Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (May 23, 2023)

17 comments

1. I’m reading “Unlocking Japanese” by Cure Dolly, as well as making my way through their “Japanese from scratch” series and was wondering: Does any one know of some good work sheets or exercises I could use as I go?

2. I am reading a book about woman named サエコ who discovers she is pregnant.

   > サエコが大学に入った年はどういうわけかお嬢さまがもてはやされていて、それにあっけなく賛同したサエコにかっての反抗の記憶は邪魔でしかなかった。

   I was wondering, why is her 反抗 (rebellious nature?) a hindrance in this context? And what does it mean that お嬢さま are getting 持てはやす? How can a young lady become popular? Isn’t being young (like of college age) always in style?

3. Japanese kanji modification is extensive but are there rules to it? Like how every word/kanji that ends in suru is a verb that means
   “to do XXX” and other patterns, so what are the guidelines for kanji?

4. For this sentence: シマエナガは日本では北海道だけにいる野鳥です。

   What does the second は do gramatically? The first は already marking the topic (シマエナガ) throws me off.

5. I was wondering about this:

   > 下敷きが一枚入るくらいのカバンを持って

   Context: Someone is remembering their school days.

   I was wondering, this seems to be like, the bag is about big enough to store a single 下敷き, but then I would think that 入る would be in potential form perhaps?

6. Is [https://www.gavo.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ojad/phrasing/index](https://www.gavo.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ojad/phrasing/index) an accurate resource to check readings in order to tell wether something is used as a prefix/suffix instead of an ordinary noun?

7. Naniyori vs naniyorimo

   What are the differences and,if there are,in what situation should I use one over the other?

8. I’ve just started using Anki and added the all in one kanji deck. It starts from n5 but I want to learn only n3 and n2 kanji, how do I do that?

9. Does Japanese ever use 捲 or is it only 巻?

10. Are these two interchangeable: 夕飯 and 夕食? Or is there some nuance that I’m missing out? From a simple jisho search the latter seems to be used in other vocabulary, while the former isn’t

11. Two questions in my workbook

    which sentence is correct usage of 遅刻

    1)授業に遅刻してすみません

    2)１０時の電車に遅刻してしまいました

    3) 連絡が遅刻してすみません

    I marked the 2nd answer to be correct but the answer in my workbook says the first one is correct? I feel like all the sentences here are correct, I don’t really know if there’s a specific context for using the word 遅刻

    Next question

    もっと丁寧に書いてください

    If I have to replace 丁寧 with another word such that the meaning stays the same, the answer in my workbook is もっと太く書いてください but I chose the other option that was wrong もっと簡単に書いてください

    I do not know how that answer is right? And why my answer is wrong

    Btw, I’m self studying so any help is much appreciated, Thank you 🙂

12. Lately I’ve been trying to practice speaking more and have set up a lot of parties and stuff on Tandem and 1on1 calls with native speakers but I feel like its somehow getting worse 🙁 should I keep speaking as much as possible and wait for a “eureka” moment or am I doing something wrong?

13. Is there any difference between 犯人 and 犯罪者 worth knowing? Does 犯人 refer to a specific crime maybe?

14. Could someone who lives in Japan help help me understand the following article. I am having difficulties understanding this. I am not versed in economics or politics, and I didn’t live in Japan l, which is making it harder to understand the situation

    一方、個人と企業が労使折半で拠出するケースが多い社会保険料への上乗せで、財源の一部を確保する案について、政府関係者の1人は「少子化が進めば、社会保険制度や企業活動も維持が難しくなるわけで、理解が得られやすいのではないか」と話しています。

    What does it mean by the first sentence? How exactly do they plan to raise funds for their 少子化対策 by increasing social insurance fees?

    Also, it says that there are cases where people and companies splits the expenditure evenly? What does that mean and how does it relate to the 少子化問題？

    https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20230523/k10014076061000.html

15. So I’ve started relatively recently on Japanese – I’ve been going for maybe a month and a half now, started on Duolingo and then moving to wanikani, and planning to start bunpro soon. While I’m doing okay with wanikani, I think something that would really help me at this point is some reading material to internalize the kanji/vocab I have learned thus far in context. However, given how new I am, it would have to be pretty simple for me to have any kind of hold on it. Is there any reading material folks would recommend for this purpose? Or do I need to spend more time developing my grammar/vocab before that becomes feasible?

16. I noticed that in speech r-kana gets simplified down to ん when followed by n-kana ex. 分からないー＞分かんない

    But I also heard するなー＞すん. Context: 馬鹿にすんじゃねえよ。

    What’s the rule for this simplification?

    Also, what’s the purpose of じゃねえ in the example sentence? I assume it’s colloquial for じゃない but it seems unnecessary if you’re trying to say “don’t be stupid!”. Couldn’t you just say 「馬鹿にすんよ」？

17. I’m working on grammar with Tobira “Grammar
    power”, currently on particles. There’s this sentence: “このワインは、クランベリー(insert correct particle)できている”

    The book’s answer key says から is correct here, however, I struggle to understand why it’s not で As I’ve understood で can be used to mark the means by why an action is completed (like 日本には木でできた家が多い). What is the difference here?