日語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread2 質問

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Japanese - Ask questions thread
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1174719097/l50

Literally it means "Pleas make yourself at home."
Apparently it welcomes posters/lurkers to a thread. It's already so rampant no one knows when it was made by whom for what.

I always thought it meant something like please stick it in slowly

Hi Everyone,


How do I translate the following sentence structures to Japanese.

                   (the context)
A is like B.
A looks like B.    (physical appearance, narrow, tall, etc)
A feels like B.    (soft, smooth, etc)
A tastes like B.
A sounds like B.   (music, noises, etc)
A smells like B.

>>163
Translation doesn't work like that; it all depends on what/who A and B are and what situation you are in. Probably the best I can do is give the most likely structure for each listed case so that native Japanese speakers can understand what you're trying to say. Note that you may sound funny or childish in some situations.

A is like B: AはBみたいです
A looks like B: AはBのように見えます
A feels like B: AはBのような感触がします
A tastes like B: AはBのような味がします
A sounds like B: AはBのように聞こえます
A smells like B: AはBのような臭いがします

>>164

That was very helpful.  Thank you for your time and skill.

Are you guys okay with Japanese pronunciation rules?
You only seem to mind grammar and translations.

>>166
Japanese isn't like Chinese. The pronunciation is really easy. The only thing you need to worry about is the R, but even if you say it wrong, people should be able to understand you fine.

Hey guys, I don't plan on learning Japanese any time soon, but what is the difference between "Watashi wa" and "Watashi wo"? It's something like "I am" vs. "You are", right?

>>168
watashi means I/me, wa makes it the topic, wo makes it the direct object.
so: *watashi wa* anata wo tabeteiru (I am eating you)
vs: anata wa *watashi wo* tabeteiru (you are eating me)

>>169
to clarify the watashi wo is the 'me' part, not the you are part

Is there a rule when two on-yomi kanji combine and they merge readings, like 作曲 is sakkyoku not sakukyoku. I kind of realized I can usually guess them too even if I've never seen or heard them read so there's got to be a rule.

Now that I think about it, is it when the last syllable's first letter matches up with the upcoming kanji's first letter?

Are there any exceptions or anything missed?

>>171
There are rules about 促音 (sokuon) in the said on-yomi combinations. But the rules stem from old Chinese pronunciations which are no longer used in modern Japanese or Chinese, so they are very complicated and not practical.

If you want an in-a-nutshell explanation, it may be helpful to know that it often occurs when the first on-yomi kanji ends with a "k" or "t" series and the second on-yomi kanji begins with k, s, t, or h (f).

In your example, 作 ends with "ku," which belongs to k series, and 曲 begins with "kyo," hence it satisfies the above condition.

達成 (tassei) is another example of this kind. 達 (tatsu) ends in t series while 成 (sei) starts with s.

There are some exceptions to this rough rule. For example, 的確 is often pronounced "tekikaku" ("tekkaku" is also acceptable though).

Added note to >>172:

According to my wife (No. she is real, Japanese, and has a bachelor's degree in Literature and teaching qualification in junior high Japanese class), the rules are explained in detail here:

http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000061/files/377_2754.html

Note that the article is an uber-wall of text in Japanese (I gave up after the first few lines).

Today I happen to be staying at her parent's house and had a chance to ask them the pronunciation of 水族館 (sui-zoku-kan, an aquarium), which consists of three on-yomi kanji but seems to satisfy the simple condition at the 族館 part. Their answers are:

Her parents: suizokkan.
Her sister: The pronunciation is suizokkan, but you write it as すいぞくかん (suizokukan) in hiragana.
My wife: Finish your lunch already!

>>172
>>173

the tips will definitely come in handy, thanks.

What is a good resource for listening practice. Im doing okay in all other skills but listening. Anime is not a good option because, i don't want to talk like naruto. Ideas?

It almost sounds as if native speakers drop all the particles i worked so hard to remember when they are speaking...

Is kisama always an insult? Now I know it's mostly just used in shows like movies and anime, but lots of people translate it as bastard; however, I see people using it in speech to refer to another and I don't see any signs of the other person being pissed off. It doesn't really make much sense though, the first kanji is 'precious' and the second, sama, is way up there in respect. Is it meant to be used to someone of a far lower status, but when someone says it near the same status of the other it becomes an insult? Or am I just overanalyzing all of this

>>176
Kisama was a term of respect and had referred to "you" of a higher rank until the early modern period. Then, for several reasons, the word has lost the honorific meaning and acquired the opposite sense, and now it is used solely as an insult.

Similar changes in usages are found in many words. For example, Omae (お前) was a honorific personal pronoun of the second person in old Japanese. But in modern Japanese it is used when you are talking to your friends or want to be rude to others.

>>177
お前 can still mean dear/darling etc, it would just depend on how you use it. Obviously if your using it with a mocking tone, then it is an insult.

>>171

Ok, finally someone asked for it, I was about to write an article on this issue. Anyway here is the pattern.

When two on-yomi kanji combine to become a 熟語(jyukugo), if the kana of the first kanji ends with つ(e.g.発~はつ 実~じつ 說~せつ 必~ひつ) or ち(e.g. 一~いち, 日~にち), the first kanji becomes 促音(sokuon) according to the rules as follows.

Rule no.1: when combine with the second kanji that begins with kana belongs to kana columns that have no 濁音(dakuon), the first kanji does NOT become 促音(sokuon).
e.g. 説明(せつめい),発明(はつめい), the kana ま of 明(めい) belongs to ま行(ma column) and has no 濁音(dakuon), therefore 説(せつ) and 発(はつ) do not become 促音(sokuon).

Rule no.2: When combine with the second kanji that begins with kana belongs to kana columns that have 濁音(dakuon),

A>> If the kana of the second kanji begins with 濁音(dakuon), the first kanji ALSO does NOT become 促音(sokuon).
e.g. 発動(はつどう), 実在(じつざい), the kana どof 動(どう) and ざof 在(ざい) are 濁音(dakuon) therefore 発(はつ) and 実(じつ) do not become 促音(sokuon).

B>> If the kana of the second kanji begins with 清音(seion) that has 濁音(dakuon), the first kanji MUST become 促音(sokuon).
e.g. 実験(じっけん), 実行(じっこう), the kana けof 験(けん) and こof 行(こう) belong to か行清音(seion of ka column) and か行(ka column) has 濁音(dakuon) therefore 実(じつ) MUST become 促音(sokuon) and pronounce じっ.

Rule no.3: When combine with the second kanji that begins with one of the は ひ ふ へ ほ(seion of ha column) five kana, follow rule no.2 B>> PLUS the first kana of the second kanji MUST become 半濁音(hadakuon).
e.g. 脱皮, 出発

Sorry for my clumsy writing but the point is to understand the pattern, not to learn the rules by rote.

>>178
お前 can never be used by female because it's rude.
It could be OK if it's between young girls though, it still sounds aggressive for men.
If a female uses お前 against a male, it's very often an insult no matter how old either side of you are.

>>178
Presumably you're referring to the situation when a husband calls his wife. Certainly some old guys still use お前 when they talk to their wives, but nowadays it is often considered rude because it sounds as if he looks down on his wife. I don't argue it's wrong to think men are superior; to each their own. But the usage is definitely not recommended to non-native Japanese speakers.

>>179
Those complicated rules don't explain the example the original questioner came up with; 作 in 作曲 doesn't end with つ when used separately in the first place. Thanks for the interesting article though. It may enlighten you to study 入声 in old Chinese and its relation to old Japanese.

>>179
thanks for some more depth about the subject.

>>180-181
お前 Gives the idea of "one in front" so it is still used as an affectionate word, but for the most part you will not hear it used that way. I guess an English equivalent might be "brat" depending on how it is used it can be playful affectionate or offensive.

>>183
>お前 Gives the idea of "one in front"...

No. The current meaning and usage have nothing to do with "in front of."

The word origin is 御前 which was supposedly born around 1000 years ago and meant "(I am) facing God/Buddha/dignitaries" or "(I am standing) in front of God/Buddha/dignitaries." Actually this was not a second person pronoun.

Then in the beginning of the edo era, which is approximately 400 years ago, the word turned into a honorific second person pronoun which expresses the greatest respect for a person of high rank.

As おまえ became a common word among the commonality, it had gradually lost the honorific sense and spawned many derivatives, and the meanings/usages of those derived words also changed. The current connotation of おまえ is that you're talking to a person you don't need to use honorifics to.

As for dear/darling connotations, there was a derived word おまえさん. Actually this was a second person pronoun referring to a master or the chief priest in of a Buddhist temple when it was born in the early edo era. But by the end of the edo era its meaning and usages had changed so that it was used by a wife when she talked to her husband (you can hear this usage in movies, dramas and so on if the story takes place in a bit old Japan). This dear/darling usage already disappeared in the contemporary Japanese language (the current meaning of おまえさん is different from this old usage).

The usage I mentioned in >>181 is another dear/darling usage, which is still used by some elders. But, as I wrote, it often implies that the speaker thinks husbands are superior to their wives, and has nothing to do with おまえさん in the current Japanese language.

oh god. can none of you spot a troll

How do you know so much about Japanese, are you teaching Japanese somewhere?

What do sageru and zetsubo mean?

Trying to translate the phrase『鳳莱雀萃』. All of the google hits are for the same two songs, maybe it has something to do with "ash" or "smoke"? The individual kanji don't seem to have anything to do with eachother (pheonix, pigweed, sparrow, asemble), so guessing they're used for pronunciation and not Chinese meaning.

>>186
I am a native Japanese loli.

>>189
pics, I demand them.

>>190
=o=
-|-
/A\
 |

>>187
sageru （下げる）means "to lower" (that is where sage came from)
Zetsubou　（絶望） means　Hopeless, despair

>>192
Thanks

Does everyone smoke in Japan?
I go on a date with this real cute Japanese girl and we go to her Japanese restaurant she works at and she introduces me to her friends, I find out later she smokes which is kind of a turn off, the date ends, and I didn't really care to ask for a second date, 2 weeks pass and now her cute friend who kept saying I was cute when I was introduced to her somehow found out my myspace (god I hate that shithole, and I found her message like 10 days later) and I see through her pictures she smokes too

fuck shit cunt wtfux

>>194
yeah, almost all. especially the men. its funny because they will have the smoke in the mouth and lighter and inch from the smoke before saying "its it okay if i smoke?"

>>195

really? i think thats true to the older generation... but alot of my friends in japan smoked in highschool, and later quit. Some never started at all.

I would say it is much more common in Japan than it is in countries like USA and England. Especially since a lot of towns in the northeast of the U.S are banning smoking in public places. I believ it's banned nationwide in England, but i could be wrong... I just remember non of the bars/pubs we went to allowed smoking.

New Anon in this thread here.

In sports warm-ups say in schools or a club, when counting 1-10, how come seven has a weird voiceless format?

shich(i)?

why wouldn't the first 'i' [sh(i)chi] be voiceless instead?

Also, I've just started in the Kendo club at my college. "Ha" and "to" are shouted when practicing forward swings in reps of two, what does 'ha' and 'to' actually mean?

Thank you.

because saying it in one syllable is easy and quick
it's just like how roku can be said kind of similar to roke (rhymes with coke)

also hachi can work just like shichi

>>197
kendo club? You are a lost cause.

>>197
die in a fire. people like you are the reason i dont admit to learning japanese