日本語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread 8

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英語でも日本語でもOK
日本の方からのご協力も大歓迎です

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I'm not sure what is それが、欠片もない means in the following sentence, I would translate this part like ”...looks like I remember the crumb of these scenes, however it's not even a fragment.” like it is so small that we cannot even call it a fragment of memory. But still this part feels akward to me.

どれだけの悪酒を食らい、どんな暴挙に出たものか、情景の断片くらいは記憶にありそうなのだが、それが、欠片もない。

Full: http://piccy.info/view3/5359906/298297914911f1dc3cbcd6dc40ecaeb1/orig/

I have a very basic questions about kanji kun/on readings. For example, 真 has シン as onyomi. However http://jisho.org/words?jap=真 shows there's a word しん with meaning "truth, reality...". So how does that work? Does the onyomi シン have a specific meaning and is only (mostly?) used with that specific meaning in mind (I thought onyomi were meaningless)? Or is しん somehow an entirely separate word that happens to read the same?

どれだけの悪酒を食らい、どんな暴挙に出たものか、
"How much alcohol he drank, what reckless actions he had taken"
情景の断片くらいは記憶にありそうなのだが、
"It seemed at least some fragment of this should remain in his memory"
それが、欠片もない
"but there was none"

それが is just a way of reemphasizing it. If someone asks you "ご両親お元気ですか" or something, you might see someone say "いや、それがね、もう離婚するらしいんです".

>>82
My dictionary wrote: 真 has シン(onyomi) / ま・まこと・まことに(kunnyomi)
strictly speaking, しん should be wrote シン. But we usually write to furigana using hiragana.
For example, "論理演算の結果は真です。(The result of logical operation is true)"
Strict writing is "ロンリエンザン の ケッカ は シン です", but we usually wrote "ろんりえんざん の けっか は しん です".
Japanese is very vague. :)

>>83
Thank you very much, your interpritation seems much butter than mine. Still, I'm failed to understand the "should" part in your translation, I cannot grasp which part or maybe grammar, gives this meaning. I would be very grateful if you could explain this part to me or give me a link about it.

>>85
"should" does not necessarily mean a rule or something, it just indicates a likelihood. This is the ありそう.

Can somebody please explain me about だけで（first one） in「そんなの自分だけで分かったつもりになってるだけなのよ」 I'm not sure what meaning does it has in this sentence. Some sort of translation "Also, even if say "the true wish" it's only that 'you are the one' who thinks that understood."

どうもしなくても大丈夫。わたしに任せてくれればそれでいいのよ
それにね、本当の望みなんて言っても、そんなの自分だけで分かったつもりになってるだけなのよ
不幸も幸せも、苦労も泣いたのも辛い楽しいのも、全部私が用意してあげる

Correction: "Also, even if you say "the true wish" it's only that 'you are the only one' who thinks that he understood."

Correction: "Also, even if you say "the true wish" it's only that 'you are the only one' who thinks that he understood."

>>87
>>88
That English is very confusing and I'm not even really sure what you're trying to say. Translating Japanese literally is going to result in gibberish in many cases.

それにね、本当の望みなんて言っても、
"Also, (you're) talking about your 'true desires' or whatever, but"

そんなの
"all that"

自分だけで分かったつもりになってるだけなのよ
"is just (you) thinking that you understand"

I think what tripped you up is the わかったつもり. When つもり is used with a past tense verb, it means "think something happened", with "something" being the verb. The person she (he? sounds like a woman) is talking to thinks s/he understands, but really they just need to entrust everything to the speaker.

>>90
Thank you very much for your reply. I'm sorry, my translation was really confusing, however the only thing that bugging me is だけで before 自分. While I can see why the author put だけなのよ(is just) in the end of the sentence, I cannot understand what is the point of the first one, simply　「自分が分かったつもりになってるだけなのよ」 wouldn't work?

>>91
自分が goes with 分かった but 自分だけで goes with つもりになる. That's an important distinction. I don't have a good explanation as to why they don't use 自分がわかったつもりになってるだけなのよ, but it sounds like 自分が describes the situation more (because the subject goes with 分かる and not なってる) while 自分だけで describes what the other person is doing.

>91
I think
自分が分かったつもりになってるだけなのよ You just thought, you realized it.
自分だけ が 分かったつもりになってるだけなのよ You just thought, you are the only one that realized it.
自分だけ　で　分かったつもりになってるだけなのよ You just thought, you are the only one that realized it by (only) yourself.
or You just thought, you realized it by only yourself.
Does it make sense to you? I use Engrish so my Engrish might confuse you.

>>93
It's fine, I got it. Thank you.

I cannot grasp the meaning of としてさ and わけだろ in the following sentence. As far as I can understand としてさ here means used to change the topic and わけだろ is somethng about common knowledge or information?
By the way 夜の世界 in this VN is about the phenomen when in the night time, school changes in to the other magic school(yeah I know, my explanations sucks) and another students suddenly appears there. 
満琉「夜の世界もそうだけど、生徒も謎だよな。」
小太郎「え？」
満琉「夜の世界が裏側だかどこからか召喚されているとしてさ」
満琉「夜の生徒ってなぜか、ここに召喚された学園に通ってるわけだろ」
満琉「その裏側の世界とやらから来てるのかな」

A begginers question:

What do you think about on reading? Do you know it? Does the average Japanese care about it?

「夜の世界もそうだけど、生徒も謎だよな。」
"The Night World is just the same but the students are still a mystery"
「え？」
"What?"
「夜の世界が裏側だかどこからか召喚されているとしてさ」
"Imagine the Night world is a kind of other side and they're being summoned from somewhere"
「夜の生徒ってなぜか、ここに召喚された学園に通ってるわけだろ」
That would mean the night students are attending an academy they were summoned to for some reason"
「その裏側の世界とやらから来てるのかな」
Maybe it's that they're coming from that "other side" world.

>>96
Are you retarded?

>>98
Maybe

>>95
Just to elaborate on >>97's translation, xとする means "hypothesize x" or "imagine that x". わけ indicates a conclusion has been reached.

>95
my opinion:
としてさ -> (もし)XXX として=if,  さ(and then) -> if XXX, and then
(YYYがZZZする)わけ だろ -> (YYYがZZZする)わけ=there is YYY do ZZZ, だろ=right? -> there is YYY do ZZZ, right?

（もし）夜の世界が裏側だかどこからか召喚されている　として　さ
(If) the world of night was summoned from the reverse side or somewhere, and then,
夜の生徒ってなぜか、ここに召喚された学園に通ってる わけ だろ
There is that, somehow the night students commute to school that was summoned here, right?
does my engrish make a sence?

>>101
I would tranlate it the same as you, dunno if it's correct though.

BTW I'me really sorry guys, I feel I shoud've done this from the beginning, but here it is more context(or more like the whole scene):

なぜ夜になると学園が変貌して別の世界が現れるのか。
遺品だの魔術だの、幽霊だの怪物だの……。
この学園ならなんでもありだ、という感覚になってしまってすっかり忘れてた気がする。
小太郎「不思議だよね。憂緒さんに説明されてもおれまだいまいち理解してなくて」
憂緒「時計塔の鐘の音と共に、学園には魔術で繋がれた『夜の世界』が現れ校舎と一体化します」
憂緒「夜しか存在しない世界。私たちのいつも見ているこの世界の、裏側の世界のようなものだそうです」
初めて夜の世界が来るのを目の当たりにしたとき、モー子はそう言っていた。
満琉「いまいちっつーか、俺も全然わかってないけどね……」
小太郎「う、うん。なんか違う世界なんだなーくらいしか」
おまるは首を傾げながらこめかみを指先でかいた。
満琉「夜の世界もそうだけど、生徒も謎だよな」
小太郎「え？」
満琉「夜の世界が裏側だかどこからか召喚されてるとしてさ」
満琉「夜の生徒ってなぜか、ここに召喚された学園に通ってるわけだろ」
満琉「その裏側の世界とやらから来てるのかな」
小太郎「学校ないのかな？　夜の世界が元々あるところって」
満琉「いや自分とこに建てろよ、学校。なんでわざわざ別世界の学園を変貌させて通うんだよ」
小太郎「……どう考えても、そっちの方が手間かかりそうだよね」
満琉「あれだけ大がかりな魔術だかなんだかの仕掛けだからな」
どうやってるんだか見当も付かないが、指先をパチンと鳴らしたら変化しますみたいな簡単な話じゃないだろう。
小太郎「けど、風呂屋町さんたちって前に憂緒さんが言ってたとおりおれたちと何も変わらないみたいだよね」
満琉「そうだな。別に普通の子だよな、みんな」
確かに何が違うのかよくわからない。
あえて言うなら、制服の色くらいだ。
おまるも風呂屋やその他の夜の生徒のことを頭に思い描いているのか、数秒会話が途切れた。
……と、思ったら。
目視しても、風景のように溶け込んでいて見逃してしまいそうなリトならともかく・・・・・・。

>>101
>does my engrish make a sence?

Absolutely not. No. It doesn't.

>>95 here

Goofed the subject. Correct:

「夜の世界もそうだけど、生徒も謎だよな。」
"The Night World is just the same but the students are still a mystery"
「え？」
"What?"
「夜の世界が裏側だかどこからか召喚されているとしてさ」
"Imagine the Night world is being summoned from somewhere or something"
「夜の生徒ってなぜか、ここに召喚された学園に通ってるわけだろ」
That would mean the night students are attending an academy that was summoned here for some reason"
「その裏側の世界とやらから来てるのかな」
Maybe it's that they're coming from that "other side" world.

What are these translated to English?

Just wanting to double-check and see if I got them right:

戦闘

殺す

性

憎む

破壊

Thank you!

What are these translated to English?

Just wanting to double-check and see if I got them right:

戦闘

殺す

性

憎む

破壊

Thank you!

>>106
These aren't complicated words, and just about all of them can be explained well by a single English word. If you're looking for a dictionary, there are tons of options that don't require you to post and wait for a response. jisho.org is one.

>>107
I got those words by googling Eng-to-Jap kanjis, but I wanted to see if they're right by asking a person first before continuing.

>>108
That isn't how language works. Try again.

Guys, I cannot grasp the meaning of さらに here.
あの窓の更に向こうは保健室だ。
Translation: Beyond(On the opposite side of) that window is infirmary.

test

>>110
更に here is grouped with 向こう, not only to mean just the opposite side (because that would only require 向こう) but "beyond" or "further beyond", the idea that it lies further than just the opposite side.

Japan a shit

Hey, anyone willing to help me figure something out?

I'm starting to teach myself Japanese (I know the kanas, and trying to digest kanji as I can) although I've been focusing more on learning a vocabulary than grammar, I have reached a bit into it;  At any rate, I decided to try and translate/scribe everything in a game just to expose myself to new words, and more importantly sentences and more complex things.

Anyways, I've mostly got this sentence under control, but I'm looking at part of it, and not sure what it's doing?

今日、あなたを呼んだのは他でもありません

So, basically from what I can tell it's saying "Today, you have been called ~ no one else can be called?"

The thing that throws me the most off is the のは, right after 呼んだ;  I understand that they use particles to declare how the different objects and verbs interact, but I haven't been able to find anything that introduces me to an instance with two particles back to back?  I could be misconstruing what they are being used as, perhaps the Ha goes with Hoka?  But I just am looking for a possible explanation of the function of No(Ha/Wa?) in the sentence.

Thank you very much.

"the one who called you was none other (than me, or whoever)".

Do you happen to have an explanation about how the No(Ha/wa) acts?

Is No declaring that the "Call" (Yonda), and Wa declaring.. the act being done?

Or are they even both particles, in that instance?  A yes to that would at least give me some confidence in my ability to diagram the sentence.

>>116
Sorry, I was playing monster hunter and didn't give a very good answer.

の when used as a nominalizer can mean a lot of things. Noun phrases in Japanese can describe a lot of things about what they refer to. For example:

英語を習った先生

At first glance this would appear to mean "the teacher who learned English", but it can also mean (and usually does mean) "the teacher I learned English from". 呼んだのは~ could mean "I called you because~" or "The one who called you is/was ~".

It's the noun replacement の. http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/nounparticles

Ah, I found that site looking over the previous threads, very useful looking, I'll have to read it over.


Seems like I'll have to keep reading things to really dig into the "Noun phrase" idea (I'm sure it has an easy enough English parallel), but the one page you linked me to about the "No" as a Particle doesn't seem to really talk about making phrases into nouns?

I dunno;  I also learned about the "No" particle from About.com (My current default learning source along with Genki), but About's list of "What No does" didn't really seem to point that out?  Maybe I just need to look at the examples, and just internalize the notion so I can more appropriately relate things.

After putting some thought into it, and having read all the page you sent me, it occurs to me that perhaps what the "No" is doing is /replacing/ a noun?  Is that the case?  Or is it closer to the explination of saying that "Who called" (呼んだの) is a noun unto itself?

>but the one page you linked me to about the "No" as a Particle doesn't seem to really talk about making phrases into nouns?

yes, that is why I said "It's the noun replacement の":

The 「の」 particle in this usage essentially replaces the noun and takes over the role as a noun itself. We can essentially treat adjectives and verbs just like nouns by adding the 「の」 particle to it. The particle then becomes a generic noun, which we can treat just like a regular noun.

(from Tae Kim's)

I am being kind of loose in my terminology here, but basically の describes an abstract noun (what it is depends on what the meaning is) and the stuff that comes before it (in this case あなたを呼んだ) is a subordinate clause that describes that noun.

When I say noun phrase it should refer to the whole thing (あなたを呼んだの) but as I said I was not very careful in my usage of the term.