Tagged Questions
5
votes
1answer
145 views
Terms for Royalty
Why are there so many terms for royalty? And I'm talking about generic words like "king", "queen", etc. I seem to remember from my studies that certain terminology was used specifically for Japanese ...
6
votes
1answer
134 views
What's the difference between 心, 念, and 意?
I can say that after much research on this, I'm more thoroughly confused than before I started. I'm talking mostly about when they are used as suffixes, but the concept applies when they stand alone, ...
7
votes
1answer
127 views
What's the difference between ぜひ and きっと when inviting someone to do something?
You can say for example
ぜひパーティーにいらしてね
そのうちまた是非お出かけください
「今晩お伺いしてもいいですか」「ぜひどうぞ」
and
きっと来てくださいね
きっと訪ねて来てください
I would translate both ぜひ and きっと in these sentences with "by all means", but I'm ...
5
votes
2answers
106 views
what's the difference between 領域 、範囲 and 分野?
Could anyone explain to me the difference between these 3 words, especially between 範囲 and 領域 ？
For example, I have these 練習問題:
a.分野 b.領域 c.範囲
① 試験の……… は、17課までです。
② 外の大学との交流が進んで研究の……… が広がった。
③ ...
4
votes
1answer
176 views
What is the difference between 出す and 始める when used as a suffix?
Judging from examples I've seen, these are some differences I think there are:
始める:
1: More formal than 出す
2: When the focus in more on the beginning of the verb than the verb itself
3: When the ...
6
votes
1answer
145 views
Translating volitive expressions in ads into English
I saw this on an advertisement outside the construction site of a company that makes wooden houses:
木{き}の家{いえ}と、暮{く}らそう。
I'm trying to think of a way to translate it other than:
Live with a wooden ...
4
votes
0answers
189 views
What's the difference between 欲{ほっ}する and 欲しがる?
Is there one? One of my dictionaries lists them as
欲{ほっ}する → to desire/to want
欲しがる → to desire/to want/to wish for/to covet
Only the latter sounds like it includes more "bad"/selfish ...
2
votes
1answer
117 views
降参する vs 諦める
What's the difference between 降参する and 諦める?
Both seems to have the meaning of "to give up", for example:
ぜったい降参しない。(I will never give up.)
ぜったい諦めない。(I will never give up.)
What's the difference ...
0
votes
1answer
196 views
What's the difference between 平和 and 和平?
If you ask someone how to say "peace" the likely answer you'll get is 平和, which is the common option, but occasionally you'll see the word 和平, which has a very similar meaning, and is indeed just a ...
8
votes
1answer
151 views
Is it actually impolite to say ご苦労様 to a superior?
Conventional ビジネスマナー tells us that ご苦労様 is used by superiors to subordinates and お疲れ様 used by everyone, and this is backed up all over the internet and stated on some questions here, like this.
But ...
6
votes
1answer
280 views
Difference in nuance between 頂ければと思います, 頂けませんか, and 頂きたいんですけども
I've recently started using the expression 頂ければと思います, but I'm not 100% sure about its precise nuance.
Is there any difference in nuance between
頂ければと思います
頂けませんか
頂きたいんですけども?
To my non-native ear, ...
7
votes
2answers
189 views
What is the difference in usage between a plural using (a) the kanji repetition character 々, (b) a plural using -たち, and (c) the singular?
I know that there are some noun that are made plural by the kanji repetition character, such as 人々 and 国々. My question is, how does this differ from using the non-plural form of the noun? And how does ...
7
votes
2answers
183 views
けど vs. が for “but” conjuction
This question covers the difference between でも and けど for "but", the difference being that でも can be used at the beginning of a sentence. But けど and が are used in very much the same way, ...
6
votes
1answer
155 views
Difference between 一段 imperatives ～よ・～ろ
一段 verbs may be conjugated to form imperative forms of ～よ or ～ろ.
For example:
見る forms either 見よ or 見ろ
食べる forms either 食べよ or 食べろ
How did the two forms come about?
What is the difference in ...
6
votes
1answer
164 views
How to describe the inside of one's mind?
On one page in my book, I came across 3 different phrases for, what seems to me, subtly different ways of saying the same thing.
The first was: 頭の隅に
Then: 脳裏に
The information I was able to find ...
3
votes
1answer
166 views
How to write “Ikigai”
I'd like to use Ikigai ("something one lives for; purpose in life; raison d'être") for a Calligraphy (ShoDo) work.
According to Tangorin there are three possible ways to write this:
生き甲斐
生きがい
...
7
votes
1answer
195 views
must/need [必要]{ひつよう}がある vs. なくてはいけない and [必要]{ひつよう}だ vs. [要]{い}る
This is a two part question, both pertaining to expressions involving "必要".
What is the difference between 必要がある and -なくてはいけない/ -なければならない? The
difference between the latter two expressions is ...
11
votes
1answer
293 views
ひらく / とじる vs. あける / しめる
The verbs ひらく and あける both mean to open, and とじる and しめる both mean to close. I understand that ひらく and とじる are antonym pairs, as are あける and しめる, but have never been clear on the difference between ...
7
votes
3answers
187 views
What is the difference between 防止 and 予防?
My dictionary defines both 防止 and 予防 as "prevention", with 予防 having the additional definitions of "precaution" and "protection against".
I sort of understand the latter definitions for 予防 as acting ...
8
votes
1answer
244 views
What kind of a thing is a “やつ”?
I've been seeing やつ used for "thing" reasonably frequently in Manga/online etc, for example:
ほとんどは本とか食玩とか細かいやつかな。
"It's virtually all stuff like books, those small toys sold with food and small ...
7
votes
1answer
160 views
Can 一杯 be used to express the fullness of things without physical volumes?
According to an answer to this question, the word [一杯]{いっぱい} can be used to expess fullness; especially in relation to the capacity of whatever is containing the quantity. This, however, tends to ...
5
votes
1answer
124 views
What's the difference between 赤ん坊 and 赤ちゃん
Are both words interchangeable? Rikai-chan defines them both as "baby, infant". So what would be the difference?
10
votes
2answers
270 views
What exactly is 我, and how is it used?
I was taught that [私]{わた(く)し}, [僕]{ぼく}, and 俺{おれ} are the most common first-person pronouns.
Recently, I stumbled upon the word [我]{われ}, which supposedly means the same thing. An online dictionary ...
4
votes
1answer
139 views
What's the difference between 威厳 and 尊厳?
What's the difference between 威{い}厳{げん} and 尊{そん}厳{げん} to mean "dignity"?
From what I can tell, the two seem to be similar, but slightly different. In what ways do the nuances and usages of the two ...
4
votes
1answer
120 views
Difference between 妬【ねた】ましい and 羨【うらや】ましい
Considering "How to define 羨ましい?", it does not seem that 羨【うらや】ましい conveys a strong intensity of jealousy.
How does 妬【ねた】ましい compare to 羨【うらや】ましい then?
Does 妬【ねた】ましい convey a stronger sense of ...
8
votes
2answers
359 views
What is the difference between 悪い and だめ?
What is the difference between 悪い and だめ?
They're not really the same, but in English they both can be translated to "bad".
あの人が悪い。In my limited experience, this is bad in the sense of evil.
...
8
votes
2answers
282 views
What is the difference between 記憶【きおく】 and 思【おも】い出【で】?
Is there any difference between the meanings or connotations of 記憶 and 思い出?
I started thinking about this after listening to the song 「タイムマシーン」 or "Time Machine" by 少女時代, where these two lines occur ...
10
votes
1answer
311 views
How to differentiate friend level in Japanese?
I am sometimes having difficulty differentiating friends level when explaining it to a Japanese. For example, when I am telling a story about a friend, I want to specify the level of friendship we ...
7
votes
1answer
213 views
How to ask person to guess for something during conversation?
I was conversing with my Japanese colleague:
Me: Do you know how much a melon costs in my home country?
Colleague: I do not know.
Me: Take a guess.
I asked him how to say take a ...
3
votes
1answer
182 views
How do you say I am emailing something and attaching it to the email?
I am usually confused if I am going to use 入れます or 付けます when specifying that I attached something to the email.
For example:
最新の帳票サンプルを添付して入れます。
or
最新の帳票サンプルを添付して付けます。
I would usually say that ...
7
votes
1answer
272 views
How to ask for a refund?
I want to ask for a refund? For example, if I want to refund a train ticket. How do I ask the train master?
I think it is not a 返品。
Do you need certain politeness?
3
votes
1answer
141 views
How to hope something is going well?
I would like to hope that someone's small business is going well.
I know is someone's business is going well they can say:
「店は繁盛している」
but, how can I say "I hope your store is prosperous/I hope ...
3
votes
1answer
133 views
Asking superior to mark a document with 印鑑{いんかん}
What is the proper way to ask a superior to sign their hanko for approval? When I need a superior to sign their hanko for a routine log (not for reviewing a document or stuff, just routine logging off ...
7
votes
3answers
220 views
What is the difference between 一緒【いっしょ】に and 二人【ふたり】で?
I think in all situations where either 一緒に could be used, 二人で can also be used, and vice versa. I suppose 三人、四人、五人、etc. can also be used here if that's the number of people you are talking about.
But ...
7
votes
3answers
229 views
When should 男の人/女の人 be used instead of 男/女?
My teacher always corrects me when I use 男 or 女 by themselves, without adding の人 to the end of it. But in various Japanese media (music, drama, anime, etc.), I know for sure that I have heard them ...
12
votes
4answers
712 views
What's the difference between せっかく and わざわざ?
せっかく and わざわざ seem to be pretty close in meaning/usage, but is there ever a time you would use one and not the other? Or is there a small nuance there?
Just to give some example sentences:
...
8
votes
1answer
195 views
What's the difference between 電光石火【でんこうせっか】 and 疾風迅雷【しっぷうじんらい】
They both seem to mean "quick as lightning". What are the nuances between them? In what sort of context would they be used? Are they interchangeable? etc.
2
votes
1answer
107 views
The difference between 添削 and 訂正
I used to always use 訂正{ていせい} rather than 添削{てんさく} to mean "correction", but recently I haven't really seen 訂正 being used. When used in the context of correcting English translations etc, it seems to ...
18
votes
1answer
372 views
What is the difference between いえ and うち?
I am trying to understand the difference between using いえ and うち. I originally drew the conclusion that うち is used for your own house and いえ for others' houses, but my Japanese teacher said that this ...
4
votes
2answers
181 views
How to exhaustively list predicates in a non-temporal way?
Supposing that you want to express a list of events or actions exhaustively and without significance in ordering (for example: Yesterday, I ate some ice cream, went to the store, and read a book, but ...
5
votes
1answer
161 views
で終わります: trying to close by? で帰ります, trying to leave by? It depends on the sentence?
I can say 売り場は九時で終わります、 and 三時で帰ります、 which I've learned mean something like, "They'll be trying to close from," and, "I'll be trying to leave from." I've also learned that ２月２５日で帰ります is not correct. ...
5
votes
1answer
196 views
“トムと話した” vs. “トムと話し合った”
This book (Chap. 29) says that for some verbs which can be unilateral or bilateral (like 相談する, 話す, 合う),
The particle と implies that the verb is shared 50/50 between the two participants (bilateral), ...
12
votes
2answers
413 views
The differences between ～がたい、〜にくい、〜づらい
I was wondering what the differences are between these three: ～がたい、〜にくい、〜づらい
They all seem to be some sort of variant of "Hard to do ~". But it seems they are used with different verbs and/or imply ...
3
votes
1answer
96 views
Different between 可決 and 許可？
I want to know the different between 可決 and 許可.
I search into dictionary and the meaning is quite the same whose meaning are approval or permission.
So, what different? and how to use it ...
7
votes
1answer
180 views
How different is 冷やかす from 冷やす? And 散らかす from 散らす?
I've long known 冷やす as the transitive counterpart of 冷える. But thanks to one question here, I've realized that there is another version with an extra syllable in it: 冷やかす. Although 冷やかす seems to have ...
12
votes
3answers
401 views
“Seemingly cute” - かわいい + 〜そう
The 〜そう form means "seemingly 〜" and is usually conjecture made based on first-hand information. This usually means seeing something or hearing about something and making a conjecture, e.g., おいしそう ...
5
votes
1answer
432 views
Fun with synonyms - “perhaps/maybe/probably”
What are the differences when using the following words/phrases to mean "perhaps", "maybe" or "probably"?
多分
恐らく
蓋し {けだし}
もしかして
ひょっとして
なかろう (negative -> probably not)
だろう / でしょう / であろう
かも知れない
...
7
votes
2answers
544 views
おしまい {oshimai} vs おわり {owari}
Are there any differences between using おしまい {oshimai} and おわり {owari} to mean "the end" (both with neutral and negative connotations)? Are they always interchangeable?
E.g:
テスト失敗したらおわりだぜ。
...
5
votes
2answers
176 views
6
votes
2answers
313 views
Using 伯母 / 叔母 to refer to one's aunt
Is it true that when we see 伯母 it usually (90%) means "parent's elder sister" and sometimes (10%) can be used to refer to the parent's younger sister?
On the contrary, when we see 叔母 does it always ...
