Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (July 28, 2023)

21 comments

1. Why was「証拠」necessary here?

   https://i.imgur.com/eY9sdli.png

   Is it because it’s not just a trace of what happened but also a trace of his “crime”?

2. I’m looking for a Anki deck that shows the letters in romaji first so I can practice writing the letters from memory. A plus if the answer side also shows the stroke order. I always found this one of the hardest steps with self studies.

3. When is “datta” (was) used instead of other ways of expressing past events?

   I was eating = boku wa tabete ita

   I was eating = meshi datta

   I was having a bad dream = boku wa hidoi yume wo mite ita

   I was having a bad dream = hidoi yume datta

4. This sentence appeared in COTE.

   勉強を嫌う須藤をバカにしたくなる気持ちも分からないじゃない。

   He is saying he doesn’t understand why she would want to make fun of him, right? Or is it that he does understand why she would want to.

5. ように感じる vs ように思う vs ような気がする

   1. interchageble use?
   2. what if i accidentally say　よう**な**感じる

6. I’m trying to practice the pronunciation for ん and having trouble confirming if I’m doing things right on my own. Two cases that are especially tough are:

   * ん followed by a vowel, fricative, or approximant (as per Dogen’s video) [ĩ]: this is just hard in general to believe I’m doing properly… is the best way just to try to nasalize the vowel before? Or I think in another video I remember explaining turning the ん into an ĩ or ẽ depending on the sound after the ん but I might be mistaken.
   * ん followed by nothing [N]: Is the *g* part of *ng* from the uvular touch supposed to be as light as possible? I find it especially hard when trying to say things faster to avoid making the g sound too noticeable, e.g. 千円 sounds very much like [seĩeng] :/ Though words other than 千円 I find easier to lighten up on the g

   Any feedback on the above observations or tips on improving would be much appreciated, thanks in advance

7. context: guy explaining that if people want to express something in the past in his language then using this “ONE” will do the job.

   When I am reading this, i can’t “feel” the second sentence. probably because i can’t understand how 際に translates in this sentence here..

   (this part i can read fine) 過去に起こったことを説明する (but here idk if i should connect the two clauses? i sound unnatural?) **際にネイティブは多用！**

   際に: in case of, at this time..

   これ１つで代用できる！　過去に起こったことを説明する**際にネイティブは多用！**

   translation: you can use this one! Native speakers often use it to explain past events

8. Quick question: is there a way to say “they would say.. or, my parents would say…” clauses like such at the BEGINNING of the sentence?

   do we use と言って? usually this quoting device is placed at the end of the sentence though..

   i.e: my parents would say… when you grow up then you will understand…

   translation: 　(…..)　大きくなったらようになるよ…

   how would you fill the gap here?

9. can anyone translate(with proper context) these japanese city pop lyrics?

   Dancing rhythm ni nori

   Koi o wasureru tame

   nothing comes up for ni nori(that makes sense anyways)

10. I’ve been doing WaniKani for a while (around level 22 last I checked), and I decided to finally branch out towards other things. I already read through Genki ages ago (was literally the first thing I did), but due to forgetting pretty much all of it because of a huge break I took I’m currently starting Japanese: The Spoken Language to get another perspective on grammar.

    In addition to those things, I’d like to actually start reading some actual text in the wild because I feel like getting actual written context is important for remembering what I’m learning. I heard that よつばと！ is good reading for a newbie and it seems pretty fun, so I figured it’d be a good place to start.

    My issue is that reading is really kind of a lot right off the bat. There’s a ton of grammar I’m still not familiar with, like when people talk casually for example that alone can stray from textbooks even without it being a complex topic, but even moreso there are just so many dang words I still don’t know.

    Obviously that’s normal. However, I’m curious how people generally recommend approaching this. Would you recommend searching every single word I don’t know, staying on a single text bubble until I’m pretty darn sure about what it means, or maybe just kinda coasting along trying to glean meaning from context? Or somewhere in-between?

11. I saw this sentence, said by a referee to the participants:

    私は立会人をつとめさせていただきます

    Which I’m interpreting as “I’ll serve as the observer/referee”. However, I’m trying to make sense of this construct of [Verb causative] + て + もらう/いただく as a way to make this sentence formal or humble, instead of a simpler つとめます/おつとめします. This is my hunch: this sentence gives an idea that the participants addressed by this person are letting him (causative) serve as the referee, and てもらう/いただく gives an idea of favor/privilege, adding to the politeness. Is this right?

12. in 出口日語 sensei’s video titled【Ｎ４文法】受身形, at 03:19, he says that “教えられる” (the passive form of 教え) can’t really be used. I’m wondering why this is? because i imagine it’s pretty common whenever you create a sentence that’s

    “i was taught by someone to do it like this” or

    “I was told by someone that this would happen.”

13. > お母さんには最初の一杯目をプレゼント

    Does 一杯目(め) mean “the first cup”? If so, why? I don’t understand how you go from 一杯 and 目 to that.

14. Any listening resource with sentences read in Japanese and then English?

15. I’m not sure if this is an appropriate question for this sub. I was listening to the song A.M. 3:21 by yama. To me it sounds like she is pronouncing the phrase 悪い as wa’lu’i.

    I’m still a complete beginner but I was under the impression that the ‘l’ sound doesn’t really exist in Japanese. Further, from what I’ve seen, ‘lu’ would be pronounced as ‘ru’ usually. But in this case it sounds like the opposite is happening? Am I hearing it wrong? Is there some actually reason for this or is it just to make the song sound in a certain way.

16. For context: Trying to post a short list of some of my favorite things (like anime, games, etc.）

    I’m trying to say something like “these are(just impying rather than specifically stating “these are”) my favorite things” and came up with

    私の一番気に入るやつら but I’m pretty unsure of it. Does 一番 specifically have to refer to one thing (in this case my favorite thing of its category), or would it be appropriate here since it’s a list of my top favorite things? Also not sure whether やつら is alright to use or not here.

17. Is it どこに行くの or どこへ行くの?
    ChatGPT said both are correct but didn’t explain the difference well

18. https://youtu.be/iM2OseltIBQ i was watching thise video here, and at a certain point I heard 目を離したすきに

    I know the meaning. The only thing that’s puzzling me is the すきに. I suppose is similar to 時, but what are the differences?

    I tried searching it in google, but all the results talked about the 好き　嫌い grammar point.

19. **けどまあ、俺が振っといて何だけど、難しい話ではあるよなぁ。**
    **There’s 1 part which I’m not sure about its meaning, hope someone could explain to me its correct meaning. (my guess but not sure: “Well, though I’m the one who asked them this question, gotta admit this is a difficult one to answer.” )**

    ***Context: MC is a squad leader and he’s asking 2 of his subordinates about their desired salary/ allowance. But these 2 girls are hesitate and don’t want to tell him their desired number right away.***

    ***Since MC has been isekai’d , he doesn’t know about the average salary/ income or terminologies of this world(similar to JP Sengoku era).***

    ***Also when MC was teleported into this world, he fell down from the sky >> so people of this world thought he’s a holy being who descended from the Heaven.***

    Koroko「参考までにひよ、今までどのくらいもらってたの？」

    Hiyoko「……ちょっと耳貸して」

    「剣丞さまは聞いちゃダメですよ！」

    MC「あ……ああ」

    むしろそれを参考額にしたかったんだけど……。

    Hiyoko「ええっと……ごにょごにょごにょ……」

    Koroko「うわ、結構もらってるじゃない」

    Hiyoko「そうなんだよぅ。私としてはこれで十分なんだけど、そう言うと剣丞さまが納得しそうにないし……」

    「この額にしちゃうと、他の隊のみんなからは不満が出るよねぇ？」

    Koroko「うん……たぶん」

    Hiyoko「そういうころちゃんだって、野武士で収入って結構あったんじゃないの？」

    Koroko「そりゃまあ、一時期は川絡みの仕事とか、戦以外でもそこそこ収入はあったけど……」

    Hiyoko「どのくらい？私も言ったんだから、ころちゃんも言わないとダメだよ？」

    Koroko「じゃあひよ、耳貸して」

    「剣丞さま！聞き耳立てちゃダメですからね！」

    MC「わ、わかってるよ……」

    Koroko「ええっと…………ぽしょぽしょぽしょ……」

    Hiyoko「ちょ！？これだったら、別に仕官しなくても……！」

    Koroko「だって、仕官って夢だったんだもん。

    最近は、稼ぎも落ちてきてたし……。だから、お給金はそんなに言うつもりは無いんだけど……」

    Hiyoko「でも安く言っちゃうと、隊のみんなが生活出来ないし」

    Koroko「だからって高く言うのも、何か悪いよねぇ……」

    Hiyoko「そうなんだよぅ……。いくら剣丞さまが知らないからって、だましてるみたいで気が引けるよ……」

    ……正直、金額以外は丸聞こえなんだよな。

    **けどまあ、俺が振っといて何だけど、難しい話ではあるよなぁ。(>> I don’t understand this part, especially at 俺が振っといて何だけど )**

    安く言えば生活出来ないし、かといってふっかけても相場を知らない俺につけ込んでるように思えちゃう……か。

20. So I recently started Wanikani, and I’ve made enough progress to start learning kanji. However, I’ve realized that I am probably going to need kana to make any more progress.

    Is there any site like Wanikani but for kana? Specifically the site teaching you something, you having to type in what the site taught you and spaced repetition learning? Things like Anki just don’t work for me.

21. I’m very new to learning Japanese, so sorry for the stupid questions!

    1. When can you omit ですか？
    1. For example, you can say お名前は？ instead of お名前はなんですか？So, when can ですか？ be omitted? Just like the pronoun if it can be inferred through context? Is the construction just [thing]は?
    2. What is 出身？
    1. The dictionary says it’s a noun, literally meaning “one’s origin,” but in a sentence like アメリカ出身です。 I’m confused. Why isn’t there a は between アメリカ (what I assume to be the topic), and 出身? Wouldn’t it literally be “America is (my) place of origin? Is “America” not the topic?
    3. Could someone break down ”アメリカに住んでいます.” I’m familiar with linguistics and learning other languages, so be as specific as you want. From what I understand, “に” here is a particle for location, and ”ます” is the verb ending. What’s でい? Also part of the verb? I haven’t learned much about verbs yet, but I’m getting there. Or is ”住んでいます” just all part of the verb? What tense/conjugation?

    Sorry for all the long, beginner questions. If you could answer even just one, I’d be very grateful!