The differences between two or more words or phrases and how to select the best one for a given situation.
4
votes
1answer
215 views
が早いか versus や否や
が早{はや}いか and や否{いな}や both seem to mean "as soon as". They describe a relation between two actions, where one action occurs when another does.
I'm a little fuzzy on the difference, though. I think, ...
5
votes
2answers
347 views
“Dyke” and “Femme”
Warning! This question contains at least one, possibly, derogatory word. I appologise if readers are offended.
A friend of mine asked me to translate a passage from a poem in British English into ...
18
votes
2answers
2k views
When to use ください (kudasai) or お願いします (onegaishimasu) in requests?
When asking for something I seem to hear sentences end in both ください (kudasai) and お願いしま (onegaishimasu). Is there a difference and how do I know when to use which?
10
votes
1answer
184 views
When would you use 新{あら}たな and 新{あたら}しい
To say new, the first way that I learned is to use the i-adjective 新しい. But I noticed that the na-adjective 新たな is used a lot in written texts. Is there any difference in when either is used?
6
votes
1answer
121 views
What is the difference in usage between [問]{と}い[合]{あ}わせ and [依]{い}[頼]{らい}
Both 問い合わせ and 依頼 can mean to ask, but my co-workers are using both words in the application we are working on as if they are two different words.
I have a suspicion one is transitive and one is ...
7
votes
1answer
212 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
180 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
270 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?
10
votes
1answer
269 views
What's the proper way to use 先 versus 前に or 以前?
I'm trying to understand why 先 is not the best choice to use in these sentences. Also, is it wrong to use it in this way?
× 先、学校で何かが起こった。
○ 以前、学校で何かが起こった。
× 先の書いた本から十年間が過ぎました。
○ 前に書いた本から十年間が過ぎました。
2
votes
1answer
196 views
What is the difference between these words for “audience”?
What is the difference in usage between these three words for "audience"?
観客{かんきゃく} (audience, spectators)
聴衆{ちょうしゅう} (audience, attendees)
観衆{かんしゅう} (audience, onlookers)
The ...
11
votes
1answer
598 views
When to use: “say”, “speak”, “tell” or “express”
When browsing through journal entries by various people, I've recently been noticing the words 述{の}べる and 語{かた}る used fairly frequently but I'm not sure when they should be used over 話{はな}す and 言{い}う ...
5
votes
2answers
151 views
How do you talk about things in parts?
I would like to say "It is written half in English and half in Japanese."
When writing this myself I came up with:
これは半分英語で半分日本語で書いていました。
but I think that
半分英語で半分日本語で
does not sound ...
6
votes
2answers
507 views
Is it natural to call elderly men ojiisan?
Is ojiisan an idiomatic word choice for a chronologically gifted man, akin to obaasan for elderly women? For example, when giving your seat to them on the train.
3
votes
1answer
139 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 ...
7
votes
2answers
128 views
Dismissing an expectation
What can be said when I need to dismiss an expectation?
Here are some examples of what I mean by "expectation":
I ask someone what time it is, then I remembered that I'm actually wearing a watch. ...
16
votes
6answers
433 views
How can I differentiate agreement with the person and agreement with the idea?
A zillion years ago, before I came to Japan, I took a short introductory course on Japanese. In it, they showed a video of a business meeting where an American businessman is speaking to a Japanese ...
4
votes
1answer
145 views
What does the verb 好く do?
Observation:
The verb 好く exists.
好く is transitive.
By extension, "to like ~" is predicted to be:
a. ~を好く。
However, empirical data shows that this pattern is the accepted form:
b. ~が好きだ。
...
5
votes
2answers
141 views
Nuance of 離{はな}れ
In my JLPT textbook, it has a section on the use of the term 離{はな}れ, "detachment". Some examples:
テレビ離{ばな}れ (detachment from television)
もの離{ばな}れ (detachment from things)
政治離{ばな}れ ...
7
votes
1answer
154 views
The difference between 皮膚【ひふ】 and 皮【かわ】
What's the difference? I got told that 皮膚【ひふ】 only works for mammals (and humans), and 皮【かわ】 for other animals too.
5
votes
1answer
484 views
Passive vs. active form of verb (past) What is the difference?
I was wondering what the difference is if I use passive form or active form of a verb.
For example:
ネズミは猫に食べられた。The mouse was eaten by the cat.
猫は、ネズミを食べた。The cat ate the mouse.
What EXACTLY is ...
5
votes
2answers
204 views
What is the difference between 照{て}れる and 照{て}れてる?
According to my dictionary, both 照{て}れる and 照{て}れてる mean to be shy, or be awkward.
I don't think one is a different verb form of the other. The て+いる form of 照れる would be 照れている, not 照れてる.
So I think ...
3
votes
3answers
491 views
When to use ご返事 and お返事?
Here is a discussion about whether to use ご返事 and お返事, but there seems to be diverging opinions:
ご返事:
ご返事 is 謙譲語 (according to No.1)
ご返事 is seldom used for 尊敬語 (according to No.5)
ご返事 is for 謙譲語 ...
6
votes
2answers
310 views
What to reply when the ladies sweeping the steps outside a temple tell you 「ご苦労様」?
I was at a temple the other day, and as I was leaving and going down the stairs, the ladies that were cleaning the steps said to me 「ご苦労様」. I replied with 「ありがとうございます、おつかれさま」, but I felt sort of ...
6
votes
3answers
330 views
Why are these words considered less politically correct?
Warning: I have no sense of how offensive any of these words might be. They are repeated only insofar as they help me learn what not to say. Apologies for any accidental offense, and please do not ...
2
votes
1answer
226 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
274 views
What's the difference between 理系{りけい} , 理科{りか}, and 科学{かがく}?
In my dictionary, 理系{りけい}, 理科{りか}, and 科学{かがく} are defined simply as "science".
What, if anything, differentiates them?
Especially in terms of the feeling or nuance when used in everyday ...
4
votes
1answer
142 views
What's the difference between 世間{せけん} and 世界{せかい}?
Both 世間{せけん} and 世界{せかい} seem to mean "world" in the sense of "a sphere of human activity or interest", or "a particular way of life", and that sort of thing. (As opposed to 地球{ちきゅう}, the literal ...
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 ...
2
votes
3answers
176 views
Is there a non-katakana word for “cash flow”?
If you look up "cash flow" in most dictionaries, it seems the concept is expressed in katakana, キャッシュフロー.
However, I was speaking with a Japanese person earlier, and the term was not immediately ...
10
votes
1answer
2k views
Why does そう in 「美味しいそう」 not mean “seem” the way I think it should?
Here's another habitual mistake I make. I'm looking at a sign for a restaurant with pictures of great food. So I remark to my friend:
美味{おい}しいそう、ね？
... intending to mean, "that looks good, don't ...
3
votes
1answer
132 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
276 views
Why is 自分 used instead of 私?
For example:
自分の名前が呼ばれたとき、私は自分の耳を疑った。I couldn't believe my ears when I heard my name called.
Would it be appropriate if I said 私? When is it appropriate to use 自分? What is the difference?
3
votes
2answers
265 views
Is こんばんは too formal for everyday conversation?
When giving a talk on Japanese, How to talk like a ge1sha, I made a terrible mistake: I invited someone who knew something about the language along.
The only times he heckled me was when he reckoned ...
7
votes
3answers
226 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 ...
4
votes
2answers
98 views
What is the nuance of 解{げ}す？
Today in my JLPT text book, I came across the word 解{げ}す.
I know that the kanji 解 means "unravel", and it can be read 解{わか}る, and with that reading it's synonymous with 分{わ}かる, "to understand".
When ...
12
votes
3answers
240 views
Is パートナー likely to be interpreted as a same-sex partner?
When I talked about a relative and his パートナー visiting for Christmas, the person I was speaking to asked if his パートナー was male. Is this a common interpretation of パートナー? Is there a better word than ...
12
votes
4answers
708 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:
...
6
votes
1answer
305 views
Usage of 目を覚ます and 目が覚める
What's the difference between 目を覚ます and 目が覚める? It seems both of them have the sense of literally waking up and also to wake up from some delusion.
How are they different in usage?
Perhaps because ...
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
1answer
165 views
When is 顧客{こきゃく} used for “customer”?
In daily life, I usually hear the words お客様{きゃくさま}, お客{きゃく}さん, and maybe other variants that use 客{きゃく}/客{かく} to refer to customers at a shop.
However, in the dictionary, the first word that comes up ...
11
votes
2answers
284 views
What's the difference between 少{すこ}し (sukoshi) and 小{ちい}さい (chiisai)?
What's the difference between 少{すこ}し (sukoshi) and 小{ちい}さい (chiisai)?
In what situations would I use each one?
7
votes
1answer
215 views
When to use 種別 and when to use 区分 when programming
I am having trouble when naming a variable, deciding if I should use ABC種別 or ABC区分. I have been reading a lot of software specifications and the Japanese description usually uses 種別 and 区分 to specify ...
6
votes
2answers
280 views
The various ways of saying “all”
While trying to write a plugin to (unofficially fan-)translate this website to Japanese, I've been noticing that "all" has multiple different translations.
What exactly is the difference between ...
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.
13
votes
5answers
545 views
What is the difference between 「はず」 {hazu} and 「わけ」 {wake}?
I know the following two sentences give implication that "not expecting me to understand (it)" but I have a feeling that they give different nuances that I just can't put my finger on:
...
5
votes
1answer
125 views
What is the Japanese song-metric filler?
In English we have some common sounds that are used to fill spaces in songs like "ah" "la" "nah" "oh" "yea".
What do we use for Japanese songs?
So far I think I have only heard る used.
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 ...
10
votes
4answers
212 views
Are there differences in nuance and usage of [内]{ない}[緒]{しょ}, [秘]{ひ}[密]{みつ}, [隠]{かく}し[事]{ごと} and [秘]{ひ}め[事]{ごと}?
They all carry the meaning of "secret" in English, but are there differences in nuance and usage of each of them:
[内]{ない}[緒]{しょ}
[秘]{ひ}[密]{みつ}
[隠]{かく}し[事]{ごと}
[秘]{ひ}め[事]{ごと}
...
7
votes
7answers
359 views
What is the real difference between the proper use of the words さむい and つめたい?
In English it seems that cold is just always cold just as warm and hot regardless of whether the word describes a persons experience or the actual physical state of an object. In Japanese however ...
4
votes
1answer
162 views
Help with には and にとって
I need help understanding why にとって cannot be used in this circumstance:
その仕事は私｛には/*にとって｝出来ない。 ( * denotes unacceptable)
This is what I read:
にとって cannot be used when it marks an experiencer ...
