15
votes
Accepted
Difference between チケット, 切符 and 乗車券
チケット: Tickets for theaters, amusement parks, sport games, etc.
切符: Tickets in general used for trains, buses, etc.
乗車券: An official term used by railway companies for a type of 切符. 乗車券 refers to a ...
15
votes
Accepted
The French language, furansugo vs futsugo
My guess is that ''furansugo'' is used in normal speech whereas ''futsugo'' is only used in very formal speech.
You're on the right track. Nowadays the only European language called by its kanji name ...
13
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between 「変更」 and 「変化」?
変更 specifically refers to a human-caused update/modification of a plan, project, document, destination, etc. 変化 refers to change in general.
As suru-verbs, 変更する is transitive, and 変化する is ...
12
votes
Accepted
How to differentiate between rat and mouse
クマネズミ属{ぞく} is the Rattus genus, to which all "true" rats belong, whereas Mice belong to the ハツカネズミ属, or Mus genus. These genera are both subgroups to the sub-family ネズミ亜科{あか}, or Murinae.
Now, these ...
11
votes
Accepted
Is there any significant difference between 駆け回る and 駆け巡る?
Both mean mostly the same but are not very interchangeable.
A general distinction would be
駆け回る is casual, means literally something is running about. Sometimes it has negative connotation of "...
11
votes
Accepted
What can you see or find at a 薬屋、薬局、ドラッグストアー respectively?
薬局 sell prescription drugs (処方薬) such as antihypertensives and diabetes pills. A more unambiguous term is 調剤薬局. Some of them also sell over-the-counter drugs (市販薬) that do not require a prescription ...
10
votes
Accepted
Relation between 大学, 学校 and 大学校
"What is 学校" is not an easy question; there are many definitions of it. but here's the summary:
Legally speaking, "the narrow definition" of 学校 (aka 一条校), as defined in the first clause of the law ...
10
votes
Accepted
Words for "stomach" (お腹、胃袋、etc.)
胃: A digestive organ located between the esophagus and the duodenum. English "stomach" refers to both this specific organ and the abdomen, but you should make clear distinction in Japanese.
胃袋: A more ...
10
votes
Accepted
Difference between 様々 and 色々
Etymologically speaking, いろいろ is 'full of colors', and さまざま 'various in one's appearance or figure', but this does not give us a reasonable answer. Answers and comments about the difference between ...
10
votes
Accepted
The meaning of 星人 vs 宇宙人
星人 is never used alone. It is used with specific names of planets like 火星人{かせいじん}(Martian), 金星人{きんせいじん}(Venusian), or ナメック星人. It means the habitants of a particular planet. FYI earthlings are 地球人.
On ...
9
votes
Accepted
Differences between 栽培する, 作る, and 育てる for "grow"?
I guess you can use all three without sounding too odd in gardening contexts.
作る is more common for something edible and may imply growing for crops
育てる may be preferred for flowers (バラを作る is a bit ...
8
votes
What is the difference between 成熟 and 熟成?
I am a native speaker of Japanese.
Your question is very interesting.
Your recognition of 成熟 is more or less correct. We usually use 熟成 for food. It reminds me of good food which is taken a long time ...
8
votes
Accepted
Unable to interpret these sentences: 「まいばんくにのかぞくにでんわします」「このまちにはゆうめいな建物があります」
First sentence
まいばん くにの かぞくに でんわします。
I call my family at my home country every evening.
First of all, the family is not making the call, but someone (probably the speaker, it could be someone ...
7
votes
Accepted
What are the differences between 田{た}, 水田{すいでん}, and 田圃{たんぼ}?
田圃 is usually written in 田んぼ or たんぼ, and it's the word usually used in conversations.
水田 is a Sino-Japanese word (漢語), and it sounds more technical/formal, as usual. See: Are 漢語 always more formal ...
7
votes
Accepted
When do I use all the words meaning "song"?
Regarding the difference between 歌 and 曲:
An (entire) work of vocal music, A track (with vocal): Both 曲 or 歌 are used interchangeably, but the former is more common.
ビートルズの[曲/歌]が2つ入ったCD
A work of ...
7
votes
Parents-in-law in Japanese
A corpus is a good tool to answer this type of question yourself.
舅姑: 30 Hits (Many instances are from the same author born before 1960's)
義父母: 50 Hits (Many are from blog articles and chiebukuro ...
7
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between 「結局【けっきょく】」and 「とうとう」?
「とうとう」implies a continual process that led to the outcome, whereas 「結局」doesn't.
For example, one can say 「結局力不足なのだ」but not「とうとう力不足なのだ」because 力不足 is not a state achieved via a continuous process. On ...
7
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between「家族【かぞく】」and「家庭【かてい】」?
Regardless of how they may be rendered in the natural English, 家族 always points to people, while 家庭 always place. In other words, 家族 is a group united by kinship or whatever that often lives together, ...
7
votes
Accepted
difference between 介護士 and 看護師
介護士 are more like a social worker. They generally help the elderly and people with disabilities live normal lives by doing things like bathing them, changing their clothes, making food for them, ...
7
votes
Why is there ベッドルーム when there's already 寝室?
Sometimes, loanwords sound simply cool and modern, and traditional words are too mundane or too direct. English speakers also have imported many new loanwords from foreign languages (café, siesta, ...
7
votes
Accepted
When to use 仕上げ and when to use 仕上がり?
仕上げ is a noun corresponding to transitive to finish and 仕上がり to intransitive to finish.
仕上げ means someone's action of finishing/having finished something
仕上がり means something's finished state
...
6
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between [担]{にな}う and [担]{かつ}ぐ?
I think the difference between 肩に乗せる and 肩にかける is trivial, and does not help understand the difference between 担ぐ and 担う.
What's more important is the following sentence:
(「担う」は)下から支える意味合いが強く、通常は「...
6
votes
Accepted
Telling the words 口唇 and 紅唇 apart contextually
How was 口唇 pronounced when you heard it?
Anyway we only say くちびる for lips.
If you have a chance to read 口唇, it's correct to pronounce it as こうしん.
You may have no chance to hear こうしん for lips in daily ...
6
votes
Accepted
What's the difference between complaints 不満 不平 文句?
不満
Dissatisfaction or discontent, as literal as it reads. This word doesn't necessarily mean complaint, because it stands for an emotion and doesn't need to be expressed.
不平
Complaint about bad, undue,...
6
votes
Accepted
量、数 and 数量 (amount). Is there any of them that is used far more frequently than the other ones or are they pretty much equally used?
These are all used to describe or measure quantity. The difference is whether what is being measured is countable or not.
量 - How to show amount (weight, volume, proportion). Used for uncountable ...
6
votes
Accepted
How do you define and contrast すっぱり すっぽり さっぱり and すっかり
Each has multiple nuances. I will write typical meanings and example sentences that are often used.
すっぱり
Cutting things sharply.
えだをすっぱり切り落とした。
I hacked off a branch.
The act of doing something ...
6
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between 討論 and 議論?
The last question is easy to answer: 議論 is closer.
The character 討 carries a connotation of “battle”. 討論 certainly assumes there are opposing sides and possibly also that there will be a winner. For ...
6
votes
Accepted
凡人 vs 普通の人 for describing ordinary people
In terms of what they refer to, I guess there are no big differences.
The nuance of 凡人 is negative-neutral. It means banal, ordinary as opposed to special, genius.
The nuance of 普通の人 can be negative, ...
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