Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (October 17, 2022)

6 comments

1. I’m confused about why the ~て form is not being used to connect two noun modifying phrases in the following sentence. The sentence is from Quartet 1: 短い期間でしたが、おかげさまで、教科書では**学べない**すばらしい経験ができました。

   The part that confuses me is in bold. Why is it not 学べなくて? Is it sometimes acceptable to connect multiple noun modifiers without using the ～て form?

2. I play bassoon and was searching up the translation, when I discovered it’s ファゴット in Japanese. I know this loan word comes from Italian and not English, but it just makes me very uncomfortable to say a word that sounds like exactly like a slur, and I certainly would not say it in my Japanese class at school where all of my classmates are native English speakers. I saw that it’s also called バスーン, is this word usage common enough that native Japanese people would know what I’m talking about? Or do they only really know the first translation?

3. When writing in japanese (both handwritten and digitally), should I give spaces between words?

   Example:

   Spaced: すし です
   Non spaced: すしです

4. 「～てみる」は「see if I can」という意味があると分かっているけどそう使われないこともありそうだ（たとえばこの動画のサムネイル https://i.imgur.com/34E3Dk7.png ）。どういう意味なの？きっと「see if I can・try to」以外のほかの意味があるはずなんじゃないでしょうか？

5. Is there a difference between じ and ぢ (and their katakana forms too)?

6. How would you refer to your romantic partner semi-formally when you’re not married? Is パートナー too contrived or is it okay? 彼・彼氏・恋人 all sound too informal to me but I could be totally wrong. edit: For context, in my specific case I’m talking to a landlord.