Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (September 24, 2022)

7 comments

1. > お前らと一緒にいるのがあんまり楽しくてさ。

   This is translated as “Being with you two was too much fun.” which kind of makes sense to me but not entirely:

   1. Why the が there? I only know it as “but”, but it doesn’t make sense for there to be a “but” between the two parts.
   2. Why the te form of the adjective?

2. I have a question:

   Select the missing word:

   彼は私の __ です

   1. Imooto
   2. Ani
   3. Ane

   It says the correct answer is 2. Ani. I get that Ani means older brother, but I’m not sure in the context of the sentence what tells me that is the right answer.

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACIefAqWuJ4

   Can somebody tell me how good his Japanese is? I’m only N5 but I think he says some things wrong. He says 映画 as Atamadaka at 0:08 and 料理 at 0:09 sounds more like りょり to me, but I may just be deluding myself. Would appreciate a second set of ears.

4. I was wondering about this:

   > おれの絵を買ってやるって言ったじゃないか。おれは、この絵はリアルでとてもよくかけてると思ってるんだ。

   For context, some kids are drawing a picture (the picture is pretty bad) and a man offers to purchase one, but then the same man starts flipping out and yelling for some reason. The kid replies what I have typed above.

   I was wondering, why is かけてる being used? I think it is the potential form 書けている, but IDK why potential would be used here. Otherwise I think it would say something like, “Didn’t you offer to buy my painting? I thought it was a realistic and skillfully done.”

5. I recently finished reading the Twilight Princess manga adaptation, which was brilliant, and there was one passage in Vol. 10 that particularly appealed to me. To practice my Japanese, I have tried writing how I interpreted the speech, but I had difficulty describing one part in particular, which is in bold.(Slight spoiler below, but here is the speech in question, for context)

   リンク：>!ザント、自分が神になろうとするから苦しむんだ。人間なんてみんな弱くてさもしいことしか考えない。正義なんて本当はこの世にはない。互いにとって都合のいい理論がぶつかっているだけだ。100人中100人みんな自分がかわいい。自分と自分のぞくする社会を守りたい。安全でいたい、幸せでいたい。愛されたい。それが人なんだ。誰もそれを否定なんかできない。!<

   >!俺は自分を信じているわけじゃない。自分が指針とするものを信じているんだ。たとえ、世界中の誰もが俺をそしり疑っても、信じられる指針がこの世にある.!<

   (My summary)人間は本当に「悪」と「善」が分かりますか？「もちろん」という人がいるんでしょう。だが、そうだったら、どうして価値観のせいで、ケンカがあるか。人間がわがままなので、都合の良くても見当違い理論について魅力を感じられると思っている。二人にとって、「都合のいい理論」というのは二つの意味がある可能性もある。たとえば、「正義」の定義は何でしょうか。誰の定義は正しいでしょうか。本当の正義は世の中に難しいと思っている。ポピュラーではない時、是非あると思っている。どうして？価値観の違いは、自分の快感をあきらめたくない理由であると思っている。「罪」というのは常時に快感や楽しさの魅力があると思っている。**辞めることは難しいでしょう。人々にとって、難しさが好きではないと言えないでしょうか。人々によって、受け入れる難しさのレベルは異なるんでしょう。**リンクもそれをわかっている。だから、「世界中の誰もが俺をそしり疑っても、信じられる指針がある」と言った。自分の快感を目指すのではなく、客観的な指針を目指している。

   I am not sure how the part in bold can better transition to the end of the paragraph. The point I am trying to get across is that rather than focus on a definition of right/wrong that may be unpopular (because it prohibits something pleasurable), he aims for an “objective” definition/guiding principle. I would be eager to hear any suggestions! (Also, as a side question, I’m not sure how to use 〜でしょう・〜ではないでしょうか in written form that does not use です; my grammar is very rusty but if anyone could give tips on that as well, I would appreciate it) Thank you so much for your help!

   Edit: formatting

6. What does it mean when Japanese people add the suffix -shii at the end of a sentence?

   For example, “Kyoudai mou shinderu shii” (my brother is already dead).

7. I’m stuck on a particular sentence.

   それに、ここに皿を置いておくと、時々猫が三両で売れるんですよ。

   In this context, 両 refers to currency.

   Ichi.moe is saying that 置いて and おく are the same verb and the と isn’t helping. I get something like “besides, when I put the plate here, sometimes I can sell the cat for three ryou.” I’m pretty sure this is wrong.