Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (April 16, 2023)

27 comments

1. 「とびらのところにきてみると、あの小さな金色の鍵をわすれてきたの**に**気がついたのです。」

   Why is に used here instead of が？I haven’t seen 気がつく used with に before

2. What does “ことが” mean in a sentence?

   I learned its function via I’ve done something before
   これを見たことがある.

   But for this sentence: Do you like me?: 私のことが好きですか ?

   It also uses ことが so I was wondering what it means and what are some sentences that you could incorporate it in?

   Also If I used は instead of の prior to 私 would it still mean the same thing?

3. I have a question about “Onegaishimasu”

   I know it from the phrase “yoroshiku onegaishimasu” but I’m watching Terrace House on Netflix and I sometimes hear “onegaishimasu” used by itself. For example, two people are planning a lunch date. Person A says, “I’ll let you know when I find a place to eat” and Person B replies, “Onegaishimasu” and Netflix translates it as, “Okay, thank you.”

   So can this phrase be used as a replacement for thank you or is there some other meaning that’s getting changed in translation? All my Googling about it only discusses it in conjunction with yoroshiku

4. With the textbook “TRY! N4” it seems to be important wether you have the 7th printing or not. I’m assuming my copy is not the dreaded “7th printing” as it’s fairly old, but I can’t find any printing information/indicia anywhere.

   ​

   a) what’s the deal with the 7th printing?

   ​

   b) how do I tell which printing I have?

   ​

   Thanks

5. I’m moving through the genki II textbook quite slowly as my time for study is extremely limited between various responsibilities and also vocab reviews and reading/listening practice; I’m talking 1 hour a day at most

   Thus far I’ve been doing the exercises in written form but my pace is so slow that I’m wondering if I should just try to do them “orally” and go through the textbook faster instead of spending so much time with each exercise. This will severely limit my writing ability obviously but I don’t really plan on moving to Japan in the near future so I’m wondering what good is it for me to learn how to write; I have no real “need” for it other than the desire to be able to do it.

   What would you suggest? I want to finish this textbook sooner rather than later but it is still elementary writing that I could be doing

6. How come in some media, a word that has a kanji isn’t used in its kanji form but instead just hiragana? Was listening to a song and reading along the lyrics and こころ even though it has a kanji it was used just like that.

7. Mini rant: two syllable kango words especially those composed of some pair of しょう、しゅう、ちゅう、ちょう are so hard to keep straight!

8. What’s the use of に in this sentence? It feels like it makes sense with it there, but I’d like to know why. Maybe I’m overthinking it since it might just be a simple usage I haven’t seen before, but it seems like it’s meant to mark the place for the action 見る, but I’m not sure.

   企業組織が自主的に環境保全行動に取り組むために作られたシステム

   最近よく見るだろう

   市販の製品**に**

   kyマークは刻印されているのを

   Also, I’m having trouble with the meaning of での here

   アメリカの犯罪心理学での専門用語だ‌

9. NHKTVでピタゴラスイッチを見て, 語り手は[つまり、グウダ]を話します。何ですか。

   1. Can you you correct my grammar on that question above?
   2. If the question didn’t make sense, I tried to say “On NHK TV when watching Pitagora Suichi, the narrator says ‘tsumari, guuda’. What is that?

   He always says it at the end. I think it’s just the use of English “good” in Japanese and tsumari means “well then”. そうですか。

10. What nuance has the verb 求める？I always see it translated as “to want”, but the dictionary says it’s something like “to request”.

11. Can someone break down this sentence and explain how it means “I didn’t expect such a sudden change.”?
    ここまで急変するとはな

12. Is 「かわいそう」insulting or rude to use? My boyfriend’s mom sent a video of his nephew crying over something silly, and I wanted to reply something like “poor baby” without sounding rude.

13. For: みっつめのえき (third station)

    Why is there a め? If I hadn’t heard this I would’ve understood it because みっつ means three things. But the め threw it off for me

14. Are there any communities for language exchanges anyone has found and recommend? Maybe on Discord or the like? I have seen sites like HelloTalk and Tandem but am kind of nervous about making an account on them.

15. Those who successfully self study form quartet, how do you deal with the reading section?

    After lesson 4 I find it way more difficult than any other part of the book. The lack of furigana makes it very slow to look up unknown kanji. Even if its in the booklet next to it, and totally breaks to flow of reading / understanding a sentence.

    My best approach so far is to ocr it with google lens, and use yomichan to understand once its digital. Which sometimes needs extra editing since vertical text throws off google len’s ocr a lot. Also there is nothing more demoralizing than starting a chapter with 2-3 hour of struggle.

16. Hello!

    I’m very beginner, but is there a good rule to learn wa/ha?
    ko n ba n wa is written in roman like this, but written as こんばんは

    In german for example, there is ‘seit/seid’ and a sick rule is anything with Time (T) its written as SEIT (ich bin zuhause seit gestern//im home since yesterday). If its not time related, you’d write it with as Seid (D)

    Is there a similar trick for wa/ha?

17. ‘もしかして、気使われてる？’

    ‘Could you be trying to make me feel better?’

    I don’t understand how ‘気使われてる’ translates to ‘trying to make me feel better’. I thought it might be a set phrase but couldn’t find it in a dictionary. Can someone break it down in a way the makes more sense?

18. ‘おお、サトシ。そろそろ一報吉報ありとふんどった所だ’

    ‘Oh Satoshi. It’s about time. You must be bringing me some good news.’

    ‘ふんどった’? I couldn’t find any verb like that in a dictionary. Any idea what it is?

19. Is there a Japanese saying / set phrase about loving something more than 3 meals a day? I’ve only heard it twice but it was so specific I thought it might be.

20. As it turns put, understanding what people are saying helps output. 😂

    This week I’ve been in VRChat for the first time since fixing my audio comprehension issues, and the difference has been like night and day. ;-; I’ve been able to follow more convos. My responses are quicker and more fluid. I’m used to just floating in a sea of gibberish and struggling to find my words, so this has been a huge morale boost.

21. What is the verb you would use to say something like “I believe” or “I’m sure”, in a context like “I’m sure yours is also good” or “I believe yours is good too”. Would it be 信じる?

    For more context, let’s say someone gives you a compliment on something and you have a belief they are also good (and deserving of the same compliment). And your goal is to say “I think your X is also adjective”. I’m thinking I could say something like “name の X は adjective 信じている”.

    Does that make sense or am I way off base here?

22. I am having one of those weeks when I feel like my Japanese absolutely sucks.

    Some weeks I feel like I am really on the top of it, really improving and I appreciate the progress that I have made (I have been able to progress from N4 to N2 in less than 4 years whilst working a full time long hours office job in a non-native language).

    Today however I feel really deflated. I had a weekly lesson with my teacher and I momentarily forgot how to read the word 女性 and it made me a bit upset.

    I know that I am doing my best and learning at my own pace but sometimes it seems so hard to continue improving when life is so busy.

    Any words of encouragement would be very much welcomed.

23. 少しの間

    かん？あいだ？Just wanna make sure

24. Whatsup guys, I’ve been trying to learn the difference between two interpretations of the word “midnight” in Japanese. One of them is “Mayonaka” and the other is just “Yonaka”

    It’d be really helpful if someone could distinguish them for me thanks

25. I was watching a livestream, so the japanese subtitles were auto generated. But I heard them say Watashi, Atash’tachi and watakushi.

    I know what all these mean, but I was surprised when each time it was the 私 kanji being used. Is the difference in watashi, atashi, and watakushi only a spoken difference? Is it all written the same? Since the subtitles were auto generated the accuracy is hit or miss.

26. I found this in a sentence不審げな. Tried to look it up in jisho. Only ふしん part comes up. Serached the whole thing on google. found this definitin. I am still getting uesd to monolingual explanaitons. Is my understanding correct that this says げ is used to express the the current state state or feeling of the speaker. and the whole expression means being in the state of doubt.

    怪しい、不審だ、と考えている様子。 「げ」は様子や感じを表す語

27. Hello! I’m a total beginner, have been watching a lot of Japanese content and would love to be learning a little alongside.

    I just wondered if anyone has tried using the ‘Japanese from Zero’ textbook/training materials and if they’re any good?