So this is gonna be a long post explaining my probably overcomplicated thought process, so sorry for that. If anyone reads all this thank you and if someone answers even more thank you.
I thought about challenging myself by reading some stuff that are not for “learners” and since I like “Japanese music” and also “Idol music” (don’t judge) I randomly found this interview https://natalie.mu/music/pp/hinatazaka46_05 and am trying to understand it.
There are a lot of vocabulary I don’t know yet but that is not a problem. And yes maybe it is still too dificult for me..
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Now to the actual problem:
What “frustrates” me is when a come across a sentence where I (think) I know the words but still can’t make a senseful sentence out of it.
The sentence:
2人の“端っこ率”が高いのは、どういう理由なんだろうと。パフォーマンスを両端で締めてほしい、みたいなニュアンスがあるのかなと思ったのですが。
The first sentence ２人の“端っこ率”が高いのは、どういう理由なんだろうと。I would tranlate to something like
“I wonder what the reason for the high “edge ratio” of the two of you is.” (I guess “Edge ratio” refers to the postion of a (dance) performance, like standing on the outer side of a group opposed of being in the centre??).
The second sentence gives me a lot of problems. Taking just the first part パフォーマンスを両端で締めてほしい I would say
“Want to tighten the performance on both ends..”
but with みたいなニュアンスがあるのかなと思ったのですが。I have no idea.
I know みたいな + noun to mean “Like noun” as in 今日みたいな日 （Days like today)
so みたいなニュアンスがある （there nuances like X). But like what? Is it referring to the first part of the sentence パフォーマンスを両端で締めてほしい?
But “there are nuances like “want to tighten the performance on both ends” makes not much sense to me.
X かなと思ったのですが like the speaker has wondered something even though I do not understand the put of のですが is it like a sentence softener like when you put “けど” at the end of a sentence to make it sound softer without having any meaning on it’s own?
So my end product would be
“I wondered if there are nuances like “want to tighten the performances on both ends””. Does this make sense somehow?
Additional question: Is it usual, normal to end sentences in particles like と or が (だろうと。）（ですが。）
2 comments
This ‘issue’ is only solved by exposure. Plenty of videos on the topic. IMO? If you don’t get it, you don’t get it. Move on, acquire as many things you kinda get/do get as much as you can, and the don’t get/kinda get things become easier and easier.
Honestly, you just need to read more in order to internalize natural sentence structure. I also find that when you’re struggling with understanding individual phrases, it makes it impossible to understand larger links between sentences and ideas, which makes it even harder to know what’s going on. I’d practice reading a sentence you don’t understand a few times, understanding as much as you can, and moving on.
As for the second sentence you posted, there’s some dance lingo so I can’t give you a direct translation, but it’s connected to the first sentence. In the first sentence, the speaker is pondering the reason why these two people have a high “edge ratio”. In the second sentence which you had a hard time understanding, the speaker is thinking about a possible reason for why that might be. Xxxみたいなニュアンスがある = to have a meaning/nuance like xxx. The の is what connects this to the previous sentence- we are using の in the “reason giving” sense, as in the speaker is giving a possible reason for the phenomenon described on the first sentence. Xxxかなと思う is like I wonder if xxx. のですが is kinda a softener, the nuance is like “this is what I thought might be the reason, but… (What did you think/what was the real reason)