Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (July 20, 2022)

19 comments

1. Question about language used in a manga. Sorry, I can’t ask people I know in real life because of this.

   A narration panel reads: 暗黒豆◯ば留美子, and it narrates a flashback panel illustrating Rumiko asking a new couple whether they have kissed.

   The furigana is as expected: あんこくまめ, but I can’t figure out what the missing character/word is in the ◯. I looked in the dictionary and can’t really come up with any ideas. Also, from context, I haven’t got a clue what this narration panel means.

   Any ideas? Thank you.

2. If 敵 means “opponent” why would 不敵 mean something like “daring; fearless; intrepid; bold; tough​”

   Wouldn’t 不敵 be like, maybe your friend or something?

3. [removed]

4. 「なあ、恵梨香、おまえのお父さんは、なにをやってる人なんだ？ あんなに大きなマンションに住んでて、別荘も持っててすごい人だよな 」
   「ううんすごい人ではないよ！全然！ただの実業家なんだよ！ 」

   From context, すごい人 obviously means something like “rich person”, but I’m a bit surprised, because すごい is listed as “amazing, terrific, etc”. Without context, I would have guessed that it would mean “amazing person” as in a complementing their character. Is this some sort of slang?

5. I’ve recently started, I’ve reached the early stages of the 2k/6k core Anki cards, which I believe many people are familiar with. Does that set ever cover interjections? I was trying to read something, but my searches didn’t come up with anything. Had to ask someone else, and they mentioned it was an interjection, I was then able to find something on it. I get what it means now, but it was unclear and felt hard to find info on without prior knowledge.

   For context, it was written like いやっ。。。！

6. In the sentence “願ったらなにがしかが叶う” what is なにがしか?. I think it’s なにがし + か, from which I think means the whole sentence means something like “If you wish (for something), some things come true.”

7. How do you differentiate between something being on(上) or above(上)?

8. Can someone please tell me if there’s a website with all the verb conjunctions? I mean one where you won’t have to search separately for every verb, but one where they are all listed in a table or something like that? Trying to make a sheet with all of them so I can review them often, since I somehow have a difficult time memorizing them. Thank you!

9. How do I know the difference between
   (夕/yuu) and (タ/ta)?

   Because when I searched up the correct stroke order of “ta” it didn’t have the overlapping line タ<–

   But when I type it in the keyboard it does have it, so how do I know which one is which, and how do I correctly write “ta”?

10. Is there any Japanese stand up comedians in Japan? Looking for someone with a story-telling, dark, philosophical style of comedy like George Carlin or Ricky Gervais. I’m trying to learn cultural nuances and such in Japanese.

11. Trying to understand the usage of と同時に vs ながら I’m really not seeing the difference between them both does と同時にimplies it happens at that exact time like 途端に？

12. 誰を殺したかではありません、 誰が殺したかです。I don’t get exactly what’s being conveyed here.

13. How do I convey the nuance of “You’re a beast” to a Japanese?

    I’m trying to tell my musician friend the talent, skill, and potential I see in him.

    すごい does not cut it, not even adding 過ぎる intensifies it to the degree that I mean it. 最高 doesn’t really feel right either. I’ve already eeked out some ステキな～ BS, but it feels lame compared to his raw ability.
    Transliteration will just give the opposite effect

    Help me out please I need this guy to know

14. I am new to learning Japanese, I know all the Hiragana.. At least I thought I did? I havnt moved on to Katakana yet in the app I’m using, at least it didn’t say I did..

    Anyway my question is why when I type something in my phone using hiragana it automatically changes the characters? When I look it up it means the same thing but I can’t find why it does this and if the characters belong to Hiragana /Katakana/Kanji..

    Ex.
    がくせい automatically turns into 学生
    Is there a name for the different characters being used? And a reason it changes despite being the same?

    Sorry if my question seems stupid, I just like to fully understand things when learning, I don’t want to just accept it as is..

15. しばらく俺が困っていると、エリザの方から意外な言葉が発せられた。

    Is 発せられた read as はっせられた? Is this from 発する? If so, which of it’s verb form is this?

16. Why is grammar に言わせれば not を言わせれば?

    To explain what I mean I learned that に marks the doer in causative (atleast for intrasitive verbs), for example 女子にここまで言わせたんだ would be “she made me say this much” while 女子をここまで言わせたんだ would therefore be “(I) made her say this much” (if I am not already mistaken here).

    So if I literary translate Xに言わせれば it would be “if made to say by X” and Xを言わせれば “if X is made to say”. A sentence like 私に言わせれば、日本の一番美味しい料理はやっぱりラーメンだ。should mean “if (you/he) is made to say by me, he would say that the best Japanese food is ramen.”, which is incorrect since it means “If you ask me…/if I am made to say”.I know it could also be “let” instead of “made” but it would change the doer or target/object.

    Is に言わせれば just used because it is an established expression or is just my understanding of it wrong?

17. Can someone explain to me how 全く喜ばしいじゃないですか translates to I’m so happy for you?

18. Hey all! Currently working on getting through a Core 2K Anki deck; in its base form it was 2K of Vocab + cloze sentence -> Reading + Meaning + Sentence. I immediately doubled the card number by adding a version that goes Meaning + cloze sentence -> Vocab + Reading.

    Does that seem like overkill? Obviously my pace is slower with the larger number of cards so I’ve been thinking about whether I should revert the deck to its base form of just 2K cards. Anyone else have a similar experience?

19. Is it recommended to hand-write or type your grammar notes? I’ve read multiple articles on the benefits and downsides of each, but still can’t really decide yet. Wondered if one method is any more common than the other in this community, or if it’s just personal preference.