Questions tagged [nuances]
ニュアンス. Subtle differences between two seemingly interchangeable expressions.
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マリネする vs. マリネにする "to marinate"
I was looking at example sentences for the word マリネ "marinate", and I found this as a common usage:
►マリネにする marinate.
I understand many nouns related to cooking are used often as XをYにする &...
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neutral-description が versus は after noun phrases quantified by 多く and 大部分
Susumu Kuno (The Structure of the Japanese Language, p. 58) when discussing neutral-description が and が after quantified noun phrases, states that:
The generalization seems to be that when the ...
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How can I use the word 魅力的?
The range of translation for this word is charming, fascinating or attractive. These are very different words in English. I want to describe a small village as 'charming' and I think the word 魅力的 ...
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What is the difference between と見える、そうです、ようです
If I have to translate them I can use IT SEEMS.. for all of them.
Is there any difference or nuance between them to understand which one do I have to use when I want to say "It seems that....&...
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Actual nuance of 面影?
The character is looking at this friend's photos as a child and says this. The friend answer "There was also that kind of time"
What does 面影here imply?
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Could someone explain the difference between 痛そうな顔 & 苦しそうな顔? Is one emotional pain while the other physical pain?
Can someone explain the difference between "苦しい" and "痛い"? I know both mean pain but don't know the nuance between the two.
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Is には being used like "if" here?
From Bakemonogatari, A is trying to convince B that they should trust someone, but B is not so sure:
A: だから一応信頼していいとは思うぜ
僕一人の証言じゃなく羽川もそうだっていうんだから
B: そう … でもね阿良々木くん
彼のことをおいそれと信じるには ...
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Difference between 失敬する and 盗む
フレッドとジョージがケーキやら何やら、キッチンから失敬してきたんだ。 (Harry Potter (book 1) Japanese TL)
Fred and George have stolen cake and what have you from the kitchen.
I'm wondering what nuance 失敬する provides over 盗む in this ...
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Difference between 以外に and 以外は, 他に and 他は
I read on one forum that the difference between 以外は and 以外に is that:
以外は is used as a subject and the subject doesn't need to do anything - 山田さん以外は、学校に行く必要があります。Everyone needs to go to school, except ...
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「彼の名前はジョン・レノン。」 Why leave out でした? [duplicate]
From the Genki II textbook, 3rd Edition page 303, there is a story building up to how John Lennon met Yoko Ono at one of her art exhibits. The writer introduces a long-haired man coming in and ...
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does ここから君と話せて make sense?
I'm trying to translate "being able to talk to you from here"
"here" is a metaphor, not a real physical place. it's a way of portraying distance between two persons. (me and an ex ...
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Are ～渋る and ～惜しむ any different as verbal suffixes?
This postgrad research I found offers definitions of both verbal suffixes of 渋る and 惜しむ, which seem to both mean "to hesitate to do X" when attached the masu stem of a verb:
渋る
動作主が～...
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Difference between te kara and ta atode. てから あとで
I understand this may have been explained before but I'm not able to get the nuance of these 2 grammar phrases
ごはんを たべてから はを みがきます
ごはんを たべた あとで はを みがきます
As in (1) ....Can 〜てから be used this way?If ...
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usage of は in this passage (instead of を)
The following is a excerpt from a podcast. The speaker has been sick and hasn't been releasing podcasts as often as usual. I would like to focus on the three occurences of は I put in bold:
...
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顔見れる actual meaning?
The character is explaining why he hasn't show visited his friend for a while after some awkward stuff happened between them.
About 顔見れる is to take as "show my face" or more like "Look ...
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The difference between する and つく with onomatopoeias (e.g. ざらざらする vs. ざらつく)
Taking a verb pair like ざらざらする and ざらつく, I want to know if in general the mimetic word affixed with つく is affixed with any practical differences in usage.
Here are examples of the verb pairs I am ...
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Actual nuance of 堪える in this sentence_ [duplicate]
勘弁してくれよ! お前に泣かれるのは... 堪える
The character exclaims this as his girlfriend starts to cry to him and begs him to tell her secret.
The sentence ends with a simple" 堪える without any other particles, so ...
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Actual nuance of 邪魔になる?
そういうの行っても邪魔になるだけだって 結婚してる
Upon being asked "Why don't you to the mixer?" the guy answer this.
"Even if I got.... I'm married."
What is the nuance of 邪魔になるhere? I will make problem?...
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Differentiating "funny" and "interesting"
When speaking, I tend to use the word 「面白い」to mean both funny things and interesting things, but there is often a need to distinguish between these two meanings, and I sort of struggle with that. ...
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から and んですが to make a request
I've been using Genki as the main reference and it said から could be used to explain the reason the speaker is asking the listener to do something:
時間がありませんから、急いでください。
掲示板に貼ってありますから、もう一度見てみてください。
...
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Usage of て + 正解 together?
このお酒美味しいわ お勧めいただいて正解でしたね
I'm unsure of the nuance of this sentence. Does it mean the recommendation was a spot on or that getting a recommendation was the right think to do? There is no much context ...
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How to say I am hungry? おなかが空きます
how do you use the phrase 'おなかがすきます' to express you are hungry? I heard from different sources that 'おなかが空きます' is apparently better than 'おなかが空いています', is this true? Because grammatically the second ...
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そんな VS その - category VS specific
そんな is often translated in bilingual dictionaries (such as jisho) with expressions along the lines of "such, that sort of, that kind of".
This suggests to me that そんな literally refers to ...
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ということとか VS こととか
In the following extract, is there a reason why っていうこととか is used for the first circumstance, while simply こととか is used for the second circumstance?
[...]
そういう色々制限は、コロナの人は増えたけど、前よりも制限が少なくなってますね。ま、これも、...
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「今日伺うお店」translated as "go-to restuarant"
I was recently watching a video by Akane San and as she was approaching a dumpling restaurant she described it as follows:
"こちらが今日伺うお店です".
It seems the direct translation is something along ...
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向こう as a pronoun ("he/she/they")?
In a Japanese movie I'm watching, two women who are friends, are having a casual conversation about a date. Throughout the conversation the woman refers to the man she went on the date with as 向こう.
...
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Nuance of というので here
Transcribed from podcast about the speaker's three things they want to do before they die.
The first example here provides a backstory about their grandmother as to why they want to see the Northern (...
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Why is で used with タイミング instead of に?
The norm is to use the で particle with タイミング for "at a ... time", here are some examples.
Normally the に particle marks points in time (8時に, 火曜日に, 10月に...), although で can also do this with ...
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How are these わけ different from んだ here?
The speaker of this podcast is describing the extent of getting hungover a Mexican 飲み会 can be (それ refers to playing into temptation with drinking "just a little bit")
メキシコはね、...
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What the exact nuance of あれだけに言っておきながら
「この前の―高速道路の件もそうだし、あれだけ天道大洋のことでこちらに言っておきながら動きが遅いんじゃないかしら」
The context is the following: She's drilling her underling from the SCOUTING UNIT being slow on updating the website with the recent dangerous ...
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Can どころではない and てはいられない can be interchangable in some context? What would be the nuance of each?
I have been unable to find in any Japanese Dictionary (Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar, the どんな時どう使うbook, nor in the Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns or anywhere an explanation for this ...
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How to say an object has multiple colors
I know most colors work as の adjectives except for the 6 principal colors that work as い adjectives. If I were to describe, say, a flag, which has 3 different colors on it, could I just string the ...
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How best to translate this もう?
From the Genki II textbook, 3rd edition page 297 (a reading passage about Doraemon):
「これは『アンキパン』だよ。覚えたいことをこのパンに写して、食べてみて。覚えられるから。」のび太くんはパンに写して、全部食べました。もうテストは大丈夫です。
I'm confused about the exact meaning ...
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さすが vs. それでこそ - "Just what you'd expect from"
Differing from それこそ, それでこそ seems to have a function to act very much like さすが and essentially mean "just what you'd expect from".
Here's an example from Kill la Kill where the main character ...
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~を～をする construction
I was watching a video of 参議院議員 speaking and noticed this construction used twice by two different people.
https://youtu.be/F2YHiMV8BcM?si=Dvy9tvSNGjgYcedk&t=379 6:19
その上で 改正後の子供・子育て支援法におきましては ...
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Understanding あながち for "not necessarily"
I understand that this phrase is used with a negative to create a "not entirely" or "not necessarily" sentence. But I am having trouble distinguishing it from 必ずしも.
Online ...
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Distinguishing between an adverbial phrase and a part of a compound noun
I am reading an article entitled 日本の従業員が｢世界一やる気がない｣本当の理由 and I am having trouble translating this title. Seems like 世界一やる気がない is translated as "the least motivated in the world" so that 世界一 ...
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Comparing みたいに and みたいな感じで
To preface, I understand that not every みたいな感じで is used adverbially like みたいに, because sometimes that で is the te-form:
素人みたいな感じで申し訳ないですが
Sorry to sound like an amateur. (I sound like an amateur, (and ...
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ないで欲しい or なくて欲しい?
I came across this sentence
来たばかりの人間を、普通に呼び出さないで欲しい
Which I believe means something like
I want you not to so naturally summon someone who's just arrived
Please correct me if I'm off.
What I don't ...
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confused about the usage of よう?
The sentence in question
彼に集中するよう注意を促しといたよ。
Meaning
I urged him to concentrate.
Confused as to what role the よう is playing here?
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What does なんたら mean?
I came across
昨日のハイドロなんたらとかいう怖い女の子だ
Which from an official translations means
Its that scary girl from yesterday called Hydro-glerpadoodle
Am I right in assuming that なんたら is a filler word for ...
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what is the difference between ごたえ and かい/がい
I've been wondering but, what are the differences in nuance between the grammar points ごたえ and かい/がい ?
examples:
見ごたえがある vs 見がいがある
聞きごたえがある vs 聞きがいがある
やりごたえがあった vs やったかいがある
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confused about て無かったら
In the sentence
一部しか残って無かったら意味ないし
Where the official translation is
Because its meaningless if a part is left
I don't understand how 無かったら isn't negating the 残ってる to mean "if a part is NOT ...
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Can anyone check my understanding of Verb stem+あげる/切る／通す／終わる and てしまう
As far as i understand, those words pretty much means "doing something completely" but each have its own nuance. I'll use the word 読む for conjugating as an example.
1.読み終わる
This one is just ...
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Confused about usage of という
I came across this sentence:
地面が土で、周囲が木というだけで、暑さが随分とマシになった。
The heat became quite bearable when surrounded with trees and dirt.
I'm confused about what という is doing here?
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How is the grammar working in いや、何かしないとな?
From what I've gathered. The sentence いや、何かしないとな means something like "No, I've got to do something" .
I cant quite understand how the grammar is working here to turn the negative suru verb ...
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Use of ものの as a prefix
ハリーはものの見事にロンに負けた。
Harry lost spectacularly to Ron.
Would I be correct in thinking that ものの can be omitted from this sentence?
What is the effect of adding ものの as a prefix? Jisho gives 'only', 'no ...
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Distinguishing hyperbole and literal sentences with くらい / ぐらい
One of the meanings of くらい is 'to the extent', and is often used in hyperbole (exaggerated claims) such as:
今日はもう一生走りたくないくらい走った。 Today, I ran so much that I don't want to run again in my whole life.
...
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Nuance of フツー over 普通に?
On the top panel, the character asks for 藤島's "Line", to which 藤島 answers:
"I left it it on the back of the vitamin C drink (I gave you) the other day... Oh I guess you threw it away&...
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What is the difference between 直接 used as a 形容動詞 and 直接的?
I came across the word 直接的 in my textbook and became surprised because my understanding up to date is that 直接 could also be used as a 形容動詞, at least according to jisho.org and 大辞泉.
If that's the case, ...
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