ?

texts:
In one of my study flashcards, I have this sentence:

  疲{つか}れぎみだけど生{い}きてます。

Which should translate to something like, "[He] appears worn out but [he's] still kicking."

The main point is that in this instance, my understanding is that ぎみ means "appears to," or, "looks like."

This card just came up in the rotation, and I remembered seeing this question, where it is explained that がる also means something similar.

So similar, that I'm wondering what exactly is the difference between がる and ぎみ?

Obviously one difference is that がる can be modified ("conjugated"?) like a verb (maybe it is a verb of some kind?) to become がっている, and ぎみ doesn't look like it can be modified in any way that I'm aware of. So there almost certainly a difference in grammatical usage.

The definitions still seem to be pretty much the same though.

Can someone explain if they have different implications in meaning, and in what situations one would apply and the other couldn't?


texts:
Intuitively, I would guess it's 「いってんさ」, but I could image 「いちてんさ」just as well.

For bonus points: is there any reference or dictionary that explains the pronunciation of numbers with counters (beyond the obvious ones taught in beginner's courses)?


texts: Why do some Japanese questions end with 〜ないか?

texts:
I was watching clips of “Art of Fighting 2” (Original Title: 龍虎の拳2) in Japanese, and I noticed an interesting pattern:

When Geese Howard (ギース・ハワード) is talking to Ryou Sakazaki (リョウ・サカザキ) or Robert Garcia (ロバート・ガルシア), he asks, 「私と組んでみる気はないか?」

Unless I'm mistaken, I think he's saying, “Are/aren't you interested in teaming up with me?”

In John Crawley's (ジョン・クローリー) ending, his commanding officer meets with him. John calls him 閣下, which is usually translated as “his/her/your Excellency”, but since John is in the American military, I think it would be better translated as “Sir”. Anyway, his commanding officer ends up asking, 「もう一度軍にもどる気はないかね。」

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think he's saying, “You are/aren't interested in returning to the military once again, are/aren't you?”

These are just a few examples, but it seems to show a difference between Japanese and English. Japanese seems to end a number of questions in the negative, while English seems to end a number of questions in the positive.

Why is that?

Edit:

Okay, maybe these examples are too specific. That's okay, because I found some other examples right here.

ないか

（ 連語 ）
〔打ち消しの助動詞「ない」に終助詞「か」の付いたもの〕.
①  打ち消しの疑問の意を表す。 「彼はまだ来－」
②  勧誘の意を表す。 「映画を見に行か－」
③  婉曲的な命令の意を表す。 「もう八時過ぎだ。早く起き－」
④  希望の意を表す。 「だれか遊びに来－なあ」
⑤  控えめな依頼の意を表す。 「ちょっと見せてくれ－」 〔打ち消しの疑問の意では「ないのか」の形も用いられる〕

Here's a translation:

Naika

(Phrase)

[Something with sentence-ending particle “ka” attached to negative auxiliary verb “nai”].
1.  Expresses the sense of negative questions. “Has he not come yet?”
2.  Expresses the sense of invitations. “Would you like to go see a movie?”
3.  Expresses the sense of indirect commands. “It is past 8 o’clock now. Will you get up early?”
4.  Expresses the sense of desires. “Will you come to see someone?”
5.  Expresses the sense of modest requests. “Could you let me look around?” [The “nainoka” form is also used with the sense of negative questions]

I translated four out of five examples without the “not”. Are invitations, indirect commands, desires, and modest requests more polite when they are phrased negatively or positively in either language?

Also, there is a chance that my translation might have mistakes. If there are, please don't hesitate to comment!


texts:
Both さあ and まあ seem to be used as interjections that mean something like "well", "hm", et cetera (or perhaps just as filler words). Is there any difference in meaning between them?

(Differences I have noticed are is that まあ also seems to be a female interjection meaning "oh my!", and is used in the word まあまあ "so-so". Also when responding to a question one is very unsure of the answer to, a long drawn out さあ seems very common, and I'm not sure if まあ can be used there. Also there's this related question.)


texts: Why is there a 'な' before ’ので’ in this sentence?

texts:
このバックパックはよさそうなので、買うつもりです。

'Because this backpack looks good, I intend to buy it.'

Following ~sou there is a 'na' placed before the 'node'. Why is this the case? Is it because of the ~sou implemented in the sentence? Furthermore, would the sentence still be grammatically correct even if the 'na' was not there?


texts:
僕の注意なんて、みんなの参考になるかな。一応いうけど、ヨーロッパの街角でスリにあわないように気をつけるってことかな。
  I wonder if my advice will be useful to everyone. I'll say it just in case. Take care not to meet pickpockets on the street corners of Europe.

I'm sure my translation is wrong because I haven't accounted for ってことかな, and 気をつける is not an imperative.

If I had to translate literally the best I could do is:

  I wonder if it's the case that you will take care not to meet ...

But that sounds ridiculous, and I'm not even sure if it's correct. How should I understand ってことかな here?


texts:
I've been trying to translate Touhou doujinshi, when I came across this sentence:

A man talks about events related to youkai's den down the road.
The first part of the sentence is:

なんでも綺麗【きれい】な女【おんな】がたくさん出【で】てきて呑【の】めや歌【うた】えの大【だい】宴会【えんかい】

Meaning, I suppose, something like:

“Lots of different beautiful women come out and have a big feast where they drink and sing”

And the second part is:

でもあくる朝【あさ】には肥【こえ】だめに浸【つ】からされてたってよ

I don't get this 「浸からされてたって」 part at all. I thought, that maybe  there was a typo, and it should be 「浸かられてた　って」. But, as far as I know, English translation for 「浸かる」 is already in passive voice: to be submerged; to be soaked.
What is the meaning of 「浸からされてたって」?


texts: What does 松の木に吊るされた mean in this sentence?

texts:
I've been reading 『ひこばえ』, a novel that's being serialized on the Asahi Shinbun website, and yesterday I came across a bit of dialogue that I'm finding somewhat puzzling. The speaker is the priest of a small, family-run Buddhist temple, and the part I'll quote below introduces a brief discussion of his difficult relationship with his late father, who preceded him as the temple priest.

「ウチの[親父]{おやじ}、ほんとに厳しい人で、子どもの頃はしょっちゅう境内の松の木に[吊され]{つるされ}たんですよ」

The only sense I can make of this is something along the lines of "My dad was really strict; when I was a kid he was always hanging me from the pine tree on the temple grounds" – presumably, as a form of corporal punishment. But that seems so bizarre, especially in the absence of any further explanation or detail, that I can't help wondering if I'm missing something. Am I interpreting the sentence correctly, and if so, what kind of mental image does 松の木に吊（つる）されたんですよ evoke for a native speaker – when you read that, do you imagine the kid dangling by his clothing, holding onto a branch with his hands, or what?

Also, if I'm correct in assuming that the subject changes from 親父 to the speaker after で, why doesn't that change need to be made explicit? And what would be the most natural way to make it explicit, if one wanted to?

Thanks in advance.


texts: そういう君は～、 そういうおまえこそ～ - meaning?

texts:
My guess it's a rude jargon thing (comes up a lot in anime and the like, used by male characters). What does it mean?

A：　～～
B:　そういう君は～ or そういうおまえこそ～

そう言う (そういう君 = "you who are talking like this..."), そういう (that kind of thing ???), something else?


texts:
In a chat with a Japanese person, he told me 「ドイツ語で読んだことのある本を日本語で読んでみるのはどうですか？」 Context is that we talked about books.

Can someone translate that into English and explain me what the ことのある本 part means?

I saw this ある already sometimes but I never understood it. Does ある本 mean "existing book"?

EDIT: Thinking about it again, I wondered if 「ドイツ語で読んだ本を日本語で読んでみるのはどうですか？」means the same as the other sentence above. Or is there a difference?


texts:
「はい、遠野先輩の力になれたらいいなって思って。あ、けどちょっとしか詳しい話は聞けなかったんですけどね」
I tought I could help Tohno-Senpai. But I was able to find out just a little of the full story.

Is it correct?
ちょっと=A little
しか---聞けなかった=can only hear
か詳しい話=full story


texts: 連用形＋は＋せん　（殺しはせん。） meaning?

texts:
The line 「殺しはせん。」 is said by a character in anime.

What is せん here (I assume it's somehow related to negative form of する)?

Plain negative (I'm not killing you)? Volitional neg. (I'm not intending to kill you　(like　the せん in (せんとする))? Potential (like in せねば…)? Is the ん　some auxiliary verb or part of する conjugation?

Something else?


texts: the different adverbia between 'mousugu', 'mamonaku', and sorosoro

texts:
What is the difference in meaning between "mousugu", "mamonaku", and "sorosoro"?
According to what I found, in English they all mean "soon"?


texts:
The following sentence is baffling me:

  頭が腸捻転エビ固めモミ手返しを喰ったようで「明日にでも実家に帰らせて頂きマス」とか「私の前世は『枯野の宿』だった」とか口走りかねない。

I think I understand the ending (but please let me know if anything is mistranslated):

  「明日にでも実家に帰らせて頂きマス」とか「私の前世は『枯野の宿』だった」とか口走りかねない: It wasn't unlike me to blurt out things like, "May I go visit my parents tomorrow?" or "Kareno no Yado was my former life."

Is the beginning portion something to the effect of "While rubbing my hands together and eating shrimp out of their shells..."?

Any help and insight you could provide me with would be very much appreciated!


texts:
無理 seems to be a part of some standard phrases whenever I would wish to empathise with a person who in unwell or in distress.
Could someone help with examples of such phrases, and the context where it is appropriate to use.


texts:
In the below I am unsure how to identify the subject (the one performing the verbs) in the third sentence below. Originally I thought it was referring to himself doing this, but in the line below he says その間も、俺は, which sounds to me like the topic is switching to him. If the sentence above was describing his actions then I'm not sure it would be necessary to state 俺は, which makes me think it was referring to 心. Would anyone be able to clarify whether my understanding is correct or what I am misunderstanding?

キスを促すと、素直に唇を寄せてくる。
心は、よっぽどキスが好きなんだな。
舌を絡め、ぺちゃぺちゃ音をさせながら唾液をすすっていく。
その間も、俺は心の胸をまさぐり続けていた。


texts: How does ないと signify "must" in Japanese sometimes?

texts:
So my language resources gave me this sentence, in many forms and I still cant understand where "must" comes from or the need to in the Japanese. It's frequent, and I'm assuming a grammar phrase with no literal translation, but mega confusing.

  そろそろ恐怖心に立ち向かわないと行けないね。

Translated as "It's time for me to face my fears."

In this particular sentence, it's the added 行けない at the end that confuses the hell out of me, as my head is interpreting it as "must not".

More generally it's the use of these ないと and 行けない being paired I've seen used a lot which confuses me, as I only associate it with a negation as nai general meaning/use.

Thanks


texts: 興味を持ってきている versus 興味がある

texts:
子供の頃からずっとロボットに興味を持って来ています。
  子供の頃からずっとロボットに興味があります。

Which sentence sounds more natural?


texts: What is the best word for 'may not be attacked'?

texts: I am attempting to translate a D&D character sheet into Japanese, and I am running into difficulty with a line saying that 'the target (of a particular blessing) may not be attacked.' Though I am reasonably confident in my guess of 目標 for 'target', I have been at a loss for the correct verb. It seems like I need the negative potential form of an intransitive verb here, but the only intransitive 'to attack' verbs I can find are 撃つ, which seems to most commonly mean 'to be shot (at)' and 攻め込む, which appears to be have the connotation of large scale attacks, such as by a military. Is there a better word here?


texts: What does "言葉の裏の想いが 心の首筋舐めた" mean?

texts: I was listening to the song Ain't Nobody Know by Gen Hoshino and looking up the translation, which said for this sentence "the feelings behind our words licked the back of our hearts' neck". Since English isn't my first language I looked up what "licking the back of heart's neck" meant, thinking it was en English expression but I didn't find anything so I think it was a literal translation of the Japanese expression... I'd like to know what this expression means if anyone could explain it and try to give a more proper translation I'd be very glad, thank you!!


texts: Multiple verbs without implying that they all happen, "or"

texts:
I would like to translate the following sentence. I am in particular having trouble with the portion in bold.

You should eat or drink something sweet before exercising.

How does one list multiple actions without implying that they are all occurring?
My likely non-sensible guesses are as below:

運動する前には甘いものを食べたり飲んだりしたほうがいいです。
運動する前には甘いものを食べか飲みしたほうがいいです。

You could probably replace "eat or drink" with something like "consume," but I am looking for a construct that I can extend to other similar situations as well.
For example:

I either kill or get killed.
I would be crushed if you were to die or get severely injured.


texts: How is しまえば used? In what context and how it should translated to?

texts:
Was reading a light novel and this sentence popped up:

  ここまで動{うご}いてしまえば、フューネラルに気付{きづ}かれるのも時間の問題かもしれません。

フューネラル refers to an organisation within the light novel setting.

I'm confused by the usage of しまえば. Scouring the net, it seems to imply the meaning of "(something) is true", but there seems to be nothing like a translation or usage guide on this. Am I missing something here?


texts:
I encountered this sentence in my Anki app:

彼は目が見えずとも素晴らしい演奏をしました。

Although the grammar point is fairly simple, I have never encountered ずとも outside my grammar reviews. I also think that なくても can do the same job.

彼は目が見えなくても素晴らしい演奏をしました。

What is the difference between the two grammar points? How often and where usually is ずとも encountered?


texts:
From: No Game No Life (Anime) ep1 06:33.
Context: The main character is explaining the difficulty of Chess.

無量大数以上の局面をすべて把握できればだ

I've never seen this ればだ construction before. Can somebody explain what's going on here?
The official translation is "one has to be capable of grasping...", but I'm not sure how they got that.


texts: Can personal pronouns be written in hiragana?

texts: Would it be frowned upon to say for example ぼく instead of 僕？Or わたし instead of 私？Is it just a stylistic choice or do these have to be in kanji?


texts: What is the meaning of 「オレより頭ひとつぶん低い...」？

texts:
Original sentence was 「オレより頭ひとつぶん低いAを立たせてやったのはいいけど...。」 where A would be someone's name.
I feel like it would mean that A is shorter than the speaker or just "lower to the ground" since they both fell recently, but then the いいけど  seems strange. This is the first time I've ever come across the phrase ひとつぶん which I feel would mean "one part/portion" on it's own, but doesn't fit with 頭ひとつぶん低い.
I want to translate it as the speaker helping A (who is lower than the speaker?) stand up again after falling, but is the いいけど them hesitating instead of going through with it?
Edit: rather than hesitating, I think the いいけど　is out of shock since the next sentence goes on to talk about how thin A really is which they only notice after helping them up.


texts: How is the 〒 postal code symbol pronounced?

texts: I know the symbol is placed in front of the postal code. How is it pronounced?


texts: What are the differences between うちに、間に、同時に, ながら & ついでに

texts:
These all generally mean whilst & during but I still (after ages of trying) make mistakes on where to use which one.

For anyone who knows the ins-and-outs of these grammar points, please explain them to me.
♀ I really appreciate any help!


texts: Is the 「て」 missing from 「され」 in this sentence?

texts:
Here is the sentence.

  ソフトのプレイ中にHOMEボタンを押すと、ソフトが中断されHOMEメニューが表示されます。

I think 「て」 should follow the verb 「中断され」 to create conjunctive/continuative form.


texts: しょう vs. しょ which is more often found in common words?

texts:
Which is found more often in common words, しょう or しょ?

I tend to think しょう is found more often and is usually placed in the end of the word. On the contrary しょ seems to be placed at the start.

Are these assumptions correct?


texts: What is the usage/meaning of ご馳走さま (lovey-dovey)?

texts:
Edict states that one of the meanings of ご馳走さま  is "used after hearing something lovey-dovey".

Does anyone know some examples whereby ご馳走さま is used this way? Specifically, how do we use "ご馳走さま" and when is it appropriate/inappropriate to use it?

Also, imagine we have this conversation between two people:

  A: Yesterday I kissed my baby.

  B: ご馳走さま

What exactly does B mean when he says ご馳走さま?

What will this "ご馳走さま" be when translated to English?


texts: What is the difference between 貸付金 and 借入金?

texts:
When I translate both of these terms, the English is approximately loan or debt or borrowing.
The first one, 貸付金{かしつけきん}, is commonly used by banks to advertise loans.  However, I have seen 借入金{かりいれきん} used on tax forms.
What is the difference?


texts:
I was watching an old Saturday Night Live sketch from the 1970s, called Night of the Moonies, making fun of the Unification Church by putting them in the context of the movie Night of the Living Dead.

The video I was watching happened to have Japanese subtitles. I noticed that in the subtitles, when they referred to the Unification Church, which is called 統一{とういつ}教会{きょうかい} in Japanese, they replaced 一 with ◯, so it looks like 統◯教会.

My understanding of the use of ◯ is that it is the equivalent of when in English words are blacked out, to censor them so as not to offend. But I'm a little baffled by this instance of censorship, or even if that's what it is.

  [統〇]{とういつ}協会{きょうかい}が私{あたし}の家族{かぞく}

  親{おや}は嫌{きら}い

  "The Unification Church is my family. I don't like my parents."

Why censor the name of the church? Why block out only one of the kanji?


texts:
I know that it literally means "to cut hair" but it was used as following:

おはよう！
髪を切る

Is this an idiom, and if so, when do you use it?


texts:
そういう訳で、診察所の方の人達と口を利くのはあたしだけといってよい位だったわ。そりゃああたしがお侠{きゃん}だからだけれども、先生の小間使いですもの、そりゃどうしたって診察所との交渉が多いわよ。ええ、こりゃ漢語よ。

甲賀 三郎　著　『ニッケルの文鎮』　青空文庫 No.1428

I could not understand the actual meaning of 「ええ、こりゃ漢語よ。」

According to some dictionaries, 漢語 just refers to a word originated in China / a Chinese word. It would not fit this context...


texts: Does this “が” mean “but”? What is the difference between 習うと思う and 習おうと思う?

texts:
I'm not sure my translation for this brief conversation is correct, particularly the last sentence, so would like it double checked please.

カレン: ニールさんは音楽の学生ですね。
ニール: そうですが、どうして？
カレン: バイオリンを習おうと思っているんですが、いい先生を知りませんか。
Karen: Neil you're a music student aren't you?
Neil: That’s right but why do you ask?
Karen: Well I've been thinking of learning the violin so do you know any good teachers?

A couple of things:

The が in the last sentence is confusing me as I can't see how a 'but' would really fit in.
What would be the difference between 習うと思っている and 習おうと思っている?
I was initially flummoxed by the 知りませんか but I think it’s a request form question now.


texts:
This morning I read a sentence translated as follows:

私は 部屋{へや} に かざる物{もの} を あげました。
I offered her things to decorate her room.

It made me think about the following different English sentence, which I would translate to the same sentence in Japanese:

In her room, I offered her things to decorate.

There was also this sentence which I thought wasn't as confusing as the previous one:

私は 旅行{りょこう} の 時{とき} 持{も}って行{い}く 物{もの} を あげました。
I offered her things to bring when she travels.

I assumed the absence of に between 時{とき} and 持{も}って行{い}く was the reason that it couldn't be translated as follows:

While traveling, I offered her things to bring. (Doesn't make much sense, but it's just for the example)

I feel that I missed something. Those examples are actually easy to understand, but I fear that I could misunderstand more complex sentences.

For the first example, how do I know the first translation is the right one, and not the other one?

How can I differentiate between the time or place of the action, and what's just a part of the noun-modifier?


texts: As far as I know, both of these have a similar meaning. Are both interchangeable? In what situations would 変 be preferable over おかしい?


texts: Does the practice of not speaking directly about others' minds, but using ～がる to be indirect, apply to animals? i.e., would you ever say something like "犬は外に行きたがっている"? If so, does this vary when talking about your pets -- part of your household -- as opposed to unfamiliar animals?


texts:
-あっ、トロが来た。

  -トロって何ですか。

I have read that って is the equivalent of the topic marker は. (is これって何ですか just as natural as これは何ですか？)

Are there situations when we can't use って　instead of は？


texts: What does 彼女は私ほど自分のことを好きじゃない mean?

texts:
Consider the following

  彼女は私ほど自分のことを好きじゃない。

My attempt is as follows

A: She does not love herself as much as I love myself.
B: She does not love herself as much as she loves me.
C: She does not love herself as much as I love her.
D: She does not love me as much as I love myself.
E: She does not love me as much as I love her.

Which is the correct translation?


texts: Very confused about "には" in indicating relationships

texts:
I read a very detailed and useful answer explaining the difference between "に" and "には" but am still confused about a sentence I recently encountered.

私たちには息子が二人います。

I do not understand the function of には in this sentence. I get the general meaning -- that the speaker and their partner have two sons, but beyond that my brain is sort of melting. Please help. :c


texts: How is となりのトトロ supposed to be perceived in Japanese?

texts:
How is the title of the well-known cartoon となりのトトロ supposed to be perceived in Japanese?

What is the device behind the トトロ? Is it alliteration, word-play or something else?


texts: Can と indicante the object or the topict too as well as the を and は particles do?

texts:
I saw sometimes と indicating a topic. Like in the sentence: そんな既視感に戸惑いを感じていると、こちらを見つめる視線に気が付いた ( My attempt of tranlation is "I felt confused by that deja vu feeling by noticing the line of sight looking in this direction"). I think it have the 「そんな既視感に戸惑いを感じている」as the topic of the sentence, and then say that the person had that feeling of deja vu by noticing a line of sight. Is that it or did I got all wrong?
Anothe exemple sentence is: 僕らの存在こんなにも単純だと 笑いに来たんだ (beggining of the opening "UNINSTALL" of the anime ぼくらの).
My teatcher said it means "Came laughing of the fact that our existence is simple this way" (tried to make a more literal translation)
In this last case, it seems that the と have the same role as the particle に, indicanting the element of which someone is laughing.


texts: What is the difference between Verb+ときです and Verb+ときのことです?

texts:
Why is のこと used in the sentence below?

Or more specifically, what is the difference between V-ときです and V-ときのことです?

  むかし、むかし、桶屋で働く若者が桶にする竹を切っていた時のことです。


texts: What is the etymology of さて, and why are the kanji 偖・扠・扨 used for it?

texts: This is a relatively simple question: what is the etymology of さて, and why are the kanji 偖・扠・扨 used for it?


texts: Is it true it's not natural to name folders (maybe just labeling in general?) something generic and or abstract?

texts:
One of my native friends saw I had one of my folders named "私の物" and told me it sounded too weird. I also showed that my phone has a group of apps named like that and suggested I use something like その他 instead. Even only 物 alone bothered them and told me Japanese don't use abstract words. (For folders? I'm guessing labeling in general?)

I was told to be more specific but I told them I didn't have time yet or just plain don't want to organize them so I just put them under "stuff" indefinitely.

It's my own property so I want to name it what I want. I won't use it if it's incorrect but it is correct, right?.

Although my main concern that I don't want to change the unique way I think just because a native Japanese would never name it that. I do things that Japanese would never do or say like being too honest or direct about something (which my friend likes a lot).

TL;DR: Does labeling/naming something 私の物 sound awkward? I don't care if it sounds "not native" or I think the word I'm looking for is unusual.

But if it sounds like I'm just being an awkward foreigner and using awkward, clumsy words then I think I will change it in that case.


texts:
I was reading an article in the "Easy Japanese" app about Mother's day flowers and stumbled upon this sentence:

農家【のうか】の小河原一雄【こがわらかずお】さんは「お母【かあ】さんに『ありがとう』の気持【きも】ちを伝える【つたえる】お手伝い【おてつだい】ができたらいいなと思います【おもいます】」と言っています【いっています】。

I'm struggling to understand the meaning/nuance of the sentence, besides something along the lines of "Farmer Kogawarakazuo said, 'I think it's good if I helped to convey thankful feelings to mothers.'"

Could you please explain the meaning of the sentence, especially the "～できたらいいなと思います" part?


texts:
They all translate to the same thing: business, enterprise, etc. Most sentences I've found online seem to use them interchangeably (at least, as far as I can tell), and they are all very common words. An entry for any of the given words in a monolingual dictionary uses one of the other two in the definition, which is really annoying.

So what is the difference between 事業, 企業, and 会社?


texts: Negative present endings translated as past tense

texts:
I've seen certain translations where I feels like there's a shift in the tenses.

Ex: なぜ早く言わない!？ translated to "Why didn't you say so sooner!?"

In fact, I've experienced a lot of cases where a character says the word in it's negative present form in Japanese. For example, imagine a scene where a sibling fails to wake up the other for some big event. In this case, the other sibling would say "Why didn't you wake me up"(past) instead of "Why don't you wake me up"(nonpast). However, what I see instead in Japanese is 起きてくれない instead of 起きてくれなかった.

Any explanation on the system here would be appreciated.


texts:
In English we'd ask: ''What is your date of birth ?''
Is this the same in Japanese or is the use of ''What'' allowed ?

貴方の生年月日は何ですか
貴方の生年月日は何時ですか

Which of these are correct ?
Can both be used ?
Is there another way of asking this question ?


texts: Meaning of を in 博士たちは水際を歩いた。

texts:
By now, I know that motion verbs (行く, 来る, 歩く, 走る, etc...) can take the particle を to indicate something being traversed (going "through" something). There are already plenty of answers regarding this topic (this was the best I found so far).
With this in consideration, I translated

博士たちは水際を歩いた。

as

The group walked through the water's edge.

However, I've seen other people translating it as

The group walked by the water.

which actually sounds more accurate.
Is this correct? If so, how does this meaning of を relates with the idea of traversing something (like the examples provided in linked post)?


texts:
I encountered some sentences about 宝くじ, but am kind of confused.  The literal definition seems to be "lottery".  In the US at least you pretty much always buy a "lottery ticket", never heard someone say "I bought a lottery".  Consider the sentences:

  でも、まあ、宝くじなんてなかなか当るもんじゃ、ありませんですからねぇ。

and

  あれっ・・・？あの宝くじ、捨てちゃったんですか？あーあ、せっかく４等だったのに・・・

It sounds like the first one is specifically talking about the lottery system, and how by its nature few win.  The second is talking about a specific lottery ticket being thrown away.  Is the meaning of 宝くじ purely contextual?


texts: Does the tense of the final verb ALWAYS dictate the tense of an earlier て form verb?

texts:
So I was always taught in my textbooks that the last verb in a sentence dictates the whole tense of the sentence, e.g:

  神戸に行って、映画を見ました。
  I WENT to Kobe and WATCHED a movie.

However, I've started these examples and now I'm confused:

  テレビはAl Goreによって発明されて、今世界中で楽しまれています。
  The television WAS created by Al Gore and IS enjoyed all over the world.

  眠り猫は眠っている猫の彫刻で、左甚五郎が彫りました。
  The sleeping cat IS a carving of a cat asleep and Hidari Jingoro CREATED it.

Does this mean the tense of the first て form sometimes has to be inferred from the context?


texts: Some help with the following dialogue exchange

texts:
I'm attempting to translate the dialogue of a video game. I'm making good progress but there's a specific dialogue exchange I'm not sure about.

Some context beforehand (the section called ☆マクシームの城★) :

https://www49.atwiki.jp/aniwotawiki/pages/29947.html

Context related to the dialogue in question (I also included my own translations, so feel free to correct any mistakes):

  ジュスト： 「．．．こんな所にいたか。 リディーを渡せ！！」

Juste: "So this is where you were! Return Lydie to me!"

  死神：「案ずるな。あの娘は、マクシーム殿のところだ。」

Death: "Fear not. That maiden is now with lord Maxim."

  ジュスト： 「何故！？　お前にリディーは関係ないはずだ！！」

Juste: "Why!? Lydie has nothing to do with you!!"

  死神： 「あの娘は、この城を完成させるために必要な因子なのだ。」

Death: "Because that lady is an essential element for bringing this castle to perfection."

  ジュスト： 「それはどういう意味だ！？」

Juste: "What do you mean by that?!"

  死神： 「この城をかりそめの城として、我が主の復活に備えさせていただく。だが、２つの城を１つにしなければ、この城は完全とは言えぬ。つまり、お主の親友とやらの心に消えてもらう必要があるのだ。」

Death: "I have the pleasure of preparing this castle as a temporary castle for the resurrection of my Lord.  However, if the two castles are not reduced to one, it cannot  said to be perfect.  In other words, it's neccessary for the spirit of your dear friend, or whatever you call him, to be erased. "

  ジュスト： 「マクシームは強い男だ！そんな簡単に思い通りにはならない！！」

Juste: "Maxim is a strong man! It won't happen so easily as you think!!"

(Note: I'm really struggling with the bolded sentences)

  死神：「我が主から生まれし者だ．．．。その力を増強させる方法を知らぬわでは有るまい。しかも、愛しいものなら、その効果は測りしれぬ。」

"(Lord Maxim) is one who is born from my lord. It's not like he doesn't know a method of increasing his power. And yet, there's no telling what effect your loved one will have (on him)."

  「ジュスト： !?　ま、まさか．．．リディーの血を．．．。そこをどけ！！」

"!? N-no way... Lydie's blood... out of my way!!"

Video of the dialogue exchange (6:28 - 7:34)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVO2q0upiXM&t=435s


texts: Use of ～のか (～んですか) in questions not seeking a yes/no answer

texts:
I would like to know if there is a shift in nuance in questions such as these:

誰が参加したんですか。 vs. 誰が参加しましたか。
いつ着いたんですか。 vs. いつ着きましたか。

I wish to limit discussion to only non-yes/no questions (so questions asking Who? When? Where? Why? and so on). I have read a paper (PDF) which states that adding ～のか indicates that the asker's feelings of wanting to know the answer are stronger, and that it puts more of a burden of responding on the askee. Can anyone confirm or contradict this?


texts: How is「第3位を四捨五入」deconstructed to mean "round up to 2 decimal places"?

texts:
小数第２位未満に端数が生じた場合は、小数第３位を四捨五入する

I initially translated this sentence to:

If a fraction with less than 2 decimal places is generated, round off to 3 decimal places.

So: 2.1 ≈ 2.100
It felt somewhat off, so I sought for some sample translations for「四捨五入」.

JP: 。。。小数点第３位を四捨五入して。。。

EN: ...is rounded off to two decimal places...

So: 2.1 ≈ 2.10
What?!
Why is it translated this way? Does 「四捨五入」 make the decimal places less than the mentioned number or something else entirely? How do speakers reconcile this?


texts: Can someone tell me how to use this phrase and how I should translate it? Some examples would be helpful. Thanks!


texts: I've never heard someone say "ii yo".  Is "ii yo" acceptable? And "ii zo"? In particular, in casual masculine speech.


texts:
お通｛おつう｝ is grieving for 又八｛またはち｝(武蔵｛たけぞう｝ is his friend) who left for war a year ago:

  その又八｛またはち｝は、村の武蔵｛たけぞう｝といっしょに、去年の夏、戦へとびだしてから、その年が暮れても、沙汰がなかった。正月には――二月には――と便りの空だのみも、この頃は頼みに持てなくなった。もう今年の春も四月に入っているのだった。

宮本武蔵（1935年–1939年、朝日新聞連載、吉川英治）

What does 便りの空だのみ mean （空 pronounced as そら in audiobook)? Is it a fixed expression?

Reference: aozora.gr.jp/cards/001562/files/52396_49781.html


texts:
強い風だから全然聞けなかった

Translation:

  Because Of The Strong Wind (I:Implied) Could Not Hear At All.

Is This Right?


texts: Power words: what are they, and what meanings do they have?

texts:
Can someone explain the “power words” in Japanese? I remember learning that it was once thought that Japanese had reached a level of completeness beyond many other languages because of certain words with complex meaning that distinctively occurred in Japanese. What are these words, and what do they mean?
I also remember learning that this concept became less important after the mid 20th century. Do they still have relevance to modern Japanese life?


texts:
When I first learnt about counters I was taught that the number with its counter comes after the noun e.g.

鳥を二羽見た。
I saw two birds

Recently I've been seeing constructions like this:

二羽の鳥を見た。

Is there any difference between these two constructs and any reason I should choose one over the other?


texts: What does カラオケと遊ぶのが大好きです mean?

texts:
What does the following sentence mean?

  カラオケと遊ぶのが大好きです

I know that it has to do with karaoke but whether it is playing karaoke or karaoke and playing is the problem which I don't know.


texts:
My question is about the differences when using という in a question compared to without.

Take for example the 4 questions below

  何があったというのだ？
  何があったのだ？
  何かが始まるというの？
  何かが始まるの？

The two questions with という were said by characters to themselves and were said because they thought that something is/is about to happen due to their birthmarks shining. Does the usage of という have any relevance to the way the information has been obtained before they ask the question or is it purely for emphasis or some other usage?


texts: 「スカッと．．．」Why is the last kana here in hiragana?

texts:
I am attempting to read RAW manga for this first time, and I am encontering a varigated use of カタカナ and ひらがな in sentences that leaves me puzzled.
The whole sentence is: 「勉強しなくていいさし、悪者退治なんてスカッとしそうだし」。
From a quick Google search I believe the meaning of the bolded word is "refreshingly; w/ a sense of relief" (please correct me if I'm wrong). I am aware that it is commonplace for words to be inputted in カタカナ for emphasis, however I am unsure if the と here is intended to be included in the word (and is intentional/misprint), or is actually some grammar point I am unaware of.
Any answers would be appreciated!


texts: What does "っこしよ？” mean in a kyoto accent?

texts:
Just read in manga someone with a kyoto accent say

  "とりあいっこしよか？"

I'm wondering if this is just "取り合い" while the "っこしよか" is an accent thing? (if so what does it do?)
Or is it a different word entirely?


texts: When I look up the phrase 無駄足だった, I see it translated as "It was a Wild goose chase." I found this bizarre, since it seems like it would mean "It was a useless foot/leg." is this some sort of figure of speech that means the same or something similar to "wild goose chase" or am I missing something? Thanks for any help.


texts: What's the difference between 限界, 限り, 制限 and 限度

texts:
While 制限 seems rather straightforward, the others don't seem as easy to pinpoint to me.
What are the differences, and in which cases should I one over another?


texts:
湿らす and 潤す.
Both of them have the same meaning? what's the difference between them?

Thanks,
Or


texts:
I am having discussions with my Japanese friend about developing a new computer application. I want to suggest to him to not write the code from scratch but to use other libraries as our base. How can I say that?

There are a lot of words about starting. Which is the best suit for my context?

For example:

  元から,
  初めから,
  最初から,
  端から.


texts: what is the difference between 合う and 正しい？

texts:
I know that both can mean "correct". I frequently hear things like "合ってる？" to mean :"is it right?" I don't know much about the use of 正しい, but I know that it's also a common word for "correct".

What would be the difference between the two? Is there a preference for one over the other in certain situations and formality levels?


texts:
落雷:雷が落ちること。地表物を一つの電極とした雷雲からの放電現象。[季]夏。

I can't understand the meaning of the bold part.
I looked up 地表物 but could find nothing.


texts: Forms of address for multiple older brothers

texts:
In Japanese, I know you refer to your older sister as お姉さん and older brother as お兄さん. Something along those lines!
But I have 2 older brothers, and I want to change their contact names to Japanese, like "Joshua" to "お兄さん".
Both my brothers are similar in age, so to avoid confusion what would I change both of their contact names to? If I were to change them both to お兄さん, it would be hard for me to distinguish them. So what should I put?


texts:
[超]{スーパー}サイヤ[人]{じん}になったオレとそっくりだ...

According to dictionaries, "そっくり" can mean "exactly". So could this mean, "You are exactly [as powerful] as I am as a Super Saiyan"?


texts: What does the kana 「し」 do in this phrase?

texts:
It comes from the video game title.

  過{す｝ぎ去｛さ｝りし時｛とき｝を求｛もと｝めて

I looked up in online dictionary thinking that it should be a conjugated form of the verb 去る but it is not.


texts:
I heard this term なびっくる live on http://www.fm-totsuka.com/
I checked http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/ and http://ejje.weblio.jp/ but could not find any entry for なびっくる, https://translate.google.com/#ja/en/%E3%81%AA%E3%81%B3%E3%81%A3%E3%81%8F%E3%82%8B has it as "surprised". Is なびっくる a variant of びっくり?


texts:
I was about to ask a question but I can't without first confirming,

Is this sentence:

彼は映画スターであり、政治家もだ。

grammatically correct, and mean:

He is a movie star and also a politician.

==Follow-up question here: Why does replacing だ to である changes the meaning of a the sentence?


texts:
I'm going through ekubo basic japanese lessons and there's a recurring use of the word こと I don't understand, like in this sentence:

  そとで、ものをうっていることが多いです

Translated in the video as

  People usually sell something outside

My intuition would be that it is used to turn うっている into a noun (something like selling-activity)...


texts:
Is the following sentence O.K.?

そのようなブラシ付モーターが、
高い回転数領域では、確かに、優れた出力性能は発揮しますが、
惜しい事に、定常作動に於いては、結局、十分な静的性能は発揮しないという結果となります。

I am using for times "は" as contrast marker to indicate two contrasts.

Contrast: 高い回転数領域では versus 定常作動に於いては

Contrast: 優れた出力性能は発揮します versus 十分な静的性能は発揮しない

Is such a sentence construction possible?
Greetings,
Kenny


texts: Ikemen means something like cool man, is there something similar for women?


texts:
The following is an excerpt from a dialogue between my language partner and me:
YouTube で馬肉とニンニク料理のレポートを観ましたよ。馬肉と言えば、九州、特に熊本県だと思っていましたが、調べてみると、青森県も馬肉生産量で３位に入っていました。

The sentence in question:
馬肉と言えば、九州、特に熊本県だと思っていましたが、調べてみると、青森県も馬肉生産量で３位に入っていました。

My attempt at translation:
"Speaking of horsemeat, even though I think that it is kyushu and especially Kumamoto, when you (try to) check it up, Aomori also has entered the 3rd rank in the production of horsemeat."

While the "try out" semantics of て-form +　見る can be applied without a problem here, I don't see what it adds to the sentence. Therefore it feels a little redundant, that's why I wanted to ask wether there is more to it than what the standard translation for this pattern reveals.


texts: “Left hemisphere (wing) overview” — 「 左ウィング・上x 」

texts: In the video game by Sega named Alien: Isolation, a certain room is named “Left Hemisphere Overview,” and the corresponding Japanese text is 「 左ウィング・上x 」. The x symbol represents a kanji that I am having trouble identifying. Can someone please provide the missing kanji? Here is the image:


texts: 「上一段・下一段」活用動詞 - why are these groups separate?

texts: My understanding is that the Japanese equivalent of "-iru/eru" verbs or "group 2 verbs" are the groups 上一段活用動詞｛かみいちだんかつようどうし｝ and 下一段活用動詞｛しもいちだんかつようどうし｝, where 上一段活用動詞 represents the -iru verbs and 下一段活用動詞 represents the -eru verbs. However, since the conjugations are identical, why is this distinction made? This video seems to make a distinction between them implying that the differences are as important as the difference between group 1 and group 3 verbs, but of course this is not the case. It appears that other grammar resources in Japanese also make an effort to distinguish 上一段 and 下一段 verbs as well. Why?


texts:
From this manga panel:

I am trying to understand「せんで」.

My guess is it's negated する.  In Kansai-ben, I've read that しない＝せん, but why is で added (instead of て like しなくて)?   Is this how to て-form other  ん　ending verbs such as せえへん?


texts: Are the directions NE, NW, SE and SW ever read the Chinese way?

texts:
In Chinese the order is reversed such that:

NE 东北

NW 西北

SE 东南

SW 西南

My textbook says the Japanese order is the same as English which surprised me.

Was it or is it ever said using the Chinese order?


texts:
Reference: This article ("セブ市は引き続きＥＣＱか。首都圏が再びＭＥＣＱになる可能性も") is written by 岡田薫さん from マニラ新聞:

ドゥケ保健相は８日朝、セブ市について、現在の防疫区分が切れる16日以降も防疫強化地域（ＥＣＱ）に留めるとの意向を明らかにした。一方、アニョ内務自治相は８日、首都圏が修正防疫強化措置（ＭＥＣＱ）に逆戻りする可能性にも触れた。

What part of the sentence does 現在の防疫区分が切れる modify? Is it 16日 or is it 16日以降?

　８日付セブ・デイリーニュース（電子版）によると、ドゥケ保健相はドゥテルテ大統領も出席した新型感染症省庁間タスクフォース（ＩＡＴＦ）の会議で、セブ市の現状について発言。「コロナ患者の増加で、病院機能がひっ迫している」と指摘した上で「住民の公衆上のリスクも高いことから、引き続き防疫強化地域（ＥＣＱ）に留める」と述べた。
　保健省の中部ビサヤ地域本部は、同地域の新型コロナウイルス新規感染者数は８日午後５時現在で３１０人（７日は３５０人）と、連日３００人超えだったことを発表。うち、セブ市の新規感染者は63人（７日は１４６人）で、新たに死亡したのは７人（同３人）。セブ州では２人が死亡している。
　同地域の感染者数（累計）は１万１１５５人となり、セブ市が７０７８人と全体の６割以上を占める。マンダウエ市は１１４７人、ラプラプ市は１０６４人、３市を除いたセブ州は１７６３人。同地域の死者は４１９人で、回復者は３７８１人だった。
　ドゥテルテ大統領から６月後半にビサヤ地域のコロナ対策責任者に任命されたシマツ環境相は７日、「私は事態を楽観的に見ている。16日からセブ市は一般防疫地域（ＧＣＱ）になると自信を持っている」と発言していた。

I find the sentences containing the first instance of 発言 unusual because there's no copula or verb at the end of the sentence (in contrast to the second 発言). Is this common even in online news articles where there is not much incentive to save space?


texts: What's the difference between から and からには

texts: It's in the title. からには is translated as 'now that, because' and から as 'because, from'. What's the difference?


texts: Meaning of 「以上」 when someone finishes his/her speech and says 「以上」

texts: What is the meaning of 「以{い}上{じょう}」 when someone finishes his/her speech and says 「以上」? For example - the lawyer at the court after his speech says 「以上」and stops speaking then.


texts:
I have learned from my previous studies that it is みんで.

However, Google translate seems to give me the answer みて.

Which is correct?


texts:
I can't make sense of the phrase:

  恥を言うようですが、～

From the situation I infer it's the same as 言うのは恥ずかしいですが~, but I'm not certain.

How can a person "say shame" or "tell shame" (恥を言う)?
Why is よう attached here?
Is it a single set phrase, or do other phrases follow the same pattern?


texts:
I am currently slightly confused about the exact usage of the word "watashi". I know that the word means I, but it's usage seems unclear to me. Some sources say that it is simply for polite use, while other sources state that it is only for feminine use.

Can someone clarify this pronouns usage for me?


texts:
暖簾に腕押し
noren ni udeoshi
not worth doing
waste of effort

才色兼備
saishokukenbi
being gifted with both intelligence and beauty

白昼堂々
hakuchūdōdō
openly (unashamedly) in broad daylight

虎視眈々
koshitantan
vigilantly with an opportunity to prey upon
with an eagle eye

Is there a site or list or something where one can find expressions like these?

Also roughly how many are of these kind of expressions?


texts: In Akutagawa's writing, would 誰 have been pronounced たれ or だれ?

texts:
I found this dramatic reading of Akutagawa Ryunosuke's 羅生門, in which the performer reads 誰 consistently as たれ.

Is this correct for the time period? I know that 誰 has old readings resembling た/たれ such as 誰がために鐘はなる, but when did readings beginning in t- cease to become current?


texts: Does the 未然形 of i-adjectives show up in today's Japanese?

texts:
It appears the [未然形]{mizenkei} of verbs comes up a lot in modern Japanese conjugations:

Negation is formed as 未然形 + ない.
The presumptive is a contraction of 未然形 + (よ)う.
The causative/passive forms, 未然形 + (さ)せる and (ら)れる.

In textbooks, i-adjectives also have a 未然形, such as 高い → 高かろ. But it appears to be very rare:

Negation uses 連用形 + ない instead.
The 高かろう presumptive is sorta 口語, but old-fashioned and not used in daily life.(Indeed, I only ever hear 高いだろう.)

Is this 高かろ form used for anything else, or is it somewhat an artifact of the past?

  Bonus musings: would it be fair to say that 「高かろ is the 未然形 of 高い」 is an over-analysis based on 高かろう alone? Because I believe 高かろう is formed as a contracted 高から + arou, and I believe there is a sense in which you can consider 高から the true 未然形 of 高い. Maybe there are no hard answers here, and 未然形 of i-adjectives is a nebulous concept anyway.


texts: How can you express to the creator that you enjoyed a book/performance/album?

texts:
Say I'm writing a message (on twitter) to an author of a book you read, or a message to an artist about live you went to or album you listened to.

I want to talk/ask about something else, but I want to start of with that I enjoyed the work.

The English equivalent would be "I thought it was very interesting/I enjoyed it very much/It was a wonderful performance/etc"

I looked up "to enjoy" in an English-Japanese dic and all I got was 楽しむ and it doesn't seem quite right in this situation.
楽しみにしています　I know exists but is "I'm looking forward to it".

How can you say you enjoyed the book/performance/album? Any variants or example more specific statements would be welcome!


texts: Translation of the "Immortal Words" from the "Stormlight Archive"

texts:
I want to join two passions of mine in a single tattoo I want to get to commemorate something important to me.

One of these is the love for the Digimon series I had since I was very little and still endures, the other is the work of Brandon Sanderson, specifically the "Stormlight Archive" series.

In the Digimon series, there is this "Digicode", a sort of third syllabary for Japanese, there is a link to it if you want to see it: https://digimon.fandom.com/wiki/DigiCode

In the Stormlight Archive, there is an order of knights, and they all swear the same oath:

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before destination.

My idea is to write the oath using the Digicode syllabary. My knowledge of Japanese is cursory at most, just know a few words from watching anime or playing videogames. I tried to transliterate it, like "Journey -> Yo-ni (ヨニ)", but I feel like I'm murdering the language and I don't want to have something half-baked burned into my skin forever.

I got this:

Life - ra-i-fu ライフ
before - bi-fo ビフオ
death - de-zu デヅ
Strength - su-to-re-n-zu ストレンズ or tsu-re-n-zu ツレンズ
Weakness - u-i-ku-ne-zu ウイクネズ
Journey - Yo-ni ヨニ
Destination - de-su-ti-ne-sho-n デスティネション

Wich, if correct, would become:

ライフ ビフア デヅ
ストレンズ ビフア ウイクネズ
ヨニ ビフア デスティネション

As I said, I have almost no idea of Japanese. I did this with the help of a friend and just a katakana table at my side, trying to match pronunciations. It might be, and I expect it to be, pretty wrong, but it's what I got.

As for translation, here is the conjoined effort from my friend and I, with the help of the google translator (which as far as I know is super unreliable).

Shi no mae no jinsei.
Yowa-sa no mae no tsuyo-sa.
Mokutekichi made no tabi.

We were not sure if "tsuyo-sa" is the correct word for it. Chikara is the one I know of, but just because I heard it in anime doesn't mean it's the right word. My friend thought "chikara" was more suited to spiritual strength or ki, and tsuyo-sa is a more "generic" term, but it is more of a gut feeling than anything tangible. The other words check up against a dictionary, as far as I know, but any nuances the language might have are lost to me.

The grammar is surely sketchy too.

Since some context might be useful to decide between different synonyms, I'm gonna quote a section of the book where one character explains, in-world, the meaning of the oath, in case it helps:

  Life before death - The Radiant seeks to defend life, always. He never kills unnecessarily, and never risks his own life for frivolous reasons. Living is harder than dying. The Radiant's duty is to live.
  Strength before weakness - All men are weak at some time in their lives. The Radiant protects those who are weak, and uses his strength for others. Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.
  Journey before destination - There are always several ways to achieve a goal. Failure is preferable to winning through unjust means. Protecting ten innocents is not worth killing one. In the end, all men die. How you lived will be far more important to the Almighty than what you accomplished.

What I'd like is two things:

A transliteration of the oath into a syllabary I can use (I think Katakana is the more appropriate one?)
A translation of the Oath in Japanese, but keep it in a syllabary so I can later "translate" it to Digicode. This might require explaining to me what's what, so I know what am I putting on my skin.

For both, I'd like to have the romaji too, if possible, so I can search the Digicode table with a little more ease. With these, I would have at least a couple of options and see which one looks better.

As an extra, if somehow any of you knows the official translation in Japanese, used in the books, that might help! But this is by no means necessary.

Thank you very much!

P.S.: I know there is a Digicode script for roman letters, but I have discarded it because it ends ups being too long and I don't particularly like the looks of it.


texts: Listing the activities I did on each day of the week

texts:
I need to list the activities i've done for each day of the week. But after I talk about the first day, do i start the sentance again with ”わたしは” or is there a different way to do it?
This is how I would word is: わたしは　げつようびは　べんきょうしません。わたしは　かようびは　べんきょうしました。
But am I able to use something else instead of watashiwa over and　over　again？


texts:
It is a dialogue said by a boy who watched and criticized a theater play.　I also translated it myself for checking if I correctly understand the context.

わるいけどお先にしっけいするぜ。 --> It is not good but I have to say goodbye.

こんな茶番劇見てるなら　-->  If I have to watch this foolish play...

反省房へとじこもってへそのごみでもとってたほうがよっぽどましだよ --> I think secluding myself in repentance room and doing/taking..... would be much better.

I'm not sure if it means doing/taking unimportant thing.


texts:
I have a question about その手 part in this text. As far as I can guess 真琴 is talking about her own hand, but in this case shouldn't it be with この, "my hand". The only thought I have is that 真琴's hand, after becoming a doll like, already doesn't belong to "humans domain", but to the "dolls domain". In other words it belongs to someone she's talking with, who gave her this power or somethng.  In any case if my guess is incorrect, I would eally appreciate if you give me correct explanation.

  暗い部屋の中、ひとりメールを打ち続ける。

  光奈へのメールを打ち続ける。携帯の画面に、涙が滴る。

  真琴：「……やだよ……もう、こんなの…」

  膝を抱え、顔を埋める。クスクスと耳の奥で笑い声がする。

  真琴：「誰……？」

  ???:「わたしは、あなた…だいじょうぶ、わたしを受け入れて…」

  すうっと頭の中の淀みが消えていく。

  真琴：「なに、これ…？」

  その手は、人形の球体関節に変わっている。

  ???：「だいじょうぶ、これはあなたと彼女の絆…」

  真琴：「光奈とあたしの…」

  ???:「あなたに、力をあげる。あの子を護れる力を…」

  真琴：「光奈を護れる、力…」

  人形となった自分の手を握り締める。

  真琴：「へえ、だったら、うれしいな…」

  光奈を護れる。あたしの力で、光奈を護れる。あのひとでもない。あの子たちでもない。あたしの力で、光奈を護れる。

光奈：「うう、さむ・・・・・・！」
光奈？　光奈？　光奈？　こっちを見て。
光奈：「あれ、真琴、リカとカナは？」
やった。通じた・・・・・

・


texts: Is it possible to the negative form of a verb + "n-janai" together to form a tag question?

texts:
For instance:

ikenai → ikenai njanai?
tabetakunai  → tabetakunai njanai?
tabetakute tamaranai → tabetakute tamaranai njanai?

Note that I'm using njanai, not just janai to create a tag question.
Is this a) used? b) often? c) grammatically correct?


texts: Which readings would you use to pronounce people's names?

texts:
I'm confused whether it is normally appropriate to use On-readings or Kun-readings when dealing with people's names; I'm fine when its just two character names; I just make a logical deduction in my head to how to say their name; but when I try to pronounce names with 3 kanji together, I'm completely lost.

I'll bring in examples at a later time, this computer can't easily type kanji.


texts: Intuitive or logical way to know when to use a kanji spelling vs hiragana spelling?

texts:
A recurring theme on this site is that foreign learners of Japanese use too much kanji. Often the reaction is puzzlement that we can't "just know the right way". Native speakers literally say they don't understand why we use too much kanji:

  ... Why you always write things in kanji, I never understand.

Since native speakers can't understand why we do it, there must be some intuitive or logical way to know.

Is it as simple as "If the word uses any non-Joyo kanji then hiragana is probably best"?

Or is it that if we can tell it's ateji then hiragana is to be preferred these days?

Or are these just two of several factors involved in deciding?

For example, the last word this came up with for me was "まめ" meaning "blister", which has the following kanji spelling which I don't think uses non-Joyo characters but I think probably is ateji: 肉刺


texts: Is 何と read as なにと or なんと in 何と言いましたか?

texts:
彼は何と言いましたか.

What is the reading of 何と in 何と言いましたか. Is it (なに or なん) + と?


texts: Why is `お一人様の際は、こちらのテーブルをお使いいただけます` wrong?

texts:
In 新完全{しんかんぜん}マスター文法{ぶんぽう}N2 there is an exercise to choose the correct phrase to make the full sentence correct.

  (...)際{さい}は、こちらのテーブルをお使{つか}いいただけます。
  a) お食事{しょくじ}の
  b) ご飯{はん}を食{た}べる
  c) お一人様{ひとりさま}の

I understand why a) is a correct answer and why b) is incorrect.
There was even a question about it before, link.

I don't understand why c) is incorrect.

My guess is that お一人様の is incorrect because it does not stand for an action like 搭乗{とうじょう} or 外出{がいしゅつ} stands.
In case I would want to use お一人様の anyway in the sentence, I guess I would have to rephrase it to be like this:

  お一人様なら、こちらのテーブルをお使いいただけます。


texts: Both of them mean "wall", then what's the difference?


texts: Why is 燃える + ゴミ = burnable? But the verb is not in ta-form

texts:
I saw this in the book.

  管理人{かんりにん}: 燃{も}える ごみは 月{げつ}・水{すい}・金{きん}の 朝{あさ} 出{だ}して ください。

I remember that If we want to use a verb as an adjective, we need to change a verb into the Ta-form, but this one is the verb in  a dictionary form. Why is that?


texts: What is the most common greeting phrase, used by service attendants, when a customer pulls into a gas station for fuel?

texts: Attendants yell out a greeting when customers get gasoline for their cars. Please provide me with some phrases and meanings.


texts: ガードがばがばになっから meaning

texts:
I'm having trouble making sense of this sentence. From what I've looked up, I think it's probably either "meme" talk, a dialect joke, or some combination of the two. Here's the full sentence:

バカがガードがばがばになっからなマジで。

This is from a manga. Two highschool girls are talking, and one of them bought a love potion from the internet. Her friend is doubtful of its effectiveness, but she says "no, no, it seriously works", mentioning that she'd even tested it on girls. She describes its effectiveness as バカ効き a few times throughout the manga so far because it ends up having unexpectedly erotic results.

If I'm breaking the sentence apart correctly, she's describing マジで; in other words, she's talking about how マジ the effectiveness of the love potion is. If that's correct, the description is バカがガードがばがばになっから.

がばがば could mean "oversized", "gag", or "baggy (like clothing)" according to Google. I assume ガード is just "guard", like the kind a person might let down if under the effects of a love potion, though that doesn't seem to make sense here. For なっから I found a meaning on fukapedia that says it's 深谷地方の方言 and is equivalent to とても or たいへん... but that again doesn't seem to fit properly.

I'd really appreciate any help with the word definitions themselves, or a hint as to how I might be breaking it down improperly. Thanks in advance.


texts:
I was talking with a Japanese girl by message and she asked me how to read my name, which is Andrea (Spanish female name). I told her it's アンドレア but that some friends call me あんちゃん because it's shorter.

Her answer was: あんちゃんおん

I didn't understand the meaning of this おん and after searching in dictionaries and so on I have no clue of how to interpret this as something you would add to a name.

Thank you in advance.


texts: What is the difference between よくない yokunai and だめ (dame)

texts:
よくない (yokunai) is defined as not good
だめ (dame) is also defined as not good

Please could you explain the difference by explicitly making reference to the following examples:

Example 1a

dokomo yokunai desu
none of the places are good

Example 1b

kazoku wa saikin amari un ga yokunai.
Our family is not having much luck lately!

Example 2

It was a no good hotel.
Dame na hoteru deshita.

I know that 悪い (warui) also means "not good", but it has the added meaning of bad, sinful, and so is a stronger form.

Please keep your explanation relatively simple as I am a beginner. Please could you make reference to the above examples.

Please also explain a general rule for knowing when to use one over the other.


texts: What's the correct way to write eggplant?

texts: Why is eggplant in japanese written as 茄子 (nasubi) and not just 茄 (nasu)?


texts: The correct word to say "somehow" in different situations?

texts:
I would like to know the correct (colloquial) word for "somehow".

For example, I want to say

  "I've been feeling out of it somehow lately".

Which will be something like

"最近(なんだか？)ぼーっとしてる"

Or I want to say,

  "I saw you reacted (to this) somehow".

which would be something like

"なんだか反応したと思った"


texts:
I'd like to know what ～じゃてえ exactly means when located at the end of verbs and/or adjectives. Do young people use it rhetorically?

The whole sentence is:

  なのにのう ズイブンじゃてえ


texts: Can someone please help me translate this kanji? I saw it on a tattoo and would like to know what it means. Thank you so very much in advance!


texts: Grammatical meaning of に-particle in へいわに

texts:
I'm aware that the に-particle has a lot of different grammatical meanings. The most common of these are time, place and indirect object.

But I came across the following sentence and I can't really make up what the grammatical meaning of the particle is here.

"人間は　平和に　暮らしている。" --"The people live in peace."

Could someone help me out with this?


texts: Meaning of ジョンさんはきのう五時間しか寝ませんでした 。

texts:
So I saw this one in one my books and was wondering how it gets translated into
John slept five hours yesterday.

  ジョンさんはきのう五時間しか寝ませんでした.

Any kind of explanation is appreciated, my book maybe covers it? But I can't seem to find an answer.


texts:
彼女は歌うだけでは飽きたらず、涙まで流していた。
彼の弁明では飽き足りない

Is this で the same as the で used in "これでいい"? As in the continuative で?
I feel as though it could be replaced with "が" in the first example and just left as "は" in the second example. What is the specific function of this で?


texts: Nuanced meaning of 実際、いまこうやって目の前にするまでは

texts:
例年ありますからね。『まあ、もらえるんだろうな』とは思ってましたけど、実際、いまこうやって目の前にするまでは、この権利証があるのかどうか、よくわからなかったですし。

In the context the speaker is recieving a contract (let's say a job contract). In this particular scene he is sitting on a chair with the contract laying in front of him on a table, he is acting very cocky because he won a similar contract years ago but was cheated out the job, so he is trying to remind that to the company.

  実際、いまこうやって目の前にするまでは

Is this sentence implying that the speaker wasn't expecting to see the contract laying in front of him, or is it implying that he was expecting it and it was the only way to know he'd be getting the contract.
Also, I'm not sure whether いま is connected to こうやって or to まで.


texts:
This is from 茨海{ばらうみ}小学校 by 宮沢賢治, probably written almost 100 years ago.

  「どうぞスリッパをお召しなすって。只今{ただいま}校長に申しますから。」

My question is about お召しなすって. I think 召す is 尊敬語 meaning "to wear" in this case. I know there are some patterns like お～になる and お～する. Is なする a corruption of なさる?


texts: Help understanding sentence that uses 辞めてった grammar

texts:
I'm going through a dialog in a game and I came across some grammar I don't think I understand in the following sentence:
お前のこと好きになって辞めてった女子も
けっこう　いるって話じゃねーか！

What is the grammar behind 辞めてった? I know this means something about quitting/leaving, but I have no idea how this was formed or what it actually implies.
My best guess translation, which I'm pretty sure is wrong, is something like
The girls that like you, who something about having quit/left
You could say that was great, couldn't you?

More context:
This sentence is said by Male A directed at Male B. Before speaking with Male B he was surrounded by a group of girls, who are totally falling head over heals for him. He tells the girls to go home and they immediately leave. Male B makes the comment that they like him instantly and that they are hard to get away from. Male A, just before saying the above, also implies that Male B more or less is cursing (呪い) the girls and that's why they act the way they do. This is all taking place in a university


texts: Help me identify this kanji on my knife box

texts:
For context, it's a nakiri made by artist 藤原兼房. The blade is a 50/50 grind, so it's not left or right handed.

I can read every character except the third one down on the left.

Reading from the right:

  日本鋼鍛錬　高級◯料理庖丁
  にほんこうたんれん　こうきゅう◯りょうりほうちょう
  Japanese forged steel high quality ?? kitchen knife.

The best I could figure was it was 乃 or 右 but drawn weird. All the others look ok although the 高 looks like it's drawn in the old style.  So maybe it's an archaic character.


texts: What term can I use to address my neighbor, if I don't know their name?

texts: I was thinking of りんじんさん or となりさん。Thank you. I did research the term on jisho.org


texts: I was wondering how to say I think so in Japanese, do you have to say 'watashi wa kore ga omoimasu' or a different thing?


texts: What is so うまそう about the flower name スノードロップ?

texts:
I've seen people saying that this flower has an うまそう name. Why is that? Does it sound similar to some candy or what?

Examples include https://twitter.com/hanabot_aph/status/699851458590543872
or 24th episode of 怪盗セイントテール, where Asuka can't remember what the flower is called and all he knows is that it has a tasty sounding name.


texts:
君が買うんじゃない?

Aren't you the one going to buy?

  君が買うんじゃなかった?

Weren't you the one going to buy?

  君が買ったんじゃない?

Isn't it that You are the one that bought it?

  君が買ったんじゃなかった?

wasn't it that you are the one that bought it?

Seriously what are the differences? I've been struggling for weeks. Can someone explain using real life situations on when to use them (all 4) with details?


texts: Difference of 「なんとかなる」 vs. 「だいじょうぶ」

texts:
are 「なんとかなる」 and 「だいじょうぶ」the same?

  大丈夫か？
  なんとかなるか？

  大丈夫よ。
  何とかなるよ。

  大丈夫さ。
  なんとかなるさ。

  だいじょうぶだった。
  なんとかなった。

  大丈夫じゃない/だいじょうぶじゃなかった。
  なんとかならない/なんとかならなかった。

...

thanks
sorry if someone already asked it, but i couldn't find.
よろしく


texts:
The sentence is 「なにこれ可愛い！」って言われちゃえ. I get the なにこれ可愛い part, but I'm not sure what 言われちゃえ means. It seems to be in the passive/imperative form?

For context, here's where I found the sentence:

https://matome.naver.jp/odai/2135017506780585501


texts: Are でしかない and にすぎない synonymous? Or is there some connotation?

texts:
For example:

  事故にあって、あなたが無事なら、心配いらない。車は車でしかないよ。

can be swapped for

  事故にあって、あなたが無事なら、心配いらない。車は車にすぎない。

without changing the meaning


texts: Why does 微妙 become "sucky" in slang usage?

texts:
Technically the word 微妙 means

as per WWWJDIC:
(adj-na,n) (1) delicate; subtle; sensitive; (2) difficult; delicate (situation); complicated; (3) doubtful; questionable; dicey;

However, last time I stayed in Tokyo ( about a year ago) most of my Japanese friends (about 25-30 years old) were using 微妙 to mean "kinda sucky" or "boring in an annoying way".
I believe I remember a sentence like this:

海はどうだった？
まあちょっと微妙。
How was the beach? Eh... it kinda sucked.

I also heard it used as an adverb with this meaning but I can't remember an example. When I asked my friends about it, they said they don't really use that word for positive things, though none of the numerous examples I saw on ALC had this slangy type of meaning. I guess the meaning of subtle mixed with dicey and then became "so either-or that it just sucks"? If anyone can explain the subtleties of this slang usage, I've been wondering for a while.


texts:
For full context, see here:
https://www.docdroid.net/hK45eJm/img-20170916-0001-new.pdf

The sentence in question was taken from line 6-7:
現金収入が少ないため、費用をかけずに行わなければならないからである。

First, my attempt at translation:
"Because the income was low, they didn't pay the costs while it was performed."

I just don't know how to translate a sentence which has two parts giving a cause. It seems like there are only causes, but no consequences xD

Second, 費用をかけずに. The only interpretation for かける which seemed to make sense in this context was number 3 on jisho: "3. to take (time, money); to expend (money, time, etc.)"
http://jisho.org/search/kakeru
But I feel rather insecure about it, so I wanted to ask you for confirmation.


texts: Why past form of a verb is used instead of passive past?

texts:
Sending an email with GMail app on Android in the Airplane mode produces the following message:

  キューに追加しました "(the app) added (the message) to the queue"

Switching to English interface yields:

  Queued (short for "The message has been queued" - I believe this is how most English speakers would interpret "queued").

The question is why the Japanese version is not passive past? Is it possible that 追加する an intransitive verb, and from what I observed, most Japanese intransitive verbs are best translated as English passive voice.


texts: 「いくらか」と「若干」の使い分けを教えていただけないでしょうか。

texts: 「いくらか」と「若干」の違いは何ですか。ただ「いくらか」は話し言葉で「若干」は書き言葉ですか。正しいですか。もし、正しかったら、他の違いがありますか。


texts: Qualifying Nouns With verbs and adjectives in japanese

texts:
If possible could someone explain this to me? I have the Genki I book that explains it pretty well but I guess I'm still having difficulty grasping it. I'll leave a example sentence in case my question is unclear.

Ex.

  あそこ で ほん を よんでいる がくせい は みちこさん です

I get that あそこ で ほん を よんでいる is qualifying がくせい but what is that part of the sentence and when would I use it?

I think what may be confusing me is the different sentence structure then what I've been use to seeing thus far in what I've studied although I know Japanese sentence structure does tend to be a little more "loose" than English.

Apologies for the unclear question yet again. It seems I'm terrible at asking questions


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I would like to know what (なんだけど / なんですが) means? I think these two forms are the same, but when I asked in class their meaning, I was told that they mean nothing, so I'm kinda confused.

For example, in this short sentence: そのことなんだけど, what is the function of (何 + だ + けど [softener])? It appears in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7xM_NVn5Vc  minute 3:32

Besides of its function, are there any grammar patterns or any particular cases in which なんだけど should be used?

Thank you so much in advance for your help and your explanations!


texts: Is it possible to algorithmically convert Japanese text to Romaji?

texts: I am a programmer and I recently wrote two browser extensions, one will translate English text to  "pronunciation" replacing all words founf on a web page, and another will replace all Chinese characters with their Pinyin-with-tone-marks counterparts. Now I am thinking if something similar is possible to Japanese? If yes, what would be the approach? Anything can be done algoritmically or you can only use dictionary? Or even dictionary is not keeping in mind that the same characters can sound differently based on context? In other words can you do this conversion without actually attempting to do a machine semantic translation?


texts: 納骨堂は８年前に使われたきりだって - What does きり mean in that sentence?

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Context:
https://streamable.com/dw69vn
A: とにかく 扉を開けたとたんに死体が倒れてきたということは鍵を掛けられた時点では生きていたということだ。閉じ込められ助けを求めたまま力尽きた。
B: 納骨堂は８年前に使われたきりだって
Thanks for the answer!


texts: Is using the particle は twice here natural?

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I've come across the sentence

  父は休みの日はずっとテレビを見ている。(My father spends his days off watching television all the time.)

where it doubles in using the は particle. From another post, it seems that this would be a valid sentence if one of the particles marks the topic, while the other marks a constrast. Yet in this case, it seems that both particles mark the topic as I don't believe there is anything obvious to contrast. Would I happen to be missing something here?


texts: How to say "one" as in "anybody in general."

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In English, it is not uncommon to come across a sentence such as "One's outlook on life depends on one's personal experience." In this case, "one" is referring to people in general. So the above sentence could just as easily be written as "A person's outlook on life depends on that person's experience."

My question is, how close of an approximation to the above use of the word "one" is the word「人」such as in「人の人生観は（その人の？）個人的な経験によって違う」? Are there cases where the word「人」is better replaced by some other word (or nothing at all)?


texts: How to say "I'm going to spank you if..."?

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I am just doing some homework and I can't make the sentence I want.

Concretely, I want to write

  "If you start smoking again, I'm going to give you a good spanking."

If I say this in England or other parts in Europe (in a different language) the person I am telling this will laugh (or at least smile). Because of course I am not actually going to beat them up even if they start smoking again.

How can I say this in Japanese?


texts: Use of が in プラス５０円でキャラメルラテかカフェラテがお選び頂けますが。

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I've found this sentence in a lesson about ordering food:

プラス５０円でキャラメルラテかカフェラテがお選び頂けますが。

A Starbucks employee says this to a customer. The meaning should be "If you pay 50 extra yen, you can get Caramel Latte or Cafe Latte".

Why is there が　after　カフェラテ ? I would expect を since　カフェラテ is the object of the verb 選ぶ.

I wonder if 頂けます being in potential form plays a role here. I know potential verbs use が　to mark what corresponds to the object in the dictionary form.
Thanks.


texts: i-AdjectiveのNoun possible in special cases?

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This might be a simple "no its just wrong" question but it just bugs me the last few days:

Is it possible to use an i-adj with の and a Noun if I use the の in a placeholder construct like

Q:どっちのほうがいいです?

A: 新しいの

Using this の but adding a noun after that like "背が高いの方" meaning the "Person that is large".


texts: How to respond when someone praises about my Japanese?

texts: While talking with some Japanese people in an online form, someone said 日本語上手ですね！ to me. I just replied そうですか, but what would be an appropriate way to reply keeping it as less informal as possible. Another important thing is that I believe the OP was being polite to me knowing that I am not a native instead of actually talking about my Japanese as I can speak about it for myself. So, I would like to know of any response more in the lines of I'm humbled or I don't deserve kind.


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I am currently learning ~たことにする but I am not so sure how to translate it.

The example sentence is:

  私が日本にいる間に、家族がドイツへ旅行に行ったなんて、きかなかったことにしたいなあ。


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I've seen this word a couple of times and am currently stuck on how to use it..

I know "いう" means "say" but I don't understand the の particle attached to it. Could someone provide a couple of examples of how to use this? The only example I could find online was

"それ は えいご では なんと いうの ですか." which I assume "なんというの" translates to "how do you say"


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Searching for 方｛ほう｝が良｛よ｝い in the dictionary, the answer is:

  (after past tense verb) had better (verb)
  (after negative verb) had better not (verb)

and yet, in a conversation, I hear the sentence:

  明日のほうがよくね？

Why in this sentence, as mentioned in its definition in the dictionary, 方が良い is not used after the verb, and what is the correct way to use it?


texts: Do native speakers pronounce long vowels えい or おう as one long vowel, or two different vowels?

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In Japanese, long vowels ā, ī, ū are written as ああ (aa), いい (ii), うう (uu). However, ē and ō, in most cases, written as えい (ei) and おう (ou), but in other cases as ええ (ee) and おお (oo).

For example:

先生{せんせい} -> sensei
姉さん{ねえさん} -> neesan

I used to believe that ei and ee are exactly the same, and should be pronounced as ē (ee) regardless of spellings.

But today I saw this answer by a native speaker: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/30039/30724

  せ、ん、せ、い。　（or せ、ん、せ、え。）

They pronounced 先生 as either せ、ん、せ、い (se|n|se|i) or せ、ん、せ、え (se|n|se|e). This confuses me.

Should ei/ee, ou/oo be treated the same?


texts: Translation of an English nickname into Japanese (and connotations of the translation)

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I don't actually know Japanese at all, so I'm piecing the following together as best I can--if someone has a resource for this kind of translation, I would appreciate it as well as a specific answer, if someone has it.
If someone (female) has the name Kes in English, you would normally write it in katakana as ケス, "Kesu".  However, this sounds the same as the verb 消す which means something like erase or turn off.  So the transliteration of the name would sound either rather negative or rather scary (or both) as a name for a person.
Also, the transliterated name gives no suggestion as to the gender of the speaker, and it sounds like a verb which is awkward, so it would be better, possibly, to add a more characteristic feminine ending, the least bulky of which is -e (エ in katakana).
So the most conservative/simpleminded translation of the name (e.g. made by a child) might be ケスエ, pronounced Kesu-e?  Does that work at all?  I think one could write it straightforwardly in hiragana, but maybe not in kanji (or is it just  消すえ)?  And am I correct about the connotation it would have?  (Would an alternate ending avoid the connotation, or is it too obvious?  In English, it doesn't really matter if you name someone Destroya or Destroyelle or Destroyina...it still sounds very destructive, even if it is clearly a name.)
If the translation were made by someone who is not a child, would there be a more idiomatic way to do it which would avoid the unfortunate connotation?  Is there a standard practice for this situation?  (Of course another option would be just to abandon the nickname and use something else.)


texts: Can とこに配属され be used for being assigned to a position?

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I'd like to understand whether the とこに配属 within this dialogue (and in general) can be used in reference to assignment of a position such as proxy, instead of just assignent to a division.

For context, soldiers have been assigned to divisions within the defending army in a conflict. Character A is speaking to character B about the captain of the
divison.

  Character A says「あいつがウチら第4部隊長だがあいつは連隊長でもある。代理だが実質はお前が第4部隊長だ。しっかりな！」

  Character B replies
  「めんどくせーとこに配属されちまったぜ。。。ったくよォ」

So I've understood that as:

  Character A: That guy may be our fourth division's captain, but he's also
  the commander of the whole regiment. You may be called his substitue, but
  you're essentially the captain of the fourth division. Look alive!

  Character B: I've gotten myself assigned to a tiresome position...good
  grief.

It's character B's line that I'd like to ask about, specifically his word usage of とこに配属され. Contextually, I'd assume that character B is complaining about his assignment as the General's substitute, however if I take what he said literally, then I'd assume him to be complaining at being assigned to the division at all.

Basically, what I'd like to ask is, can とこに配属され be used to refer to being assigned to a position within a division?

I've previously only come across it being used as being assigned to certain groups or divisions, but the assignment of a position makes most sense in context so...this isn't exactly a piece of information you can find in dictionaries since it's more about phrasing (referring to a position as a place) than anything else, so I'm turning here.

I would be extremely grateful if anyone could increase my knowledge in this subject, and if you could tell me whether I was right or wrong, along with why, in my initial translation and understanding.


texts:
指名して誘うんなら、お前じゃなきゃダメなんだってくらいの熱意は見せないと失礼だ

So it's like

  If it's a designated nomination then you're the one who has to go. After all it would be pretty rude if you wouldn't show off your enthusiasm.

So くらい is like a comparison which is like an extent but in this case how does that work with なんだって?


texts: What's the meaning and the reading of 通行人?

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I have the following translation I need to do for my introductory Japanese class.

  最近、交通事故が多いので、左に曲がる時は、自転車や、通行人に気をつけなければなりませんよ。

So far I have the following.

  Recently there have been a lot of traffic accidents so when you turn left, you have to watch out for bicycles and _____ and things like that (I'm telling you).

I am not sure what 通行人 means. I think 通行 means traffic (though how is that different than 交通?) And 人 means person. So, traffic person. I can imagine this meaning either a pedestrian or a car driver. Or maybe even a traffic directing cop.

Also, how would you pronounce this word? That is, what is the hiragana? Is it just the combination of the two parts? こうつうにん?


texts:
From this article about a roof top walkway on Japan's tallest building:

  このアトラクションには、展望台に入る料金と１０００円が必要です。
  For this attraction you need (to pay) 1000 yen which includes the fee for going on the viewing platform.

More literally, "For this attraction, with the fee for going on the viewing platform, 1000 yen is needed"

I'm not at all convinced I've understood this sentence correctly. In particular I'm unsure what the meaning of と is here. I'm treating it as 'with'. So if I pay 1000 yen I can go to the attraction and go on the viewing platform? But I thought the attraction was just the viewing platform so if my translation is correct then 展望台に入る料金と seems redundant.


texts:
しらべるくせがつかない

Please explain the above construct.
I know くせ means habit - but it does not seem to fit here.


texts: Why are some basic kanji not in any JLPT level?

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I'm reviewing my list of kanjis to limit myself to JLPT N2 and below for now, but I find that some of them aren't in any JLPT level yet are quite common. Examples:

可 (in 可愛い, 可能性, etc.)
的 (in all the ～的, very common suffix)

and I'm only starting so I'm sure I'll find more. I use jisho.org and this list also agrees: https://www.nihongo-pro.com/kanji-pal/list/jlpt Why is that? And given that common kanjis seem missing from the JLPT levels, are they a good reference for studying?


texts: What is the difference between 〜ている and 〜中?

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When we want to expresss that something is in progress, we can use the progressive form:

勉強している
studying

But another way of expressing a progressing action is by adding 中 to the noun:

仕事中
working

I want to know the difference between these two. Can I say 勉強中　or 仕事している to achieve the same meaning? If I can't, is there a pattern to this? I mean like what kind of nouns can I add 中 to?
I know that 勉強している is a verb while 仕事中 is an adverb but I don't care about the part of speech. I'm only considering it as a standalone word right now.


texts:
Compare the following sentences:

  日本語を勉強しはじめた。
  日本語を勉強するようになった。

I normally think of ようになる as expressing a gradual change. So maybe I studied just a little bit two years ago, a bit more last year, and this year I'm studying hard. I suspect that this is not what 勉強するようになった actually means though. Can ようになる describe a sudden change of state, i.e. today I decided that from now on I will study Japanese?

What about はじめる? It was suggested to me in a comment to one of my answers that はじめる is "to start doing something at the moment and implies that the action will not be continuing for a long time". I always used to think that はじめる simply meant "to start" with no restrictions on time etc. Now I'm not so sure.

In short, when should I use はじめる and when should I use ようになる to describe starting something.


texts:
There appear to be multiple ways in Japanese that would translate to "try" in English. These are:

Verb + te miru

Tamesu (verb)

Kokoromiru (verb)

Verb + to suru

What is the difference between these?


texts: about the underlying meaning of 実際してない in this context

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woman 1 :就活している中で、私は将来、結婚したいなっていう気持ちもあるんですが。
そこのところはどうですか?出世で遠のいてしまうイメージがあるので。
woman 2 :一般的にどうかは置いといて、私の場合は遠のいているかもですね(笑) 実際してないですし。
これまでも打診を受けるたびに悩みました。初めてマネージャーになる時に、当時付き合っていた方がいて。結婚も考えた時に完全に私のほうが収入も上がるし、役職も上がるしって思ったんですけど(笑)
でも、その役職を引き受けるって決めて。 自分が稼ぐんだって決めて、実際になったら別れちゃったんです。

so , the first woman asks the second woman about her opinion of thinking about marriage and if it is going to affect her work in real life so i want know what does "実際してないですし" refer to here is it the fact the she is not married or is it that marriage does not affect your success in life


texts: Why is it "唾棄すべき" rather than just "唾棄"?

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I've come across a line in a work of fiction -

  ただの唾棄すべき存在であった高橋家はここで終わりだ。

I am familiar with the use of ~べき which means "should do/ be a certain way"

But my vocabulary book and dictionary lists 唾棄すべき as a set phrase meaning "detestable; despicable; abhorrent", but 唾棄 without the "すべき" means the same thing, so what's different when べき is added? Is it following the grammar rules of ~べき that something should be a certain way?

So, If I put it into a sentence in English would it be more accurate to say;

  The Takahashi family who were simply abhorrent will cease here.

Or;

  The Takahashi family who would have been simply abhorrent will cease here.


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In this sentence:

  当時の人間どもの手である改造を施された

I'm not sure if である is being used as the copula or the で part is used to mean "by the hands of this people" as in means of action


texts:
最近は「アイデンティティ」とか「コンプライアンス」などのことばも使われている。日本語でうまく言えないから、使われるのかもしれない。しかし、日本語で言えるのに、外来語を使うのは問題だ。例えば、よく「ポリシー」と言う人がいるが、「考え方」とか「やり方」と言ったほうがずっと正確でわかりやすい場合が多い。

I know that 日本語で言える means something along "...you can say it in Japanese". I just think I'm missing the subject in the bolt sentence and its connection with the form "で言う", as he changes from potential (言える) to passive (使われる). This mitigates also to the next sentence, so in total I would interpret this and the following passage like:

  Since I(?)/people(?) can't say (these words) properly in Japanese, they might be used (in Katakana form). But when one can say them in Japanese, using foreign words is a problem. For example, there are people that often say "policy" but, rather saying "考え方” or "やり方”, is much more accurate and easily understood in most cases.


texts:
視界左上に固定表示されている細い横線が、わずかにその長さを縮める

from ソードアート・オンライン1アインクラッド
I'm curious to know why the author chose to use this construction instead of 視界の左上.
Edit: And unrelated to that, I just noticed that the 固定表示されている construction is interesting too. What's going on there? Would I be right in assuming that these two suru-verbs form a compound too?


texts: あなたはそれでよいのです what/how does the でよい bit here work?

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Context: Jobs are being appointed and one of the minions is given a simple job of wrecking some place. The minion exclaims how simple it is (not the smartest cookie) and then the job giver (the strategist minion) says:

あなたはそれでよいのです

I'm not excatly sure about the meaning here of the それでよい bit.
I'm assuming that で here is in it's cause and effect use. Like "If that (is done/is simple for you) then it's good/well/okay". I'm not sure if it's being said that:

"It will be fine if you do that"
"You'll do good/perform excellently if you do that"
"It's good that it's simple for you/that you understand".
something else?

PS: More context:

Minion 1: LeaderさまLeaderさま, 結局ボクは何すればいいの？
Minion 2 (the strategist): Minion 1はあの辺りを掘り返して Leaderを悪く言う相手を叩きのめせばよいのですよ
Minion 1: シンプル！
Minion 2: あなたはそれでよいのです


texts:
Page seven in my book has the following text, which is linked to the next sentence on page seventeen.

  貫くような衝撃が顎から脳天を突き抜け、次第に目の前が真っ白になってゆく感覚に襲われる中、耳には銀髪の外国人の興奮した声が入ってきていた。

  (translation: The impact reverberates to the top of my head by passing through my jaw, as my mind gradually goes blank at the resulting sensation of defeat during her attack, meanwhile I hear the silver-haired foreigner’s intrigued voice.)

Page 17:

  たしか、殴られて気を失ったように思う。

I'm trying to translate the sentence in a way that the meaning of ように is incorporated into the translation, but I'm having trouble with making English sentences that sound right, and contain all the bits of the original Japanese. The closest one I can make that sounds 'right' is missing the ように part:

  If I remember correctly, I recall losing consciousness to her punch.

And the one that I think is closest to the original that includes the ように part does not sound grammatically correct in English:

  If I’m not mistaken, in order to remember her punch I recall blacking out.

Can someone tell me how I can improve my translation(s) of the page 17 sentence so that it is/they are as close to the original as possible?


texts: What is the role of ことだ in this sentence?

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In this sentence: 大丈夫 死にはしませんわ。 少し休めば元に戻りますことよ。
ことよ is is the same as ことだ right?
But what idea does ことだ convey in that sentence?


texts:
I often hear my old calligraphy teacher (and so far only her) use something like the following:

  何々。。。書いてもらいなさい（？）

  何々。。。やってもらいなさい（？）

and so on. The question mark in parenthesis indicates that, if I hear the intonation correctly, it seems more like a kind request rather than an imperative. Or at least, kind of in between a request and an order, exactly as the the two forms suggest.

The meaning is quite obvious, I am mostly interested in the following.

Nuances.

How does this differ from simply using ーてもらえる？　ーてくれる？ or the  ーなさい forms alone?

Speech style.

Is it something somewhat old fashioned? I'm asking just because as I mentioned above so far I have only ever heard this from an old lady.

Actual meaning

I find it quite difficult to give a literal translation. Somehow, ーてもらえる? and ーなさい seem almost opposites to me (one a request, one an order). Am I correct in interpreting this as "please do this?", or is there a better way of putting this?

If possible, I would also appreciate a few extra examples of usage.

EDIT:

Reading and thinking on a comment by @By137 I wonder if I misheard all this time and wasn't actually 。。。て御覧{ごらん}なさい. Obviously rather than my poor listening skills I'll say that this is due to my old teacher being very old and speaking in very incomprehensible way... which is false. I'll ask myself next time and eventually edit or close the question, although it could still be a good question for the てもらいなさい form.


texts:
今のロンドンの成長率 _______ 、この先の二十年で彼の資産価値は十倍以上にふくらむだろう。
a) からこそ
b) からには
c) からして
d) からすれば

からすれば is the proper answer. According to a post I have found it seems to be used when judgment is based on the objective factors, and からして is more of an opinion than judgment. Is it correct reasoning? I assume 成長率 to be an objective data.


texts: I don’t understand the use of the particle に in the following sentence

texts: 私にまかせてください。I only know に as a destination particle.


texts:
I'm looking at this table of classifying 漢字 into the types 象形文字、指事文字、会意文字、形声文字 (and 転注文字 and 仮借文字, but I'll focus on the first four for now).

I like the idea of 見 "to see" being an "eye" on "legs", and the table agrees and classifies it as 会意文字.

I also like the idea of 光 (and its traditional variant 灮) "to shine" being "fire" on "legs", but the table disagrees and classifies it as 形声文字.

I appreciate that 火 might also play a phonetic part in 光, but can't help think that 火 was at least chosen partly for its meaning, too.

Some of a longish list of other characters, listed as 形声文字, which I'd like to mean more:

  花 "a changing grass"
  時 "temple bells announcing the time of day"
  島 (or 嶋) "a mountain, where only birds live"
  雪 "rain/downfall, which you can hold/catch in your hand"

and my all-time favourite 漢字 (if only it were 会意文字):

  風 "insects (mosquitoes?) hiding in an enclosure"

Am I imagining meaning where it doesn't exist or is this classification just speculation (or the classification scheme simply too rigid)?


texts: How does one use the "[V ます stem] に [Vタ]" pattern (as in 待ちに待った)?

texts:
Every now and then I hear 待ちに待った, as in:

  待ちに待ったライブ a long-awaited concert

I started wondering if this pattern can apply to other verbs, and it certainly seems to, if Google is any indication. I found instances of 望みに望んだ, 祈りに祈った, and even things like 飲みに飲んだ.

Question A: Can I use this pattern with any verb showing intent? Is there a particular nuance behind it, or does it simply mean "to [verb] and then [verb] some more"?

Question B: For the linguists in the room (y'all know who you are), how is the に classified in this pattern? Is it the same に as in 買いに行く?


texts: I noticed that the word 単位 is written as たんい in hiragana, not たに. Is there a difference in the way んい and に are pronounced? If so, does the same principle go for んあ and な, んえ and ね, etc.?


texts:
パーティーに何か持って行きましょうか。

My translation – “Do you want to hold/wait on going to the party?”

Is this translation correct basically? I wasn’t sure if ‘to hold’ could be used in the same sense as ‘to wait’ in Japanese as is the case in English as when I look up 持つ in my dictionary it doesn’t give a possible meaning of ‘to wait’.


texts: What does って at the start of a sentence mean?

texts:
胸が小さい女子って、そのコトを気にしてる場合が多いらしいぜ。

って、３組の木村さんが…！！

From  https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2019/01/rashii-meaning.html?m=1

The site says it means (is what Kimura from the class 3 [said]!!)

I feel it's not really correct in this case, but I want to confirm first.

Is it actually something more like ってことは in this case?

Does it translate to something like,
So that means kimura from 3rd class is...!! (flat chested or something)

I tried finding info in various j-j dictionaries, but I failed to find any concrete examples of って being used like this.

Thank you!


texts: How do you express time duration when mixing time units?

texts:
When you want to express a passage of time mixing time units like days, hours, and minutes is it best to use for example 間 once at the end to show duration, or should words showing duration be used for every step, or maybe a mix of both? Should you use と to separate some of the units?

What is the best way to express this?

  1 year, 3 months, 22 days, 19 hours, 25 minutes, 14 seconds

  １年間３ヶ月２２日間１９時間２５分間１４秒間

  １年３ヶ月２２日１９時２５分１４秒間

  １年３月２２日１９時２５分１４秒間

  (The last one feels weird because ３月 is March in my head)

I know from this question and answer that year, month, and minute (and I assume second) is not counted with 間. Would that make this correct?

  １年３ヶ月２２日１９時間２５分１４秒

Or this?

  １年３ヶ月２２日間１９時間２５分１４秒


texts:
For the sake of Haiku or in general, how are syllables counted in Japanese?

Specifically, in the following cases, how are syllables counted?

かあ, long vowels - two syllables?
きゅ, addition of yō-on - still one syllable?
ポッキー, addition sokuon - small tsu counts as a syllable?
ん ?


texts: What's the difference between はずがない, わけがない, and しょうがない?

texts: A slight expansion of the existing thread What is the difference between 「はずがない」 and 「わけがない」?, but what is the difference or use cases for when to use はずがない, わけがない, しょうがない?


texts: How to ask someone to do something for you

texts:
I'd like to know how to politely ask someone (as a question, not a statement) to do something for me in Japanese. I'm already aware of the basic "___をください" and "___をおねがいします" patterns, but I don't want to use these because they actually sound very rude to me.

Personally, I never say things like "Give me that book, please" in English, because it sounds rather demanding, (since it is a statement) and adding "please" at the end doesn't do much to make this sound polite, IMO. I would instead say something like "Could you please give me that book?" or "Would you mind handing me that book?," etc.

The primary difference to me is that asking for things in question forms sounds much more natural to me. I feel uncomfortable saying things like "みずをおねがいします。" regardless of whether or not this is considered perfectly polite in Japanese. I would just prefer another polite way to ask for things.

Could someone give me Japanese sentence patterns similar to:
"Could you please ____?"
"Would you mind ____?"
"Could I have you ____, please?"
"If it isn't too much trouble, could I get you to ____ for me?"

Thank you.


texts:
I get it that ありがとう means "thanks", is informal without the ございます added to it and so on.
However, I do not know what I should say after someone thanked me. In English, you generally say something like "No problem" or "You're welcome", it is similar in German as well.
But what do you say in Japanese?


texts:
I sometimes have trouble figuring out what on'yomi 人 has in unfamiliar jukugo, and was wondering whether there was any kind of rule-of-thumb for figuring it out, assuming it is the only character whose reading is unknown in a compound.

Aside from cases such as the character sequence 人生 read 人{じん}生{せい} when treated as a complete word but 人{にん}生{せい} as part of the word 浪{ろう}人{にん}生{せい} due to it being being derived from rōnin+[gaku]sei, is there any way to tell which reading is used for a jukugo? Or is it only possible to tell if you know the etymology of the word and when the atomic jukugo entered Japanese due to the two waves of import of the classical Chinese reading njin?


texts: Fun with particles - making a sentence that uses as many as 'em

texts:
Let's have some fun with particles! Create a sentence using as many particles as you can. Rules:

The sentence can combine any number of clauses or ideas but it must be meaningful (i.e. no gibberish) and should be using standard Japanese (i.e. no slang).
Each entry will be given a score based on how many unique usages of particles; 1 point per particle. No point is given to repeated particles unless they are used for different roles, for example using one から for denoting reason and another for denoting origin of movement give 2 points. Please count the score and include it in your entry (also recommended if you can bold/highlight the particles that you count).
Compound particles (では, でも, のに etc) are considered different particles from their atomic particles as long as their roles are clearly distinct from the latter. A counter-example would be something like "X からの Y" where the からの is simply から + の particles.
Sentences that simply list down all the particles do not qualify as "meaningful".
One entry per answer, please.

NB: Dear moderators, please make this into CW. On whether this kind of question is allowable or not, please discuss in this meta discussion. To all, let's refrain from voting up/down in here until this becomes CW, just to not disturb the rep points ;)


texts: 'I'm happy/sorry/grateful that..." (thanks for.../happy to hear that...)

texts:
I'm new here so if a similar question have been asked before then feel free to delete the thread.
I need some help with this "seemingly" easy phrasing. What kind of grammar pattern goes before words like よかった、ありがとう、うれしい、or any other adjective.
is it TE form, plain form, plain form +　から And if I want to say "I was happy that he did it" Do I change うれしい and the verb or just うれしい？


texts:
I am currently confused with this:

  あぁ 花火が夜空 きれいに咲いて ちょっとセツナク

Google translate translate this part:

  花火が夜空

as "Fireworks in the night sky". So, is that mean particle がcan be used to indicate location? If it so, is there any reference so I can understand it better?

However, can I say "Fireworks in the night sky" in Japanese like this:

  夜空に花火

Thank you.