32
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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 ...
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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 ...
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15
votes
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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 ...
- 271k
13
votes
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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 ...
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12
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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,...
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12
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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. ...
- 4,215
11
votes
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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 ...
- 271k
11
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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 ...
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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,...
- 271k
10
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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 ...
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10
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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?
...
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9
votes
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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 ...
- 271k
9
votes
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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 ...
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7
votes
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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 ...
- 271k
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 "...
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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 ...
- 4,608
7
votes
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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 ...
- 271k
7
votes
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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 ...
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7
votes
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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 ...
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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}...
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6
votes
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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] ...
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6
votes
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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"...
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6
votes
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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 ...
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6
votes
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'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 ...
- 271k
6
votes
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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 ...
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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, ...
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5
votes
Are there any terms used to refer to people of the anime/manga fandom in a non-derogatory manner?
I think 「〜[好]{ず}き」 is a common expression in Japan these days.
If someone likes anime very much, s/he is 「アニメ[好]{ず}き」. The usage example is
http://news.mynavi.jp/articles/2015/06/21/ibayashi/
If ...
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5
votes
Accepted
What does 'hikarian' mean?
"Hikarian" is a proper noun, and unique to this anime. Ordinary dictionaries don't have this word.
In the Wikipedia article, I can see almost all of the characters are named after Japanese trains or ...
- 271k
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