Questions tagged [colloquial-language]
口語表現（話し言葉）. Words, forms and expressions used only in non-formal spoken language.
12
votes
2answers
882 views
What does the letter 'P' at the end of an author's pseudonym mean?
There are many authors on YouTube and NicoNico whose names end with the letter 'P', for example: 鼻そうめんP, 無力P, etc. What does this 'P' stand for? Why do they all use it?
2
votes
1answer
63 views
か after short forms
In the Genki textbook, it is said that "In the casual conversational use of short forms, question sentences do not end with the question particle か, but with rising intonation alone."
Nonetheless, in ...
2
votes
0answers
46 views
け as a contraction of 来い [duplicate]
I’d like to confirm my theory that 来い at the end of a sentence can be colloquially contracted to け. I met this sentence in a comics:
置いてけ。
A meaning “Leave it here!” would be very appropriate ...
4
votes
1answer
120 views
Equivalent of saying Bruh, man, dude, etc. in Japanese?
In English a lot of people informally call their friends these terms in conversations.
Like "Dude, what are you doing?"
"Bro, what's up!"
My question is how do you informally speak to friends in ...
5
votes
1answer
133 views
Feminine speech: no だ before よ
Is it true that until recently women were expected to drop だ, ending a sentence with よ? For example:
今日、何曜日？
土曜日よ。
If it is true, was it thought to sound "gentler"? Why has this changed?
2
votes
0answers
44 views
What does the word 「しのう」 mean in this sentence? [duplicate]
It is said by an old man who looks like wanting to teach boxing to a young man.
青山くんよ ふたりきりの人目につかんところにいこう 折り入ってひみつに伝授したいこともあるしのう
I'm not sure if it is related to the word 死ぬ in volitional form ...
3
votes
1answer
90 views
What しとっても means here?
陸ではのらくらしとっても水の中ではそりゃあ素早い
I don't quite understand しとっても form here.
I guess the whole sentence will be
Even though they're slow on land, they're very quick in water.
Is しとっても another form of ...
1
vote
0answers
36 views
What does the word 「～さ…ねえっ」 mean? [duplicate]
It comes from a conversation a boy talked to a girl about an old man who ignored a story which the girl tried to tell him.
Girl:
ジョーが約束どおり片手ほりで金あみのところまでたがやしたってちゃんと報告したんよっ それなのにあたいの頭さえ見ようとしないんだ
...
1
vote
1answer
86 views
Generic Japanese greeting new people?
The most commonly cited one is Konnichiwa, but knowing that is time specific, can it be used generically in all hours of the day as a "hello" instead of a specific "good afternoon"? Ohayou and ...
5
votes
2answers
97 views
Problem with some 縮約形
I just came across some of the "contracted forms" used in conversations, which I'm not really familiar with. May you help me decoding the ones that I found impossible to understand and to translate ...
2
votes
2answers
132 views
Meaning of “さっきまで都会風ぶっこいてたんだよ”
Here's the context:
A: 始めまして
B: 始めまして
C: 東京から[引]{ひ}っ[越]{こ}して来た子だよ
B: 東京 どれくらい東京にいたの
A: [幼稚園]【ようちえん】から４月までいました
B: じゃ 私なんかよりも都会っ子だね
C: よりって ひか姉[根]【ね】っこからの[田舎]【いなか】っ子じゃん
...
2
votes
2answers
124 views
What does this conversation from a novel mean?
「おまえ、よく命が続いとるなあ」
「これが生き甲斐でござる」
「とりあえず酒でも飲め。いや、呆れたもんだよ」店主が言った。
「奢ってくれるかい？」
「奢るとも」
“You, よく命が続いとるなあ”
“This is what I live for.”
“Anyway, let’s have a drink. いや、呆れたもんだよ” said the owner.
...
3
votes
1answer
150 views
Handwritten kana that looks like ヤダ, but I can't find ヤダ in a dictionary
studying Japanese for some months now I, began translating some Japanese sentences written on pictures or drawings.
Unfortunately I came across a drawing with handwritten kana that I cannot clearly ...
-1
votes
1answer
83 views
How to say ‘in these…’ [closed]
So it’s kind of hard to explain, but I’d like to know how to say something along the lines of ‘in these parts, (noun) is (adjective)’. ‘Parts’ of course referring to an area or place where the speaker ...
1
vote
1answer
102 views
How to answer to 精一杯頑張ってきます?
I was talking with my japanese penpal and he wrote to me 精一杯頑張ってきますよ! after I wrote him おはようございます！お仕事頑張ってきてね！ because he told me he was going to work. I don't know if there's an answer or not. In ...
1
vote
0answers
34 views
Can somebody give me a grammatical insight into the following very short sentence? [duplicate]
何してんの?
The translated meaning is "what are you doing?", but I am having difficulty understanding how the て form of する is referring to the present tense (I would have expected している here).
Also, I am ...
3
votes
2answers
142 views
Translation of おい お茶
There is a tea brand known as おいお茶{ちゃ} sold near me. One question I had was that on the bottle, it says that it means "Tea, please!" I figured that would be a rather rude way to ask for tea. Is there ...
5
votes
1answer
935 views
What is なんでって a contraction of in this sentence?
The sentence I am analyzing:
「今じーちゃんとこなんでって…」
"Right now I'm at grandpa's"
(source context)
In this case the speaker is on the phone so his speech is casual and fragmented.
I already have an idea ...
4
votes
1answer
119 views
Is チョンボ commonly used to mean mistake (outside of conversations about 麻雀), even by people who don't play it?
I heard someone say チョンボを犯した in a situation where they could not possibly be talking about 麻雀. I don't know if he plays 麻雀 or not, but it made me wonder, how common is using チョンボ to mean mistake among ...
1
vote
1answer
60 views
Are the following standard ways of using katakana?
あなたの得意なスパニッシュフードを教えてください！私はそれを作ることにトライしたい。
スパニッシュフード (Spanish food).
トライ (try).
I'm a bit surprised, because I'm almost sure that there are no-katakana equivalents for words like food and try.
Is ...
1
vote
0answers
39 views
待った！ as an interjection [duplicate]
I've just noticed that in the 逆転裁判/Ace Attorney series, the interjection translated as "Hold it!" is 「待った！」I would understand if it was 「待って！」, but why would the past tense be used as an interjection? ...
8
votes
1answer
131 views
Is there a difference in (im)politeness between ～てくれ and ～て？
I understand that ～てください is the polite request form, and that both ～てくれ and simply using the ～て form are both more colloquial. I'm just not sure how they compare, my guess would be that ～てくれ is more ...
2
votes
1answer
45 views
今何をしてる vs 今何をしてるの
I think both are informal ways of saying "What are you doing (now)?"
What's the different between the る version and the るの version?
6
votes
1answer
513 views
Grammatical correctness of 〜好きくない
I saw 未来のミライ the other day. The boy said 〜好きくない regarding many people. Was he making a grammar mistake?
4
votes
1answer
154 views
I'm not sure what 言われちゃえ means
The sentence is 「なにこれ可愛い！」って言われちゃえ. I get the なにこれ可愛い part, but I'm not sure what 言われちゃえ means. It seems to be in the passive/imperative form?
For context, here's where I found the sentence:
https://...
0
votes
1answer
93 views
Is it usual for men to use な instead of ね?
I was surprised when in this video:
https://youtu.be/m9rf63DsN-s?t=2m44s
I heard ごめんな instead of ごめんね.
Is this because men ten to use な instead of ね? So maybe men would say, for example, 怖いな ...
4
votes
1answer
147 views
Addressing strangers in public
This is something I haven't seen commonly, since people react with strangers less often (at least compared to America or Great Britain). However, if you wanted to say "excuse me miss/sir", what would ...
1
vote
2answers
110 views
What are the implied differences in わたくし and わたし?
Although I believe わたし to be the more common reading of 私, I have heard many examples of わたくし being used as well (ex 黒澤ダイア ラブライブ). Does that mean わたくし is an informal version or more feminine version ...
0
votes
1answer
479 views
What's the difference between “biru hitotsu kudasai,” “biru ippon kudasai,” and “biru ippai kudasai?”
I'm a bit confused. The first sentence I learned was biru kudasai (ビールください).
But then I watched this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox-YMeYZSvs
And I found out there are so many variations. ...
4
votes
2answers
83 views
Colloquial contraction “出しゃ[あ]” [duplicate]
I encountered this sentence.
なめんなよ。てめえみていな雑魚、おれが本気をだしゃあ…
I believe the context is quite obvious: The speaker feels stronger than his enemy, the listener. From how I understand it, I’d translate ...
3
votes
2answers
227 views
What do the 「ああなる」and「気いします」mean?
The sentence below is said by a Kansai-spoken character but I'm not sure if thetwo phrases are related to the dialect.
みんながああなる気{き｝持｛も｝ちよう わかるような気｛き｝いします感｛かん｝動｛どう｝してまんね あいつら....
4
votes
2answers
164 views
Purpose of adj+kucha and noun+ja in this sentence
Though I think I've understood the gist of the following sentence, I struggle to interpret two of the used terms.
こんなに小さくちゃ一人じゃ生きていけないわよね。
This small (cat) mustn't live alone. (?)
What exactly ...
3
votes
1answer
79 views
Meaning of 盛り上げ in the following sentence
Context: a boxer and his trainer are waiting in the locker's room for a match to start. The president of a famous gym who is also the organizer of the match passes by and just waves at them without ...
2
votes
1answer
108 views
Meaning of ___はんは
In a manga about boxing, the protagonist is going to fight an american boxer. His trainer is telling him how he should train:
白人はんは"拳"を鍛えてるだろうがお前は"足"だ。
I don't understand what "…はんは" is. Is it a ...
6
votes
2answers
587 views
Is there a trend in Japanese similar to Pig Latin or Martian Chinese?
There are of course multiple individual slang expressions where you use Latin alphabet and numbers such as ww, W, ggrks, wktk, kwsk, etc. However, is there any specific system or argot made just for ...
4
votes
1answer
92 views
せいせいすらあ Meaning
This is from the manga Kaiji. A hated character is making his departure, and Kaiji thinks to himself, "消えろ！消えろ！。。。！” ”せいせいすらあ。。。。”
The first part is pretty easy, basically like "Yeah, get outta here!"...
0
votes
1answer
173 views
Is 'うつさい' equivalent to 'うるさい' in this context? Why?
Is 'うつさい' equivalent to 'うるさい' in this context? Why?
I can't find 'うつさい' in the dictionary and Google translate, so I tried inputting the Chinese version of the text(i.e '吵') into Google translate ...
1
vote
1answer
91 views
the colloquial meaning of 嫌なところ見られた
In a story, a hated character comes into the room. The narrator says 嫌{いや｝なところ見｛み｝られた The literal translation doesn't make much sense, as I can't see what "bad place" she's talking about. I tried to ...
1
vote
1answer
123 views
褒めてねえぞ sounds defensive?
I'm trying to write "this is not a praise/compliment." I consulted my friend about it and he said I wrote "I'm not praising you!" Like I'm being defensive... what do you think?
5
votes
2answers
152 views
Can I use 「さぁ…さっぱり。」 to express that I don't understand at all?
The full form should probably be 「さぁ…さっぱりわからない」, but is it OK to omit the latter part in informal conversations and will that cause any confusion or will it sound strange? I suppose it should be OK ...
5
votes
2answers
159 views
Can the て-form be used as a た-form substitute?
I've been reading manga by myself for some time, and I've been noticing sentences where the て-form takes the role of a past tense marker (that is, the role of the た-form). At first I was letting it ...
1
vote
2answers
104 views
Question about using the past form verb 「まった」 in this sentence
It is a situation that a boxing fight will begin very soon. Suddenly, a trainer of a boxer thought that his man could be knocked out very easily. He then said the following sentence. Anyway, the ...
3
votes
1answer
119 views
Meaning of a sentence with Aが言うのもなんだけど and other considerations
Basically my question is what does the following line mean:
A: あたしらが言うのもなんだけど……テストの相手があたしらで、テストになんの？
Context: Persons A and B are testing the combat abilities of one of two groups of people. To ...
2
votes
1answer
107 views
Translation check そろそろキツい and だかんねえ
Context. Characters A and B have just gotten defeated by younger character C. And it has been about a year or so since they last met.
A: 若い子の相手は、そろそろキツいわー
B: 年だかんねえ、あたしたちも。
My problem in ...
1
vote
2answers
104 views
Is there a contracted/casual form of でないと？
でないと as in the conditional phrase. 例：これをやれ。でないと殺す。
例えば、じゃないと？
Never heard of it though. If there is no such thing then is でないと even considered formal in the first place or just neutral if it doesn't ...
2
votes
2answers
186 views
Question about the verb 失う [duplicate]
I came across the sentence from a Manga which I think it would be Kansai-dialect form.
なんや ようわからんうちに気をうしのうてしまったが...
I think that it would be volitional form so I have looked it up and found that ...
1
vote
1answer
95 views
3
votes
1answer
609 views
Meaning of 感じる in sexual context
Context: a character of a manga is being interviewed in the extra section at the end of the manga. She receives a question about a chapter in which she had sex with another character after talking to ...
1
vote
1answer
142 views
How to make this more natural sounding?
I want to say "I was looking for happiness in things that held none" (in the context of consumerism), so I'm saying "幸せがない物に、幸せを探してたんだ。" Is there a better, more natural sounding way to say this?
3
votes
3answers
198 views
美しい - Uncommon in everyday conversation when describing people?
Recently, in a conversation with my Japanese tutor (a native Japanese speaker) I brought up the word 美しい in regards to praising people and its usage in day to day language. She mentioned to me that it ...
