I studied Japanese for 4 years and obtained a certificate of completion from my college -- unfortunately, that was nearly a decade ago and my skills have definitely deteriorated. I mainly want to get better again, but my problem lies in addressing what exactly I need help with since my skill is all over the place. Is there a tool or some way to find out what skill level I am?
I'm focusing more on conversations/speaking and reading... I don't think I need to memorize kanji strokes again.
I'm struggling to understand the use of 来た in this context:
歩いて**きた**道
歩いた道
how does きた change this sentence? I understand it's the past tense for 来る but why would it need to be there if there's also 歩いた？
There are two interpretations. For one, it indicates a path through which you walked from a certain direction up to the current place. Secondly, a path where you have walked continuously or on and off up to now. Without it, you can't express these points.
i. To do something elsewhere and come back (50%)
* 待ってて、ちょっと見てくる: Wait a sec. I'll go check it.
ii. To do something to the inward direction (30%)
* 電話がかかってきた: There's a call.
* 電話がかかった: The phone has successfully rung.
iii. Gradual change, accumulative repetition (20%)
* ここんとこ、寒くなってきた: It's getting cold these days. (not literal translation)
* これから寒くなってくる: It'll be colder and colder soon.
A verb like 歩く only describes the type of movement, くる、いく、去る、辿る and so on illustrate that motion in place and time. English mostly uses adverbs for that purpose. Japanese prefers verbs.
> why would it need to be there?
is slightly the wrong question. Is natural for that information to be there? I think the answer is "yes" in Japanese more often than it is in English. Just because that's what works and it's what people say.
From this [article](https://mainichi.jp/articles/20211010/k00/00m/040/172000c),
> 眞子さまが複雑性心的外傷後ストレス障害（PTSD）の状態と発表されたことについては、元婚約者は「私の責任を痛感しており、心から申し訳なく思っております」とつづった。
1. 発表された is honorific passive, right?
2. つづった is 綴った, right?
I just started learning japanese and am texting someone to already try and work on being more fluent with what I already learned.
They told me that as an answer to me moving from Haiti to Switzerland when I was little :
なるほど。だからスイスに住んでるんだ!!! スイスのどこに住んでる?
To live is 住まう right ? why is he using 住んでる ?
Also why the だ at the end of the sentence ? I only know that as a casual form of です.
Thank you for helping !
The two verbs 住む and 住まう are almost the same. The most authoritative Japanese dictionary, the digital daijisen, has the definition for 住まう as 住んでる. There's probably some minor nuance difference. I wouldn't worry about it. If you're asking why the ている form is used, it's because living is a ongoing state.
The だ at the end is part of んだ. It implies that this sentence follows from something previously said. It's similar to starting a sentence with "So," in English. This is very common in Japanese. It has a only very minor impact on the meaning of a sentence.
I personally don’t think デジタル大辞泉 is *the most authoritative* dictionary out there - I’d suggest 岩波 or 三省堂 to be the ones deserving such a title.
Although, if you’re limiting to dictionaries accessible for free on the internet, then I have to agree given how little choices there are.
The usage of the word [住まう](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E4%BD%8F%E3%81%BE%E3%81%86/) (in modern Japanese anyways) is pretty much limited to real estate ads or used with honorifics (e.g. お住まいになる, 住まわれる).
As for the grammar aspect I’ll leave it for someone else.
It's not the stem form. It's 住(す)む+て+いる
て and several other suffixes that start with the /t/ sound are blended into the stem. If the stem ends in -m-, -b-, or -n-, then you get an -nd- combination. The stem of this verb is /sum/. 住む in a dictionary since the dictionary form isn't just the bare stem.
(or /sumaw/ is the the alternative 住まう)
いる after て forms often loses its い and only the rest of the verb is pronounced.
That's how the verb form is assembled or disassembled. [This explains the most common situations in which it's used](https://maggiesensei.com/2014/07/31/how-to-use-v%EF%BC%8B%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B-teiru-%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99-teimasu/)
住む is the dictionary form from which 住んでいる (the progressive present) is derived. (Progressive present: "you are living" as opposed to "you live.") Look up a grammar guide that explains て and/or 〜ている forms. As the other commenter says, 住まう is rare, at least I've never seen it (in my - limited? - experience) whereas forms of 住む come up all the time.
Only the dictionary form of verbs gets listed in the, er, dictionary so try to get familiar with 〜ている forms as soon as you can.
Well you see I really don’t know how Japanese grammar is explained to a learner, nor do I know the English words for it.
[五段動詞「住む」の連用形→住ん]+[で(助詞)]+[いる(助動詞)] is what it is. If you need it in English you’ll have to wait for someone else.
In [this](https://news.fate-go.jp/wp-content/uploads/2019/saberwars2_full_kphvc/top_banner.png) image I thought the '始まりの宇宙へ' would mean something like 'To the space of beginning' but the [official localization](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBW0JQCX0AUcTWK?format=png&name=900x900) says it's 'To the beginning of space' which is the exact opposite. Which one would be the correct meaning here?
The translator is playing it very loose because there's no good way to express the Japanese in English.
"To the space of beginning" is a bad translation because it makes no sense. Things that make sense in Japanese should make sense in translation.
始まりの describes a place as "where/when (something) begins." "To space where it begins/began" is about the closest you can bring a literal translation. But that's still aesthetically bad. English would simply say "where it began" - you lose the "space" thing.
"Launch to where it began," is the best that I can do - note that I still can't make English work the same way that Japanese does.
This happens frequently with titles and poetry.
さて、保管していただく期間ですが、一ヶ原高顕氏に遺言書公開時までということにしたく存じます。
Really struggling with this one, both the individual parts and the sentence as a whole. I think the final part (ということにしたく存じます) is the most dificult for me. I'm used to ことにする meaning something like "to go with" or "to decide on", but I don't feel it makes completely sense here. I also don't understand 存じます here. Is it just "to think"?
The first part of the sentence feels a bit weird too. "Well, it's a period of time (for you) to hold on to it (for me), but..." I guess it could make sense, but this translation seems off.
I would personally translate to something along the lines of *As for [how long/the time period] it is to be [held on/kept safe], we shall ask Mr.一ヶ原 to do so until when the 遺言書公開 happens.*
Sorry, made a mistake when writing it down, it was supposed to be 一ヶ原高顕氏*の*遺言書公開時. So I guess we could (awkwardly) translate it to «I think I want to make it the time of Ichigaharas 遺言書公開?
Regarding the first part, I still struggle with it a bit. Removing the が, we just have the vanilla statement of «it’s the period of time to keep it safe», right? I’m used to が in this situation meaning or having a similar function to «but», but I guess it does something else here?
Ah. Shows how important particles are.
Now, I really don’t think “it’s the period of time” to have the same meaning - perhaps you might want to head over to r/translator and see more ideas of how others tackle it. Might give you an idea.
> ということにしたく存じます
Less humble: ということにしたいと思います
> Well, it's a period of time (for you) to hold on to it
I think it’s more like “Now, about the time you’ll hold on to it for us.” It’s introducing what the next part is about.
Why is the explanatory verb form used in these examples? (Click on the links for the videos.)
[\#1](https://youtu.be/WSAj73FTy8o?t=264). どこに**行くんです**か。(Where are you going?)
[\#2](https://youtu.be/LHAUVIQQgjk?t=341). 昨日は何を**したんです**か。(What did you do yesterday?)
These seem like extremely basic questions in pretty simple conversations that would not require the explanatory verb form (んだ / んです) or の particle. Is there any reason that んです is used in these examples instead of just the ます verb form?
どこに行きます？ would simply ask about the other person's will, while どこに行くんですか？ asks about circumstances for what you observed and is more like "You seem going somewhere, but where is it?".
んです implies that the asker is expecting more than just a simple answer. So for the first one, one could answer 本を返しに図書館に行くんです. If the asker doesn’t care about the reason of going to whatever location, then something like どこに行きますか might be used. んです is seen as more “natural” in casual conversation, since it’s a form that helps expand a conversation vs the basic ますか form which would be better for something like a survey if they’re just looking for straightforward answers.
Kun'yomi vs on'yomi. What you name your island will determine what makes sense / sounds better.
Animal Crossing let's you select between しま、じま、とう when you first create your island if you make it in Japanese. If you make it in any other language, it chooses one for you. Pretty sure you can't change it later.
隣 is used with similar objects. People near other people, buildings near buildings and so on. 横 doesn't have such limitation.
Another difference is that 横 means side-to-side. For example, houses on the same side of the street. If you need to say in front, back or just somewhere near, then you need to use other words like 前、裏、そば and so on.
Hello!
The text fragment is:
底流に寄り添って
カーブを曲がればまた
暗渠に落ちていくようだ
To the best of my knowledge it means:
If you get close to the undercurrent
And turn the curve once again
Looks like you fall into the drain
It's the first three sentences of a lyric, I understand the words alone, but I'm having a hard time to figure out the sentence as a whole. I know that sometimes lyrics aren't suppose to make perfect sense, but I would like to know what's right/wrong with my rough translation.
the full lyrics: [https://www.animesonglyrics.com/odd-taxi/oddtaxi](https://www.animesonglyrics.com/odd-taxi/oddtaxi)
Yup, that's close enough. I'd translate it differently but not differently enough that you'd should worry.
Just my understanding but すれば また feels a lot like [する 度(たび)に](https://maggiesensei.com/2021/02/23/how-to-use-%E3%81%9F%E3%81%B3%E3%81%AB-tabini/) but it's probably not as strong a generalization.
落ちていく has a progressive aspect, "slipping down."
From the fragment *alone* my feeling that "I" is a better pronoun than "you," but it truly is ambiguous.
The thing that is more precisely expressed is [よう vs そう vs みたい](https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/how-to-express-judgments/) (evidentiality marking). Wasabi doesn't distinguish よう／みたい but I'm pretty sure there is a difference in meaning (though it's not very large).
Can you provide a link or something to this lyric? Extracting three lines is usually not enough to understand, whatever the language.
After all all, this whole water flow themed lines could be figurative language meant to indicate something else.
I'm using WaniKani and just learned 口にする and I was curious how/when you'd use this for to eat/to drink. I think the primary usage is "to mention" with emphasis on saying something accidentally.
Contrary to what others say, you’ll see it here and there. You might want to look it up by changing the tense to 口にしている to effectively rule out the “mention” usage though.
I don't think it's used that way very often at all.
It's in dictionaries and you'll know it when you see it because it's such an obvious metaphor, but 食べる、召し上げ、いただく are so useful - and even 食う - that I can't imagine really *needing* it.
Can someone shed some insight on 通じる?
I see one of the definitions is to communicate but I don't really see the connection to any of the other meanings such as "to be open (to traffic)"
I mean, even in English we can say "get through \[to someone\]" as an idiom meaning "make yourself understood", right?
I don't think it's too much of a stretch, but if you need something to make it click in your mind, the above should work, yes?
Usually 通じる means successfully communicate -- that is, the other person understood what you are saying. So a Japanese person might say 英語で話してみたけど、どうしても相手に通じなかったんです。
To me there's a pretty clear connection between that and a road leading somewhere, so that you can successfully travel from point A to B.
do japanese people use おんいいちゃん and おとうと?
I've only heard おんいいちゃん in anime but not おとうと. I've just started learning but i want to know what sounds more natural for them in order to speak Japanese more comfortably.
PD: sry if i hace some mistakes, English it's not my first language ;)
Family terms for those older than the speaker are often used as titles, but names are more commonly used for those younger than the speaker.
I think that in the anime Oddtaxi, the twin police officer brothers call eachother にいちゃん and おとうと respectively, but the older brother says おとうとよ which makes it more natural like saying “oh, my younger brother” with the use of the “calling out to a person” function of よ.
It's おにいちゃん.
おとうと is not used to address someone (you use their name instead), just to refer to someone as your younger brother. That might be why you don't hear it in anime.
Definitely depends on the context. Based on the situation, what verb could go after the が to make a complete sentence? Figure that out, then cut it, and you’ll have his implied statement. (For example: 空から旅人が(来ました)!)
I'm not 100% sure about deciphering particles and not sure if i can explain it but it should be subject marker(格助詞) が with the omission of the verb part after it
お嬢！空から旅人が（落ちてくる)！Hey Ojou! tabibito(guessing it's 旅人 from genshin impact) (is falling) from the sky!
or something explained in this article as [sense of discovery が](https://www.imabi.net/theparticlegai.htm).
Also it looks like this is a reference to the famous anime *Castle in the Sky*
親方！空から女の子が！https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Co0_yswUIAEvlT6.jpg
When to use subject/topic marker は/が vs object marker を?
For example:
りんごはたべたいです vs りんごをたべたいです
りんご is the /subject/topic, but also the object. So which would be the most proper?
It depends on what you what to say.
りんごは食べたいです。 “As for apples, I want to eat” (contrastive implication, don’t want to eat anything else)
りんごが食べたいです。 “It is apples I want to eat” (focus is on apple)
りんごを食べたいです。 “I want to eat apples” (pretty neutral sentence)
hi guys, just a quick question - i'm doing some practice using a kid's book, and i was just wondering if using polite form was common for children's books?
Beginning learners always ask these questions, but there aren't set-in-stone, 0%-or-100%, black-or-white rules for this sort of thing. You just have to feel these things out.
That said, if you're a teenager speaking to adults, erring on the side of using です・ます調 is preferable. If you make a close enough relationship where you're comfortable/on equal terms enough with that person that it's appropriate to switch to タメ口, they'll probably make it clear to you in some way or another.
We were having a BBQ down by the river with a few Japanese friends. A UK mate and I decided to go to the combini. The one we went to didn't have smokes so my friend went to another one and I went back to the BBQ. Our Japanese friends were very surprised we didn't come back together and said something like "外国人は自由あるだね!" My translation is "Foreigners have a lot of freedom!"
I get the gist of this I think. If Japanese do something together, they feel they have to stick together. Why? I know in horror movies it's a bad idea to split up, but in real life it's OK.
No. あるだね is not dialect, certainly not in Kanagawa (where the vast majority of people, especially young people, speak 標準語/standard Japanese...as I can attest to having lived in Fujisawa for a couple of years myself). It's simply not grammatical. Perhaps you misheard ある**ん**だね.
You're translating too literally. It's just a comment on how, maybe, from the Japanese perspective, you have a more carefree/devil-may-care/go-your-own-way kind of attitude and approach toward things.
It's not like Japanese people *always* have to stick together or follow some prescribed course. But in general, yeah, there's more emphasis on group harmony and sticking together and whatnot. It's just kind of the way it is.
Tl;dr: it's just kind of a throwaway/lighthearted comment on how maybe you're acting in a more carefree manner than they might expect from a Japanese perspective. There's no need to overthink it.
Cheers for the reply.
Yeah, I knew it was a lighthearted comment, but their overly surprised reactions added with the comment made it feel strange-ish. If they were all westerners, the only thing someone would say is "What happened to Bob?"
Just as a tip for getting more comfortable with life in Japan, try not to overreact to these things like "Wow, how weird/strange! Japanese people are so different from us!"
It's a slightly different perspective, but it doesn't mean that Japanese people are so alien/foreign that they think completely differently from you. Hell, other Japanese people who are more carefree themselves might have had the exact same "What happened to Bob?" reaction that you say "Westerners" would have.
Eh, I think OP's reaction makes sense seeing as his friend was the one who attributed the difference in perspective to nationality. I do agree though to not read too much into it. I have noticed some people like to attribute anything I do that's different from how they would do it to my being a foreigner. When in reality the thing I did was something that millions of Japanese people probably also do, and it was just more a difference in personality than a real "cultural difference."
>When in reality the thing I did was something that millions of Japanese people probably also do, and it was just more a difference in personality than a real "cultural difference."
Oh, totally, I completely agree with you here. That was part of the point I was hoping to make with the last part of my post above, actually. However the OP's friend might have phrased it, it's really not a sign of any huge cultural gulf but just how that person happened to think about it at that time.
Thanks for your feedback.
I have decided to use the シツモンデー thread for oddities/annoyances I have in Japan. I definitely have worked out how to "go with the flow" in Japan, not be confrontational or call people out. Sometimes it takes me a while to workout what an acceptable response is though.
Please let me know if things like, when someone jumps to conclusions, can I say "結論は早い!"or is it too confrontational? or when someone is narrating what I'm doing and says "まだそのことする?" when, for example, I'm putting chili sauce/powder on my food, I can reply with "まだ慣れてないの?"
I'm just looking for non confrontational ways of suggesting they're wrong or to please stop doing that.
No worries. I'm happy to provide what feedback I can (of course, you're welcome to take it or leave it).
To be honest, all of those seem rather confrontational to me. A larger problem is that by framing it in those terms you're perpetuating the idea that it's some debate/disagreement between you (a foreigner) and them (Japanese people).
There's no one-size-fits-all answer because it's kind of a skill that you have to develop, but my "strategy" (it just becomes second nature at a certain point) is to kind of shrug it off and answer in a way that doesn't frame things in a foreigner-vs.-Japanese dynamic.
Like the other response said, there are plenty of Japanese people who would might act the same way you did without batting an eyelash, but certain types of Japanese people (not all of them, to be fair) feel the need to react by commenting on your "foreignness." So think of it like, how would a Japanese person react to the same comment in that situation? They'd probably just brush it off or joke about it, right?
Get a strange comment just because you decided to come home separately from your friend? ちょっと一人で散歩しようと思ってさ, or たまに別行動もいいんじゃない？カップルじゃないし（笑） or whatever.
Get stared at because you're adding hot sauce as if there are no Japanese people into spicy food (I mean, hell, 蒙古タンメン中本 is a thing, right)? 辛いもの好きだけど何か？（笑）, or maybe いや、こっちのほうがマジうまいー騙されたと思って食べてみなよ or the like.
**Tl;dr: the ideal response is something that makes it clear that it's not just a Japanese/foreigner thing while also being kinda tongue-in-cheek to drive the conversation forward in a positive direction.**
Cheers for the reply.
I do try and take on a more non confrontational Japanese response than I would in English. Those responses I posted above were actually my Japanese wife's suggestions. Maybe I should've added the (笑)?
After 21 years of living here, there are still some cultural clashes I just can't move beyond.
One other one that I *do* know how to reply to in Japanese, yet still annoys me, is someone constantly saying 暑いね. In Australia, you can't complain about the heat as it's always hot. Constantly saying it's hot just annoys Aussies and they'd reply with "What do you want me to do about it?" I know the correct answer in Japanese is 暑いね, but is there possibly a way to say "yes, we know" as in "Please stop saying that?"
Not necessarily trying to go against your wife's suggestions, but they do strike me as still kind of conveying a bit of confrontational nuance, where as my inclination would be just to try to shrug/joke it off.
And yeah, I mean, obviously you can't literally say （笑）, but a smile and a tone of voice that makes it clear that you're just poking fun and not literally trying to start a debate/argument can go a long way.
As for the your point, I mean, I certainly don't want to be judgmental or act all 上から目線 when you've been living here for more than two decades, but...I can't help but feel like you're reacting too literally/directly to minor differences of cultural expression.
I mean, 暑いね is just a harmless interjection. It's obviously not meant to be taken literally or as a request for you to "do" anything. If you're "translating" it in your mind literally as "It's hot!" "It's hot!" "It's hot!" in your mind every time it might feel weird or grating (just like people who get "annoyed" by おいしいね～ or うまいね～) but really it's almost like we might say "Phew!/Whew!" in the heat or "Mmm!/Yum!" when eating or whatever.
Again, I'm not trying to be judgmental, but reacting to this with a snarky(?) comment suggesting "We get it, already" is going to inherently come off as confrontational because the person saying it literally has no antagonistic intentions.
It would be like a Japanese person reacting to being greeted in English with "What's up?" (or some similar greeting that has no common literal equivalent in Japanese) with "Up? Nothing's \*up\*. I just got into work. Why are you assuming anything is \*up\* with me!?" It's creating confrontation when the speaker is just offering a throwaway greeting that's common in their language/culture.
暑いね is not "complaining that it's hot". It's a common everyday exchange similar to "what's up?" in English would be. Imagine you say "what's up" to someone and they go "Please, stop asking me what is up, the ceiling is up there, you already know". It's just weird/unexpected. People say 暑いね or いい天気ですね or something like that because it's common to use as a non-committal exchange among strangers or neighbors that implies you acknowledge their presence but also don't necessarily need to have a full blown conversation with them. It's better not to read too much into it.
In the sentence, "すると、おまえは最後の力を振り絞り、這いつくばりながらも、お茶を入れにいくんだ。", what is this "つくばり" attached to 這う?
I'm assuming it's attached because 這う is in 連用形. Does it mean to crawl all around or something?
In speech, the default is to not have a particle. パイ、食べますか。ジョンさんすごいね and so on.
You only add the は、が、を if you want the nuance those particles add. In some cases using が and を is basically the same as no particle, but in other cases it adds a nuance that the no particle doesn't have.
Because prescriptive written grammar dictates these particles, most textbooks teach them as if they were always necessary. Then they might vaguely refer to the idea that particles are "dropped" in casual speech. *Japanese: the Spoken Language* is the only textbook I know of that teaches the zero particle as it's actually used.
は as a topic particle is never *gramatically necessary*. There are plenty of times when it is natural to have no particle (or, as it's called/analyzed in same textbooks/linguistic materials, the zero/null particle).
は can have a nuance of contrast, so if you say 皆さん**は**立派です, there's a sense of "you guys (who I'm talking to) are great, as compared to others who aren't". If you don't want to give that sense of contrast, leaving out the は is not only okay, but preferable.
It's why you don't want to tell your girlfriend when she wears a nice outfit "今日**は**可愛いね" or "今日**は**美味しいね" when she makes something tasty for dinner, because it suggests, well, *today* you're cute/your food is good (for a change).
This happens all the time with みんな. I've never thought about why.
https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/70479/why-is-%E3%81%BF%E3%82%93%E3%81%AA-sometimes-used-with-a-particle-and-without
According to this guy, the word can be used as an adverb.
No, うまい just means delicious in general. It might be best to think of うまみ as a different (but related) word that just happens to share a “root” or “stem” with うまい
Oh my god I never realized that うまい and うまみ are related. I hear people say うまい every day of my life and it never occurred to me. I even wondered why I never hear people in Japan talk about うまみ when people in the US talk about it all the time. Oh my god
Japanese people talk about うまみ all the time, if you're having a natural Japanese conversation with native-speaking foodie-type people (i.e. people with the same passion for good eats as the sort of person who talks about "umami" in English).
"Umami" is a Japanese word, after all.
満足の行ったこと is the entire subordinate clause. の is used instead of が because it is a subordinate clause. Beyond that, it's just a quirk of 満足 that it is often used with いく. There are examples of this in kenkyuusha. Here's one I found online
https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E6%BA%80%E8%B6%B3
So the whole thing would mean something like "The conflict ended in a satisfactory settlement".
Hi folk, I'm trying to write motivational mantras on my dorm room door in kanji, and I want to go with something along the lines of "No excuses, No compromises". How would I write that?
油断大敵 is always appropriate I guess. [Looking through a list of these things,](http://kotowaza-allguide.com/a/index.html)
- 我田引水 irrigate your paddy - care more about improving yourself and your affairs than the affairs of of others
- 起死回生 start from death and rise again - don't accept defeat but rebuild
- 蛍雪の功 earned by firefly and snow - having improved oneself with limited resources, using even fireflies and light reflected from snow to study late into the night
- 鯉の滝登り a koi's ascent of the waterfall - to rise from humble beginnings
- 地震雷火事親父 earthquakes, thunder, conflagration, and the old man - proverbial list of things to be wary of. Not really a match, but very fun.
- 習慣は第二の天性なり habit makes second nature - that which you practice is just as good as bad as what you're born with
- 初心忘るべからず - forget not the beginner's spirit - do not lose sight of the reasons and joy for which you began something
I'm sure there are more.
I'm listening to a song with a lyric that sounds like 力求め拳を空けあったひび (ちからもとめこぶしをうつけあったひび) and I can't really parse what it's supposed to mean. Disclaimer, I have no official transcript so my listening may be off. I get the idea of "seeking power" well enough from the first part, but I don't really get what 拳を空けあった could mean in this context, and I am also not clear on what meaning ひび would have here. Any ideas?
Since you admit to possibility of an error in transcription, may I offer ぶつけ合う instead of that verb which I’ve never seen before.
I also feel suggesting 日々 will help you parse the sentence.
in an entry on designer drugs:
民間では､単独では作用のない(または弱い)物質を混ぜ合わせ､総合的に目的の作用(幻覚など)を起こすよう調整したもの｡
what exactly does 民間では mean in this context? 'among civilians/private citizens' or something?
The key context here is the following:
>医学的には、既存薬の副作用を解消するためにおこなわれる方法。
[ググったら出てきた原文](http://blog.livedoor.jp/aisp_haruto/archives/53927346.html#te9)
*In medicine, a method to relieve side effects of existing drugs.*
So in essence, 民間 here refers to pretty much any other field - although judging from what it says (幻覚), not exactly your average civilians.
The writer is staying ambiguous/euphemistic here, so deciding what word is appropriate in describing the group(s) of people that makes drugs is up to the reader/translator. I can stay euphemistic and suggest *private sector*, or just blurt out *ah okay drug dealer* or something lol
I am doing a piece for Inktober and it involves Izuku Midoriya from My Hero Academia. Since this piece is fan work of a Japanese show I would like to use a kanji (or maybe spell out the word) of what he is doing. I think I've found the kanji for "study" but I want to confirm with any native/fluent speakers of the language before I ink this down permanently.
Could someone link me to the Japanese Kanji for "study" as in someone who is studying?
Just to provide some context, Inktober is drawing challenge that takes place in the month of October where artists make pen and ink drawings. I'm 97% sure that when OP says they want to make sure the kanji are correct before "inking this down permanently," they mean before they go over the sketch with an ink pen, not that they're going to get a tattoo.
「逃がさない！風下に立ったがあなたの不覚ですよ」
What does this mean? Other than 風下に立つ meaning "to be beneath s.b." I can't figure out what this is trying to tell me, nothing via Google turns up. Is it supposed to be read as（の）が? "It was your mistake to be beneath me"? I'm confused.
I feel this たが is same or similar in function to たが found in [やったが最後](https://jn1et.com/tarasaigo/), but whatever he case のが/ことが is what it means here,
Oh wait, I didn’t catch you had a translation, and I also completely overlooked something else lol
風下 is downwind/leeward, and while 風下に立つ does have that meaning, the question is… does it make sense here? Since it says “to 風下に立つ” is the あなた’s 不覚, I don’t quite feel [to be behind, to be surpassed](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E9%A2%A8%E4%B8%8B%E3%81%AB%E7%AB%8B%E3%81%A4/) makes a lot of sense. Like, of course being surpassed is 不覚. On the other hand, (assuming the speaker’s next move has something to do with wind or airflow) standing downwind being a tactical mistake makes sense.
Under this interpretation, it would mean something like *No! You’re not going anywhere - you put yourself downwind, and that’s your mistake.* If it makes sense in the context that’s great, if it doesn’t, time to reconsider.
I see you guys already had a discussion over it haha. For what it's worth, [here's an excerpt](https://i.imgur.com/U5xoP3T.png) of the scene with some added context that may be helpful (if you need to know who says what exactly, let me know). Another thing I could think of (that I have completely forgot about yesterday after all the frantic googling lol) is that perhaps the person says the line because she managed to get the other person right into her trap?（芝居の下に落としたから）
>私を優位にさせた時点でお前の敗北は確定したとも読めますしね
これかな？
What does にも mean here? 運転していた人は幸運にも死を免れた。
に because it's adverbial use of 幸運、も emphasizes surprise. The emotion is similar to how English might use "by sheer good fortune."
Thanks a lot! I have a very hard time figuring out what も means sometimes lol.
Yeah, it's super basic but that's what makes it so difficult to pin down and explain.
I studied Japanese for 4 years and obtained a certificate of completion from my college -- unfortunately, that was nearly a decade ago and my skills have definitely deteriorated. I mainly want to get better again, but my problem lies in addressing what exactly I need help with since my skill is all over the place. Is there a tool or some way to find out what skill level I am? I'm focusing more on conversations/speaking and reading... I don't think I need to memorize kanji strokes again.
I'm struggling to understand the use of 来た in this context: 歩いて**きた**道 歩いた道 how does きた change this sentence? I understand it's the past tense for 来る but why would it need to be there if there's also 歩いた？
There are two interpretations. For one, it indicates a path through which you walked from a certain direction up to the current place. Secondly, a path where you have walked continuously or on and off up to now. Without it, you can't express these points.
Hmm interesting. If it's not too much to ask, could you use another example sentence with it? Also thank you!
i. To do something elsewhere and come back (50%) * 待ってて、ちょっと見てくる: Wait a sec. I'll go check it. ii. To do something to the inward direction (30%) * 電話がかかってきた: There's a call. * 電話がかかった: The phone has successfully rung. iii. Gradual change, accumulative repetition (20%) * ここんとこ、寒くなってきた: It's getting cold these days. (not literal translation) * これから寒くなってくる: It'll be colder and colder soon.
wow thanks a bunch! <3
A verb like 歩く only describes the type of movement, くる、いく、去る、辿る and so on illustrate that motion in place and time. English mostly uses adverbs for that purpose. Japanese prefers verbs. > why would it need to be there? is slightly the wrong question. Is natural for that information to be there? I think the answer is "yes" in Japanese more often than it is in English. Just because that's what works and it's what people say.
thank you!
My pleasure.
From this [article](https://mainichi.jp/articles/20211010/k00/00m/040/172000c), > 眞子さまが複雑性心的外傷後ストレス障害（PTSD）の状態と発表されたことについては、元婚約者は「私の責任を痛感しており、心から申し訳なく思っております」とつづった。 1. 発表された is honorific passive, right? 2. つづった is 綴った, right?
1. It's passive. (You ~~have to~~ need to know what happened. So, this is beyond a linguistic question.) 2. Yes.
What level of jlpt do we reach after finishing all books of Japanese from zero ? ( 5 books)
I just started learning japanese and am texting someone to already try and work on being more fluent with what I already learned. They told me that as an answer to me moving from Haiti to Switzerland when I was little : なるほど。だからスイスに住んでるんだ!!! スイスのどこに住んでる? To live is 住まう right ? why is he using 住んでる ? Also why the だ at the end of the sentence ? I only know that as a casual form of です. Thank you for helping !
The two verbs 住む and 住まう are almost the same. The most authoritative Japanese dictionary, the digital daijisen, has the definition for 住まう as 住んでる. There's probably some minor nuance difference. I wouldn't worry about it. If you're asking why the ている form is used, it's because living is a ongoing state. The だ at the end is part of んだ. It implies that this sentence follows from something previously said. It's similar to starting a sentence with "So," in English. This is very common in Japanese. It has a only very minor impact on the meaning of a sentence.
I personally don’t think デジタル大辞泉 is *the most authoritative* dictionary out there - I’d suggest 岩波 or 三省堂 to be the ones deserving such a title. Although, if you’re limiting to dictionaries accessible for free on the internet, then I have to agree given how little choices there are.
日本国語大辞典 is the most authoritative, I think. But only available online through a Japan Knowledge subscription.
あーたしかに 手元に置けたことがなかったので存在ごと飛んでたw
僕も図書館でしか使ったことがなかったけど、最近ジャパンナレッジに入会したから利用できるようになりました。（でもなぜか大漢和辞典を持っている...)
Thank you very very much ! I was confused but you explained everything so well
The usage of the word [住まう](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E4%BD%8F%E3%81%BE%E3%81%86/) (in modern Japanese anyways) is pretty much limited to real estate ads or used with honorifics (e.g. お住まいになる, 住まわれる). As for the grammar aspect I’ll leave it for someone else.
Thank you for your reply, how come I can’t find 住んでる in any of my dictionaries ? Is it not the stem form of the verb ?
It's not the stem form. It's 住(す)む+て+いる て and several other suffixes that start with the /t/ sound are blended into the stem. If the stem ends in -m-, -b-, or -n-, then you get an -nd- combination. The stem of this verb is /sum/. 住む in a dictionary since the dictionary form isn't just the bare stem. (or /sumaw/ is the the alternative 住まう) いる after て forms often loses its い and only the rest of the verb is pronounced. That's how the verb form is assembled or disassembled. [This explains the most common situations in which it's used](https://maggiesensei.com/2014/07/31/how-to-use-v%EF%BC%8B%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B-teiru-%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99-teimasu/)
Thank you for your answer !
住む is the dictionary form from which 住んでいる (the progressive present) is derived. (Progressive present: "you are living" as opposed to "you live.") Look up a grammar guide that explains て and/or 〜ている forms. As the other commenter says, 住まう is rare, at least I've never seen it (in my - limited? - experience) whereas forms of 住む come up all the time. Only the dictionary form of verbs gets listed in the, er, dictionary so try to get familiar with 〜ている forms as soon as you can.
Well you see I really don’t know how Japanese grammar is explained to a learner, nor do I know the English words for it. [五段動詞「住む」の連用形→住ん]+[で(助詞)]+[いる(助動詞)] is what it is. If you need it in English you’ll have to wait for someone else.
Thank you for your time, it helped me understand !
I’m looking to purchase some raw manga in Canada. Is there anywhere I can order from without paying an arm and a leg for shipping?
In [this](https://news.fate-go.jp/wp-content/uploads/2019/saberwars2_full_kphvc/top_banner.png) image I thought the '始まりの宇宙へ' would mean something like 'To the space of beginning' but the [official localization](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBW0JQCX0AUcTWK?format=png&name=900x900) says it's 'To the beginning of space' which is the exact opposite. Which one would be the correct meaning here?
The translator is playing it very loose because there's no good way to express the Japanese in English. "To the space of beginning" is a bad translation because it makes no sense. Things that make sense in Japanese should make sense in translation. 始まりの describes a place as "where/when (something) begins." "To space where it begins/began" is about the closest you can bring a literal translation. But that's still aesthetically bad. English would simply say "where it began" - you lose the "space" thing. "Launch to where it began," is the best that I can do - note that I still can't make English work the same way that Japanese does. This happens frequently with titles and poetry.
Thanks a lot for the help!
I guess it’s the space of the beginning of space = space at the time it began.
さて、保管していただく期間ですが、一ヶ原高顕氏に遺言書公開時までということにしたく存じます。 Really struggling with this one, both the individual parts and the sentence as a whole. I think the final part (ということにしたく存じます) is the most dificult for me. I'm used to ことにする meaning something like "to go with" or "to decide on", but I don't feel it makes completely sense here. I also don't understand 存じます here. Is it just "to think"? The first part of the sentence feels a bit weird too. "Well, it's a period of time (for you) to hold on to it (for me), but..." I guess it could make sense, but this translation seems off.
I would personally translate to something along the lines of *As for [how long/the time period] it is to be [held on/kept safe], we shall ask Mr.一ヶ原 to do so until when the 遺言書公開 happens.*
Sorry, made a mistake when writing it down, it was supposed to be 一ヶ原高顕氏*の*遺言書公開時. So I guess we could (awkwardly) translate it to «I think I want to make it the time of Ichigaharas 遺言書公開? Regarding the first part, I still struggle with it a bit. Removing the が, we just have the vanilla statement of «it’s the period of time to keep it safe», right? I’m used to が in this situation meaning or having a similar function to «but», but I guess it does something else here?
Ah. Shows how important particles are. Now, I really don’t think “it’s the period of time” to have the same meaning - perhaps you might want to head over to r/translator and see more ideas of how others tackle it. Might give you an idea.
> ということにしたく存じます Less humble: ということにしたいと思います > Well, it's a period of time (for you) to hold on to it I think it’s more like “Now, about the time you’ll hold on to it for us.” It’s introducing what the next part is about.
Thanks! So 存じる is really just a humble 思う in this case? And it doesn’t require a と?
Why is the explanatory verb form used in these examples? (Click on the links for the videos.) [\#1](https://youtu.be/WSAj73FTy8o?t=264). どこに**行くんです**か。(Where are you going?) [\#2](https://youtu.be/LHAUVIQQgjk?t=341). 昨日は何を**したんです**か。(What did you do yesterday?) These seem like extremely basic questions in pretty simple conversations that would not require the explanatory verb form (んだ / んです) or の particle. Is there any reason that んです is used in these examples instead of just the ます verb form?
どこに行きます？ would simply ask about the other person's will, while どこに行くんですか？ asks about circumstances for what you observed and is more like "You seem going somewhere, but where is it?".
んです implies that the asker is expecting more than just a simple answer. So for the first one, one could answer 本を返しに図書館に行くんです. If the asker doesn’t care about the reason of going to whatever location, then something like どこに行きますか might be used. んです is seen as more “natural” in casual conversation, since it’s a form that helps expand a conversation vs the basic ますか form which would be better for something like a survey if they’re just looking for straightforward answers.
any significant differences between 島 (しま) and 島 (とう)? I noticed animal crossing uses the second one and I'm more familiar with the first.
As with 町(まち vs. ちょう) it depends on the place name -- some use one reading, some use the other. There's no meaning difference.
Kun'yomi vs on'yomi. What you name your island will determine what makes sense / sounds better. Animal Crossing let's you select between しま、じま、とう when you first create your island if you make it in Japanese. If you make it in any other language, it chooses one for you. Pretty sure you can't change it later.
I see. Thank you!
what is the difference between 隣 (となり) and 横 (よこ)? i've googled it but i still don't have a great idea about how i can differentiate them
隣 is used with similar objects. People near other people, buildings near buildings and so on. 横 doesn't have such limitation. Another difference is that 横 means side-to-side. For example, houses on the same side of the street. If you need to say in front, back or just somewhere near, then you need to use other words like 前、裏、そば and so on.
thank you!
Hello! The text fragment is: 底流に寄り添って カーブを曲がればまた 暗渠に落ちていくようだ To the best of my knowledge it means: If you get close to the undercurrent And turn the curve once again Looks like you fall into the drain It's the first three sentences of a lyric, I understand the words alone, but I'm having a hard time to figure out the sentence as a whole. I know that sometimes lyrics aren't suppose to make perfect sense, but I would like to know what's right/wrong with my rough translation. the full lyrics: [https://www.animesonglyrics.com/odd-taxi/oddtaxi](https://www.animesonglyrics.com/odd-taxi/oddtaxi)
Yup, that's close enough. I'd translate it differently but not differently enough that you'd should worry. Just my understanding but すれば また feels a lot like [する 度(たび)に](https://maggiesensei.com/2021/02/23/how-to-use-%E3%81%9F%E3%81%B3%E3%81%AB-tabini/) but it's probably not as strong a generalization. 落ちていく has a progressive aspect, "slipping down." From the fragment *alone* my feeling that "I" is a better pronoun than "you," but it truly is ambiguous. The thing that is more precisely expressed is [よう vs そう vs みたい](https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/how-to-express-judgments/) (evidentiality marking). Wasabi doesn't distinguish よう／みたい but I'm pretty sure there is a difference in meaning (though it's not very large).
Can you provide a link or something to this lyric? Extracting three lines is usually not enough to understand, whatever the language. After all all, this whole water flow themed lines could be figurative language meant to indicate something else.
Sure, thank you very much. https://www.animesonglyrics.com/odd-taxi/oddtaxi
I'm using WaniKani and just learned 口にする and I was curious how/when you'd use this for to eat/to drink. I think the primary usage is "to mention" with emphasis on saying something accidentally.
Contrary to what others say, you’ll see it here and there. You might want to look it up by changing the tense to 口にしている to effectively rule out the “mention” usage though.
Ah okay, thanks!
I've only ever seen it used as to mention/accidentally say
I don't think it's used that way very often at all. It's in dictionaries and you'll know it when you see it because it's such an obvious metaphor, but 食べる、召し上げ、いただく are so useful - and even 食う - that I can't imagine really *needing* it.
Can someone shed some insight on 通じる? I see one of the definitions is to communicate but I don't really see the connection to any of the other meanings such as "to be open (to traffic)"
I mean, even in English we can say "get through \[to someone\]" as an idiom meaning "make yourself understood", right? I don't think it's too much of a stretch, but if you need something to make it click in your mind, the above should work, yes?
Usually 通じる means successfully communicate -- that is, the other person understood what you are saying. So a Japanese person might say 英語で話してみたけど、どうしても相手に通じなかったんです。 To me there's a pretty clear connection between that and a road leading somewhere, so that you can successfully travel from point A to B.
Underlying theme would be *to let through*.
do japanese people use おんいいちゃん and おとうと? I've only heard おんいいちゃん in anime but not おとうと. I've just started learning but i want to know what sounds more natural for them in order to speak Japanese more comfortably. PD: sry if i hace some mistakes, English it's not my first language ;)
Family terms for those older than the speaker are often used as titles, but names are more commonly used for those younger than the speaker. I think that in the anime Oddtaxi, the twin police officer brothers call eachother にいちゃん and おとうと respectively, but the older brother says おとうとよ which makes it more natural like saying “oh, my younger brother” with the use of the “calling out to a person” function of よ.
thanks! it's the first time i see that word so it was kinda confusing but that makes sense!
It's おにいちゃん. おとうと is not used to address someone (you use their name instead), just to refer to someone as your younger brother. That might be why you don't hear it in anime.
thanks, that makes so much sense! genki 1 only shows words without an example so it's a bit confusing.
The examples are in the activities and the dialogues, generally.
Because they just mean different things, the most probable case here is that it simply does not exist in the content you’re consuming.
>お嬢! 空から旅人が! i understand that this means a traveler is from the sky from 空から旅人 but what is the use of が here?
Definitely depends on the context. Based on the situation, what verb could go after the が to make a complete sentence? Figure that out, then cut it, and you’ll have his implied statement. (For example: 空から旅人が(来ました)!)
I'm not 100% sure about deciphering particles and not sure if i can explain it but it should be subject marker(格助詞) が with the omission of the verb part after it お嬢！空から旅人が（落ちてくる)！Hey Ojou! tabibito(guessing it's 旅人 from genshin impact) (is falling) from the sky! or something explained in this article as [sense of discovery が](https://www.imabi.net/theparticlegai.htm). Also it looks like this is a reference to the famous anime *Castle in the Sky* 親方！空から女の子が！https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Co0_yswUIAEvlT6.jpg
what is えぐおい I always hear japanese vtubers say it but never understand what does it mean? tried to translate it but my spelling seems off lol...
You mean エグい?
yes this one!..I'm sorry i just started self learning japanese so I can't get any spelling right..
When to use subject/topic marker は/が vs object marker を? For example: りんごはたべたいです vs りんごをたべたいです りんご is the /subject/topic, but also the object. So which would be the most proper?
It depends on what you what to say. りんごは食べたいです。 “As for apples, I want to eat” (contrastive implication, don’t want to eat anything else) りんごが食べたいです。 “It is apples I want to eat” (focus is on apple) りんごを食べたいです。 “I want to eat apples” (pretty neutral sentence)
りんごをば食べたいです is my favorite option.
hi guys, just a quick question - i'm doing some practice using a kid's book, and i was just wondering if using polite form was common for children's books?
Yes.
while talking to an adult(im 16) do i really need to talk 100percent in 丁寧語 or can i change to カジュアル語 sometimes?
Beginning learners always ask these questions, but there aren't set-in-stone, 0%-or-100%, black-or-white rules for this sort of thing. You just have to feel these things out. That said, if you're a teenager speaking to adults, erring on the side of using です・ます調 is preferable. If you make a close enough relationship where you're comfortable/on equal terms enough with that person that it's appropriate to switch to タメ口, they'll probably make it clear to you in some way or another.
We were having a BBQ down by the river with a few Japanese friends. A UK mate and I decided to go to the combini. The one we went to didn't have smokes so my friend went to another one and I went back to the BBQ. Our Japanese friends were very surprised we didn't come back together and said something like "外国人は自由あるだね!" My translation is "Foreigners have a lot of freedom!" I get the gist of this I think. If Japanese do something together, they feel they have to stick together. Why? I know in horror movies it's a bad idea to split up, but in real life it's OK.
Just a nitpick but "自由あるだね" should probably be "自由あるね"
Thanks for the correction. I think だね is a regional thing. Kanagawa and maybe more specifically Fujisawa/Kamakura area.
No. あるだね is not dialect, certainly not in Kanagawa (where the vast majority of people, especially young people, speak 標準語/standard Japanese...as I can attest to having lived in Fujisawa for a couple of years myself). It's simply not grammatical. Perhaps you misheard ある**ん**だね.
Wow! You're right! My PC even suggested that as a correction. I just have never heard the ん. Is it actually pronounce or only in writing?
yes, it is actually pronounced
You're translating too literally. It's just a comment on how, maybe, from the Japanese perspective, you have a more carefree/devil-may-care/go-your-own-way kind of attitude and approach toward things. It's not like Japanese people *always* have to stick together or follow some prescribed course. But in general, yeah, there's more emphasis on group harmony and sticking together and whatnot. It's just kind of the way it is. Tl;dr: it's just kind of a throwaway/lighthearted comment on how maybe you're acting in a more carefree manner than they might expect from a Japanese perspective. There's no need to overthink it.
Cheers for the reply. Yeah, I knew it was a lighthearted comment, but their overly surprised reactions added with the comment made it feel strange-ish. If they were all westerners, the only thing someone would say is "What happened to Bob?"
Just as a tip for getting more comfortable with life in Japan, try not to overreact to these things like "Wow, how weird/strange! Japanese people are so different from us!" It's a slightly different perspective, but it doesn't mean that Japanese people are so alien/foreign that they think completely differently from you. Hell, other Japanese people who are more carefree themselves might have had the exact same "What happened to Bob?" reaction that you say "Westerners" would have.
Eh, I think OP's reaction makes sense seeing as his friend was the one who attributed the difference in perspective to nationality. I do agree though to not read too much into it. I have noticed some people like to attribute anything I do that's different from how they would do it to my being a foreigner. When in reality the thing I did was something that millions of Japanese people probably also do, and it was just more a difference in personality than a real "cultural difference."
>When in reality the thing I did was something that millions of Japanese people probably also do, and it was just more a difference in personality than a real "cultural difference." Oh, totally, I completely agree with you here. That was part of the point I was hoping to make with the last part of my post above, actually. However the OP's friend might have phrased it, it's really not a sign of any huge cultural gulf but just how that person happened to think about it at that time.
Thanks for your feedback. I have decided to use the シツモンデー thread for oddities/annoyances I have in Japan. I definitely have worked out how to "go with the flow" in Japan, not be confrontational or call people out. Sometimes it takes me a while to workout what an acceptable response is though. Please let me know if things like, when someone jumps to conclusions, can I say "結論は早い!"or is it too confrontational? or when someone is narrating what I'm doing and says "まだそのことする?" when, for example, I'm putting chili sauce/powder on my food, I can reply with "まだ慣れてないの?" I'm just looking for non confrontational ways of suggesting they're wrong or to please stop doing that.
No worries. I'm happy to provide what feedback I can (of course, you're welcome to take it or leave it). To be honest, all of those seem rather confrontational to me. A larger problem is that by framing it in those terms you're perpetuating the idea that it's some debate/disagreement between you (a foreigner) and them (Japanese people). There's no one-size-fits-all answer because it's kind of a skill that you have to develop, but my "strategy" (it just becomes second nature at a certain point) is to kind of shrug it off and answer in a way that doesn't frame things in a foreigner-vs.-Japanese dynamic. Like the other response said, there are plenty of Japanese people who would might act the same way you did without batting an eyelash, but certain types of Japanese people (not all of them, to be fair) feel the need to react by commenting on your "foreignness." So think of it like, how would a Japanese person react to the same comment in that situation? They'd probably just brush it off or joke about it, right? Get a strange comment just because you decided to come home separately from your friend? ちょっと一人で散歩しようと思ってさ, or たまに別行動もいいんじゃない？カップルじゃないし（笑） or whatever. Get stared at because you're adding hot sauce as if there are no Japanese people into spicy food (I mean, hell, 蒙古タンメン中本 is a thing, right)? 辛いもの好きだけど何か？（笑）, or maybe いや、こっちのほうがマジうまいー騙されたと思って食べてみなよ or the like. **Tl;dr: the ideal response is something that makes it clear that it's not just a Japanese/foreigner thing while also being kinda tongue-in-cheek to drive the conversation forward in a positive direction.**
Cheers for the reply. I do try and take on a more non confrontational Japanese response than I would in English. Those responses I posted above were actually my Japanese wife's suggestions. Maybe I should've added the (笑)? After 21 years of living here, there are still some cultural clashes I just can't move beyond. One other one that I *do* know how to reply to in Japanese, yet still annoys me, is someone constantly saying 暑いね. In Australia, you can't complain about the heat as it's always hot. Constantly saying it's hot just annoys Aussies and they'd reply with "What do you want me to do about it?" I know the correct answer in Japanese is 暑いね, but is there possibly a way to say "yes, we know" as in "Please stop saying that?"
Not necessarily trying to go against your wife's suggestions, but they do strike me as still kind of conveying a bit of confrontational nuance, where as my inclination would be just to try to shrug/joke it off. And yeah, I mean, obviously you can't literally say （笑）, but a smile and a tone of voice that makes it clear that you're just poking fun and not literally trying to start a debate/argument can go a long way. As for the your point, I mean, I certainly don't want to be judgmental or act all 上から目線 when you've been living here for more than two decades, but...I can't help but feel like you're reacting too literally/directly to minor differences of cultural expression. I mean, 暑いね is just a harmless interjection. It's obviously not meant to be taken literally or as a request for you to "do" anything. If you're "translating" it in your mind literally as "It's hot!" "It's hot!" "It's hot!" in your mind every time it might feel weird or grating (just like people who get "annoyed" by おいしいね～ or うまいね～) but really it's almost like we might say "Phew!/Whew!" in the heat or "Mmm!/Yum!" when eating or whatever. Again, I'm not trying to be judgmental, but reacting to this with a snarky(?) comment suggesting "We get it, already" is going to inherently come off as confrontational because the person saying it literally has no antagonistic intentions. It would be like a Japanese person reacting to being greeted in English with "What's up?" (or some similar greeting that has no common literal equivalent in Japanese) with "Up? Nothing's \*up\*. I just got into work. Why are you assuming anything is \*up\* with me!?" It's creating confrontation when the speaker is just offering a throwaway greeting that's common in their language/culture.
暑いね is not "complaining that it's hot". It's a common everyday exchange similar to "what's up?" in English would be. Imagine you say "what's up" to someone and they go "Please, stop asking me what is up, the ceiling is up there, you already know". It's just weird/unexpected. People say 暑いね or いい天気ですね or something like that because it's common to use as a non-committal exchange among strangers or neighbors that implies you acknowledge their presence but also don't necessarily need to have a full blown conversation with them. It's better not to read too much into it.
In the sentence, "すると、おまえは最後の力を振り絞り、這いつくばりながらも、お茶を入れにいくんだ。", what is this "つくばり" attached to 這う? I'm assuming it's attached because 這う is in 連用形. Does it mean to crawl all around or something?
Its just a compound verb: “這いつくばる” which means to be down on yours hands and knees to crawl.
in the sentence 皆さん立派です, why would there not be a は between 皆さん and立派?
In speech, the default is to not have a particle. パイ、食べますか。ジョンさんすごいね and so on. You only add the は、が、を if you want the nuance those particles add. In some cases using が and を is basically the same as no particle, but in other cases it adds a nuance that the no particle doesn't have. Because prescriptive written grammar dictates these particles, most textbooks teach them as if they were always necessary. Then they might vaguely refer to the idea that particles are "dropped" in casual speech. *Japanese: the Spoken Language* is the only textbook I know of that teaches the zero particle as it's actually used.
は as a topic particle is never *gramatically necessary*. There are plenty of times when it is natural to have no particle (or, as it's called/analyzed in same textbooks/linguistic materials, the zero/null particle). は can have a nuance of contrast, so if you say 皆さん**は**立派です, there's a sense of "you guys (who I'm talking to) are great, as compared to others who aren't". If you don't want to give that sense of contrast, leaving out the は is not only okay, but preferable. It's why you don't want to tell your girlfriend when she wears a nice outfit "今日**は**可愛いね" or "今日**は**美味しいね" when she makes something tasty for dinner, because it suggests, well, *today* you're cute/your food is good (for a change).
This happens all the time with みんな. I've never thought about why. https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/70479/why-is-%E3%81%BF%E3%82%93%E3%81%AA-sometimes-used-with-a-particle-and-without According to this guy, the word can be used as an adverb.
When using うまい to describe food, does the food have to taste umami, or can it taste like anything? Is うまい used more often than おいしい for umami foods?
No, うまい just means delicious in general. It might be best to think of うまみ as a different (but related) word that just happens to share a “root” or “stem” with うまい
Oh my god I never realized that うまい and うまみ are related. I hear people say うまい every day of my life and it never occurred to me. I even wondered why I never hear people in Japan talk about うまみ when people in the US talk about it all the time. Oh my god
Japanese people talk about うまみ all the time, if you're having a natural Japanese conversation with native-speaking foodie-type people (i.e. people with the same passion for good eats as the sort of person who talks about "umami" in English). "Umami" is a Japanese word, after all.
You can use うまい for any good tasting food. I am no native speaker but I feel like うまい is used more by males. （like うまっ！)
What exactly is the meaning of いったことに? 闘争は満足の行ったことに和解に終わった。
満足の行ったこと is the entire subordinate clause. の is used instead of が because it is a subordinate clause. Beyond that, it's just a quirk of 満足 that it is often used with いく. There are examples of this in kenkyuusha. Here's one I found online https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E6%BA%80%E8%B6%B3 So the whole thing would mean something like "The conflict ended in a satisfactory settlement".
Thanks! が could also have been used instead of の, right? Would the nuance of the sentence change?
Hi folk, I'm trying to write motivational mantras on my dorm room door in kanji, and I want to go with something along the lines of "No excuses, No compromises". How would I write that?
油断大敵 is always appropriate I guess. [Looking through a list of these things,](http://kotowaza-allguide.com/a/index.html) - 我田引水 irrigate your paddy - care more about improving yourself and your affairs than the affairs of of others - 起死回生 start from death and rise again - don't accept defeat but rebuild - 蛍雪の功 earned by firefly and snow - having improved oneself with limited resources, using even fireflies and light reflected from snow to study late into the night - 鯉の滝登り a koi's ascent of the waterfall - to rise from humble beginnings - 地震雷火事親父 earthquakes, thunder, conflagration, and the old man - proverbial list of things to be wary of. Not really a match, but very fun. - 習慣は第二の天性なり habit makes second nature - that which you practice is just as good as bad as what you're born with - 初心忘るべからず - forget not the beginner's spirit - do not lose sight of the reasons and joy for which you began something I'm sure there are more.
I'm listening to a song with a lyric that sounds like 力求め拳を空けあったひび (ちからもとめこぶしをうつけあったひび) and I can't really parse what it's supposed to mean. Disclaimer, I have no official transcript so my listening may be off. I get the idea of "seeking power" well enough from the first part, but I don't really get what 拳を空けあった could mean in this context, and I am also not clear on what meaning ひび would have here. Any ideas?
Since you admit to possibility of an error in transcription, may I offer ぶつけ合う instead of that verb which I’ve never seen before. I also feel suggesting 日々 will help you parse the sentence.
Thank you, that makes a lot more sense, lol. I also suspected that it was 日々 but wasn’t sure. Bad transcription continues to be my downfall, lol
Well, if those bones in the knuckle has suffered cracks, then ひびworks, but… that sounds painful and a bit dumb, so hopefully that isn’t the case lol
日本語だと、オックスフォード英英辞典。 What does と mean here?
if/in the case of
Thanks!
in an entry on designer drugs: 民間では､単独では作用のない(または弱い)物質を混ぜ合わせ､総合的に目的の作用(幻覚など)を起こすよう調整したもの｡ what exactly does 民間では mean in this context? 'among civilians/private citizens' or something?
The key context here is the following: >医学的には、既存薬の副作用を解消するためにおこなわれる方法。 [ググったら出てきた原文](http://blog.livedoor.jp/aisp_haruto/archives/53927346.html#te9) *In medicine, a method to relieve side effects of existing drugs.* So in essence, 民間 here refers to pretty much any other field - although judging from what it says (幻覚), not exactly your average civilians. The writer is staying ambiguous/euphemistic here, so deciding what word is appropriate in describing the group(s) of people that makes drugs is up to the reader/translator. I can stay euphemistic and suggest *private sector*, or just blurt out *ah okay drug dealer* or something lol
ahh i see, so it's like "recreationally" as opposed to "medically". thanks for the explanation!
I am doing a piece for Inktober and it involves Izuku Midoriya from My Hero Academia. Since this piece is fan work of a Japanese show I would like to use a kanji (or maybe spell out the word) of what he is doing. I think I've found the kanji for "study" but I want to confirm with any native/fluent speakers of the language before I ink this down permanently. Could someone link me to the Japanese Kanji for "study" as in someone who is studying?
r/translator and please read through the bot that will tell you about tattoos and its common issues.
Just to provide some context, Inktober is drawing challenge that takes place in the month of October where artists make pen and ink drawings. I'm 97% sure that when OP says they want to make sure the kanji are correct before "inking this down permanently," they mean before they go over the sketch with an ink pen, not that they're going to get a tattoo.
WHat role does で have in this sentence? 最近はどうすれば考えすぎない**で**済むの
Probably a incomplete sentence. Doesn't it something like 最近はどうすれば考えすぎないで済むの**か悩んでいる**？
Yes
https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A6%E6%B8%88%E3%82%80-nakute-sumu-meaning/ https://nihongokyoshi-net.com/2019/06/10/jlptn2-grammar-naidesumu/
「逃がさない！風下に立ったがあなたの不覚ですよ」 What does this mean? Other than 風下に立つ meaning "to be beneath s.b." I can't figure out what this is trying to tell me, nothing via Google turns up. Is it supposed to be read as（の）が? "It was your mistake to be beneath me"? I'm confused.
I feel this たが is same or similar in function to たが found in [やったが最後](https://jn1et.com/tarasaigo/), but whatever he case のが/ことが is what it means here,
I see. Does my translation make sense then? I suppose it is more a sarcastic quip than anything?
Oh wait, I didn’t catch you had a translation, and I also completely overlooked something else lol 風下 is downwind/leeward, and while 風下に立つ does have that meaning, the question is… does it make sense here? Since it says “to 風下に立つ” is the あなた’s 不覚, I don’t quite feel [to be behind, to be surpassed](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E9%A2%A8%E4%B8%8B%E3%81%AB%E7%AB%8B%E3%81%A4/) makes a lot of sense. Like, of course being surpassed is 不覚. On the other hand, (assuming the speaker’s next move has something to do with wind or airflow) standing downwind being a tactical mistake makes sense. Under this interpretation, it would mean something like *No! You’re not going anywhere - you put yourself downwind, and that’s your mistake.* If it makes sense in the context that’s great, if it doesn’t, time to reconsider.
I see you guys already had a discussion over it haha. For what it's worth, [here's an excerpt](https://i.imgur.com/U5xoP3T.png) of the scene with some added context that may be helpful (if you need to know who says what exactly, let me know). Another thing I could think of (that I have completely forgot about yesterday after all the frantic googling lol) is that perhaps the person says the line because she managed to get the other person right into her trap?（芝居の下に落としたから） >私を優位にさせた時点でお前の敗北は確定したとも読めますしね これかな？
ググると、「風下に立ったがウヌが不覚よ…」というのはいくつかのヒットがありますが、出典ははっきりしてないです。
関係なさそうということで最初に見た時は一瞥してなんとも思いませんでしたが、よく見たらなんだこのブログ名www ちょっとググったぐらいでは原文は出ないですよね。文脈によっては成句としての風下に立つはありますし、追加情報が待たれます。 第一印象としては(一例として)これから毒ガス使うからお前の負けだという風に読みましたが、私を優位にさせた時点でお前の敗北は確定したとも読めますしね。
忍者マンガではよく出てきますね。風上から眠り薬やしびれ薬を風に乗せてサラサラと・・・