Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (July 14, 2022)

26 comments

1. How do I respond in Japanese if someone asks about an item I put on sale online, and I want to tell him that someone already contacted me before you just now. I have already reserved this product for another person.

   Does the phrase bottom sound good?

   すみませんですが、もうある人が連絡してくれまして、商品を予約しました。

   受け渡し予定者に選ばれていた OR 違う受け渡し予定者に決まった。

2. Can someone please help me understand the use of ほど within this sentence

   ローマ支配時代の終焉以降、全地域を統一するほどの国家が育つことはなく

   “After the demise of the Roman rule, not even a single a nation that would unify the regions arose”

   Is ほど stressing ことはなく to really drive home the point that there were **NO** nations that unified?

3. Trying to say I saw my ex and his girlfriend when I went to restaurant in japanese, but I’m not sure which one is correct.

   A,一人でサイゼ行ったら元カレとそいつの彼女”と”遭遇したのだが

   B,一人でサイゼ行ったら元カレとそいつの彼女”に”遭遇したのだが

   I checked the dictionary the example gave me ”に”遭遇 (e.g.: 山中で熊に遭遇する) but I saw people use ”と”遭遇 on Twitter as well (e.g.:クマと遭遇、未知との遭遇), which one is correct? What is the difference?

4. Would this be a correct way of saying “I went to the store to buy food?” 「食べ物を買うんだ、店に行った。」or is this an incorrect usage of んだ?

5. Just started learning with Henshall and Takagaki’s hiragana and katakana self study workbook. I also have a basic anki deck.

   Is the next step for me going to be genki? I’m on pace to finish this workbook in a week or two. I want to know where I should look towards to learn after this.

   Also, I’m having a ton of fun learning to write the hiragana. Sometimes I feel like I have the handwriting of a toddler but sometimes you get the strokes just right and the character looks professional like calligraphy. It really is a beautiful looking language.

6. A man is talking about his Bento box company and the products he puts out:

   どんなものが売れているのか、自分なりに調べて、本当に気に入ったもの、自分が欲しいと思うものだけを並べています。モダンでスタイリッシュなものもあれば、使う人が取り出すだけで、「わあ！可愛い」と言われるようなものもあります。

   So the first sentence he mentions how he only puts out items he personally likes. I’m kind of confused what exactly the second sentence is trying to say. I have 2 interpretations:

   1) If there are modern and stylish items, people who use it will just take it (モダンでスタイリッシュなものもあれば、使う人が取り出すだけで), and there are also items that people will take and say “wow! how cute!” (「わあ！可愛い」と言われるようなものもあります). Essentially, he’s taking about 2 types of items.

   2) “If there are also modern and stylish items, people who use it will just take it and say “wow! how cute”.” In this second interpretation, I’m assuming both clauses and both も in もあれば and もあります refer to the same items. I’m just confused why it says **取り出すだけで** instead of 取り出して to connect the two. I don’t really see the need for “just” in the sentence.

   Further on in the passage, there’s also this sentence where he’s talking about his products:

   でも、日本のBentoは、食べる相手のことを考えて、栄養のバランスにも配慮し、**彩りよく**おかずを詰める。

   Is it normal to have this construction 彩りよく (Noun + adverb) vs. 彩り(の/が)よい (Noun + particle + adjective). I assume the latter construction works as well?

7. 「溢るる涙の蕾から」and「流るる花のごとく」What does the extra る in 溢る and 流る mean?

8. Hello, in the manga of 継母の連れ子が元カノだった she sister says 彼はもう何もかも癪に障るいけ好かない義弟であって does it mean “he is already a disgusting stepbrother who irritates me with everything” or does it mean “he is already a disgusting stepbrother who is irritated by everything”?

   I think it is the first one but it’s just a feeling I don’t know what gives it away. Also how would the opposite be written? Would it be 癪に障られる or 彼が?

9. I’ve been contemplating on which Japanese program to choose to pay for, japanesepod101 or rocketjapanese. I’ve tried both of the trials and like both equally, but now I’ve found myself in a conundrum on this, so if anyone has tried both or went into a full course on either, please enlighten me on which is a more favorable.

10. I wanted to specifically train my ability to listen to news broadcasts, so I found NHK News podcast, but it seems like it doesn’t have a script, which I would like to use. So the question is, do you know any news podcasts that have a script, or broadcasts with subtitles?

11. Is the guy in this video basically saying that because it is not a bad thing to have self-confidence without ability, if you have confidence without ability, it will be a misunderstanding

    https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxky63IAa9bTyXGLo1Bwbqf44Zrl69Jf0D

    EDIT: This sounds unatural but I am not sure where I am going wrong here. Have I missed a nuance?

12. I have once read that を with passive form means it’s affecting one. And today I was curious if passive form for intransitive verbs exists/means and read that for example 雨に降られた would also mean that the rain is “affecting” me.

    So now I was wondering what would be the difference if に was changed to を?
    Would it just put more emphasis on the “affected” part?

13. こんなものに毎晩寝てるから雲上人なんて言われるのかね？

    If you sleep on something like this (A enormous futon) every night, that must be how they get to be called “雲上人”

    Is なんて replacing と particle? I’ve seen it drop は but I suppose it isn’t only limited to は？ Any clarification is appreciated

14. Is there a Japanese person here who could have a look at this sentence and help me fix it

    日本の入国制限は凄く厳しすぎるじゃん？日本人は条件なし世界の国に自由に旅行できるのに、外国人が日本には入れない。今は入る方法があるけど、それは認められた旅行会社で予約しないといけないと。それに日本にいるとマスクをつしないといけないし、どこに行っても自分は日本の政府に監視される。自由はないと、行く意味があるのかなー

    The tone is supposed to be casual

    How do I avoid using しないといけないと twice in the same paragraph here?

15. What is the meaning of 「～」included on some of Tae Kim’s particles? For example he uses it for 「～そう」when talking about it in the title for his lesson on guessing an outcome. However in the paragraphs he just lists it as 「そう」Is there any real significance for 「～」?

16. 国と国の戦い translates (deepl) to “war between countries”

    How are we supposed to know that 国 is plural? Is this just an off translation? Is it implied from context?

    ​

    the full sentence is here:

    ビーズリーさんは「国と国の戦いや、地球の温暖化などが原因で、いま世界では食べ物が足りません。

17. What is the name/term for (verb stem) + (adjective)?

    I.e. 作りやすい — Easy to make.

18. Rin says: “セイバーは私のだし 士郎も私のものなんだから”

    The translation should be “Saber belongs to me, and so do you.”

    What does だし mean in the sentence?

19. I’m trying to say “Believe it or don’t believe it, the truth is the truth.”

    I’ve got: 信じるか信じないか、真実は真実です

    Is this grammatically correct, and does it make sense?

20. Hello everyone,
    What is the general consensus when it comes to learning kanji ?
    Is it really useful ? Do you learn all the different on/kun reading or just the meaning of the kanji ?
    I’m currently studying a vocabulary anki deck, in which every time i encounter a word with a new kanji i look it up and try to remember vaguely the idea behind new kanjis. Is it enough or does kanji studying really help in the long run ?

21. Is it a regional thing for some Japanese people to make more of an N sound when pronouncing words that have a G morae? I’ve noticed words like 東 and 結合 sometimes sound more like hingashi and ketsungou.

    Just to clarify, I know the morae is ng and not an English g but I’m asking if the n, throat sound is more pronounced by certain people.

22. **There is a sentence which I’m not sure about its meaning , appreciate if anyone can correct me if I was wrong (because there are no subjects )**
    **Context: MC is talking to his boss in his office ,this is his 1st day in this branch office. He want to introduce himself and say hello to everyone.**
    MC「おはようございます」
    吉野「ああ、おはよう」
    やってきたオフィスで、直属の上司となる吉野さんに挨拶。
    パッと見、ＩＴ企業の管理職というより、芸能事務所のマネージャーみたいな人だ。
    吉野「話は聞いてるよ。本社からだよね？」
    MC「はい。本社より参りました楠です。本日から――」
    吉野「いいよいいよ、そういうのは」
    MC「え」
    **吉野「どうせ後でまた挨拶するんだしさ。なら、ここでしなくても、ね？　無駄は省こう」(this is 1 sentence i’m not sure about ,my guess :” Because you’ll(MC ?) introduce yourself again anyway ,so you don’t need to do it here ok? Let’s not waste our time here/ get to work.” )**
    MC「は、はぁ……」

23. I’m trying to start my japanese journey by learning the hiragana and katakana alphabets. And yet every time i learn and memorize them all, I just seem to forget most of them. Any advice? I feel really really dumb 😛

24. How long until I can start writing my own sentences? I know the first 3 rows of the hiragana and a few phrases and also です and one more I think.

25. お母さん、風香産んで正解だった. this sentence it means “mother was right about giving birth to Fuuka.” but i don’t understand the usage of the て form, i think it nominalized the verb but isn’t this the job of こと or の ?

26. I’m reading this manga and cannot understand this following sentence. The character is talking about cooking and making karaage.

    本当はにんにくいれたいですけど…流石に外なので生姜マシマシにしてます。

    (There’s a panel of her grating ginger.)

    I understand the first part of the sentence, “I actually wanted to put garlic into (the dish), but…”

    And the second part I can’t find マシマシ in the dictionary. “As expected, the ginger from outside something something to do?” Or perhaps she is talking about the outside of the 唐揚げ? I feel like maybe I could figure out the sentence if I knew what マシマシにする is supposed to mean.