Tagged Questions
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 ...
9
votes
2answers
227 views
To uncomment in Japanese?
In the context of computer programming, how to say to uncomment?
For instance, here I uncomment a line:
// Before
// myvar = 3;
// After
myvar = 3;
I would use コメントアウトする, but I also see ...
2
votes
2answers
112 views
How to say “To familiarise onself with”
I've been trying to figure out how to say something like:
"I'd like to familiarise myself with XXX before the meeting so do you have any information that you can pass me before hand." (I.e. I have an ...
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 ...
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 ...
12
votes
2answers
253 views
Saying “to miss” (“I missed you over the weekend”)
What's the best way to say "to miss" in the sense of feeling a longing for something, or that something pleasant is missing? I understand there's [懐]{なつ}かしむ, but it seems to me that, like 懐かしい, is ...
8
votes
1answer
425 views
What do you mean, “In Japanese there are no words for ”I’m suffering“”?
Today I noticed this article about eating disorders in Japan, which I got to via the News on Japan site.
The first line jumps out at me. Supposedly, in an interview, a 25 year old Japanese woman ...
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 ...
9
votes
0answers
226 views
Thoughts about event frequencies and “often enough”
I'm having trouble expressing the concept of "not often enough". The most basic way to say "often" is よく, but I think there's a problem in putting qualifiers on this word. For instance, expressing ...
5
votes
2answers
223 views
How do I accurately convey “enough to make a difference”?
I want to say "it's different enough to make a difference," but I'm struggling a bit to get there. Partly because the two uses of "different" in this sentence are doing two different jobs. The first ...
2
votes
1answer
227 views
Is it cool to use かっこいい in this way?
The other day I was playing sports, and I yelled at a guy for what I thought was a cheap play. However, later, after the game ended and I had chilled out, I realized that I had over reacted. It's ...
6
votes
1answer
436 views
How can I differentiate between “risk” and “danger” in Japanese?
I wanted to know how to say "risk" in Japanese, so I looked it up, and found that most dictionaries translate "risk" as 「[危険]{きけん}」. To me, [危険]{きけん} means "danger", which is different.
Though, to ...
12
votes
3answers
390 views
What's bugging the Japanese language?
In my JLPT workbook, it has a section which gives a list of idioms that use [虫]{むし}.
仕事{しごと}の虫 (worker bee)
点取{てんとり}虫 (derogatory term for a student who tries too hard)
虫がいい (selfish)
...
3
votes
2answers
149 views
What's the best translation of アタリ in the context of drawing?
I'm reading through a book on how to draw in a classic Japanese manga style. Specifically, the book is about the basics of デッサン, "sketching".
They use the term アタリ a lot. For example, this typical ...
7
votes
2answers
256 views
Why does someone intend to die in this JLPT question?
This is a question in my JLPT practise book:
手遅{ておく}れかもしれないが、死{し}んだ＿＿になってやれば、間{ま}に合{あ}うかもしれない。
A もの B わけ C つもり D はず
None of the answers made sense to me, so I didn't even choose one.
The ...
3
votes
1answer
129 views
Is “bless” the best translation of 祝福{しゅくふく}?
As far as I understand it, 祝福{しゅくふく} means "bless". I came across it in this sentence, and it struck me as weird:
だれもが彼の成功をうらやむと同時に、心から祝福した。
My rough translation is, "At the same time that ...
3
votes
2answers
214 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 ...
8
votes
1answer
242 views
What is this English doing in the middle of my Japanese?
Note: I understand this question is on the edge of being off topic. I'll accept the community assessement if enough people feel that is the case.
I'm reading 脳{のう}は0.1秒{びょう}で恋{こい}をする by ...
3
votes
2answers
242 views
Translation of “に” into “natural” English
All of my Japanese teachers have told me that な-adjectives converted to に-ending words and い-adjectives converted to く-ending words, when followed by a verb, are 'adverbs'. However, sentences sound ...
13
votes
3answers
423 views
Blue blistering barnacles, what is Captain Haddock saying?
For those who might not be familiar with the series Tintin (soon to be in a major motion picture, by the way), there is a character named Captain Haddock who is famous for shouting out colourful ...
12
votes
1answer
348 views
Understanding all the words but not the meaning: What does this ad say?
This is a frequent problem that I think many Japanese learners experience. You look at some Japanese sentences, and you understand the words, and most, if not all, the grammar, and yet still, it just ...
14
votes
7answers
1k views
Does the Japanese language only have negative terms for flirting?
I am looking for terms in the Japanese language which can describe the act of flirting in a positive light. This probably requires inventing terms to close a lexical gap, because as far as I know, all ...
6
votes
5answers
329 views
Shouldn't this phrase using 【だけのこと】 mean “just for that”?
In a grammar textbook I have, there is this phrase:
幸い日本で日本語を勉強して、かなり話せるようになりました。日本に行っただけのことはありました。
【さいわい にほんで にほんごを べんきょうして、 かなり はなせるように なりました。 にほんに いった だけのことは ありました。】
The translation ...
13
votes
4answers
649 views
How would one convey “get over it” in Japanese?
As a foreigner in Japan, one has to get used to the fact that some Japanese will compliment you on things that are too mundane to really deserve mention. Like the fact that you can use chopsticks, eat ...
4
votes
1answer
139 views
What is the difference between 予想、期待、予期、思惑 for the meaning of “expectation”?
What is the difference between these 4 words for the definition of "expectation":
予想{よそう}
期待{きたい}
予期{よき}
思惑{おもわく}
Specifically, which would you use for "managing customer expectations (for project ...
6
votes
3answers
180 views
Computer calculation: is there a better word than “オンザフライ” to say “on-the-fly”?
As a valuable feature of my software product, I want to say that results are calculated on-the-fly, meaning the user does not have to wait and receive results by email: results are displayed after two ...
5
votes
2answers
416 views
Can the qualifiers “very” and “too” be expressed unambiguously in Japanese?
I've noticed that some of my Japanese friends with fluent but imperfect English often say "too adjective" when a native English speaker would say just "very adjective".
(I am asking about "too" in ...
9
votes
7answers
287 views
IT system renewal: Can I say 更新 for “renewal”?
I am starting a new project and have to come up with a name for it so that everybody knows what we are talking about.
The project is the renewal of an IT application that I will call エックスワイゼッド. ...
9
votes
4answers
424 views
What is the Japanese word or phrase for “to post on the internet”?
How do you say "to post something on the internet"? Are there different words for different kinds of posts, for example:
a blog entry
a comment
a piece of information, like a translation or a ...
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 ...
