The meaning of words or phrases within certain contexts, especially when it does not seem to match the standard definition.
4
votes
2answers
220 views
What does あらいだす mean?
What does あらいだす mean? I have been hearing it from my colleague and based on his explanation it means to identify. For example identify the problem. I tried to search the net and it only results to ...
4
votes
2answers
152 views
Meaning of あくまで in あくまで私個人の意見です
What is the meaning of あくまで in the sentence あくまで私個人の意見です ?
ALC: back and edge, consistently
GJiten: to the end; to the bitter end; to the last; stubbornly; persistently; to the utmost
What nuance is ...
4
votes
2answers
225 views
What does 母を恋はずや mean?
What is the meaning of 母を恋はずや in the film title?
Edit: the meaning of "恋う" according to the dictionary is "romantic love" as in "koi suru". E.g. ...
4
votes
2answers
192 views
餌食 vs 獲物
What is the difference between 餌食{えじき} and 獲物{えもの}?
Both mean "prey", so how do we decide when to use which?
What is the difference in their nuances?
4
votes
2answers
116 views
What is a 丁寧 food?
When eating ramen, a Japanese person commented on how the ramen of this shop are 丁寧.
What does 丁寧 means in the context of food?
丁寧 means polite in social contexts, but I am not sure it the same ...
4
votes
3answers
305 views
what does 貸してもらえないかな mean?
This was from a test prep book:
A: この間の本貸してもらえないかな。
B: ええ,明日持ってきてます
I'm thinking that the V てもらえない form is often used for requests.
My literal parsing of 貸して ＋ もらえない is:
'Can I not ...
4
votes
2answers
162 views
Meaning of でもない in this context?
While listening to the song "Yasashisa no Riyuu", I noticed the following sentence:
今は誰の名前でもない 輝きの彼方へ
Which by the fansub is translated like this:
Now it doesn't matter whose name it may ...
4
votes
2answers
148 views
Meaning of 気負わずに奮ってご参加ください
What does 気負わずに奮ってご参加ください mean?
Is it like 気軽にご参加ください?
Context: an event information page announcing pre-requisites for attendance:
前提知識
...
4
votes
2answers
117 views
How do specific characters get included in 囲み文字 and what are the meanings they convey?
I have this book 「図解でわかる 文字コードのすべて」 which lists many of the Unicode and JIS symbols that one can type. I noticed the section of enclosed alphanumerics (囲み文字). Not all kanji are included in 囲み文字 which ...
4
votes
2answers
288 views
壱, 弐, 参 vs 一, 二, 三
Can you tell me the difference between 壱 and 一, 弐 and 二, 参 and 三?
Do these pairs have the same meaning? If yes, why do we use different Kanji? If no, what is the difference in their meanings?
Can ...
4
votes
2answers
223 views
Does がち mean “in excess”?
I have been reading a daily article during 朝礼.
One of the sentence used the word がち. The sample sentence is:
長所{ちょうしょ}は見逃{みのが}してしまいがちです。
Abundant of misses.
I tried to ask my colleague ...
4
votes
2answers
164 views
How is “誰も” used in this sentence?
I am a bit confused about a sentence I came across in an anki deck:
誰もその話を知らない。
I know that that 誰 means "who" and も means "also", but the translation it gives me is:
"No one knows that story."
...
4
votes
3answers
226 views
Relation between kanji readings and meanings
I understand that a kanji can have several possible readings and several (typically related) meanings. Furthermore, I've noticed that a single reading typically corresponds to some subset of the ...
4
votes
1answer
200 views
What's the difference between 招待, 招く and 誘う?
I've stumbled upon these 3 words. I think meaning of 招待 is:
invite (as in a formal invitation)
The other two seem rather confusing to me, though.
4
votes
1answer
206 views
方 - also read ほう when referring to a person?
The following sentence is from "A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar":
留守番電話は、一方ではかかる方にもかける方にも便利な面もあるが、他方ではお互いに直接話が出来ないから、不自然な面もある
"The answering machine is, on the one hand, very ...
4
votes
1answer
178 views
Payment types in receipts
If I find one of the following words on a receipt before the total sum:
クレジット
クレジット支払
クレジット支払額
クレジット計
クレジット売上
Can I conclude that the transaction was paid for by credit card?
And what does it ...
4
votes
2answers
130 views
Difference between words that describe the idea of neighborhood/being close to something
Can somebody describe the difference between these words(physical distance and maybe politeness of these words, or any aspects that you think are important to understand these).
Can all these words ...
4
votes
1answer
328 views
Meaning of 「そればかりか、〜Vーるというようなことさえ、始めはしない。」
I am struggling to grasp the meaning of this expression 「そればかりか、〜Vるというようなことさえ、始めはしない」It comes up in the following sentence. The English translation is my best effort but I am guessing from the ...
4
votes
1answer
181 views
Help with this sentence fragment containing “思想統制”
I came across this example sentence for the grammar point ~にあって, which indicates that something is under a particular circumstance.
彼女は戦争中、思想統制下にあってなお、自由な精神を持ち続けた。
I understand the first and the ...
4
votes
1answer
92 views
Can 国体 refer to “prefectural” as well as “national”?
If 国体 is used in conjunction with a prefecture name like 山口国体, does that mean "The National Athletic Meet that is being held in Yamaguchi", or the "The Yamaguchi Prefectural Athletic Meet"?
The only ...
4
votes
1answer
110 views
What does ホイっと mean?
in a manga I was reading this expression appeared.
It was about a lazy girl, who was thinking about getting herself a boyfriend (so that he can do the house chores for her), and then her friend ...
4
votes
1answer
136 views
When to use にしたら when to use には?
I don't get the difference in meaning between には and にしたら like in this sentence from my textbook:
大きすぎる親の期待は、子供にしたら苦痛だ。
Expectations of parents that are too big become agony for the children.
...
4
votes
1answer
149 views
What does 腕が光る mean?
I've tried Googling for Japanese/Japanese dictionary definitions of this phrase, but can only find usages so far, which haven't helped.
More context:
"俺たち職人の腕が光る"
I think from context that the ...
4
votes
4answers
235 views
Can 猿 technically mean “ape”?
It has long been a pet peeve of mine when people talk about apes calling them "monkeys".
Recently I've seen bonobos being called 猿 in an anime, so from that it's pretty clear that 猿 also refers to ...
4
votes
1answer
132 views
The meaning and parsing of “はっといた”
In the Kanzen Master N2 listening textbook, there's the following sentence:
女： 昨日、はっといたんだけど。
Of which in the answers the correct reply was specified as:
男： その壁に？
Man: On that wall? (?)
...
4
votes
1answer
480 views
What does 氏 mean after a name, how is it different from さん or 様?
If you look in the dictionary for the definition of 氏 you'll find it defined as: family name; lineage; birth.
However I have seen it used in such a way that it is doubtful that it means any of those ...
4
votes
1answer
158 views
What does 身の縮む思い mean?
I found a phrase in one vocabulary book about the usage of 縮む.
I am not clear on the meaning of this phrase:
身の縮む思い
I think it can be the same meaning as 恥ずかしい. Is that right?
4
votes
1answer
138 views
Understanding the grammar of 当て
I'm trying to understand the grammar behind 当て, and after a bit of investigation I still don't quite understand a could of points.
The definition that I found for it is (n) depend on, expectations, ...
4
votes
1answer
112 views
Meaning of この延長線上にこそ、
Does X。この延長線上にこそ、Y。 have the same meaning as XなのでY ?
Context: 今回、時間の制約が大変厳しい状況にありますが、[...]自動的なチェックのしくみを実現したいと考えます。この延長線上にこそ、新しい世代のより低コストな技術を安定的に評価できる体制が実現可能となります。
4
votes
3answers
136 views
Meaning of 右端揃 in “これ右端揃うかな？”
I received this email from someone close, who has a deadline to finish a graduation thesis:
期日は20日です(>д<)
これ右端揃うかな？笑
右端揃 means "right-alignment" but I don't understand what is the meaning of ...
4
votes
2answers
249 views
は can mean “at least?”
Can は mean "at least" in some situations?
For example, 10回は＝"at least 10 times?"
How does this work?
This is an example:
...
3
votes
4answers
178 views
Meaning of 共同志向性
In the context of a personality quizz, what does 共同志向性 means?
I feel it is something like the quality of being a good team-player, but not sure.
Google does not know
3
votes
2answers
267 views
Kanji reading: 一人KY、実？中
This morning I took this picture, finding the 一人KY poster amusing:
QUESTION: What is the kanji before 中 ?
In Gjiten I can't find it by combining the radicals of 止 and 残, nor by number of strokes ...
3
votes
3answers
414 views
Are there any metaphors in these Japanese sentences?
I'm trying to understand the following three lines from a song:
ただ会いたくて 声も無くしそうで
でも会えなくて 夢さえ恨んだ
日々薄れてく 記憶を手探りで 感触をただ愛した
Each line is progressively difficult to understand. I can read the words but ...
3
votes
2answers
118 views
Understanding 〜たら良いか〜
The sentence 何と言ったら良いか分かりません means "I don't know what I should say."
But what is the literal translation of this sentence? What is the purpose of the か in 良いか?
3
votes
2answers
445 views
What does やい mean?
Someone ended their sentence with やいな. What dialect is this? What does やい mean? I assume that な means the same thing as in standard Japanese?
Update: the original sentence was 「もう出来あがり？仕事はやいな～」.
3
votes
4answers
298 views
Parsing a specific sentence from a book
I have this following sentence:
横線――ＨＰバーの名で呼ばれる青いそれは、俺の生命の残量を可視化したものだ。
There are a few questions I came up with about this sentence:
The first part of the sentence is: 横線―――ＨＰバーの名で呼ばれる青いそれ, ...
3
votes
2answers
222 views
How and when to use 「そうですね」？
I only know the 2 meanings of it as follow:
Use when thinking - no meaning
Use to agree with others - the meaning is like "yes, I think so"
What else and what situation can it be used?
If someone ...
3
votes
1answer
120 views
What are some translations for 後は無い?
Does it have a less literal meaning that "nothing left behind"?
3
votes
1answer
254 views
What does 叱ってやりたい mean in this context?
On twitter I saw this:
なのに風呂掃除したら100円もらってたおれ…叱ってやりたい！笑
What does it mean?
This is the previous tweet:
最近だなー。食ったらすぐ食器洗うのが習慣になったの。実家に居た頃は全部母親がやってたから甘えちゃってた。仕事もしてて家事も完璧にやってた母親、今更ながら尊敬します。
3
votes
3answers
268 views
Is there a reliable translation of the kangxi radicals?
Inspired by the Wikipedia page on Kangxi radicals I decided to study the meaning and writing of radicals before I tackle the much more numerous kanji. But in working my way through the list, I started ...
3
votes
1answer
146 views
Is -はない just another way of saying -じゃありません?
In the sentence:
彼の論文には大した価値はない
Is the -はない another way of saying -じゃありません or -ではない? And is it read as wanai or hanai?
3
votes
1answer
92 views
Is this word slang? アメテ
I can't find a definition for this word アメテ. Aside from sounding like an amateur, the word didn't make sense in the context.
In the context, a character was flipping out. The entire sentence he ...
3
votes
1answer
153 views
Can't quite understand this sentence
この間、時間を見つけては、過去の歴史をひもといてみたのだが、再認識させられたのは、人間というのは、どれほど多くの涙とともに飲み下した教訓であっても、喉元を過ぎたとたんに忘れてしまう生き物であるということだった.
Especially what "忘れてしまう生き物" is supposed to mean in "喉元を過ぎたとたんに忘れてしまう生き物であるということだった".
3
votes
2answers
236 views
What is さすが when referring to oneself?
It means "as one would expect" when referring to others, and it's sort of a compliment.
But you're not supposed to compliment yourself in Japanese.
So does さすが have a different meaning when ...
3
votes
1answer
188 views
The gender of 子
Is 子 ever used to refer to a boy, or is it always used for girls? Is 悪い子 used only for girls?
3
votes
1answer
104 views
Meaning of どこの ( + noun)?
I found Shimazaki Touson's work 'shiawase', and read the first few lines:
「幸せ」が色々な家へたずねて行きました。だれでも幸せの欲しくないひとはありませんから、どこの家をたずねましても、みんな大喜びでむかえてくれるに違いありません。
My question is how I can translate
...
3
votes
1answer
76 views
なにかと思ったら meaning
なにかと思ったら, I have come across this sentence a couple of times when talking to Japanese people, but I seem to struggle with the actual meaning.
I translate it as "if I am thinking of something" but the ...
3
votes
1answer
101 views
What's the difference between 程 and 程度?
What the difference between 程 and 程度?
I haven't been able to find any using my dictionary.
3
votes
2answers
271 views
Is there a Japanese phrase equivalent to “crisis of faith”
I am wondering if there is a way to describe this concept in Japanese, or an equivalent phrase.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_of_faith it is a mostly western concept (if you ...
