Tagged Questions
0
votes
1answer
106 views
Typing Japanese text from images or clothing
Is there a way of typing Japanese characters when you have no knowledge of the language? I've cut and pasted from Japanese websites before and used translation websites from English to Japanese with ...
6
votes
2answers
303 views
What does “ごうと音がして” mean?
I am currently practicing Japanese by reading a novel but I have reached a sentence that I could not understand.
ごうと音がして
Can you please translate the vocabulary and verb used along with any unique ...
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 ...
3
votes
1answer
74 views
Help with a relative clause + を中心に
Here's the sentence:
あるいはまた、東南アジアを中心に世界各地で活躍するいわゆる華僑勢力の多くが福建省出身者である事実を見ても、福建人たちの「海外雄飛」のパワーを知ることができる。
My rough translation is something like:
"Moreover, looking also at the fact that a large ...
2
votes
2answers
117 views
Can I use ほど in a comparative context, similarly to how I'd use the English word 'like?' (And if not…what can I use?)
Background: A few months back, I started making the transition from studying sentence constructions to studying grammar. While I try to avoid generating 'Japanese translations of my English ideas,' I ...
6
votes
1answer
108 views
Questions on the use of 動物 in reference to mankind/humans
I got this quote from a journal an online associate writes. I provided the translation. Some of the wording in Japanese struck me as strange, so I am wondering about whether in fact this quote is a ...
2
votes
1answer
186 views
How to say “items remaining from last meeting”?
I am setting up a meeting agenda and of the items is "covering the items left over from last meeting".
I though something like "前回のミーティングの残件” Would have worked but it turns out that 残件 isn't a word ...
3
votes
1answer
249 views
How to call a wait pointer in Japanese?
In Japanese, how to call a wait pointer?
I am talking about a computer mouse pointer which becomes a spinning wheel or hourglass (depending on the OS) when the application is busy processing ...
4
votes
1answer
227 views
How do I express “to survive” in a more metaphorical sense?
My friend published a multi-part video on Facebook. I wanted to comment "I survived for only one episode", as in "It was so bad I couldn't keep watching after just one episode", but I wasn't sure ...
6
votes
2answers
242 views
“Tourist trap” in Japanese
Assuming such a concept exists in Japanese, how do you say "tourist trap"?
Wikipedia describes it as:
A tourist trap is an establishment, or group of establishments, that
has been created with ...
8
votes
1answer
162 views
かかったためしない - how can this be translated?
I encountered the following sentence in a comic book which I could not make sense of.
The comic strip depicts a character using a simple bird trap and saying:
「長年やってるけどかかったためしないなあ」
The first part, ...
3
votes
2answers
154 views
What does 血のしょんべん mean?
I'm trying to figure out what 血のションベン means. I understand the individual words and literal meaning. So assuming it doesn't mean "bloods urine", what does this mean?
Perhaps the full sentance is ...
5
votes
1answer
303 views
How to say “Little did I/he/she/they know”?
I found a few examples at ALC, but still not sure about the best way to say it.
7
votes
2answers
283 views
What words are used for dolphin meat?
What words are used for dolphin meat?
Searching jisho.org using "dolphin" in the English field listed several different words for dolphin, but no compounds involving meat.
Neither the English nor ...
7
votes
3answers
292 views
what does どことなくつかみどころがなくmean?
I came across this phrase in the sentence:
勘【かん】というものは、しょちゅう経験【けいけん】していながら、どことなくつかみどころがなく、いまの科学【かがく】ではまだその正体【しょうたい】が、明らか【あきらか】にされていない。(Soumatome N1 dokkai, p45)
My best effort to translate it ...
4
votes
1answer
114 views
What is the meaning of ぶさかわ?
I was talking to my language partner and she mentioned ぶさかわ being used in situations when you want to describe something not pretty but nice. Apparently the word is relatively new and was first used ...
1
vote
3answers
175 views
Translation of 出証意 and 長官殿
These are from a patent related document and I can't understand very well.
They are used like these：
1) 特許庁長官殿
2) 出証意2012
Can anyone help me?
7
votes
2answers
154 views
Does バラの寝床 come directly from the English expression “bed of roses”?
I came across this phrase in a Haruki Murakami short story, and I was wondering if this is just a literal translation of the English phrase?
I tried googling the Japanese phrase, but I could only ...
6
votes
1answer
141 views
What is the best word to use to mean “to take long-term a break (i.e. from school)”?
Just to add some context to this question: I graduated with a B.A. last June, and am currently taking a two-year break from education to work off some of the inordinate amount of debt I accumulated in ...
10
votes
4answers
446 views
What's the difference between いいえ and English's “no”?
In "Japanese for Busy People I" page 2 (kana or romaji edition) it says that いいえ is 'virtually the same as "no"'.
It sounds like there are some differences, but they want to omit mentioning them for ...
6
votes
4answers
335 views
word search: voluntary pause between desire and action
Some years ago, I read that Japanese has a word (or idiomatic expression) that means roughly:
The action of voluntary interposing a pause between the
moment you desire something and the moment you ...
1
vote
2answers
145 views
Defining a particular 系
http://mainichi.jp/life/kimochi/archive/news/2012/20120205ddn013070029000c.html
The article above, about how a girl wants to be loved, is entitled
愛され系
I am wondering which definition of 系 ...
4
votes
2answers
151 views
Expressing neighborhood in Japanese
Something I have often stumbled on is the expression of "neighborhood" in Japanese.
For most uses I find that 近所 works well.
However, this usually seems to refer to a closer proximity than one would ...
3
votes
2answers
368 views
How do I convey “As you all know”?
Having been trying to write a "sakubun", I must say that I had some trouble to find a reliable translation for the phrase "as you all know" such as:
As you all know, the education system in our ...
4
votes
1answer
359 views
Difference between 自分 and 自分自身 and how to reflect their difference in English
Consider:
自分について書きたいことがあります。 = There are times that I want to write about myself (lit: things concerning me)
自分自身について書きたいことがあります。
What is their difference?
I think the second sentence ...
5
votes
1answer
148 views
Usage of the word 心配
Sorry if this is really simple and I'm overlooking the obvious, but I'm not sure how the following sentence should be translated as I've noticed on previous occasions that the word 「心配{しんぱい}」 might be ...
3
votes
2answers
213 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
2answers
136 views
How does 話{はなし}が噛{か}み合{あ}わない work?
I saw this phrase discussed on esaura.cc
話が噛み合わない
'There's a gap in their conversation.'
'They can't meet on common ground.'
'They have been at odds with each other.'
'They have not been ...
5
votes
1answer
543 views
Heaven in Japanese
I have found that there are a number of words in Japanese that correspond to "heaven" in English. By heaven I mean the concept of a paradisiacal afterlife. The two most frequent in my limited and ...
5
votes
1answer
186 views
Usage of まるで with 見ているようだった.
その翼はとても滑らかに動くため、まるでコンピュータ・グラフィックスを見ているようだった。
Its wings were moving so smoothly that it almost looked like CGI.
or would a more accurate translation be:
Its wings were moving so smoothly ...
6
votes
1answer
470 views
How is the “のです” working here?
目立つ事を恐れ、一緒でなければいけないという日本人が確実に減ってきているのです。
The strong feelings that Japanese have of being afraid of standing out and everybody having to do things together are starting to become less ...
4
votes
5answers
425 views
「安い」って英語からきた表現？
皆さんこんにちは、
日本語で質問を聞かせていただきますので、ご協力ください。
回答やコメントなどは、日本語か英語、どちらの言語でも喜んで読みます。
では。
此間友達と喋っていて好みの話をしていた時一人が「ホラー映画やB級映画が大好き」と言うやいなや「あなた安いな〜」ともう一人が反応しました。
...
-5
votes
1answer
235 views
What does 染めちゃえ mean here?
Saw this on twitter:
A: マオにゃん、シドギャの彼女が出来ない僕に一言くれたら幸いです ...
B: 付き合った後に染めちゃえ
What is 染めちゃえ here?
2
votes
1answer
225 views
What is a シドギャ? ギャ doesn't mean girl, does it?
At first I thought ギャ meant girl, but after doing some googling, that doesn't appear to be what it is. What is シドギャ?
シドギャ is related to the band シド, the most popular Visual Kei rock band in Japan for ...
5
votes
1answer
181 views
What is the meaning of ちょうど一本 in this context?
If I've understood correctly, ちょうど followed by a counting word usually means something like "just x" or "exactly x" depending on the context, but I can't figure out what it means in this opening ...
6
votes
3answers
408 views
What does 思いっきりどうぞ mean?
I heard this phrase a few times but I still can't grasp its meaning. Does it mean, "as much as you would like"?
