32
votes
What does やれ{HL}やれ{HL} "yare yare" mean?
No, やれ{HL}やれ{HL} is not an onomatopoeia but an interjection. It doesn't symbolize any sound or state, and cannot used like other onomatopoeiae:
× やれやれという音を立てて
× やれやれした様子で
But as you said, it's ...
- 49.7k
19
votes
孫悟飯 - Songohan, why non-Japanese say it comes from "gohan = meal/cooked rice"?
It's a pun. In fact, many, many of Dragonball's characters are puns on food (or food-related) items:
サイヤ人 Saiyajin from [ヤサイ]{野菜}人 "vegetable people"
ベジータ Vegeta from ベジタブル "vegetable"
ウーロン Oolong ...
- 47.7k
16
votes
Accepted
Why would a Japanese adult be embarrassed to use the word "friends"?
いい年して「友達【ともだち】」って、ちょっと照れるけど。
The word tomodachi ("friend") itself is not really embarrassing, although there is a more formal word for this concept. In this case, this tomodachi also represents the ...
- 288k
13
votes
Accepted
What is the verb ending of われん mean?
救われん is made of 救われる and the archaic suffix ん, which came out of む. む・ん had similar roles to よう・おう today; that is to say, 救われん in modern style would be 救われよう or 救われるだろう. It is not related to the ん ...
- 10.5k
12
votes
What does やれ{HL}やれ{HL} "yare yare" mean?
やれ、やれ is an interjection often uttered when ① you are relieved from a burden or mental pressure, or ② when you have some burden or a little problem ahead, for example:
①やれやれ、[一仕事]{ひとしごと}終わった - Oh boy,...
- 9,475
12
votes
Accepted
In what ways is the Japanese used in anime different from real world Japanese?
It very much depends on what anime. For example, an anime about daily life in the modern world would have generally "normal" Japanese. Conversational snippets sound totally normal, for the most part. ...
- 4,263
11
votes
Accepted
On the grammar of みんな見るメロ
Adding a peculiar "sound" at the end of almost every sentence is an idiosyncrasy of many characters in Japanese anime/manga/games.
Most of these sounds are simply omitted after being translated into ...
- 288k
11
votes
Accepted
Seemingly non-interrogative use of sentence-ending か
This function of this か is not purely phonetic, but rather serves to make the sentence less of a outward statement and more of a self-directed or self-reflecting one.
It makes the information value ...
- 15.5k
10
votes
Are there any terms used to refer to people of the anime/manga fandom in a non-derogatory manner?
The safest neutral phrase is ○○ファン (e.g. アニメファン / 漫画ファン / アニメやゲームのファン / etc), which is widely used both by otaku and non-otaku people. This can be safely used with non-otaku hobbies, too (e.g. サッカーファン,...
- 288k
10
votes
Accepted
How do you say "canon" as in "official for a story universe"?
Official as opposed to fanfiction/dojin is simply 公式.
But do you want to refer to the canonical story line as opposed to that of a spin-off based on an alternative/what-if story? Like "main" Attack ...
- 288k
10
votes
Accepted
Why use で in「私でよければ入部させてください」?
～でいい (or ～で大丈夫, etc) is an expression that means "～ is acceptable (if not ideal)". I think this is something you can learn by rote. See:
What is the difference between それでいい and それがいい here?
...
- 288k
9
votes
Accepted
Any hints on how to translate the 'Nanny' in Totoro?
ニコニコしとれば 悪さは しねえし いつの間にか いねくなっちまうんだ。
This is the same as the following sentence written in the standard Japanese.
ニコニコしていれば悪さはしないし、いつの間にかいなくなってしまうんだ。
If you keep smiling, they won't do bad ...
- 288k
9
votes
Accepted
Naming suffix -氏 (-し) used by an otaku character in anime
Is it otaku version of -さん?
Yes...sort of.
Originally, -氏【し】 is a honorific and highly formal name suffix used to refer to someone with high social status. There are several existing questions ...
- 288k
8
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of きいしません?
[襲]{おそ}っては[来]{き}いしませんで
It means 襲ってはきませんよ.
Here in Kyoto, we sometimes say things like:
あらしません to mean ありません
わからしません to mean わかりません
かましまへん to mean かまいません
でけしまへん to mean できません
みいしまへん to mean みません
In ...
- 62.2k
7
votes
Accepted
How are made up words for anime/manga formed (reading and kanji)?
Made-up words are generally based on the existing Japanese naming convention. I generally recommend that you familiarize yourself with a lot of Japanese existing compounds before wondering about this ...
- 288k
7
votes
What is the meaning of っ on its own
In a light novel, manga or such, 「……っ！」 without any preceding kana describes the speaker is speechless or breathless for a moment. Usually it expresses a strong surprise, anger, confusion or any "...
- 288k
7
votes
第 [dai-] vs 目 [-me] in forming ordinal numbers
As far as I know, 目 is used to talk about the position of something that is not structured or categorized beforehand and whose elements are equal if you disregard their position. On the other hand, 第 ...
- 5,070
7
votes
Accepted
Unusual words in anime
It is true that Japanese people use a larger number of words on a daily basis. According to one survey introduced here, the number of words needed to understand 90% of English sentences is 3,000, but ...
- 288k
7
votes
Accepted
Noun-も+Noun-も+Noun-が construction?
You've answered your own question here, you just haven't managed to figure out how your answer applies to the given text.
AもBも is supposed to mean "Both A and B", but as far as I understand ...
- 4,309
7
votes
Accepted
meaning of だけど in this context
Your intuition is pretty accurate.
It's expressing a feeling of "...what does that have to do with anything?" or "why are you asking?". Mugen doesn't understand why he's being ...
- 779
7
votes
What's this gesture called? Does it have a name?
As far as I know, there is no single Japanese word for the gesture (I'm a native Japanese speaker).
If I talk about the gesture, I would use several words to describe it, such as 「鼻{はな}の下{した}を指{ゆび}...
- 136
6
votes
Accepted
Trouble with a sentence
これは儀式だ！ This is a ritual!
これは[Vする]ための儀式だ！ This is a ritual to [verb]!
これは[S]が[Vする]ための儀式だ！ This is a ritual for [S] to [verb]!
これは[お互い]が、[「深まった」と了承しあう]ための儀式だ！
This is a ritual for [both of us] ...
- 288k
6
votes
Accepted
What is the correct counter to translate 'One Piece'?
I am more like curious what it would be called in japanese if it wasn't called via an English word
Okay... ワンピース has been referred to as ひとつなぎの大秘宝【だいひほう】 (literally "unseparated great hidden treasure"...
- 288k
6
votes
Accepted
この世に生まれてきてしまった - How does this translate to "born into the world"?
You've broken down everything perfectly. 生まれてきて is the combination of 生まれる＋てくる in the Te-form. This is a grammar point that is explained in more depth here. Here, てくる essentially adds the nuance that ...
- 3,644
6
votes
Accepted
'yofukashi' in yofukashi no uta?
夜更かし is the modern standard spelling, and 夜更し is an abbreviated spelling. The latter is inappropriate in modern newspaper articles and such, but may have a literary or traditional flavor. The meaning ...
- 288k
6
votes
Accepted
The Quintessential Quintuplets: Is 'Koi no Summer Vacation' better translated as 'Love of Summer Vacation' instead of 'Summer Vacation of Love'?
The Japanese possessive / genitive particle [の]{no} works kinda "backwards" from the English preposition of.
A of B
A belongs to B → B owns A.
A [の]{no} B
A owns B → B belongs to A.
It ...
- 35.6k
6
votes
The Quintessential Quintuplets & Higurashi - What does it mean to repeat a word? Does たのしいたのしい means fun-filled?
Repeating a noun like うそうそ 冗談冗談 ジョークジョーク mean like うそだよ 冗談だよ ジョークだよ.
You could repeat them more than twice うそうそうそ 冗談冗談冗談 ジョークジョークジョーク, but it's used when you're upset like the listener got angry.
And ...
- 617
5
votes
Accepted
Usage/context of 「私ね…」
This type of ね is a filler particle meaning nothing. Such fillers can appear in many places within a sentence. ね is one of the typical "girly" filler particles.
You don't have to translate them, ...
- 288k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible