Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (July 06, 2022)

22 comments

1. From Liar Game ch 54, Yokoya got unexpected response from Akiyama and is now reconsidering his strategy https://imgur.com/a/5mQkMx6

   > ゲームは終盤様子見でみすみす一手遅らせるのは命取りになる

   What does 一手遅らせる mean here? I know that 一手 means one turn and 遅らせる means “to delay.” But I am not sure about the object for 遅らせる (ie. what is X in Xを遅らせる). “Force enemy to be delayed by one move”?

2. What is the function of both なんて in the sentence

   > 海賊王なんてこの大海賊時代の頂点に立つなんて

   I get what the sentence means as a whole. Something along the lines of “The pirate king stands atop the great pirate era.” Would the sentence convey a different feeling if you were to omit both なんて? I guess the first one is supposed to mean “someone like” and the second one “something like”.

3. What is the difference between 家[いえ] and うち?

4. I was today years old when I learned that neither アマテラス nor スサノオ were words specifically made up for Naruto but are actually a big part of Japan’s history. Interesting.

5. Question about 一通り / ひととおり. I sometimes get confused which meaning to apply.

   Context: two guys, trying to solve a case, come across a sighting-seeing website and they are trying to figure out the login password to see if it’s related to their case.

   >A: このサイトには 何か意味があるはずだ
   >
   >B: でも ただの 観光地の写真ばっかだね
   >
   >A: 何か手がかりがないかキーワードを ひととおり試してみたが…

   一通り can mean:

   * (in) general, broad (e.g. knowledge), the basics
   * ordinary, usual, common
   * briefly, roughly
   * one method

   Does キーワードを ひととおり試してみたが… mean “I tried the usual/common keywords but … ” or “I briefly made an attempt at trying keywords but … “?

   In other situations, I sometimes get the feeling from 一通り that it means “going all way the through one method from the beginning to the end, like traveling down one particular road”, so maybe this translation is more appropriate instead?

   “I tried running through all the usual keywords but … “

6. インフルエンザにかかり光熱が出た.

   What does the にかかり do here? I have been googling but nothing comes up. Thank you in advance!

7. Does anyone have any advice on how I can deeper my understanding of the word 前提? I have been studying Japanese for a number of years but this word continues to elude me and I can never guess which meaning is being used whenever I come across it in the wild.

   condition
   assumption,
   prerequisite
   hypothesis
   intention,
   premise (in logic)

   These are completely different words in English
   Which meaning is being used below!

   生きるに値しない命というものがあるのか。それは、何かすごく、世の中の前提が崩れてきてるっていう気がしています」

8. I have been learning Japanese for a year now and I have troubles on keeping up and review the old vocabulary. I have tried anki but it feels more like a last minute solution. Any tips on study and revising vocabulary more effectively?

9. 皇子の命の代償としてはいささか少なくはあるが―収めてくれ

   “This is insufficient compensation for saving the price’s life, however please accept”

   However I struggle with understanding why いささか and 少なく are both used and how exactly they fit into the sentence. Is いささか modifying 少なく to further stress how insufficient and small the compensation is?

10. 私はiPhoneを水の中に落としてしまわないかすごく怖かったです。

    Question: About ~しまわないか, can someone please explain how it functions in this case, particularly the か because I know the ~しまう verb, and しまわない would be in its plain negative form right? but what is か exactly doing here?

11. how do you break down「どの面下げて」?

    when I tried to understand it
    in my mind it’s something like (when referring to self) “which mask do you think I have down?”
    or when I think of it in english its like “who do you think I am?” or “what do you take me for?”

    searching it in jisho, it says
    >how could I (you, etc.) …?; how dare you (they, etc.) …; how can you have the nerve to …?

    I’m a bit lost (it’s not in wiktionary)

12. What does ‘zeha’ means? keeps hearing it during the weather report.

    Googling brings nothing, maybe spelling is wrong here.

13. Are there any popular resources for studying N3 and N2 grammar? I am aware of the Shin Kanzen series but I do not know of any others.

14. Why would a 〜 be used in a name? I saw the name みな written like み〜な in some credits and haven’t come across this usage before. Is it the same as it being written as ミーナ?

15. In English you can refer to anyone as “My Friend”. For example “How are you my friend” or “My friend, what is this?”.

    Does Japanese have something similar both in language and also culturally?

16. お〜する
    I humbly do, I am obliged to do, humble speech

    お + Verb［ますSTEM］+ する

    I will wait in front of the station.

    Correct:
    駅の前でおまちいたします。

    Wrong:
    駅の前でおまちします。

    What is いた doing in the first sentence?

17. GIRL：義明も悪だね～

    Boy：お前に言われたかねーぜ

    So it is hard for me to understand what the boy said (after they did bad thing together)

    Someone told me it is translate to “You’re the last person I want to hear that from” ,but not sure how.
    Is 言われたかね a weird slang of 言われたくない or something?

18. How could I say “I’m not good at receiving compliments”.
    The only phrasing coming to mind is “私は誉めの言葉をもらってあまりよくないです”
    I don’t know if thia would be considered a beginner level question but I am a first time poster( ´∀`).

19. This sentence talks about using magnet to damage a credit card (by erasing its data)

    > 見た目には全くわからない状態で破損させる

    I am not sure about the に after 見た目. Does it go with the causative verb 破損させる?

20. I keep remembering this phrase and I cant find it again. Something like “kokkikenyo” I think I heard it from an ASMR artist, but I can’t get any results on jisho typing in possible variations.

21. 私は九時ごろに喫茶店で日本語を勉強します。

    Is this correct as “I will study Japanese in the/a coffee shop around 10”. Could I add「午前」to specify 10 in the morning?

    More importantly is the order of noun + particle correct?

22. I went to buy an inexpensive dictionary, but there were no good ones. <– For this sentence would I use が or でも for the “but”? I know でも is typically a “but” at the beginning of a sentence and が is the middle of it. Would both work, with でも just having the sentences separate from each other? Thank you