Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (June 25, 2022)

27 comments

1. Difference in use between 気力 and 根性 ? I specifically would like to say “willpower”

   ありがとうございます

2. How to translate “for each i, ranging from two to nine, do…” (think of Python’s for range loops) into Japanese Will 2から9までのiをそれぞれ… work?

3. I have seen the heavy use of verb+中 to express the idea of “while an action is taking place, something happens”. It closely resembles the うちに grammar entry in DBJG, but DBJG lists that entry as pure kana, not 中に.

   What is the pronounciation of 中 in these cases?

   e.g 私が魚を食べる中、彼が来た。

   I know it’s not なか, but I’m unsure whether it’s うち or ちゅう. As I understand it, ちゅう is a noun suffix like 空気中 “in the air”, not something used after verbs like the case here.

4. What does あたり mean in the sentence below?

   マーレ兵は1師団**あたり**約２万人で構成され。

   Context: The character is describing the size of 1 military unit.

   I would think that あたり would mean something like “roughly” or “approximately” in this sentence, but wouldn’t that be redundant with 約?

   Thanks in advance!

5. Is there any reason, beyond just adding a bit of word variety, that Breath of the Wild would use both 氷 and アイス for “ice”?

   For context, the examples I noticed this for were 氷の矢 (localized as “ice arrow”) and アイスキース (localized as “ice keese”, a bat monster, if you haven’t played a Zelda).

6. I’ve a question for my fellow “intense” learners, you could say.The 28th will be my seventh month since starting Japanese. For the past two months I’ve averaged around 8 to 10 hours a day of study with at least five hours of reading a day, two of listening, Anki, etc.

   Now, I break this up all throughout the day. Three hours here, two hours there, etc. Now, my question I suppose would be if it would be more effective or if I’d retain more information if I do it in one sitting without breaking it up throughout the day? Is this too much for a beginner? I don’t feel fatigued, as I make sure to make the content at least 75% comprehensible.

   I ask because I am disheartened with my progress, I don’t feel like I’m retaining as much information as I feel I should. It’s like the moment I put down a book, or move away from anything Japanese, that It’s like I don’t know anything at all. But if I pick up a book or read something on twitter, I understand it. I’ve been sitting on this question for the past two months and I don’t want to get to the one year mark and feel like I wasted all those hours not being effective.

7. > 飛躍し過ぎるかも知れませんが…

   Can use this for “this might be a stretch but..”?

8. I (noob) am listening to the radio and there is “sei san zo ho”, which is production report. May I know what report it is about? It sounds like something about farming, pest control and spray.

9. Can someone explain to me why 抱くis used for this phrase 「笛を抱いた」? I looked through all the Japanese dictionaries but I’ve never seen the equivalent of the verb “embrace” used for an instrument like a whistle (edit: horn). (Context is a One Piece title 「笛を抱いた謎の少年とロビンの推理!」)

10. やる -> やりたい

    掘る -> 掘りたい

    見る -> 見たい

    what is this transformation of making る to xたい called? And why the first 2 is ritai when the last is just tai?

11. I was looking up words that use 絆 in the dictionary and noticed the meaning for 絆す and 絆される are very different, any reason for this? I’m thinking perhaps the phrase 情に絆される was abbreviated to 絆される? i.e. “to be fettered by emotion” became “to be touched”

    Also how would you say 絆す in passive form if 絆される apparently has a different meaning?

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13. When you are saying a Japanese proverb or idiom, do you alter it to be polite if you are using polite language with someone? Examples would be なる様になる and 明日は明日の風が吹く. Would I change these to なります and ふきます or should I say them how I find them?

14. How do you rep vocab as a beginner? I use Anki but generally it doesn’t feel enough. My current routine is 10 new Anki a day, about an hour or active listening with Terrace house etc, and an hour or so passive listening to podcasts. How do I get into reading? I know maybe 50 words just from familiarity, but that’s still 98% Of the words I see, I don’t know. Do I just look up every single word and re-read a page til I know them or something? I even have very very basic manga with common words that I just don’t yet know

15. 9月号に続く

    If I understand this correctly, does it say it will continue in the September issue?

16. Katakana combos…

    Fu + E =Fe & Fu + A = Fa??? What??? Even though there is nothing like that on the long list of katakana and the combo sounds? I’m literally looking at the list and there’s nothing, but I’ve been given questions that have a big Fu and a little E or a big Fu and a little A. Are there more combos than are shown on literally every list or what’s going on here?

    Yes it’s the app that shall not be named, no I don’t need any of you to be toxic like usual and rage at me for using it like you’re being paid to shit on the app. I just need to understand. Miss me with that rage shit, please.

    https://imgur.com/FTmpOhw.jpg https://imgur.com/e1vBR07.jpg

17. What is the difference between 黒 and 黑?

18. How many words do you usually learn a day, week, month etc?

19. [removed]

20. Hello I’ve been trying to look up this character since it’s on a shirt I bought recently. I’m pretty sure it’s Japanese or perhaps it’s Chinese? I honestly know very little about Kanji/Hanzi so if someone could interpret it for me and maybe show me the character in normal text I’d really appreciate it. [https://imgur.com/a/pYEPOA1](https://imgur.com/a/pYEPOA1)

21. A guy won a game and got a cash prize. He decided to split his winnings to his teammates but one of the team member complained that his share is too small and wanted more. Then the guy told him

    > びた一文まける気ない

    I am not sure about the meaning of 負ける here. I sometimes see it in contexts where a seller gives discount to a customer but it doesn’t seem to apply here. Can 負ける also mean give more money?

22. I want to rush to learn 10k words in a year. So is it possible to learn to recognize like 200 words a week? Works out to 29 words a day. but I plan to learn 60, 60 ,60, 20 then just review the other 3 days.

    I want to do this because I think learning Japanese will be more fun when I kind of comprehend it more. I tried to read and immerse but it’s so tedious at my current 600 words or so.

23. 疲れたなら、少し休んでくか?

    What does the く change for the phrase?

    休んでく
    Instead of
    休んでる

24. Is buying genki textbooks worth it?
    I started learning Japanese on Duolingo about a week ago and I heard that learning from just the app isn’t really efficient. I was wonering about buying some textbook with grammar and saw that Genki has some really good reviews, but it’s very expensive and I’m still in high school. Is there any good substitute for it? I really don’t want to pay 130 Euro for just a textbook and workbook.

25. am I right in thinking that

    言わなかった is similar to “didn’t say” and
    言ってない is similar to “haven’t said (yet)”?

    same for 見なかった and 見てない

26. [https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm23637627](https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm23637627) at the 0:16 – 0:18 mark: I re-listened like over 50 times and I can’t catch what he’s saying! I’m getting: “ここどこ選んでも別に(???)みたいなんで” I feel like I’m going insane trying to figure it out, please help lol.

27. I am just learning hiragana and katakana. When am I supposed to switch between the style? Also I’ll sometimes see kanji without hiragana or katana over it, what am I supposed to do with that?