texts:
In the Duolingo courses I came across the sentence:

この言葉の意味を答えてください。

translated as:

Please tell me the meaning of this word.

The thing is 答える is an intransitive verb (自動詞); and in other sentences things like 質問に答える are being used.

So the question about why on that particular sentences it uses を...

I am familiar with the use of を for intransitive verbs of motion.

学校に行く : to go to school (に marks the purpose, the goal)
公園を歩く: to walk in(across) the park (を marks the medium by which the walking is done)

So I suppose it is something similar:

質問に答える : answer to a question  (に marks the purpose, the goal)
意味を答える : answer "with/by" a meaning (を marking the "medium" by which the answering is done: trough the meaning)

Note that that last point is just a speculation of mine.
While there are various examples of ~を答える to be found, even in dictionaries; I haven't seen so far an explanation of it (for 答える; for verbs of motion yes, a lot), and so I am not fully confident my interpretation is correct.
Advice from a native speaker of more knowledgeable would be welcome.


texts: ある is listed in dictionaries as having ラ行五段活用, which would suggest a negative form of あらない. However, that form does not exist. Why not?


texts: Something lost in translation regarding returning money in this conversation

texts:
I want to confirm a few things here

  A「はいはい、わかったよ。ホントにいつでもいいから、気が向いたときに返してくれ」(B is insisting that she will definitely return the money ~50k yen)

  B「今、その……気持ちだけでも！　今はええっと……三千と、一円ならあるよ！」

  A もしかして俺が貸した金、まだ手をつけてないのか？

  A「いいよ、ホント。自分の金は大事にしまっとけって」

  B「じゃあ一円……？」

  A 「いやいらねーから！」

  B 「一円玉だって、コツコツ貯めれば結構貯まるもん！」

A:  ok ok, i get it, its all good, return it whenever you can/feel like it

B:  want to return some now , i got... 3k and 1 yen ? (i'm not sure how to read 気持ちだけでも here)

A(internally):  could it be, she hasn't spent any of the money i lent her yet? (then how does she only have 3001 yen?)

A:   its fine, really, take care of your own money.

B:   then how about  1 yen...

A:   NO, not needed

B: even if it's one yen (at a time?),  if i diligently save, I'll save alot (at this point i know i've lost something from  the 三千と、一円ならあるよ line but i don't know what it is)

I'm probably not reading 今、その……気持ちだけでも！　今はええっと……三千と、一円ならあるよ！ right, but can't pin it down.

Thank you


texts: Are the Japanese し and the Mandarin "xi" really both [ɕ]?

texts:
I've had this question for several months now, and haven't been able to find a satisfactory answer online.

The Japanese し and the Mandarin "xi", as in 西, are listed equivalently as [ɕ] in the IPA.

However, my girlfriend and I can fairly clearly tell the difference between these two sounds, even after trying to isolate the consonant in the above words. (She is a native Japanese speaker learning Mandarin, and I am the opposite.)

Are we imagining things, or is there actually a slight difference in [ɕ] between languages? If the latter, are they marked as identical in the IPA because no single language differentiates between the Mandarin [ɕ] and the Japanese [ɕ]?


texts:
I'm pretty new to Japanese and I have a question.

So I know this is supposed to be something like "he differs from his former self" but I can't really make sense of what とは is supposed to mean in this particular situation:

  彼は昔の彼とは違う


texts:
I have been solving the grammar tasks for JLPT N3. I have made a mistake in the following question.

お金をいただいてからでないと、商品はお渡し（  　　  ）。
ーします
ーできます
ーなりません
ーできません

I know the right answer is できません, but I still don't understand why. Can you explain to me please why other answers are wrong? It just seems to me that there is not enough context to solve this task.
I can guess that the first part translates like:
If after I get money, it doesn't come off, the delivery of the item is...
But I can't guess the right answer only from this. Can you help me please to understand it?


texts: What's the difference between 無【な】くす and 失【うしな】う

texts:
These two words, 無【な】くす and 失【うしな】う, seem to be very similar in meaning, but i'm not sure of the difference. Can someone please explain? Here are some examples:

彼【かれ】は時々【ときどき】希望【きぼう】を失う【うしな】。
He sometimes loses hope.
失【うしな】うものは何【なに】もない。
You have nothing to lose.
新【あたら】しい政府【せいふ】は国【くに】から腐敗【ふはい】を無【な】くすと約束【やくそく】した。
The new government promised to rid the country of corruption.


texts:
Here's the sentence that I was listening to: Kono shorui ni Yan-san no juusho, shimei, seinengappi nado o kakikonde kudasai. When I was listening to it, it sounded like the word was being pronounced as: kakonde. Obviously, I didn't hear the i or ki. But still is the i silent or am I not just hearing it right?

Secondary questions: 1) why shimei and not namae? 2) what is the konde in kakikonde?

http://youtu.be/qBh5ru-4AHw?t=10m16s


texts:
大辞泉 gives the following definition for 愛機【あい.き】:

  日ごろ好んで使い、大事にしている写真機などの機器。また、愛用の飛行機。

Meanwhile, the 大辞林 第三版 gives the following definition:

  使い慣れて，大切にしている写真機などの機器。また，愛用の飛行機。

Also, 明鏡国語辞典 (thanks, @snailboat) has:

  飛行機・カメラなど、大切に使っている機械。

All three of these definitions appear to focus on cameras and airplanes (though they all do also have a など suggesting that other related things could also be called 愛機).

My question: is 愛機 only used for these particular devices? Would it be alright for me to call some other device (like a car or a computer or a razor) an 愛機, or would that sound weird? (Basically, I'm wondering why these definitions identify specific examples of devices rather than using a generic word like 機器.)


texts: What is the etymology of 一緒{いっしょ}に? Why kanji 緒{しょ} (meaning "thong") is used in this expression, and not 諸{しょ} (meaning "together")?


texts: Is this Kansai dialect or standard Japanese: 「いつもうちの坊がお世話になってます。」

texts:
I heard this sentence in the anime Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga eps 2, I wonder if the word うち in the sentence is Kansai dialect or standard Japanese? I thought it was standard Japanese but I wasn't quite sure.

虎子(女): はじめまして竜士の母です。いつもうちの坊がお世話になってます。

Can you give me an example of how to tell the difference?


texts: そんな飲み方をしてしまいたくなるのが interpreting してしまいたくなる

texts:
今、ちょっと休憩です。今日もまた、7時まで頑張ります！そして、また、お茶ミルについてですけど、本当に買ってよかった。今、休憩で、また抹茶を作りました。そして、おろししょうががあったので、半分入れた。そんな飲み方、え～ってかんじだけど、そんな飲み方をしてしまいたくなるのが、このお茶ミルです。
Can someone help me parse the last sentence, im having trouble on understanding it. I know the たく comes from たい so the たくなる means you want it to come to ~~ But im not really sure on what 飲み方をしてしまいたくなるのが is supposed to mean.


texts: Mnemonic to remember different "to wear" verbs

texts:
Does anyone have suggestions for a mnemonic or other memory device for the different verbs meaning "to wear" in 日本語?

かぶる (kaburu) - hat / headwear
着る (kiru) - Tops / jackets and all-over clothes
履く (haku) - Bottoms and shoes
かける (kakeru) - Glasses and sunglasses
つける (tsukeru) - Perfume / cologne


texts: When to use: "say", "speak", "tell" or "express"

texts:
When browsing through journal entries by various people, I've recently been noticing the words 述{の}べる and 語{かた}る used fairly frequently but I'm not sure when they should be used over 話{はな}す and 言{い}う etc as I think there's a lot of overlap.

Would it be possible for me to ask when the following words should be used?

言{い}う: to say
述{の}べる: to express/state/say
表{あらわ}す: to express (as per @yadokari's comment, I'm not sure how 表す and 述べる differ.)
話{はな}す: to speak/talk
語{かた}る: to talk/tell
伝{つた}える: to convey/tell
告{つ}げる: to inform/tell
教{おし}える: to inform


texts: Could someone please check my translation of these lyrics?

texts:
Recently I've been studying Japanese and although I still have a lot to learn; I decided to try and translate some lyrics, to help myself improve and learn more than what's taught in books. If anyone could check my translation of the song, it'd be much appreciated!

Here are the lyrics:

  どこか遠くへ行きたい 電波もないどこかへ
  ごらん満天の夜光 僕が指差す場所
  Going towards somewhere far away Somewhere where there aren’t even radio waves
  Watching the who sky’s night lights, I point at the location

  線香花火は時間{とき}の儚さ教えてくれる
  揺れる夏草の合唱 とても心地いいな
  The sparkler tells us the transience of time coming to an end
  The swaying summer grass’ chorus feels very good

  さぁ帰ろう君の待つ街まで
  伝えたい事があるよ ほんの一言さ
  Now, Returning to your street, I wait
  Just a word of the things I want to tell you

  Sha la la 蛍の光よ夜空に舞え
  たとえ僅かな明かりでも君を照らし続けよう
  Shalala The firefly’s light dances in the night sky
  Even if there's only a slight illumination, your light continues

  「永遠という一瞬」手のひらで転がせば
  まるで宵の月みたく切なくて脆いな
  “This moment of eternity” Your palm rolls into a circle
  I want to see the moon as if the tender hearted is painful

  Sha la la 蛍の光よ届けてくれ
  遠く離れた場所だって君を想い続けよう
  Shalala Please deliver the fireflies’ light to me
  Because although we're separated, the thought of you continues even if you’re far away

  ねぇ、過去は忘れてしまうものかな
  愛された事さえも 愛した事でさえも
  Hey, I wonder if the past is completely forgotten
  Even the things I loved, even the things I love

  Sha la la 蛍の光よ夜空に舞え
  たとえ僅かな明かりでも君を照らし続けよう
  Shalala The firefly’s light dances in the night sky
  Even if there's only a slight illumination, your light continues

  Sha la la 逢いたくても逢えぬ夏の恋
  また巡り逢うその折はあの頃の気持ちのままで
  Shalala, I can't meet you but I want to meet you even if it's a summer love
  Even if we happen to meet by chance again, the feelings from those days remain.

  季節と共に去りぬ
  Gone with the season.

Please excuse any extreme mistakes I've made. As mentioned above, any help at all (even a little) is greatly appreciated!


texts: How shall I understand this sentence (from こころ by 夏目漱石)?

texts:
I came along this sentence in the very begining of the story :

「友達は中国のある資産家の息子で金に不自由のない男であったけれども、学校が学校なのと年が年なので、生活の程度は私とそう変わりもしなかった。」

Here's the translation I read : "My friend was from a wealthy family in the Central Provinces, and had no financial worries. But being a young student, his standard of living was much the same as my own. I was therefore not obliged, when I found myself alone, to change my lodgings."

Basically, I roughly understand what corresponds to what between the sentence and the translation, but I feel like 学校が学校なのと年が年なので is more of an expression, something that you can't really translate in english. Thus, I don't really get the meaning of this sentence, probably because of なの.
I think the part of the translation that correspond to it would be : "But being a young student, his standard of living was much the same as my own."

How does this sentence work and how did they come to translate it the way they did ?


texts:
The word 生後 means something like "after birth".  明鏡国語辞典 defines it this way:

  生まれてから以後。

But 生前 doesn't mean "before birth".  Instead, it means something like "before death; while [someone] was still alive".  From 明鏡 again:

  その人がまだ生きていたとき。死ぬ前。存命中。

In fact, 広辞苑 explicitly says it's the opposite of 死後, not of 生後.  I find this a bit counterintuitive!

Is there a reason why people say 生前 with this meaning instead of something like 死前?  Is there a way to understand it intuitively, or some sort of etymology that makes it make sense?  My dictionaries don't explain why 生 + 前 has the meaning 死ぬ前.

Or is it one of those things I should just memorize, perhaps?


texts: What does 食べたいものを好きなだけ食べる mean?

texts:
食べたいものを好きなだけ食べる

seems to be weird for me because in my understanding this sentence mean

  I just eat the food I like from the food that I want to eat

The complete sentence is as follows.

  糖尿病の人は美味しい食品があったとしても、制限があるため食べたいものを好きなだけ食べることができない。

Could you explain how this sentence must be parsed?


texts: Is the negative form of 住む related to すみません (i.e. "I'm sorry"/"Excuse me"), and how is it used in actual conversation?

texts:
Just learned the verb “to live” 住む.
When conjugated to masu negative it is pronounced as すみません. How is this related to the expression すみません which means “I'm sorry”/“Please excuse me”? Or is it just a coincidence?

Is there any way the negative of 住む would actually be used in conversation? In English it feels wrong to say “not live” or “doesn't live”, and I don't know any examples where the negative of 住む is used.


texts: What's the meaning of 時間のやり方 in a sentence

texts:
What's a reasonable translation to the following sentence, particularly this expression: 時間のやり方

  そういう時間の配分、そういう時間のやり方が多い、ということですね。普通ということです。

From the above sentence, this is what I get, but it does not make much sense:

  "There are many time distributions, and many ways to make time. It is normal."

For contextualization, I took the sentence from this text, take a look at the last sentence from the first page.


texts:
犬は電車に乗ってはいけません。

Does this sentence mean something like this: "The dog can't get on the train"? Is いけません the negative potential form of 行く?


texts: Do words differing only in the voicedness of consonants act as functionally homophonous?

texts:
In Japanese, there are some sound differences that clearly distinguish words from one another, such as falling on a different 行 or 段 on the 五十音 ([傘]{かさ} vs. [風]{かぜ} or [友]{とも} vs その); while other sound differences make no difference as all (English 'l' vs. English 'r', vanishing <u> sounds, ヱビス vs. エビス).

Where on this spectrum does voicedness (e.g. さ vs. ざ) fall?

(I am aware that words are spelled one way or the other, but then you get situations like [出島]{でじま} vs. [広島]{ひろしま} where the 島 is clearly the same word, or the somewhat more extreme [仲田]{なかた} vs [仲田]{なかだ}.)


texts: Could I get help with this translation please?

texts:
I've been learning on my own for about half a year and I'm translating a drama CD - so going only by hearing, I don't actually have the transcript.
Here is what I'm hearing:

  子供でもあるまいに、あんなにはっしゃいで、困ったやつ。

Context: Two gentlemen had a short conversation about food and decided to go to the cafeteria, one of them excitedly ran off as soon as they had made the decision, this is the other, slowly following, commenting on the first gentleman's departure.

Problem 1: Could I please get a clear explanation of how the でもあるまいに works? I gather that it's something along the lines of "even though [he's not a child]", but I'm not so sure about the nitty-gritty of the actual usage.

Problem 2 (probably stupid, sorry): I'm not exactly sure whether I have the middle part down correctly, specifically the はっしゃいで part. I've seen it translated by a trusted source as "and yet he's running so quickly" but can't match up what I'm hearing to this meaning at my level (the character generally tends to use very polite language which often complicates things for a beginner like me). So if anybody has an idea what the word/grammar could be a would please explain this to me? I know that's a weird question (since I can't provide the audio), but if somebody would be willing to make a guess here, please?


texts: What does 。。んだようなものだもんね mean in this sentence?

texts:
I have problems translating the last part of this sentence, specifically the part of んだようなものだもんね
寮が個室だからこの学園選んだようなものだもんねっ
Let’s go by parts as Jack the Ripper said.   Haa!  Haaa!
I know that the ん means a way to emphasize a phrase, that だ is a casual form of で す
And it gets more complicated with the next word よう(this word scares me when I see it, really), using as reference the online dictionary Jisho.org we have several possible translations
ような＝様な
よう＝用
よう＝良う
よう＝ましょう We discard this for obvious reasons
and other variants that I have learned like  ように、ようになります、ようにしています、ないように、etc.
This is followed もの which I suppose comes from 物
And finally we have the もんね. I understand that もん is also a variant of 物, and a second translation of もん is that it carries the sense of exclamation or surprise
After much reflection I reached this conclusion I hope it is correct or I'm wrong and it has a different meaning
寮が個室だからこの学園選んだようなものだもんねっ  Well, the fact is that/ the point is that I chose this school because it has individual dormitories.
P.S. sorry if my English is not very good I did the best I could.  Un saludo desde México


texts: What's the difference between に至っては and ときたら

texts:
I was reviewing some N1 Grammar when I noticed that both of these seem to translate to "when it comes to", "as for" Is there any difference between the two in terms of nuances? I'd really appreciate it if you can cite sources.

https://japanesetest4you.com/flashcard/learn-jlpt-n1-grammar-%E3%81%A8%E3%81%8D%E3%81%9F%E3%82%89-tokitara/

https://japanesetest4you.com/flashcard/learn-jlpt-n1-grammar-%E3%81%AB%E3%81%84%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AF-ni-itatte-wa/


texts:
Is "腹違いの兄" currently considered a slur? What about with past generations in Japan? In US society at least it once had negative connotation. But, now there is no negative meaning at all. What about Japan?

What is the formal way to say "腹違いの兄"?


texts: Why do Japanese games say "Now Loading" instead of "Loading"?

texts:
It is a convention for video games made in Japan, when loading data, to display the legend

NOW LOADING

Whereas titles made overseas generally stick with the more succinct

LOADING

Is there any linguistic reason for the addition of the word "now"?


texts: Proper usage of 語 and 言語 and 言葉 when speaking about someone's language

texts:
Japanese language is 日本語. But if I want to say The language of Japanese people - should I write 日本人の言{げん}語{ご}?

And if I want to say the same about animals, for example cat - like cat's language - is it right to say 猫の言語?


texts:
血筋かとか言われたくなかったんでな.

I've been watching some anime and came across this sentence and while i understand what it means i can't understand the (かとか）part.


texts:
The following exchange occurs in Volume 3, Chapter 51 of the manga ReLife.

The sequence of events is: A girl told a guy that she saw him a year or two ago and it was love at first sight. She describes seeing him being nice to a customer during his work. Then she asks him if he has a girlfriend. He says no and she continues below:

  あたしが新太{あらた}君の彼女になりたいです・・・って言ったら
  アリ・・・ナシ？

  今すぐの話じゃなくてもいいの
  可能性の話でもいいの

I'm having difficulty with the second part. My current understanding is something like:

  Literally:
  It's fine if you don't have a response right now.It's fine if the response is that there is a possibility.

  Figuratively:
  You don't have to answer right now. Just letting me know there's a possibility is good enough.

I'm interested in the use of 話 above. I've seen 話 used like this quite often and have never fully understood it. Is 話 a synonym for 答え in this case or does it mean something else (perhaps it implies that two people are talking rather than just one person answering...)? Also, I'm surprised to see 話 modified directly by 可能性の. I would have expected something like 可能性のことの話 (I'm not sure why). Is that incorrect or unnatural?

I'm also confused about 今すぐの. As far as I understand, 今すぐ is a 副動詞 (adverb) and describes when a 動詞 (verb) occurred. Here, it seems to be being treated as a 名詞 (noun) and is modifying 話. Am I missing something here?

Also, as if to simply further my confusion, the fan translation is essentially opposite what I expected:

  Fan Translation
  I'd like to hear your answer as soon as possible.
  I'd like you to decide now.

Is that a valid translation?
Thank you for reading through all these questions.


texts: How can we determine the subject of 「彼{かれ}が来{こ}ないことを知{し}りませんでした。」?

texts:
Consider the following sentence.

  彼{かれ}が来{こ}ないことを知{し}りませんでした。

I really get confused in determining the subject.
Which is the correct translation?

I did not know that he will not come.
He did not know about the absence.

Edit

Roughly speaking, most of the available answers said that the speaker is the person knows about that thing.

However, today I found almost the same sentence quoted from

A Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns for Teachers and Leaners on page 317-318,

as follows.

Its translation is apparently contrary to the analysis given in the existing answers.
I am now in a critical position but committing suicide is not my option.


texts: Are foreign personal names usually written in katakana rather than Romaji?

texts: Are foreign personal names usually written in katakana, or is this dependent on the type or writing, and the target audience? For example, this Japanese Wikipedia entry on Steven Bradbury uses katakana, while this Wikipedia entry on JRuby uses romaji for the contributors.


texts: Use of quote marker と before unusual verbs

texts:
I'm happy with the purpose of と when it precedes verbs like 言う、聞く、思う etc. The following sentence puzzles me:

  おじいさんは「雀は大丈夫かな。」と、大変がっかりしました。

I understand that the man feels disappointed and wonders if the sparrow is alright, but I can't make a sensible translation. Did he say it while feeling disappointed, or did he say it in a disappointed manner? Please explain if this is a shorthand way of saying a longer expression or whether it is common to be able to quote feelings in Japanese.

Here's a slightly different one:

  「舌切り雀のお宿はどこだ、ちゅんちゅんちゅん。」と探し回りました。

I know that と is used with sound effects (for want of a better word) so ちゅんちゅんちゅん needs it, but there's a whole sentence in quotes and it needs to be 'said' or 'asked' or 'thought'. It doesn't make sense for it to be 'looked around-ed'.


texts:
I'm having difficulty understanding these sentences from my textbook.

  このクラスにはキムさんの他に（も）韓国語が出来る学生がいますか。

Could a literal (and rather awkward) translation go something like this:

  In this class, are there students who can do the Korean language that Kim can do in addition to (Japanese/English)?

I'm most confused about the "キムさんの他に（も）韓国語" part.  Is it treated here as a single noun clause meaning "the Korean, in addition to (Japanese/English) of Kim"

The grammar explanation also gives this example.

  今日は授業に出る他は、何も予定がない。

I think I understand the 他は part here, but am stuck on "授業に出る."  Does it mean leave class?  That's what I'd think, but it seems an odd thing to say (unless the speaker is in class now).  Could it mean go to class?


texts: Is there a "default" topic when speaking in Japanese?

texts:
So I say, apropos of nothing, 「電車｛でんしゃ｝を降｛お｝ります。」 With no other context, and no topic established, who do you assume is the person that gets off the train? Is it me? Is it whomever I'm speaking to? Would it be hasty or incorrect to translate this sentence as "I get off the train."? Or is it impossible to even make a default assumption, because you have to know the situation before understanding the sentence?

I ask because, I inevitably practise grammar and vocabulary a lot with sentences like these, without context or topic, and I'm curious how you would interpret them on their own.

Please use furigana for any kanji you introduce.


texts:
日本語を勉強する。日本語の勉強をする。
運動する。運動をする。
etc

Does Nする always become a transitive verb?


texts:
Hello everyone I cannot grasp the meaning of さて in the following sentence, as far as I can understand it's same as this, however I'm not confident about it.
"...for young man it was like throwing the dice, whose number will definitly show up, sooner or later."(I translated only the part with さて)

  どうせ行くあてもなく、帰る途もなく、三界に置き所もないこの身の上だ、ままよと、渡し守の申し出を受け入れたのが、青年には賽を投げ出すようにも思われてさて、この目は一体いずれと出ることだろう。

Also there is a part that makes me wonder, why the author put この before 身の上? The narration is in 3rd person, but with この it translates like "my body" which sounds strange in this sentence, or maybe I'm misunderstanding something?


texts:
"I don't want to go all the way to New York only for her to end up being with someone else"

I've been trying to translate this sentence from a book as practice and I am at a loss on how to translate the grammatical nuances

"I don't want to go all the way to New York" may somewhat correspond to わざわざニューヨークへ行ってしまうとはやりくない

I'm not sure how to phrase "end up" in "end up being with someone else" besides てしまう. Also in this case I've been eyeing the phrase 交際中 as "being with someone else" but I don't really have a native speaker's perspective on this.

I also can't figure out how to link the two phrases because of the linking word "only" in English. An equivalent literal translation might be something like "If I go all the way to New York and she is already in a relationship, that won't be good," in which case わざわざニューヨークへ行ってしまったら彼女はもう交際中だとまずいなー would be my attempt.

How would you guys translate the nuances of this sentence?


texts:
Is it natural to say 「おいくつですか」 to children who are around 10, or younger? Then, just like in Western culture, above a certain age I'm sure it is impolite or creepy to even ask another person's age. Therefore, I would expect to never say 「何歳ですか。」

About 10 years old is the cut-off age for asking another person's age? And the clever / funny way to ask is 「おいくつですか。」

correct?


texts: The use of なんというお名前ですか?

texts:
Basically, I've been corrected on Lang-8 that [あなたの名前はですか] should be changed to [なんというお名前ですか], or [あなたの名前何といいますか].

After a quick search around, I found that なんという means how as in [how [beautiful]]. I figured that this is a polite way of addressing the second-person, but this still leaves me a little confused on the proper way to ask for second-person's name. [何といい] didn't register as a word at all in a online dictionary I've used, and some other members have said that [あなたの名前はですか] is completely fine!

Could someone demystify this mess please?


texts: What does 通して聞く mean when they are used together?

texts:
long-time lurker, am hoping that I can get some help on something

I came upon a tweet which has this particular sentence "みなさんのパフォーマンスは通して聞くことでより魅力的..."

I am perplexed by how 通して聞く are used together. I understand how ~通して works and I have seen how it pairs with other verbs such as 見る so 通して見る, in this context of "ウィンドウを通して見ることができる" means looking through the window but I am not sure what does 通して means when it is paired with 聞く. I googled and I saw clauses such as "アルバムを通して聞く" which probably means listening throughout the album? Can I presume that in the context of the tweet, it means the same thing? Listening throughout the performance?

On an unrelated note, may I also ask whether は can be used with 通して? I normally see 通して used with を so I was a bit caught off.

Thanks for reading!


texts: Is there a difference in usage between 賃銀 and 賃金?

texts:
I was looking into a novel and I found the word 賃銀. According to my dictionary, this word has the same meaning as 賃金, which is wages, the money a person receive for a work/task.

They have the same pronunciation and 賃銀 is another form of 賃金 (according to jisho.org). But what I still don't know is in which case 賃銀 is used over 賃金.


texts:
I thought 可愛げのない態度 came to the simple translation of 'charmless attitude', but on a whim I searched up the phrase, and in daily life context it seems more like 'having a cold attitude' than acting in an uncute way. Then I happened upon a translation where someone translated it as 'having no further intentions' which really just confused me more.

Am I to take 可愛げのない態度 at face value and understand it as an attitude OTHERS do not find endearing, or should there be extra connotations for it being a cold and uninterested attitude the doer themself is showing others, if only in dating scenarios?


texts: What is the difference between ガスコンロ and ガスレンジ?


texts: Can anyone provide a detailed definition of あんぐり and say if the expression あんぐりと口を開けて is redundant?

texts:
あんぐり is defined as such:

  adverb / noun or verb acting prenominally:
  open-mouthed

  大学の門の前に真っ赤なフェラーリが停めてあるのを見て、アングリした。 I saw a bright red Ferrari parked at the campus gates and my jaw just dropped.

I am confused by seeing it in examples such as the following:

  あんぐりと口を開けて

  あんぐりと口もひらき

These examples seem redundant but why are they not? What information am I lacking that would distinguish あんぐり from 口を開けて? In English, the expression "with mouth agape," means to have one's mouth open in astonishment or surprise. It would seem to be a similar expression to あんぐり. To me the quoted examples seem redundant in meaning, but are they communicating two different things to those fluent in Japanese? Is there etymological information to the word あんぐり that would change my understanding of it? Can あんぐり mean "in astonishment/in amazement" without referring to the mouth?

In the quoted example below, it is especially the も that is throwing me off. What extra meaning does it give the sentence?
Is this も an adverb meaning "more / further"?
After giving it further thought, I came up with these interpretations below. Do they make sense?

あんぐりと口もひらき = "He gaped in astonishment, his mouth widening even more..."
Or maybe a better translation is : " With jaw-dropping astonishment, his mouth widened even more..."

Original example:

  幸夫の横で、あんぐりと口もひらき、逃げようともせず、ただぼんやりしている叔父にしても、 今、眼の前に起こっていることが信じられないにちがいなかった。


texts:
I know that the verb changes from 忘れる(to forget) to 忘れないで (don´t forget) but I can´t understand the いて at the end.
At first, I thought it comes from the casual imperative form of いる as this post explained but it must have a verb in a て-form before to have this "keep...ing" meaning or to make the request.

This is from a song called "Name of Love", the lyrics are as follows:

  未来で逢えるなら
    忘れないでいて
     僕のこと　本当のこと


texts: Translation: 多大の貢献をなし他の範とするところ

texts:
I'm trying to translate accurately the following text (JP > EN)...

I'm particularly puzzled about the part: "多大の貢献をなし他の範とするところ". Did I understand the meaning well? Does "他の範" refer to other departments in the company?

  表彰状
  貴部所は建築工事表彰内規に基づき平成二十八年度建築工事中総合成績が極めて優秀であって会社の技術水準並びに業績の向上に多大の貢献をなし他の範とするところ甚大であると認められるので兹に所員一同の功績に対し表彰金を贈り表彰します。

My English translation:

Certificate of Distinction

In light of the superior and all-round excellence of your department’s achievements in 2016 in the domain of construction work, which has brought about major contributions to the improvement of our company’s technological abilities and performance, unparalleled in other sectors, and on the basis of our company’s internal regulations as regards commendations, I hereby present your department with this certificate and its corresponding financial award in recognition of the achievements of all department members.


texts:
I was reading a comic and came across the following usage of 勝 which confused me.

  この試合でオレを三橋に勝たしてくれ！

I know what it means (Help me beat Mihashi in this game), but I'm not sure about how to parse "勝たしてくれ". "くれ" looks like it comes from "くれる", and I want to say that "して" is the connective form of "する", yet I've been completely unable to find a noun or suru-verb "勝た" in any of my dictionaries. The other possibility I considered was "勝たして" came from a verb "勝たす", but once again I couldn't find any such verb. What's going on here?


texts: What does ついてる mean in 何かついてるじゃないの?

texts:
Context:

  加代ちゃんの誕生日が悟と同じ日だった。
  何かついてるじゃないの。

Can't get meaning of the second phrase. What does つく (ついてる) mean here?


texts:
I would like to know what 事柄 adds to the sentence in terms of nuance (instead of more generic expressions such as こと、or もの, ...)

The context is of a veteran police inspector giving some advice to a new recruit on her first case.

  あんたが教わってきた事柄は全て‌理詰めのセオリーだ それがどれだけ無意味なもんか すぐに思い知る羽目になるだろさ
  まあ覚悟だけはしておくんだな

  Everything you've been taught is based on theories and logic. Soon,
  you'll likely come to realize how pointless they are. Well, at least
  be prepared.


texts: Why does Japanese TV News and magazine programs have "mandatory" subtitles/legend?

texts:
(I never thought I would ask one of these questions and even considered if it was off topic but this is a very distinct feature of the language as it is really used. Is it due to some characteristic of the language I don't know?)

I am to referring the condensed sentences/phrases that appear in the corner of the screen or as very concise versions of the what the newsreader is saying not the 字幕 that can be switched on and off or the "ticker-tape" style on BBC or CNN, which is always about a different subject. See link below for examples.

I have not noticed this elsewhere in the world and wonder, does it date back to a time before 字幕  for the hard of hearing became very standard (25 years ago?) or could it even be because people may not recognise the "chinese words" in the reporting unless they can see the characters (which would be good to know because I have the same problem!). The visual nature of the characters certainly lends itself better to subtitles than say roman alphabet.

Link:
https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=テロップ&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=yZ8zU4_nD8fIlAXT6ICYBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CDUQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=929


texts:
I need help understanding the difference between の代わりに and に代わって.
This is how A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar explains the difference:

の代わりに cannot be used when "replacement" is expressed:

[1] 戦後ガラス｛に代わって/*の代わりに｝プラスチックが出てきた。　(*denotes incorrect)

に代わって cannot be used for on-the-spot substitution of objects:

[2] エコノミークラスではガラスの食器{の代わりに/*に代わって}プラスチックの食器が出る。 (*denotes incorrect)

(Question) What do they mean by "replacement" and on-the-spot substitution? I am still quite unable to understand the difference. Isn't on-the-spot substitution a form of "replacement"? If one is a subset of the other, then both の代わりに and に代わって should be able to be used for one type of sentence, while only either の代わりに or に代わって
be used for the more specific case.
Being distinguished as per [1] and [2] seems to make them mutually exclusive.
Also as an aside: What sense of 出る is used in these sentences?


texts: In Genki II (second ed.), page  168 we are given polite forms of some verbs, among them する with なさる. They have also written that some of them have irregular conjugations in long forms, among them なさる, which becomes なさいます. However, in tangorin.com the conjugation table says なさります while Jisho.org recognizes both as forms of なさる. At the same when I type なさります or なさいます into google.com I get about 900 000 or 600 000 results respectively. Are both forms correct? Or is one of them just a common mistake?


texts:
What's the difference between あまり and ほど when saying 'so much...that'?

For example:

  トムは驚きのあまり何も言えなかった。
  Tom was so surprised that he was speechless.

  トムは驚くほど何も言えなかった。
  (Tom was so surprised that he was speechless.）？

Or:

  ピンが落ちた音が聞こえるあまり、静かだった。
  (It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.) ？

  ピンが落ちた音が聞こえるほど、静かだった。
  It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.


texts: What purpose does ある serve in the sentence?

texts:
I'm just getting into trying to read Japanese literature and I came across this sentence on the opening page of ゆきの物語第一章.

  [昔々]{むかし}、ある[小]{ちい}さな[村]{むら}にゆきという[娘]{むすめ}がおばあさんと[二人]{ふたり}で[暮]{く}らしていました。

I have roughly translated this as:

  Once upon a time, a daughter, called Yuki, and her grandmother lived together in a small village.

However, I have no idea why ある is required in this sentence. (Any help with the translation would also be greatly appreciated)


texts: How to say "Nobody is perfect" in Japanese

texts: I'm wondering how to say "nobody is perfect" in Japanese. Would 「完全な人いない」 be a correct translation?


texts:
I observed in drama and anime (being outside Japan, those are my only ways of keeping in touch with spoken 日本語) that elder people sometimes say お出で to younger people when they want to say something like "Come here". But there are a few things I think are strange with that word/phrase:

The word seems to originate from お出でになる which is お + verb stem + になる humble form, which from the kanji used means that お出でになる is the humble form of 出る, I think. So, does that mean that if a person says お出で to another person, the first person is using a humble form upon the second person, which seems to be rude? Is the humbleness nuance within お出でになる still retained in お出で?
Since the pronunciation of お出で is お - い - で, does that mean the 出 kanji is pronounced as い? Why isn't the お + verb stem + になる of 出る simply お出になる? Is this another ateji?


texts:
I've heard the sentence "一人でいるのが好きです", meaning "I like to be alone".

Is this a substitute of "です", could I for example say "学生でいるのが好きです"? If so, how is it different from "である"?

Thanks in advance.


texts: Is 「うそおっしゃい」 to be taken literally here?

texts:
In the video game Ripening Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love, the protagonist Tingle meets a fortune teller who demonstrates her powers to him. She asks him, "You come from a far away town, right?" If Tingle answers, "No", she responds:

  うそ おっしゃい ! おばさん わかってるの。
  あなた まよっちゃったのよ ・・・

Now, from what I understand, うそおっしゃい means, "You're lying". However, since she continues with "I understand, you're lost...", it doesn't sound like she really disbelieves.

In this context, is うそおっしゃい to be taken literally, or is it a set phrase expressing astonishment like, "You must be kidding" ?


texts: When someone tells you, "Omedetou," what are the different things you can say?


texts:
Does this sentence make sense?

  山本さんは水曜日の食事が体に悪いと思います。

It's supposed to mean:

  I think Yamamoto's Wednesday meal was unhealthy (lit. bad for the body)

I'm particularly unsure about my use of the particle が.


texts: The difference between 'no naka' and 'no naka ni'

texts:
I understand that 'no naka' means 'in' or 'inside', but how does the meaning change when 'ni' is placed after it?
For example:

Hako no naka - inside the box.

Hako no naka ni - ???


texts: Can anyone please tell me what's the last character in the picture below? I can't recognize, it looks like hiragana but I don't know which one.


texts:
this phrase is usually used to describe either getting through a hard situation or overcoming something considerably difficult or unpleasant; ie how will you manage to navigate without your smartphone? 大丈夫、なんとかなるよ
Basically i understand it to mean 'somehow or other'

Is it unnatural to use it for negative uses of 'somehow or other'? for example - hes really good at speaking japanese in every day life and he studies all the time, but somehow he failed. ... for that situation could you say なんとか失敗した。?

Sounds wierd to be, so if im right that it is weird, what would you use instead there?


texts:
I have this sentence

勝負はついてしまったらしい

I guess it comes from 付く which would be in my opinion a similar form to 付いて来る.
Is my guess OK, or is has the ついて here a different origin?
Thanks a lot!


texts: What is the difference between ~のがすきです & ~がすきです?

texts:
They both mean to like the subject/topic, right?

I'm trying to figure out what のが actually means/adds to the sentence and when it is appropriate to put it in a sentence or leave it out. I have been told it is similar to stating 'I like things like ~' whereas just が is stating I like this one particular thing.'

Please explain to me and also please use hiragana as I am still a beginner.

Thanks!


texts: What's the difference between 調整する and 整える?

texts:
Both meanings are about adjust or fix, but I can't manage to understand why

  温度を調整した ( right )
  温度を整えた ( wrong )

If 整える usually means fix something to the right condition/state the second sentence should be ok as well.


texts: Why should one be careful of soft and sweet words in this neighbourhood?

texts:
A little while ago, in a neighbourhood in Tokyo, I came across this sign:

I'm not sure of the readings of the place names, but the sign is put there by the local police, 戸塚[警察署]{けいさつしょ}, in association with the local town council, 下落合東[町会]{ちょうかい}. The small text on the right side states that this area is under special focus for the prevention of home robberies, 侵入{しんにゅう}盗犯{とうはん}防止{ぼうし}重点{じゅうてん}地区{ちく}. All that makes sense to me.

What I'm wondering about is the main body, which says:

  甘{あま}い言葉{ことば}と暗{くら}い道{みち}

  気{き}をつけよう！

It's a little weird to me because various dictionaries I've looked at define 甘{あま}い言葉{ことば} as "sweet talk, flattery, alluring words" and so on, which, even if said on a dark street, 暗{くら}い道{みち}, don't seem to be particularly threatening.

Is the idea that people will stop you on dark streets and sweet talk you into letting them into their home so that they can rob you? That's the only way I can make sense of it all, but, it seems like such an unlikely crime with such low chances of success, that I feel I'm missing something.

What exactly is this sign warning people about?


texts:
I'm struggling to understand the sentence in the exchange below. To explain the context, these characters have been shipwrecked and landed on an unknown island. They find that several of their companions have been killed, by monsters, and so they go to find the culprit. As part of this they meet a friendly monster, and ask them the location of the strongest monster in this area, thinking that this monster will either be the culprit, or they will be able to talk to them and find out who did kill their companions. And in the end they find out it was this monster that killed their companions.

  話を聞きに行く。もしも犯人なら―

  アーリンちゃんと戦うんですか～？

  場合によってはそうなる。

  アーリンちゃんは優しいですよ。

  そうか。だからこそ、という場合もあるな

I understanding the meanings of だからこそ and という場合もある individually so that is not what is causing me difficulty in understanding. What is causing me difficulty is that the words before and after だからこそ are not explicitly stated.

Could the implied elements something like 同じ魔物だからこそ優しい or is there a more obvious interpretation to a native speaker?


texts: Usage of word かんじ (not 漢字, but same pronunciation)

texts:
I know 漢字 means chinese characters, but japanese people use word かんじ extensively.

I don't understand when and in which context word かんじ is used and why?


texts:
While visiting Tokyo, I noticed that most levels were indicated by B2F, B1F, 1F, 2F, ... .

This doesn't look like the Romaji for -kai or -gai counter-words, which I assume would be chika ni-kai, chika ikkai, ikkai, ni-kai, ... .

Is it wasei-eigo for Basement 2nd Floor, Basement 1st Floor, 1st Floor, 2nd Floor?


texts: How to compare the ages of people in Japanese?

texts:
This is probably a simple question but something I've seemingly never considered while studying Japanese, but how would one compare ages of people in Japanese?

For example if I wanted to say "I'm two years older than my girlfriend" would be something along the lines of "僕は彼女より二年年をとった" Although my interpretation of this makes it seem unnatural, along the lines of "I've aged two more years than my girlfriend". If someone can clarify I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

Matt


texts: The difference between "当たり" and "につき" in terms of the meaning "every ~"

texts:
As mentioned at the title, I would like to ask the if there is any difference or nuance between "当たり" and "につき" in terms of the meaning "every ~". Any case that they cannot be used interchangeably?
For instance, do the following sentences (if they are grammatically correct) convey the exact same meaning?

卵は一人につき二つまで　　　＝　　卵は一人あたり二つまで
一ヶ月につき一回東京へ行く　＝　　一ヶ月あたり一回東京へ行く


texts: What is the difference between 物事 and 事?

texts:
・時々ばかな事を話す
  ・時々ばかな物事を話す

I know the correct sentence is the former one, but both 事 and 物事 seem like "thing(s)".  Why is the latter incorrect? What is the difference?


texts: Repetitive words (e.g. どんどん, ぺらぺら, いらいら...)

texts:
This is one area that sometimes dings me on tests.  While I can generally figure out what is meant from context, I only know a handful offhand.

The question here is twofold:

Is there a specific name for this category of words?
Are there any references that specialize in this vocabulary?


texts: 「しまう」 as standalone words in dialogue and description, in quotes

texts:
In the story I'm reading the author use 「しまう」 as isolated word, in quotes:

中学一年の姉は、今シェイクスピアに凝っている。最初は日本語訳を片っ端から『しまって』いたが、だんだんそれではあきたらなくなり、最近ではついにオリジナルで『しまい』始めたのだ
光紀{みつのり}は順調に日本の古曲を『しまえる』ようになると、「じゃあ、これはどうだ。『しまえる』か？」と、ある日こっそり父の貴世誌{きよし}が持ってきたのは、なんと歌の譜面であった
今日もへとへととだ。毎日誰かに会いに出かけているか、必ずうちに誰か来て熱心に話しこんんでいる。ここに来てからというもの、ほとんど両親と話をしていないような気がする。常野にいる時はこんなではなかった。毎日、二人でかわるがわる、彼が『しまって』いる物語について熱心に教えてくれた

I'm not sure about their meaning, and why they are in quotes.
As far as I know, 「しまう」 means "To finish, To stop, To do completely", so I was wondering about it showing the ability of the protagonist to play those music pieces. So, the second quote would mean something on the line of "When Mitsunori became able to play well that old Japanese music, one day his father Kiyoshi secretely brought him songs music scores and asked him "So, what about these? Are these 'I can do'?" (not sure about 「なんと」's meaning).
If I'm right, the other sentences should mean something like:

最近ではついにオリジナル『しまい』始めたのだ: "Lately he had suddenly started to be able to play original pieces";
二人でかわるがわる彼が『しまって』いる物語について熱心に教えてくれた: "The parents in turn told with enthusiasm to the boy stories in which he was able to do [what he was doing]".

Am I right? If so, why the quotes?


texts:
Context: a young criminal is not a member of a yakuza clan (半グレ) but he is happy to be their dogsbody (使いっぱしり). After he kills a member of an enemy yakuza clan, a member of the clan he works for covers him and takes the guilt for the crime. While in prison, the yakuza man thinks:

  何してんだ俺ァ！！　[ガキ]{あいつ}が… 結果どーなるか考えるまでもねェのに…
  組に価値を拾われた自分に重なったからか？

What is the meaning of 重なった in this context? Does it refer to the fact that his situation and the boy's situation overlap? If so, is it similar to 同じ in this case? Also, I am not sure how to interpret までもない here. My attempt:

  What am I doing?! Even though the boy didn't have to think (?) about the
  result of his action... Maybe I am doing this because like him I find
  my value in the clan?

Here you can find the pages where the sentence comes from for more context (click the images to zoom). Thank you for your help!


texts:
I want to know the difference between 可決 and 許可.

I searched the dictionary and the meaning is quite the same: approval or permission.

So, what is the difference and how to use them differently?


texts: Are counters for houses used in addresses?

texts:
I have a question about how to translate sentences like "the person from the eight", in the sense of "the person who lives in the house number 8". Is a counter preferred/needed in this situation? If it is, is the best counter 号? Is it droppable, so that we can safely say 八の人?

What motivated my question is the name of a Mexican TV show, which in English means "the boy from the 8". In the Japanese Wikipedia it is translated as 『8のチャボ』. However, this title sounds a bit unnatural to me (it seems like a counter is missing, but maybe the name translation is just ok because of the informal nature of the show).


texts:
So, I'm back again with another translation help, from a line in the song "Yoake to Hotaru"
夏が来ないままの街を今
I've known, naturally as a basic, that を functions as an object marker for a verb. However, it seems here that the thing that takes a direct object is 今. Might there be some function of it I still do not know? Or perhaps, it concerns syntax and grammar more, if anything.


texts: Difference between ために、せいで、おかげで when blaming someone

texts:
I was reading and found the following sentence:

  あんたのために殺し屋の地位を失い闇の世界で迫害され身も心もズタボロになった。

Previous the same character used おかげで in a similar case:

  ま．．．おかげでたっぷりとあの時やられたお返しができるってワケだ。 あんたのおかげで殺し屋としてのあたしの信用がガタ落ち．．．ただブッ殺すだけじゃ気が済まないからねエ…

and:

  そして今度はあんたのせいでその娘【コ】が死ぬ！！

So I would like to know if there is any difference between ために、せいで、おかげで when used to blame someone.


texts: What does ～とか mean when it doesn't indicate an example?

texts:
事故【じこ】があったとかで電車【でんしゃ】が止まり【とまり】……

Here とか does not seem to indicate an 'example'.
Do I understand it correctly?
What does this form of とか represent?


texts:
I'm often unsure what to say when answering the telephone when I am the customer; people usually say their name and then wait for me to say something before stating their business. I'm guessing there is a set phrase that people usually say at that point.

Usually it goes like:

Me: はい、XXです。
Them: XX社のXXXと申します。
Me: お世話になってます。 ← What I'm unsure about

Is this appropriate to say as a customer? What if I've never spoken to them before? What else could I say here?


texts:
Can someone tell me why there is て in between 休ませ and ください?

The sentence is: 今日は仕事を休ませてください。

I know I have conjugated the verb 休む in the causative form but didn't get why the て is used after it. Is it the te form? Or some other grammatical element? Thank you.


texts:
First of all, I want to say that I'm not even sure if "がい" comes together, or if they're separated into が+い (which doesn't seem like the case...?)
While I've heard that がい is a stronger version of が, I'm not sure if that's how it's supposed to be interpreted in the following sentence:

それに 落としがいもありそうだ


texts:
How should I use this "particle" with nouns, な adjectives, い adjectives and verbs? In a web I saw something like this:

For nouns just add "かな" after the noun.
For な adjectives you must put の and, if you want, な, between the adjective and "かな" (but in the examples all of them were with なの).
For い adjectives just add "かな".
For verbs you can add の between the verb and "かな", but it's optional.

These instructions don't sound so trustworthy. What's the real way to conjugate that words before "かな"?


texts: I've seen 達人and 名人used to indicate master or expert. What's the difference?

texts: I'm not familiar with either word, but just looking at the characters, 達人 would seem to indicate 'accomplished' (ie an accomplished pianist). While 名人 seems more like 'renowned'. Is that a valid assessment?


texts: What does ひと匙 mean in this manga and has it been used colloquially?

texts:
I’m reading this manga and I came across this scene that the character is describing the new member of the school team that

  音駒【ねこま】にあとひと匙【さじ】 欲しかった決定力になり得る存在

*Note: 音駒 is the highschool name.

For ひと匙, I’m assuming the character is implying that this new member is one last piece (or thing; factor; component) that the team has sought after. However, after I have done some research online, I could not find any examples of 匙【さじ】 with such usage.
(Most examples I found are related to cooking recipe, which was not surprising because of its original meaning of spoon.)

Therefore, I’m curious if my understanding is correct? If yes, has the term been used colloquially?


texts: Why is it (usually) wrong to say 人がある but OK to say ある人？

texts:
I fear I may be venturing again into "just because" territory, but this one bugs me.

We all know that you usually use いる (as in not ある) to refer to living things, as in 私は日本にいる（△ある）. Yet it is acceptable to use ある in the sense of "some" when the specifics are not important, so it's acceptable to say both ある日, for example, as well as ある人. ある人はそう言った。

Is there a reason for this, or is it just an extension of that usage of ある (in which case why isn't it いる人)?


texts:
I encountered the following sentence

  ……ものすごく、凝っている！

in the context of a guy giving a boy a doll that the guy himself made (outdoors in the winter, but that is probably not relevant).

I suspect that it is pronounced こる because こごる seems to be closely associated with coldness and freezing, but how could I tell he wasn't for example frozen stiff by holding out his hand out in the cold weather?


texts:
彼には 子供が 六人 います - He has six children.

I'm used to thinking of に as "at", or at least in a sense of goal or direction (ex.: 買い物に行く), but here it doesn't seem to work in that sense and I don't understand its role in the sentence. What does the に do here and how would you translate it?


texts:
Although it might seem a tad pointless, I am trying to number pages in a document without using Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2 etc.). I would like the reading to similar to "PAGE ONE" or "FIRST PAGE." I'm doing this for graphic design purposes, and although I have come up with some information, I'm having a bit of a hard time piecing it all together.

Should I be using 枚 and ページ combined with 一つ? Maybe one or the other? What I have come up with so far is  初めにページ, but I have the feeling that isn't quite right since I kind of duct taped it together.


texts: Meaning of 楽に済ませようとする

texts:
How should I translate this phrase?

  楽に済ませようとする。

My literal translation is, "Decide to cause to finish/complete having fun," but that doesn't seem to make much sense.

Does 楽に済む mean to enjoy completely? Is 済ませる the causative form of the verb?


texts: the difference between ルandタ when the verb shows status

texts:
こんにちは！ I am wondering how ル (original form of a verb) and タ works when it comes to a status verb. For example:

  絵を目立つ場所にかける (the original text)

However, from my point of view 絵を目立った場所にかける is natural... Because in Japanese, I often see 青目をしたお人形, 優れた人になりたい, 際立った特徴 and so on.

From what I know, for the verb like 切る and 出会う, which can be done in one-second (瞬間動詞？) the difference between ル-form and タ-form is clearer than the verb which emphasizes status... (that's more similar to the difference between 完了 and 未然), the problem is, for the status verb, how I can know when should I use タ when to use ル？

By the way, where can I get more　文献 relating to the topic? Which keyword should I type?

Thanks in advance.

宜しくお願い致します。


texts:
What is the difference between the two kanji variants for 「けいさんき」, the other word for 「コンピューター」?

計算器
計算機


texts: What's the difference between 降{ふ}る and 落{お}ちる?

texts:
Things I've seen go with 降{ふ}る are rain, snow and leaves, e.g. 雪が降る。

I'm thinking 降る is used for small and light things. So, perhaps 'feathers' could be used like so 羽が降る, but apples would be りんごが落{お}ちる。

Appreciate your responses. Thanks!


texts: Sentence ending in かも・・・ what is the meaning?

texts:
I am translating a guidebook for a Legend of Zelda game, for study purposes. I'm finding a variety of new phrases and words, but this one has me stumped.
This is in the introduction to a section 冒険のヒント (Adventure Hints):

冒険の途中で困ったときに思い出してほしい。  At the time when you’re worried in the middle of the adventure [you will] wish to remember [these hints & advice].
解決の糸口になるかも・・・    ???????????????????????

It must mean something like "the resolution to this might be beginning below" but that is just my guess. Could somebody help me out with an explanation please?


texts:
Background

I am currently studying Japanese grammar at a beginner's level. Yes, I am familiar with Hiragana but I have not quite learnt Katakana yet. Obviously, I know Romaji and hardly much Kanji.

Problem

However, I came across the formal and informal way of using "suki" (すき). I know "desu" is required if you were to say to your boss "I like apples" but is "da" really necessary for informal? I mean, is it as polite if you went without it? Is it grammatically correct or right to go without it?

For example, what's the difference between りんごが好き ("I like apples") and and with だ on the end (sentence + grammatical particle perhaps?)


texts:
It's a line from 森田童子's 雨のクロール

  夏がめぐりめぐってもぽくはもう決して　泳がないだろう

Source: https://mojim.com/jpy113808x1x2.htm

  めぐりめぐって

Meaning: 多くのところを巡っていって。巡り続けて。(going in circles, from one place to another and coming back again)

Source: https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%B7%A1%E3%82%8A%E5%B7%A1%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6/#jn-292048

Why does she say "Summer going around in circles". I think translating it as "Summer coming and going every year" makes more sense but wanted to confirm if this is what it actually means.


texts: Finding the subject in Japanese. 自分だったら、これを大きくなってから見たら感動するだろうな

texts:
This is from the comments on this youtube page where an infant is cuddling with a bemused cat.

The commentator is writing on how cute the scene is. I am having trouble figuring out some of the subjects (which can be hard for students of japanese). If anyone would care to point out the subjects or correct my attempt at a very loose translation, it would be greatly appreciated.

I'm having the most trouble in figuring out the first line. (The numbers only indicate the lines):

  自分だったら、これを大きくなってから見たら感動するだろうな。
  なんの気なしに一緒に暮らしている猫が
  昔から、こんなに愛情深く寄り添ってくれていたなんて。
  「猫さん」「猫センパイ」と呼びたくなるレベル。

To see these two growing up together would be so moving. (for me the speaker)
Look at this laid back cat just living together like its nothing,
snuggling up with so much love, must have been doing that for a long time. (for it to have been so comfortable)
At this level I'd like to call him Mr. Cat, or even Prof. Cat. (superior cat)

So in line 1, I'm having trouble understanding who this これを大きくなってから applies to. I'm guessing it's the kid and cat growing up together, not the writer growing up.
Also in line 4, perhaps the writer is saying this:

  "Mr. Cat, at this level I'd like to call you Prof. Cat ((superior cat))"

I know senpai doesn't relate to professor, but I just chose something someone might say in English. Also, does と呼びたくなる mean the speaker (him/herself) wants to call the cat senpai, or does the speaker want the cat to be called senpai by all in general? (First person versus third person plural.)


texts:
The explanation I have found says that it is a particle on the end of the sentence. However, in the book I am reading (An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese) it is stated that も is an emphatic particle, the same with さえ.

  An emphatic particle which expresses the idea of "even" in non-conditional clauses (or sentences) or the idea of "only" in conditional clauses.

  ● Notes

  も as an emphatic marker is an extended use of も1. The following examples show the transition of meaning from the original idea "also" to the emphatic use "even"

  a. グレーさんは非常に難しい漢字も読める。
  Literally: Mr. Gray can read very difficult kanji, too. (Mr. Gray can read even very difficult kanji.)

Also, I have seen comments saying that something is more emphatic than something else, or emphatic statement.

It has been bothering me for a while already and I would like to see an explanation if possible.


texts:
Consider the extracted original Japanese text from the translation attempt in "Why is 知りません the negative form of　知っています？" :

  これは「知る」という動詞の"意味特徴"と、私たちが「知る」に抱く"イメージ=認知の在り方"に原因があると考えるのが妥当だと思う｡

Also consider this proposed translation:

  "Regarding this fact, I think it is appropriate to think that it is due to the 'semantic features' of the verb '知る' and the image (= the way we perceive) that we have against '知る'.

Isn't "the way we ～" for する-nouns expressed using ～の仕方? How is it different from ～の在り方?

Can the same difference be reflected in other verbs?
I.e. if for する-nouns there is a "pair" like 認知の在り方/認知の仕方 then is there a similar "pair" concept for verbs like 書く? If 書き方 is analogous to ～仕方, what form of 書く is analogous to ～在り方?

What is ～在り方 used for?


texts: Differences between the various readings of 描く and 画く

texts:
Are there any differences between the following?

画{か}く
画{えが}く
描{か}く
描{えが}く


texts: Difference between 完成させる and 完成する (transitive usage only)

texts:
Again, I am not referring to the intransitive usage of 完成する.

Examples
文を完成させなさい。
文を完成しなさい。
夢を実現させた。
夢を実現した。

From my understanding of the grammar, させる implies that you could be making other people help you along as well, but I'm not sure, it seems like in the example sentences there shouldn't be much nuance differences.


texts: What is the term for sleepers (the crusty discharge that forms in the eyes during sleep)?

texts: I cannot find the term to accurately the term for "sleepers". Thank you.


texts:
照れ屋さん means "a shy person", but I don't understand why there's a さん.
When I googled it I saw the usage of さん was nearly universal, but Google didn't say why.


texts:
I was reading about the upcoming movie この[世界]{せかい}の[片隅]{かたすみ}に - and I thought about what the title might mean. I quickly arrived at "In a corner of this world" (which some sources also seem to list it as). But... the official localization is "In this corner of the world". That's when I realized, there might be two possible ways the phrase works:

［この世界］の片隅に – "In a corner of this world", or...
この［世界の片隅］に – "In this corner of the world"

So the questions I'd like answered are:

Which one is correct?
Does この refer to 世界 or the entire phrase "世界の片隅"?
Would saying something like "世界のこの片隅に" be correct (despite sounding very wrong)?
And whichever of the translations is correct, how would you say the other one?

It might get even more complicated with longer の chains... So I'd also like to know:

In general, is there a way to specify which noun in a の series a demonstrative (この, その, あの...) refers to? Or do you have to rephrase the sentence somehow?


texts: What does "許り" (Bakari) mean and what happens when you combine it with ka, ni and denaku (bakarini) (bakarika) (bakaridenaku)

texts:
If I put 許 into a Japanese dictionary I get either the results  "gari" or "kyo" for it alone, which don't seem to be words on there own but there is a meaning explained.  Jisho says the kanji means permit or approve, which seems to be more in line with kyo words.

Anywho, it is used for the "baka" part in bakari, bakarini and bakaridenaku. I've noticed so far in Japanese that a lot of parts of words combine to make new words (sometimes of another word class entirely). Plenty of times the combination seems to make sense. And I wonder if the same goes here. What does bakari mean at its core if it has one and why does combining it with these other things result in these new meanings?


texts:
I found this sentence:
密漁グループは20～40代の男12人
The sealife poaching group consisted of 12 men in their 20s to 40s.
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP2M53N1P2MIIPE012.html?iref=comtop_7_07
Since I can read better than speak, I was wondering how to read the ～, so I looked it up here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation#Interpunct
and I found
To indicate ranges (5時〜6時, from 5 o'clock to 6 o'clock; 東京〜大阪 Tokyo to Osaka). In such cases it may be read as ...kara...made (...から...まで)
Does that mean the reading sounds like this
みつりょうグループはにじゅう から よんじゅう まで だいのおとこじゅうに にん
or is it
みつりょうグループはにじゅう から よんじゅうだい まで のおとこじゅうに にん
or possibly even
みつりょうグループはにじゅうだい から よんじゅうだい まで のおとこじゅうに にん


texts: Is a の said after the first three digtis of 10 phone number?

texts:
Lets say my phone number is (123)456-7890.

Should I pronounce it as:

  いちにさん　よんごろくの　ななはちきゅうゼロ

or

  いちにさんの　よんごろくの　ななはちきゅうゼロ


texts: ぬかるむ has the definition of "to be muddy" in my dictionary, but it is a verb. Furthermore, all the examples use it before a noun, as opposed to saying 丘はぬかるむ. Is it correct to say this? Why is ぬかるむ a verb, and not an adjective, or rather can someone explain the possible mentality that went into ascribing the characteristic of being muddy to being a verb as opposed to an adjective?


texts: A department in a company where unproductive employees are transferred to instead of being fired

texts:
At the job fair for college students some presenters jokingly mentioned a Japanese drama in which a company had a special department full of incompetent or inefficient employees. The company had decided to place them in that special department instead of firing them. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the department nor the name of the TV drama.

Is there a common name for such a department? Does it really exist in real world Japanese companies?


texts:
一月一日から一月七日、または一月十五日まで、新しい年のお祝いをします。

I would understand this sentence if the part in bold was omitted: New Year is celebrated from January 1 to January 15. What is "一月七日、または” for?


texts: What is this wood doll thing with a poem on it?

texts:
Is this a Kokeshi doll or some other kind? and is the poem on the body readable?

My dad got this out of a box his customer was giving away. They said it was from Japan but I can't remember if he said they bought it as a souvenir or if it was a gift. I know it was a long time ago. Over 30 years at least.


texts:
I'm wondering how to construct sentences like: I am better than genji san at cooking. In other words, comparison between what people can do.

I'm aware of the noun1 yori noun2 nohouga property desu construction, though that can't be used for people.


texts:
So I am a beginner when it comes to japanese and today I stumbled upon the phrase "鍵を開ける".
As I understand, one of the usages of the particle で is, how something or where something is done.
i.e: 日本語で話す or 家で働く
While the particle を is used to define the object of the action.
So I assumed "鍵を開ける" would mean "to open the key". But it doesnt.

Why is that?
Is 開ける just an exception when it comes to particles?
Are particles generally used differently depending on the verb?
Am I misunderstanding something or is this just another use of the particle を?


texts:
I was reading some web novels online but I'm kind of stumped by this particular dialogue.

佐倉ちゃんがどんな子供とぶらぶらしてても...
僕で遊んでくれて...
こうして虐めさせてもらえて...

To put some context into this, a little kid wants to play with his friend Sakura.  Sakura feels guilty because she ignored him last time to play with her siblings. There are breaks in the sentences because the little kid is crying.
What I'm wondering here would be if the 1st line translate to "What kind of kid does Sakura-chan hang out with?" How does ても fit into that sentence? It makes me think it's not actually question. Am I wrong?
Because the kid is crying I thought there is an implied continuation to the sentence. Is it correct to assume that?


texts:
あのサーヴァント―アサシンには一騎打ちで望まなければ、先にマスターを叩かれてしまう……！」
Against that servant, if I don't fight one on one against Assassin, my master will end up being knocked out first.

Why is で望まなければ used here?
I am pretty sure it should be 臨まなければ, but since I am still not that good with Japanese, I thought I should ask anyway.


texts: How does adding んで to verb stem change it


texts: What is the pronunciation and meaning of 乙って?

texts:
I was in the middle of reading a light novel, and I've come across "乙って" at least twice so far. I can't really figure out what it means nor how it's pronounced.
I found it in this sentence if that helps:

　長々と説明乙って所だが、聞き捨てならん事を言っていたぞ


texts:
in a book I found this sentences, which I can't quite understand:

  この熱意を勉強に向けてくれたらとため息をつくこともしばしばだが、自分でも覚えのあることだから、滑稽と笑うことはもちろんできない

The part which puzzles me the most is たらと, which seems like two conditionals, but I can't understand nor find its meaning.


texts:
I am trying to say "You will not feel good if you eat such food" and this has been my attempt so far:

  そんな食べ物を食べれば、君はいい感じない

How can I express "will not" in this case? Also, any corrections in general are very much appreciated.


texts: I came across the following kanji on a JLPT N5 vocabulary list: 違う. 違う「ちがう」, is presented as 'different'.  I would appreciate it very much if somebody could present me simple examples of the use of it in the given meaning.  Thank you.


texts: How to say "Ok, then I take X" after your first choice is not available

texts:
Imagine you are in a restaurant and you want to order food, you choose your dish but the waiter says that it is not available today.

In English I would now probably say something like

  Ok, then I take curry

What is the natural way of saying this in Japanese? I'm asking about the "Ok, then" part.

As of now, I would probably just say

  Hmm えとー カレーをおねがいします.


texts:
What does it mean to put a な after an い-adjective? For example, many Youtube videos are called begin "いいなCM", and a Japanese text book I have uses this sentence as an example:

  この通りを行くと 大きな 交差点がある。

  Go along this street, and you will find a large crossroads.

What is the meaning of this な? It is also unusual that the 大きい is missing the final い but the いいな is not. I cannot find it in my textbook or on using Google.


texts:
speaker secretly follows a bunch of thugs. And watches them enter a somewhat hidden cave while being in a cheerful mood.

不良たちが浮かれながら入っていったのは、海岸からかなり離れた場所にある洞窟だった。
入り口に朽ち木が傾いでかぶさっているせいで、よほど注意しなければ洞窟の存在そのものに気づかなかっただろう。
> ……なんだ。単に秘密のアジトを見つけて浮かれているだけか？

My issue is that

単に秘密のアジトを見つけて浮かれているか？
Simply finding a secret hideout and they are excited? (speaker
thinking it's an overreaction)

or

秘密のアジトを見つけて浮かれているだけか？
Finding a secret hideout, and they are only exited? (speaker
thinking it's an under reaction)

makes sense. but the actual sentence

……なんだ。単に秘密のアジトを見つけて浮かれているだけか？
why? (they) simply found a secret hideout, are they are only cheerful? (can't tell what point this is trying to make)

having both 単に and だけか in the same sentence doesn't make sense for me.
Thank you far any clarifications.


texts: I'm confused by all the different ways to modify a noun. How do I know when to use what?

texts:
意味不明,学校全体,現実可能
安定した収入
もやもやとした記憶、もやもやしていた気持ち

(1) I keep coming across examples like this where a na-adjective is placed after the noun and with the な omitted.
Why is the order reversed in these instances and can this be applied to all na-adjectives?
(2) Why is する being used to modify one noun with the other here and not な or の?
(3) I'm aware that words like もやもや are onomatopoeic and can use とする. But I'm confused why sometimes it uses と and sometimes it doesn't. And also why sometimes it's した and other times していた. Is there any difference in meaning or is it just a matter of whatever you feel like saying?
Also, I get the feeling this question has probably already been asked in some form or other already but I had no luck finding anything. I'm new here so any tips on how to find related questions would be appreciated as well.


texts: Why is the Japanese government considering adding kanji such as "cancer" to the jinmeiyō kanji?

texts:
The wikipedia article on jinmeiyō kanji states:

  Before September 27, 2004, there were 2232 government-designated
  jinmeiyō kanji used in personal and geographical names, with plans to
  increase this list by 578 kanji in the near future. This was the
  largest increase since World War II. The plan had not been without
  controversy, however. For example, the Chinese characters for
  "cancer", "hemorrhoids", "corpse" and "excrement", as well as parts of
  compound words (words created from two or more Chinese characters)
  meaning "curse", "prostitute", and "rape", are among the proposed
  additions to the list. This is because no measures were taken to
  determine the appropriateness of the kanji proposed, with the
  committee deciding that parents could make such decisions themselves.
  However, the government will seek input from the public before
  approving the list.

My first assumption was that maybe a kanji had more than one meaning, one which was bad, and one that wasn't, but that doesn't seem to be the case: looking up 癌  in jisho.org only gave cancer, and cancer related terminology.

The article goes on to say:

  Some of these kanji have led to speculation that
  the "odd" kanji being added to the names list are being done so in an
  attempt to make a de-facto expansion of the Jōyō Kanji List, rather
  than with the serious idea that anyone will use them in names.

And also

  Many others were included not for their potential uses in names (as is
  noted), but rather because of their frequent use and are easy to read
  and write.

But why would the Japanese government do a de-facto expansion of the Jōyō Kanji List, rather than just modify the actual Jōyō Kanji List?


texts: What's the reading for 今朝 in this sentence?

texts:
I'm trying to say, "I arrived at the station this morning."

今朝駅に着きました。

As I understand, 今朝 can be read as けさ or こんちょう. Which is the correct reading in this case?


texts:
What does the grammar expression ~たい次第{しだい} mean

For example:

次回の集まりをお誘いいただきたい次第です。


texts: What is the meaning of this part of sentence?

texts:
I don't understand "どこまでいってもＡＩから嫌われると" from this article,
here is the paragraph:

  ＡＩと人権に詳しい、慶応義塾大学の山本龍彦教授は「ＡＩによるプロファイリングは、採用や人事にとどまらず、金融や保険、教育にも広がると考えられている。非常に多くのデータを使い、判断のプロセスはブラックボックス化されるため、自分がなぜ落とされたのかが分からない。どこまでいってもＡＩから嫌われると、再挑戦したり、人生をやり直して、這い上がっていくことが非常に難しくなり『バーチャルスラム』とも言える新たな被差別集団が生まれかねない」と指摘する。

Especially どこまでいっても(I find things like どこまでいっても面白い but I'm not sure how it works without the 面白い at the end because I don't really understand the logic behind "どこまでいっても" ) but even the remainder (ＡＩから嫌われると) I'm not sure how to interpret it.


texts: ~たらいい、~といい, hope, temporal syntax and over-literal readings

texts:
So I have two problems that are difficult to explain about the ～たらいい and ～といい pattern, the first problem is as follows:

I have been reading Susumu Kuno's “The Structure of the Japanese Language”, a book probably too advanced for someone of my reading level. In chapter 15, the book covers the conditional 「と」 particle and the differences between it and 「たら」 and 「なら」. One of the examples (with formatting edits) given is:

  (5) “It is pleasant when/if it rains”

    a. 雨が降ると気持ちがいい。 ○

    b. 雨が降ったら気持ちがいい。 ×

    c. 雨が降るなら気持ちがいい。　×

It then goes on it say:

  “Sentence (5a) represents a habitual antecedent-consequent relationship 'I feel refreshed whenever it rains'. Example (5b) is ungrammatical because the time referred to by 「気持ちがいい」 “It is pleasant” syntactically precedes that referred to by 「雨が降ったら」 'If it rains', while in reality it will become pleasant after it has rained. Example (5c) is ungrammatical for the same reason.”

What is meant here is that stative verbals, such as いい, refer to present time whilst non-stative verbals, such as 降る, typically refer to future time.

So I'll take a phrase that I just read a short while ago:

「見つかるといい」　(I hope you find [it]). → 「見つかったらいい」

This website states that ～たらいい is the same as ~といい, but technically this does not make sense according to Kuno's temporal syntactic observation. Is this phrase special for some reason?

My second problem just bugs me, is more of an English language question and comes from literally translating stuff in my head:

「見つかるといい」

If I translate this less literally and then adapt it, I get following phrase “It will be good if you find it” → “It would be good if you find it” →”I hope you find it”. However, If I try to infer the meaning while keeping the word order:

“If you find it, it will be good”

This sentence is grammatical, albeit a little awkward. More importantly, to me, the meaning of “hope that” seems to be lost when this ordering is kept,  Is there a reason that, in this case, the meaning is lost in English?


texts:
I have come across the phrase 気をつけなければ but I do not understand how it works.
Google translate says that it means "I have to be careful" but I can't find which conjugation it is using. To me it looks like the provisional form but I don't understand how that fits here.
The full sentence is 両親を起こさないように気をつけなければならなかった.


texts: How would one say "to call on a student"?

texts:
I would like to write a sentence to the effect of "the student was afraid to be called on." I have searched all over to find the verb of "calling on" a student and the best I can find is 当たる as provided by this dictionary website (see definition 11).
However, I do know that this verb tends to mean "hit," and I am doubtful of how common 当たる would be used for this context of calling upon a student by a teacher.
Would this word be normally used in this way? Or is there a better, more common way to convey the idea of teachers calling upon a student to answer a question?


texts: What is the word for FISH in Japanese? Sakana or Uo?

texts:
Okay, not finding a definite answer online, what is the word for FISH in Japanese?

BTW - When I say FISH, I mean, if you had a pet fish, I do not mean eating a fish, make sense?

According to my research, I think it should be uo (うお) but most sites suggest to say fish in Japanese you should say sakana (さかな) but, near as I can tell, sakana is fished fish, not a pet...


texts:
信用ほど、積み上げるのに苦労して、

So first, I have trouble understanding ほど here. I suppose that のに here means "in order to" so I would say it means "It's hard to build up trust".

  失う時が一瞬なんて

You can lose it in an instant.

  割の合わない投資はない

I have no idea what 割の合わない means. I usually have a hard time understanding 合う anyway.

The whole sentence :

  信用ほど、積み上げるのに苦労して、失う時が一瞬なんて、割の合わない投資はない。

I'd like to know what ほど means here since it doesn't seem to be the one I usually see, and I'd like to understand the "logic" behind 割の合わない.


texts: Why is the sound "cha" spelled as ちゃ rather than ちぁ?

texts:
I was wondering why is the sound "cha" spelled with a ゃ rather than a ぁ.
きゃ, for example, is "kya"; so shouldn't ちゃ be more like... "chya"? The same goes for しゃ.
I suppose "sha" and "cha" kind of already sound like "shya" and "chya", respectively; is this why or is there another reason?
Additionally, is there even such a thing as a small ぁ, if ゃ has this role anyway?


texts: How can I tell something's size in Japanese?

texts:
I am learning Japanese and helping a Japanese person with English. (My English is not very good, but she still wants me to help her.)

She needed to describe someone's personality and she used "big person". And I didn't understand what she meant by that. I asked her what she meant by "big person" and she said she meant "broad-minded person".
So I told her using "big" for someone's personality is wrong. Then she asked me why, I told her it's used for describing something's size, but she didn't understand even though I told her several times.
So I wanted to tell her the word that Japanese people use for describing  something's size.
I searched for it on the Internet, but there are so many words that mean "big".

So... I don't know which one to choose. I would be so happy if someone can tell me which one I should use. Also, I am really curious why she used "big person" instead of directly saying "broad-minded person". Is that a saying in Japanese?


texts: I’ve learned that both mean something like “I see” or “I understand” but are they interchangeable? Is there any difference?


texts:
I'm interested in why the extra small tsu in included in the word デバッグ but not バグ.

Are there any rules governing voicing in words formed via reduplication?

Lyman's rule may explain this, but does anyone know any more information on why the triple voiced compound is resolved by adding a small tsu (like maybe why a long sound or something different isn't used)


texts: Use of 絶対 with things that can't be measured

texts:
There is one use of 絶対 that keeps confusing me. I can easily understand 絶対零度 since it refers to temperature, something that is clearly measurable. 絶対絶望 is a little more abstract, but seeing it as the worst kind of despair possible seems logical enough.

But then there is stuff like the song 絶対彼女 by 大森靖子, or the anime series 絶対少年. What am I supposed to imagine when I hear that? A direct translation, "absolute boy", doesn't make much sense to me. Is it meant to convey a sense of pureness or what?

I know there is already a question about 絶対領域, but the responses there talk more about the origin of the phrase, and I feel like they don't quite answer my question about the core meaning of 絶対 as it is used in the term.


texts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvBrve8BLog&t=2m57s
sm21891947 - スーパーメトロイド（ＳＦＣ） 店頭映像 | Super Metroid Promotional Preview
The official english captions for this sentence gives:
もう戦う気力も尽きかけている。= My powers grow with each battle.
but google translate gives
I'm running out of energy to fight.
Or maybe the translator who wrote the official english captions thought it was:
もう戦う気力も付きかけている
I realize that there was another post that is similar to my own, but that question seems to not have been answered:
気力がつきかけていた: What meaning does かける have here? And which つき is this?


texts: What does the long "neeeeee" (ねー) mean when 2 friends are talking?

texts: What does "neeeeee" (ねー) mean when 2 friends are talking? That is, one is talking, talking, talking and the other will occasionally reply "neeeeee" to him? Is this just the ordinary "so da ne" or does it have another connotation in this case?


texts:
My boss just corrected one of my documents from 企業向きな開発 to 企業向けの開発.

Apart from the の/な problem that I always get wrong, is there a problem with 向き ?
I got it from my textbook that says 子供向きです

Could someone shed some light on when to use one or the other?
Am I fine if I decide to just stick to 向け all the time?


texts: Differences between のに, 関わらず, にも関わらず, and のにも関わらず

texts:
In this sentence:

  だれとも電話をする必要がないのにも関わらず、私はその小さな物体が欲しくてたまらなかったものだ。

How can I parse のにも関わらず?
I know にも関わらず means "in spite of" but so does のに and 関わらず. So why use の in にも関わらず?

Also, what is the function of も in this sentence?


texts: 「電気の町」秋葉原は、最近「オタクの町」だとも言われている。

texts:
I'm having some difficulty with this sentence from the Tobira textbook:

  「電気の町」秋葉原は、最近「オタクの町」だとも言われている。

First, I'm not sure what the first set of parentheses do to the sentence.  Is that part supposed to modify 秋葉原 and mean something like "As for Akihabara, the town of electricity/lights"?  That sounds a bit off to me, but I have no idea.  I've never seen parentheses used in that way before.

Second, I'm uncertain about とも.  Should these be treated as two separate particles, と and も.  How about translating the second part as, recently, (it) has also been called "town of otakus."


texts: Why does this mean they'll return 90% of the money, not 10%?

texts:
費用の１０％の手数料を引いた金額をお返しいたします

Does this mean they will return back 90% of the money or only 10%?

The answer is they will return 90% but could you explain me how to translate this sentence from Japanese to English so it will makes sense to me?


texts: I know that sonkeigo for someone's home is お宅, but since the word オタク has a quite negative connotation, I am worried that お宅 might not be appropriate, especially in spoken language (because there is no way to differentiate お宅 vs オタク). Hence, is there any alternative to お宅, or do I have to use this word really carefully?


texts:
A song in Final Fantasy 14 named Sunrise has a line listed as such, from an official source:

清らに優し　恋ひ恋ふ吾が君よ
⇒きよらにやさし　こいこうあがきみよ

What are the purposes of the い(ひ) and う(ふ) being written outside of the kanji following it, (the dictionary I use most frequently lists 恋, strictly as こい, but makes no mention of 恋い or 恋う, nor these 恋ひ and 恋ふ variants.) and why is the version containing kanji using ひ and ふ afterwards?
My best guess as far as the latter part of my question is that it is an old form, but that wouldn't explain why the current kanji reasing envelopes the い and う to begin with.


texts: I have seen the term used when calling out for a taxi, but I thought it was a term meaning boss.


texts:
I'm doing an exercise where I need to complete a sentence, I got this sentence

  田中さんはいじわるだから、一緒に..............たくありません

is :

  田中さんはいじわるだから、一緒にもう話したくありません

a correct answer ? I don't know if I understood the sentence correctly but does the sentence with my answer means "Because Tanaka is mean, I don't want to talk with him anymore"?
At least that's what I aimed with that answer but I'm really concerned about the use of 一緒に in that sentence, I know that 一緒に means "together" and is used to modify an action verb as in “do something together”, but in this sentence 一緒に..............たくありません it's "me" who don't want to do the action with him so why using 一緒に
if someone can make it more clear for me it would be nice.

ありがとう　:)


texts:
a high school student walks into a confection store and after ordering some sweets, the female attendant with whom he is familiar with says:

スイーツを？ 彼女でもできたんでしょう～？

she later sees him off by saying:

今度は彼女でも連れて来なさいよ！

I read somewhere that できる can mean to "get with" someone, so I think the first part translates to something like:

sweets huh? that means you've got a girlfriend right?

and the second part being:

bring your girlfriend next time!

other than my more than likely mistranslated use of できる, it's the use of でも in both cases that is confusing me. I know that noun+でも= "even noun", but "bring even a girl/your girlfriend next time!" doesn't sound right to me. Does it mean too/also, if so why not use just も?
If someone could give me a true translation of the sentences and help me to better understand those でもs, I would greatly appreciate it, thanks.


texts:
は (pronounced as わ) being used in example sentences. This particle acts as a disambiguator when a sentence would otherwise be confusing in terms of who or what it was about, or what it was in relation to.
   For instance, [歩]{ある}かない and [今日]{きょう}は歩かない translate to "I do not walk" and "I won't be walking today" by virtue of the second sentence disambiguating the context from as broad as possible (i.e., 'in general'), to 'just today' (今日).
  So in summary, we can characterise は as: [X]は[Y] → in the context of [X], [Y] applies, and outside the context of [X], [Y] does not apply.
   Put concisely, は not only tells us the applicable context, but also the inapplicable context.
   は never just marks applicable context, it always — always — also gives the inapplicable context simply by virtue of being used.

  には It should always be remembered that には disambiguates. It doesn't just specify a location or point/frame in time, but also adds a contrast between this location or time and every other.

  も This particle plays two important roles in Japanese. The first is that it acts as a similarity marker, and in this use it replaces the subject が or disambiguation marker は:

From reading this it seems like は and も are exactly the opposite.
While も can be translated as too, also, it implies that you talk about more than one thing.

Isn't は kind of like the opposite?
It implies that you refer to only one thing and nothing else?

For example :

  ロンもジョンが買ったりんごを食べた。
  Speaking of Ron, he too ate the apple that John bought.

This sounds easy to me, very easy and I understand immediately that:
も implies that someone else other than ロン ate and at the same time that we are talking about ロン and someone else.

  ロンはジョンが買ったりんごを食べた。
  Speaking of Ron, only he ate the apple that John bought.

This sounds a little trickier to me, but re-reading it gets the meaning across.
This sentence is the complete opposite of も or am I wrong?
While も shows that you talk about X and Y, は is the opposite.
It shows that you are talking about X but not Y.
So while も implies similarity and plurality, は implies peculiarity and singularity for what it marks.

The same happens with Particle+も/は.

  ロンにもジョンが買ったりんごが食べられる。
  Speaking of Ron, he too can eat the apple that John bought.
  ロンにはジョンが買ったりんごが食べられる。
  Speaking of Ron, he only can eat the apple that John bought.

The first one goes smoothly, I understand easily, no problem with identifying relatives and all.
The second sounds harder somehow.
But isn't the second sentence the opposite of the first?
So my question is.
Isn't this really a simple thing?
While English marks similarity and plurality with "too", Japanese has a marker for difference and singularity?
は sounds kind of だけ to me.
Is this wrong?

(I know those are weird translations, but I am trying to internalize the idea that は does not always mark the subject but marks what you are talking about.)

Also, I sometimes read that it defines the scope for the sentence.
Can someone elaborate on this too?
Sorry for the really long question.
Thank you a lot.


texts:
I am learning the honorific and humble forms, and am confused by the precises situations in which you use them. I understand that when speaking directly to an individual of higher status, one would use the honorific forms when discussing your conversation partner, and one cold also use the humble forms when discussing oneself. However, what form to use when talking about a superior with an equal? For example asking your classmate Yuki whether your professor has been to England, which would be more appropriate?

ユキさん、先生は英国へ行きのがありましたか？

ユキさん、先生は英国へいらっしゃいのがありましたか？

Thanks!


texts: Is there any difference between Onamae wa and Anata no namae wa nan desu ka?


texts:
For example, repairable, usable, etc.

I tried a few in deepl and got a mixture of potential, 用, and 可能.

My first thought was that it would involve passive, but I guess not.

Is there a single method that's acceptable for all verbs, or at least common?


texts: How to express "just" or "only" (that's all) with verbs?

texts:
If I say in English "He's only playing" this can mean two things. It can mean something like he's just playing (and he keeps on doing so and it's bothering me because he should be working or something), or it can mean he's only playing (and that's all - what he is doing is harmless so don't be angry at him). The nuance is dependent on the tone.

Now, if I say in Japanese 彼は遊んでばかりいる, does this imply that I am angry at him for only playing? Or is the nuance that I am trivialising the fact that he is only playing and expressing it's harmlessness?


texts:
I started learning japanese recently, and I looked back at the kanji I've learned, and I simply can't think of any kanji with an onyomi longer than 2 morae.

Is there really no kanji with an onyomi longer than 2 morae, and if so, why?


texts:
I always have difficulty understanding 宮本 茂. His Japanese is like the hardest to understand. I can watch whole anime's with no problem, and read through lots of text in video games and manuals, but Shigeru's speech style is too hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL47n61uihs

Super Mario Run Shigeru Miyamoto Interview feat. Xavier Woods

0:59 seconds:
あのね、やっぱり、技術がほら、ゲームって技術がどんどんどんどん新しい技術が入いて来るし、で、自分自身もどんどん新しい経験していくでしょう、そうすと、すぐにやりたいものがずっと出て来るので

Interpreter in video:

Well and I think you know one of the main reasons that I like to continue to make games is because technology keeps evolving and I keep having you know my own personal life experiences and I keep looking for new ways to combine the two, huh, into new games.

Response from reddit:
Technology in games keeps getting better and better and we also experience more and more. Thus, what you want to do will certainly reveal itself.

My translation:
Well, of course, technology is well, about games new technology keeps coming steadily and steadily, so, my own personal self new experiences of course, thus, soon together coming out because.

Can someone again, please help me make sense of how this sentence was interpreted. I can bet the translations are accurate, I just am looking for a breakdown of the grammar and stuff.


texts: Meaning of たんか when used in a sentence or phrase?

texts:
i came across this phrase "酒飲めたんか" and i know that 酒 is probably referring to alcohol and 飲め probably means 'drinking' but the phrase　’たんか’ does not give me any result when i tried to search for it.
I'm just guessing here but is this a slang for "I cannot drink anymore"/"I've finished drinking (from my cup)"?


texts: Is the adjective インディペンデント actually used as an adjective?

texts:
I saw a movie labeled

  インディペンデント作品

The adjective インディペンデント does not end in i and is followed by neither na nor no here. Is this meant as a strange compound noun (katakana + kanji)? Or is this a partial translation of 'independent film', keeping the English grammar?


texts:
I was wondering if you guys could help me understand the adverb いちいち a little better. From my understanding in the following sentence it serves the purpose of "Every single" as in " Because you don't have to look into every single fare to your destination at the station or buy tickets its a convenient thing to have" Is this the correct interpretation of it in the sentence?

  駅で目的地までの運賃をいちいち調べたり、切符を買ったりしなくていいから、それを持っていたらすごく便利よ

But according to jisho.org it can serve the meanings of 1.)"one-by-one; separately" and as I interpreted it in the above sentence as 2.)"every single; each and every; without omission; fully; in detail"

It seems like there is a bit of overlap between the definitions but what I'm wondering is can it actually take the definition of "one-by-one; separately" or does it almost always take the definition of "every single; each and every; without omission; fully; in detail". Also, what kind of situations would いちいち be used in besides the above sentence?　If you could give an overview/explanation of the adverb in general it would be super appreciated as well!

Thanks

Matt


texts:
What is the difference between 発展、発達、and 開発?

According to my textbook, they all mean development. I know that they cannot be used interchangeably, but I don't know when to use each of them.

I know the kanji 開 means to open, so I'd assume 開発 is used when something new is developed. Is that correct?

However, I don't know the meanings of the other kanji to distinguish the difference.


texts:
From what I can tell; this is a yes / no question coming from the line before it and the presence of "short form + の + かい".

でもたまに思い出し、お前に問いかける
憎しみより深い幸福はあるのかい

Does it mean, "But sometimes I remember and I ask you if happiness (幸福{こうふく}) more profound (深{ふか}い) then hatred (憎{にく}しみ)?"?


texts: So, I understand what the idiom actually means, roughly -- "the final word," "the word from on high." But where does it come from? Is there a story or a history that gives it context?


texts: Is 子宮が疼く commonly used for wanting a child?

texts:
This is a quote from a Japanese woman (the English translation is her own) saying that she would like to have a kid.

  Finally I met my sweet sweet niece!!!!!!!! I...I...I want a baby, too lol

  ついに、ついに姪っ子と初対面♪( ´θ｀)ノ 子宮がうずく（笑）

The Japanese wording was however somewhat unusual for me, as it literally means something along the lines that her womb is throbbing. Is this phrase commonly used, or was it just a unique way to say that she wants a baby?


texts: などということは vs などというのは, is first one used to "physical things" and second one to "activities"?

texts: I stumbled upon this definition in "tobira". Is my understanding correct, that の is used for "activities and abstracts" and "こと” for more physical things?


texts: All of them means "truth; reality". 誠 is read as "まこと", and 実 as "じつ", however 実 can also be read as "まこと". 本当 seems to have an inclination to a thing or fact, rather than a concept, but it also means "truth, reality".


texts: What does 張ってた (hatteta) mean in this context?

texts:
Context: a detective is talking with the police who is the real culprit behind the recent crime. This police threw away his disguise costume to erase evidence, but it has been found by the detective.

Ｐ：この衣装は、どちらで見つけたんですか
Ｄ：そこのゴミ箱に捨てられてるのを、あの夜にすぐに見つけたよ。
　　あんなものを持って移動するのは危険だからね。
　　手近なところに捨てるだろうとは思ってた。
　　あるいは回収に来るかと思って張ってたけど、
　　流石にそんなリスクは負わなかったみたいだね。

My take: "I have observed (the trash bin where the police threw away the evidence) and thought that maybe you will come back to collect it (the evidence)."
Is my interpretation correct? Or, what should be a more proper translation?


texts:
What is the meaning of な in the following sentence?

  この動画に映り込んでる背景は僕の家な気がする。

Is it an abbreviation of なんて or なんか? Or is it simply a filler as explained in this answer?


texts: 私まで嬉しい is translated as "I am happy", what function of まで is this?

texts: Why is it used this way instead of は for example?


texts:
I read many times the expression くそかわ referred to babies, what does it exactly mean in english?

I know that くそ means "damn" while かわ comes from かわいい, right?

So damn cute?

Thank you!


texts: How can I combine time markers with different verb tenses?

texts:
The original title of
Question:
Sentences with strange/Incorrect(from English point of view) [Time conjunctive][Conclusive verb form] combinations and aspects/nuances reflected?

I read this thread:

How can this sentence using 次 be in the past tense?
Answer
As such, it's grammatically possible to say things in Japanese like 昨日起きるところで "yesterday just before I wake up" (the context is yesterday, and the speaker, at the point being described, has not yet woken), or 明日あの本を読みきれた後で "tomorrow after I finished reading that book" (the context is tomorrow, and the speaker, at the point being described, will have finished reading). English doesn't work this way, so just translating word-for-word might get you confused. It took me a while to wrap my head around this difference.

Considering the thread above, does any of these patterns exist? What aspect/nuance does each one reflect?:

[Future time conjunctive][Past tense conclusive verb]:Tomorrow I woke up.Does something like 明日食べた. exist?+[遅く寝るより]、早く[寝た]方がいいですよ。+彼と結婚しようかするまいか悩むくらいなら、やめたほうがいいと思う。
+ その会合は勉強に[ならない]。要するに時間の無駄[だった]。

[Past time conjunctive][Future/Present tense conclusive verb]:Yesterday I wake/will wake up.Does something like 昨日食べる. exist?I found these examples:+ [困った時は]お互いに助け合って[いこうではありません]か。+ 意見を求められたが、昨日の会議の内容が全然わからないので、答えようがない。

[Past time conjunctive][Command form verb]:Yesterday, wake up!Does something like 昨日食べろ. exist?

what aspect(or nuance) does each of the three cases reflect?
Real example sentences are appreciated.
For example i don't know if:(I) [遅く寝るより、早く寝た方がいいですよ。]= (II) [遅く寝るより、早く寝る方がいいですよ。] .
If they are the same then they have the same aspect(right?) but in (I) i feel the nuance added is something like:'every time you go late to bed, in that time if you went early to bed it would be better'(right?).


texts: What is the difference between 遅れ気味 and 遅れがち?

texts:
I know that がち means "tend to..", while 気味 means "to have the feeling, to be a little..". Like 病気がち, tend to get sick, and 風邪気味, have / feeling like having a slight cold.
But how about this:
この時計は遅れ気味だ. Does it means the clock is a little late? Because if the clock tends to be late, it should be この時計は遅れがち, right?
Thank you!


texts: Who is the doer when we use the verb 崩す?

texts:
崩す is a transitive verb so it should have a doer(omitted or not)

In this sentence, the doer seems to be 彼, he destroyed himself with alcohol:

  酒で彼は身を崩した。 Drink brought about his downfall.

But in the following sentence, it doesn't work well to say that 彼 is the doer since it seems that he is not voluntarily ill:

  彼は少し体調を崩して, 今週は学校を休んでいる. He has been off school with a slight illness
  this week.

Is the doer omitted in this sentence? If yes, is a sentence like 彼は風邪が体調を崩す correct to say that he is ill because of a cold?

I don't find any occurrence on google search so I think it is not natural but I don't know why in this case?


texts:
I need to make a design for competition certificates in a martial art, and I would like to put the grades in Japanese.
I am not sure for instance if this is correct: "二位" for "second place" in the context of a competition.

What is the correct way of saying 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in a competition?


texts: What does と mean in と思います, と言う, and と見る？

texts:
愛という光 means "The light which is called Love", but why is と used? Why does 見る mean "to see" but と見る means something like "it was judged to be"?

What function is と serving?


texts: Why are 3 and 5 incorrect? Also what does ほら mean in this instance?


texts: Various meanings of ダブる and its complexities in Japanese (多義詞 例子)

texts:
When I checked the JET vocabulary list JLPT lv2 last night, I found a word:

  ダブる, my mind would refer this word as 'double' as in English.

However, the JET vocabulary list gives me a 'curious' meaning:
to repeat a school year after falling.

After some research, I confirmed it with some dictionaries out there and compared it with what I have heard/read:

  ダブる:

  1.「二人用」の意。(ホテルなどでベットが1つのみの2人用客室) -> 'double-bed'

  スポーツ・ゲームの用語 (ダブル (サッカー), 野球やソフトボール、クリケットにおける二塁打のこと, etc) - Game sports such as soccer, baseball, softball, cricket, etc)
  服飾用語 (背広・コートなどの洋服の上衣の前合わせのボタンが、縦2列に並んでいる形状またはそのような洋服。English = double-breasted.ワイシャツの袖やズボン（スラックスなど）の裾の部分に外側への折り返しがある（二重になっている）もの。

  4.お酒 ウイスキーなどの量の単位で約60ml。シングル=1液量オンスが約30mlで、その二倍。

  5.その他

  植物の花の八重咲き

  コンピュータで、倍精度の浮動小数点数のこと。

Source

Kotobank also gives me no information regarding the 'repeat a school year after failing'

Source

Goo.ne also gave me no clue

Source

alc gave me no clue as well.

Source

So my questions are:

  1.Is this meaning of 'repeating a school year after failing' valid or correct?

  2.If it's correct/valid, how often or natural is it to use this word 'ダブル'? Since we have a specific japanese word for repeating a school year
  after falling, i.e.: 留年/留年する, or can we say: ダブル/ダブルする ?

  3.Did I miss something? Please help, especially if you're a native Japanese, to confirm this usage.

Thanks for all your answers!