Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (June 19, 2022)

30 comments

1. What’s the difference when you say さin the end of the sentence?
   (and when you dont)

2. When working on learning kanji, is it usually recommended to focus on just connecting characters to concepts (for example 火 and “fire”) and leave learning readings for when you encounter that kanji in a word, or is it better to go ahead and try to learn the readings immediately as you learn the characters? Or is it more or less a personal preference?

3. Can I get some help figuring out what 見られてます means in this context?

   …なんでしょう
   すごく
   すごく
   すごく
   見られてます。。。！

   Context: Character A is thinking the above while character B is staring around like she has something to say to A. My guess is something along the lines of either “What is it that [she] really really really wants (me maybe) `to see?” or “Why does she really really really want to be seen?”

4. if japanese has a character for “v” being “ヴ” why do they still usually use “b” as a substitute

   for example like in pokemon eevee’s japanese name is イーブイ which is romanized as eievui, so like why isn’t it イーヴイ

5. 「紬、男の子はひと夏の冒険という**のに**憧れる生き物なのよ」

   「新しい出会い、経験、そういうのを欲しているの」

   Which のに is this? or is というのに? Or is it 夏の冒険という + のに

   Thanks

6. How do you say “Based on what I read so far…”? これまでを読む限りでは? I am writing 感想 for a certain book.

7. Sometimes expressions are marked as “usually kana” in JMDict. Would you strictly keep those words in kana when mining or include the kanji as well? How would you deal with a somewhat reversed situation where your reading material writes in kana but JMDict didn’t mark it as “usually kana”?

   I can see benefits of strictly following the source, and strictly following JMDict. I can’t really decide how to approach these cases. How are you handling those cases?

8. how would you translate “to be fair,” or “in all fairness,” to japanese if at all? i assume there’s no direct translation, but i’m curious how you’d convey this sentiment.

   for example, when arguing in someone’s favor: “**to be fair**, there’s no way he could have known we weren’t allowed to swim past 11. the sign by the pool has almost completely faded!”

9. What is the difference between these two sentences?

   職場が人手不足すぎて毎日が全力だったから疲れてきてしまった。

   職場が人手不足すぎて毎日が全力だったから疲れてしまった。

10. 俺たちは並んで、ぼんやりと街を眺める。秋の空は怖いくらいに広く、青い。

    「…………」

    昨日の事、切り出さなきゃな、と思うんだけど。切り出す**には**、距離がちょっと遠い。昔はこうじゃなかった。

    Could I ask about 切り出すには、距離がちょっと遠い。

    Not too sure what the sentence means or the role of には

11. I just learned the conditional with と and the structure for when … with とき.
    I have to choose between this two in an exercise but I’m a bit confused.

    The sentence is お酒　{飲むとき、飲むと｝，車を｛運転するとき、運転すると｝，危ないです。

    I chose 飲むときand 運転すると but still I’m not sure about it. These two structures sound very similar to me (the meaning).

12. ＞子供たちの手前、父親がこんな酔っ払った姿で帰宅しては体裁が悪い

    Who is the speaker here, probably? The wife?

    Wife to husband: It’s going to look bad to the kids if you show up to the house drunk.

13. Hi, according to duolingo, when i ask for ex. water, i have to use お at the beginning of sentence (お水を下さい). I dont understand why or when to do that though. Also can you suggest other apps to use as well while learning japanese?

14. Could someone please explain how the three sentences below differ in meaning or nuance. The context is that the speaker is agreeing to pay a ransom to kidnappers herself. The first is what was actually said. The second and third are made up by me.

    1. あたしが出そうじゃないの
    2. あたしが出す
    3. あたしがだそうじゃないか

    Thanks

15. で なんて書いてあるんだ？

    はあ

    今晩折り入って話したいことがあるから

    我が元を訪ねられた**し** と

    What does し mean on the last line.

16. Anyone knows where to find japanese subs for ODDTAXI? (kitsuneko and google didnt help)

17. Context: Someone is trying to shoot お兄さん with an arrow

    あやや お兄さんが狙われとる

    お兄さん 逃げな当たるえ

    Can someone explain to me the grammar on the second line? I feel that there should be a いと after 逃げな. Is it a dialect thing? The speaker didn’t sound like she was speaking the usual japanese.

18. Can you guys point at a object in your near vicinity and know the name of it in Japanese, like every object in your living room?
    Or, let’s say you’re struggling with a sentence in Japanese, could you personally survive by using “cave man speak” and just say “Restaurant. Eat. Where? Thanks”?

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20. What should I be doing along side WaniKani? I’m really enjoying it so far and I have a nice routine down now, but I still have at least a few hours of free time a day after it. I feel like I am wasting a lot of valuable time.

    I would prefer something done on the PC or Phone instead of physical like a work or textbook. I’ve heard the vocabulary the WK teaches you is poor in that a good chunk of it is uncommon or rarely used. So maybe that? I’m not really looking to stay or visit Japan, at least any time soon, and my main focus is to be able to play Japanese video games and VN’s.

21. Is is rude to say まぁ or じゃあ？ I was told by a person that when I was thinking a bit when introducing myself. I thought they were just filler words?

22. How do you know when to use いらっしゃいます　vs　ございます. I know they can both mean “to be”, but I cannot seem to understand when each one is used.

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24. I was playing Chrono Trigger and I came across a sentence my study buddy and I were stumped by. It goes:
    あそこに出るゆうれいにゃ、剣やガンなどの物理攻撃はききやしねえ。。。
    Context: the character is warning the players about an upcoming area and the monsters inside.
    It’s mainly the first bit that has me scratching my head. The English version of the game says something like “The monsters there aren’t affected by things like guns and swords.” and as I’m playing I’m realizing the English version is good but does leave me confused sometimes, haha. Thanks so much!

25. Why is it right only when I choose the answer that has the katakana for the number 1 rather than the answer that has the actual symbol for the number 1? I don’t understand why the latter is wrong when it’s the same thing in addition to being the actual number.

    https://imgur.com/D2tpQoz.jpg

    https://imgur.com/gMXOvyc.jpg

    *Sometimes it ONLY gives me the SYMBOL as a choice rather than the number spelled out in katakana and in those instances the symbol is right. I don’t get it.

26. 私はコーヒーを飲みます。

    Is this read as “I drink coffee” or “I will drink coffee”

    Is there something I can add before コーヒー to clarify?

27. Got a question I’m confused on.

    I have to translate the following sentence into japanese.

    “Ms Tanaka is 20 years old”

    So naturally I came to the conclusion that it’s たなかさんはにじゅうさいです

    But the answer I got was たなかさんははたちです

    What exactly is はたち and is my answer wrong?

28. Can someone help me out on the proper spelling in romanji? Ueno ko eowa doku desu ka? – where is Ueno park?

29. what’s the difference between 衣服 and 服? thank you.

30. New account so I can’t make a post, but how should I say “to belong somewhere”, as in “you belong in the zoo”?

    Different from material possession, so I wouldn’t use 所属 or 所有. Another translation could be “you deserve to (be in)…”.