New answers tagged nuances
1
I assume that you mean "liminal" in the sense that it was used by the cultural anthropologist Victor Turner, and continues to be used by those in the humanities who have been influenced by his ideas.
In Japanese academic writing, 境界的{きょうかいてき} is commonly used as a rough equivalent for the word "liminal." Often when the word first appears ...
2
迷う: "To waver between multiple options". This can be a long process; one may 迷う for a month or longer if there is a big problem.
渋る: In modern usage, this usually means "to show reluctance to do something at once", "to begrudge". This can be an intentional process. プレゼントを買い渋っているお父さん may be willing to buy a present in his heart ...
2
From a grammatical aspect, you need の before 代わりに. When you use 代わりに at the beginning of a sentence, の is not needed.
However 「かわいい」の代わりに「こわい」と言ってしまった is still a bit strange as 代わりに implies intentional meaning. じゃなくて (or ではなくて) can be used for both intentional and unintentional cases so this time じゃなくて sounds natural.
2
中 (じゅう) is a suffix which follows a noun that denotes a place or period of time. In your examples, 間, a noun, denotes a period of time. Moreover, because the reading of 中 is じゅう and not ちゅう, it means throughout that period, during all that time and therefore you can say 間ずっと instead, as follows:
デートの間ずっと天気が悪かった。
デートの間中天気が悪かった。
The weather was bad ...
4
You are right, 間中 is more emphatic, and indicates something happens from the start to the end of the period. Most of the time, you can translate ～の間 simply as "during ～", and ～の間中 as "throughout ～", "all through ～" or "during the entire ～". ずっと has the same function.
夜の間
during the night
夜の間中 / 夜の間ずっと / 夜の間中ずっと
all ...
4
The effect of さん added to a noun that represents a shop is not that different from when it's added to a person name. さん makes the noun sound friendlier and more casual. It's mainly used in informal conversations (usually in the home) to refer to nearby small shops. It's typically attached to a wago ending with 屋 (e.g., 魚屋さん, 八百屋さん, 床屋さん), so you can remember ...
0
As I've heard it used by natives and been understood when using it myself, に関して comes across more as "pertaining to", "in regards to", or "concerning", whereas について feels more like "about". So, I'd talk 'about' Korea, rather than 'concerning' Korea. You could, of course, if you were a politician, talk 'concerning' [the ...
0
転 means "revolve" or "rotate". Life is a series of schools/jobs, so you rotate through those.
化 means "change" in the sense of "transform"
3
化 is a more general version of "change, " with an emphasis on transformation, while 転 can only mean "change" in the sense of transferring or relocating.
For common kanji that roughly mean change though, there is also 変, 代, 替, and 換. 変 feels most generic, like "alter". 代 is closest to substitution. 替 is closest to "replace.&...
2
咳止め【せきどめ】 is a very common word virtually every native speaker knows. You can find this word in any drug store in Japan. On the other hand, even though the meaning of 咳薬 is self-evident, it's an unfamiliar word to me. I googled 咳薬, and most results were part of 鎮咳薬【ちんがいやく】, which is a highly stiff medical term for 咳止め. There are some web pages where 咳薬 is ...
3
I guess the dictionary definition of the usage is the following:
どちらかというとその傾向であることをいう語。たぐい。 （＃4 精選版 日本国語大辞典）
So the sentences in the question literally mean:
Mr Sato, do you tend to be good at English?
This tends to be used often.
The usage may have derived from the original meaning of direction or side so that Xするほうだ can be understood as on the side of ...
5
畑 in this sense is a metaphorical expression used in relation to someone's career. This is an interesting expression in the context of introducing a person (formally or informally, e.g., 彼には教育畑を30年歩んできた自負がある, 営業畑を渡り歩いて多彩な経験を積んできました). It should be avoided when neutrality and objectiveness are important (e.g., in Wikipedia).
Besides, when it is intentionally ...
3
(C) is a compound sentence unlike the others: 明日は休みだ+から+どこかへ遊びに行こう. So it is から after all.
Regarding で and から, the following is from here
で／から／に の使い分け
１ある事態が生じたときの原因・理由は、一般に「で」で表わす。
２その原因を事態の発生源としてとらえ、因果関係を問題にするような場合には、原因を「から」で表わす。
３原因というよりは、心理・生理作用の対象としてとらえる場合には、それを「に」で表わす。
不注意…事故を起こす
会社を風邪…休む
疲れ…病気になる
税金対策…苦しむ
バス…酔う
で
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2
I think the difference between both is that, by using して遊ぶ, it's explicit that the ones playing video games are having fun, enjoying themselves.
テニスをする
He plays tennis
テニスをして遊ぶ
He has fun playing tennis.
2
I was browsing BCCWJ with the keyword='の背に'. 背 in the meaning of the question is used for 椅子, ソファ, フォーク. As you mention in the question, it can be used for books as well. Practically these are pretty much all for which 背 in that sense can be used. (Cf. As regards with books, it is one of many jargons.)
I cannot come up with other objects for which the usage ...
3
Practically 燃やす is used in much more limited contexts than 焼く as you can see in the definitions.
A thesaurus entry tells
１「燃やす」は、炎を上げさせることをいうのに対して、「焼く」は、火をつけて灰にすることをいう。
２「燃やす」は、「闘志を燃やす」のように、感情を高ぶらせる意にも用いる。
３「焼く」は、「炭を焼く」「パンを焼く」のように、加熱して作り上げる意や、「日光で肌を焼く」のように、日光に当てて変色させる意でも用いる。
3 indicates the meaning of 焼く is wider (cooking, burning things for later use, etc....
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