などなど. It also means "to put mildly" but it carries that same kinda feeling you want.
when searching google they also give me 過小表示. As a side note, get into the habit of typing "whatever english word + 意味" and you will likely find japanese dictionary sites that give you an equivalent or multiple.
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Anonymous2012-08-09 23:20
>>843
Not very precise, but for what it's worth . . .
食料事情は満足のいくものではないと言うのはなまぬるい表現だ。何百万という人が餓え死にしているのだから。
To say that the food situation is unsatisfactory is the understatement of the year. Millions of people are dying of hunger.
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Anonymous2012-08-12 13:46
Can I get some feedback from you fine folks on this short letter to customer support? My Japanese writing has not developed at the same pace as my reading, unfortunately, so I'm bound to have made some mistakes somewhere.
Background: I'm order a lot of books from Honto soon (they have a bonus point promotion going on), but there's a chance that the whole batch might be heavier than 15kg. Since their FedEx shipping rates page only goes up to 15kg, I'd like to know what they would do in that case. I'm hoping that they won't decide to switch to EMS and charge me for that instead since EMS is more than twice as expensive.
Thanks!
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Anonymous2012-08-12 14:54
This would probably work:
こんにちは。(line brake)
近日（中に）、（多数の本を）(Be descriptive about what you want)注文しようとします（が、少し）(sounds better)疑問があります。
FedEx配送方法が利用したいのですが(flows better)、FedEx送料のページに記載している情報どおり(little more clear)、１５キロ以上の荷物（に）はFedExが利用できないそうです（difference between nasasou and naisou)。
(たくさんのor数多く)本を買いたいので、荷物は１５キロを超えると思います。
正直にいうと、本当は私が買いたい本は１５キロを超えるかどうかはっきり言えませんが、もしそうなら、EMSの代金が請求してくるか、二つの箱に分けてもらえないか（この方は優先ですが）どうなるか教えてくれれば、ありがたいと思います。
失礼します。
>>850
It's not really a matter of which is more "natural", they mean two different things. What's "natural" depends on nuance of what you are saying.
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Anonymous2012-08-13 11:37
>>852
の is usually for things you're familiar with, whereas こと for things you're not. (This is because the 'n' sound is softer than the 'k' sound.) In other words, you probably wouldn't use 料理を作ることが上手です to talk about yourself.
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Anonymous2012-08-13 18:07
Why do they sometimes say 雨が降っていました and sometimes 雪が降りました?
I know て-form is used when something takes a while, but why do they alternate between the two?
I have a Japanese course coming up in about a month, are there any resources you would recommend looking at beforehand? Just in choosing to take it, I noticed that it uses topic comment, which I'm mostly fine with from ASL, thoughts?
The best thing I could say is studying the kana beforehand. Do that and you'll be ahead of the curve by a noticeable degree.
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Anonymous2012-08-15 12:27
>>860
I actually don't recommend this. I did the same thing and I was ahead of the game for about a trimester, actually, having learned all the hiragana and katakana alphabets. Then, next trimester, we started on Kanji and I had never really alotted time to making flash cards or memorizing in my study schedule and I bobbled kanji for the rest of the course.
In a Japanese course, a large part of your study efforts will be directed at memorizing symbols and you can never really "get ahead" there are a lot of kanji out there. So just buckle up and do it.
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Anonymous2012-08-15 13:30
Can someone explain 帰って来た to me?
Why do they "subject returned and came". Why not only use one of them?
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Anonymous2012-08-15 16:24
>>861
Lol are you retarded. If you know 100 Kanjis you're obviously ahead of someone who knows 50.
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Anonymous2012-08-15 19:50
>>861
Well no shit, making an effort to stay ahead isn't a one-time deal. Once you're ahead, you have to keep working to stay ahead. It's just that some explanations will be easier to get when you're not trying to learn elementary orthography at the same time.
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Anonymous2012-08-15 22:37
>>862
Look for an explanation of ってくる and っていく on google. They're a dime a dozen.
Huh? I don't understand. When I said "ahead of the curve", I meant a headstart AT THE BEGINNING. Obviously, you won't cruise the rest of your studies just because you learned kana earlier. Kanji is another story, and you should definitely keep up with those as well. It's easy to neglect reviewing those.
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Anonymous2012-08-16 21:04
にほんは なんご
I'm really confused here, this would mean ’Regarding Japan, what language?' Pretty much asking what language do they speak in Japan. If this is wrong could someone please explain why, I'm having trouble getting around the なん or なに rule
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Anonymous2012-08-16 22:11
Reading Kino's Journey right now, and I'm confused on a sentence.
何度も言うけれどモトラドの運転はスポーツなんだ。自転車ほどではないにしろ、ただ走っているだけでかなりのエネルギーを消耗する。
(NOTE: Motorads are basically talking motorcycles. Said talking motorcycle is the speaker here.)
Specifically, the second clause of the second sentence. From what I understand, the text goes something like "I've told you plenty of times! Operating a motorad is a sport. Not as much as bicycling is," and from there it seems like he's saying "although just running wastes a lot of energy", which I don't feel fits the rest of the sentence. Any thoughts?
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Anonymous2012-08-16 22:18
>>867
wait are you getting confused by your own writings
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Anonymous2012-08-16 22:32
>>867
日本は何語 could be understood as "What is the language of the Japan" but its 1st year structure meant to teach you the basics.
>>868
That's what it says. Chalk it up to bad writing if you want. He's saying that that the energy consumption of the Motorads are less than that of bicycles.
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Anonymous2012-08-16 22:37
>>868
I hope you at least realized that the second sentence doesn't state that bicycling is more of a sport than that motorad thing.
"Even if it's not [as exhausting as] bicycling, just driving [the motodora] consumes/takes quite a lot of energy."
Not sure if you were just misunderstanding this meaning of 走る (車が走る etc), or if you have way larger problems (can't into implied topics etc).
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Anonymous2012-08-16 22:42
>>870
that would be nanigo not nango and if that shit's from a book or language guide it must be horrible for sure
also don't blame bad writing if you can't comprehend the language properly
Thanks, I think I get it now. I didn't think the ほど could refer to the second clause like that, but it makes sense that it does. I had also never seen にしろ or はしる used in those contexts. Thanks again.
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Anonymous2012-08-16 22:54
>>872
>also don't blame bad writing if you can't comprehend the language properly
>>874
i'm sure it's not yomiuri bungakusho material but in >>870 you clearly demonstrated miscomprehending a sentence this simple so gooby-kun please reflect on your current level of understanding instead of throwing around bullshit remarks like "it seems like bad writing" because this type of shit is typical of what you can expect to find in native sources now stop posting tia
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Anonymous2012-08-16 23:12
>>876
Stop being retarded. I didn't "miscomprehend" anything. >>871 even corroborated what I said. I think its bad writing. That's my opinion. Fuck off already.
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Anonymous2012-08-16 23:18
>>877
To clarify, (because you'll need it) the reason I say "chalk it up to bad writing" is because the OP was confused by the obvious dichotomy between the two sentences. Besides trying to connect the first clause of the second sentence to the first sentence instead of seeing how it related closer to the second, just from a composition standard and without having any previous or further context, the reason why the OP was confused could be "chalked up" to the illogical flow of ideas i.e. bad writing.
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Anonymous2012-08-16 23:46
>>877
i am >>871. let's compare the translations once more
>自転車ほどではないにしろ、ただ走っているだけでかなりのエネルギーを消耗する。
>He's saying that that the energy consumption of the Motorads are less than that of bicycles.
>"Even if it's not [as exhausting as] bicycling, just driving [the motodora] consumes/takes quite a lot of energy."
did you spot the difference? you missed the subject and therefore couldn't properly translate the sentence.
let's use simple logic. does a bicycle consume energy? (hint: it doesn't.) would it then make any sense that a talking motorbike uses less energy than it?
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Anonymous2012-08-16 23:53
>>878
this exact type of sentence composition is typical of japanese. important information tends to come towards the end, while modifiers can show up a long while before the concept they're modifying.
if you feel that it's illogical in regards to the flow of ideas, that might be because you haven't managed to break out of your SVO thought pattern