Hot answers tagged phrase
14
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that these Japanese letters have anything to do with summer.
These are mascots of Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., a company run by Takashi Murakami, the artist who painted this Google Doodle. Also note that the same mascots appear in the Winter Solstice Doodle, too.
13
In a restaurant it is usually enough to simply ask for お箸を下さい. It is perfectly understood that that means "enough chopsticks for me [and my companions], please". Anything more specific is usually unnatural.
If you do need to specify how many pairs of chopsticks exactly, you'd usually use 〜膳 -zen.
10
Thin it out. すいてください。
Thin out this part. このあたりを、すいてください。
I want this part this long. ここを、このくらいの[長]{なが}さにしてください。
Keep the front. [前]{まえ}[髪]{がみ}を[残]{のこ}してください。
Take about 1 centimeter off my bangs. [前]{まえ}[髪]{がみ}を1センチくらい[切]{き}ってください。
Shorten it in back by about 5 centimeters. [後]{うし}ろを5センチくらい[切]{き}ってください。
Trim a little more. もう[少]{すこ}し[切]{き}ってください。
Trim this ...
8
You are using what could be interpreted as two different verbs:
まける -> to lose
しっぱいする -> to fail
Formally, I usually hear "I cannot afford to fail" rather than "I don't want to fail".
失敗する余裕はありません。
If you want to sound cool, you could say "I don't have any intention on losing".
負けるつもりはありません。
7
If you get a number of items from a convenience store in Japan the clerk will ask you how many chopsticks you want, and even these staff (not always the most educated of Japanese) will properly ask "ohashi nanzen" お箸何膳, i.e. how many (pairs of) chopsticks do you want? This is proper and natural and not bookish. I have never heard anyone use "hon" 本 as a ...
7
Simply translate them carefully.
多分、いいペットでしょうね.
'Probably, they are good pets'.
多分、いいペットになるでしょうね.
'Probably, they will become good pets'.
Don't you think the second one is closer to the meaning you wanted?
If you want to emphasize it is an assumption, you can say
いいペットになりそうですね.
6
頼り is the noun form of verb 頼る (tayor-u), and here 頼り means a thing/person to count on. Examples:
君だけが頼りだ。 I can only count on you.
地図を頼りに家を探す look for the house with the help of a map (This example is from Daijisen; the English translation is by me.)
In general, AをBにする means “turn A into B.” Setting B=頼り, Aを頼りにする means “turn A into ‘something ...
6
It is said the same way as in English: "私たち---" / "We ---"
For example, "私たち日本人" is a common way to say "We Japanese". Your inclusion of の was incorrect.
Here are a number of examples:
http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=私たち日本人
The same goes for "We Americans," (私たちアメリカ人) and as an added bonus, here is an example with 我
We Americans make no secret of our ...
6
The way that I would say it is:
[負]{ま}けたくないんです。(maketakunain desu)
I'd be especially inclined to say it this way to the teacher of the class in question, as it sounds explanatory and somewhat humble. This roughly translates to "I'd like not to fail" or "I'd rather not fail." The "desu" is a copula verb that makes the sentence a polite one.
6
As mentioned から/まで is OK. That's a really basic Japanese 101-style construction that you should be familiar with at a beginner level.
As an alternative start/end point type of constuction, you can use ～から～にかけて, as in the following example from alc:
12月から2月にかけて、札幌の平均気温は氷点下です。 From December through February, the
average Sapporo temperature is below ...
6
の[方]{ほう} is just a way of emphasizing "about".
Apart from that, what about the public safety department?
Literally, it means "direction". A similar way of saying Xの方 in English would be with "on the X side of things", i.e.
Apart from that, what about the public safety department side of things?
P.S. There was a similar question where the OP ...
5
I'm Japanese.
I hope to improve my English and use English more often,
so I'll answer your question.
As Darius-san wrote, 2 is ambiguous, and most Japanese think that she arrived in her country and then bought the bag.
But if I translate these sentences without thinking well, I might do both to "I bought a bag when I went back to my country."
Given this, I ...
5
Caveat emptor: My sphere of knowledge is biased towards internet slangs.
The phenomenon of snowcloning is common in Japanese, while the term itself is not widely known.
能登かわいいよ能登 -> XかわいいよX (The original phrase made it into a slang dictionary published in 2007)
見ろ! 人がゴミのようだ! -> 見ろ! XがYのようだ! (With Y being ゴミ in most cases)
パンが無いならお菓子を食べればいいじゃない -> ...
5
To start with, 頼りにしている does translate as "(I'm) counting on you" or "(I'm) relying on you".
Basically in this case it's saying that the speaker is in this situation of relying on someone for something. "I am relying on you to bring back my library book, because otherwise I'll get a fine". It's describing the speakers state.
The second point I'd like to ...
4
と is used to introduce a subordinate clause, and is close to the English that. When to omit them with quotations seems to differ between the two languages. I cannot give you an explanation, but let me just illustrate.
Complement of quotation verbs
He said that he likes apples.
He said he likes apples.
× He said that "I like apples".
He said "I ...
4
わがままはもう言わない does not mean "won't say anything selfish anymore." This is a form often used by parents (mostly mothers) to young children as a gentler form of prohibition than ～な. わがままを言う, while literally meaning "to say [selfish things]*," is in usage much closer to "to be selfish."
* This is not exactly on topic, so while I have addressed it, my response is ...
4
There are two things to define in 腕が光る:
腕, which can mean skill or ability (大辞林 sense 3)
光る, which can mean to stand out as superior [in ability, etc.] (大辞林 sense 3)
The latter is, I think, figurative in the same sense as English shine ("To distinguish oneself in an activity or a field; excel"). Put the two words together with が, and you have a phrase ...
3
all engineering courses are four years long
I'm not sure what you call an "engineering course", so that's a problem for translaton. However, probably some of those would be good (alhough I find the last one not very natural myself).
工学の授業は全て四年間かかります。
工学部の課程は四年間の課程です。
工学の授業は四年間に至ります。
3
How about "I won't be selfish." A more literal translation might be "I won't say selfish things anymore."
It's one of those phrases that doesn't really translate to anything that is commonly said in English. We'd change the entire thing up and say something more like "I'm sorry for being selfish."
3
The zen counter is the correct counter, but again one of those things that the avg. Japanese person may not know. There have been occasions where I have used zen and have been complimented by Japanese people for knowing correct Japanese. So you won't sound weird if you use zen, but in fact will sound educated.
3
知り合う【しりあう】is used for "getting to know"; with the noun 知り合い being used to mean "an acquaintance" or "someone you know a little (less that a close friend)".
Examples
留学の時、ほかの留学生と知り合ったのに、親しい関係だとは言えない。 → During my time as an exchange student, even though I got to know some of the other exchange students, I wouldn't (can't) really say I was close with ...
3
腹{はら}ん這{ば}いになって is an 音変化{おんへんか} (shift in sound) of 腹{はら}這{ば}いになって "flat on one's belly".
In a similar way, 四{よ}つん這{ば}い is an 音変化 of 四{よ}つ這{ば}い for example.
See also the Yahoo J-E article for 腹這い.
2
I doubt one says "上手に"+"分かる", since 分かる is "come to be understood", rather than "actively understand".
The suggested 勉強になりました is pretty common.
If you really want to say "I understand much better than before", you could say "やっと、分かってきた", "やっと理解するようになった", or "前より理解できた". Although I would probably add "かも(しれない)" at the end of all these examples, to be ...
2
Yes, absolutely! One year in Japan and during that time I heard them using these kinds of sentence all the time. So, yes, it is a common issue.
I will provide a broader view for your question. You are actually asking about the following pattern:
(Noun)のほう(...)
Whose meaning is the one of pointing out something whenever two options are considered.
...
1
I do not think the nuance you listed gives the full picture.
国へ帰るとき、かばんを買いました。
This can be said if you bought the bag before you returned (i.e., on the airplane, in the departure airport, etc.).
国へ帰ったとき、かばんを買いました。
This can be said if you bought the bag before you returned, or when you completed returning.
So, the natural reading of the second sentence ...
1
～と見ていい basically means "safe to assume" or "safe to say" - this is why the association with an assumption is so strong. But it can also be an analogy or a more restatement of one thing as another, as in the cases of #2 and #5. There, it isn't an assumption, per se; rather it is a statement of a general sentiment. It becomes uncertain when followed by ～だろう as ...
1
I will just add some information on this phrase, as I think the other answers are adequate for your question.
のほう。。。is also used just to express preference or likes, without much of an emphasis on comparative meaning.
See for example, at 0:38 of this video, how this girl answers a question on where she lives:
...
1
The corpora listed at http://research.nii.ac.jp/src/eng/list/index.html are focused on speech, but that is probably the direction you'd like to go. (written collections will be heavily biased towards 'netspeak' or 'newspaper language')
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