Hmm, "The Dynamics Of The Subway" sounds alright for that one.
"From The Fall To The Impact" makes a bit more sense.
and "Forest And Enlightenment" sounds good as well.
And one more thing which I'm a little unsure about is this one 水の形、面の終わり. "the water's form, the surface's end" sounds a bit weird now I think about it.
Thank you very much for your help so far.
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Anonymous2012-07-10 14:18
Is there any semantic difference between using をする instead of する with a suru verb? e.g. 約束をする vs 約束する
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Anonymous2012-07-10 14:33
>>722
Kind of but, for all intents and purposes, not really. The use of 'wo' heightens the sense that the noun is "to be done" etc.
約束をする
to make a promise
約束する
to promise
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Anonymous2012-07-10 14:35
>>721
The 面 here is most likely the water's surface.
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Anonymous2012-07-11 20:05
How many Kanji per day for Remembering The Kanji is normal? Or, how many did you guys do if you did it this way?
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Anonymous2012-07-11 20:18
>>725
People learn at different speeds. Find one you're comfortable with.
I did (calculating it afterwards as I literally never skipped a single day) an average of 20 per day. For a few weeks I had little else to do so I upped it to a regular of 40 a day, and a few days here and there I did 60 a day. Sometimes when things got out of hand, I dropped it to 10 a day. What that should tell you, in case it doesn't, is that 726 is 100% right, and there isn't a single number that can be given that will work.
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Anonymous2012-07-15 8:43
Could anyone share their experiences of when they started reading 'proper' material, as opposed to textbook-based learning? I've just dived into reading my first VN, and after 20 sentences I'm knackered. I've been told it gets easier, but I'm wondering on what kind of scale. Am I going to be stuck on 20 sentences each day for a few weeks, months, or longer?
Sorry it's not a specific question, but it helps with motivation to know where I'm likely to end up.
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Anonymous2012-07-15 10:59
Every now and then I come across a word with multiple readings. I'm used to this for kanji, but most of the time when there are multiple kanji together, it's just the single reading. For example, 身体を起こし、辺りを見回す. Rikaichan gives me two different readings for '辺り' for the same meaning. Is there any stylistic difference between the two, and, in similar situations, is there any way of picking from the two (if there are any differences)? Or should I just try and avoid words like this until I'm beginning to get a natural feel for readings?
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Anonymous2012-07-15 13:22
>>731
At its core, Rikaichan is really just an unannotated edict. It doesn't even list the "common word" (which is usually the reading to use when you have no other way to tell) tag like most other edict-based dictionaries. In other words, it's good for quick lookups, but get your hands on something more solid.
For this particular instance:
1) ほとり pertains to the "on the bank of/ on the side of" (→きわ) meaning more so than vicinity/neighborhood. In general, 辺りを見回す (looking around) is read あたり.
2) ほとり is not a standard reading for 辺り; it's also associated with 畔 (also a nonstandard reading, and in this case it'd be an example of 義訓).
3) Google is a somewhat reliable indicator of usage. Compare results for あたりを見回す vs ほとりを見回す (be sure to enclose both in quotation marks for "as-is" search). There are actually cases where you would use ほとりを見回す, but they're preceded with 湖の or 池の (talking about the bank of a body of water).
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Anonymous2012-07-15 13:43
>>730
Similar thing happened to me. Right now I still find VNs intimidating. Regular novels are much more accessible, so maybe you could give that a try. Key difference is that there's more narration and less dialogue.
Oh yeah, one suggestion I've seen floating around a lot is to read Harry Potter in Japanese (alongside the original English and/or with a Japanese audiobook). I've never done that myself though, YMMV.
Is there a go-to website for the 'common word'? Or should I always just use google as you described? I can see it working, but probably not rather efficiently.
>>730
If you need to look up that much, it might be a bit too early to start. I'd say when you can get a comfortable 80-90% result on JLPT2 reading comprehension(do the old online tests) is when you can start reading material not meant for studying.
All entertainment works does get a lot easier though. Once you understand the characters, the keywords and the general plotline, you'll notice how those same words always recur. Especially if what you're reading is fantasy or sci-fi.
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Anonymous2012-07-15 21:01
>>730
I dunno... I only started trying to read big things once I was like 1300 or so Kanji in. I started by playing Tales of Phantasia and just writing down words I don't know. Now I read whatever and do the same thing still.
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Anonymous2012-07-16 0:53
>>738
I do something similar and have a skill level between JLPT 2 and 1. Reading textbooks until you can just handle most everything you come across is unrealistic, not to mention boring and limited in its scope. The only way you'll learn to read is by reading.
I'm not sure if you remember a series of books called Great Illustrated Classics. They were basically classic novels rewritten in simple English and intended for grades 3 to 8. There's a similar series in Japanese (minus the illustrations) that simplifies classics from H.G Wells and other authors and is intended for pre-high school reading. I don't use it for kanji practice (because it provides furigana) but the books definitely test your reading comprehension and vocabulary.
What are the various uses of the verb つける? I see it used in various different ways but I'm not sure what it means half the time, especially since it's usually written in kana so I can't associate different meanings with different kanji. I would appreciate if someone could help clarify this for me.
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Anonymous2012-07-16 14:16
>>743
It's usually 付ける, that something is attached or "comes with" whatever your doing.
There are many uses for it, but the most common is just "to attach". There's no point in listing every idiomatic meaning for every potential kanji. If there's a usage you don't understand, feel free to post it here and someone will help you out.
>>749
That's just one of the connotations. ついている and ついていない, lucky and unlucky, but not in the sense you're an "unlucky" person. It's measured on a daily, weekly, a finite basis, luck has "attached itself" to you for that day. We have the a similar thing in English: when someone "has it" or "is on" today.
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Anonymous2012-07-18 8:44
Are there are resources where I can just read copious amounts of material that only covers the grammar up to and including Genki II? I've learnt a bit ahead of that stage, but it seems that whenever I go off to read other things, the grammar I learnt in Genki just falls out of my mind; it's definitely not a problem of understanding, as I can go 'Oh yeah! Of course!' if I re-read the section in Genki, but afterwards I forget it more rapidly than I do other things. So I'm guessing I need to see it in a billion different contexts until it sticks.
So what's the best way to move forward from here? Sorry for being really vauge, but I was always under the impression I'd just read things until it stuck, but it's not happening.
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Anonymous2012-07-18 13:25
>>755
If you're forgetting it, that means it hasn't been committed to your long term memory. Your brain thinks you can just look it up every time you need to know it, so it's not treating it as information that you need in your head. Trick you brain by really trying to commit it to long term memory through fast repetition and recollection throughout the day, use mnemonics, flashcards, anything you need to drill it into your head. This is basic shit though, and it doesn't work for everyone. Learn how YOUR brain works and beat the shit out of it to learn Japanese.
Maybe you should see the explanations themselves in other contexts (other books/guides). There are a lot of textbooks that cover the pretty much the same introductory material (as 754 said, Genki doesn't cover that much)
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Anonymous2012-07-18 17:29
I hear the phrase (name)のバカ thrown around a lot, and the usual translation is something like "(name) is an idiot". I thought that would be more like (name)はバカ though, since if I didn't know any better, I would think (name)のバカ is "(name)'s idiot". What function of の lets you use it like は? Are there other examples?
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Anonymous2012-07-19 7:09
A few things I'm confused about for the following translation. If any anon could explain my queries/point out what I got wrong, it'd be much appreciated, thanks.
悪さばかりのウッドペッカー
A mischievous woodpecker (ばかり has me confused. How does this fit in?)
今日も穴あけ森ボロだらけ
Today, again, ruining the forest with holes
怒ったウッド・ゴッドくちばしを毒に変えた
The angry wood god transforms your beak into a poisonous one
困ったウッドペッカー巣穴が毒にご飯も毒に
Troubled woodpecker, your nesting holes filled with poison, food too filled with poison
友達に触れれば死ぬばかり
If you touch your friend, they will simply die (Again, ばかり has me confused?)
悲しんだウッドペッカー
Poor woodpecker
毒の涙がキラキラ光る
Your poisonous tears shine (Is キラキラ光る like saying 'glisten and shine'? Not sure about that)
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Anonymous2012-07-19 10:18
今日も穴あけ森ボロだらけ
Today, again, ruining the forest with holes
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There is nothing in this sentence about "ruining" and it's a stretch when you consider what this line is trying to communicate
今日も穴を開けて、森は襤褸だらけ（だ、になった etc.）
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怒ったウッド・ゴッドくちばしを毒に変えた
The angry wood god transforms your beak into a poisonous one
"one" is not here, just "poison"
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困ったウッドペッカー巣穴が毒にご飯も毒に
Troubled woodpecker, your nesting holes filled with poison, food too filled with poison
Again, you're being too imaginative with what's not there. There's nothing "being filled" with poison. It turns to poison or becomes poisonous. What follows に here is likely 変わる or that idea
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触れれば is the conditional but also the potential. "If you COULD touch your friend(s)"
ばかり means full of, nothing but, etc.
死ぬばかり here is similar but means more closely only die, just die, or, like you said simply, die.
キラキラ is the onomatopoeia for a glisten, sparkling, shine etc. while 光る is simply a shine of light, or a brief glitter. I would choose "glisten" or "glimmer"