Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (July 12, 2022)

21 comments

1. I’m trying to determine what contextually would be some kind of numerical value, listening to audio.

   Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vEV8yQcSE0&t=2400s

   Contextually speaking, she’s answering someone regarding what the price for commissioning her for 3D model work would be.

   But I can’t tell what しごじゅう is supposed to mean, my best guess would be 四五十 which doesn’t really make sense, either contextually or grammatically. (does anyone say 四五 for 45? and 45 tens for 450? seems wrong…）

   I’m assuming if it really was in the tens values it would be “forty or fifty” respectively and would actually be shorthand for forty or fifty (tens of thousand yen) but this is solely me trying to guess just to try and make sense of anything rather than having experience.

2. For those that understand Japanese, At which point did you start to understand most of what you heard? I’m learning Japanese but I’m around n5 level. I only understand the odd word or phrase when watching anime. I am trying to rush my learning but at this pace I can only keep it up for around a year. I figure once I understand most of what I hear I can relax and enjoy the learning process more. So at how many words or jlpt level or some benchmark did you begin to understand most of the Japanese you encountered?

3. 私が払いましょう.

   Why is it using shou when being polite? Also, isn’t this used for doing things together or with other people? But here he is trying to pay by himself, how can he pay by himself along with other people?

4. Hello, why do I see tte more so than to? I mean, wouldn’t to be more convenient instead of tte? (I’m referring to anime I’ve watched)

5. Just a random thought I had. Can you use 少し and だけ together if I wanted to say only a little bit.

   Like, 少しだけ魚を食べてみたい or 少しだけ日本語を話せます.

   Or would you not even use the だけ?

6. How am I supposed to understand japanese verbally when there is so many different expressions and words that sound the same. Kanji and kana is what I use to differentiate different parts in sentences

   But as im trying to listen, how am i gonna known if someone is saying が as a particle or to the start of some noun. Im so confused.

7. Hello, how do you pronounce this? 言おう is it, iyou, i-ou, iwou?

8. Why does te iru form of some movement verbs do not mean in progress of doing said action?

   E.g. 行っている not mean ‘going’ but ‘has gone’

   I know that te iru can also mean “ongoing change of a state” but how does it come to play here?

9. I’ve been wondering this for a while now. What’s the deal with i-adjectives+です?

   Despite this construction being in widespread use, even appearing in textbooks, I’ve read numerous times that it sounds kind of childish. If so, what can be done to avoid it? Adding an explanatory の before です? i-adjective in adverbial form+あります (e.g. 固くあります)? Something else (e.g. na-adjective 暖かです instead of 暖かいです)? I feel stumped here.

10. 問題は，画面上では的までの距離が分かりにくいこと

    What mean does では add as opposed to simple で, is it stating the location and marking it as the topic? However since 問題 is already set as topic wouldn’t it suffice to say 画面上で?

    Also is what exactly does こと mean in this sentence does it mean something along the lines of 問題は 何々ことだ “The issue is 何々”. Is the だ being dropped?

    “The issue is the distance of the targets on screen are difficult to gauge”

    よろしくお願いします

11. Trying to set up my yomichan to finally make the switch from J-E to J-J but I cannot for the life of me get the nested popups to work. I have two profiles set up, the first of which is set to only have a monolingual japanese dictionary, then another set to condition of one thats set to japanese – english. Despite the fact that my default profile has the english dictionary switched off and the japanese one switched on it still only shows the english dictionary. Any help? this is happening on both my android tablet and my macos laptop that I’m trying to do this on and its making me so frustrated

12. Funny how things start clicking after several attempts, repetition is key I suppose. I’ve gone through Tae Kim’s pages up to 60 three times, where transitive verbs start, and on the 3rd read through it all makes so much more sense (mostly the particles and conjugation). Hoping the transitive stuff follows next, because that seems tricky now

13. If I want to say stop doing something, like “I stopped eating”, what are the differences between 止める（とめる）、止まる、休む、and やめる?

14. Can anyone recommend free online reading material with furigana?
    It doesn’t have to be targeted at learners, just something that I can read for half an hour or more each day.

    Thanks in advance!

15. How does this sound:

    > どの日本の箴言が暮らし方を変えましたか。

    Which Japanese proverbs have changed the way you live?

    Is there a better way to say this…

16. 9回失敗しないと１回成功しない

    How does one translate this sentence? Whenever you fail 9 times, you don’t fail 1?

    Thz

17. I’ve recently started learning Japanese and only know few words and even less hirigana. I’ve seen somewhere that when you learn the language you want to refrain from:

    1. translating directly to english
    2. using romanji

    How would you do this? I’m a native English speaker and am doing this as a self learner.

18. 　Hello, can someone please explain the 慌てぶりもどこ吹く風 part in 僕の慌てぶりもどこ吹く風、風呂場からはのんきなシノアキの声がする。

    Isn’t 慌てぶり and どこ吹く風 opposite meanings? As I understand it he is in a flustered state and also not bothered.

19. JLPT N4 in 5 months realistic?

    I just got to know they started having JLPT tests in my country and it got me excited! I’ve studied Japanese on and off for fun, but its been a while now and I’ve forgotten a lot so its almost like I’m fresh. I know Hiragana, katakana and *used* to know about 200 kanji’s, but understand listening/spoken japanese better than reading or writing.I did the mini pratice test on the JLPT site for JLPT 5, got 12/15 .

    Is N4 realistic goal for taking the test in 5 months from now?My end goal is higher, but I want to be able to pass at least. This is with studying about 5+ hours a week ish.I used to use Wanikani and Japanesepod101, but not sure if they are good still. Any tips or study plan suggestions welcome!

20. > ルフィさんはそこまでして海に出て何をするんですか？

    I understand the question but I don’t quite understand the exact role of して. Does it jut connect そこまで and 海, signalling that it has something do with going that far on the sea?

21. Is there a difference between 直ちに and 直ぐに, or are they interchangeable?