Any question that does not deal specifically with grammar or pronunciation. Includes questions about prefixes, suffixes, compound words, loanwords, dialectal differences, pragmatic usage, etc. In other words, phenomena that occurs at the level of the word.
5
votes
2answers
106 views
How is the Kanji of 口実 related to the meaning?
口実
noun:
excuse; pretext
Literally translated it seems to mean mouth-truth.
Most excuses seem to avoid the truth, so what is the logic here?
5
votes
1answer
124 views
Terms for Royalty
Why are there so many terms for royalty? And I'm talking about generic words like "king", "queen", etc. I seem to remember from my studies that certain terminology was used specifically for Japanese ...
6
votes
1answer
118 views
What's the difference between 心, 念, and 意?
I can say that after much research on this, I'm more thoroughly confused than before I started. I'm talking mostly about when they are used as suffixes, but the concept applies when they stand alone, ...
1
vote
2answers
68 views
What verb is in 覚えてみたい?
I found this YouTube comment:
きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅとっても可愛い〜(*ﾉ∀ﾉ)ダンスとか覚えてみたいと思いまーすww
I'm not sure how to parse 覚えてみたい. The context seems to make it have nothing to do with 覚る, and in any case the え 送り仮名 ...
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
92 views
How to say “for”
I will use a specific example.
I was trying to write "My love for you is hurting me."
"私の愛ために貴方は私を傷つけている。" Is what I came up with, however, I am unsure about the usage of "ために" in this situation.
...
7
votes
3answers
328 views
Why is the meaning of人一倍 opposite of what it seems to say?
This could be just me, but at first glance the word (phrase?) 人一倍 looks like it would mean "one's own share of the work". I assumed 人 to mean one person, and 一倍 means "one share, one amount". I was a ...
-1
votes
0answers
76 views
Appropriate way to say thank you [duplicate]
What are the different ways to say thank you and when do you use each use? with friends in business etc.
15
votes
2answers
553 views
Why does 今度【こんど】 mean “next time”?
The word 今度【こんど】, though its literal meaning is "this time" is in my experience used pretty heavily to refer to tbe next time or some unspecified point in the future. For example:
...
6
votes
2answers
304 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 ...
5
votes
3answers
429 views
How many Kanji characters are there?
I have been searching around, but all the sources give completely different answers ranging from 2,000 to 50,000. So my question is how many Kanji characters that have ever existed since the dawn of ...
2
votes
3answers
264 views
Difference between 学生・生徒・児童
As the title says^^ I think 生徒 is for elementary school, what about the other two？
4
votes
1answer
184 views
How is の方 used in this sentence?
This is a conversation between two people:
A: [金]{かね}は？
B: いつもの[通]{とお}りだ。それより[公安]{こうあん}の[方]{ほう}は？
A: 心配するな。 私がついている。
A: The money?
B: Planned as always. Aside from that, public safety の方は？
A: ...
4
votes
1answer
121 views
Why does どれだけ seem to mean the opposite of どれ + だけ?
The other day I read the word どれだけ which means how long; how much; to what extent. I've read several example sentences, and I that's all well and good, but I cannot shake the feeling that it's really ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
153 views
What is the meaning of 大奥婚?
This headline in today's zakzak news, related to actress Miho Kanno getting married.
堺雅人＆菅野美穂、“大奥婚”！ 電撃ゴールイン
What is the meaning of 大奥婚? I know 大奥 and 婚 by themselves, but not together. I ...
0
votes
0answers
64 views
increasing vocabulary [closed]
I have just started studying japanese and am currently on chapter 8 of the genki book.I wanted to know how I can increase my vocabulary? I tried reading some mangas like yotsubato but find myself ...
6
votes
2answers
130 views
Help translating よなも in a song
This is from a Trigun soundtrack, song called Sound Life (lyrics), 3rd line:
３つ目の夜に ワルツの子は世界面にウエーブを 打つ
The 世界面 is translated as "world face", however pronunciation is given as よなも.
I can't find ...
9
votes
1answer
139 views
What is the connection between shrimp and old age?
Shrimp(えび) is written several different ways in Japanese. For example, there are the words commonly used in Chinese: 蝦 and 鰕. There is also a compound specific to Japan, 海老, and a kokuji, 蛯. Both of ...
4
votes
0answers
185 views
What's the difference between 欲{ほっ}する and 欲しがる?
Is there one? One of my dictionaries lists them as
欲{ほっ}する → to desire/to want
欲しがる → to desire/to want/to wish for/to covet
Only the latter sounds like it includes more "bad"/selfish ...
2
votes
1answer
161 views
Using 全然 with a positive pejorative
So far, I know that in proper speech, 全然 should be used with negative verbs such as 全然出来ません or in expressions such as 全然だめ or 全然違う. I am curious about the second type of usage. In that case, 全然 is ...
4
votes
2answers
138 views
You can use 「押し開ける」 to say “to push open”, but can you say 「押し閉める」 to mean “to push closed”?
For example, consider the following sentences;
ドアを押し開ける。 I pushed the door open.
ドアを引き開ける。 I pulled the door open.
Can you do the same for 閉める? So for example;
ドアを押し閉める。 I pushed the door shut.
...
1
vote
2answers
117 views
What separates the different ways to ask a question in Japanese?(I.E. 何, どう, どんな and so on)
It's been something I've thinking about for awhile, but could never answer in a more concrete way. This is most apparent when I compare the functions of 何 and どう. I know that 何, どう and どんな are great ...
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 ...
4
votes
1answer
180 views
人の陰口をきく＝speak ill of a person?
I came a cross the expression かげぐち【陰口】(backbiting) and found it in my dictionary as follows
人の陰口をきく［たたく］｜[speak ill of a person / run a person down] behind his back / backbite
When I tried to ...
2
votes
1answer
106 views
Differences between 事実 and 真実
Both 真実 and 事実 means; fact,truth. So in Kanji Lesson I asked my teacher if there is any differences between them, he said yes but there was no time to explain.
7
votes
1answer
106 views
What's the difference between まだ and いまだ（に）?
My intuition wants to believe that いまだに is more formal, but all the examples I've seen do not indicate that. Are they freely interchangeable? Can't say I've ever heard いまだに in spoken context (or ...
10
votes
1answer
821 views
Are all kanji compounds considered words?
A friend once commented to me that Japanese has a larger vocabulary than English. I said I didn't think it did, because it wasn't really accurate to call all kanji compounds "words". My friend said I ...
0
votes
2answers
237 views
Vocab vs. Kanji. Should I learn a lot of vocab first before moving to kanji? [closed]
Do you think it makes sense to prioritize vocab learning first, to feel comfortable speaking and listening, and then, after couple of years, catch up with reading and writing?
Currently I concentrate ...
4
votes
1answer
160 views
Difference between ささぐ and ささげる
beginner Japanese language self-learner here. I hope my question isn't a bad question.
As title suggested, I would like to know about the difference between the two verbs which I understood have the ...
3
votes
2answers
338 views
興味が湧く vs 興味が沸く
Which kanji should we use for the phrase 興味がわく (to mean that something has caught our interest)?
Some quick googling shows that both 興味が湧く (~11m hits) and 興味が沸く (~9m hits) are widely used. Is one of ...
7
votes
2answers
375 views
Non-distinguished animal pairs in Japanese
This is something I first noticed when I was at an aquarium in Japan (as evidenced in my examples) and continued to see ever since. There are certain pairs of animals, that while extremely similar, ...
1
vote
1answer
87 views
What is the English equivalent of「ひとこと欄」?
I believe this a kind of word-game, but cannot find a reference to it...
5
votes
1answer
153 views
What does ドン引き mean?
While i was talking with my japanese friends, that word just came up they could't explain that. Can you tell me what does ドン引き mean?
11
votes
4answers
398 views
Does 髭 refer to the beard or the moustache?
My dictionary lists 髭 as moustache / beard, but from the example sentences in WWWJDIC, it seems like 髭 is more often used to mean "beard" than "moustache" ?
So for example, in this sentence: ...
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 ...
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 ...
0
votes
2answers
410 views
Did the Japanese have a word for surrender before WWII?
I had always thought that the Japanese didn't have a word for surrender before WWII. It seemed to be plausible given their culture. However, I can't seem to find any solid evidence of this. Is it just ...
2
votes
2answers
122 views
Two definitions of けれども
In this dictionary I checked, there are two definitions for けれども. I also checked in my Japanese to English printed dictionary and there was only one definition, but in my Japanese to Chinese printed ...
11
votes
7answers
2k views
Are there any Japanese words as versatile as “fuck” in English?
I was wondering about this one recently. "Fuck" in English is famous for being applicable in a wide, wide range of circumstances (none of them formal).
What word in Japanese covers a wide spectrum of ...
7
votes
2answers
233 views
Differences between the many words for dinner
According to my dictionary, the following words all mean the same thing: "Dinner":
[夜]{よる}ご[飯]{はん}, [晩]{ばん}ご[飯]{はん}, [晩飯]{ばんめし}, [晩食]{ばんしょく}, [夕]{ゆう}ご[飯]{はん}, [夕飯]{ゆうはん(ゆうめし)}, [夕食]{ゆうしょく}
A similar ...
6
votes
1answer
126 views
What is the name of the wooden hook support on the walls of traditional Japanese rooms?
Traditional (and even not-so-traditional) Japanese rooms have wooden panels running along the walls, about 1m from the ceiling.
They are mainly used to affix hooks, to which clothes hangers, ...
5
votes
2answers
180 views
What's the difference between 触る and 触れる?
These two seem to overlap almost completely. The only thing I can really tell is that 触れる seems that it can also be used in a metaphorical sense ("touch on" something; feel; perceive). I'm ...
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 ...
1
vote
1answer
256 views
Fast Food Conversation - Any Practical Guides?
I looked up for fast food conversation but I could not find anything very practical.
While most guide always emphasize on how to order, I never found it prepares one to understand what a fast food ...
5
votes
1answer
199 views
which instruments use 弾く and which use 引く?
I was wondering how do we identify what instruments may be used with the verb 引く, or 弾く, or both?
If both 引く and 弾く can be used is there any difference in nuance between one vs the other?
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 ...
4
votes
1answer
209 views
Different meaning of 何?
While reading some lyrics online, I stumbled upon the following phrase:
これ以上何を失えば 心は許されるの
Which I could myself losely translate as following:
If I lose what more (than I already have), will ...
