21
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Is there a term for Japanese characters as a whole?
Unfortunately no word exactly represents only the union of kanji, hiragana and katakana.
漢字: kanji
仮名: kana; hiragana & katakana
字／文字: kanji, kana, punctuation, other written symbols
和字／和文: (...
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21
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What's the original Japanese word for door, other than the loanword ドア?
Your suspicion is leading you down the right path.
ドア is in fact a loanword from English. According to Jisho.org, ドア is used in reference to a Western-style door. This is a door that opens on ...
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16
votes
How would you translate "more" for use as an interface button?
Possible options are:
詳細 (literally "detail")
その他 (literally "others")
もっと見る / さらに見る (literally "see more")
もっと読む / さらに読む (literally "read more")
もっと/さらに + 見る/読む may be the most literal, and it is ...
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15
votes
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Doubled and tripled kanji
Yes, the term for this type of kanji is 理義字.
理義字
理義字（りぎじ）は、同じ漢字を2つ、ないし、3つ組み合わせて構成される漢字のこと。また、広く、形態が奇妙な漢字や、面白い形をした漢字のことを指す。
Although it's on Wikipedia, 理義字 is a very rare word, and the ...
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14
votes
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What the Japanese onomatopoeia for crunch?
It partially depends on what is eaten.
くちゃくちゃ is a standard one for chewing e.g., meat.
ぐちゃぐちゃ can be used similarly. This is more rough, like wolves biting something drippy.
がつがつ sounds like biting ...
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12
votes
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What are paper humans called?
I think you might be looking for the word teru teru bōzu.
From English Wikipedia:
A teru teru bōzu (Japanese: てるてる坊主, lit. "shine shine monk") is a small traditional handmade doll made of white ...
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12
votes
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What would the Japanese equivalent of "Order!" be when gaveling?
静粛に【せいしゅくに】！
or "Be silent!" is the most appropriate answer, I think.
(Although it's from a game, 逆転裁判 【ぎゃくてんさいばん】, I don't believe it's far off from the real thing.)
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12
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What would the Japanese equivalent of "Order!" be when gaveling?
This video is a live broadcast of the Diet in Japan.
The next line was told by the Speaker of the House to have the members be quiet. (Siikamiika tells us a more clear sound source here.)
ご静粛｛せいしゅく｝...
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11
votes
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What's the Japanese equivalent of having a "F**k Buddy"?
The concept definitely exists in Japan.
You can use the word セフレ, which comes from a portmanteau of the English loanwords セックス (sex) and フレンド (friend).
source: http://www.weblio.jp/content/セフレ
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11
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How can I say "I insist on paying" (for a free item) to a shopkeeper?
The other answers I feel are OK, but I wanted to point out that I think your attempt "お支払いたい" is not grammatically correct.
As far as I know the honorific お is attached to nouns (or well, する-verbs) ...
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11
votes
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Issues translating "get an ultrasound."
I think 超音波を受ける is casually used, but 超音波検査を受ける might be better. You can also use エコー検査. So how about saying...
「｛明日、/明日の｝｛超音波検査/エコー検査｝で、赤ちゃんの性別がわかる。」
「明日、｛超音波/エコー｝で赤ちゃんの性別がわかる。」
「明日｛超音波検査/...
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11
votes
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How to say "weeaboo" in Japanese?
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. It depends on how you want to use this word.
ウィアブー or ウィーアブー is not something an average Japanese speaker would understand, and that's why it's not on jisho....
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10
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Is there a word for “using a wrong kanji”?
You can simply use [誤字]{ご・じ} to mean the wrong letter. I believe it's applicable to both kanji and kana.
If you ever take the [漢検]{かん・けん}, starting in level 4 there is a section called [誤字訂正]{ご・じ・てい・...
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10
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What is the Japanese word for video views on the Internet?
How about 「[視聴]{しちょう}[回数]{かいすう}」?
I think [再生]{さいせい}回数 would also work.
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10
votes
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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 ...
- 337k
9
votes
Is there a term for Japanese characters as a whole?
What is a native word or phrase for the union of kanji, katakana and hiragana?
表記｛ひょうき｝文字｛もじ｝ is a close word for your request.
I said "close" not "exact", because 表記｛ひょうき｝文字｛もじ｝ includes not only ...
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9
votes
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What is the proper Japanese word for the germ theory of disease?
「細菌説」 seems to be a fair choice, but there are alternatives. Here's what I gathered:
「細菌説」
English-Japanese medical dictionary[1]
Encyclopedia of pharmaceutical history[2], in describing Pasteur.
「...
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9
votes
Accepted
How do you say “or” at the beginning of a sentence?
The closest equivalent would be それとも in both cases. "Or do you want me to (do it)?" could be translated as 「それとも私がやりましょうか？」, while "Or did you not see it?" could be expressed like 「それともまだ見て（い）ないんですか？」 ...
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9
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Stubbornly gender-neutral way to address or refer to your older sibling? (Wait a minute...what about non-binary?)
First of all, nearly all Japanese sentences are naturally gender-agnostic, so you never have to be "stubbornly gender-neutral" when speaking Japanese. In English, it is very challenging to ...
- 337k
8
votes
Proper term for "study"
Study can be translated as either of the followings.
勉強【べんきょう】: Refers to learning how to take (good) photos.
研究【けんきゅう】: Refers to more academic study/research, seeking to discover new facts.
As a ...
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8
votes
Accepted
Many people squat/sit with their buttocks almost to the ground, whats it called?
The most fitting verb for this that I can think of is しゃがむ, rarely written with kanji as 蹲む. Similar terms include かがむ and こごむ; however, these don't have the same sense of "squatting for long periods ...
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8
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Many people squat/sit with their buttocks almost to the ground, whats it called?
In addition to Eiríkr Útlendi's answer, I just want to add some slang expressions: うんこ座り{すわり} or ヤンキー座り{すわり}. "Poop squat" and "yankii squat", respectively. The first one is obvious considering the ...
- 1,610
8
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What's the Japanese equivalent of having a "F**k Buddy"?
The other word which you want is やりとも.やる means "do sex" and とも means "friend". かきタレ also means that but this is slangy.
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8
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What would be a correct term to describe a "cheesy" line?
How about...
[臭]{くさ}い・くさい・クサい
クサい[台詞]{せりふ}
くっさー！ (← Is this Kansai dialect?)
or...
[安]{やす}っぽいセリフ
[陳腐]{ちんぷ}なセリフ
... maybe?
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