Questions asking for words or phrases to be translated.
3
votes
3answers
249 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 ...
2
votes
3answers
265 views
How do I say “before” or “used to” in Japanese?
朝に作文を買ったの時、質問になります。
How can I say something like:
I didn't used to like this band.
*Before, I didn't like this band.*
5
votes
2answers
146 views
How do I say “the reason why” or “the purpose of” in Japanese?
While studying this morning, I became interested in how to say "When you were a child, did you read books for fun?" in Japanese.
In this case, would I use ため?
Or would it be something like this:
...
6
votes
3answers
150 views
Expressing: “Send them over/up, please”
This should be a rather straightforward (if a bit specific) bit of translation, but I cannot find a form that makes sense to me and gets corroborated by Google.
How would one translate the typical ...
10
votes
4answers
190 views
Translating: “一人でも多くの方にコメントしていただけたら嬉しいので ”
I have about a semester of Japanese under my belt, so my ability to read the language is 'not great,' especially when it comes to getting any kind of nuance out of a statement. At the moment, I'm ...
8
votes
2answers
139 views
How to translate rows and columns
I am trying to translate the GUI of a simple memory game from English to Japanese.
I want to the user to be able to choose how many rows and columns there should be in the memory game. For a 2x3 ...
8
votes
1answer
163 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
156 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 ...
6
votes
3answers
197 views
It's time to [verb]
I know this is dangerously close to a translation question, but bare with me.
Today I found out a co-worker of mine is studying Japanese as well. And at the end of the conversation I wrote: Jikan wa ...
1
vote
1answer
93 views
Help with sentence 私が外国を歩くようになったのは・・・
This clause is from a book that I'm reading called "日本人が知らない世界の歩き方". It's the first clause of the first sentence in the book and coincidentally the first one that I'm having trouble with. In ...
10
votes
3answers
140 views
心配でたまらず - what is the verb and its form?
Could someone explain the grammar/words behind this and similar phrases? I did some research and probably found the explanation, but I am not sure if this is correct.
The phrase may be found in a ...
5
votes
2answers
422 views
What is -からです, and when is it used?
I have seen this expression a few times, and have never quite understood it. In particular, it seems to be equatable both to ですから and to んです, but I can't figure out where it would be used over either ...
6
votes
1answer
116 views
Why did the translator use ゴナラ here?
I've got a copy of "オ・ヤサシ巨人BFG", Taeko Nakamura's translation of the famous children's book by Roald Dahl, The BFG.
The story concerns a friendship between a little girl named Sophie and a friendly ...
3
votes
1answer
139 views
What does そこによるところは大きい mean?
could anyone help me with a sentence? It was from an article in the Asahi about the leadership change in North Korea. The full sentence is 拉致被害者の早い救出も、そこによるところは大きい。I understand the first part of the ...
9
votes
2answers
195 views
What is the purpose of the suffix “さ” on adjectives?
What is the purpose of the suffix "さ" on adjectives like 美しさ and 多さ?
The former is the title of an essay by Banana Yoshimoto, so I don't have much context for it. The book editors translated it as ...
5
votes
1answer
305 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.
4
votes
2answers
129 views
Meaning of 「おれば」＆「大手を振る」
The following sentence and translation appear in my textbook (総まとめ 読解 N１, p114):
視聴率さえとっておれば、どんな"やらせ" をやろうとも、メディアの責任を考えればモラルに反すると思うことをやっても、大手を振ることが出来る世界
A world (media industry) where they ...
1
vote
1answer
67 views
How should I intepret より in this sentence
きのうは きょうより ひとが すくないです。
Is it saying:
X number of people yesterday < Y number of people today?
or
X number of people yesterday > Y number of people today?
I'm getting the ...
2
votes
2answers
143 views
What did 才六 and similar terms about Kansai residents mean?
While looking up the denonym for a Kansai resident (I've since found out it's 関西人{かんさいじん}), jisho.org described 才六, 贅六, 上方才六, 賽六 and 采六, with pronunciations (not necessarily in that order) of ぜいろく, ...
1
vote
0answers
309 views
where can i translate romanji? [closed]
i have found this song i like, but it doesnt have a translation to english, so i dont know what it means. i dont know where i could get the lyrics with the proper charecters, i can only find the ...
6
votes
1answer
110 views
Translation of 「そんなことない」
What is a correct translation for 「そんなことない」 and when can it be used?
I understand the "this is wrong"/"this is not correct" general sense but is this considered either as harsh or a gentle way of ...
1
vote
1answer
128 views
～なければならない and ～によって auxiliary meanings
I am having trouble with the bold part of this sentence from wikipedia:
バブル経済（バブルけいざい、economic
...
10
votes
3answers
342 views
What does “齓” mean?
I've found this kanji during Shodo practice. My teacher (Japanese) didn't know the meaning (she recognized the Tooth bushu/radical but not the "word").
I tried to look it up on the electronic ...
7
votes
2answers
193 views
〜しては is this a grammar pattern?
I was trying to translate this sentence:
僕はアルバイトしてはレコードばかり買っていたから、一日半働けばLP一枚買えるな、と思って働いていた。
I think I get the overall meaning as: Because I spent all my wages on records I went to work thinking "If ...
3
votes
1answer
221 views
Why “to iu na no” instead of “de” or “no”?
So I'm watching this anime a couple of days ago and one of the characters were describing a group of people. He ended his description with "GIGN to iu na no inu". The subtitle says that meant: "Those ...
17
votes
3answers
1k views
The many ways to say “and” in Japanese
In English, we just have one word for the conjunction and which works just fine for many categories, but in Japanese, there are separate words:
と joins nouns together in a closed list
や joins nouns ...
3
votes
1answer
145 views
Dates, version strings, timestamps and numbers in Japanese. How are they formatted?
I'm writing a program and need to know how dates, versions, time, and numbers are formatted in the Japanese Language
Example (in English)
Version 1.0.0 (Build 0)
How would that look in Japan?
5
votes
1answer
111 views
What does “気結び” mean?
According to a (non japanese, but he spent lots of time in Japan) Aikido teacher I know, this is supposed to represent "an obligation bounding student and teacher".
To be honest, I am a bit ...
0
votes
1answer
168 views
How should we translate double negatives/negatives that are unnatural in English?
Is there a basic rule for translating negatives/double negatives that do not feel natural in English. The example I have been struggling is as follows:
...
0
votes
1answer
109 views
Translating contrasts with English expressions that not their naturally equivalents in Japanese
When translating how does one deal with contrasts best satisfied with English expressions that not the naturally translations from Japanese. In the following example:
...
0
votes
1answer
115 views
Translation doubts (が, き…) [closed]
I'm trying to translate some Japanese text I found to English (I'm very beginner, and self-learning).
There are two columns of Japanese; on the left:
私
い
日
本
が
and on the right:
大
子
き
で
す
...
8
votes
1answer
231 views
得意とするところ explanation?
As far as I'm aware this expression means "(a persons) strong points', but I'm not sure how とする is being used in this context.
My best guess would be something like "the thing (a person) tries to do ...
10
votes
3answers
286 views
How do I say “He already went to do X for me”, implying he is still in the process of X, not finished?
The other day at some festival a few japanese friends asked me something to the effect of
アイスを買ってくるけど、行く？
But I had already asked a friend, who had not yet returned, to get some for me. So I said
...
5
votes
2answers
147 views
When is it appropriate to choose にわたって or を通じて in regard to time?
I seem to have a hard time recognizing when to choose either にわたって or を通じて in the following question:
この地方は一年（ ）暖かく、とても過ごしやすい。
The correct answer is を通じて. My idea is that を通じて would make this ...
0
votes
2answers
213 views
What does 見ぬ/minu mean in this sentence?
The phrase is: mada minu kimi e tsudzuku. I believe the kana is: まだ見ぬきみへつづく。
5
votes
2answers
188 views
Are the grammatical forms ものか and だろうか questions?
For some reason, I have had the impression that か at the end of a sentence marks some kind of question that is being asked. However, in these examples from 日本語総まとめ 文法:
うれしいもんですか。困っているんです。
...
14
votes
4answers
655 views
Is there an easily accessible list of terms in the Japanese grammar written both in Japanese and English?
I am a native Japanese speaker with a casually interest in languages. I sometimes have trouble explaining the Japanese grammar in English because I do not know the established English translation of ...
1
vote
2answers
227 views
“eat, sleep, drift” translation
A friend has asked me to design a T-shirt for him, and he wants it to read: eat, sleep, drift (as in car drifting)
So far I have this: 食べる 睡眠 漂. I'm not sure if it's right as I am an English speaker ...
9
votes
2answers
236 views
What is the correct veritable meaning of 水無月 and 神無月?
This question is the result of a conversation with Chocolate in chat, and also this Japanese calendar I have that lists the months according to the traditional Japanese names.
For some reason, there ...
0
votes
0answers
94 views
Please translate this question [closed]
I bought a book that I am reading to help prepare for the JLPT N5 and need a quick translation.
すみません。もっとながいコートはありませんか。
Does the question mean, "Do you have any more long coats?" Thanks!
3
votes
1answer
193 views
What does なきや mean?
I assume this is some sort of idiom or verbal tic, but i'm not 100% sure. Anybody care to help me out?
If you need context, this is the phrase:
まだピチピチなんだからかんばらなきや
4
votes
2answers
485 views
dekireba/dekitara
When "dekireba" or "dekitara" is placed at the beginning of a sentence, is the subject always "you" as in "if you can/if possible", or can it be "I" as in "if I can/if I have the permission to do"?
...
5
votes
1answer
155 views
Does ネガティブ mean “negative”, or “bad”, when describing a person?
ネガティブ is an adjective that's based on the word "negative" (or maybe a word from another European language). But when describing a person, does it mean "negative", as in pessimistic, always ...
6
votes
0answers
164 views
What would be the Japanese name of a person with a native Chinese name? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When Chinese personal names are written in Japanese in kanji is there always an obvious reading?
What would be the common ways to convert a Chinese name for a person to ...
2
votes
2answers
329 views
How to say “Slice of life anime”?
How do I say "slice of life anime/manga" in Japanese?
I've tried looking this up. Perhaps it is only english speakers who categorize anime this way?
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 ...
2
votes
3answers
799 views
What does MC mean in Japanese?
Saw this on twitter:
MC挟んでいいなら♪( ´▽｀)RT @miri_sid: @mao_sid マオくんは全曲連続で歌えますか？(^-^)
Can't find the Japanese definition of MC anywhere. What does that say?
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"?
6
votes
1answer
108 views
“XYZ mentioned in newspaper ABC!” in Japanese?
My organization XYZ has been mentioned in a newspaper, and I would like to post a link to the online article, together with a short explanation like "XYZ mentioned in newspaper ABC!"
How about ...
0
votes
2answers
619 views
How many translations of “ichigo” are there? [closed]
"Ichigo" can be the pronunciation of a person's name (as in the cartoon "Bleach"), or words meaning "strawberry", "one and five", or a part of the word "一期一会". Are there any additional meanings of ...
