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Japanese - Ask questions thread

Name: Anonymous 2007-03-24 3:04 ID:DnRX6EFG

Basically if you have a question about the language, ask it and fellow 4channers might see it and answer it for you.

To start it off. When an animate object (iru) dies, is it considered inanimate(aru)?

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-15 23:30

when do you use iku and yuku for 行く

does yuku just sound more eloquent or does it actually have a use

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-16 1:45

>>601
There are actually NO difference between the meaning of IKU and KURU.
So you can always say IKU, and never need to use YUKU.

Name: 602 2007-10-16 3:18

>There are actually NO difference between the meaning of IKU and KURU.

I mean "IKU and YUKU"

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-16 10:23

>>597
使役 is  not 「しやく(shiyaku)」.
「しえき(shieki)」 is correct.

And 「させることができる(=shiyaku+kanou)」 is correct usage.

>>601
I think so.YUKU is more eloquent.

I don't say「我は行く(われはゆく)」on a daily basis.
I say「私は行く(わたしはいく)」

The difference between IKU and YUKU is almost the same as the difference between WATASHI and WARE.

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-17 12:57

訪露

So this kanji literally means to visit russia?

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-17 14:23

>>603 It's a noun. A visit to russia.

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-17 15:58

>>606
How is it used in a sentence?

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-18 0:08

>>607
It's mostly used in a title of articles of newspapers.

ex.
 首相、明日にも訪露
 (The prime minister will visit russia by tomorrow.)

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-23 4:32

How do you type exponent in Japanese font?
like ² ⁿ ³

I can use alt codes but that's gay and I never remember them. I know about hitting space bar for kigou/roshia and getting zillions, but it doesn't have those. Theres got to be a trick for them, like typing exponent in japanese and hitting space..

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-25 2:07

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Name: Anonymous 2007-10-25 11:13

Which is correct:
 楽しくワクワクなんだ。
 楽しくワクワクんだ。

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-25 12:33

Is there any way to affix furigana over kanji using IME?

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-25 12:58

>>612
I'm not sure, but I think furigana is done at the level of a document format, not the IME. For example, there are tags in XHTML (and a Firefox add-on to display them properly) for ruby. FrameMaker used to be able to do it too.

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-25 22:29

When do I use やる over する?

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-27 14:17

>>611
どっちも不自然

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-27 15:59

>>615
ワロタ。

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-27 19:01

>>615
How do you say it naturally?

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-27 19:15

For example, 楽しくて、ワクワクする、とか?

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-27 21:11

>>618
Guess I used a bad sentence.  I wanted to know what's the difference between なんだ and んだ.

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-28 2:37

I am a native speaker of Japanese.
I guess, perhaps the difference between
ことなんだ = noun + nanda.
and
するんだ = verb + nda.

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-29 20:28

bumping over 687 threads.

Name: Anonymous 2007-10-31 21:49

I was wondering if there's a kanji for "to want" (tai).

Examples:

食べたい
知りたい
寝たい

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-01 9:52

tai is from old Japanese, or Yamato-kotoba, it doesn't have kanji for it.
欲 as in ~が欲しい/欲する may correspond to it.

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-07 18:55

Where is the 'WHERE IS THE "Japanese Ask Questions Thread"'?

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-07 19:06

Could you someone please translate this Japanese?
My Japanese friend wrote me. おにがします。

私は、あなたみたいに馬鹿な色白豚が大嫌いです。
もう二度と見たくないので、メールを送ってこないでください。
あなたのアドレスと写真は、外人好きのホモ豚にあげました。
では、さようなら。

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-07 19:15

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-10 5:21

ない=adjective, なく=adverb
なく= not, right? both are adverbs

What's the difference between じゃない and じゃなく? I'd say じゃない means "Is not"; However, not is an adverb, and nai is an adjective, so "Is not" would make more sense for じゃなく since both are adverbs it'd seem like.

Can anyone shed some light on why/how they are different?
I think though that you can change them if you were to combine a sentence, like ない to なくて、 but I'm talking about the fact that one is adjective and one is an adverb. I'm probably just completely misunderstanding everything and making myself look retarded, heh.

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-10 7:01

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-10 20:31

>>627
Admittedly, I'm no expert (everything I've learned is self-taught), but I'll say this:

You can't think of Japanese in terms of English

Actually, maybe you can. At least in this case.

Languages have their irregular conjugations. "Janai" sounds a whole lot better than "Janaku", sorta like Sneaked and Snuck. Most Americans say Snuck, but the correct way of saying it is Sneaked. Amazingly, I had no idea this was true until about 6 months ago... so it's possible that it's just how the language has evolved.

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-10 23:28

>>625
It turns into this. No joke.

It does bitterly.
I you likely abhor the foolish color white pig.
Already because two degrees we would not like to see, please do not send the mail.
It increased your address and the photograph, to the homo- pig of the foreigner lover.
So, way if.

I checked on an online translator.

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-11 3:42

>>630

It wasn't real Japanese you know. It made no sense in the "original".

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-11 4:41

>>631
Whoever wrote that has problems.

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-11 11:14

>>625
I hate a white pig like you.
I don't want to see you again, so don't mail me anymore.
I've give your address and photo to some homosexual who likes foreigners.
okthxbye.

>>629
I think janaku usually means there's a second part of the sentence after that, although sometimes the second part may not be spoken (i.e. implicit). the extra kute is just some connective.

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-12 16:29

I'm having problems with Ni and De:

Icecream (wo) spoon (de) eat.

Subject eats icecream with spoon.

Is that the correct usage of the particle? Putting it after the item that was used to perform the action?


Which makes more sense?

Here (de) I am.
(koko de iru)
Here (ni) I am.
(koko ni iru)

I read somewhere that ni is more for a location that you are AT, while de is more for a location that you are performing an action on; and that e (へ [it is read "eh" right? not "heh"?]) is used when you are still performing the action and MOVING towards that location.

Also, as said earlier in the thread, "ageru" can be used to indicate that you are doing a favor in the -te form. Can someone supply an example sentence? I know that kudasai (下さい) with the -te form is similar (please); although it means that you are essentially saying "lower yourself to my level and do this please" or "I am humbling myself, do this please" –– indicated by the kanji for sageru. What subtexts do ageru and sageru have in the language? Which is more polite? Which is more common (I hear kudasai quite a bit in anime...)?

Finally:

Which is more polite? Structuring a request with kudasai/kure (while we're at it, what's the difference between these two words?) or using the polite imperative? Is there a more polite way to require something? Anything more disrespectful than using the imperative informal?

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-12 18:35

>>635
I'll try and answer your questions (and hopefully I'm right on this)

for
Icecream (wo) spoon (de) eat.
It's correct, particles are always related to the word before it, a way I think of how it works is: Wo = object of verb, de = by way of, or just by. (de can have many more meanings)
So let's look at this sentence, 'Icecream is the object (i) eat by spoon.'
This helps me make sense of it.

koko ni iru
makes more sense, you are here
koko de iru
Here's where de has another meaning which you mentioned, the problem here is that iru is a verb but it is not considered an action verb. I'm not sure what constitutes a difference between verb and an action verb, but just living is a pretty shitty verb compared to something as playing. Now that I think of it, non-action verbs are probably passive verbs, as living would be passive.

へ is indeed read as "eh" when it is read as a particle (otherwise it's "heh") just like the particle は (ha and wa)

As for ageru/kudasai/kureru..
Ageru is the Japanese word for "to give" seen from the speaker's point of view. You must use this verb when you are giving something or doing something for someone else.
I (wa) you (ni) object (wo) give
I give you object

kureru is also a verb meaning "to give" but unlike ageru, it is from the receiver's point of view. You must use this verb when someone else is giving something or doing something for you (effectively the opposite of ageru).
you (wa) I (ni) object (wo) give
You give me object


In anime you might hear something like 「教えてあげる」 oshiete ageru, meaning something like, "I'll teach you"
If you reverse this, 「教えてくれる」 oshiete kureru, it means something like, "Will you teach me?"
Now you said kure and not kureru, kure is the imperative form making it a demand, so 「教えてくれ」 is something like, "Teach me!"

Kureru can be considered more impolite than kudsai, especially if kureru doesn't have masu on it; however, they really are two different things.

I may be wrong but I don't think sageru is really related to any of this. Sageru means to lower, and just that I think. Ageru can mean to raise, or to give, two different things.

I'd say the polite imperative is more polite than just the regular masu form, I think the difference is probably the same in English; Can you please? Or will you please?

To say stuff more polite, you make yourself more polite and more humble, look here for more examples, there's a bit too much for me to cover in this post http://www.guidetojapanese.org/honorhum.html

I suggest you look at http://www.guidetojapanese.org/favor.html as this guy explains the stuff better than I do, he also has a section on kudasai

sorry if I rambled through the whole thing, hopefully I didn't say anything wrong/misleading.

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-12 21:02

>>636
Hmm. You answered all of my questions. Thanks. That clears a bunch of stuff up.

As for Kudasai/Sageru (下さい/下げる) I noticed they had the same starting kanji, and in addittion to this, I recall reading that the context of kudasai is "to make oneself humble" or something, with sageru suggesting to the "lowering". I could have made this all up, of course. That's probably it. Thanks for everything.

So passive verbs for "de" (location) and action verbs you use ni? I believe I remember reading that. Interesting.

Ah, I also had one more question... is there a recource online (or even a book) where I can find the sino/kun readings of base kanji? I ask because... well, hitotsu = 1st , futatsu = 2nd, mitsu = 3rd, but what would 4th, 5th and *nth be? I'm sure I'll run into a number of situations where I need to know both readings off the top of my head.

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-12 22:13

>>637

I meant the opposite, but looking at it now, ni might not be so correct, looking at this PDF book of de and ni, it says a few things, so rather than tell you what I think, I'll tell you what it says.

de
noun (location) + de + action verb
e.g. neko ga teeburu no ue -de- asonde iru

ni
noun + ni
Indicates the surface of something on which a certain action takes place
e.g. gakusei ga kokuban -ni- kanji wo kaite imasu


Then it says,"Note: In some cases, either de or ni can be used. When de is used, emphasis is put on the action, while when ni is used, emphasis is on the existence"
So when you say koko ni iru, ni is correct because you're focusing on the existence, and not the action of existing there.

Yeah, particles can be a pain in the ass, there's like over 10 uses for ni and de each. You can find a pdf book of it which I used at http://www.mininova.org/tor/390633

Counting in Japanese is a pain, there's all kinds of ways to do it, but if you want to know what's next, you can look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_counter_word I suppose.

For a resource with base kanji readings of the chinese/japanese readings, umm, you could try this http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ik2r-myr/kanji/kanji3pa.htm

Personally I use the firefox 'rikai chan' add-on, I just hover my mouse over the text, and I hit shift to change it to read just the one kanji and it tells me all the readings. If it's in hiragana that means it's the Japanese reading, and katakana if it's the chinese/other reading.

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-13 4:32

Name: Anonymous 2007-11-13 15:49

What's the difference between は and として? I always viewed は as "As for" just like Tae Kim's guide tells you at the beginning, but  として seems like it has almost the same meaning

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