The differences between two or more words or phrases and how to select the best one for a given situation.
8
votes
1answer
155 views
X is near or next to Y. Is my understanding of this correct?
So I know that a few words could be used interchangably. But I wasn't sure if I got the nuance(s) correct. So I have this sentence: 車はどこにありますか。 車庫のそばです。 And as far as I can see, I can change そば in ...
13
votes
3answers
424 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 ...
7
votes
3answers
286 views
Difference between kara and n desu?
Is there a difference (or nuance) or is it just two ways of saying the same thing?
For example, どうして、とぶか？ （１） こわいんです。 （２） こわいですから。
Obviously, those are very simple examples. But are there times ...
1
vote
1answer
123 views
Do people say じゅういち or いちいち when saying 11?
I heard this sentence. 仕事はひまでしたが、うちでよるいちいちまでレポートを書いています。
I looked up いちいち and it could mean 11 or one-by-one or separately. I'm guessing this in sentence it's saying 11. However, I'm wondering if ...
9
votes
2answers
457 views
What are slang terms for Japanese money?
This question about alternate terms for coins focused on the use of ワンコイン, but it got me thinking about slang terms for money in general.
In all the years I've been in Japan, I don't think I've ...
5
votes
1answer
125 views
How to use いかがですか？
So I've read that いかがですか means "How about it?" and "How is it?". So if I wanted to say, "How's the coffee?" would it be コーヒーはどうですか？ or コーヒーはいかがですか？
Also is there an "informal" way of saying いかがです?
4
votes
1answer
169 views
What's the difference between もともと and そもそも?
What's the difference between the usage and meaning of そもそも and もともと?
They both seem to mean something like "from the start/to begin with/originally" in dictionaries, but I believe their usage ...
3
votes
1answer
106 views
What is the difference between mannenhitsu and pen?
I was studying on another website and ran across a blurb that said that a pen is also called mannenhitsu in Japan. Is there a difference between the two? If not, is mannenhitsu said sometimes, just as ...
2
votes
1answer
55 views
the use of 園地（えんち）、庭（にわ）
I have problem with word use again:)
there are these two words 園地 (enchi) and 庭 (niwa)。
as far as I know 'niwa' refers to a garden around the house right?
What about 'enchi' does it refer to a house ...
4
votes
2answers
187 views
Difference in word use: 父親 母親 両親 父母
I would like to ask about the following words: 父親【ちちおや】 and 母親【ははおや】. They refer to father and mother, right? But why do they exist? When do we use them instead of お父【とう】さん and お母【かあ】さん?
I have a ...
6
votes
4answers
765 views
Is this a proper use of tara and toki for “when”?
Consider:
気がついたら皆さんは寝ていた。
気がついたとき皆さんは寝ていた。
My English interpretation: When I woke up (came to), everyone was sleeping.
Is "when" enough to capture the nuances of the Japanese sentences? ...
3
votes
2answers
124 views
まま + 放る{ほうる} used for emphasis or are they both needed?
A group of people are talking about the best way to get rid of a monster in their town and one of the villagers says this: 仕方{しかた}あるまい。このまま放って{ほうって}おけば村は[全滅]{ぜんめつ}するかもしれん…。
From what I understand, まま ...
8
votes
3answers
362 views
Difference between 気をつけて, お大事に and お元気で
What is the difference between 気をつけて, お大事に and お元気で. How and in which context are they used?
6
votes
1answer
2k views
What is the difference between お元気に、お元気で、気をつけて？ [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Difference between 気をつけて, お大事に and お元気で
I want to say hello to a friend long time no see, and end my message with "take care". All お元気に、お元気で、気をつけて mean "take care", so ...
9
votes
3answers
342 views
When to use “もっと” vs “より”
Giving examples if possible, what's the difference between e.g. もっと大きい and より大きい to mean "more (than)"/"bigger (than)"? In what situations would you use もっと over より and vice versa?
For instance, why ...
3
votes
2answers
105 views
Can desire be expressed for entities that do not hold volition?
We can personify things. By using "want" with an inanimate object, it is personified:
An object with inertia wants to maintain its state of motion.
(Question) First, is it possible in Japanese ...
2
votes
3answers
213 views
Difference between 何の～ and どんな～
Consider the following:
{どんな・[何]{なん}の}映画を見ましたか。
{どんな・何の}本を買いましたか。
What is the difference in the type of information requested by the two interrogatives?
My hypothesis is that 何の is used to ...
1
vote
1answer
89 views
Is there a difference between ことがある and ものがある？
This has been split from this question..
So what are differences between two? Are there times where they can be interchangeable or can they only be used in certain situations?
I saw this about ...
5
votes
1answer
125 views
What does うんたらかんたら mean?
I recently heard this phrase being told in a show, but I just couldn't make sense of what it means...And what really caught my attention was that the listener was really surprised to hear this phrase ...
3
votes
1answer
118 views
How to say “running total”?
I've looked around but haven't found a decent way to write "running total" like in the following table.
A Running Total
1 1
2 3
1 4
5 9
3 12
10
votes
1answer
215 views
Difference between さよなら and さようなら
I just saw the word "goodbye" spelt as さよなら. Having clearly heard the long o sound before, I thought the word was misspelled. However, a quick online search shows both さよなら and さようなら being used. Is ...
3
votes
4answers
122 views
What is the difference between 楽しい and 面白い?
Google translates both of them to be interesting. And which can be used for a funny guy?
4
votes
3answers
227 views
What makes に基づいて instead of に応じて the correct choice for this question?
I'm working on some example questions from my grammar textbook. One of them I listed below:
税金はこの表（ ）計算されています。
ア）につれて イ）に応じて ウ）に比べて エ）に基づいて
I'm unsure why 「に基づいて」is the only correct ...
8
votes
4answers
158 views
What is the difference in usage between 準備 用意 and 覚悟
The dictionaries translate these three words roughly as preparation/preparedness or ready/readiness.
I don't think I undersand the subtleties of their usage.
Not to mention できる also has another ...
2
votes
1answer
76 views
Difference between 〜げ and 〜そう [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the difference between ~げ and ~そう
What is the difference between 〜げ and 〜そう?
Consider for example:
彼が、何か言いたげに近づいて来た。
彼が、何か言いたそうに近づいて来た。
Or are they ...
7
votes
1answer
208 views
Difference between うーん and ううん
What is the difference between うーん and ううん?
In a comment on Pronunciation of ううん, paullb said that he usually sees the negative interjection ううん written as うーん. This confused me, because I thought ...
4
votes
5answers
176 views
Rust: 錆 vs 銹 vs 鏽 vs 鏥
In doing some looking around today I found four characters that all mean rust and are all read さび. Is there any distinction that can be made between these characters?
錆
銹
鏽
鏥
8
votes
2answers
275 views
Do people use まい？
I see the ending まい all over the place in the JLPT books and in example phrases but I can't actually think of an example of somebody saying it or writing in an email (from SMS style messages to work ...
8
votes
2answers
280 views
How do these 3 ways of saying “It can't be helped” differ?
So I have heard:
仕方がない
しょうがない
仕方あるまい
And the translation I've seen for all 3 is: "It can't be helped." Is there a particular difference among the 3?
Edit: Secondary question. Why isn't 仕方あるまい, ...
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 ...
9
votes
7answers
288 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. ...
6
votes
1answer
135 views
When is イングランド used and when is イギリス used?
It has always been my understanding that the word for England is イギリス. But the wikipedia page for English-American says イングランド系アメリカ人. Even rikaichan has イングランド as England. Is there a difference in ...
6
votes
2answers
219 views
How do you say “Please tell your wife to get well soon”?
How do you convey that you wish someone's wife (or husband, mother, brother, etc.) to get well soon? I understand that you say お大事に if the person you speaking to directly is the one who is not well. ...
8
votes
2answers
280 views
ご～いただけます vs. ご～になれます
I know that you can use ご～いただく toward "clients" (which is something I've never really understood; maybe better as a question of its own) such as ご来店いただき、まことにありがとうございます ("Thank you (customer) for ...
2
votes
2answers
210 views
生け花をします does it mean to practice flower arranging?
In my Minna no Nihongo book (Chapter 12), it says that 生け花をします means to practice flower arrangement. If that is so, they how do you expressing, "flower arranging or arranging the flowers or doing ...
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 ...
6
votes
2answers
128 views
Expressing ethnicity that is different from nationality
How do you go about expressing ethnicity that is different from your nationality.
I happen to be of British decent from Canada (now living in Japan):
イギリス系のカナダ人です。
That's my best guess. Any ...
13
votes
5answers
691 views
What is an appropriate response to お疲れ様です【おつかれさまです】 in non-work situations?
Often times at the gym, when I'm on my way out, covered in sweat, one of the staff will say お疲れ様です{おつかれさまです}("you've worked hard"...?).
Usually at work situations, I've often found that saying some ...
7
votes
1answer
103 views
Usage of 腱 vs 筋
What is the difference between the following characters: 腱 vs 筋 （すじ）
Both translate to tendon (as in the connective tissue between muscles and bones)
5
votes
1answer
123 views
What is the difference between 口元 and 口?
When talking about the body part (not, for example, entrances/exits), what is the difference between these two words. Based on looking at these two pages (for 口 and 口元) I'm guessing that the ...
3
votes
1answer
140 views
When is it appropriate to use お宅 to refer to the second-person?
An answer to "What is the most natural way to refer to someone when you don't know their name and don't have a close relationship with them?" suggests that お宅 may be used to refer to the second ...
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 ...
4
votes
1answer
146 views
Difference between だけで and でだけ?
The だけ meaning "only", and で being the "at/in" particle. When saying "only in/at", does the で come before, or after the だけ? What does it mean, if anything, when it's reversed?
Example: "You can only ...
2
votes
1answer
260 views
Why do we use 楽しめそう and 楽しみ rather than 楽しい・楽しそう in these sentences?
Could someone explain why we use 楽しめそう instead of 楽しそう in the first sentence and what exactly 楽しみ means and why?
(The translations are my best guess at what the sentences might mean.)
...
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 ...
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, ...
8
votes
3answers
242 views
Difference between （遊び）方 and （遊ぶ）方法
I'm struggling to understand the difference between the verb suffix ～方【かた】 and the noun 方法【ほうほう】. As an example, the difference between 遊び方 (which seems to mean something like "manner in which someone ...
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 ...
4
votes
1answer
109 views
What's the difference between 申し出 and 提案?
In the Kanzen Master N2 listening textbook, there's a table of phrases to be aware of, and it includes both 申{もう}し出{で} and 提案{ていあん} in the "function" part of the table:
提案:
〜たらどう？
こっちの色にしたらどう？
...
3
votes
1answer
135 views
Difference between 切る and 切れる？
This question is prompted by the earlier question on the use of 書ける. Initially I thought the answer might explain the difference between these two (eg 彼は頭がよく切れる|
he is (very) sharp) but in most cases, ...
