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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 2, "body": "I understand this is a combinations of a few ending particles, but I've seen\nit enough times that I wonder what general feeling a native gets from it.\n\nExamples I remember:\n\n> 終わったんだよなぁ。 \n> 難しいんだよなぁ。", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-11T04:22:48.697", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28608", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-11T15:34:51.073", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-11T15:34:51.073", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "11404", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "particles", "sentence-final-particles" ], "title": "~んだよなぁ What general meaning/feeling does this give?", "view_count": 2106 }
[ { "body": "It sounds as if the speaker is feeling reluctant to admit it. That said, it's\nnot so much the meaning of よ or な/ね themselves as the sentence being prolonged\nby somewhat easily linkable particles.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-11T10:12:19.047", "id": "28612", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-11T10:12:19.047", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "4092", "parent_id": "28608", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 }, { "body": "I think we use 「~~んだよなぁ」 most often when we:\n\n 1. Draw a conclusion or confirm something in a calm but somewhat exclamatory manner \n\nor\n\n 2. Remind someone (or often oneself) of something.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-11T11:51:40.340", "id": "28613", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-11T11:51:40.340", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28608", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28611", "answer_count": 1, "body": "When \"と\" and \"から\" can both be translated as the English preposition \"from\", do\nthey have the exact same meaning/nuance and are they interchangeable?\n\nFor example, in the sentence 「 確【たし】かに中沢{なかざわ}部【ぶ】長【ちょう】 **と**\n離【はな】れることは残【ざん】念【ねん】だ。」, can the \"と\" be replaced with \"から\"?\n\nLikewise, in this sentence 「やめる前【まえ】に直【ちょく】接【せつ】彼女【かのじょ】 **から** 聞【き】きました。」, is\n\"から\" replaceable with \"と\"?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-11T07:19:18.330", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28610", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T08:37:48.587", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-12T08:37:48.587", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "9866", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "grammar", "usage", "particles", "particle-と", "particle-から" ], "title": "Are \"と\" and \"から\" equal when they mean \"from\"?", "view_count": 274 }
[ { "body": "That use of `と` should be conceptualized as “with”[1], and not “from”.\n\n“Xと離れる” is “to separate[2] **with** X”. Since you can both separate **with**\nand separate **from** something, both `と` and `から` work here (albeit with the\nsubtle difference between “separating with” and “separating from”\nsomething[3]).\n\n“Xから聞く” is “to hear **from** X”. Replacing this with `と` would change the\nphrase to mean “to hear **with** X”, as in “I heard it with her (彼女と聞いた)”.\nAlternatively, the `と` can function as a quotative particle, where “Xと聞く”\nwould mean “to hear that X”, as in “I heard that she is a girlfriend\n(彼女と聞いた)”.\n\n* * *\n\nFootnotes:\n\n 1. In the sense of either “accompanied by” ( _I will go **with** you_) or “in some particular relation to” ( _She agreed **with** me_), but not “by use of” ( _Cut **with** a knife_). See also: [Confusion with Japanese particle と in its multiple uses](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/15363/confusion-with-japanese-particle-%E3%81%A8-in-its-multiple-uses).\n 2. Verb as used [without object](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/separate). (When used with object, the verb is 離す)\n 3. I understand that in English “separate **from** ” is the standard preposition choice here. I just wanted to illustrate the から/と difference. “To separate **from** my parents (親から離れる)” connotes a starting point in space/time from which I am the one moving away, while “to separate **with** my parents (親と離れる)” feels more like a mutual split where I am not necessarily the primary mover. (To complicate things a bit, since `と` can also mean _with_ as in “accompanied by”, you can say for example グループから親と離れる to mean “to separate from the group with my parents”.)", "comment_count": 5, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-11T08:45:29.023", "id": "28611", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T05:24:28.117", "last_edit_date": "2017-04-13T12:43:48.447", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "888", "parent_id": "28610", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28620", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Is there a major difference between ~だろうと and ~でも constructions in nuance? Can\n~だろうと only be used with question words? I've seen any volitional followed by と\nfor an effect like ~ても, but usually only with question words. Do the ~だろうと\ntype constructions sound more or less formal?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-11T15:00:51.750", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28615", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T00:49:17.440", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "9971", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "word-choice", "particle-と", "particle-も" ], "title": "Difference between ~だろうと and ~でも", "view_count": 1078 }
[ { "body": "> Is there a major difference between ~だろうと and ~でも constructions in nuance?\n\nIn nuance, no, not really.\n\nIf anything, 「~だろうと」 would certainly sound more eloquent than 「~でも」. 「~でも」\ncould sound kind of blunt or unrefined when used to mean 「~だろうと」.\n\n> Can ~だろうと only be used with question words? I've seen any volitional\n> followed by と for an effect like ~ても, but usually only with question words.\n\nNo. 「~だろうと」 **_can_** directly be preceded by regular nouns as well. Unlike\n「~と」 and 「~ても」, however, 「~だろうと」 **cannot** be preceded directly by verbs for\nthe meaning we are talking about.\n\nAn example with no question word used:\n\n「[日本人]{にほんじん}だろうと、[外国人]{がいこくじん}だろうと、[消費税]{しょうひぜい}は[払]{はら}わなければならない。」\n\n= \"Whether a Japanese citizen or a foreigner, you must pay the sales tax.\"\n\n> Do the ~だろうと type constructions sound more or less formal?\n\nNot necessarily. The phrase 「~だろうと」, all by itself, does not make the sentence\n\"formal\", but it does sound more formal than 「~でも」.\n\nFWIW, we have a 「~であろうと」, which is definitely more formal than 「~だろうと」.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T00:49:17.440", "id": "28620", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T00:49:17.440", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28615", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "I can't properly understand this sentence\n\n> そして, そのマントは 他人には決して見えないことを, 彼女たちは知っていた.\n\nI think it means:\n\nAnd the girls knew, those cloaks (would reveal/showed) to strangers something\nthey've never seen? And those cloaks (showed) something to strangers the girls\nknew they've never seen?\n\nI want to understand this thoroughly. The lack of any verb in the first phrase\nis really throwing me off.", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-11T16:30:23.767", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28616", "last_activity_date": "2021-09-03T17:52:26.877", "last_edit_date": "2021-09-03T17:52:26.877", "last_editor_user_id": "30454", "owner_user_id": "11411", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "grammar", "meaning", "verbs", "parsing" ], "title": "Unsure of this sentence; lack of verb is throwing me off here", "view_count": 168 }
[ { "body": "マントは見えない : The cloak is invisible.\n\nProbably, this resolves your problem.\n\nOverall, \"And, they knew that the cloak was definitely invisible to others.\"", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T06:56:06.953", "id": "28623", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T06:56:06.953", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28616", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28618", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I have seen this script many times before, but the best information anyone can\ngive me is that they are archaic and almost no one uses them. Here is a photo\nof the characters then versus now: [![old\nscript.png](https://i.stack.imgur.com/g7Pcv.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/g7Pcv.jpg)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-11T17:28:02.567", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28617", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T15:29:46.173", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-12T15:29:46.173", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "10377", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "kanji", "archaic-language", "writing-identification", "calligraphy" ], "title": "What is this script called?", "view_count": 728 }
[ { "body": "There are five distinct scripts in that picture, all reflecting forms of the\nChinese writing system.\n\nFrom left to right, we have: oracle bone script (甲骨文{こうこつぶん}), bronze script\n(金文{きんぶん}), seal script (篆文{てんぶん}), and then modern handwriting (traditional\nand Japanese simplified). Oracle bone script is the earliest attested form of\nthe Chinese script.\n\nOne theory is that the character 樂 depicts a set of drums mounted on a rack --\nthis can be better seen from the oracle bone inscription.", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-11T17:47:02.837", "id": "28618", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T07:14:50.060", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-12T07:14:50.060", "last_editor_user_id": "816", "owner_user_id": "816", "parent_id": "28617", "post_type": "answer", "score": 10 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28622", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I saw this in an anime clip: the context was, \"What're you making me say.\"\n\nIs that simply a contraction or am I missing some conjugation or inflection\nhere?\n\nThe first is the original and the second is what I think it could write out\nto...?", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T04:46:02.097", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28621", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T06:32:58.227", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11404", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "grammar", "contractions" ], "title": "「何言わせんのよ」=「何言わせるのよ」?", "view_count": 176 }
[ { "body": "It is simply a contraction. (Well, I am not sure what word is phonologically\ncorrect. But, this change does not change its meaning.) We still use both\nexpressions, but mainly left when it is pronounced.\n\n音便 :\n<https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9F%B3%E4%BE%BF#.E6.92.A5.E9.9F.B3.E4.BE.BF>", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T06:32:58.227", "id": "28622", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T06:32:58.227", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28621", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "I am really confused with the phrase \"やる気が違います\" that I saw used as a Twitter\nhashtag. The literal meaning is: \"The motivation is different (than usual or\naverage?)\"\n\nIs there some subtle nuance in the meaning of \"違います\" that I am not aware of?\nOr does it simply mean \"The motivation is wrong (or misdirected)\"?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T08:20:27.323", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28624", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T11:23:32.937", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-12T09:11:31.530", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11081", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "words", "meaning" ], "title": "The \"違います\" in the phrase \"やる気が違います\"", "view_count": 146 }
[ { "body": "A good first question!\n\nIt would only benefit you to be able to use 「[違]{ちが}う」 for this rather\nimportant meaning. _**It means \"better\", \"at a higher level\", etc.**_, which\nis almost the opposite of what you were thinking.\n\n> 「やる[気]{き}が違います。」\n>\n> thus, means \"Our/My motivation is higher than theirs/others'.\"\n\nDepending on the context, it could also mean \"Our/My motivation is higher than\nbefore.\"\n\nThis 「違う」 is used quite often in advertisement as well as in our everyday\nconversations (for example 「やっぱりプロは違います」).\n\nSee definition ちが・う〔ちがふ〕【違う】一-1-㋑ in\n[デジタル大辞泉](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%81%95%E3%81%86-559103#E3.83.87.E3.82.B8.E3.82.BF.E3.83.AB.E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E6.B3.89)\n:「両者の間に隔たりがある。差がある。また、 **他と異なって[勝]{まさ}っている** 。」", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T08:49:34.080", "id": "28625", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T11:23:32.937", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28624", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "At the job fair for college students some presenters jokingly mentioned a\nJapanese drama in which a company had a special department full of incompetent\nor inefficient employees. The company had decided to place them in that\nspecial department instead of firing them. Unfortunately I don't remember the\nname of the department nor the name of the TV drama.\n\nIs there a common name for such a department? Does it really exist in real\nworld Japanese companies?", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T08:59:07.533", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28626", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T13:00:13.657", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-15T13:00:13.657", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11417", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "words", "slang", "business-japanese" ], "title": "A department in a company where unproductive employees are transferred to instead of being fired", "view_count": 197 }
[ { "body": "That \"department\" is most commonly called 「[窓際部署]{まどぎわぶしょ}」 even though it is\nnever an \"official\" department.\n\nThe word 「[窓際]{まどぎわ}」 means \"by the window\" and it is used because the\nemployees placed in the above mentioned \"department\" have little to do except\nlooking out the window all day every day.\n\nThose employees, by the way, are commonly called 「窓際[族]{ぞく}」.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T06:08:08.187", "id": "28654", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T10:20:15.113", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-14T10:20:15.113", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28626", "post_type": "answer", "score": 6 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28629", "answer_count": 1, "body": "To what extent does テレビ refer to the physical TV as opposed to the medium\ntelevision? In other words, is it correct to say テレビを買う rather than テレビ台を買う?\n\nGoogling, I find equally many occurrences of both phrases, but significantly\nmore using \"台\" if I replace テレビ with ラジオ.", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T10:34:19.863", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28628", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-13T00:28:20.597", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-12T10:47:55.327", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11419", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "word-choice" ], "title": "テレビ台 vs テレビ to refer to the physical TV?", "view_count": 138 }
[ { "body": "テレビ台 stands for a \"television stand\" like [this one](http://amzn.to/1OwbVzd).\n\nテレビ stands both for a \"television\" as a medium (e.g. テレビの力, テレビ朝日) and a\n\"television set\" (e.g. 液晶テレビ).\n\nテレビ also stands for what in some English words wood be the prefix \"tele-\" or\n\"video-\", like テレビ会議 for a \"videoconference\".\n\n台 is a counter for devices, so テレビ1台 means \"one television set\" and Google\nresults could be affected by content containing such strings close to each\nother.\n\n* * *\n\nAdditional information:\n\nThere is an older and more technical term\n[テレビ受像機](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93%E5%8F%97%E5%83%8F%E6%A9%9F)\nfor a television set.\n\nテレビジョン is a synonym for テレビ and describes medium, technology, and devices used\nfor video transmission.\n\nAnd \"TV\" as a broadcasting company is usually called\n[テレビジョン放送局](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E6%94%BE%E9%80%81%E5%B1%80).", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T10:44:28.170", "id": "28629", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-13T00:28:20.597", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-13T00:28:20.597", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11104", "parent_id": "28628", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28635", "answer_count": 2, "body": "I was talking to a person and they used:\n\n> 大切にしたくなるよ。\n\nDoes that mean I have come to cherish or something like that?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T14:11:23.570", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28632", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T15:14:15.380", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-12T15:14:15.380", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "8098", "post_type": "question", "score": 9, "tags": [ "meaning", "verbs", "subsidiary-verbs" ], "title": "What does verb + くなる imply or mean?", "view_count": 18828 }
[ { "body": "Are you familiar with N + になる? (To become N). It's also done w/ verb forms &\nadjectives ending in い. The い becomes く then add なる.\n\n```\n\n For adjectives:\n 大きい -> 大きくなる (Big -> Become Big)\n 狭い -> 狭くなる\n \n Similarly, this can be done w/ verbs\n したい -> したくなる (want to do - > become to want to do)\n 行きたい -> 行きたくなる (Want to go -> become to want to go)\n \n```\n\nObviously the above are literal translations. \"Makes **_ want to _** \" is\nusually better but needs context.\n\nHope that helps.", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T14:28:03.710", "id": "28633", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T14:28:03.710", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "7550", "parent_id": "28632", "post_type": "answer", "score": 6 }, { "body": "> Does that mean I have come to cherish or something like that?\n\nYes, that is precisely the idea!\n\nNow, a grammar explanation...\n\n「なる」 here means \" ** _to reach a certain (new) state_** \" and you will keep\nencountering this usage of the word as long as you study Japanese. That is a\npromise from a native speaker.\n\n> 「[連用形]{れんようけい} (continuative form) + なる」= \"to become ~~\", \"to start doing\n> ~~\", etc.\n\n「たく」 is the 連用形 of the subsidiary verb 「たい」(\"to want to\"); therefore,\n「~~したくなる」 means \"to start wanting to ~~\". (「し」 is the 連用形 of「する」)\n\n「[赤]{あか}くなる」 = \"to turn red\". 「赤く」 is the 連用形 of 「赤い」.\n\n「パリに[行]{い}きたくなった。」 = \"I have started wanting to go to Paris.\"", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T15:06:31.960", "id": "28635", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T15:06:31.960", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28632", "post_type": "answer", "score": 19 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28638", "answer_count": 2, "body": "I assume \"todomerumono\" or 留める物 is the \"a place to stay\".\n\nSomething like \"留める物が要する\"?\n\nSince 要する is to need... It's a very direct translation.\n\nI'm trying to write stories in Japanese to learn words, and this story\ninvolves the heroine asking for a place to stay. The land is fantasy/magical\nand pre-industrial in case that affects word choice.\n\n--- UPDATE ---\n\nThe heroine is saying it.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T18:00:55.927", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28636", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T23:22:33.733", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-12T18:39:40.580", "last_editor_user_id": "9587", "owner_user_id": "9587", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "word-choice" ], "title": "How does one say \"I need a place to stay\"?", "view_count": 1302 }
[ { "body": "You know, for a first guess, that's really good. In modern Japanese I would\nprobably say something like\n\n泊まる場所がいる\n\n泊まる場所 (tomaru basho = crashing/staying-place = a place to stay)\n\nが (particle GA)\n\nいる need\n\nYou can also riff on what you've got by saying\n\n泊まる場所が必要です\n\n必要です (hitsuyou desu) = is necessary\n\n要する, although properly placed conceptually in translation, actually means\nsomething like \"in summation\" and in usually used in the form of 要するに.\n\n(simple english / japanese example) There were three thousand blue flowers,\nten thousand green flowers, and five thousand white flowers, 要するに, there were\na lot of flowers.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T22:17:21.213", "id": "28637", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T22:17:21.213", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "9542", "parent_id": "28636", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 }, { "body": "I think it's more common in Japanese to use 'want' instead of 'need' (or just\nimplications of necessity/desire) when you're talking about oneself--\notherwise, it comes off as a bit strong or desperate. If the heroine is indeed\nasking in such a way, then sova's answer would work.\n\nOtherwise, here are some roundabout (but more 'Japanese') ways to go about it:\n\n> 泊まれるところを探していますが… \n> I'm looking for a place where I can stay [and would you happen to know of\n> any?]...\n>\n> 泊まる場所、ありますか? \n> Is there a place to stay? [Hopefully in your house?]", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-12T23:22:33.733", "id": "28638", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-12T23:22:33.733", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "9132", "parent_id": "28636", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28641", "answer_count": 1, "body": "This is used in an imperative sense: \"If there's anything you don't\nunderstand, just ask.\"\n\nI wanted to know how the particles worked to give this tone, since, without\nthe particles, it could've been a general sentence saying \"I/you/we ask things\nI/you/we don't understand.\"", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T01:53:33.513", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28639", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T03:15:26.070", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-14T03:15:26.070", "last_editor_user_id": "5229", "owner_user_id": "11404", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "usage", "sentence-final-particles", "imperatives" ], "title": "「わからない事は聞くのよ」What makes this imperative?", "view_count": 136 }
[ { "body": "Even though it may look like an imperative **_in that translation_** , it\nwould not be expressly called \"imperative\" among us native speakers. It is\nonly \"imperative-ish\" at best.\n\n「のよ」 makes a phrase a soft-sounding and mostly-feminine way to remind the\nlistener of the need to perform a certain action (as in a good piece of\nadvice).\n\n「わからない事は聞く **のよ** 。」: mostly feminine\n\n「わからない事は聞く **んだよ** 。」: largely but not entirely masculine", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T02:29:35.780", "id": "28641", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-13T02:29:35.780", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28639", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "There is a quote from Matsuo Basho:\n\n> 古人の跡を求めず、古人の求めしところを求めよ\n\nNowadays, would a phrase 人の跡を求める be understood as \"to follow someone\"s\nfootsteps\". Would it be grammatically valid in contemporary Japanese?\n\nWas it grammatically correct in the times of Basho? Or was it already a play\non words, ie. it would be invalid without the latter part.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T01:55:30.670", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28640", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-13T08:27:51.770", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-13T02:56:57.180", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11104", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "archaic-language", "poetry" ], "title": "Would a phrase 人の跡を求める be understood without a reference to Basho?", "view_count": 161 }
[ { "body": "_Follow_ might be a slightly misleading verb here, because it is too narrow,\nand can sometimes have a negative connotation of passivity. There's a\ndifference between _seeking_ my mother's advice and _following_ it.\n\nI noticed how “ _seek to follow_ the _foot_ steps” is the widely disseminated\ntranslation for this quote, but literally it is more like a simple “ _seek_\nthe _traces_ ”. (“Seek not the traces of your predecessors…”) In that sense,\n“Xの跡を求める” is still grammatically valid and used today, whether X is a person\nor thing.\n\nSome examples:\n\n * 愛しい女性の **跡を求めて** 旅立つ \nSet out on a journey _seeking the traces_ of a beloved woman\n\n * 神社の **跡を求めて** ジャングルの中を歩く \nWalk in the jungle _seeking the traces_ of a shrine\n\n * 夢の **跡を求めて** パリにやってくる \nCome to Paris _seeking the traces_ of a dream\n\nTo more closely match the English notion of “ _following_ someone's footsteps”\nor “ _following in_ someone's footsteps”, there are other suitable verbs with\nvarying applications and nuances, e.g. 跡をたどる, 跡を追う, 跡を継ぐ. The 跡 part can also\nbe altered to specify the kind of trace, like 足跡 (footsteps) or 軌跡\n(path/track).", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T08:27:51.770", "id": "28645", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-13T08:27:51.770", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "888", "parent_id": "28640", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28649", "answer_count": 1, "body": "> 故に客観的に見れば、怪物祭は都市の運営に目を瞑{つむ}らせる、市民へのガス抜きと捉えられてしまっても仕方がなかった。\n> **それこそ、先日バベルの中で誹謗{ひぼう}され、エイナ自身がそれを耳にしてしまうくらいには。**\n\nI'm having trouble with the last sentence, especially the くらいには at the end.\nWhat exactly does it do?\n\nCan someone help break that sentence down for me?\n\nThanks!\n\nContext:[![enter image description\nhere](https://i.stack.imgur.com/a1jdM.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/a1jdM.png)", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T06:25:46.610", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28642", "last_activity_date": "2015-11-19T12:26:35.913", "last_edit_date": "2015-11-19T12:26:35.913", "last_editor_user_id": "888", "owner_user_id": "10316", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "grammar" ], "title": "Can someone help break down それこそ〜くらいには?", "view_count": 699 }
[ { "body": "それこそ、 has several meanings. In this case, it emphasises the degree of a\nphrase. This is difficult for me to explain because こそ's meaning is basically\nan emphasis of a previous word.\n\nHere is an example of それこそ、〜くらいには。.\n\nExample:\n\n> 熱いから気をつけてね。それこそ、やけどするくらいには。 (Beware because it is hot. It is so hot that it\n> makes you burn.)\n\nIn this sentence, それこそ、means \"I am not exaggerating the degree.\"\n\nLet's get back to the original sentence.\n\n> それこそ、先日バベルの中で誹謗され、エイナ自身がそれを耳にしてしまうくらいには。\n\nThe last verb is abbreviated. And, it should be decided from the context,\nusually the previous verb, (市民へのガス抜きと捉えられてしまっても仕方がなかった). But, from the\ncontext, the paragraph has been changed just before this sentence, so I think\nit points more vague idea like \"citizens displeased with ギルド and 怪物祭.\"\n\n> それこそ、[先日バベルの中で(怪物祭 or\n> ギルドが)誹謗され、エイナ自身がそれ(誹謗されたこと)を耳にしてしまう]くらいには(、市民が不満を募らせていた)。\n\nI used () to indicate words I filled in, and [] indicates grouping. I still\nthink the sentence is ambiguous, and you should decide from the content of 誹謗\nand the relationship between エイナ, 怪物祭 and ギルド. But, in other words, it is\nambiguous because the author did not need to explain it clearly.\n\nTranslation so far.\n\n> The degree of (the prejudice or the dissatisfaction of the citizens) was so\n> strong that (怪物祭 or ギルド) had been slandered in Babel and エイナ herself had\n> heard of it the other day.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T18:20:32.490", "id": "28649", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T06:16:27.767", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-14T06:16:27.767", "last_editor_user_id": "8010", "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28642", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28646", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Here is the sentence.\n\n新聞で **の** 寄付金詐欺をやったとき十万円 **もの** 大金を寄付した人がいただろう。\n\nRemoving them, does the meaning of the sentence change as much?", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T08:22:33.827", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28644", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-13T10:40:26.580", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-13T08:45:59.370", "last_editor_user_id": "9559", "owner_user_id": "9559", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "grammar" ], "title": "Can I omit 「の」and 「もの」in this sentence?", "view_count": 168 }
[ { "body": "**Can I omit「の」?**\n\nYes. If you do so, the sentence structure (← grammar) will change but the\nmeaning will be retained almost completely.\n\n> 「[新聞]{しんぶん} **での**\n> [寄付金詐欺]{きふきんさぎ}をやったとき、[十万円]{じゅうまんえん}もの[大金]{たいきん}を[寄付]{きふ}した人がいただろう。」\n\nHere, 「新聞 **での** 」 modifies 「寄付金詐欺」. 「新聞 **での** 」functions **_adjectivally_**.\n\n> 「新聞 **で** 寄付金詐欺をやったとき、十万円もの大金を寄付した人がいただろう。」\n\nIn this sentence, 「新聞 **で** 」 modifies 「やった」. 「新聞 **で** 」 functions\n**_adverbially_**.\n\nBoth sentences are grammatical and natural-sounding. They practically have the\nsame meaning as well.\n\n**Can I omit「もの」?**\n\nNo. You cannot omit the 「もの」 in 「十万円もの大金」 because you cannot say 「十万円大金」. If\nyou used 「という」 instead of 「もの」, it would at least be a grammatical phrase, but\n「もの」 will express the surprise much better.\n\n* * *\n\n***For learners interested in pitch accents, this 「もの」 is pronounced\ndifferently than 「もの」 meaning \"thing\". The pitch accent is on the 「も」 in this\n「もの」. It is on the 「の」 in 「[物]{もの}」 and 「[者]{もの}」.", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T08:44:27.197", "id": "28646", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-13T10:40:26.580", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-13T10:40:26.580", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28644", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28653", "answer_count": 1, "body": "> 「それじゃあ放課後、茶道室に来て下さい。 \n> そこでこれからのことを話し合いましょう」\n>\n> 先輩は校舎のほうへ走っていく。 \n> それに遅れ **まいと** 、こっちも校舎へと走り出した。\n\nWhy is the negative volitional used in the last sentence?", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T16:40:48.403", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28648", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T04:22:11.930", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "11352", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "grammar", "particle-と", "volitional-form" ], "title": "Negative volitional+と", "view_count": 628 }
[ { "body": "## Construction and meaning\n\nYou might have already encountered the positive volitional + と: this indicates\nsomething that the subject is _trying to do_ , such as 店{みせ}に行{い} **こうと** する:\n_to try to go_ to the store. The final verb is what is happening, and the\nvolitional verb before it is a kind of dependent hoped-for result: \" _suru_\n**so as to** _iku_ to the store\".\n\nThe positive form of your example above would be: 遅{おく}れ **ようと** …走り出した: \"[I]\nran off _to try to be later_ [than my sempai]\" → \"[I] ran off _so I would be\nlater_ [than my sempai]\".\n\nFrom this construction, we simply change it to the negative form: 遅れ **まいと**\n…走り出した: \"[I] ran off _to try to not be later_ [than my sempai]\" → \"[I] ran off\n_so I wouldn't [get there] later_ [than my sempai]\".\n\nThis construction using the negative volitional + と appears to be less common\nand it might be somewhat old-fashioned. In everyday usage, I'm more accustomed\nto seeing negative + ように, such as 遅れ **ないように** …走り出した. A few Google searches\nbroadly corroborate this general impression, but a native speaker could give\nmore definitive feedback.\n\n## Derivation\n\nThe -まい negative volitional ending most likely comes from the classical\nvolitional / presumptive ending -む. Modern -まい grew out of classical -まじ that\nconjugated almost like a classical _-shi/-ki_ adjective (modern _-i_\nadjective). This -まじ appears to be a compound of ま (the 未然形{みぜんけい} \"irrealis\nor incomplete form\" of む) + じ, an alternative negative volitional /\npresumptive ending (appearing in the\n[_Man'yōshū_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27y%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB) and [_The\nTale of Genji_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Genji), among other\nolder works). However, the conjugation similar to a _-shi/-ki_ adjective\nsuggests some influence from adjectivizing suffix じ, which Shogakukan\ndescribes as attaching to nouns and indicating \"that kind of quality\".\n\n### More history - the modern volitional\n\nNote that the classical volitional / presumptive ending -む evolved into the\nmodern volitional. For regular 五段{ごだん}活用{かつよう} (\"five-step conjugation\", i.e.\ntype 1) verbs where the ending changes, the -む suffix attaches to the\n未然形{みぜんけい} (\"irrealis or incomplete form\"), the stem form ending in _-a_ ,\nresulting in _-amu_. Over time, the _-mu_ suffix lost the \"m\" sound to become\njust _-u_ , with the combination becoming _-au_. This diphthong then shifted\ninto a long \"o\" sound, resulting in the modern volitional ending.\n\nFor the simpler 一段{いちだん}活用{かつよう} (\"one-step conjugation\", i.e. type 2) verbs,\nthe derivation is a little more complicated. Here too, the -む suffix attaches\nto the 未然形{みぜんけい} (\"irrealis or incomplete form\"), but the _mizenkei_ for\nthese verbs ends in either _-i_ or _-e_ -- the same stem ending for all forms.\nAs the _-mu_ suffix lost its \"m\", the resulting _-imu_ or _-emu_ endings\nbecome _-iu_ or _-eu_. These diphthongs similarly shifted, producing a\ncontracted _-yō_ , such as in classical 上{あ}ぎょう or 見{み}ょう. That contracted\n_-yō_ was then reanalyzed as a non-contracted suffix on its own, and was then\nadded back onto the _mizenkei_ stem of _-i_ or _-e_ , producing the modern\n_-iyō_ and _-eyō_ endings.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T23:38:25.027", "id": "28653", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T04:22:11.930", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-14T04:22:11.930", "last_editor_user_id": "5229", "owner_user_id": "5229", "parent_id": "28648", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28652", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Really struggling with the meaning of this sentence from ちびまる子ちゃん:\n\n> まさにうららか **としか** 言いようのない日だね\n\nMy rough translation effort\n\n> Surely, beautiful is the only way to describe this day\n\nBut I'm struggling to break down the grammar here, in particular the としか part.\n\nMy guess it that うららか is an onamatopeic kind of word and they seem to like to\ntake と and that is followed by しか meaning \"only\". So I would guess at \"Surely\n- beautiful - with the exception of - indescribable - day - is\". Or in other\nwords \"There's surely no way to describe the day other than beautiful\".\n\nAm I even close to a correct understanding here? If not please correct me.\nMany thanks.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T21:13:06.480", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28651", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-13T21:32:45.860", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-13T21:25:59.767", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "7944", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "grammar", "particle-と", "particle-しか" ], "title": "What does としか mean in this sentence?", "view_count": 1929 }
[ { "body": "Sounds good to me. You've got your general 〜という formation here, only it's a\nlittle embellished. 言いよう is a \"way/manner of speaking\"; in other words, a way\nto describe something. [麗]{うら}らか is not an onomotopœia, but an adjective\nmeaning \"beautiful\". 麗らかと言いようのある日 would be \"a day described as beautiful\".\nHowever, しか meaning \"only\" requires a negative verb, so it is changed to\n麗らかと言いようの **ない** 日.\n\nSo more literally it translates as\n\n> まさにうららかとしか言いようのない日だね → Surely, this is a day that cannot be described any\n> way other than beautiful. → Surely, beautiful is the only way to describe\n> this day.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-13T21:32:45.860", "id": "28652", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-13T21:32:45.860", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "78", "parent_id": "28651", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "I just want to ask if it is okay to say to your boss who is going home after\nwork お疲れ様でした気をつけてください or it is impolite?\n\nThank you", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T08:17:31.213", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28655", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T13:40:07.087", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-14T13:39:27.990", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11437", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "grammar", "word-choice", "words" ], "title": "is it okay to regularly say 気をつけてください to someone departing out?", "view_count": 320 }
[ { "body": "Yes and no.\n\nThe phrase 気を付けてください alone is in polite form (towards a person of a higher\nstanding slightly better would be: お気を付けてください). However it does feel a little\nbit more like \"please take care\" rather than casual English greeting \"take\ncare\". It would be strange if you used the phrase every single time a person\nleaves.\n\nTo strangers or people with whom you rarely meet, or towards a person you meet\nevery day, but in an unusual situation like a typhoon coming, a phrase\nお気を付けてお帰りください would be very appropriate.\n\nThen again, you might contract it to the previous お気を付けてください, or お気を付けて\ndepending on familiarity, context, characters left in an electronic message,\netc. I guess your teacher considered your situation of being late to be\nunusual.\n\n(お気を付けてください would be also appropriate for a variety of situations, like\ntowards someone going for a business trip, going abroad for holidays, or when\nyou want to be nice and show your gratitude for something (being invited to a\ndinner), but you asked specifically for \"going home after work\" and that might\nfeel a bit strange repeated day by day)\n\n(...yet again, if you make it a ritual to say so, you're good to go, then a\nshorter お気をつけて might work best, I guess)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T13:10:00.927", "id": "28658", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T13:40:07.087", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-14T13:40:07.087", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11104", "parent_id": "28655", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28660", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I have trouble with the last part of the following sentence, starting from the\nlast 私 (bolded):\n\n>\n> その読まれる作品は、たいてい私のものと、川添と云う少女のもので、私の作品が、たいていは家庭のことを書いているのに反して、川添と云う少女のは、森の梟{ふくろう}とか幻想の虹{にじ}とかいったハイカラなもので、\n> **私はその少女の作品から、「神秘的」なと云う愕{おどろ}くべき上品な言葉を知った。**\n\n(I've left the original furigana; source:\n<http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000291/card47785.html> )\n\nIs the な in 「神秘的」なと云う the attributive marker for the na-adjective 神秘的? It\nwould make sense but I always thought you had to have a full clause before という\n(not just the attributive form of a na-adjective). As I understand it, this\nparticular instance seems to be quoting from the girl's repertoire, as if\nsaying \"in her own words, she would call it _mysterious_.\"\n\nAlso, I am a bit confused as to what is being qualified here since 云う, 愕くべき\nand 上品な are all in their attributive form. I'm reading it as 愕くべき上品 (\"a\nwonderful elegance\") and simiarly 「神秘的」なと云う上品 (\"one that could be called\n_mysterious_ \"), but please correct me if I'm wrong. (By the way, is there a\nreason why 云う is not in the continuative form? Both 上品 and 言葉 already have\nqualifiers in the attributive form so I thought a second qualifier should come\nin the continuative form.)\n\nTentative (rough) translation: From her work, I learnt words whose surprising\nelegance could be called \"mysterious.\"\n\nThanks!", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T08:48:57.920", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28656", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T16:49:12.883", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11436", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "grammar", "particle-と", "na-adjectives" ], "title": "Na-adjective in attributive form before という?", "view_count": 267 }
[ { "body": "Obviously that な is a part of the na-adjective 神秘的な. I think this sentence is\nusually written either as:\n\n> 「神秘的な」と云う愕くべき上品な言葉を知った。\n\nOr:\n\n> 「神秘的」と云う愕くべき上品な言葉を知った。\n\nI don't know whether this tricky usage of brackets was intended by the author.\nBut I think the original text is considered strange at least by today's\nstandards.\n\nHere \"「神秘的(な)」\" is in apposition with 愕くべき上品な言葉 (literally \"surprising elegant\nword\"). My translation would be \"I learnt this surprisingly elegant word,\ncalled _mysterious_.\"", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T16:49:12.883", "id": "28660", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T16:49:12.883", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "5010", "parent_id": "28656", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28659", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Would it be valid in casual Japanese conversation to use the term\n不条理劇{ふじょうりげき} or 不条理演劇{ふじょうりえんげき} to describe a situation in which for example\ntwo parties A and B are talking to each other using nonsensical arguments or\nacting in illogical way in response to each other?\n\nIf not what other word might be used to describe such a situation?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T10:24:07.850", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28657", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-29T20:57:28.133", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-29T20:57:28.133", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11104", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "loanwords", "idioms", "word-requests" ], "title": "Can the phrase 不条理劇 \"a theatre of absurd\" be used figuratively in Japanese?", "view_count": 121 }
[ { "body": "You mean, to describe such nonsensical situations in general, rather than to\nactually talk about [this kind of\ntheatre](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8D%E6%9D%A1%E7%90%86%E6%BC%94%E5%8A%87)?\nThen, no, I think most people do not recognize the word 不条理(演)劇, and I have\nnever heard or seen \"不条理劇みたいな会話をした\" or something like that.\n\nThe first word that came into my mind to describe such a situation is シュールな,\nwhich is a loanword from \"surrealism\". I don't know the usage of this word in\nEnglish, but Japanese people use シュール often (at least more often than 不条理な or\nナンセンスな) to describe something nonsense yet funny, impressive but difficult to\ninterpret. It's too difficult for me to fully convey the feelings of this\nword, but don't believe the dictionary definition and try googling シュールな会話 or\nシュールなマンガ.", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T16:23:10.913", "id": "28659", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T16:50:30.653", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-14T16:50:30.653", "last_editor_user_id": "5010", "owner_user_id": "5010", "parent_id": "28657", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28663", "answer_count": 3, "body": "A person asks another if he knows the meaning of a certain word and he\nreplies:\n\n> ううん、なんとなく使っているけど、でも、こう、 **なんていうか** 、...\n>\n> No, I somehow use it but ??? ...\n\nMy guess is that it means \"Why do I say it?\" but なんて doesn't mean \"why\". Can\nthis phrase be decomposed or is it a fixed thing I should learn?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T17:01:56.210", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28661", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T23:33:24.060", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "7944", "post_type": "question", "score": 5, "tags": [ "grammar" ], "title": "What does なんていうか mean in this sentence", "view_count": 3050 }
[ { "body": "It's a filler phrase.\n\nIt doesn't really mean much, but it's like asking yourself \"How should I put\nit?\" The speaker doesn't quite know what to say next, so they say that. We do\nthe same thing in English sometimes.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T17:58:44.473", "id": "28662", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T17:58:44.473", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28661", "post_type": "answer", "score": 9 }, { "body": "なんていうか (or なんというか) in this context is a filler phrase used when one is trying\nto find an appropriate phrase. It's an equivalent of \"let's see\", \"what can I\nsay\" or \"you know\", and you should memorize it as-is.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T17:58:45.293", "id": "28663", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T17:58:45.293", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "5010", "parent_id": "28661", "post_type": "answer", "score": 8 }, { "body": "The other two answers are literally correct: なんていうか... is an idiomatic phrase\nthat may be translated as \"how should I say...\" but may vary depending on\ncontext.\n\nThat said, I'll offer a dissenting opinion: without more context it's hard to\nsay, but it's reasonable to guess that the speaker actually has a fairly\nnegative opinion of this thing they're using, but doesn't want to complain or\nbe directly negative about it. This is not an uncommon trend: for example, the\nword \"いまいち\" is now by convention understood to mean \"not passable\" even though\nit's thoroughly indirect.\n\nAs a listener, being asked to complete the trailing sentence, I would assume\nthat the speaker is definitely not having a fun time with whatever it is.\n\nThis doesn't conflict with the interpretation offered by either of the two\nanswers prior to this one.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T23:33:24.060", "id": "28671", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T23:33:24.060", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "3131", "parent_id": "28661", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 3, "body": "I've read that HN is used as an abbreviation (略) of \"Handle Name\". Why was\nHandle Name abbreviated in Japanese instead of the much more common, at least\nin English, \"User Name\" or even the good old \"Screen Name\"? Or does this\nabbreviation predate the internet era?", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T19:21:42.963", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28664", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T19:04:34.047", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-15T20:08:41.113", "last_editor_user_id": "10045", "owner_user_id": "10045", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "etymology", "internet-slang", "wasei-eigo" ], "title": "The origin of \"HN\"", "view_count": 1410 }
[ { "body": "Thanks to jogloran's suggestion, I did some research on if \"Handle Name\" is a\n和製英語 word. To summarize from [these](http://gogen-\nallguide.com/ha/hundle_name.html) [sources](http://www.cam.hi-\nho.ne.jp/mendoxi/bug/handle-name.html):\n\n 1. [\"Handle Name\"]{ハンドルネーム} is thought by many Japanese to be derived from [\"Handle\"]{ハンドル}. However, since the word \"Handle\" is so commonly used in Japan to refer to the steering wheel of a vehicle, the word \"Name\" was also attached to prevent confusion. This confusion doesn't really exist in English.\n\n 2. Many people think that ハンドルネーム is a 和製英語 word. But there is some evidence of the word being utilized the same way in English.\n\n 3. Handle was once used to refer to one's titles in English. [Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8F%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%83%AB%E3%83%8D%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0) gives as an 1870 [example](https://books.google.com/books?id=-QYUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA222&lpg=PA222&dq=I%20would%20rather%20be%20called%20%E2%80%98Big-Foot%20Wallace%E2%80%99%20than%20%E2%80%98Lying%20Wallace%E2%80%99.%E2%80%A5%20Such%20handles%20to%20my%20name%20would%20not%20be%20agreeable#v=onepage&q=I%20would%20rather%20be%20called%20%E2%80%98Big-Foot%20Wallace%E2%80%99%20than%20%E2%80%98Lying%20Wallace%E2%80%99.%E2%80%A5%20Such%20handles%20to%20my%20name%20would%20not%20be%20agreeable&f=false): \n\n> I would rather be called \"Big-Foot Wallace\" than \"Lying Wallace,\" or\n> \"Thieving Wallace.\" Such **handles** to my name would not be agreeable 1890\n\n 4. From that meaning, handle transitioned in English to being [used](http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/jargon/jargon.html#handle) as slang to describe the nicknames of amateur radio operators (CB Radio). To quote from [Yahoo answers](https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061231221047AA0Igd2): \n\n> A CB Radio is a Ciitizen Band like a walkie talkie that goes for miles,\n> truckers used them to communicate between each other, and then people in\n> cars used it.... People would talk LIKE Breaker breaker good buddy over and\n> out------stuff like that people had their own **Handle name** Not Screen\n> Name Or E-Mail address but similar.\n\n 5. At some point, this terminology transferred over to the early Japanese Internet. \n\n 6. It's possible that AOL first coined the word \"screen name\", which only appeared in the mid-1990s ([source](http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/jargon/jargon.html#screen%20name)). I'm not sure as to how popular they were in Japan, but apparently the term \"screen name\" didn't quite catch on. \n\n 7. User name is probably more popular than HN, but I think maybe UN would be too similar to an actual japanese word and possibly cause confusion with the abbreviation.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T23:14:34.560", "id": "28697", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T23:33:33.030", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-15T23:33:33.030", "last_editor_user_id": "10045", "owner_user_id": "10045", "parent_id": "28664", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Simple really. Handle name is older than User name. Handle name was used\nextensively in the pre-internet BBS era, as well as the early internet and\namong HAM radio operators.\n\nThis is likely a case of an early English moving over to Japanese and then\nsticking. There was no reason to change it, since the foreign word maps to a\nconcept anyhow.\n\nI remember when it was important to have a good handle. Memories.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T06:46:13.997", "id": "28704", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T06:46:13.997", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "17", "parent_id": "28664", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 }, { "body": "I remember in the 90s, at least in casual usage, we most often called them\nsimply ハンドル, and not ハンドルネーム. Though ハンドルネーム was used too, it was more for\ncontexts where ハンドル on its own would be misunderstood. (This is similar to how\nsalsa is sometimes called サルサソース, for people who are not yet familiar with\nwhat salsa is, let alone know that _salsa_ means sauce!)\n\nIn those days, it was not uncommon for English speakers to refer to their\nonline names as _handles_ too.\n\nThe strongest reason why the abbreviation “HN” exists is probably as a\nvariation of the already established “PN”, or _pen name_. In Japan,\nlisteners/viewers/readers write in to radio shows, TV shows, and magazines\nwith pseudonyms, which are often called ペンネーム and abbreviated “P.N.” or “PN”.\n\nSimilar to ハンドルネーム, these ペンネーム are often very silly and not name-like at all\n(in the sense that _Mark Twain_ is name-like). [Some famous\nペンネーム](http://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/%E3%83%8F%E3%82%AC%E3%82%AD%E8%81%B7%E4%BA%BA)\ninclude メルヘンうんこ, 竜王は生きていた, and シュラ種種種.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T19:04:34.047", "id": "28712", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T19:04:34.047", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "888", "parent_id": "28664", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "38624", "answer_count": 2, "body": "I have always thought that -です/-ます should be use only at the end of a sentence\nbut some japanese friends told me it sound more polite to use it with every\nverbs. What should I say between, by exemple:\n\n映画を見に行くので、今日は会えません。 (this one seems more natural for me) \n映画を見に行きますので、今日は会えません。\n\n道にいる男は面白いですね \n道にいます男は面白いですね (this one feels definitly wrong)\n\n彼は弟だがそんなに仲が良くないです。 \n彼は弟ですがそんなに仲が良くないです。 (and this one sounds to be the correct one with me)\n\ndo you know the precise rule?", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T21:46:09.350", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28666", "last_activity_date": "2016-11-24T22:20:05.140", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-15T06:49:43.977", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "11349", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "keigo", "conjunctions" ], "title": "Use of -です/-ます in the middle of a complex sentence", "view_count": 1515 }
[ { "body": "-ます form appears at the end of the sentence, terminating the sentence. Using ます in subordinate clauses is considered ungrammatical, like in your example \"道にいます男は面白いですね.\" \n\nHowever, when quoting someone or something, ます form is acceptable within the\nquote, unlike with subordinate clauses. For example, ナルトはつまらないですと聞いた (聞きました)\nis acceptable. It makes sense since you are quoting something that is not your\nown.\n\nThe reason why ます form is sentence terminating is because it only follows 終止形\n(しゅうしけい), the terminal case, which has merged with the 連体形 (れんたいけい), the\nattributive form, and the two forms have the same pronunciation. So 違い also\ngets ますtacked on, for 違います。", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T01:05:23.070", "id": "28675", "last_activity_date": "2016-11-24T22:20:05.140", "last_edit_date": "2016-11-24T22:20:05.140", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11445", "parent_id": "28666", "post_type": "answer", "score": -2 }, { "body": "Basic rules are:\n\n * **One polite marker per main clause** \nBeware that it's not \"per sentence\", since a sentence with coordinate\nconjunctions is deemed to have multiple top-level clauses tied with them.\n\n> 〔彼は弟だ〕が〔そんなに仲が良くない〕 + [politeness] \n> → 彼は弟 **です** がそんなに仲が良くない **です** 。 (polite markers retained) \n> × 彼は弟 **だ** がそんなに仲が良くない **です** 。\n>\n> 〔〔道にいる〕男は面白いね〕 + [politeness] \n> → 道に **いる** 男は面白い **です** ね。 (no polite marker for subordinate clause) \n> × 道に **います** 男は面白い **です** ね。\n\nHowever, there's a bit old-fashioned honorific usage you'll sometimes hear,\nwhich [puts polite markers even to relative\nclauses](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/11063/7810). Basically you don't\nneed to follow that custom unless you're working in high-rank service industry\nor speaking like a Victorian lady.\n\nAdditional examples in: [Masu te-form with\nKudasai?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/33996/7810)\n\n * **Polite or non-polite should agree in a sentence** \nIf a sentence has multiple main clauses, the politeness should agree. You\ncan't mix plain and polite forms together.\n\n> ○ 彼は弟ですがそんなに仲が良くないです。 \n> × 彼は弟ですがそんなに仲が良くない。 \n> × 彼は弟だがそんなに仲が良くないです。 \n> ○ 彼は弟だがそんなに仲が良くない。\n\nNote that some frequently used conjunctions, namely ので, のに, たら and と, have\nambiguous identity between coordinator and adverbial clause marker, thus\naccept both polite and non-polite endings in polite environment.\n\n* * *\n\nFurther readings:\n[従属節の従属度と丁寧形](https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=0eprLex8sr0C&lpg=PA507&ots=4KKjyWBzvB&hl=ja&pg=PA507#v=onepage),\n[従属節における丁寧体コピュラの自然さ](http://www.japanese-\nedu.org.hk/sympo/upload/manuscript/20121015070919.pdf)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2016-08-21T18:57:24.390", "id": "38624", "last_activity_date": "2016-08-21T18:57:24.390", "last_edit_date": "2017-04-13T12:43:44.397", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "7810", "parent_id": "28666", "post_type": "answer", "score": 7 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28670", "answer_count": 2, "body": "> 散歩__立ち寄った公園は、ダンスをするお年寄りたちで賑わっていた。\n>\n> 1.かたわら 2.かたがた 3.がてら 4.ついでに\n\nI chose かたがた but the correct answer is がてら. I could not understand the\ndifference. Any idea?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T22:22:04.613", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28667", "last_activity_date": "2019-05-04T15:22:03.043", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "6996", "post_type": "question", "score": 5, "tags": [ "jlpt" ], "title": "Difference between かたがた and がてら", "view_count": 796 }
[ { "body": "「かたがた」 is used to give both actions equal value. It only attaches to nouns (or\nsuru verbs) and is often used in formal sentences, especially for giving\nthanks, apologies, etc.\n\n「がてら」 gives more weight to the word it is attached to. It means that, in the\nmiddle of doing something, you did something else. For example, you can go on\na walk, and stop for a bite to eat on the way.\n\nIn your example, the phrase 「散歩 **がてら** 立ち寄った公園」 would make more sense because\nstopping at a park is done while on the walk.", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T23:28:10.567", "id": "28670", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-14T23:28:10.567", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "9749", "parent_id": "28667", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I believe ついでに must be in the form of noun+の/ dictionary-form/ た-form +ついでに;\nthus, 散歩のついでに/ 散歩するついでに/ 散歩したついでに", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2019-05-04T15:22:03.043", "id": "67969", "last_activity_date": "2019-05-04T15:22:03.043", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "33927", "parent_id": "28667", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28680", "answer_count": 3, "body": "I am not sure when Japanese started using Arabic numerals. At the time before\nit, can 十分 mean \"10 minutes\" other than \"enough\"?", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-14T22:54:44.970", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28669", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T10:54:33.890", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11192", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "meaning", "etymology" ], "title": "Before Japanese adopted Arabic numerals, can 十分 mean \"10 minutes\" other than \"enough\"?", "view_count": 616 }
[ { "body": "_In modern usage_ , 十分 both means _10 minutes_ (when it's read as じっぷん) and\n_enough_ (when it's read as じゅうぶん). For example, 十分待った may mean \"waited 10\nminutes\" or \"waited enough\", depending on the context. In horizontal writings,\nthe former tends to be 10分待った, but in Japanese texts written vertically, kanji\nnumerals are much more common.\n\nI don't know the historical usage of 十分, but as @macraf said in his comment,\nwestern clock system was not widely used before the introduction of Arabic\nnumerals, so I doubt there was a period when 十分 only meant _10 minutes_. (See:\n[Old Japanese time\nsystem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_clock#Traditional_Japanese_time_system)\nused until the Edo period, which did not have \"minutes\")\n\n**EDIT** : I don't know if this is important to OP, but to answer only what is\nexplicitly asked with some evidence, my answer would be \"Yes and no\". Arabic\nnumerals were officially _adopted_ in education by a law called\n[学制](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AD%A6%E5%88%B6) promulgated on August\n2nd, 1872, and Western-style calendar including the concept of minutes\nofficially came into use on January 1st, 1873. Therefore it is unlikely that\nordinary Japanese people used 十分 to mean _10 minutes_ before 1872; only a few\nprofessionals did.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T04:21:43.453", "id": "28680", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T10:28:16.710", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-15T10:28:16.710", "last_editor_user_id": "5010", "owner_user_id": "5010", "parent_id": "28669", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 }, { "body": "According to [this Wikipedia\narticle](https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%88%86), a notion of hours and\nminutes was introduced to common people in Japan by railway companies. The\nfirst timetable was published in 1872.\n\n[This article](https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%99%82%E5%88%BB%E8%A1%A8)\nmentions that Japanese numerals were used for timetables and in 1925 a\ntimetable was published with times printed using Arabic numerals (does not say\nexplicitly it was the first one, but it might be inferred).\n\nSo 十分 must had been used to indicate time before Arabic numerals became\nprevalent.", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T06:50:48.703", "id": "28685", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T07:05:21.500", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-15T07:05:21.500", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11104", "parent_id": "28669", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 }, { "body": "Here `分` has totally two different meanings.\n\n 1. minute, which is 1/60 hour.\n 2. a unit of measure, where `分` means 1/10, and `厘` means 1/100, `毛` or `毫` mean 1/1000 (see [命数法](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%91%BD%E6%95%B0%E6%B3%95))\n\nSo `十分` also has two meanings\n\n 1. 10 minutes\n 2. 10 times 1/10 = 1, which means a whole\n\nBTW: Japanese `分` is influenced by Chinese `分` which has been used for more\nthan 2000 years, and `十分` is also a very old Chinese word.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T10:54:33.890", "id": "28690", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T10:54:33.890", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "3227", "parent_id": "28669", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 0, "body": "Is this an idiomatic thing? Or an exception? Maybe both are possible?", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T00:29:38.547", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28672", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T00:29:38.547", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11404", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "grammar", "particle-の" ], "title": "「輪郭の柔らかな瓜実顔」Why is it 「の」instead 「が」?", "view_count": 45 }
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28682", "answer_count": 1, "body": "The phone below has a _Choose language_ menu in which you can choose your\nlanguage from a multitude of languages and variants, including _日本語(アメリカ合衆国)_\n:\n\n[![American\nJapanese](https://i.stack.imgur.com/L7WAYm.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/L7WAYm.png)\n\n**QUESTION: Is there really an American Japanese language variant?** \nIf yes, how different is it from Tokyo Japanese?\n\nNotes:\n\n * The title of the dialog is _Change language_ , and units/date format/first day of week/etc are covered by a different dialog.\n * Another choice is _Italiano (Sudafrica)_. Even though it might sound surprising, there actually [is](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_South_African) a variant of Italian in South Africa.\n * A Google search shows that the `ja_US` locale seems to be used by quite a few people. Example taken from a technical mailing list (I don't imply that this person is right, I just say that this point of view exists):\n\n> you can configure Wine to display Japanese by using the LC_ALL enviroment\n> variable. In the United States, set it to ja_US, and in Japan, set it to\n> ja_JP. The reason for the localization difference is because programs\n> compensate for the different dialects of a language across different nations\n> (think en_US and en_GB, one for the US and one for England.)", "comment_count": 7, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T00:52:01.007", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28674", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T06:20:53.283", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-15T06:20:53.283", "last_editor_user_id": "107", "owner_user_id": "107", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "dialects" ], "title": "Does the Japanese language have an American variant?", "view_count": 240 }
[ { "body": "No, there is no such thing as \"American nihongo\". As the comments have\nsuggested, we can assume this has something to do with \"locale\" settings, such\nas date formats (although it's hard to see how writing dates in American would\nactually help Japanese speakers), and perhaps things like units (where\nJapanese speakers in America will perforce be using \"American customary\" units\nlike 'inch' and 'gallon'). It helps if you understand that 99% of the people\ninvolved in so-called localisation have no clue how language works, and so you\ncan expect that this stuff will not make sense. (My computer is set to use\nsomething called \"Danish English\", because that's the most usable option I\nhave found; I am English and live in Japan.)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T05:27:05.147", "id": "28682", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T05:27:05.147", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "7717", "parent_id": "28674", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 3, "body": "According to the tobira textbook, ~だけでなく、~も~, means \"not only ~, but also ~\".\nOne example they give is, 日本語はひらがなだけでなく、カタカナや漢字も覚えなくてはいけません。\n\nFor the last two examples, the grammar phrase being taught changes to\n~だけじゃなくて、~も~. The examples are\n\n * このアパートは駅から近くて便利なだけじゃなくて、家賃も安いから、借りることにした。 \n * その映画は面白いだけじゃなくて、音楽もいいよ。 \n\nDo だけでなく and だけじゃなく both have the same meaning here? I'm assuming they are the\nsame or similar but I'm not sure. Is one a less formal version or the other?\nAre they identical?\n\nAlso, in my second example, why is 便利 followed by なだけ instead of just だけ? Is\nだけ perhaps a noun that 便利 is modifying?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T03:51:26.360", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28678", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T19:51:31.740", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-17T09:55:25.310", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "11296", "post_type": "question", "score": 12, "tags": [ "grammar" ], "title": "だけでなく and だけじゃなくて", "view_count": 11395 }
[ { "body": "* だけじゃなく is an informal/casual form of だけでなく. \n\n * It's not \"便利 + なだけ\", but \"便利な (na-adjective) + だけ\".", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T04:25:56.257", "id": "28681", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T04:25:56.257", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11446", "parent_id": "28678", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I'll add an answer to your second question, to clarify Doncot's answer which\nfeels rather partial.\n\nじゃない is indeed a casual form of でない\n\nWhen used to modify a whole sentence, だけ attaches to the _rentaikei_ of the\nprevious word. That's a fancy way for saying that if a sentence has だ at the\nend, it should be replaced with な:\n\n * verbs: このボタンを押すだけでいいよ。 (no change)\n * i-adjectives: 話し相手がほしいだけだ。 (no change)\n * nouns and 'na-adjectives': 必要なだけのお金を持ってきて。\n\nThe word also attaches to な-adjectives with the な intact: 好きなだけ", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T09:31:50.410", "id": "28739", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T09:47:30.117", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-17T09:47:30.117", "last_editor_user_id": "6820", "owner_user_id": "6820", "parent_id": "28678", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 }, { "body": "The difference between でない and ではない is directly connected to the semantic\nimpression the topic particle は would give in normal circumstances.\n\nではない appears to be generally preferred in distinct, independent predicative\nphrases, or when you are about to say \"Something _'is'_ something, and so\nthat...\":\n\n * このアパートは駅から近くて便利なだけじゃなくて...\n\n\"This apartment _is_ not only convenient being near a station...\"\n\n * その映画は面白いだけじゃなくて...\n\n\"The movie _is_ not only interesting...\"\n\n * 人間たちが定命の者ではなかったら、間違いなく神にもっとも近い種族だったでしょう...\n\n\"If human beings _are_ not who lay down fate...\"\n\nWhereas でない can be seen employed in other environments including but not\nlimited to:\n\n 1. objects dependent on a verb phrase: \n\n日本語はひらがなだけでなく、カタカナや漢字も覚えなくてはいけません...\n\n\"For Japanese you have to learn not only hiragana...\"\n\n 2. direct attributives which modify nouns:\n\n観光コースでない沖縄\n\n嫡出でない子\n\nThis type is rather straightforward.\n\n 3. When directly preceding, especially having an immediate causal connection to, the main event/verb of the sentence: \n\nママでなくてよかったよ...\n\n\"Good that it wasn't mom...\". In Japanese grammar context this use is closely\nrelated to the one above since adjectival/adverbial constructions are viewed\nas parallel, but such adverbial ones often lack a literal English parsing. In\nthis case, *ママではなくてよかった would have meant something along the lines of \"It\nwasn't mom, but (I was? That thing who wasn't mom was?) good\" which doesn't\nmake any sense since は would have elevated that part of the phrase to an\nindependent level parallel to the main event よかった. To use は in this context,\nyou have to add extra conjunctions and say for example ママではなかったからよかった.\n\nヒールでないとダメ...\n\nSimilar to above. ヒールでなくダメ can also be correct, with the former putting more\nemphasis on a general case \"if\" and the latter more of a specific instance\nsuch as when a woman is stopped right before the entrance of a high-heel only\nvenue.\n\nand one final example:\n\n試験は優秀でないと合格できない...\n\nwhich is almost exactly the same as the one above.\n\n 4. isolated phrases where the integrity of a full sentence is not as emphasized; frequently in titles:\n\n愛でなく\n\n感覚でなく思考", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T19:51:31.740", "id": "28782", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T19:51:31.740", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11489", "parent_id": "28678", "post_type": "answer", "score": 9 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28689", "answer_count": 2, "body": "These are the lyrics\n\n> でも 全部わかってしまったらどうすればいいの.\n\nMy question regards the _ii no_ at the end. The translation I found was that\nit means \"But when I know everything, what do I do then?\" So what does it mean\nexactly?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T06:06:21.650", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28683", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T19:29:09.547", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-15T19:29:09.547", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11200", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "song-lyrics" ], "title": "いいの? What does it mean?", "view_count": 5247 }
[ { "body": "I might say\n\n> but even if I wound up knowing everything, what should I do then?\n\nMy reasons for this different suggestion are two-fold.\n\n 1. しまう is a \"helping verb\" that means \"wind up\" or \"end up\"\n 2. どうすればいい does literally mean \"what would be good to do\", but generally \"what should I do?\"", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T09:33:00.880", "id": "28689", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T09:33:00.880", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "4091", "parent_id": "28683", "post_type": "answer", "score": 6 }, { "body": "の, with rising intonation, can be used to ask a question. Without rising\nintonation, it can be used to answer a question. You may wish to research\n\"explanatory particles\" which is what this is.\n\nThe question you quoted could be answered with:\n\n> 全部わかってしまったら何もしなくていいの (If you wind up knowing everything, you should do\n> nothing)\n\nThe question you quoted is equivalent (though with slightly different nuance /\npoliteness) to:\n\n> でも 全部わかってしまったらどうすればいいのか (question particle か explicitly included)\n>\n> でも 全部わかってしまったらどうすればいいのですか (polite)\n>\n> でも 全部わかってしまったらどうすればいいんですか (の contracted to ん, to the best of my knowledge\n> only if followed by だ or です)", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T14:09:34.700", "id": "28694", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T15:48:30.273", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "10407", "parent_id": "28683", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "I have this little text here where I am not entirely sure how to understand\nthe second sentence.\n\n>\n> ほかの会社から特許の使用料をもらう利益と技術がほかの会社に流れて結局は自分の会社の技術力が低くなる危険性とを比べ、会社が後者を選択するようになったのです。\n\nDoes it mean that the companies rather see their ideas used by other companies\nwhen it means to avoid patent battle in the court?\n\nI am also unsure if the correct answer is one or two as they seem quite\nsimilar in meaning.\n\nCan someone help me with this text?\n\n> 「ブラックボックス」\n>\n> 最近、技術の「ブラックボックス」化と言って自分の会社が開発した技術を特許出願せず、秘密にする会社が出てきました。\n> **ほかの会社から特許の使用料をもらう利益と技術がほかの会社に流れて結局は自分の会社の技術力が低くなる危険性とを比べ、会社が後者を選択するようになったのです。** \n>\n> 2000年ごろから日本の電子業界ではこうする会社がかなり増加してきました。会社は特許を出せば使用料でお金を得ることができますが、もし特許の裁判が起きた場合にはたくさんのお金と長い時間がかかります。それを嫌ったのです。\n>\n> 問題1 なぜ「ブラックボックス」化が広まりましたか。 \n> 1 特許を受け取り使用料より裁判費用のほうが高いからです。 \n> 2 裁判をしなければならなくなるからです。 \n> 3 技術が漏{も}れたり裁判の煩{わずら}わしさの恐れが生まれるからです。 \n> 4 せっかく得た技術が全部盗まれてしまうからです。", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T06:27:36.063", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28684", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T14:00:29.250", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "2965", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "reading-comprehension" ], "title": "How shall I understand this short text?", "view_count": 124 }
[ { "body": "No, I don't think that's what the sentence is saying.\n\n> ほかの会社から特許の使用料をもらう利益\n\n= (A) the profits received from other companies using the companies patents\n\n**と** (AND)\n\n> 「技術がほかの会社に流れて結局は自分の会社の技術力が低くなる危険性」\n\n= (B) and because of the outcome of technical skills passing on to other\ncompanies, there is a risk that their own company's technological level are\nbecoming lower.\n\n> を比べ、\n\nComparing (A) and (B)\n\n> 会社が後者を選択するようになったのです。\n\nIt is the case that companies are selecting the latter (B).\n\n* * *\n\nThat's at least how I translate it.\n\nI would have picked 4 myself but that's because I failed to read the first\nsentence at all. As naruto suggests 3 would be the correct answer since it\nlists both demerits.\n\n(one of the most helpful hints for studying for the JLPT I learned was that\nfor Japanese reading comprehensions you should never infer. [unlike the GRE\nwhich often asks the reader to infer])", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T08:24:25.130", "id": "28688", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-15T13:27:06.427", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-15T13:27:06.427", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "4091", "parent_id": "28684", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "Out of the conjugations of だ, the 連用形 is what is confusing me.\n\nI understand だ、だろ、な、なら fine, but I'm confused about だっ、で、に.\n\nI think my question might be a bit too broad and that's because I really have\nno clue what I'm supposed to figure out. I might have some understanding of\nthose uses when I see them in a sentence, but grouped in isolation like that,\nI'm perplexed.\n\nCould someone explain how they're used or what they mean?", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T07:24:41.177", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28686", "last_activity_date": "2017-04-01T15:40:06.303", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-15T15:31:50.210", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11404", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "grammar", "conjugations", "renyōkei", "auxiliaries" ], "title": "連用形 of 「だ」 - difference between 「だっ」「で」「に」", "view_count": 470 }
[ { "body": "Well, だった is simply the past tense form of だ.\n\nきれい **だった** 。 It **was** pretty.\n\nで can get a little bit more complicated when you start to describe all the\ncases it can be used, but it's basically just the TE-form of だ. So, if you\nwanted to combine two sentences, for example \"I went to the store\" and \"I\nbought some food\", it would become \"スーパーへ行って、食べ物を買いました。\" You put the verb 行く\ninto TE-form, and add on the next sentence. So, if your first sentence ended\nwith だ, you would do the same thing.\n\n僕は学生 **で** 、数学を勉強しています。 I **am** a student, **and** I am studying math.\n\nAlso, the negative form of だ technically uses the TE-form as well.\n\nで+は+ない => ではない => じゃない\n\nOr is also used in the word である. Which is basically another way of saying だ,\nbut that's another topic for another time.\n\nAs for に I think you're referring to something like きれいに or 静かに where these\nwords would normally be followed by な, correct? You can think of this as\nsimply turning the adjective into an adverb.\n\nこれは **静かな** 部屋ですね。 This **is** a **quiet** room.\n\nこの部屋では **静かに** して下さい。 Please **be quiet** in this room.", "comment_count": 9, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2017-04-01T12:00:14.567", "id": "45119", "last_activity_date": "2017-04-01T15:40:06.303", "last_edit_date": "2017-04-01T15:40:06.303", "last_editor_user_id": "9971", "owner_user_id": "20531", "parent_id": "28686", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28708", "answer_count": 1, "body": "A lady in front of me in a line to the register had a pack of udon noodles in\nher basket. It read:\n\n> うどん・手打ち式\n\nHow much buzz is there in such a phrase? Is it comparable to using 手打ち風? Or\ncould it have some merit to it?\n\nAlso, I assume that a real hand-made udon makers would simply write 手打ちうどん.\nPlease correct me, if I am wrong.", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T11:27:14.457", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28691", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T14:18:22.220", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-15T22:21:07.607", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11104", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "food", "copywriting" ], "title": "How much buzz is there in 式 of 手打ち式 udon noodles?", "view_count": 169 }
[ { "body": "Basically, we are talking legal hype here.\n\n「[手打]{てう}ち[式]{しき}うどん」 (= \"handmade- ** _style_** udon\") is just the best-\nsounding and most-appealing name to the consumers that you can legally give to\nmachine-made udon.\n\nIf the udon were actually handmade, it would definitely be named 「手打ちうどん」\nwithout using 「式」 as you stated so that its naturally higher price would\neffortlessly be justified.\n\n「~~式」 is a terribly vague \"suffix\" describing what style/form/origin a product\nor service represents. Most consumers would be aware of the inaccuracy of the\ndescription in their heads, but it gives us a certain level of comfort and\nappeal that is enough to make us feel that it might actually be close to the\nreal thing.\n\n「~~[風]{ふう}」 is one step even more vague and unreliable. It would only appeal\nto those who know close to nothing about the real thing. I often order the\n「ミラノ風ドリア」 at Saizeriya because I like how it tastes, but not because it tastes\nlike doria made and served in Milan. I have never even been to Italy! From\nthat name, however, I just \"know\" that the dish must be pretty much a Japanese\n(or Saizeriya's) creation.", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T12:44:20.703", "id": "28708", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T14:18:22.220", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-16T14:18:22.220", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28691", "post_type": "answer", "score": 6 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28701", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I just stumbled upon this sentence in a book.\n\n> とはいうものの、電気やエルクトロニクスの基本を知る価値 **だってある** 。\n\nI can get the gist of what the sentence is trying to say, but this is the\nfirst time I encountered the expression written in bold. Is it common? Can you\nexplain to me in what kind of situation do we typically use this expression?", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-15T23:29:20.223", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28698", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T02:13:46.543", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-16T01:27:56.763", "last_editor_user_id": "1628", "owner_user_id": "3678", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "usage", "nuances", "colloquial-language" ], "title": "Is the expression 「だってある」 common?", "view_count": 965 }
[ { "body": "I think the relevant dictionary definition is sense 一・① in 大辞林\n\n> **だって** \n> 〔断定の助動詞「だ」に助詞「とて」の付いた「だとて」の転。近世江戸語以降の語。くだけた話し言葉に用いる〕\n>\n> **一** (係助) \n> 体言またはそれに助詞の付いたもの,副詞などに接続する。特にある事物をとりあげて示す。「も」にくらべて語調が強い。\n>\n> ① ある特別と思われる場合をあげて,それも他と同様であるということを表す。「…もやはり…だ」「…であっても…だ」の意を表す。…でも。\n> 「さる-木から落ちるさ」 「ぼくに-チャンスはある」 「今すぐ-いいよ」\n>\n> ② [...]\n>\n> **二** (終助)\n>\n> [...]\n\nだって effectively could be replaced with も, but だって makes for a stronger\ncontrast. You haven't given any context, but the speaker is obviously\ncontrasting something that was said before (とはいうものの). So, without knowing any\nmore context, I would translate it as\n\n> とはいうものの、電気やエルクトロニクスの基本を知る価値 **だって** ある。 \n> Be that as it may, knowing the basics about electricity or electronics is\n> **still** worth it.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T02:13:46.543", "id": "28701", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T02:13:46.543", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "1628", "parent_id": "28698", "post_type": "answer", "score": 6 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28713", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Can this mean (ignoring likelihood or awkwardness) both\n\n> He says I'm eating\n\nand\n\n> He starts talking if/when I'm eating\n\n?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T01:41:52.083", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28700", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T21:00:04.757", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-16T01:43:50.853", "last_editor_user_id": "1628", "owner_user_id": "11404", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "grammar", "particle-と" ], "title": "「食べていると話す」 Can this have two meanings?", "view_count": 228 }
[ { "body": "I ignored likelihood and awkwardness. I assumed that you are only interested\nin usage of と and 話す, and that it is allowed to add any contexts.\n\n「食べていると話す」can both mean \"X tells Y that Z is eating\" or \"X talks to Y while Z\nis eating.\"\n\nHowever, the pitch-accents are different in standard Japanese.\n\n> 「 **食** べてい **る** とは **な** す」(X tells Y that Z is eating.)\n>\n> 「 **食** べている **と** は **な** す」(X talks to Y while Z is eating.)\n\n(Bold means high pitch accent, otherwise low. There were six native speakers\naround me when I noticed this, and five of them agreed with me. One said no\ndifference. Yet, the one is not from Kanto area.)\n\n* * *\n\nI must agree that there is awkwardness in the former sentence when this has no\ncontext. This comes from the grammatical aspects and the meanings.\n\n「話す」has no aspect nor tense (it is not 話している or 話した for example.) So, it might\nbe habitual or something in quite general situation. And,「話す」is \"to talk\" or\n\"to tell\", which \"needs to relay some information.\" However, \"食べている\n(continuous aspect)\" itself rarely has much information, yet there could be a\nspecial context that whether \"食べている\" or not is really important. These facts\nmake the situation awkward. You need to come up a special context that \"食べている\"\nalmost always has much information.\n\nWell, I think the latter sentence is also strange. It is hard to imagine a\nperson who only talks in a certain condition.\n\nSo, if you change「話す」to continuous aspect and change「食べる」, you can make more\nnatural sentence easier.\n\n> 「逮捕されたテロリストは政府に対し、仲間が行方不明の大統領の身柄を預かっていると話している。」 \n> The arrested terrorist is telling the government that their group has\n> caught the missing president.\n\nI tried to make a natural sentence out of「食べていると話す」, which was hard.\n\n> 目連は地獄を見ることができ、ときおり鬼が死者を食べていると話す。 \n> Maudgalyayana (one of the Buddha's closest disciples) can see the hell, and\n> he sometimes tells that Oni is eating a dead.\n\nI googled and found about 50 results, all of them were \"X tells Y that Z is\neating\" type.\n\nExample from web:\n\n> 「ピエトロ」について佐々木は、普段色々な料理にかけて食べていると話す。 \n> Sasaki tells that she usually eats various dishes with PIETORO sauce. \n> <http://rocketnews24.com/2011/09/17/131839/>\n>\n> スリムな女性ほど「ダイエットはしていない」「よく食べている」と話すもの。 \n> Slim women tend to say that \"I do not diet\" or \"I eat a lot.\" \n> <http://beauty.oricon.co.jp/beauty/diet/news/2058828/full/>\n\nThese two are interesting. The former is an advertisement of sauce and the\nlatter is an article about a diet so that eating itself is important.\n\nLastly, I could not find \"X talks to Y while Z is eating.\" type sentences, so\nlet me make up one.\n\n> その老人は、私がにんじんを食べていると戦争のことを話す。 \n> The old talks about the war while I am eating carrots.", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T19:08:48.110", "id": "28713", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T21:00:04.757", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28700", "post_type": "answer", "score": 6 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28769", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I am asking about translation of written conversations between two or more\npersons in Japanese language, that we can find in books, novels, manga, etc.\nAs we know, in Japanese language there are polite forms such as 丁寧語、敬語 and so\non. In a conversation, from how the speakers speak/converse, we can guess the\nspeakers's personalities and how good their relationship are with each other.\n\nSince English language probably does not have the polite forms to the level of\nthe Japanese's, what do translators keep in mind during translating as not to\nlose the original nuance?", "comment_count": 5, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T03:20:00.907", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28703", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T04:52:01.447", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11456", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "translation", "politeness" ], "title": "How translators translate polite Japanese conversation?", "view_count": 804 }
[ { "body": "I've worked on and off for a number of years as a freelance JPN-ENG\ntranslator, and I'm well-read in both Japanese and English. I also have plenty\nof friends who have been through the service economy in the US ;)\n\nOn that basis, I'm compelled to say that English absolutely has the degree of\npoliteness required to match Japanese pragmatics in its corpus. James Clavell\nin the novel Shogun highlights this with different forms, most notably \"thou\"\nand \"you\"--dubious Orientalism in the storyline aside, the grammar he chooses\nto make this clear [bears out in academic examinations of early modern\nEnglish](http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/%7Eeng121-c/politenessin%20AME.htm).\n\nYou don't even need to dig that deep, even. Compare:\n\n> A: Yeah? You need something? うん?なんか用?\n>\n> A: May I help you? はい、ご用は?/どうぞ。\n>\n> A: How may I assist you today? なにかお力になれることがございますでしょうか?\n\n(Apologies for the clumsiness of the above examples; I'm a little tired at the\nmoment.)\n\nWhen my Japanese friends ask me about _keigo_ in English, my stock answer is\nthat English doesn't have _systematized_ grammatical forms that constitute an\nequivalent, but we most definitely have pragmatics that match up.\n\nIn other words, the short answer is to look for the language that matches the\n_usage_ and the situation when translating. It may be instructive to note that\n\"pragmatics\" as a linguistic term, is 語用 (the use of words) in Japanese.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T04:52:01.447", "id": "28769", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T04:52:01.447", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "3131", "parent_id": "28703", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28707", "answer_count": 2, "body": "I found the expression \"コツがいったり\" in a tourism advertisement for the 金閣寺 in 京都:\n\n> シャッター押すのをやめて \n> じっと、まぶたに焼きつけています。 \n> しっかり見る。しっかり感動する。 \n> 簡単にみえても、案外、コツがいったりするんです。\n\nFrom what I can see via web searches, it doesn't appear to be a particularly\nuncommon expression, as it is also used in lots of other sources, but I can't\nfind any definition of it in any dictionaries.\n\nI'm familiar with the 〜たり(する) structure, the confusion is in regards to the\nコツがいった. I assume that \"コツ\" is the same word that means \"knack\", \"essence\", or\n\"technique\", etc., but I'm not sure of the verb (if it were いる, wouldn't it\nnormally be いたり?), and it seems to be a set expression based on its usage.\n\nThanks for the help!", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T08:03:53.737", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28705", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T10:25:20.470", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-16T10:18:20.613", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11459", "post_type": "question", "score": 5, "tags": [ "expressions", "copywriting" ], "title": "What is the meaning of the expression \"コツがいったり\"?", "view_count": 215 }
[ { "body": "I think it is the part of the -たりする exp I think it came from 要る verb", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T08:51:04.403", "id": "28706", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T08:51:04.403", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11437", "parent_id": "28705", "post_type": "answer", "score": -1 }, { "body": "You are looking up the wrong 「いる」 (\"to be\", \"to exist\"). Past tense is 「いた」.\n\nThe 「いる」 in 「コツがいる」 is 「[要]{い}る」 (\"to be necessary\"). Past tense is 「いった」.\n「コツがいる」 is an extremely common phrase meaning \"to need to get the knack\".\n\n「コツがいったりするんです」 is a softened and informal expression roughly meaning \" ** _You\nkind of need to get the knack of it.\"_**\n\nKnack of what? It is to be able to do the things described in the first two\nsentences --- \" ** _Stop taking pictures and get the scenery burned into your\nmemory. Look hard and get blown away!_** \"", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T10:25:20.470", "id": "28707", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T10:25:20.470", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28705", "post_type": "answer", "score": 6 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28714", "answer_count": 1, "body": "「お断りの連絡でしたら引き受けます。 あんまり無茶するようでしたらお注射の出番ですからねっ」\n\nWhy is よう after the dictionary form of the verb?", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T15:52:17.983", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28709", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T19:27:53.993", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11352", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "grammar" ], "title": "Verb Dictionary form+ よう", "view_count": 1072 }
[ { "body": "It is 連体形 not 終止形 (dictionary form), but in modern Japanese, verbs' 連体形 and\n終止形 are always same.\n\n> あんまり無茶する **よう** でしたらお注射の出番ですからねっ\n>\n> If **it seems that** you don't behave yourself at all, you know, it will be\n> time for an injection!", "comment_count": 6, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T19:27:53.993", "id": "28714", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-16T19:27:53.993", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28709", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28767", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Ideophones are words that stand for instance for physical\nsensation,psychological states or even abstract ideas. For instance:\n\n * niko niko smile\n * patan the sensation of slamming a door \n * honobono the state of peacefullness\n * kacha sensation of sth. opening\n\nAre there any sound symbolisms that can be used for sensations, events,\npsychological states related to masturbation ?\n\nfor instance:\n\n * the onset of ejaculation\n * the pulling and pushing of the foreskin\n * imagining of some absent person while performing \n * the feeling of frustration not being able to perform in a satisfying manner\n * the state of alertness one could be caught \n * pushing of sth. too big into the vagina", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T18:45:42.807", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28711", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T04:16:37.727", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11463", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "sound-symbolism" ], "title": "What sound symbolism related to masturbation exist ?", "view_count": 822 }
[ { "body": "シコシコ is the usual sound of masturbation.", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T04:16:37.727", "id": "28767", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T04:16:37.727", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11485", "parent_id": "28711", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28732", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I am exercising conditional forms (I am still a beginner), and I have a bit of\na problem bending this case:\n\nI want to say \"If you will be living in Japan, it is recommended that you\nlearn Japanese.\"\n\nNow if I write:\n\n> 日本に住んでいるならば、日本語を学ぶことだ。\n\nthat would mean \"If you are living in Japan, ..\"\n\nif I want to underline the future tense, I should be using 住んでいます, right? But\nhow do I make condition with a -masu form of the verb?\n\nSo far, I've learned about:\n\n-eba form, but that is (to my knowledge) used with the dictionary form of the verbs;\n\n-naraba, which again is used with the dictionary form of the verb;\n\n-tara, which is used with the informal past form.\n\nCan I say:\n\n> 日本に住んでいますならば、日本語を学ぶことだ。\n\nHow do I make conditional form of a verb in future tense?\n\nThank you for reading this far. Any help is appreciated.", "comment_count": 6, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T19:38:59.377", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28715", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T04:32:26.803", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-17T04:27:35.847", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "7958", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "grammar" ], "title": "Conditional form of future progressive", "view_count": 816 }
[ { "body": "First of all, the tense you are looking for is what is often called the _non-\npast_ , rather than _future_. In Japanese, the non-past form sort of doubles\nas a present and future tense. (More about this here: [Would the plain form of\na verb usually be translated as future\ntense?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1369/would-the-plain-\nform-of-a-verb-usually-be-translated-as-future-tense/))\n\n住む is the base, plain, dictionary form, and this is the non-past tense.\nAttaching a 〜ます to make 住みます just makes it politer.\n\n住んでいる is the _present progressive_ form of the verb 住む. Therefore, adding 〜ます\nto make it 住んでいます will not turn it back to the non-past form. It's just a\npoliter way of saying 住んでいる.\n\nAs you have mentioned, 〜ならば is used with the dictionary form of the verb.\nLuckily, the dictionary form is exactly what you want, because it _is_ the\nnon-past tense:\n\n> 日本に住 **む** ならば、日本語 を学ぶことだ。 \n> If you (will) live in Japan, learn Japanese.\n\n### Other examples:\n\n * 走る{はしる}ならば、スニーカーを履く{はく}ことだ。 \nIf you (will) run, wear sneakers.\n\n * 食べる{たべる}ならば、フォークを使う{つかう}ことだ。 \nIf you (will) eat, use a fork.", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T04:32:26.803", "id": "28732", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T04:32:26.803", "last_edit_date": "2017-04-13T12:43:44.207", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "888", "parent_id": "28715", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28731", "answer_count": 1, "body": "This sentence includes both とか and など.\n\n> 金魚の食べ物は虫とか水草などです。\n\nIs there a difference in meaning between the two? Is there a reason to use\nboth like this?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T20:50:14.137", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28716", "last_activity_date": "2016-02-10T11:31:45.170", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-16T20:54:11.440", "last_editor_user_id": "1628", "owner_user_id": "11464", "post_type": "question", "score": 6, "tags": [ "particles" ], "title": "とか and など in same sentence", "view_count": 3468 }
[ { "body": "> 「AとかBなど」+ です・だ・が・を・に etc. \n> (\"A and/or B, etc.\", \"things like A and B\")\n\nBoth of とか and など are used to give examples. とか is more\ncolloquial/conversational than など.\n\nYou can also use:\n\n> 「AやBなど」+ です・だ・が・を・に etc. \n> 「AとかBとか」+ です・だ・が・を・に etc. ← casual \n> 「AやB」+ です・だ・が・を・に etc. \n> 「AとかB」+ です・だ・が・を・に etc. ← casual\n\nBut not\n\n> ×「AやB **や** 」+ です・だ・が・を・に etc. \n> ×「A **など** Bなど」+ です・だ・が・を・に etc. \n> ×「A **など** B」+ です・だ・が・を・に etc.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T04:01:18.593", "id": "28731", "last_activity_date": "2016-02-10T11:31:45.170", "last_edit_date": "2016-02-10T11:31:45.170", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "9831", "parent_id": "28716", "post_type": "answer", "score": 6 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28723", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I have a question regarding what is being said in [this\nvideo](https://youtu.be/xfScsa1fNkY?t=15m32s).\n\n**First of all, what is being said?**\n\nThe following is what I perceived.\n\n> ...水{みず}を **汲{く}ませて** 、しっかりと **にっぷん** してから、撃{う}ちます。\n\nIn particular, I am uncertain about the parts in bold.\n\n「にっぷん」 is probably just a listening error, as it does not appear in any of my\ndictionaries. However, I can't seem to hear it as anything else.\n\nAssuming that I heard it correctly, 「汲ませて」 appears to be the causative form of\n「汲む」, perhaps meaning something like \"to scoop\" in this case.\n\n**However, I do not understand why the causative form of the verb is being\nused**.\n\nFrom the beginning of the sentence, the subject seems to be the method (of\nshooting water with your hands).\n\nHowever, none of the other verbs are in the causative form. Is it because you\nare \"making the hand scoop\" water? Would 「汲んで」 also be valid here?\n\nI would appreciate help resolving these questions.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-16T23:59:05.303", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28720", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T00:30:04.847", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "9838", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "grammar", "conjugations", "listening" ], "title": "Understanding「汲ませて」 and 「にっぷん」, assuming that is what was said", "view_count": 75 }
[ { "body": "You are hearing both parts wrong.\n\nShe says 「水を[含]{ふく}ませて、しっかりと[密封]{みっぷう}してから撃ちます。」\n\n= \"You (let your hands) hold water, seal it good and then shoot.\"", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T00:30:04.847", "id": "28723", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T00:30:04.847", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28720", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28736", "answer_count": 2, "body": "So from my understanding, プレイ generally means play, but can also mean prey or\npray? I was reading something, and I couldn't quite figure it out (actually, I\nread it as puree initially).\n\nThe line is, \"おかゆプレイ してえのに..\". Given the later line, \"病人で遊んで ませんか的な\", I'm\ngiven the impression that the first line is supposed to indicate something\nlike playing with your food.\n\nAnyways, some help on understanding this would be quite appreciated.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T00:05:12.357", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28721", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T07:27:51.033", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11468", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "words", "meaning" ], "title": "Meaning of プレイ in this context?", "view_count": 247 }
[ { "body": "I think you are right, given the context there. It means that the person who\nsaid \"おかゆプレイ してえのに..\" said that he wants to try feeding the patient porridge.\nProbably that is something that they usually don't do.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T00:57:33.407", "id": "28725", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T00:57:33.407", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11456", "parent_id": "28721", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 }, { "body": "The プレイ there is referring to [sexual\nroleplay](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%80%A7%E7%9A%84%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%83%97%E3%83%AC%E3%82%A4)\nor any kind of sexual play. `〜プレイ` is often added jokingly to nouns or\nsituations.\n\nTo give a relatively common example, if Mary's friend Susan was ignoring\nMary's phone calls, Mary might jokingly say:\n\n>\n> スーザンに[放置プレイ](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%94%BE%E7%BD%AE%E3%83%97%E3%83%AC%E3%82%A4)されてる \n> Susan is doing an “ignore play” on me (like some kind of kinky game)\n\nSo, however ridiculous, おかゆプレイしたい is jokingly expressing the wish of doing a\nkinky “porridge play” with someone (whatever that entails!). Thus\n“病人で遊んでませんか的な” means something like “You're goofing around with a sick\nperson”.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T07:27:51.033", "id": "28736", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T07:27:51.033", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "888", "parent_id": "28721", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28735", "answer_count": 2, "body": "I am pondering over the sentence:\n\n> 無理な戦をして、國を縮めてはならぬ。\n\nThis is a warning against going for a war. From the second part it clearly\nrefers to a \"lost war\". Maybe not a \"total defeat\", but nonetheless indicating\nthe result.\n\n~~While[有利](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9C%89%E5%88%A9-651280) is defined as\nboth \"advantageous\" and \"profitable\" (利益のあること),~~ definitions of\n[無理](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%84%A1%E7%90%86-642522) which I have found so\nfar, do not directly indicate the result, they only refer to conditions. ~~I\nsee no indication 無理 is an antonym of 有利 in the meaning of \"profitable\" (like\ncould be inferred from the sentence above).~~\n\nNot all wars fought in unfavourable conditions end up in a defeat (M. Gladwell\nsuggested as much as 30% are victorious in \"David and Goliath\").\n\nIs the phrase 無理な戦 a synonym of 負け戦 (including/especially when used a priori)\nor is this meaning only inferred in the above sentence?\n\nWould the following reasoning sound natural in Japanese:\n\n> 無理な戦をして、勝ってもコストが高い。\n\nLikewise saying a posteriori 無理だった: is it just admitting the result, or does\nit infer some insight that the conditions for a failed action were\nunfavourable? Or both?", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T00:28:24.317", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28722", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T14:52:43.030", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-17T14:52:43.030", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11104", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "meaning", "synonyms" ], "title": "Does 無理な戦 directly indicate a \"lost war\"?", "view_count": 278 }
[ { "body": "無理 isn't so much 'unprofitable' or 'failed' or 'lost' as it is 'pointless' or\n'not worth trying'. 無理だった is a statement that an attempt could never have\nsucceeded in the first place, not merely that it failed.\n\nTo my ears, there's a clear difference between 負け戦 and 無理な戦. A 負け戦 is simply\nlost, and that's that; there's nothing else implied about the war. A 無理な戦\nshould never have been waged in the first place.\n\nThus,\n\n> 無理な戦をして、國を縮めてはならぬ。\n\nmeans something more like 'do not shrink your country (your country's\nlifespan?) by engaging in a pointless war'. It's not a warning against losing,\nit's a warning against biting off more than you can chew.", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T00:52:50.813", "id": "28724", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T01:01:06.707", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-17T01:01:06.707", "last_editor_user_id": "3639", "owner_user_id": "3639", "parent_id": "28722", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 }, { "body": "This is a really interesting question! Here is just my way of looking at it.\n\n“無理な X” does not really specify which aspects of X are 無理 (= extremely\ndifficult, near impossible, or unreasonable). This is a little different from\n負け戦 — which by the way [can also be used a\npriori](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/207722/m0u/) — because it's\nspecified that the impossibility is in the winning/losing part.\n\nSo yes, 無理な戦 does not have to mean “a war that is impossible to win” or “a war\nthat will be lost”. It can mean a grueling war, a costly war, etc. Therefore,\n無理な戦をして勝っても〜 is a valid phrase.\n\nI think you can see how 無理な〜 does not imply anything about the actual outcome,\nbeing that all these sentences are valid:\n\n 1. 無理なスケジュールを組んでプロジェクトを終わらせた\n 2. 無理なスケジュールを組んで完成したけど風邪を引いた\n 3. 無理なスケジュールを組んで失敗した\n\nor\n\n 1. 無理なお願いをして協力してもらう \n 2. 無理なお願いをして断られる\n\n* * *\n\nThe interesting thing is, the phrase 無理だった is almost always an admission of\nfailure. It almost never means “It was very difficult (but I succeeded)”. It's\nusually to the effect of “It couldn't be done”.\n\nSo these two sentences are _not_ equivalent:\n\n 1. 無理な交渉だった \nIt was a difficult/unreasonable negotiation (which may or may not have\nsucceeded)\n\n 2. 交渉は無理だった \nThe negotiation couldn't be done (in the sense that the negotiation couldn't\nbe completed to success, or that it couldn't even happen in the first place)\n\nThe difference is even more notable when you add 〜けど. You expect very\ndifferent things to come after the _but_ :\n\n 1. 無理な交渉だったけど〜 \nIt was a difficult/unreasonable negotiation, but [it succeeded]\n\n 2. 交渉は無理だったけど〜 \nThe negotiation couldn't be done, but [I did something else instead]", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T06:27:02.810", "id": "28735", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T06:27:02.810", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "888", "parent_id": "28722", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28743", "answer_count": 3, "body": "What are the most common (informal) expressions for a badly taken photo?\n\nMy first guess was 悪い写真, but searching for that in google finds only scary\npictures, so I don't think that it's what I'm searching for.\n\nMy other guesses are:\n\n * 気持ち悪い写真\n * 上手くない写真", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T01:46:55.100", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28726", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T11:50:44.337", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "10083", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "expressions", "adjectives" ], "title": "Expression for a bad photograph", "view_count": 252 }
[ { "body": "「気持ち悪い」means gross, disgusting, so better to not use the word if you don't\nmean to purposely insult the person, or if you don't mean the photo is gross.\n\n上手くない写真 sounds better. Other might be うまく撮られてない写真.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T01:57:46.397", "id": "28727", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T10:13:42.797", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-17T10:13:42.797", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "11456", "parent_id": "28726", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 }, { "body": "Generally a bad photo will be 写りの悪い写真", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T02:12:07.950", "id": "28728", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T02:12:07.950", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11104", "parent_id": "28726", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 }, { "body": "* [下手{へた}な写真](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E4%B8%8B%E6%89%8B%E3%81%AA%E5%86%99%E7%9C%9F) \nThe straight-forward way of saying 上手くない写真. Used when the bad photo is the\nphotographer's fault.\n\n * [ダメな写真](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E3%83%80%E3%83%A1%E3%81%AA%E5%86%99%E7%9C%9F) \nBasically the same as 下手な写真, but can also refer to photos that are\nunacceptable for a specific purpose, like a passport.\n\n * [写りの悪い写真](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E5%86%99%E3%82%8A%E3%81%AE%E6%82%AA%E3%81%84%E5%86%99%E7%9C%9F) \nThis is usually (but not always) about photos with people in them. If there is\na nuance of implying whose “fault” it is, it is mostly poking fun at or self-\ndeprecating of the person _in the photo_ , rather than the photographer who\ntook it. 写真写りが悪い = unphotogenic.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T11:50:44.337", "id": "28743", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T11:50:44.337", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "888", "parent_id": "28726", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28740", "answer_count": 2, "body": "I'm trying to understand the meaning of this sentence:\n\n> 修士論文として提出しました論文を遅らせて頂きます。\n\nMy best guess is \"Please allow me to be late (sending?) this essay that I\nsubmitted as my thesis.\"\n\nI think where I'm getting tripped up is that I sense there is a verb lacking\nin this sentence, and I think it might just be because I'm not understanding\nsomething that is maybe insinuated in the original Japanese? The person who\nwrote this sentence is asking for permission to do something late regarding\nthis essay, and I'm not sure if I'm just mistranslating something or am not\nunderstanding something else.", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T04:49:08.777", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28733", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T09:47:50.283", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-17T05:00:06.723", "last_editor_user_id": "4091", "owner_user_id": "11274", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "meaning" ], "title": "Meaning of 修士論文として提出しました論文を遅らせて頂きます", "view_count": 211 }
[ { "body": "Either it's a typo like the comments said, or if it's not a typo, then perhaps\n\"I've submitted it as a Master degree thesis. As for the paper/journal, pardon\nme but it'll be late\", something like that. Maybe the person is saying that\nfor the thesis it's ok, he had already sent it; but for journal paper maybe\nit'll need more work and time to revise. I don't know if this is sent by your\nsupervisor or directly have any connection to you, but if that's so, I suggest\nyou to ask the person directly, because this sounds like an important matter\nto you.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T07:41:23.410", "id": "28737", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T07:41:23.410", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11456", "parent_id": "28733", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 }, { "body": "I realized that whether this is a typo is irrelevant to your question, because\n論文を遅らせて頂きます is a grammatically valid sentence and your question still stands.\n\n[遅らせる](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E9%81%85%E3%82%89%E3%81%9B%E3%82%8B) _is_\nthe verb — the act of making later. It\n[translates](http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E9%81%85%E3%82%89%E3%81%9B%E3%82%8B)\nto verbs like _postpone_ or _delay_ , or more broadly, to push back to a later\ndate or time. This is different from “to be late” (=\n[遅れる](http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E9%81%85%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B)). So the\nmeaning is:\n\n> 修士論文として提出しました論文を **遅らせて頂きます** 。 \n> Please allow me to [ **push back to a later date** ] the essay that I\n> submitted as my Master's thesis.\n\nYes, it's probably talking about postponing the submission of the essay. But\nthe sentence is not “lacking” a verb. You can certainly add in more verbs\nthough, like how レッスンを遅らせる (push back the lesson) can become レッスンを始めるのを遅らせる\n(push back the starting of a lesson), or 食事を遅らせる (push back the meal) can\nbecome 食事をとるのを遅らせる (push back the taking of a meal).\n\nI see how the 〜させて頂きます is confusing. Here is how they correspond:\n\n * 送る → 送らせて頂きます (allow me to send)\n * 遅らせる → 遅らせて頂きます (allow me to postpone)\n * 遅れる → 遅れさせて頂きます (allow me to be late)", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T09:47:50.283", "id": "28740", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T09:47:50.283", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "888", "parent_id": "28733", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "My friend was watching the anime みつどもえ 増量中!, and in the first episode there is\na scene where basically there is a protest happening against the kind of\n\"power rangers\" in this show.\n\n[![enter image description\nhere](https://i.stack.imgur.com/qd2CW.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/qd2CW.jpg)\n\nIt's the one on the left sign. Glancing at it I thought it was some weird\nversion of 対 but when I actually looked at it realized that wasn't it. Someone\nelse said that it could be a joke about father and opposition (父 and 対) since\nit's all parents revolting. I considered that but I think that's really kinda\nstretching it.\n\nAny help and insight would be appreciated!", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T06:14:12.310", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28734", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T04:14:05.113", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-17T11:12:42.490", "last_editor_user_id": "10161", "owner_user_id": "10161", "post_type": "question", "score": 5, "tags": [ "kanji" ], "title": "Is the kanji in this scene a mistake or some kind of joke?", "view_count": 312 }
[ { "body": "It is a mistake. You can clearly see this is a demonstration and the sign has\n\"反対\" written which is the stereotypical word thrown at demonstrations.\n\nThe traditional form of the character is 對 so it is clearly an error, as this\nis using 交 as a radical for 対 (it has nothing to do with 父 in this context)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T04:14:05.113", "id": "28766", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T04:14:05.113", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11485", "parent_id": "28734", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "Can someone tell me the meaning of this phrase 帰りに寄ってください ? I use google\ntranslate but it seems to give an answer which is kinda weird. The verb 寄る has\na lot of meaning which confuses me.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T14:27:29.317", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28745", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T18:02:50.610", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-17T15:03:01.533", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11103", "post_type": "question", "score": -1, "tags": [ "meaning" ], "title": "What does 帰りに寄ってください mean?", "view_count": 161 }
[ { "body": "寄る means making a stop.\n\nSo, it means\n\n> 帰りに寄ってください。 \n> Please make a stop on your way home (or somewhere you are going back to).\n\n([reference](http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E5%AF%84%E3%82%8B))", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T14:40:45.857", "id": "28746", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-17T18:02:50.610", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-17T18:02:50.610", "last_editor_user_id": "1628", "owner_user_id": "11475", "parent_id": "28745", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28753", "answer_count": 5, "body": "Given the context I think that this sentence means \"it's probably an\nunintentional action\".\n\nBut I am unsure of what meaning/nuance the うち adds here. I am used to seeing\nうち meaning \"while\" and that's what I'm seeing on various internet sources. But\nI don't see how a \"while\" fits into this sentence.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T15:42:55.377", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28747", "last_activity_date": "2019-01-18T05:34:49.703", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "10407", "post_type": "question", "score": 5, "tags": [ "word-choice", "words" ], "title": "Meaning of うち in \"無意識のうちの行動なのだろう\"", "view_count": 1023 }
[ { "body": "In that context, 「うち」 refers to the _**situation**_ in which an action is\nperformed or an event takes place.\n\n\"While\" would not always work as a translation. In fact, I feel that you are\nthinking of another usage of 「うち」 which describes temporal relationships.\n\n> 「Intangible Noun + の + うち + **の** + Noun」\n>\n> = \"(Noun) taking place in the situation described by (Intangible Noun)\"\n\n「[無意識]{むいしき}の **うち** の[行動]{こうどう}」 = \"an action performed in (the realm of)\nunconsciousness\"\n\n> 「Intangible Noun + の + うち + **に** + Verb Phrase」\n\n「オリンピックは[成功]{せいこう}の **うち** に[終]{お}わった。」 = \"The Olympics ended in success\"", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-18T12:41:43.650", "id": "28753", "last_activity_date": "2019-01-18T05:34:49.703", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28747", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 }, { "body": "「無意識のうち」is an expression, actually.\n\nYou can find out more of the specific meanings in\n[http://thesaurus.weblio.jp/content/無意識のうちに](http://thesaurus.weblio.jp/content/%E7%84%A1%E6%84%8F%E8%AD%98%E3%81%AE%E3%81%86%E3%81%A1%E3%81%AB)\n\nIt is still the same \"while\" meaning, but in English it is not translated that\nway, since the while is implied. \"It was probably done while not being aware\"\nwould be the literal translation.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T03:59:59.473", "id": "28765", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T03:59:59.473", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11485", "parent_id": "28747", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 }, { "body": "Just like ShikiGami said, it also means \"while\" here. You can translate it to\nsomething like... \"It must be/must have been probably a behavior taken \"while\"\nbeing in one's unconscious mind.\" Hope this helps a bit...", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2016-04-20T04:39:42.273", "id": "33667", "last_activity_date": "2016-04-20T08:42:34.637", "last_edit_date": "2016-04-20T08:42:34.637", "last_editor_user_id": "14217", "owner_user_id": "14217", "parent_id": "28747", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 }, { "body": "うち in this case indicates a period within which an action is happening; so\n\"inside the time\". In English you would probably translate it as \"while\nstill\".\n\nWhile your translation sounds correct, in the Japanese sentence the fact that\nthe action is unintentional/unconscious gets emphasized a bit more. To bring\nthat out in the translation, you could maybe say: \"It was probably an\nunconscious action/action made unconsciously.\"", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2016-04-20T08:44:41.140", "id": "33670", "last_activity_date": "2016-04-20T08:44:41.140", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "10811", "parent_id": "28747", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 }, { "body": "[Goo辞書](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/19186/meaning/m0u/) entry #4 under\nうち【内】 had this to say:\n\n> 4 (「裡」とも書く。「…のうちに」の形で)物事の行われる状況を表す。「暗黙の―に理解しあう」「会は成功の―に終わる」\n>\n> 4 (Also rendered 「裡」; Used in the form 「...のうちに」) Denotes the conditions in\n> which something is done (*I'll come back to the examples later.)\n\nAlthough the dictionary for some reason only mentions the adverbial form\n「...のうちに」, the adnominal form 「...のうちの」 is also in use, though perhaps with\nless occurrence. (e.g.「暗黙のうちの了解」,「知らず知らずのうちのマナー違反」 )\n\nWith this in mind, let's look at your sentence 「無意識のうちの行動なのだろう」.\n\nThe adnominal 「のうちの」 relates 「行動(an action)」 to 「無意識(unawareness,\nunintentional-ness)」 . \n「無意識」 is the state, or condition, within whose notional \"boundaries\" the 行動\nwas taken. The action was done, so to speak, in the territory of unawareness.\n\n* * *\n\nNotably, the English preposition _in_ has a very similar meaning to this use\nof うちに.\n\n_In_ :\n\n> 2. With reference to circumstances or conditions\n>\n\nor\n\n> 4. With reference to physical surrounding, personal states, etc.,\n> abstractly denoted\n>\n\n(Both cited from [here](http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/In).)\n\nTo illustrate using the examples from goo辞書:\n\n> 暗黙 **のうちに** 理解しあう ⇔ understand each other **in** silence\n>\n> 会は成功 **のうちに** 終わる ⇔ the meeting/gathering ends **in** success\n\nIn the two examples above, both _~のうちに_ and _in_ describe in what way or under\nwhat circumstances/conditions something happens. However, this does not mean\nthey are always the best translation for each other. For instance, \"tacitly\"\nwould be a better word for「暗黙のうちに」 most of the time.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2016-04-20T09:52:46.857", "id": "33673", "last_activity_date": "2019-01-18T01:26:38.837", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "11575", "parent_id": "28747", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28749", "answer_count": 1, "body": "> 1. 頭が真っ白になる。何も考えられなくなる。意識が断線する。彼女は自由を奪われた。「檻の鍵は、どこ?」 息を吹きかけるように、囁くように耳元へ声\n> **を添えられる** 。\n>\n> 2.学生は先生に名前 **を聞かれました。**\n\nHow do I interpret this? Are they suffering passives?\n\nThanks!", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T18:07:48.803", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28748", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-18T19:19:14.290", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-18T16:48:47.330", "last_editor_user_id": "10316", "owner_user_id": "10316", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "grammar", "passive-voice" ], "title": "Why is を used with passive form here?", "view_count": 810 }
[ { "body": "Some verbs can take both a direct and an indirect object. For those verbs in\npassive form, the indirect object is (generally) marked with が or は and the\ndirect object is marked with を.\n\nPassive:\n\n```\n\n 私が先生に名前を聞かれました\n \n```\n\nActive:\n\n```\n\n 先生が私の名前を聞きました\n \n```", "comment_count": 6, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T19:20:43.080", "id": "28749", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-18T19:19:14.290", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-18T19:19:14.290", "last_editor_user_id": "10407", "owner_user_id": "10407", "parent_id": "28748", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28762", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I thought 可愛げのない態度 came to the simple translation of 'charmless attitude', but\non a whim I searched up the phrase, and in daily life context it seems more\nlike 'having a cold attitude' than acting in an uncute way. Then I happened\nupon a translation where someone translated it as 'having no further\nintentions' which really just confused me more.\n\nAm I to take 可愛げのない態度 at face value and understand it as an attitude OTHERS do\nnot find endearing, or should there be extra connotations for it being a cold\nand uninterested attitude the doer themself is showing others, if only in\ndating scenarios?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-17T21:07:07.050", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28750", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-18T20:17:10.623", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "translation", "meaning", "usage", "nuances", "slang" ], "title": "Connotations behind 可愛げのない態度?", "view_count": 157 }
[ { "body": "Well, it is difficult to explain.\n\nI think \"charmless attitude\" is basically correct. But, if you want to know\nfurther you should look into the word, 可愛げのない. If you check a thesaurus, you\nfind it is rather \"devious or indirect (性格が素直でない).\" It is not about\nappearance, but a spirit.\n<http://thesaurus.weblio.jp/content/%E5%8F%AF%E6%84%9B%E3%81%92%E3%81%AE%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84>\n\nWe do not call a devious politician *可愛げのない政治家 because we do not expect a\npolitician is adorable.\n\nSo, typically a child, supposed to be biddable, could be 可愛げのない. For example,\nyou want to do some favour for him/her, but s/he does not accept it thinking\n\"You cannot trick me.\" I think this is the most typical 可愛げのない.\n\nAlso, new hires can be 可愛げのない. They are supposed to ask for help. But, they\nmay refuse.\n\nDating is basically giving and accepting favours and offers. In dating\nscenarios, 可愛げのない can be liberally translated to \"no further intentions\"\nbecause people sometimes refuse to accept offers to show they have no further\nintentions. But, sometimes, it is just because they are not used to it, or\nshy.", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-18T20:17:10.623", "id": "28762", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-18T20:17:10.623", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28750", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "Nowadays, Japanese people usually keep their names as is, except using the\nLatin alphabet, and having their given name before their surname, when they're\nin English-speaking countries.\n\nBy contrast, many immigrants into English-speaking countries, even those from\ncountries with European languages, had their names\n[Anglicised](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglicisation_of_names#Immigration_to_English-\nspeaking_countries), and it still goes on today, at least with native speakers\nof Chinese.\n\nDid Japanese people, or their descendants, use to anglicise their names,\nespecially before, during or soon after WWII?", "comment_count": 13, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-18T02:03:07.197", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28751", "last_activity_date": "2017-02-03T23:28:44.037", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "91", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "translation", "history", "names" ], "title": "Were Japanese names ever anglicised?", "view_count": 1274 }
[ { "body": "According to this list, yes (but not uniformly. And obviously, it can't be\nreliably said to represent a proportional sampling).\n<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese_Americans>\n\nBut it is worth noting that a lot of the non-Japanese name holders were alive\nduring/after WWII.\n\nAnecdotally, some of my friends (2nd & 3rd-generation Canadians of Japanese\ndescent) have Japanese names, but with an English middle name. I don't know\nhow wide-spread that naming practice is, but in my experience, it's not\nuncommon.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2017-02-03T23:28:44.037", "id": "43169", "last_activity_date": "2017-02-03T23:28:44.037", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "4229", "parent_id": "28751", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "I found this sentence\n\n> 部長は満足げに顎を引く\n\nHow the suffix げ affects the word 満足?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-18T05:59:44.730", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28752", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-18T17:35:28.117", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-18T14:23:22.703", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11230", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "words", "morphology" ], "title": "What does げ mean as a suffix?", "view_count": 437 }
[ { "body": "In Kanji, it is 満足気. This 気 means \"look like\" or \"seem like.\" Probably, words\nlike air, appearance or atmosphere would explain well.\n\nSo, you can say \"彼は満足気だ。\" but not \"私は満足気だ。\" because you can be sure that you\nare satisfied.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-18T17:35:28.117", "id": "28756", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-18T17:35:28.117", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28752", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28760", "answer_count": 1, "body": "「―――いえ。 誰にも遠野くんは傷つけさせません。 それだけは信じてください」\n……というか、そんな事より旅費とかパスポートとかを心配してしまう自分の小市民ぶりが情けない。\n\nI cannot understand the last sentence, especially 自分の小市民ぶりが情けない。 Can someone\nhelp?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-18T13:45:54.290", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28754", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-22T14:22:55.487", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11352", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "grammar", "meaning" ], "title": "自分の小市民ぶり meaning", "view_count": 229 }
[ { "body": "小市民 means \"une Petite bourgeoisie.\" It used to be a word from Marxism, but I\nthink this word completely lost its red colour.\n\nIt is a class between the landed class and the laboring class. People in the\nlanded class own and do not need to work. People in the laboring class has\nnothing and need to work. Unlike them, 小市民 owns a little and needs to work.\nSo, they really care about what they have and do not care about \"great\nproblems\". This is different from land lords trying to hold on power, and\nworkers caring about what makes them suffer.\n\nBack to the original text, I do not know the context, but probably they are\ntalking about something quite serious; possibility of being harmed or killed.\nYet, he worries about a passport and travel cost, which might be about\nthousands or hundreds dollars. This is a typical act of a 小市民.\n\nSo, \"I am disgusted with myself of acting like a typical 小市民.\"", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-18T18:35:20.760", "id": "28760", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-22T14:22:55.487", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-22T14:22:55.487", "last_editor_user_id": "8010", "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28754", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28761", "answer_count": 1, "body": "This word is used to describe someone who bothers or even annoys other people\nin order to get attention.\n\nThe most common translation to English is drama queen, and the Japanese\nversion sounds feminine too, so this has led me to the question.\n\nCan かまってちゃん be used for men aswell?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-18T18:13:56.647", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28757", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-18T18:57:36.583", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "10083", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "expressions", "slang", "gender" ], "title": "Can かまってちゃん be used for males?", "view_count": 456 }
[ { "body": "Yes, it is used for men as well.\n\nI googled and found many usages.\n\n<http://girlschannel.net/topics/146166/> (「わっ!こいつかまってちゃんだ!」と思う男の行動)\n\n<http://slism.net/love/kamatteotoko-why.html> (かまってちゃん男に好かれるオンナの特徴)\n\nI also found an expression かまってくん for a man.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-18T18:57:36.583", "id": "28761", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-18T18:57:36.583", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28757", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "Many native English speakers cannot state an exact definition of _\"bride\"_\nwith regard to when one starts, and stops, being a _\"bride\"_.\n\n> Is \"嫁\" also vague? \n> How bad of a translation of _\"bride\"_ is \"嫁\"?", "comment_count": 5, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T01:18:14.510", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28763", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T06:56:16.527", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "10938", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "translation" ], "title": "What is the definition of \"嫁\"?", "view_count": 1417 }
[ { "body": "**妻【つま】** is a female spouse in general. A female partner, a wife, of any age.\n\n**嫁【よめ】** is used on the basis of her position _within a family_. 国語事典 defines\nthis as something like \"a (relatively young) woman _who came into a family_\nafter marriage\". Thus it's common for a grandma to call her 25-year-old\ndaughter-in-law \"うちの嫁 ( _our_ 嫁)\". There's no strict consensus on how long one\ncan be called 嫁 after marriage. But an elder member in a family may regard her\nas 嫁 maybe even after 20 years after her marriage. Common phrases using 嫁\ninclude 嫁に行く, 嫁に入る, 嫁を探す, 嫁になる, all of which somewhat have \"enter into a\nfamily\" connotations.\n\nA husband may casually call her wife either (私の/俺の)妻 or (私の/俺の)嫁 (or sometimes\n(私の/俺の)奥さん), depending on his preference. In a formal situation, 妻 or 家内【かない】\nis the safer choice. See [this\nquestion](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/14786/5010) for other possible\nexpressions.\n\n**花嫁【はなよめ】** is a _bride_ , as Oxford English Dictionary defines, \"A woman at\nher marriage; a woman just about to be married or very recently married.\"\nPerhaps a woman is called 花嫁 only for a few days, or even only when she's in a\n[花嫁衣装/ウェディングドレス](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%E8%8A%B1%E5%AB%81%E8%A1%A3%E8%A3%85&source=lnms&tbm=isch).\nI'm not aware of any meaningful difference between 花嫁 and bride for now.\n\n**新婦【しんぷ】** is semantically the same as 花嫁, but sounds stiffer and is\nbasically only used in wedding ceremonies.\n\n**新妻【にいづま】** refers to a young woman who has been married (typically) for less\nthan a year.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T05:27:07.390", "id": "28771", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T06:56:16.527", "last_edit_date": "2017-04-13T12:43:44.863", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "5010", "parent_id": "28763", "post_type": "answer", "score": 9 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28789", "answer_count": 3, "body": "The quote 変わってしまった 変えられなかった The translation says \"I've changed, I can no\nlonger change back\" But where does that \"change back\" come from? The verb is\njust \"to change yourself\". Also, what verbal form is this? Is it potential or\npassive?", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T08:55:10.170", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28773", "last_activity_date": "2021-10-13T16:11:57.777", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-20T07:40:33.193", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11200", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "translation", "anime" ], "title": "Tokyo Ghoul \"Unravel\" Translation", "view_count": 2792 }
[ { "body": "The opening song describes the basic plot and the setting of the anime Tokyo\nGhoul.\n\n> * * *\n>\n> This answer might contain minor Tokyo Ghouls spoilers so keep that in mind.\n>\n> * * *\n\nKaneki Ken, the main character, is turned into a human-eating ghoul against\nhis will. He then struggles to live his life as a human being in spite of what\nhas happened him, but he can't fight against his nature. This means for him,\nthat he can't turn back.\n\nThe line you quoted is a direct reference to this.\n\n> 変わってしまった 変えられなかった\n>\n> I have turned (into a ghoul), I can't turn back (into a human)\n\nBy the way you shouldn't always rely on animelyrics as the source for\ntranslations of anime songs. This translation seems more accurate to me:\n\n<http://www.lyrical-nonsense.com/lyrics/tk-from-ling-tosite-\nsigure/unravel/#page=English>", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T08:10:27.753", "id": "28789", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-20T08:10:27.753", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "10083", "parent_id": "28773", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 }, { "body": "I quickly googled and found the original song, and also found that it was a\nsong for an anime called 東京喰種.\n\nJudging from the rest of lyrics, I thought \"I've changed. I could not change\nyou.\" is the correct translation.\n\nHowever, the content of the anime should have more context. If the translation\nis correct, 'I could not change \"the fate\" or \"the world\"' might be the\nimplication. Is there any fate that makes him impossible to change back?\n\nI still think that the translation, \"I can't turn back\" is a little bit\nstrange. The reason is that, to explain \"to change oneself\", I think we prefer\nto use \"変われる\" than \"変えられる.\" Well, probably, \"I was not able to be changed by\nmyself.\" is a grammatically correct sentence but is a little bit strange. And,\na similar thing happens in Japanese.\n\nAnyway, this is really ambiguous, and of course the lyrics is intentionally\nmade in that way.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T12:07:26.260", "id": "28792", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-20T12:07:26.260", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28773", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 }, { "body": "First let's get the dictionary form of these two verbs\n\n変わってしまった = 変わる = intransitive verb = action that has no object = ex. the\nflowers bloomed!\n\n変えられなかった = 変える = transitive verb = action that has an object = ex. I picked\nsome flowers\n\nTherefore, \"変わってしまった, 変えられなかった\" means He just change out of his control\n(automatically change, beyond his control), then he can't change it back\nanymore (using his ability he can't change himself back)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2021-10-13T10:04:56.367", "id": "90718", "last_activity_date": "2021-10-13T16:11:57.777", "last_edit_date": "2021-10-13T16:11:57.777", "last_editor_user_id": "30454", "owner_user_id": "48424", "parent_id": "28773", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28778", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I came across 柄にもない once while reading and since the immediate look-up didn't\nfeel like a full explanation of the phrase, I've been motivated to try and\nunderstand it connotations better.\n\nIn a quick\n[jisho.org](http://jisho.org/search/%E6%9F%84%E3%81%AB%E3%82%82%E7%84%A1%E3%81%84%20%E3%81%8C%E3%82%89%E3%81%AB%E3%82%82%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84)\nlook up, 柄にもない means unlike oneself, uncharacteristic.\n[Thesaurus](http://thesaurus.weblio.jp/content/%E6%9F%84%E3%81%AB%E3%82%82%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F)\nlists it as 'words/actions which are not suitable for one's natural\npersonality or impression', with alternatives such as 'not the type to do\nthat' 'not that kind of character' etc. which seemed straightforward enough\nfor me at first glance.\n\nHowever, two things about that definition made me pause. First, the usage of\nふさわしくない. 'Unsuitable, inappropriate' is used rather than 'dissimilar,\ncontrastive'. This speaks to personal opinion having a play here rather than\npure logical contrast. Second, the word 'impression' included along with\npersonality, which, again, speaks to personal opinion rather than reality.\n\nThis made me start to think that 柄にもない wasn't so much 'against one's true\nself' as it was 'against the _expectations_ of one's self'.\n\nThis opinion further strengthened when [I looked it up on\ngoo](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/45495/m0u/%E6%9F%84%E3%81%AB%E3%82%82%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84/),\nwhere it's worded as 'something which isn't suitable for one's position,\nstatus or abilities, personality.' The part about not suiting one's status is\na new usage, but again, it speaks more to _expectations_ rather than intimate\nknowledge of a person.\n\nWhile it may be a simple nuance, I think it really makes a difference in how\none understands the term, especially while reading.\n\nFor example,\n\n> 柄にもないことを言うな\n\n'Don't speak out of turn.' is the given translation on jisho and the\nimpression of the wording, but that given translation doesn't fit into the\nliteral meaning of 'don't say something unlike you'. It only works if you take\n'柄にもない' to have added connotations of expectations upon you. In this case, it\nisn't 'unlike you' but 'unsuitable for you [with your position etc.]'\n\nand\n\n> 柄にもなく殊勝なことを言う\n\nThere's no given translation for this on goo. I'd translate it as 'To say\nsomething uncharacteristically admirable', and I think it would be correct.\nBut again, even this doesn't work if you read it with a nuance of being\n_truly_ unlike yourself. If it's truly unlike you, then those admirable words\nare by default insincere, and likely lies. _But,_ if it's just unlike what\npeople **expect** of you, then the words are still sincere, if surprising and\n_unexpected_.\n\nI think it's that word, the 'unexpected' nuance that 柄にもない speaks to the most.\n\nFor comparison, using らしくない for 'unlike you' is a wording that feels more\nintimate and _accurate_ , as I feel like it implies the speaker really\n**knows** person. 'This isn't like you', 'it doesn't feel like a you-ish thing\nto do', 'it isn't something that seems like you'. The impression there is that\nthe speaker has a deep and accurate knowledge of the person's character, and\nknows when something does not fit.\n\n柄にもない, on the other hand, feels more like a general impression of going\nagainst a stereotype. It speaks more to _expectations_ than knowledge. 'Not\nthe type to do that', 'it's not their character', 'it doesn't suit your\npersonality'. Like how you expect a Sergeant to speak according to their rank,\nyou expect a dishevelled person to be irresponsible, you expect a studious\nperson to be punctual, etc. The speaker is _surprised_ the person is going\nagainst what they _expect_ from them, rather than actually feeling like this\ngoes against intimate knowledge of their character.\n\nSo yeah, that's my current impression, that the the meaning of 柄にもない doesn't\nseem to read as 'acting unlike oneself' so much as 'acting unlike the\nexpectations of one's self'. But of course I could be wrong, which is why I'm\nturning to those more experienced and knowledgeable. I'd really appreciate\nother opinions from those who can confirm/joss the connotations, nuances, and\nusages for this word.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T10:38:15.983", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28774", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-20T20:16:04.397", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-20T20:16:04.397", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "meaning", "usage", "nuances", "expressions", "definitions" ], "title": "柄にもない and its connotations", "view_count": 464 }
[ { "body": "柄 is an old word; Murasaki Shikibu wrote '人のためしにしつべき人柄なり' 1000 years ago.\nToday 柄 is used in phrases like お日柄、 人柄、銘柄、柄が悪い、お国柄、お家柄、大柄、小柄.\n\nThe concept has not changed from the old days. 柄 itself is rather about social\nstereotype than personal impression.\n\nWhen it comes to 柄にもない, the connotation varies depending on whose 柄 is\nmentioned.\n\nIf it was my 柄, it is a humble way of contradicting other's suggestion,\n\"~だなんて柄でもないですよ。\" or an excuse not to do so. \"~をするのは柄じゃないんで。\"\n\nOr if it was your 柄, it sounds slightly scornful/despising. \"you are not\nsupposed to do that. I'm astounded/disappointed.\"\n\nOr if it was his/her 柄 it can be badmouthing. \"あんな柄にも無いことやるから~\"\n\nGoogling 柄にも無い/柄でもない you mainly get results in which people refer to\nthemselves, so it has became a _herikudari_ expression much like 愚息/拙宅/弊社.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T15:39:20.097", "id": "28778", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-20T01:12:09.313", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-20T01:12:09.313", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "5081", "parent_id": "28774", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28776", "answer_count": 1, "body": "**Introduction:** Long time ago, when I had no idea Velcro tape was called\nマジックテープ in Japanese I tried to suggest using it to my Japanese colleague. He\nhad no idea about the word \"Velcro\", so I tried an example of\n[bur](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bur), but I found Japanese people think of\nfood when they hear ゴボウ ([burdock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctium))\nrather than its seeds.\n\nNow I have found these stuck to my jeans:\n\n[![Japanese\nburs](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yFQw9.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yFQw9.jpg)\n\n(in reality they were greener, about 5 mm in size).\n\n**Question:** What is the plant (or seeds) called in Japanese and is its\nfeature of sticking to animals/human known well enough to use it as an\nexplanation of the way Velcro tape works?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T11:10:30.547", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28775", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T14:25:30.140", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-19T12:47:11.883", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11104", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "words" ], "title": "Can I explain the idea behind a Velcro tape using the name of these plant seeds? (photo)", "view_count": 1066 }
[ { "body": "The generic name you are lookig for would be 「ひっつき[虫]{むし}」 or 「くっつき虫」.\n\n「ひっつく」 means \"to adhere to\". 「くっつく」 is its synonym.\n\n<http://matsue-hana.com/yasou/hittukimusi.html>\n\nAs to your other question, I just remembered hearing somewhere long ago how\nVelcro was invented from the observation of these plants, but I think that is\nbecause reading your question has triggered my memory.\n\n「ひっつき虫のようにひっつくテープ」 would only be understood by those who are familiar with the\nword 「ひっつき虫」, which I feel like was in my active vocabulary as a kid but is\nnot really there any more.\n\n「マジックテープ」 would probably be the only word that every Japanese-speaker is\nfamiliar with.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T12:01:40.173", "id": "28776", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T14:25:30.140", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-19T14:25:30.140", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28775", "post_type": "answer", "score": 8 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28781", "answer_count": 3, "body": "Just done with my adjective lessons and have a question on the same. The\nquestion may be too silly, but its a road block to my thought process so need\nsome advice.\n\nI have learned in basic lessons that, to negate a sentence, we can use じゃありません\ninstead of です, or can use た to form the past tense.\n\nFor example:\n\n> さとう さん は せんせい です。 - Mr. Sato is a teacher. \n> さとう さん は せんせい じゃありません。- Mr. Sato is not a teacher. \n> さとう さん は せんせい でした。 - Mr. Sato was a teacher. \n> さとう さん は せんせい じゃありませんでした。 - Mr. Sato wasn't a teacher. \n>\n\nBut when it comes to い adjectives can I use this rule instead of\nくない、かった、くなかった? I understand for な adjectives this rule follows.\n\nFor example, instead of saying:\n\n> てんきは あつくない です。 \n> てんきは あつかった です。 \n> てんきは あつくなかった です。 \n>\n\nCan I say:\n\n> てんきは あつい じゃありません。 \n> てんきは あつい でした。 \n> てんきは あつい じゃありませんでした。 \n>", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T15:58:44.347", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28780", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-21T00:21:52.597", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-20T11:36:21.613", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11488", "post_type": "question", "score": 5, "tags": [ "conjugations", "adjectives" ], "title": "Help on Adjective Conjugation", "view_count": 227 }
[ { "body": "These examples are correct:\n\n> てんきは あつくない です。\n>\n> てんきは あつかった です。\n>\n> てんきは あつくなかった です。\n\nHowever, the です on the end just serves to add politeness. It does not have the\nsame function as the だ/です which follows a noun (i.e. am/is etc.).\n\nThese example are all incorrect:\n\n> てんきは あつい じゃありません。\n>\n> てんきは あつい でした。\n>\n> てんきは あつい じゃありませんでした。\n\nIn English we say \"it **is** hot\". But when an i-adjective is used at the end\nof a sentence (rather than before a noun) the \"is\" part is implicit in the\ni-adjective, so you don't need (indeed shouldn't) put だ/です, or it's\nadaptations, at the end.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T17:19:33.610", "id": "28781", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-19T17:19:33.610", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "7944", "parent_id": "28780", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I'm likely confusing you by introducing this alternative form since your\nclass/book has chosen to teach the 〜ないです form, but here goes anyway:\n\nInstead of:\n\n> てんきは あつくない です。\n>\n> てんきは あつくなかった です。\n\nYou may say:\n\n> てんきは あつく ありません。\n>\n> てんきは あつく ありませんでした。\n\nThese two forms only work at the end of the sentence; you cannot use them\nbefore a noun.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T11:23:56.673", "id": "28791", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-20T11:23:56.673", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "6820", "parent_id": "28780", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 }, { "body": "You cannot.\n\nYou might be used to thinking of です as \"be/is\" from its usages after nouns and\nna-adjectives, and in those cases it often makes sense.\n\nAfter i-adjectives (if you call them that), です is a uninflected politeness\nmarker, which has nothing to do with be/is. あつい means \"is hot\" and carries the\nwhole \"finite-ness\" (i.e. inflection for tense) of the whole phrase てんきは あつい\nです.\n\nIf あつい means \"is hot\", you might wonder why it means just \"hot\" in あつい てんき\n(hot weather). As @user3856370 says, one way to think of this would just be to\naccept that that's how it is when i-adjectives are used before nouns. A\nsomewhat more complicated analysis is that あつい てんき really means \"Weather\n[which] is-hot\". This analysis is more \"scalable\", since it will allow you to\nanalyze sentences like はなが たかい ひと, a person [whose] nose is-tall.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-21T00:21:52.597", "id": "28802", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-21T00:21:52.597", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "1073", "parent_id": "28780", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28807", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I'm unsure about the meaning of ようす in some dictionary definitions. Most of\nthe time I translate it in my mind to \"State of being + adjective\" but\nsometimes it doesn't seem to fit, like in the definitions I have for these two\nkanji:\n\n> 峨 : 山の高くけわしい **ようす** 。\n>\n> 嵯 : 山が高くけわしい **ようす** 。\n\nSo, is it along the lines of \"The fact, for a mountain, of being tall and\nsteep\" or rather \"Looking high and steep like a mountain\"?", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-19T20:13:34.720", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28783", "last_activity_date": "2020-12-25T19:04:29.430", "last_edit_date": "2020-12-25T19:04:29.430", "last_editor_user_id": "37097", "owner_user_id": "4822", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "meaning" ], "title": "Meaning of ようす in definitions", "view_count": 812 }
[ { "body": "「[様子]{ようす}」 surely means \"state\", \"situation\", \"circumstances\", etc., but\nwhether or not one of those English words should actually be used in the\nEnglish translation of a definition of a Japanese word (or a single kanji as\nin this case) is a **_separate matter altogether_** IMHO.\n\nUnlike in other languages including English, it is just customary in Japanese\nculture to end a definition with a noun such as 「様子」、「こと」 and 「さま」. This\noccurs in definitions for words of multiple parts of speech including nouns,\nadjectives, adverbs etc. and sometimes even verbs.\n\nIn other words, **Japanese-speakers simply \"expect\" a word (or kanji)\ndefinition to come in the noun phrase form** because that is how we\ntraditionally define words for one another both in spoken and written\nJapanese. That is how it is done whether it is a mother explaining a word to a\ntoddler or a big dictionary or professor giving a word definiton to a Ph.D.\nstudent.\n\nSo, the important question is: \"Is the same thing as above practiced by\nEnglish-speakers?\"\n\n**_If yes (or a strict literal translation is required for some reason)_** ,\ngo ahead and give a definition in the noun phrase form starting with a word\nlike \"state\".\n\n**_If no_** , forget 「ようす」 and form the definition the way it will sound most\nnatural to English-speakers, which I presume would be like:\n\n\"craggy and steep (as of a mountain)\"\n\nFinally, the translation \" ** _looking_** high and steep ~~\" sounds strange to\nme. That is not really what 「ようす」 means in a word definition.", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-21T11:14:44.250", "id": "28807", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-21T11:14:44.250", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28783", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28785", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Are there proper terms for the methods of writing numbers in kanji (literal vs\npowers-of-10)?\n\n> 千五百三十六\n\nvs\n\n> 一五三六\n\nIf not (or the terms are too scientific) how to differentiate between them in\nspeech? Like 「〇〇文字を使って、書いて下さい」\n\nI am primarily asking for Japanese terms, but I have no clue about English\neither (initially though of _decimal_ , but in fact both methods use decimal\nsystem).", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T00:29:33.190", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28784", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-21T01:25:35.243", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-21T01:25:35.243", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11104", "post_type": "question", "score": 5, "tags": [ "numbers", "linguistics" ], "title": "How do you call different methods for writing numbers (notations)?", "view_count": 159 }
[ { "body": "The former method is 命数法【めいすうほう】, and the latter is 位【くらい】取【ど】り記数法【きすうほう】,\nalthough they're not known to most people. See\n[this](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%BC%A2%E6%95%B0%E5%AD%97#.E4.BD.8D.E5.8F.96.E3.82.8A.E8.A8.98.E6.95.B0.E6.B3.95),\n[this](http://www.is.akita-u.ac.jp/pukiwiki/?%B0%CC%BC%E8%A4%EA%B5%AD%BF%F4%CB%A1),\nor [this\nbook](https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=GTW7KvD_fDIC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=%E6%BC%A2%E6%95%B0%E5%AD%97%20%E5%91%BD%E6%95%B0%E6%B3%95%E3%80%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%8F%96%E3%82%8A&source=bl&ots=c5oViVKHCp&sig=vgAZglTRHYWPHlkg7TKpTNMhu4o&hl=ja&sa=X&ved=0CCwQ6AEwA2oVChMIjqr79f7PyAIVRJyUCh1hCgnL#v=onepage&q=%E6%BC%A2%E6%95%B0%E5%AD%97%20%E5%91%BD%E6%95%B0%E6%B3%95%E3%80%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%8F%96%E3%82%8A&f=false).\n\nWikipedia says that, in English, 10000 is written as `10000` in 記数法 and as\n`ten thousand` in 命数法.\n\nI personally knew 位取り記数法, but I haven't recognized 命数法 as the opposing idea of\n記数法.\n\nEither way, most people (including me) do not use specific terms to\ndistinguish the two methods in daily life. We just distinguish them by example\n(eg, 「二千十五」のように「千・百」といった単位を記載する方法と、「二〇一五」のように、単位数字を省いて単に漢数字を並べる方法…).", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T02:14:03.387", "id": "28785", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-20T02:44:17.780", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-20T02:44:17.780", "last_editor_user_id": "5010", "owner_user_id": "5010", "parent_id": "28784", "post_type": "answer", "score": 6 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28798", "answer_count": 3, "body": "I was trying to make a Japanese sentence using て form to make a sentence that\n\"Describes the manner in which the second verb is performed\". While making my\nsentence I ran into a snag. Here what I was trying to say\n\n> I will study for the test by reading my textbook\n\nand here is what I have written for the sentence so far:\n\n> [教科書]{きょうかしょ}を 読{よ}んで、 テスト **?** [勉強]{べんきょう}します\n\nthe ? is for the fact that I'm not sure what particle I would put in to show,\nfor lack of a better word, \"for\". I know for in the Japanese language has many\ndifferent definitions but I'm just wondering about this specific scenario. I'm\npretty sure it's between を, に, or maybe even て form, but I'm unsure which\nexactly it might be. Any help with this as always is appreciated and if you\nsee anything else wrong with the sentence let me know. (looking at you\nよんで/よんでいる)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T06:22:34.150", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28787", "last_activity_date": "2017-04-19T14:58:05.677", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-20T20:42:29.827", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "10247", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "grammar", "particles", "て-form" ], "title": "How would you say \"doing something in preparation for something else\"?", "view_count": 4453 }
[ { "body": "It's not just a particle that is missing.\n\nの **ため** に means for (the purpose of)\n\n> きょうかしょを よんで、テストのためにべんきょうします\n\nのために is linked together with the noun that stay in front of it, in your case\nテスト. Some other examples:\n\n> 笑顔のために -> For your smile\n>\n> 私のために -> For me\n>\n> 何のために? -> What for/Why?\n\nYou could however use a verb too in front of this expression but you have to\ndrop the first の.\n\n> 生きるために -> In order to live", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T07:52:58.557", "id": "28788", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-20T07:52:58.557", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "10083", "parent_id": "28787", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 }, { "body": "There are specific phrases for this, **テスト勉強** and **試験勉強** (preparation for a\ntest/exam). The most common wording in this situation would be:\n\n * 教科書を読んで試験勉強をします。\n * 教科書を読んでテスト勉強をします。\n\nSee [this question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/19564/5010) about the\ndifference between 試験 and テスト. If you don't know whether you need を after 勉強,\nsee [this question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/4006/5010).\n\nIf you want to use some particle between 試験 and 勉強, you can also say:\n\n * 教科書を読んでテスト **の** 勉強をします。\n * 教科書を読んでテスト **のために** 勉強をします。\n\nBut I think the latter is too wordy and not used commonly.\n\nYou may think that テストの勉強 is ambiguous and can mean \"the study about the\nexamination itself (ie, [the history of\nexamination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_\\(assessment\\)#History))\". But\ndon't worry, テストの勉強 is almost always understood as preparation for an exam.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T18:40:13.927", "id": "28798", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-20T18:46:42.637", "last_edit_date": "2017-04-13T12:43:48.447", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "5010", "parent_id": "28787", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Somewhat related to this, to convey that an action is done in preparation of\nsomething else (unspecified), 「〜ておく」can be used. In particular, though the\nnuance is different, you might say\n\n * 明日テストがあるので、今晩は勉強しておくつもりです。\n\n(There is a test tomorrow, so this evening I plan to study [in preparation for\nit].)\n\nWithout the first clause, there is an implied reason that you are studying in\npreparation of, so if the fact that there is a test is already in the context\nof the conversation, you don't need to repeat it.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2017-04-19T14:58:05.677", "id": "46710", "last_activity_date": "2017-04-19T14:58:05.677", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "21802", "parent_id": "28787", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 0, "body": "Recently I've come across the 「なぜなら〜からです」 sentence pattern, and I noticed that\nから comes before です.\n\nAre there any differences in nuance or meaning between the two orderings?", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T09:40:48.617", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28790", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-20T09:40:48.617", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "10068", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "nuances" ], "title": "What's the difference between 「からです」 and 「ですから」?", "view_count": 477 }
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28797", "answer_count": 1, "body": "> それじゃあとりあえず―――今は、アルクェイドとの事をどう言い訳したものか、なんて真面目に考えなくっちゃいけないか―――\n\nI do not understand why it's どう言い訳したものか.\n\nShouldn't it be どう言い訳だったものか?", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T16:19:13.863", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28794", "last_activity_date": "2018-10-18T12:46:54.817", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-20T16:36:55.250", "last_editor_user_id": "1628", "owner_user_id": "11352", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "grammar", "parsing" ], "title": "どう言い訳したものか. Sentence translation difficulties", "view_count": 385 }
[ { "body": "言【い】い訳【わけ】する here is a transitive verb made of a noun \"言い訳\" (an excuse,\napology) and する, meaning \"to make an excuse about ...\", \"to try to justify\nmyself about ...\"\n\nどうXしたものか is a common pattern which means \"How (the heck, etc) I should do X\".\n\n> アルクェイドとの事を言い訳する = アルクェイドとの事について言い訳をする = make an excuse about the matter with\n> Arcueid\n\n> アルクェイドとの事をどう言い訳したものか = how I can make an excuse about the matter with\n> Arcueid\n\nどう言い訳だったものか is ungrammatical, and I'm not sure what you wanted to mean by\nthat. Did you mean どういう訳だったのか (somehow; for whatever reason)? Or どういう言い訳だったのか\n(what kind of excuse it was)? Neither makes sense in this context, anyway.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T17:39:37.227", "id": "28797", "last_activity_date": "2018-10-18T12:46:54.817", "last_edit_date": "2018-10-18T12:46:54.817", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "5010", "parent_id": "28794", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28803", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Here is the sentence.\n\n> いいかげんにしやがれっ おれは一年以上もシャバ **とおわかれ** なんだぞっ。\n\nSince the word 「おわかれ」 is noun, I'm not sure if I can translate it as \"Say\ngoodbye for free life because I will be staying in it (prison, in this case)\nmore than a year\". Otherwise, would it be translated in other meaning or the\n「と」in this case does not function as quotation?", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T17:09:45.393", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28796", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-21T00:56:02.740", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-20T17:48:34.670", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "9559", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "grammar", "particle-と" ], "title": "Can I use quotation particle 「と」with noun?", "view_count": 241 }
[ { "body": "> 「いいかげんにしやがれっ おれは[一年以上]{いちねんいじょう}もシャバ **と** おわかれなんだぞっ。」\n\n(「シャバ」 means the world outside of prison, army, etc. where you have freedom.)\n\nThe 「と」 in that context is **_not_** quotative because in the phrase 「シャバ\n**と** おわかれ」, **no one is saying or calling something 「シャバ」** either silently\nor out loud. It just means \"a farewel to the real world\".\n\nThe fact that 「おわかれ」 is a noun has nothing to do with whether or not the\npreceding 「と」 is quotative.\n\nThe 「と」 in 「と + Noun」 can be quotative in the following sentences.\n\n「マリアに、さよなら **と** おわかれのキスをした。」 ← The speaker said 「さよなら」 either silently or out\nloud as he kissed Maria good-bye.\n\nWhen the quotative 「と」 is used correctly, the preceding phrase can always be\nplaced in imaginary (or real) quotation marks.\n\n「マリアに、『さよなら』 **と** お[別]{わか}れのキスをした。」\n\nOne more example:\n\n「スカイツリーを見て、すごい **と** [感動]{かんどう}!」\n\n「感動」 is a noun, but this 「と」 is quotative. Here, one can say that the verb\n「する/した」 was left unsaid after 「感動」.\n\nAgain, you can place 「すごい」 in either real or imaginary quotation marks because\nthat is what you said or thought upon seeing the Skytree.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-21T00:56:02.740", "id": "28803", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-21T00:56:02.740", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28796", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28800", "answer_count": 1, "body": "> 丸尾君、ちょっと辞書かしてくんない?\n\nI think it means \"maruo, won't you lend me your dictionary?\" But I'm really\nconfused about the verb ending on かす.\n\nA look at some other posts suggests that it might expand to かしてくるのない. So I\nwould have 'come and lend' (previous sentence says that 丸尾 is sat in a chair,\nso I suppose 'coming' would be appropriate).\n\nThen I would be left with an 'explanatory の' followed by ない. I've never seen a\nのない ending before, and I don't see how 'explanatory の' would be appropriate in\nthis context. Please help me to untangle all of this. Thanks", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T21:16:49.577", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28799", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-20T22:19:16.403", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-20T22:19:16.403", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "7944", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "grammar", "colloquial-language", "contractions" ], "title": "What does てくんない ending on a verb mean?", "view_count": 2343 }
[ { "body": "This is an abbreviated form of 〜てくれない, meaning \"to not do 〜 for me\". So\n貸してくれない means \"won't lend me\", but phrased as a question like this (likely\nwith a rising intonation) mean \"Hey Maruo, won't you lend me your dictionary\nfor a bit?\"", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-20T21:24:08.787", "id": "28800", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-20T21:24:08.787", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "78", "parent_id": "28799", "post_type": "answer", "score": 8 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28804", "answer_count": 1, "body": "A and B were involved in negotiations. A was in a superior position, but there\nwas one and new unfavourable condition that if B knew about, would put A in a\nhuge disadvantage. This was kept secret and agreement has been made.\n\nThe story was casually retold in Kansai-ben:\n\n> 誠に楽な条件でええ塩梅に協定ができた。 \n> それ、 **できるはずや** 。 「description of the unfavourable\n> condition」のにそれをおくびにも出さずにやったからです。\n\nI assume dialect is irrelevant here and the speaker would make it できるはずだ in\nhyōjungo. From the context I guess it is used to mean something like \"it\ncouldn't have failed\" (because the disadvantage was kept secret) rather than\n\"be able to\".\n\nWhat I am confused is the discrepancy in tense here: できた - はずだ - やった. Why\nwasn't it できるはずだった?\n\nIs it a more general statement? Like \"it always works out if you keep your\nmouth shut\"?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-21T00:15:45.487", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28801", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-21T07:29:40.717", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-21T07:28:16.500", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "11104", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "meaning", "tense" ], "title": "The meaning and tense of できるはず in this passage", "view_count": 239 }
[ { "body": "In short, できたはず or できるはずだった would imply you failed it. e.g.\n\n * どうしてやらなかったのだろう、やればできたはずだ。 Why didn't I do it? I could have done it if I had tried.\n * 昨日までにできるはずだった。しかし、今日までかかってしまった。 It should have been made by yesterday. But it took till today.\n\nAnd, how you consider the できるはずだ a general statement seems apt.\n\nAs for できたはずだ, depending on intonation, you can express your first\ninterpretation i.e. \"it's natural that you could\" by pronouncing it as two\nphrases of できた and はずだ with ~~their own pitch patterns alive~~ regaining raise\nof pitch i.e. [できた]{HLL} [はずだ ]{LHHL} opposed to normal [できたはずだ↓]{HLLLLL}\n\n(できた1 はず0 だ1)", "comment_count": 7, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-21T02:35:50.110", "id": "28804", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-21T07:29:40.717", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-21T07:29:40.717", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "4092", "parent_id": "28801", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "How would you translate \"Engineered\" into Japanese by the following examples?\n\n 1. Engineered chemistry ; engineered arts\n 2. Clinical transplantation of a tissue-engineered airway\n 3. Engineered for freedom\n 4. Engineered explosives\n 5. Hardware and software engineered to work together\n\nI feel this word can have multiple meanings when it is translated into\nJapanese.\n\nFor 1 and 4 I suppose the word engineered more related to meaning as in \"改造\".\n\nFor 2 I figure the word is closer to ”tissueを介した”.\n\nFor 3 and 5 the word could mean \"...のためにデザイン(構築)した\"\n\nDoes anyone have a different thought?", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-21T06:22:49.417", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28805", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-21T22:47:31.797", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-21T08:03:35.970", "last_editor_user_id": "11457", "owner_user_id": "11457", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "translation" ], "title": "\"Engineered\" is a difficult word to translate", "view_count": 196 }
[ { "body": "Not sure about #1 and 3, it depends on the context, but 設計 or 調整 may work.\n誂えられた might be.\n\n2: issue engineering is 組織工学 but since followed by airway, it becomes 人工器官.\n\n4: 仕込まれた爆弾 is descriptive. 爆弾トラップ or ブービートラップ may to be used..\n\n5: is 開発された in general. デザイン is not used as IT term because it sounds somehow\nabout fashons. IT terms for engineering are 開発する、 設計する、実装する、プログラムする、組み込む .", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-21T22:47:31.797", "id": "28811", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-21T22:47:31.797", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "5081", "parent_id": "28805", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28812", "answer_count": 1, "body": "In 暗殺教室 chapter 3, the students try to assassinate the teacher and fail and\nthe teacher remarks:\n\n> 笑顔が少々わざとらしい \n> 油断させるには足りませんね\n\nBut im a bit confused about whether 油断 here refers to the students\ncarelessness about hiding their true intentions (\"such carelessness will not\nbe enoughj (to catch me)\") or if it refers to the teacher's own\ncarelessness/unpreparedness.\n\nI think since that the subject seems to be the students that 油断させる would then\nrefer to the teacher's own unpreparedness, but i'm not 100%", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-21T19:17:04.283", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28808", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-22T00:45:01.327", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "3896", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "grammar" ], "title": "油断させる, who is being careless/unprepared?", "view_count": 219 }
[ { "body": "Assuming that the listeners here are the students, the following can be said.\n\n> 「[笑顔]{えがお}が[少々]{しょうしょう}わざとらしい。」\n>\n> 「[油断]{ゆだん}させるには[足]{た}りませんね。」\n\nFirst, whose 笑顔 is being talked about? The students', agreed? If yes, the\nphrase \"your smiles\" might make an appearance in the next sentence. This being\nJapanese, however, its \"appearance\" might as well be _**invisible**_.\n\nThe next sentence 「油断させるには足りませんね。」 is a complete one though it lacks both a\nsubject and object. You might want to fill in the missing parts either on\npaper or in your head. (Nothing is missing to the Japanese-speaking mind,\nneedless to say.)\n\n> 「(Subject) + **は** + (Object) + **を** + 油断させるには足りませんね。」\n\n「油断させる」 is causative, so the Object is the one who may or may not 「油断 **する**\n」, right?\n\nThus, it is saying that the Subject is 足りない (\"not good enough\") to _**make**_\nthe Object 油断する (\"to be off guard\").\n\nSubject: 「(Your) わざとらしい笑顔 or 笑顔のわざとらしさ」\n\nObject: 「わたし」\n\nA good translation has already been given in the comment section above. If the\nlisteners are indeed the students, change the \"their\" in that TL to \"your\".", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-22T00:45:01.327", "id": "28812", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-22T00:45:01.327", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28808", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28810", "answer_count": 3, "body": "How should I translate こともある in this sentence (response to '何それ?'):\n\n> あなたが辞書を使うなんて、はなはだ珍妙なこともあるもんです\n\nLiteral translation of はなはだ珍妙なこともある would be 'there are also really odd\nthings', but that makes no sense.\n\nOne suggestion seems to be that it means 'among other things' so I get:\n\n> Because (もん), among other things (こともある), it's really odd that (なんて) you use\n> a dictionary\n\nIs this a correct translation? If so can anyone offer a suggestion as to how\nwe arrive at that from the literal translation? (and why do I have to keep\nreaching for my advanced grammar book to read a children's story? It's really\ndispiriting.)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-21T20:59:20.000", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28809", "last_activity_date": "2016-06-13T21:40:32.447", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-21T22:33:46.290", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "7944", "post_type": "question", "score": 5, "tags": [ "grammar" ], "title": "Meaning of こともあるもんです", "view_count": 3221 }
[ { "body": "The latter part is in line with: \"wow, strange things happen!\"\n\nもん ([ものだ](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/thsrs/17282/m0u/)) is used here\nemphatically to indicate emotion (hence I decided for \"wow\").\n\nこともある literally stands for\n[occasionally](http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%E3%82%82%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B),\nbut as the English verb _to happen_ already covers the occasional aspect the\nmeaning can be expressed just with \"things happen\".", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-21T22:41:14.183", "id": "28810", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-21T23:20:01.710", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-21T23:20:01.710", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11104", "parent_id": "28809", "post_type": "answer", "score": 7 }, { "body": "I agree that ものだ is used here to indicate emotion, but this emotion is not\n\"wow\". Let me offer another explanation from my reference book:\n\n> **~ものだ / ~ものではない** is used to express something that is obvious, or that\n> obviously ought to be.\n>\n> Short expression for memorizing: 弱い者いじめをする **ものじゃないよ** = Weak people should\n> not be treated badly!\n>\n> Examples of usage:\n>\n> _(father to his child)_ もう10時半だよ。早く寝なさい。子供は10時前に寝る **ものだ。**\n>\n> だれにも一つや二つは苦手なことがある **ものだ。**\n\nSo, my translation would be **\"You are using dictionaries and the like, but\nwell, there are really weird things [in the world].\"** And this \"も\" in \"珍妙なこと\n**も** ある\" implies, that using a dictionary is one of these \"really weird\nthings\".\n\nHope it helps =)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-12-30T01:35:19.283", "id": "30140", "last_activity_date": "2016-06-13T09:07:55.120", "last_edit_date": "2016-06-13T09:07:55.120", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "12034", "parent_id": "28809", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 }, { "body": "Literal translation of ”こともある” is \"It happens / takes place sometimes /\nWhatever happens happens - as reffered to by Donald RRumsfeld,\" e.g.,\n\"週中に会社を休むこともある - I happen to take a dayoff sometimes in a weekday.\"\n\nIn addition, you'd better to register the pattern, \"....するなんて ...もんです(もんだ)\" as\na common set of phrase to mean a surprise and cynicism in your collocation\nlist.\n\nFor example,\n\n女の子がボクシングをするなんてたまげたもんです(もんだ) - Girls do boxing? It's a surprise.\n\n豪華船で世界一周するなんて豪華なもんです(もんだ) ー I heard you are going to make a trip around the\nworld by a luxury liner. It's really gorgeous.\n\nそのくらいでくたばるなんて、ひ弱なものですなア(もんですな)ー You are exhausted with that much exercise.\nWhat a feeble guy you are.\n\n一千兆円も借金があってお金をじゃぶじゃぶ流すって、安倍もいい気なもんですなア - To flush a massive cash into the\nmarket with 1000 trillion-yen national debt behind, Abe is really taking\nthings too easy.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2016-06-13T12:16:03.663", "id": "35889", "last_activity_date": "2016-06-13T21:40:32.447", "last_edit_date": "2016-06-13T21:40:32.447", "last_editor_user_id": "12056", "owner_user_id": "12056", "parent_id": "28809", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28815", "answer_count": 1, "body": "When is 百年 read as ヒャクネン vs モモトセ?\n\nLikewise, when is 千年 read as センネン vs チトセ?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-22T01:52:33.983", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28813", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-22T05:22:43.567", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-22T01:59:22.813", "last_editor_user_id": "11493", "owner_user_id": "11493", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "readings" ], "title": "百年 - ヒャクネン or モモトセ", "view_count": 96 }
[ { "body": "These days only ひゃくねん and せんねん are used.\n\nIn premodern Japanese it was basically acceptable to read any word with either\nkun'yomi or on'yomi, including people's names. For this reason you might see\nももとせ in poetry or possibly as a brand name, but they would have to put\nfurigana on it to make the pronunciation obvious. Google indicates that ちとせ is\noccasionally used as a place name or personal name.", "comment_count": 5, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-22T05:22:43.567", "id": "28815", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-22T05:22:43.567", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "583", "parent_id": "28813", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "I heard that ときどき can only be used in an affirmative sentence, and never in a\nnegative sentence. Is that true?\n\nIf anyone could please provide an example of ときどき in a negative sentence, that\nwould be great too!", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-22T03:50:34.093", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28814", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-23T00:58:33.610", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-23T00:58:33.610", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11508", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "grammar", "adverbs", "polarity-items" ], "title": "Can tokidoki only be used in a negative sentence?", "view_count": 1837 }
[ { "body": "The nature of the word \"sometimes\" implies both a positive and negative side\nto it. Take the following sentence:\n\n> Sometimes I go out for a walk. \n> ときどき散歩にでかける。\n\nThis means that sometimes you do walk, but implicitly, sometimes you don't.\nEven though the verb is in the affirmative, the sentence is partly positive\nand partly negative.\n\nThis gives us a little flexibility with the verb, because it will be correct\nin either the positive or negative. By default, people will usually stick with\npositive, but occasionally there is a good reason to use negative, such as\nemphasis on the negativity part. In the\n[link](http://jp.yamaha.com/products/network/solution/trouble_shooting-\nwlan_occasionally/) macraf gave in the comments, for example:\n\n> 症状:時々つながらない \n> Symptom: sometimes doesn't connect\n\nThe negative is used with ときどき here to emphasize the fact that is sometimes is\n_not_ connecting. The affirmative is fine grammatically, but 「時々つながる」doesn't\nmake much sense it context, as doesn't really sound like a real problem for a\ntroubleshooting page.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-22T15:56:07.910", "id": "28818", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-22T15:56:07.910", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "9749", "parent_id": "28814", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28819", "answer_count": 2, "body": "As in the title, what is the difference between these two?\n\ndictionary.goo.ne.jp says:\n\n> [同然](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/156262/m0u/%E5%90%8C%E7%84%B6/):\n> 同じであること。また、そのさま。同様。\n>\n> [同様](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/157033/m0u/%E5%90%8C%E6%A7%98/):\n> 同じであること。ほとんど同じであること。また、そのさま。\n\nand on the 類語 page these two are listed under [one\nentry](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/thsrs/16964/m0u/%E5%90%8C%E7%84%B6/):\n\n> 「同様」「同然」は、「同じ」「一緒」より、差異についての基準が緩い場合にほぼ似たような意味合いで用いられる。\n\nyet, according to the table at the bottom there, [their usage seems to\ndiffer](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/thsrs/16964/m0u/%E5%90%8C%E7%84%B6/)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-22T10:38:26.947", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28816", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-22T17:55:22.010", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "10280", "post_type": "question", "score": 7, "tags": [ "word-choice", "definitions", "synonyms", "word-usage" ], "title": "What's the difference between 同然 and 同様?", "view_count": 599 }
[ { "body": "According to my 広辞苑, 同然 is \"same to the prevoius word\", 同様 is \"both are the\nsame\". You can start a new paragraph with 同様に, but cannot with 同然に. This is\nbecause 同然 requires the previous word within the same paragraph. Since 同然's\nusage is limited, 同然 is likely to be considered an idiom.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-22T14:28:23.560", "id": "28817", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-22T14:42:49.860", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-22T14:42:49.860", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "5081", "parent_id": "28816", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 }, { "body": "I'd translate 同然 as \"so similar that it can now be considered X\" or \"as if it\nis X\". It states there is effectively no difference between the two. E.g.\n夫婦も同然の二人、もはや勝ったも同然だ.\n\n同様 would be more generally, \"in the same manner to X\", e.g.\n炭酸と同様の作用を有する、操作は先ほどと同様です\n\n> 同性婚は認められていないものの、夫婦と同様の税制が適用される \n> ... same tax rules are applied\n\n.\n\n> 同性婚は認められていないものの、夫婦同然の税制が適用される \n> ... same tax rules are applied, such that there is essentially no\n> difference between same-sex vs hetero-sex marriage.\n\n`彼のと同然の靴` would be weird as you would be stating \"the shoe can be considered\nto be essentially his\". When expressed more naturally, this will be\n`彼の物であるも同然の靴`.", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-22T16:33:55.820", "id": "28819", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-22T17:55:22.010", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-22T17:55:22.010", "last_editor_user_id": "499", "owner_user_id": "499", "parent_id": "28816", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28823", "answer_count": 3, "body": "We have a question on this site, [What is the _proper_ differentiation between\n来る and 行く?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1669/what-is-the-\nproper-differentiation-between-%e6%9d%a5%e3%82%8b-and-%e8%a1%8c%e3%81%8f),\nwhich does seem to correctly explain the basic general differentiation between\n行く and 来る, which is that it is chosen based on the speaker's perspective\n(regardless of sentence subject, etc.).\n\nHowever, this is what still confuses me: **Physical location of speaker at\nspeech time is not what determines the verb.**\n\nIf you are at school and you invite your friend over to your house, you say\n「うち来る?」, not 「うち行く?」, right? If you live in Japan but you're visiting America\nand invite your American friend to Japan, you say 「日本来る?」 right? (Although, if\nyou're just asking if they will go to Japan at all, not to visit you or\nsomething like that, it's 「日本行くの?」, yeah?)\n\nI can imagine two ways to account for this: 1. it's the speaker's location _at\nthe time of movement_ that's relevant, not their current location, or 2. it's\nthe speaker's \"ownership\" of the location that's relevant (which I think\naccounts for the 日本来る・日本行く difference in nuance pretty well).\n\nI think it's two, but physically being somewhere gives you a sense of\nownership over the location?\n\n「パーティー来る?」 is okay to say even if it's not your party, but you just happen to\nalready be there, right? 「彼は一週間前ここに来たみたい。」 is fine, even if where you are is\ntotally not yours, yeah?\n\nHow about being physically somewhere at movement time?\n「俺は1時から5時まで太郎の家にいるから、その間に来るよね?」 seems like it could be okay, but I think 行く is\nat least also is fine here...\n\nBut if course, it's not just physical location at speech time, or physical\nlocation at movement time, because 「私がいない間うちに来たのよ…」 works even if you're not\nat home.\n\nYet, if you use 一緒に, then you must use 行く 「一緒にうちまで行く?」 I think, even if it's\nyours...\n\nIs there some simple explanation which accounts for all this (assuming my\njudgments are correct, and I'm not too sure about them to say the least)?", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-22T17:35:10.670", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28820", "last_activity_date": "2022-11-09T00:31:57.060", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-22T19:31:48.780", "last_editor_user_id": "3097", "owner_user_id": "3097", "post_type": "question", "score": 8, "tags": [ "word-choice", "verbs" ], "title": "How do 行く and 来る *really* work?", "view_count": 1931 }
[ { "body": "Not only the choice between 行{い}く and 来{く}る, but all the events need to be\ndescribed based on the speaker's perspective. So, the physical presence of the\nspeaker doesn't matter. Although, the choice of the verbs 行{い}く and 来{く}る\nrepresents the place the speaker focuses on.\n\n> 行{い}く\n>\n> **the point of starting [A]** --------> somewhere [B]\n>\n> 来{く}る\n>\n> somewhere [A] --------> **the point of arrival [B]**\n\nBoth 行{い}く & 来{く}る indicates the movement from A to B. 行{い}く is used when the\nspeaker concentrates on where the action starts. On the other hand, 来{く}る is\nused when the speaker concentrates on the point of arrival.\n\n> A: I'm **going** to the library.\n>\n> B: Can I **come** , too?\n>\n> A: 図書館{としょかん}に **行{い}きます** 。\n>\n> B: 私{わたし}も **行{い}って** いいですか。\n\n行{い}く indicates that someone or something leaves from the point where the\nperson or the thing is, whoever the doer of the verb is. But 来{く}る normally\nindicates that someone or something arrives to the speaker or the place the\nspeaker belongs to. So, 来{く}る cannot be used for the sentence B in the\nexample.\n\n> If you are at school and you invite your friend over to your house,\n>\n> ○ うちに来{く}る?\n>\n> ? うちに行{い}く?\n\nThe owner of うち is usually the speaker unless it's pointed out as 〜さんのうち or\nうちに帰{かえ}る (帰{かえ}る is only used when the point of arrival is where the doer\nbelongs). So, in this case, 来{く}る is normally used. Although, 行{い}く could be\nused if you want to suggest your friend to go to your house together, such as\nうちに行{い}かない? or うちに行{い}こう. うちに行{い}く? sounds like you won't be home when your\nfriend comes or うち is not yours but someone else's.\n\n> 一緒{いっしょ}にうちまで行{い}く?\n\nThis is fine when you are sure to head to your place with your friend.\n\n> If you live in Japan but you're visiting America and invite your American\n> friend to Japan\n\nIn this case, I would say,\n\n> 日本{にほん}に来{こ}ない?\n\nUsing 来{く}る is right because you concentrate on the point of arrival 日本{にほん}.\nBut 日本{にほん}に来{く}る? sounds as you ask your friend if s/he would come or not\nlike 'Will you come to Japan?'. 日本{にほん}行{い}くの? sounds unnatural in this case\nbut could be used when you don't live in Japan and want to know if your friend\ngoes there or not.\n\n> パーティーに来{く}る?\n\nYou can use 来{く}る, even you are not the organizer of the party, as long as you\nvery sure to participate in it. If you're unsure about your participation,\n行{い}く should be used.\n\n> 彼{かれ}は一週間{いっしゅうかん}前{まえ}ここに来{き}たみたい。\n\nYes, this is fine if you are at right in the place he visited. The place\ndoesn't necessarily need to be yours. If you use 行{い}った instead, you are\nprobably talking about where he visited while looking at the map.\n\n> 俺{おれ}は1時{じ}から5時{じ}まで太郎{たろう}の家{いえ}にいるから、その間{あいだ}に来{く}るよね?\n\nSince 来{く}る is used, the speaker is asking if the listener is coming to\n太郎{たろう}の家{いえ} where he will be. 行{い}く can be used when the speaker wants to\nask if the listener visit somewhere else but 太郎{たろう}の家{いえ}.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T02:12:40.190", "id": "28823", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-28T16:25:21.963", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-28T16:25:21.963", "last_editor_user_id": "5090", "owner_user_id": "5090", "parent_id": "28820", "post_type": "answer", "score": 7 }, { "body": "くる means one approaches to the point of view while 行く means one goes away from\nit. It depends on where you put the point of view to choose which to use.\n\nIn the scene where you invite your friend to your house, it depends on which\nyou feel psychologically closer to between your friend and your house. If it's\nthe former, you use 行く, otherwise 来る. I think the example of 一緒に行く supports\nthat idea.\n\nIn that sense, 「俺は1時から5時まで太郎の家にいるから、その間に **行く** よね?」is confusing in the point\nthat you are seeing yourself from the opponent viewpoint. However, it's not\nthat such expressions are impossible. You may use it when you want to fix the\npoint of view, for example, when a detective lists what someone did.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T06:52:30.130", "id": "28831", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-23T06:52:30.130", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "4092", "parent_id": "28820", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 }, { "body": "My first inclination is to say that it really is not either 1 or 2, but\ninstead:\n\n行く indicates that somebody is moving away from where the speaker is now or\n_will be at the time of departure_. \n来る indicates that somebody is moving towards where the speaker is now or _will\nbe at the time of arrival_.\n\nTherefore something like「うち来る?」says basically \"Will you go to my house? If so,\nI'm planning on also being there when you arrive.\" while 「うち行く?」says \"Will you\ngo to my house? If so, you will need to leave here in order to go there.\"\n\nNote that in the case where the speaker is also moving during that time, there\ncan be some overlap between these two scenarios. In those situations,\nwhichever one is used can depend on which aspect of the journey (leaving or\narriving) the speaker wants to focus on more.\n\nBut for example, regardless of ownership, I would not expect someone to\nsay「うち来る?」if they were not actually intending to also be there at the same\ntime that the listener was.\n\n(FWIW, I think there is also some element of intent present in all of this as\nwell. For example, 来る can also indicate that somebody is going to some\nlocation _with the intent of becoming closer to where the speaker is or will\nbe_ , whether that actually works out to be the case in reality or not.)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2022-11-09T00:31:57.060", "id": "97116", "last_activity_date": "2022-11-09T00:31:57.060", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "35230", "parent_id": "28820", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "[![Excerpt of\nMap](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CxUUB.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CxUUB.png)\n\nI am looking for the reading/meaning of the kanji shown in the attached image.\nIt should spell 上御道田, if I am not mistaken. The image is an excerpt of an old\nmap of Achimura, Nagano-ken. I tried googling for it, but all I could find so\nfar is [this](http://www11.plala.or.jp/samma116/25/250hakken.html \"駒場の八軒屋敷村\").\n\nDoes anyone have any clues? Or maybe can point me to a place where I could\nlook further?\n\nThank you in advance!", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-22T18:44:34.613", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28821", "last_activity_date": "2015-11-17T08:37:03.650", "last_edit_date": "2015-11-17T08:37:03.650", "last_editor_user_id": "888", "owner_user_id": "11512", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "translation", "kanji" ], "title": "Reading and meaning of 上御道田", "view_count": 233 }
[ { "body": "The page you linked clearly says 上御道 is read as うえみどう ( _Ue-midō_ ). The page\nalso says 上御道 was a small area located somewhere in [駒場 ( _Komaba_ )\ndistrict](https://goo.gl/maps/Dn6fUeRqtpw).\n\nCurrently Achi village doesn't have a district name related to 御道 or 上御道 ([zip\ncodes of Ochi](http://www.post.japanpost.jp/cgi-\nzip/zipcode.php?pref=20&city=1204070&cmp=1)). I checked Googleマップ and\n[地理院地図](http://maps.gsi.go.jp/), but found nothing relevant.\n\n田 means \"rice field\", and is either read as _den_ (in on-yomi) or _ta_ (in\nkun-yomi). So 上御道田 (probably _Ue-midō den_ ) means \"the rice field in 上御道\".\n\nHistorically, there was a [宿場【しゅくば】](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shukuba)\n(post station) of 三州街道 ( _Sanshū_ highway, current [Route\n153](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%BD%E9%81%93153%E5%8F%B7)) in 駒場. So\nmy speculation is that this 御道 ( _Midō_ , lit. \"the (great) road\") probably\nrefers to Sanshū highway. 上 ( _Ue_ ) is a kind of prefix which means \"up\",\n\"high\" etc. Is this 上御道田 located somewhere along 三州街道?\n\nThat's all what I could gather on the net, but the page you linked is a part\nof [this site](http://www11.plala.or.jp/samma116/mokuji.html), which is full\nof information on the history of Achi. If you really want to be sure, probably\nthe author of this site is the best person to ask.\n\n* * *\n\n**EDIT:** Looks like うえみどう ( _Uemidō_ ) was a small area located [around\nhere](https://goo.gl/maps/RkAP5k5QnMG2), and it was [also written in kanji as\n上見 **堂** or 上御 **堂**](http://www11.plala.or.jp/samma116/25/264hakken2.html) (堂\n= small shrine, or [_hokora_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokora)). The name\n上御堂 appears in the official history book of Achi Village,\n[阿智村誌](http://misuzu-mokuji.net/detail.php?id=407001). Anyway,\n[ateji](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateji) was very common in those days, so\nうえみどう might not necessarily refer to Sanshū highway.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T17:20:40.023", "id": "28835", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-23T19:59:25.713", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-23T19:59:25.713", "last_editor_user_id": "5010", "owner_user_id": "5010", "parent_id": "28821", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28827", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Starting from the sentence:\n\n> それにもかかわらず、新渡戸と内村は女性の状況や権利に特別な関心を抱き、これについての文書を多数残している。\n\nDo I need to add 2「自身」to give the meaning \"Nitobe and Uchimura themselves\"?\n\n> それにもかかわらず、新渡戸 **自身** と内村 **自身** は女性の状況や権利に特別な関心を抱き、これについての文書を多数残している。\n\nCan I accomplish the meaning of \"themselves\" with only 1「自身」in the sentence\nafter the second name be able to **refer to both** of them?\n\n> 「新渡戸と内村 **自身** は」\n\n=\"Nitobe and Uchimura themselves\"?\n\nor will that merely mean\n\n\"Nitobe, and Uchimura himself\"?", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T04:30:47.210", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28825", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-23T06:22:00.030", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-23T04:42:15.030", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "4547", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "usage", "syntax", "suffixes", "word-usage", "reflexives" ], "title": "Can 自身 be used to refer to 2 people in the same sentence?", "view_count": 88 }
[ { "body": "The easiest and surest way to do it that would leave no room for\nmisunderstanding (and maintain at least the fine newspaper article quality)\nwould be to say:\n\n> 「新渡戸、内村(の)[両氏自身]{りょうしじしん}」 or\n>\n> 「新渡戸・内村両氏自身」 or\n>\n> 「新渡戸[及]{およ}び内村(の)両氏自身」\n\n「両氏」 can be replaced by 「[両名]{りょうめい}」 without changing any nuance.", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T06:14:33.760", "id": "28827", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-23T06:22:00.030", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28825", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "If 来る is so inherently related to the direction towards the speaker so that\nyou cannot use 来る for actions of going towards the person you are speaking to,\nas was explained by [examples\nhere](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1669/11104), then why is 迎えに来ます\nused to mean \"I'll come to pick you up\" correct?\n\nAn illogical set phrase? An exception? The only one? How did it come to\nexistence?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T06:23:49.730", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28828", "last_activity_date": "2021-11-25T22:03:55.333", "last_edit_date": "2017-04-13T12:43:43.857", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "11104", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "word-usage" ], "title": "Why is 迎えに来る correct?", "view_count": 530 }
[ { "body": "I don't think you can say 迎えに来る to mean \"I'll come pick you up.\"\n\nExample:\n\nPerson A arrives at the airport, and calls person B: 迎えに来ますか? (Will you come\npick me up?)\n\nPerson B responds: はい、迎えに行きます (Yes, I'll come pick you up)", "comment_count": 9, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T06:48:44.080", "id": "28830", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-23T06:48:44.080", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "10428", "parent_id": "28828", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28834", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I have a question which is regarding to the word 肉 in Japanese Language. \nBelow are my opinions and questions about it.\n\n 1. First, pork in Japan is 豚肉 (google-translated from pork), which should be correct but strangely カツ丼 also refers to pork even though name is totally different.\n 2. Second, chicken in Japan called チキン.\n 3. Third, after Google にく(it is in hiragana because 肉 will redirect me to Chinese websites), what I saw are all about beef which makes me believe that にく in Japan usually means beef.\n\nNow, here is my question does 豚肉, チキン also called 肉 in Japan? \nLast but not least, I love Japan!", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T07:28:22.103", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28832", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T01:11:17.000", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-23T23:43:52.137", "last_editor_user_id": "5229", "owner_user_id": "11494", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "translation", "words", "meaning", "usage", "food" ], "title": "Mystery about にく (肉) in kanji (漢字)", "view_count": 683 }
[ { "body": "So 肉{にく} refers to meat in general. It is typically used with an animal to\nform a particular kind of meat:\n\n * 牛肉{ぎゅうにく}: Beef\n * 豚肉{ぶたにく}: Pork\n * 鶏肉{とりにく}: Chicken\n\nIt can also be used to describe the appearance/cut, for example in\n`挽{ひ}き肉{にく}`, minced meat.\n\nYou talk about\n\n * カツ: This word does not describe pork meat in general but rather a particular cut of pork meat, a cutlet (カツレツ). 丼{どんぶり} itself means \"rice bowl\", meaning that カツ丼{どん} is a bowl of rice topped with a cutlet. 豚丼{ぶたどん} also exists, but it is [another dish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butadon). \n * チキン: Obviously comes from the english chicken, but it never used to refer to \"chicken meat\" in general nor to refer to the animal. You will find it in many compounds though. These are mostly dishes names, imported or not, such as チキンナゲット、チキン南蛮、チキンカツ、ローストチキン... Many dishes also use 鳥、such as 焼き鳥. Finally, most \"kinds\" of chicken meat use 鳥/鶏: 鶏もも肉、若鶏、鶏胸肉\n\nTo answer your question, 肉 means meat in general. The other words you quoted\nhave a more restricted meaning.\n\nYou can find 肉 by itself in 肉まん, which is a kind of steamed bun containing\n**pork meat**. The meat of 肉 is also found in 肉食{にくしょく}, meaning carnivorous,\nthat is not related at all to beef in particular. 肉 can even have more\nabstract meanings in other compounds, look on goo.ne.jp or jisho.org for\nexamples.\n\nGood luck in your studies !", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T08:21:27.420", "id": "28834", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T01:11:17.000", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-26T01:11:17.000", "last_editor_user_id": "3614", "owner_user_id": "3614", "parent_id": "28832", "post_type": "answer", "score": 8 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28843", "answer_count": 2, "body": "I was reading manga the other day and came across these nicknames that I can't\nmake sense of.\n\nThe context is as follows: Some mischievous students in a certain high school\nare bragging about their past. It's a contest to see who is the baddest of the\nbunch. But one of these students is diligent, and so, they are picking on him.\n\n> 三中の 病院送ら\n>\n> 二中の 火の玉\n\nAs I understand it, this is describing someone who sends people to the\nhospital, but I have no idea what the `三中の` is referring to. The same goes for\nthe second one.\n\nSome other nicks that I have trouble understanding are\n\n> 不戦勝のマサ\n>\n> ツ力イツパ", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T21:29:52.493", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28837", "last_activity_date": "2019-02-27T07:50:22.210", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "11523", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "words", "meaning" ], "title": "Confused about the meaning of these nicknames", "view_count": 371 }
[ { "body": "You can see the definition to the word 三中 in\n[weblio](http://www.weblio.jp/wkpja/content/%E4%B8%89%E4%B8%AD_%E4%B8%89%E4%B8%AD%E3%81%AE%E6%A6%82%E8%A6%81).\nThe third bullet point reads \"common abbreviation for third middle school\nacross all country\". (edited. check the comments below for reason)\n\nFor 不戦勝のマサ, I found the following line in the manga's wiki:\n\n>\n> ゴツい外見ゆえに相手が勝手に委縮してケンカを売ってこないため、今まで一度も喧嘩をしたことがなく、自分でも喧嘩の実力が分からない。このため、中学時代は「不戦勝のマサ」というあだ名をつけられた。\n\nIt says something along the lines (rough translation due to laziness) of\n\n> \"Because of my tough appearance, no one picked a fight with me, even now\n> I've never got into a fight and I don't even know my true fighting power.\n> Because of that, in middle school I was called 不戦勝のマサ.\"\n\nIt seems マサ is the name of the character, so it's \"マサ who wins without\nfighting\".\n\nNo idea about what ツ力イツパ might be.", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T21:42:01.370", "id": "28838", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T07:29:14.607", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-25T07:29:14.607", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "11102", "parent_id": "28837", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 }, { "body": "「[三中]{さんちゅう}」 is a nickname for a junior high school that is officially named\n「〇〇第三中学校」. The 〇〇 part is usually a town or area name. Many public schools in\nJapan are named using **_ordinal numbers_** like that.\n\nSo, it is like saying \"(area name) 3rd Junior High School\"\n\n[![enter image description\nhere](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KQ3FE.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KQ3FE.jpg) \n(source:\n[ikora.tv](http://img01.ikora.tv/usr/sakakibarakainan/%E6%A0%A1%E9%96%80.JPG))\n\n**_NOTE_** : Contrary to what has been stated by another user in his/her\nanswer, 「三中」 has nothing to do with 「中三」. The latter means \"the third year in\njunior high school\".\n\nMoving on...\n\n「[不戦勝]{ふせんしょう}」means \"a win by default\". 「マサ」 is a common nickname for guys\nwhose full given names include 「まさ」.\n\n不戦勝のマサ must be so strong that he never actually gets to fight because the\nother guys always run away at the sight of him. However you translate that is\nup to you as long as you know what it means. The 「の」 here is appositional.\n\nLastly, 「ツ力イツパ」...\n\nThe second 「ツ」 would have to be the small 「ッ」. It would make no sense\notherwise.\n\n「ツカイッパ」 is short for 「つかいっぱしり」(使いっぱしり) , which means \" **gofer** \".\n\nIn real life, it is shortened to 「パシリ」 much more often.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-24T00:53:09.520", "id": "28843", "last_activity_date": "2019-02-27T07:50:22.210", "last_edit_date": "2019-02-27T07:50:22.210", "last_editor_user_id": "18772", "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28837", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 4, "body": "The two first /o/s are borrowed as /a/ in Japanese. I don't understand why the\nRussian /o/ vowel sounds like /a/ to Japanese speakers instead of /o/ which is\na phoneme in Japanese.", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T22:30:47.070", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28839", "last_activity_date": "2019-06-04T18:00:35.153", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-23T23:47:16.547", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "3221", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "loanwords" ], "title": "Why would Russian хорошо [xoroʂo] be borrowed as ハラショー?", "view_count": 449 }
[ { "body": "First of all, loanwords are only _based_ on a word in a different language;\nthey do not have to be duplicates. Russian and Japanese are different\nlanguages, especially in terms of pronunciation, so not everything will go\nbetween them smoothly.\n\nI am not an expert in the Russian language, but if I remember correctly, the\nletter 'o' sounds like an unstressed 'a' (or a schwa) when it is unstressed,\nand when it _is_ stressed, it sounds like an 'o' as usual. According to\ndictionaries, the word 'хорошо' has stress on the last 'o', so the last one\nwill sound like an 'o' but the first two, which are unstressed, will sound\nsort of like an 'a'. That could explain why the first two are borrowed as /a/\nbut the last is an /o/.\n\nSo it sounds like /a/ to Japanese speakers because that's pretty much what it\nis.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T23:18:24.170", "id": "28840", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-23T23:40:59.233", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-23T23:40:59.233", "last_editor_user_id": "9749", "owner_user_id": "9749", "parent_id": "28839", "post_type": "answer", "score": 6 }, { "body": "Because хорошо is pronounced just like ハラショ.\n\n[http://ja.forvo.com/word/хорошо/](http://ja.forvo.com/word/%D1%85%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%88%D0%BE/)", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-23T23:34:58.273", "id": "28841", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-24T00:03:31.220", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-24T00:03:31.220", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "3506", "parent_id": "28839", "post_type": "answer", "score": 11 }, { "body": "This probably belongs to the Russian Language SE, but it is due to\npalatalization.\n\nThis site has a brief intro to pronunciation:\n<http://www.russianlessons.net/lessons/lesson1_main.php>\n\nWhen stressed, it is an \"oh\" sound and when unstressed is it an \"ah\" sound.\n\nJapanese language tends to transcribe words as they sound, thus ハラショー", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-24T00:49:03.910", "id": "28842", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-24T00:49:03.910", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "9508", "parent_id": "28839", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 }, { "body": "@macraf: хорошо in IPA is xərɐˈʂo. – Oct 24 '15 at 0:02\n\nMaybe.\n\n@blavius: it is due to palatalization.\n\nNot so simple. The first consideration is stress. Unstressed /o/ and /a/ merge\nto /a/. (Akanye vs. okanye.)\n\nThe choice of allophone then brings in other factors.\n\n• [ɐ] (or [ʌ]) for the syllable preceding the stressed one. (Further reduction\nless likely.)\n\n• [ə] (the most frequent vowel in English) for other unstressed syllables.\n\nFor more phonetic detail than you may want or ever need to know\n\n<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_reduction_in_Russian>", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2019-05-22T13:28:20.190", "id": "68413", "last_activity_date": "2019-06-04T18:00:35.153", "last_edit_date": "2019-06-04T18:00:35.153", "last_editor_user_id": "34108", "owner_user_id": "34108", "parent_id": "28839", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "29067", "answer_count": 1, "body": "In a spoken story (action in late-Edo, early-Meiji period) there was a passage\ndescribing someone's life situation (a street peddler selling dubious\nmedicines) using the following words:\n\n> この人は藪医者と言いたいが、 \n> **は(っ)ちごぐらいでさか(い)やりません** 。\n\nThe meaning of the second part was unclear. At the time I was trying to\nanalyze what was being said, a native Japanese speaker claimed it was\n破竹ぐらいで食べられません however I could no confirm any other metaphorical usage of 破竹\nexcept for [破竹]{はちく}の[勢]{いきお}い. And this sentence did not make much sense to\nme.\n\nNow something made me revisit the notes and I started to wonder about this\ncomparison. Even if the second part is incomprehensible, what might be the\nreason to compare someone (selling snake oil) to a quack? They sound similar,\nno use for が.\n\nIs there any preconception of 藪医者? That you could negate to describe someone's\nsituation? Like \"rich\" for example (I doubt though). As I understand the\nconcept of saying と言いたいが here is to express something in line with \"If I\ncalled him X, it would mean he is rich, but he was not.\"\n\nEven if I have no way to get back to the original story, how to tackle with\nwhat I have? Are there any clues in either in the meaning of 藪医者 or the phrase\nwording?", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-24T04:38:17.583", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28844", "last_activity_date": "2015-11-08T03:18:34.567", "last_edit_date": "2015-11-07T16:48:37.457", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "11104", "post_type": "question", "score": 2, "tags": [ "meaning", "expressions" ], "title": "What is the common perception of 藪医者? Or how to tackle with amiguity here?", "view_count": 196 }
[ { "body": "My guess would be that it is some kind of variation of:\n\n> この人は藪医者と言いたいが、 \n> **筍{たけのこ}ぐらいでしかありません** \n> _I'd like to say he is a “bamboo thicket” doctor (= quack),_ \n> _but he's barely a bamboo shoot._\n\n[筍医者](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/136156/meaning/m0u/ \"たけのこいしゃ【筍医者】の意味 -\n国語辞書 - goo辞書\") is a humorous term for a person who is so utterly incompetent\nthey cannot even be called a fully-grown quack. I think it's safe to say that\nthis term [was in\nexistence](http://www.gakken.co.jp/kagakusouken/spread/oedo/05/kaisetsu1.html\n\"江戸時代の医者:お江戸の科学\") during the time frame of your story.", "comment_count": 7, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-11-07T15:49:26.820", "id": "29067", "last_activity_date": "2015-11-08T03:18:34.567", "last_edit_date": "2015-11-08T03:18:34.567", "last_editor_user_id": "888", "owner_user_id": "888", "parent_id": "28844", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28847", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Okay I read a light novel and found a phrase that seems nonsensical to me.\n\nThe sentence is: \"私を見ながら背中に嫌な汗を掻いた。\" The context is that a character in the\nstory just realize something about the Main Character.\n\nThe phrase that confuse me is \"背中に嫌な汗を掻いた。\"\n\nIs \"getting your back wet with sweat\" an idiomatic phrase in Japanese? Does\nthat means he was fear or afraid?\n\nWhat does it really mean? I try to search the dictionary that I have but I\ndon't find the relevant meaning.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-24T07:13:04.163", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28845", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T07:05:38.403", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11081", "post_type": "question", "score": 5, "tags": [ "translation", "meaning", "idioms" ], "title": "Is \"背中に嫌な汗を掻いた\" an idiomatic phrase?", "view_count": 308 }
[ { "body": "嫌な汗 is commonly used and refers to sweat that comes out in a \"bad situation\",\nespecially in anticipation of a \"bad situation\". In my personal opinion it\nemphasizes how the person is still maintaining his/her composure (rather than\nflailing around, screaming, running away etc.) despite being very worried or\ndistressed inside.\n\nFor example, if you are a fighter pilot and realize you don't have enough fuel\nto get home, or you are walking in a sketchy part of town and you realize\nsketchy figures are following you, or you are a sword master and you realize\nthe opponent is much stronger than you thought, etc.\n\n背中に is just a choice by the author I think. You could equally say\n顔に嫌な汗をかいた、but perhaps it serves to further emphasize how he/she is maintaining\ncomposure (because if you are all sweaty on your face, it's easier to notice).", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-24T07:53:23.353", "id": "28847", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T07:05:38.403", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-25T07:05:38.403", "last_editor_user_id": "499", "owner_user_id": "499", "parent_id": "28845", "post_type": "answer", "score": 8 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28848", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Consider the following sentences.\n\n> A: 昨日たこ焼きを作ってみた。\n>\n> B: 昨日たこ焼きを作ろうとした。\n\nA means that \"I tried to make takoyaki and I really made it.\"\n\n# Questions\n\nDoes B always mean that \"I tried to make takoyaki but I (did not)/(failed to)\nmake it.\" ?", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-24T07:24:49.870", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28846", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-24T09:00:41.997", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11192", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "grammar" ], "title": "Does ようとした always mean failure to try doing something?", "view_count": 818 }
[ { "body": "No, B just says \"I tried to make it\", and it says nothing about the result,\nwhether or not \"I\" was able to actually make it.\n\nBut as you might guess, a sentence like B is usually followed by something\nthat prevents the speaker from doing so smoothly. Ultimately, the speaker may\nor may not succeed.\n\n> 昨日たこ焼きを作ろうとした。だけど近所の店でタコが売られていなかったので、諦めた。\n>\n> 昨日たこ焼きを作ろうとした。おいしいたこ焼きができた。: Huh?\n>\n> 昨日たこ焼きを作ろうとした。だけど近所の店でタコが売られていなかった。車で1時間走ってタコを買ってきて、最終的にはおいしいたこ焼きができた。: OK", "comment_count": 4, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-24T08:55:17.390", "id": "28848", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-24T09:00:41.997", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "5010", "parent_id": "28846", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "29148", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I saw the phrase 烏有{うゆう}に帰{き}す, which means to \"become nothing\" as if turning\nto ashes. The word \"烏有\" means nothing, but its parts are 烏 (crow) and 有 (to\nbe). How did 烏有 come to mean nothing?\n\nWhen I consulted a dictionary\n([kotobank.jp](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%83%8F%E6%9C%89-441691)), it said\nit means: 「烏(いずく)んぞ有らんや」. What does that mean? I'm not sure how to translate\nthat. Also, is there a place where the word is first used?", "comment_count": 5, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-24T15:12:29.370", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28850", "last_activity_date": "2015-11-10T20:31:15.833", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-24T22:44:00.360", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "6881", "post_type": "question", "score": 7, "tags": [ "words", "kanji", "etymology", "archaic-language" ], "title": "Origin of the word 烏有", "view_count": 338 }
[ { "body": "## 烏有 as _on'yomi_ : _uyū_\n\nAs others have noted in the question comments, 烏有 read as _uyū_ derives from\nClassical Chinese. Its origins there appear to be based on 烏 (not \" _crow_ \"\nhere, instead used phonetically in Middle Chinese as an interrogative and\nnegative indefinite pronoun, as noted by snailboat and Derpius in the comments\nabove) + 有 (\" _to have, to be_ \") → \" _none-have, none-be_ \" → \" _nothing_ \".\n\n## 烏有 as _kun'yomi_ : _izukunzo aran'ya_\n\nAddressing the latter portion of your question, いずくんぞあらんや is provided as the\n_kun'yomi_ or native Japanese reading of the Classical Chinese term 烏有. いずくんぞ\nagain has no relation to the \" _crow_ \" meaning of 烏, and あらんや implies the\nopposite of the \" _to have, to exist_ \" meaning of 有, but the full _kun'yomi_\nis related to the Classical Chinese meaning of the full phrase.\n\n### The pieces: _izukunzo_\n\nいずくんぞ is a contraction. Walking it back:\n\n * いずくんぞ\n * いづく + に + ぞ\n * いづこ (何【いづ】 \" _which_ \" + 処【こ】 \" _place_ \" → modern どこ) + に (locative particle) + ぞ (used in Classical Japanese after interrogatives to indicate non-specificity, apparently similar to the modern use of も as in どこにも)\n\nいずくんぞ literally appears to mean \" _wheresoever_ \". In practice, its meaning\nwas closer to \" _why_ \" (perhaps similar to archaic English \" _wherefore_ \").\nThe term mainly appears in Classical Japanese, in the _kundoku_ (native\nJapanese recitation) of _kanbun_ (works written in [broadly speaking]\nClassical Chinese). いずくんぞ was used to introduce a supposition as part of a\nrhetorical question with an implied negative answer: \" _why would [you think\nX, it be X, etc.] (because actually that's not the case)._ \" One usage example\ngiven in Shogakukan's _Kokugo Dai Jiten_ is いずくんぞ知【し】らん: \" _why would\n[someone] know it (when they probably don't)._ \"\n\n### The pieces: _aran'ya_\n\nあらんや is similarly a contraction.\n\n * あらんや\n * あらむ (有る \" _to be_ \" + supposition auxiliary む → modern あろう \" _is it?, would it be?_ \") + や (question particle)\n\nIn Classical Japanese, the -む + や construction was used in rhetorical\nquestions where the answer is assumed to be \"no\", somewhat like the English\nconstruction \" _would it be X_ \" with intonation used to indicate a meaning of\n\" _it isn't X_ \".\n\n### The full _kun'yomi_ phrase\n\nPutting it back together then, いずくんぞあらんや ultimately parses out to \" _why would\nthere be anything?_ \", intending \" _there isn't anything_ \" → \" _nothing_ \".", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-11-10T20:31:15.833", "id": "29148", "last_activity_date": "2015-11-10T20:31:15.833", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "5229", "parent_id": "28850", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28853", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I am a bit confused on what the 「やった人」really mean.\n\nYou can see it used as a Twitter hashtag, but truthfully the meanings elude\nme.\n\nDoes it mean a people who can do something?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-24T15:31:08.920", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28851", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-24T16:15:13.500", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11081", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "words", "meaning" ], "title": "What does the phrase 「やった人」 really mean?", "view_count": 168 }
[ { "body": "It's the short form of やったことがある人\n\n\"People who have done this\" in English.\n\nMost commonly used on sites like Twitter, as in \"retweet this if you have done\nit\"", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-24T16:15:13.500", "id": "28853", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-24T16:15:13.500", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "10083", "parent_id": "28851", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "Okay here is my dilemma, I am going to a write to a Japanese friend a birthday\nletter but I don't know how should I construct it; I've tried to search around\nthe net and I found both formal and informal letters.\n\nNow the problem is that friend of mine happens to be my boss in my Job too\nwhich means in my case I don't know which kind of format should I use in\nwriting the letter.\n\nDo I use the formal style with 拝啓 opening remarks or just write my message to\nhim instantly (without the opening and closing remarks) and how should I\naddress him in he letter? should I use さま、さん?", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-24T15:49:21.657", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28852", "last_activity_date": "2022-01-28T06:01:55.140", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-24T18:30:25.940", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11437", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "word-choice", "words", "politeness", "greetings" ], "title": "Writing a birthday letter to a friend", "view_count": 989 }
[ { "body": "I think that it is perfectly fine to use -さん when writing the letter, since\nthat's what you normally use anyway. If you often speak to him informally,\nthen you can revert to that style of speech after the opening. I find\n[this](http://birthday-techo.com/jyousi-messeji/) to be a good example:\n\n> 例えば・・○○さん、お誕生日おめでとうございます。の後に\n>\n> * また今度職場の皆でカラオケに行きましょう!○○さんのあまい歌声をまた聞かせてくださいね。\n>\n> * また今度○○さんおすすめのラーメン屋さんに連れていってください!\n>\n>\n\n>\n> といった雰囲気です。\n\nSpeaking from experience of writing to professors whom I'm on very friendly\nterms with. Hope it's not too late.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-11-15T19:39:36.400", "id": "29250", "last_activity_date": "2015-11-16T05:08:29.627", "last_edit_date": "2015-11-16T05:08:29.627", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "9861", "parent_id": "28852", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28863", "answer_count": 2, "body": "「愛犬」は「アイケン」と音読みで読みます。 \n「犬種」も「ケンシュ」と音読みです。 \n\nさて、猫の場合はどうでしょうか。 \n\n「猫」という字は音で読むと「ビョウ」ですので、正しくは「アイビョウ」「ビョウシュ」ではないでしょうか。 \n\nしかし「アイビョウが・・・」って言われてすぐにピンとくる人がどれほどいるのか疑問です。 \n\nネットで調べたら、わかりやすさを優先し「あいねこ」「ねこしゅ」と読むようにしているという人も少なくないようです。 \n\nそこでお聞きしたいのですが、「愛猫」「猫種」の正しい読み方は何ですか?そして、日常会話では普段どのように発音されていますか?それとも、会話ではそういった言葉を避けて「ペットの猫」「猫の種類」などと言い換えたりするのが普通ですか?\n\nさっき読んでいた本で「猫種」が出てきてちょっと気になったのでご教示いただければ幸いです。\n\n> [...]\n> 雪ノ下は、雑誌の耳を丁寧に折る。いわゆるドッグイヤーというやつだ。猫好き雪ノ下なら、「これは犬の耳ではなくスコティッシュフォールドの耳よ」などと言い出すかもしれない。ちなみに、スコティッシュフォールドは猫にしては珍しく、それこそドッグイヤーのような折れた耳が特徴的で人気のある\n> **猫種** だ。", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T02:03:35.583", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28855", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T06:13:47.860", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-25T02:08:42.857", "last_editor_user_id": "3010", "owner_user_id": "3010", "post_type": "question", "score": 4, "tags": [ "readings" ], "title": "「猫種」「愛猫」などの読み方について", "view_count": 56412 }
[ { "body": "This is my personal opinion. That word is rarely used and not on a dictionary\nI checked. So, I think there is no correct answer to this. I would\n湯桶読みして「ねこしゅ」, and I would use 猫の種類 instead in conversations.\n\nJapanese has a lot of 同音異義語, so sometimes words are read in a different way to\navoid confusion. <http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/language/homophone.html>", "comment_count": 2, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T05:38:39.557", "id": "28862", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T05:38:39.557", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28855", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 }, { "body": "詳しくは[ネットのアンケートの結果](http://news.mynavi.jp/news/2014/06/25/115/)に書かれているようなので、私個人の経験と印象だけ書きます。たまに[猫カフェ](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%8C%AB%E3%82%AB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A7)には行きますが、猫を飼ったことはありません。\n\n「愛猫」に関しては、正しい読みが「あいびょう」だと知っており、すんなりとそう読めました。他の読み方をしてしまうと、個人的にはちょっと恥ずかしいと思います。ただし難しい表現なので、会話では「好きな猫」などと言い換えます。\n\n「猫種」に関しては、そもそもこの単語をほとんど見た記憶がありません。読めと言われると、おそらく少し悩んでから「びょうしゅ」と読むと思いますが、実際には「ねこしゅ」もよく使われているようです。", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T06:13:47.860", "id": "28863", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T06:13:47.860", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "5010", "parent_id": "28855", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28860", "answer_count": 1, "body": "> 今闘技場にいる観衆は外に出すな、モンスターが脱走したことを悟られ **てもいかん** !\n\nWhat meaning does いかん have in this sentence? I've never seen this before.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T04:17:49.790", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28856", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T05:00:15.570", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-25T04:21:41.437", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "10316", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "grammar", "words" ], "title": "What does ても+いかん do?", "view_count": 202 }
[ { "body": "いかん is short for いけない.\n\n> Don't let the audiences in the arena go outside. It is not good if they\n> notice the monsters have escaped.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T05:00:15.570", "id": "28860", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T05:00:15.570", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28856", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28859", "answer_count": 1, "body": "> で、モンスターはどこら辺 **うろついとるか** 、わかるか?\n\nWhat is うろついとる? I'm not sure if it's a different word from うろつく or if it is\nshort for うろついておる.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T04:21:55.270", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28857", "last_activity_date": "2016-02-13T06:57:04.907", "last_edit_date": "2016-02-13T06:57:04.907", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "10316", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "words", "contractions", "subsidiary-verbs" ], "title": "What is うろついとる?", "view_count": 88 }
[ { "body": "It is short for うろついておる.\n\nIt is called\n[二重母音の融合現象](http://homepage3.nifty.com/rosetta_stone/wissenshaft/vowel_1.htm)\n(融合発音 synecphonesis).", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T04:51:54.860", "id": "28859", "last_activity_date": "2016-02-12T16:59:40.140", "last_edit_date": "2016-02-12T16:59:40.140", "last_editor_user_id": "9831", "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28857", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28861", "answer_count": 1, "body": "> 長い首を振り回す小龍の背に調教師がロデオのように飛び乗る中、 **人々の興奮は最高潮に達しようとしていた** 。\n\nWhat does ようとする do here? I know that it can mean \"try to do something.\" But\n\"The people's excitement was trying to reach a climax\" doesn't seem to make\nmuch sense.\n\nThanks!", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T04:31:31.837", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28858", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T05:19:40.877", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-25T04:53:38.977", "last_editor_user_id": "10316", "owner_user_id": "10316", "post_type": "question", "score": 5, "tags": [ "grammar" ], "title": "What does ようとする do here?", "view_count": 230 }
[ { "body": "達しようとしていた means \"just about to reach\" here.\n\nOf course, しようとしていた can also mean \"trying to do,\" but the concept is broader.\nIt is possible to use this even if the subject does not have will to do.\n\nThese three sentences below all mean \"The stone on the cliff was about to\nfall.\" But, they are slightly different.\n\n> 崖の上の石が落ちそうになっていた。 (It was unstable and it could fall off at any moment.)\n>\n> 崖の上の石が落ちようとしていた。 (It was moving and it would fall in a minute.)\n>\n> 崖の上の石がまさに落ちようとしていた。(It was just before starting to fall.)\n\nThe comments are how I feel; other natives may have different feelings.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T05:19:40.877", "id": "28861", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T05:19:40.877", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "8010", "parent_id": "28858", "post_type": "answer", "score": 6 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28869", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I just wanted to know how they were different (tone, formality, implications,\netc.).", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T07:58:58.347", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28864", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T15:33:42.050", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11404", "post_type": "question", "score": 3, "tags": [ "word-choice", "words" ], "title": "率直に and 正直に、how do they differ?", "view_count": 269 }
[ { "body": "正直に means \"without hiding\", whereas 率直に means \"without sugar coating\". For\nexample you can say to a child who is apparently hiding some truth \"正直に言いなさい\",\nbut not \"率直に言いなさい\".\n\n正直な感想を言いますと would imply the speaker was hiding, or was considering hiding\nhis/her true feelings (or at least could have considered hiding). This is\nuseful as a softener before mentioning something that might upset the\nlistener. 率直な感想を言いますと simply means he/she is being candid, so it can be used\nfor positive things as well.\n\nFew examples:\n\n> 「うちの学生の質はどうですか?」 \n> 「正直に言いますと、A高校よりは劣るような気がします」\n\n.\n\n> 「このラーメンうまいでしょう」 \n> 「正直に言いますと、豚骨はあまり好きじゃないんです」\n\n.\n\n> 「日本一の職場と言っても良いのではないか、というのが率直な感想です」\n\nWhen you say\n\n> 「日本一の職場と言っても良いのではないか、というのが正直な感想です」\n\nIt would mean \"Really, my honest opinion is that this could be the best\nworkplace in Japan\".", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T15:33:42.050", "id": "28869", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T15:33:42.050", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "499", "parent_id": "28864", "post_type": "answer", "score": 8 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "I found this sentence while reading and I came across 2 が in the same\nsentence.\n\n認識結果{にんしきけっか}が保存{ほぞん}されていない登録{とうろく}画像{がぞう}があります。\n\nIs it there a way to phrase is differently?\n\nHow is this clause divided?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T10:18:53.623", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28865", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T14:42:19.890", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-25T14:42:19.890", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11352", "post_type": "question", "score": -1, "tags": [ "grammar", "particle-が" ], "title": "Multiple が in the same sentence", "view_count": 158 }
[ { "body": "Sounds like a description of a bug in software or a system. Something like:\n\"There are images registered without recognition results\" or more literally\n\"There are registered images for which recognition results were not saved.\"\n\nWithout context it is hard to tell if it was pattern, face, or file format\nrecognition, what exactly \"registered image\" means, or if this was really a\nclaim. Without this information the above English sentence might sound odd.\n\nThe particles が are in two separate clauses here:\n\n * Main clause: 登録画像があります \"there are registered images\" \n * Subordinate clause: 認識結果が保存されていない \"results of recognition are not saved\"", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T12:11:38.867", "id": "28868", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T14:41:33.367", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-25T14:41:33.367", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11104", "parent_id": "28865", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28867", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I'm a little bit lost here. The following sentence is about a film critic\n(Tsuchiya Yoshio) and the Yomiuri Shimbun. But I'm not sure about the\nmeaning..\n\n> 読売新聞であれば、土屋好生のような映画評論家が批評するか、あるいは記者が署名入りで一本の映画を紹介・批評しています。\n\nDoes it say something like this:\n\n> critic (Tsuchiya Yoshio) is publishing single movie critical reviews under\n> his name\n\nThe ...署名入りで... part is a bit tricky for me.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T10:37:16.490", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28866", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T13:17:34.977", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-26T13:17:34.977", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11525", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "translation", "publishing" ], "title": "How to understand this sentence about film reviews in Japanese newspapers?", "view_count": 149 }
[ { "body": "No, that is not what it says, I am afraid. To understand this sentence, one\nwould need to have basic knowledge of how newspaper articles are written in\nJapan. I shall come back to this point later.\n\n>\n> 「[読売新聞]{よみうりしんぶん}であれば、[土屋好生]{つちやよしお}のような[映画評論家]{えいがひょうろんか}が[批評]{ひひょう}するか、あるいは[記者]{きしゃ}が[署名入]{しょめいい}りで[一本]{いっぽん}の[映画]{えいが}を[紹介]{しょうかい}・[批評]{ひひょう}しています。」\n\nIt says that **_two groups of people_** do film critiques in Yomiuri\nNewspaper. ← The main point of the sentence!\n\nGroup 1: 土屋好生のような映画評論家 \"film critics such as Yoshio Tsuchiya\"\n\nGroup 2: 記者 \"(regular) newspaper reporters\"\n\n> 「署名入り」 means \"bylined\".\n\nUnlike in some other countries, most Japanese newspaper articles are\ntraditionally written without the names of the reporters. According to the\nsentence in question, film critiques are always bylined in Yomiuri. This is\nwhy it says 「記者が署名入りで」.\n\nIt is implying that when a professional film critic does a critique for\nYomiuri (if not for other newspapers), it is naturally bylined. Additionally,\neven when a regular reporter does a film critique, it is also bylined (unlike\nwith the regular articles that s/he usually writes for Yomiuri).\n\n「一本の」 here does not mean much. Think of it as \"a\" or \"one (by one)\".", "comment_count": 1, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T11:23:25.110", "id": "28867", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T11:23:25.110", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28866", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28878", "answer_count": 2, "body": "What is the difference between 日{ひ} and 一日{いちにち}? I thought that 一日 was used\nwhen refering to the **length** of a day but I saw this sentence and got\nconfused:\n\n> 今朝のニュースでも、アナウンサーの人が「うららかな **一日** になるでしょう」って言ってたよ。\n>\n> Also, on the news this morning the announcer said that it would probably\n> become a beautiful day.\n\nWhy is it correct to use 一日 rather than 日 here? Thanks.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T16:15:56.520", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28870", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T04:19:46.133", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "7944", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "grammar", "time" ], "title": "Difference between 日 and 一日", "view_count": 591 }
[ { "body": "一日 means either the first day of the month or one day, but can also mean all\nday.\n\nIn that context, 一日 is used to denote that the **whole** day will be\nbeautiful.\n\nAnyone please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm still learning myself.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T19:09:55.303", "id": "28871", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-25T19:09:55.303", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "7635", "parent_id": "28870", "post_type": "answer", "score": 2 }, { "body": "The concept of a day is quite ambiguous in any language and Japanese is no\nexception. A day can be: 24 hours, a calendar day, a period between sunrise\nand sunset, a period between you wake up and go to sleep, one's workday. One\nday might have more than 24 hours (長い一日だった), the other less...\n\nThat said 一日{いちにち} in your example refers to a time period that someone\nperceived or might perceive as a \"beautiful day\". It is essentially 一日間 here\nand although using it would be unnatural, it would probably be grammatical.\n\nLike in 忙しい一日でした the 間 is absent, but if you extended the period to two weeks\nyou would say 忙しい2週間でした.\n\n日{ひ} on the other hand has more of a \"calendar day\" or an \"exemplary day\"\nfeeling to it. うららかな日は外で遊びます。", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-26T02:41:02.603", "id": "28878", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T04:19:46.133", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-26T04:19:46.133", "last_editor_user_id": "11104", "owner_user_id": "11104", "parent_id": "28870", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "29018", "answer_count": 3, "body": "> 親も辞書を買ってやったかいがあるってもんだよ\n\nThe context is that speaker (a child) is trying to find the meaning of a word\nand asks her friend if she can borrow a dictionary. The friend ridicules her.\nShe brushes aside the insults, saying that \"dictionary owners know complicated\nthings\" followed by the above sentence.\n\nMy previous attempt to translate this sentence was a disaster, so I'm going to\ntry again. Please help me to understand my errors.\n\n買ってやった is \"bought for me\"\n\nverbかいがある is \"There is value in doing verb\"\n\nI think って must be a short hand for と and I'm going to guess that there's an\nimplicit おもう.\n\nものだ is one that always confuses me. It seems to be context dependent and since\nI'm struggling with the rest of the sentence I'm not in a position to figure\nout which one it means.\n\nSo here's my new attempt:\n\n> I think it would be worthwhile if my parents had bought me a dictionary too.\n\nI don't like my placement of \"too\". I don't understand what も is doing\nattached to 親.\n\nMaybe:\n\n> My parents also think it would be worthwhile if they bought me a dictionary.\n\nis better. At least も is on the right place for that.", "comment_count": 9, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T22:52:53.057", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28872", "last_activity_date": "2015-12-29T13:38:00.323", "last_edit_date": "2015-11-18T16:02:36.957", "last_editor_user_id": "888", "owner_user_id": "7944", "post_type": "question", "score": 7, "tags": [ "grammar", "translation" ], "title": "How to parse 親も辞書を買ってやったかいがあるってもんだ", "view_count": 1030 }
[ { "body": "かい is actually 甲斐 (worth) in this context, so with that in mind read it like\nthis:\n\n親も辞書を買ってやった甲斐(かい)があるってもんだよ\n\nThe もんだ is a casual expression for ものだ", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-11-04T05:47:24.547", "id": "29009", "last_activity_date": "2015-11-04T05:47:24.547", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11485", "parent_id": "28872", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 }, { "body": "**TL;DR** From the given context, I guess the gist is something like:\n\n> Dictionary owners know complicated things. That really makes parents happy\n> they bought their kid a dictionary.\n\n* * *\n\nThe following is just my take on this, and I'm sure there are differing views,\nso please take it as one of many perspectives.\n\n## “親も”\n\nThis is a common use of `〜も`, where it is not really meant as a _specific_\n“also” marker. It is used in place of `〜は` as a general topic marker, when\nsimply using `〜は` may seem too much like a contrast marker.\n\n * 花子 **は** 大きくなった ( _Hanako has grown taller._ ) \nThis has this risk of being interpreted as a contrast marker. It can sometimes\nfeel like you're implying some other person has not grown taller, while Hanako\nhas.\n\n * 花子 **も** 大きくなったね ( _Hanako, she's grown taller…_ ) \nThis can be confusing when you stick to the textbook explanation of the\nsimilarity marker `〜も` (e.g. 太郎は大きくなったし花子も大きくなった). Sometimes, it's not much\nmore than a simple topic marker. It's often used when stating something as a\nsentiment rather than a cold fact, in combination with sentence endings like\n〜ねえ, 〜なあ, or 〜よ. Here the person is not drawing similarities with anything\nspecific, so you shouldn't bend over backwards trying to insert the notion of\nan “also/too”.\n\nExamples:\n\n * 親も大変だね _Tough being a parent, huh._\n * おまえも上手になったな _You've really improved, haven't you._\n\n## “ってもんだ”\n\nThis is a colloquial form of 〜というものだ. Adding it to a phrase can have the\neffect of turning a singular event into a generalized phenomenon.\n\nFor example, let's say a teacher is pleased that his pupil has passed an\nentrance exam:\n\n * 先生「がんばって教えたかいが **あった** 」 \n_Teacher: (This outcome makes me feel) It was well worth my effort teaching._\n\n * 先生「がんばって教えたかいが **あるというものだ** 」 \n_Teacher: (These kinds of outcomes make people feel) It was well worth the\neffort teaching._\n\nAnother example:\n\n * 少し休めば元気になるよ \n_You'll get better if you rest a little._\n\n * 少し休めば元気になる **ってもんだ** よ \n_(It's generally the case that) people get better when they rest a little._", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-11-04T14:28:37.333", "id": "29018", "last_activity_date": "2015-11-04T14:28:37.333", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "888", "parent_id": "28872", "post_type": "answer", "score": 14 }, { "body": "I can offer a different parsing and translation of this phrase.\n\nI also think that the full form of this phrase ending should definetely be\n〜というものだよ. And I find the explanation for 〜も made by mirka really good. But in\nmy textbook there's a special explanation for 〜というものだ structure.\n\n> **\" 〜というものだ\"** is used to express a wholehearted (心をこめて) opinion.\n>\n> Short expression for memorizing: それはずうずうしい **というものだ。** = What insolence!\n>\n> Example of usage: 困った時こそ手を差し伸べるのが真の友情 **というものでしょう。** (my translation: \"When\n> someone gives you a hand in time of trouble it is what's called true\n> friendship.\")\n\nSo, with this in mind let's parse the phrase\n\n[ [ [ 親も辞書を買ってやった ] かい ] がある ] ってもんだよ.\n\n * 親も辞書を買ってやった = parents (in general, remember 〜も) were buying a dictionary(-ies)\n * かい = I read this as 詮 or 甲斐 (two variants for the same word) meaning \"good result; use; avail\"\n * 親も辞書を買ってやったかい = a use of that \"親も辞書を買ってやった\"\n * 親も辞書を買ってやったかいがある = there exists \"親も辞書を買ってやったかい\"\n * and finally applying 〜というものだ\n\n## My final translation:\n\n> Dictionary owners know complicated things. **After all, the fact that\n> parents were buying dictionaries has gone to their advantage!**\n\nThat makes much more sense to me than mirka's translation =) After all, I see\nno word in the original phrase that can correspond to 'happy'.\n\nPS: I'm not an English native speaker, so I may be missing some nuances of\nusing tenses. Maybe \"parents have bought dictionaries\" would be better.", "comment_count": 3, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-12-29T08:38:34.623", "id": "30122", "last_activity_date": "2015-12-29T13:38:00.323", "last_edit_date": "2020-06-17T08:18:27.500", "last_editor_user_id": "-1", "owner_user_id": "12034", "parent_id": "28872", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 1, "body": "出る literally means to leave or to go out.\n\nIn a conversation I heard it being used in \"ちょっと手が離さないから、出てくれる\" a request to\ncheck the door after the bell rang. Without knowing the context I would\ninterpret this as \"can you get out for me?\", but this is clearly not the case.\n\nDoes 出る have other meanings / does the meaning of 出る change when used in an\nexpression?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T23:00:46.997", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28873", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T00:29:53.080", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "9346", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "expressions" ], "title": "Different usages of 出てくれる", "view_count": 78 }
[ { "body": "Firstly, it should be 「[手]{て}が[離]{はな} **せ** ない」 instead of 「手が離 **さ** ない」. It\nshould be in the negative potential form.\n\nSecondly, 「[出]{で}る」 does **not** always mean \"to leave\" or \"to go out\" and\nthat is exactly the origin of your misunderstanding this time.\n\nYou can say:\n\n「[電話]{でんわ}に出る」 = \"to answer the phone\" ← This is close to the usage in your\nsentence.\n\n「テレビに出る」 = \"to appear on TV\" ← Very different from \"to leave\", right?\n\n**Here, 「出る」 means \"to reply (to the bell that rang)\".**\n\nThus, 「出てくれる?」 means \"Can you get that?\", with \"that\" referring to the bell.\nIt must be said with a rising intonation towards the end.\n\n**_\"I'm busy now: Can you get that (for me)?\"_** The speaker is asking the\nother person to go to the door to see who it is (and do whatever is needed to\nbe done).", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-25T23:39:48.567", "id": "28874", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T00:29:53.080", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-26T00:29:53.080", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28873", "post_type": "answer", "score": 3 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28882", "answer_count": 2, "body": "I saw this sentence reading some manga:\n\n```\n\n 自分たちで処分するようにだそうだ\n \n```\n\nI think in this context it means \"I heard you guys are taking care of it\nyourselves\".\n\nHowever I am surprised by the way だ follows after ように. Is this just a\ncolloquial equivalent to:\n\n```\n\n 自分たちで処分するようにしそうだ\n \n```\n\n?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-26T02:20:37.737", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28877", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T06:05:01.417", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "10407", "post_type": "question", "score": 1, "tags": [ "colloquial-language" ], "title": "Usage of ようにだそうだ", "view_count": 126 }
[ { "body": "I guess quotation marks are missing:\n\n> 「自分たちで処分するように」だそうだ \n> I hear “Take care of it yourselves.”", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-26T06:04:04.370", "id": "28881", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T06:04:04.370", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "6554", "parent_id": "28877", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 }, { "body": "> 自分たちで処分するようにだそうだ。\n\n≒\n\n> 『自分たちで処分するように!』だそうだ。\n\n「~~ように」 is a little curt-sounding imperative-sentence-ender. (Teachers often\nuse it with students in schools.)\n\n「~~だそうだ」=「~~ということだ」=「~~という[話]{はなし}だ」 These phrases are used to **_quote\nhearsay statements_**.\n\nSo, Person A said 『自分たちで処分するように!』 to Person B and the speaker has heard it\nfrom Person B (or yet another person who heard it from Person B).\n\n= **_\"I hear (or 'It seems') that (Person A) has said that we should handle it\nby ourselves.\"_**\n\nYour sentence 「自分たちで処分するようにしそうだ。」 does not make any sense, I am afraid to say.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-26T06:05:01.417", "id": "28882", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T06:05:01.417", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28877", "post_type": "answer", "score": 4 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": null, "answer_count": 2, "body": "To put it simply, is there any inherent difference between 苗字 and 家名 ? Since\nboth of these words means \"Surname\" or \"Last Name\".\n\nDoes there a differ in how they are used?\n\nDoes 苗字 refer to the surname in historical sense and 家名 refer to surname in\nmodern sense?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-26T03:53:26.263", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28879", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-27T09:21:16.627", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11081", "post_type": "question", "score": 6, "tags": [ "word-choice", "synonyms" ], "title": "Difference between 苗字 and 家名?", "view_count": 483 }
[ { "body": "There is a difference and it is not so small.\n\n「[苗字]{みょうじ}」 is the word we use to refer to one's family name (as opposed to\none's given name) in our everyday life.\n\nIn saying things like \"What's your family name?\", \"I only know his family\nname: I forgot his given name.\", \"She has the same family name as I do.\",\neveryone will use 「苗字」. No one would use 「[家名]{かめい}」 to say these.\n\n「家名」 is a much bigger and nuanced word than 「苗字」. Any toddler would know what\n「苗字」 means even though 「[上]{うえ}の[名前]{なまえ}」 might be the term that toddlers\nactively use.\n\n**「家名」 refers more to the family reputation and/or family honor than to just\nthe family name itself.**\n\nWe say 「家名を[汚]{けが}す」 to mean \"to bring disgrace on one's family\". You would\nsound pretty funny (and uneducated) if you said 「苗字を汚す」.", "comment_count": 5, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-26T09:22:20.193", "id": "28886", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-27T01:35:53.630", "last_edit_date": "2015-10-27T01:35:53.630", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28879", "post_type": "answer", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Recently we never use \"家名\". It means big family, and the old feudalistic\ncustom transmitted from antiquity.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-27T09:21:16.627", "id": "28897", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-27T09:21:16.627", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "10500", "parent_id": "28879", "post_type": "answer", "score": 0 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28883", "answer_count": 1, "body": "I found this sentence, and I kinda understand the meaning and use of も, but I\nwant to understand why it is used twice:\n\n> 人間{にんげん} **も** ロボット **も** 区別{くべつ}しない", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-26T05:38:27.430", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28880", "last_activity_date": "2020-01-04T04:08:34.023", "last_edit_date": "2020-01-04T04:02:59.257", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "7387", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "particle-も" ], "title": "Why is も used twice in this sentence?", "view_count": 514 }
[ { "body": "These types of \"why\" questions are difficult to answer, but I would say that\nit was because the repetition makes the phrase sound emphatic both quickly and\neffectively.\n\nInterestingly enough, this is far from being a Japanese-only phenomenon.\n\nIn English, one says \"neither A nor B\". The \"n\" sound is repeated.\n\nIn French, it is \"ni A ni B\". Double \"n\", again.\n\nIn Japanese, we just happen to use 「AもBも」. Double \"m\" for us.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-26T06:41:17.660", "id": "28883", "last_activity_date": "2020-01-04T04:08:34.023", "last_edit_date": "2020-01-04T04:08:34.023", "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28880", "post_type": "answer", "score": 7 } ]
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{ "accepted_answer_id": "28888", "answer_count": 1, "body": "Today I received an email from a business partner. It read:\n\n> 〜、〇〇日(〇)午後が **都合がメンバーのつかず** 、〇〇日が〜\n\nIs the word order in this phrase valid? Is it an editing mistake that resulted\nin a phrase different than: メンバーの都合がつかず?\n\nOr is there some other explanation? Could it have been this way written\nintentionally?", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-26T09:56:32.757", "favorite_count": 0, "id": "28887", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T12:23:11.120", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": "11104", "post_type": "question", "score": 0, "tags": [ "business-japanese", "word-order" ], "title": "Word order/splitting the phrase 都合がつかず (possible mistake)", "view_count": 87 }
[ { "body": "That word order could **_not_** be called \"valid\" by any stretch of the word.\nThe only valid word order is as you said -- 「メンバーの都合がつかず」.\n\nDespite the random word order, though, the phrase would be understood by\nvirtually all Japanese-speakers because it is short and it contains all of the\nnecessary words for it to make sense.\n\nHow the \"mistake\" happened, I have no idea. 「都合がメンバーのつかず」 makes no sense as-is\nand it is not something a native speaker would say **_knowingly_**. The only\npossible words that could grammatically be placed between 「都合が」 and 「つかず」\nwould be those that function adverbially to modify 「つかず」, such as 「うまく」 and\n「なかなか」. 「メンバーの」 is not such a phrase.\n\nI would imagine that a mistake occured in the process of editing as you\nsuggested. They might have tried to insert the 「メンバーの」 part later and ended up\ninserting it in the wrong place.", "comment_count": 0, "content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "creation_date": "2015-10-26T12:23:11.120", "id": "28888", "last_activity_date": "2015-10-26T12:23:11.120", "last_edit_date": null, "last_editor_user_id": null, "owner_user_id": null, "parent_id": "28887", "post_type": "answer", "score": 1 } ]
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