texts: Should emphasis follow the copula or move to the topic marker?

texts:
I recently tried machine translated the following:

  This is amazing. This is amazing.

And was surprised when the result was:

  これは素晴らしいです。これは素晴らしいです。

I kind of expected the second example to come out as

  これは素晴らしいです。

Since "is" and "です" serve the same function in the sentence. Similarly I would expect,

  This was amazing.

to become

  これは素晴らしいでした。

Is there any kind of general consensus on whether formatting like bold should follow the topic marker or the copula in this case?


texts: What is the difference between 気が向く and 気がする?

texts: Is there any difference in usage between 気{き}が向{む}く and 気がする?


texts:
どう、教えたつり場には行ってみてみたー？

Is it use to emphasize てみる?


texts: Identifying the function of を here (as in のを)

texts:
会ったのを今は後悔してる。

I was baffled as to what を was doing here. After some research, I figured it could be a combination of nominalizer "の" and object marker "を," the action being 後悔する. Is this understanding correct? If so, could I do either of the following:

Omit を
Throw in お前を and so on to step up my syntactic confusion: お前を会ったのを今は後悔してるのなんだ！ ('Cuz I'm regretting having met ya!)

*I had trouble identifying を, since the verb was sort of concealed by its noun appearance. Additionally, with 今は in the way, it was all the more perplexing for me.


texts: Are there any differences between 仕事 and 作業

texts: I have ran across these two words being used in some articles and blog sites. It seems they both translate to "work", but when and why would you use one over the other?


texts: What's the difference between 堪える{こたえる} and 堪える{こらえる}？

texts:
to bear; to stand; to endure; to put up with

What is the difference between 堪える(こたえる) and 堪える(こらえる)?

There is also 堪える(たえる) but it got additional

  to support; to withstand; to resist; to brave

  to be fit for; to be equal to

Do they have some sort of nuance or just you use whatever you like. I can see that こらえる is used when こたえる may be either 答える or 堪える, but other than that. No idea.


texts: How do you say "I worked for [X company]."?

texts:
The context is you're casually telling a person where you've worked in the past.

I was thinking something like: IBMで働いた or IBMで仕事した.

But it didn't seem right. In English, the conversation would go something like:

  A: Where did you used to work?

  B: I've worked for IBM. And also, I've worked at Best Buy.


texts:
In the sentence 燕もよくやるって他人事のように感じてしまうくらい in the below passage I am unclear as to what the implied bit after くらい is. The bit that confused me is that there is a full stop after くらい but then she continues on describing the way she has acted towards 燕, which is the sort of attitude that would make me wonder how he puts up with her.

燕は相変わらず優しい。学園祭の前だからあまり顔を出せないと言いながらも、電話はくれるし、言葉の節々からわたしへの気遣いを感じる。「腫れ物、なのよね…」。燕もよくやるって他人事のように感じてしまうくらい。嫌な態度をとって気を引こうとしたり、子供みたいな癇癪を起こしたり。甘えたり。燕にだけは自分でも信じられない態度ばかりをとってしまう。そのくせ、肝心な時には尻込みして。


texts:
「うるせえっ。わけのわからねぇことする奴なんて、一発や二発ぶんなぐってやりゃいいんだっ」
  Shut up! It's alright to give one or two blows to the kind of idiots who decide not to understand the reason.

I'm unsure about the ことする part of this sentence. Is is just ことにする meaning "decide to ..." with the に dropped, or is there some other meaning?


texts:
If I want to say:

  I hope you will read this.

I can say something like:

  これは読むといいです。

I was trying to use the same kind of construction to say either:

  I hope you have read this.
  or,
  I hope you read this. (past)

As far as I know you can't write 読んだと... and changing いい to よかった doesn't seem right.
So how do I hope that something has happened rather than that something will/can happen? How about:

  これは読んだらいいです

Does that work? Are there better ways?


texts: How is '打って' being used in this context?

texts:
この歌：http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEwycsmfACg
最初の歌詞はこれです：
「またビートを打ってリリック書く
だってそうじゃなきゃ俺が俺じゃない」
でも意味が分かんない。
英語で説明していい。
"(I'm) writing lyrics for another beat ...
... If I'm not, then it's not me"と思いますけど、確かめたいです。


texts: I don't understand why my は was changed to a に when a native corrected my sentence

texts:
My sentence: 彼はこれを出来るなら僕は矢っ張り出来る

  Correction: 彼にそれが出来るなら、僕にもできる

I can understand the rest of the changes, but why はー＞に ? All they said was that it sounded more natural but they weren't sure why. Could someone explain this to me? Thanks!


texts: With the use of a dictionary, along with reading some web pages, I understood the  meaning as well as the proper usage of 「延びる／延ばす」and 「伸びる／伸ばす」. But I noticed an overlapping in meaning regarding「延べる」and「伸べる」. Do the former two groups of verbs have differences in meaning and usage with「延べる」and「伸べる」.


texts: 「どこでもある」と「どこにもある」の使い分け

texts:
I have come across this sentence:

  一九七０年頃までは、どこでも銭湯がありましたが、今は、少なくなりました。

Why does it say どこでも X がある instead of どこにも X がある

I understand that で and に are very similar as they have ties in the past, but I just don't understand the difference in meaning here.


texts: Is the kanji/kokuji "taito" (たいと) with 84 strokes legitimate and ever used?

texts:
Taito is mentioned as the kanji/kokuji with the highest stroke count consisting of 84 strokes in Wikipedia.

Taito is composed of two kanji ("cloud" (雲) and "dragon" (龍) repeated three times each for a total of six characters and has the meaning of "the appearance of a dragon in flight"). It is also a ligature formed from 䨺 (tai) and 龘 (tō). It has also been pronounced daito (だいと) and otodo (おとど).

Apparently, there are two variations:

Wikipedia also adds that it may have been used in Japanese surnames but there are no citations. There is also an equivalent character in traditional Chinese.
Nihonshock.com says that it might have started as a joke and gained legitimate usage in history and explains the character as below:

That’s right, a kanji that’s not in the daikanwa. And for that matter, a kanji that’s not even in any historical Chinese records.
According to a 2002 newspaper article from Kumamoto, somebody in Japan was apparently using this as their personal name as recently as the 1960s. The kanji has been included in the most comprehensive computer-based dictionary software available (the konjyakumojikyou).

So what is the real story behind this character? Can we say that it is legit and was it ever used in the history?

Related question: Which kanji has the greatest number of strokes?


texts:
If my understanding is correct, the pattern verb+こと is used to "noun-ify" a verb, similar to the to-infinitive in English. For example, to translate "My dream is to become a programmer", I would say 私の夢はプログラマーになることです.

However, I see expressions like 勉強すること "to study" and デビューすること "to debut", but aren't 勉強 and デビュー already nouns? Thus, is 勉強すること basically the same as 勉強?


texts: Differences between the words for "decoration"?

texts:
While making a list of Christmas vocabulary, I've noticed there are several words for "decoration". 飾り, デコレーション, 飾り付け, and 装飾 are the ones I've seen.

Judging by google images (with "クリスマス" added), they're something like this -

飾り - any kind of decoration
飾り付け - arrangements or stuff on walls/hanging from ceilings, like banners and garlands
デコレーション - Not sure about this one...it seems like it's mostly for a bunch of decorations together, rather than individual ones. Also, the decorations on cakes
装飾 - Decorations in public places

So, what's the difference between these? And are there any other common words that mean "decoration"?


texts: When asking someone else to do a favour, one would append ください or くれる. For example, 手伝ってください or 手伝ってくれる to either mean "please help me" in the former case and "can you help me" in the latter case. What if I were to say 手伝ってくれていい, would this mean exactly the same as 手伝ってくれる? Or does no one actually say it like this? Also, is the difference between  手伝ってください and  手伝ってくれる, only being that the former is taking a stronger stance in asking someone (for a favor) to help, whilst the latter a lighter stance, such that it isn't really forcing but merely asking in a light tone?


texts: What's the nuance of ordinary ~ると and ~てみると here?

texts:
重みがあって、振ると音がする未開封のクッキーの箱が、開けてみると空っぽだったみたいに。

Hello there. I'm in the process of reading a complex text now, and I myself am not really good at Japanese right now (around N5, maybe a bit less skillful even), but I'd like to tackle complex topics, because I believe it'll help me learn the language faster.

Anyway, what I'd like to ask here in regards to this question, is going to follow after my attempt at translation:

  Having some weight, it made sounds when I shook it: an unopened cookie jar that, when opened, seemed empty.

I'd like to point out that the context of this sentence is essentially a description of some magical box that can grant wishes. And it also seems unnaturally empty.

I'd like to ask you about the parts in bold. 「振ると」 here is essentially "when you shake it", this is not really difficult. However, the other "~と" part in the sentence, 「開けてみると」, bugs me a bit. It seems I don't understand the nuance in what the 「～てみる」part does here specifically. I'd translate it as "When I opened it, ...[it seemed empty]". However, I've translated this just as I would an ordinary 「~ると」 clause, and I don't think that's right. Also, almost all the examples on Tatoeba list the 「～てみると」 clause as either "When you do X, you find that..." or "If you did X, you'd find that...", and I can't shake a feeling that I'm not seeing some nuance here. Is there more to the last part of the sentence then just "When I opened it, it seemed empty"?

EDIT: Also yes, I should have mentioned that I've researched the fact that 「Vてみる」is "try and see what comes of it", but I'm not really getting how I can use that in my sentence. Also, both 「~ると」 and 「～てみると」are "When I did one thing, another thing followed" or "When you do one thing, another thing follows"? Essentially I may be off here on the point if the main character talks about things he already did (When I opened the box,...), or he describes what could have happened if that was done (When/if the box is opened, ...). No clarity yet on those fronts. Does the と part here include the completeness of the action or stating the fact about what could happen?

Does the last part become

  "When I tried to open it, it seemed empty",

or

  "If you try to open it, it seems empty"?

And if second option is true, how does 「だった」(past tense) fit here?

Thanks for all the help.


texts:
乱暴にされているのに....

Got the sentence above from a book. From what I understand, に marks the doer in a passive sentence. In other words, the sentence above would translate to "done by violence", which doesn't makes sense to me. What is this に trying to mark here?


texts:
Which of the above?

鮭 手巻き
手巻き 鮭
鮭 手巻き寿司

Or how could I say it?


texts: clarification about ながら and だが being linked together

texts:
幾重にも、幾重にも、その手を血の色で上塗りしていきながら、だが男は決して怯まなかった。

Can one use ながら and だが together ? this seems rather perplexing to me .


texts: Describing lego brick dimensions in Japanese

texts:
In English in order to describe a Lego brick which has dimensions or 2 pegs by 4 pegs, we could say "2 x 4" and pronounce this "2 by 4". How is this expressed in Japanese?

I have seen "2 x 4" written on a Japanese lego site, but would this be pronounced "二　カケル　ヨン"?

I assume this is similar to how one would describe a matrix in Japanese (like in English), but if anyone knows any specific lego terms let me know.

Also, to describe a brick with those dimensions would "2 x 4" be sufficient, or is it better to say "2 x 4 (の)ブリック"?


texts:
女: 先輩、来週、海外出張なんですが、特にしておいたほうがいいことって、ありますか。

I read somewhere on this site って can mean と言ってる. Is this correct translation/thinking?
Senpai, next week, since we have the overseas business trip, is there anything I should prepare for you have been saying?
Next text for context:
男: 会議の資料は準備できてるんだよね。
女: はい。男:会社のパンフレット、持った?
Etc..


texts: In what circumstances is it appropriate to use the word 連中

texts:
From the contexts in which I have heard it used, and also according to jisho.org, the word 連中{れんちゅう} appears to be a fairly informal word, on par with the use of the word "lot" in British English as a collective noun ("you lot"). However, it is unclear to me exactly what situations it would be okay to use in, and exactly how impolite it is. Furthermore, it doesn't seem like there is any one word that can be used to replace it in situations where it is too impolite.

The circumstance I am thinking about is one in which a close group of friends is talking to one of their member's older brother, in casual but polite setting; the older brother refers to them collectively, remarking jocularly on how difficult it is to hold a conversation with them because of their inclination to 突っ込む.

  「君たちはとんでもない連中に違いないです」= "You guys really are a formidable/difficult bunch"

In this context, would 連中 be too strong/impolite a word, or is it appropriate for such a situation? If the former, is there a better way of saying this?

I know that the translation is not 100%, but I am translating from my own words, so the intent is more important than literal accuracy.


texts: Help parsing a sentence with possibly embed relatives

texts:
“はっきりとしてくれないわたしが好きな人”より“はっきりとしているわたしを好きな人”を憎からず
はっきりとして=Be clear
くれない=not give to me
わたしが好きな人=The person I like
[はっきりとしてくれない]>わたしが好きな人  so はっきりとしてくれない modifies わたし
or
はっきりとしてくれない modifies 人
The person who I like which is not clear with me.

はっきりとしている=Is clear
わたしを好きな人=The person who likes me
[はっきりとしている]>わたしを好きな人 so はっきりとしている modifies わたし
or
はっきりとしている modifies 人
The person who clearly likes me.

What is modifying what?
I believe it's the second option in both cases tough.


texts: Does こと mean 'thing' in the following context?

texts:
The characters are having the following conversation (provided for context), and I'm unsure as to what こと in the last line means. According to a  previously asked question,
it has a large number of uses. From the context, I'm tentatively guessing that こと means "thing", seeing as how the topic is about a talent that the first character was previously unaware of. I'm unsure though, as こと has many other uses.

  「……才能？」

  「あなたには、生まれついての才能があるのよ

  人を殺す才能。

  生き残る才能。

  暗殺者としての才能が」

  呆れた話だった。

  いきなり何を言いだすかと思えば。

  「はは……、わけの解らないこと言わないでくれよ。大体、何の根拠があって……」

Is my understanding of the use of こと in the above sentence correct?


texts: How to say "I heard you like flowers" in Japanese?

texts:
So google translate gives me this, but this sounds strange to me.

  花が好きだって聞いた

Is that sentence correct? I am writing to a very close Japanese friend so we always talk in non-polite Japanese but I just don't know how to use the past form to create this sentence.


texts:
I've noticed that Japanese names are often made up of different words meaning different things, creating a combination of the meaning of the Japanese name.

Is it possible if I could combine two words, himitsu 秘密 (secret) and sora 空 (sky), into one name? I'm trying to create a name meaning both "secret" and "sky"


texts:
Is this sentence correct?

土曜日'に'何じから何じまで働きますか

I am not sure if I can use the particle に like that. The book asks me to use なんじから なんじまで along with the verb 働きます and the day 土曜日 to form a sentence.should I use は instead of に?


texts: Does this symbol 术 has any meaning of its own?

texts: This symbol 术 is part of several kanjis. Does it have a meaning of its own? I looked for it in kanji lists and a japanese dictionary and it doesnt list any meaning


texts:
I read the following sentence on the shinkansen:

かけ込み電車は危ないのでおやめください

I looked up on Google but I could not find any mention of やめる being used without the て form. So why is it the case in that sentence?

Also, why is the stem of 込む used instead of the dictionary form? Why isn't there any particle indicating motion towards the train? Why is the noun at the end of the first sentence instead of the beginning? Why is かけ used?

In my mind, this is what I would have expected:

電車にかけ込むことは危ないのでやめてください。


texts: Question about "でも" in this particular sentence

texts:
So my question is about this "でも"

  眠れないもので顔でも洗ったら少しはいいかと思って…

I think i know what the sentence means :

  "Because i was unable to sleep, i thought washing my face/splashing
  water on my face a bit would have been a good idea.."

But even do i get the overall meaning of this sentence, i was unable to explain what this "でも" meant here precisely..

Is it "-or something like that" ?

Is it use because otherwise the sentence would mean that the guy/girl took a COMPLETE shower?

How can i be sure of the PRECISE meaning?

Thanks!

edit : Yes, this でも means "or something like that", indicating face washing is not the only option. <- this feel like a good additional information to keep.


texts: How does this phrase mean "it is better if"?

texts:
A Busuu example dialogue suggests that this phrase ギターが弾けると良いのですが means "It's better if you can play the guitar".
I understand that ギターが弾けると means "if you can play the guitar".  Is this the explanatory の in this phrase?  What purpose does it serve?  Does it make 良い mean "better" rather than just "good"?
Also, is this a typical way to express that "something is better/preferred" in familiar language?  I would have just said ギターが弾けるの方がいいです...


texts:
I saw this sentence in a book:

  そんな答えの出しようのない疑問を、おそらくこの場に集められたプレーヤー全員が考えたのだろう。

The fan translation I had reads:

  Most players who had been forced here would have been asking this answer-less question.

I am somewhat confused by the 出しよう part, what is this formed from? I have a guess. I found a discussion about this in German on a forum. Someone said:

  力の出しようがない＝力を出せない:
  One is unable to bring their strength to bear (man kann seine Kraft nicht aufbieten)

That example made the expression しょうがない come to mind which I understand to mean literally "there is no way of doing it".

If xしよう is "way of doing x", is x出しよう "way of 出すing x"? Or for the phrase in the question title: "question for which there is no way of exposing the answer".

Does verb stem + よう generally mean "way of doing [verb stem]?" It seems like that's where this is headed but I'm not having much luck finding any explanations to that effect on the web.


texts:
では、なぜ北が上でなければならないのだろうか。
(From line 7: https://www.docdroid.net/847v2dg/img-20170413-0001-new.pdf.html)
で should be a particle here right?
If so, why is なければならない not attached to any verb?
I don't know what this means.

I would say that the sentence means the following:
"Well, why must the north be attached on top/in the upper section?"
But I can't say why なければならない　floats around freely like this.


texts: How do I convert my Chinese name into Japanese and furigana?

texts: My Chinese name is 葉志軒 and I tried a lot of ways to convert it but it seems impossible. Can anyone help me?


texts: どうしますか versus 何をしますか

texts:
When do we have to use the following questions?

  どうしますか

and

  何をしますか

Is there any difference between them?


texts: What is the difference of using とき and 時 in this sentence？

texts:
I think both words would similarly mean 'when'so I would like to know if there is any nuance between them and why they are written in different forms.

電源を入れたとき(160°C設定もしくは180°C設定時)にランプが赤く点滅します。


texts:
Inspired by a recent question about the proper way to write 生きがい, I wanted to ask a long-standing question.

According to Kotobank, 甲斐 has the following definitions (my poor translations follow):

かい

An old Japanese state, lying within modern Yamanashi.
A city in western Yamanashi.

がい

When attached to the ren'youkei, expresses the effect, value or worth of the action.
When attached to a noun, expresses that something commands a quality appropriate to that thing.
When attached to a phrase that expresses a negation, expresses the extent to which it is fortunate that it is not so.
When attached to a phrase that expresses a wish or desire, expresses the desire to do it as much as one pleases.

I do see the semantic relationship between the four senses of がい — all relate to a sense of worthiness or appropriateness — but why were these kanji, which relate to a place name of all things, applied to this concept?


texts: How do you say "to register" in Japanese? In the sense that, you see something but it doesn't register (in your mind)

texts: The title kind of says it all. I've tried to research this for a bit but couldn't really get anywhere. Anyone's input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


texts:
First of all I am going to explain the context :

Someone has opened a letter and ask someone in an other room to come here.

The other person asks what is happening. And this is the answer :

  大塚さんにこういうのもらったんだけど…なんだっけ　これ？

I'm guessing this means :

  Ootsuka san gave me this, what is it ?

But I'm actually lost on the meaning of こういうの in the middle of the sentence. I know it means such as, like this but I don't see how I should translate it here. I almost feel like it is superfluous. Does it reference the letter itself ? If yes I don't know exactly how I should translate it.


texts: Does this mean that the person remembered the person's face from seeing it somewhere before this moment or that he had his face  memorized just now? There isn't context to it so I'm not sure. Can it go both ways?


texts:
草津町のスキー場では、噴火した所から近いゲレンデ以外では滑ることができます。
  In the Kusatsu ski resort you can ski on slopes other than those near the place of the eruption.

Why is から used instead of に with 近い? I think I normally see に. How do I decide which particle is appropriate? Do the same rules apply with 遠い?


texts: Make a question and answer using クラスの中で / よく話す

texts:
I've been given the words クラス and よく話す and asked to form a question and answer along the lines of "among クラス" who よく話す the most.
Is the following correct?
Q: クラスの中で、だれが一番良く話しますか。
A: トムさんが一番よく話します。
It's my first time posting here, I hope this type of question is ok. I'm learning on my own using Genki but don't have the answer key. Thanks


texts:
I recently skyped a friend just to ask how her English studies were going. During the conversation, I think I said something like:

  "なんか、英文の質問があれば、どうぞ。ま、べつにいいけど。"

She seemed to think my usage of "べつにいいけど" was hilarious. But, I could not understand her explanation as to why.

I intended to say:
(-) "If you have any English grammar questions, please ask."

Without much thought, I tacted on a "べつにいいけど" just to mean something like:
(-) "Hey, if you don't have questions, that is cool. I am just here if you the help."

  What is so funny about saying 「べつにいいけど」 in that context?
  In what context could 「べつにいいけど」 be used and not sound funny?
  What are more examples where 「べつにいいけど」 sounds funny?

Or, am I just not understanding something more?


texts: Need help understanding 心は気高く / そのまた先で感じていくの

texts:
From this song:

  宙よりも高く 宙よりも高く
  どこまでも駆け昇っていくの
  心は気高く 心は気高く
  そのまた先で感じていくの
  あの日描いた未来を わたしたちの理想論を
  実現(させる) 踊る刃(やいば)達の祭壇へ

Can anyone explain how the line “そのまた先で感じていくの” relates to the rest?

My rough translation:

  Higher than the sky, Higher than the sky
  We will keep ascending to new heights
  ???
  To make the future we dreamed of that day into reality
  To realise our vision of an ideal world
  We head to the altar of dancing blades

The two lines that I'm not sure of is how to express 心は気高く in English and what it means by そのまた先で感じていくの.


texts:
Just read this question and it reminded me of something I'd been meaning to ask.

私、そんなに悪いことしてるおぼえないんだけど...
I don't remember doing such bad things but...

Is the lack of a nominaliser on してる an error in my book or is there a reason this grammar is allowed? The book seems to be written in a very colloquial style so I was wondering if it's just natural but lazy Japanese.


texts:
I hear native speakers using で or was it でー when speaking a lot at the beginning of a sentence. Judging by context, I think it translates to either "and" or "therefore"　or "so" or "because of that", but I might be wrong. An example usage I have heard (if i recall) would be as follows:
1. で、言いたいのは何？
2. これは他人のものですよ。で、取っちゃダメ

I've only ever heard it in speech and never seen in in writing. So the question is, in casual written context, would it be written as
で、言いたいのは何　or
でー、言いたいのは何　or
でー言いたいのは何 (notice that there is no comma) or
で言いたいのは何 (notice that there is no comma)

I know it sounds (very) trivial, but I'm just curious which is the correct form

I am tagging it as slang at the moment, but do let me know if there are better tags


texts: Please help me translate this sentence [明よせっないスキャットが]

texts:
I am reading a manga and I can't understand the sentence [明よせっないスキャットが].
So basically, here's the deal. Some people talking about the music. And one girl said:

  それに2曲目の金延幸子! よく知ってたわね～ 金延幸子! 大好きなのよね～
  歌声が神秘的っていうか。圧倒的に「あなたから遠くへ」がスキなのよ。明よせっないスキャットが。


texts: 人間では決して勝ちえることのできぬ存在, how to handle 決して?

texts:
人間では決して勝ちえることのできぬ存在.

In this sentence, how should 決して be translated? My dictionary says this should be "never" but I'm thinking it should be "able". Otherwise, with the ぬ at the end, is this a double negative?
"It was an opponent that humanity could not overcome."


texts:
I read 遅ランチ and while I think the meaning is pretty clear ("late lunch" unless I'm mistaken), I wasn't sure how to read it. I wanted to say おそ, but the lack of okurigana suggests to me that isn't the case. This leads me to guess that it's チ which is the on'yomi. Is it 遅{ち}ランチ, or is the okurigana implied perhaps, i.e. 遅{おそい}ランチ, or am I over thinking this and it's just 遅{おそ}ランチ.

Or D: None of the above.


texts:
The link is down right now for non-Japanese users, but the song Social Network(そーしゃるねっとわーく) has these lyrics in it:

  好きな時に電源を入れて　誰かの文字列を覗き込む

  星を投げ合うだけくらいが心地良い　僕のもうひとつの “部屋” 秘密の場所

It's pretty obvious what they're talking about for the most part, but "星を投げ合う" confuses me. I do know that this song was published back when "likes" on Twitter were represented by stars, so I was thinking maybe that has something to do with it.

Does anybody know if likes were ever referred to as "星," or am I on the wrong track?


texts: Why is the particle と being used in the following sentences?

texts:
I'm reading the JLPT N3 読む guide and the explanation for the conjunction ただ says this:

前の文の内容と違うことがあると付け加えて説明する。

Also, there's a section where the next sentence appears:

台風が接近しています。そのため、明日の旅行は中止となりました．

Why is と being used for this?


texts: Native speakers (basically) don't study radicals. So, how could they be useful for learning kanji?

texts:
In a recent post titled "Kanji identification?" the accepted answer stated that the "parts" for 「烙」 are "fire", "folding chair" and "mouth". Japanese native speakers don't understand what that means. Likewise, I don't understand.

An answer that is not understandable by native speakers seems a little weird. Japanese people memorize very, very, few radicals. What they memorize is the official name (so as to explain verbally how to write a kanji). The "meaning" is ancillary at best. Can someone elaborate to me why a radical discussion answered the question in the "Kanji identification?" thread? In this forum, I read most questions / answers to learn Japanese.


texts:
わたし、かずさのことを愛してる。

I think it means "I love Kazusa". を愛してる would be the love part but I'd like to know if I'm missing something relevant.


texts:
学生さんなんですか？

Is she asking the name of the school I go to or what year I'm in? She was talking about how busy she's been at work and I told her I was busy with my studies as well and she replied with this.


texts: Can you form verbs from 擬態語 or 擬音語 by adding -る?

texts:
I know that you can form a verb from 擬態語 or 擬音語 by adding する after them, but in this sentence it appears the writer used -る instead.

  会場に向かう前にもじゃった髪の毛をどうにかしようと行きつけの美容院に行ったんです。

Is it something common? Or just something weird that the writer did here? Thank you for your help!


texts: Can the auxiliary ～やがる be used with passive voice?

texts:
I thought I heard someone use it in this way recently, but it just a conversation I overheard so I cannot be sure exactly. A standard use might be:
「あいつが邪魔しやがった。」

But can it ever be combined with a passive voice so the speaker can convey additional inconvenience? For example, something like this:
「あいつに邪魔されやがった。」This might be ungrammatical or not, I don't know.


texts:
I was reading different hiragana charts and saw that "ち(chi)", applying dakuten it can be read as "dzi" or "ji".

Other hiragana words in dakuten also have different ways of pronunciation depending on the charts.
How does romaji works on dakuten?

As an example, I'm writing the word "ぢめん" on romaji, how do I write it? Dzimen? Jimen? Djimen?

Thanks!


texts:
スーパーヴァイジー

I'm guessing from the pronunciation that this word means supervise, but am doubting myself as I've incorrectly guessed at loan words before and had them be wrong, and I'm not having luck in dictionaries...would love any feedback if anyone knows for sure what this means. Thanks!

Edit: here is the sentence for context (I'm not so clear on what the sentence means):

  そこから，スーパーヴァイジーがスーパーヴィジョンの場で「語る」こと，「語り」を得ることが，心理臨床家としての新たな「主体性」の生成に繋がることを見出した。


texts: Need help with grammar: "xxをきっかけにxxしたxxとのこと"

texts:
主催の「災害」会議実行委員会も、当プロジェクトと同様に、災害をきっかけに発足したコミュニティとのこと。

I understand the meaning of the words in the above sentences, but I'm having problems making sense of it due to the grammar, especially in the last half of the sentence.

I understand '災害をきっかけに' to be 'in the wake of disaster', however the last part is confusing for me.

I find the fact that the sentence is ending in とのこと to be the most confusing part - I can't figure out what it is referring to. Thanks for any help.


texts: How to express the phrase "overrated" or "over-..."

texts:
What is the natural way to express the concept of 'overrated'?

For example "this actor is overrated". The nearest I can think of is この役者はこうひょうかすぎる。But I don't know if this is even grammatically correct.

More generally, is there a way to express over-something? For example "I over-cooked the egg". I think I can say 卵をにすぎる to mean "I cooked the egg too much" but that doesn't have the same feeling.


texts: Trouble understanding small bits of poetry in a japanese novel

texts:
Recently, I bought my first all-in-japanese novel to improve my reading skills. The novel itself uses a modern, very simple grammar (it's Ningen no kouta by Kō Machida) so it's not hard to understand. However the text also showcases a few lines of poetry from time to time, which I just cannot get. (mainly because there are some grammatical structures that seem to be inherited from ancient japanese???? and I never received a classical training) So I was wondering if a friendly someone would be willing to explain the meaning of these lines for example (these are the very first poems of the book) :
濃い夏のその濃さゆえの濃い顔のナチュラルメイクこそぎとりてえ
高空を飛ぶ聖マリーの義を超えてなにとも手足高くなってください
上人の真摯な食事は熱量です。きみ残光をなめてください
貧困は男根ですよと言いきるとき団塊オヤジきみの脚をみている
どぼ池に糸を垂らせど釣果なしジンギスカンを食したりけむ
I'm not looking for a 'poetic translation' or anything such, but more something like a loose translation of the meaning in a very plain english, or a glimpse of what the text could look like if it was put back to 'normal', non-poetic japanese. I just want to be able to look at the right interpretation and get how it was expressed with a poetic formulation, rather than keeping on searching for hours and not even being sure that I interpreted it right at the end. Once I understand how it works, I think I'll be able to wrap my head around the other occurences too.
Many thanks for your kind help!


texts:
So I've been studying for the inevitable JLPT N4 exam, and came across a grammar question I didn't understand at all. I mean, I do understand every individual word, but as it often happens with Japanese, I don't get the whole meaning. The question is:

明日は仕事を守れるかどうかが不安だった。しかしいまは、命を守れるかどうかが不安だ。

Thanks in advance for explanation - what those sentences mean, and what does 「かどうか」mean in this context.　Since normally it means 'whether or not' from what I know. Is this some uncommon usage of that expression, or is it just me not getting the rest of the sentence right?


texts: Should I say 失礼{しつれい}します before hanging up the phone if the other person called me?

texts:
Phone etiquette is one of those things I still struggle with at times, often fumbling because I'm not sure what expression I'm supposed to use at a given time. 失礼します at the end of a phone call is one of these. Technically if the other person is calling me, they're the ones "intruding," but if the conversation ends in such a way that I'm the one who is ending the conversation, it seems like I should say it even though the other person called me. I've had some weird moments where the other person said it and I just said it in return because I'm so used to saying "bye" "bye" in English.

Does the person calling always say it, or is it wiggly based on the feel of the conversation, or am I wrong and in fact both people say it? I don't usually get to hear both ends of the conversation when I hear other people on the phone.


texts: How are scientific names (binomial nomenclatures) written in Japan, if they are?

texts: I assume that they would use normal roman letters, but is there a way that scientific names for plants and animals to be written other than the Latin script?


texts: Why does Google discriminate between plain form and masu form in regards to tense?

texts:
First post here because I've got a very specific question. To give some background: I'm currently learning Japanese and I learn mostly through cross referencing jisho.org, Tae Kim's grammar guide and Google Translate (GT herein). I was doing some studying and realized again that I'm a "top-down" learner. I also teach English in Japan and this made me think of one of my students. So I tried to think of how to say "I learn from the top down." I came up with what I thought it would be, and checked with GT by translating "I learn downwards from the top." My sentence matched GT:

僕は上から下に学ぶ。

When I reverse translated, it gave me "I learn from the top down." - as desired. Fine and dandy, but I wanted to say it politely, so I changed the ぶ at the end to びます and retranslated 「僕は上から下に学びます。」To my surprise, GT spit out:

"I will learn from the top down."
(Without the asterisks of course)

Now, from my understanding there's no discrimination between future and present tense in Japanese (provided a lack of context), so the polite and plain forms shouldn't translate any differently. Is there a specific reason why GT would do this? Or is this just the intensity of translation presenting itself as a flaw within Google's algorithms?

Thanks for the long read,
Erik


texts: Can a supermarket be considered a yaoya if it sells vegetables in addition to other things?


texts: How to say "I don't know what you're referring to"?

texts: Someone asked me something without including the subject. I don't know what they were referring to, so how would you go about asking for the subject of what they are talking about, or just generally asking what they are talking about?