question dict | answers list | id stringlengths 1 6 | accepted_answer_id stringlengths 2 6 ⌀ | popular_answer_id stringlengths 1 6 ⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
{
"accepted_answer_id": "862",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "I often hear Japanese using a different method for saying a number like \"248\"\nas によんぱ — especially for highways and license plates.\n\nWhile this one is easy to understand, there are others that I don't quite\nunderstand. Could someone provide a list o... | [
{
"body": "There is no rule per se and an exhaustive list will need to be in a form of\ncommunity wiki to be editable by everyone.\n\nA mix of \"on-\" and \"kun-\" readings (without the last consonant) + some English\npronunciation + some kana modification will work.\n\nI'll list what I've heard with some examp... | 853 | 862 | 862 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "855",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I'm a big fan of the Japanese fast food gyudon (cooked thinly sliced beef\nstrips on top of a bowl of boiled white rice) and its variants such as butadon\n(the same but with pork).\n\nBut why do some chain restaurants call it \"gyudon\" and others \"gyume... | [
{
"body": "The 丼 _donburi_ in 牛丼 _gyūdon_ specifically denotes a _bowl of rice_. \nThe 飯 _meshi_ in 牛飯 _gyūmeshi_ just means _rice_ or even more generically\n_meal_.\n\nBoth describe the same thing:\n\n> ぎゅう‐どん【牛丼】 \n> 「牛飯（ぎゅうめし）」に同じ。\n\n\"See _gyūmeshi_.\"\n\n> ぎゅう‐めし【牛飯】 \n> ネギなどと煮た牛肉を、汁とともにかけたどんぶり飯。牛丼（ぎ... | 854 | 855 | 855 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "867",
"answer_count": 6,
"body": "In answer to my question on [the difference between \"gyūdon\" and\n\"gyūmeshi\"](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/854/what-is-the-\ndifference-between-meshi-and-don-for-the-food-sometimes-translate) I learned\nthat \"meshi\" just means cooked... | [
{
"body": "gohan can mean cooked rice as well as a meal, since traditional\njapanese/chinese meals consisted mainly of rice.\n\nMeshi can also mean food in addtion to rice. ひるめし I've heard used for lunch.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-09T04:52:34.... | 858 | 867 | 867 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "863",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "This is a word I learned by reading and not by studying or in conversation\nwith Japanese.\n\nAfter learning the kana years ago I had occasion to fly with JAL and the pre-\nmeal snack was a little packet of various savoury crunch things like nuts and\nwha... | [
{
"body": "In my understanding, everything you could eat when you drink beer/osake is\notsumami.",
"comment_count": 7,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-09T05:04:37.293",
"id": "863",
"last_activity_date": "2011-06-09T05:04:37.293",
"last_edit_date": null,
... | 861 | 863 | 893 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "881",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "When do we use たくさん and when do we use 多い? I found both modifiers are used\nwithin similar sentences, for example:\n\n> 人が多かったです \n> 人がたくさんいました\n\nI had this impression that 多い is used with countable nouns (i.e. similar to\n\"many\") while たくさん can be u... | [
{
"body": "In response to the found statement:\n\n```\n\n \"今日は水が多いですね\"\n \n```\n\nThis does not make sense. Literally, \"There is a lot of water today.\" So since\nit is not sensible, i would not use it to debunk your thoughts.\n\nLet's consider rain and the two following statements to try and express \... | 864 | 881 | 881 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "880",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "While reading, I came across this sentence:\n\n> 「上官が上官なら部下も部下だな」\n\nWhat does this 「XがXなら、YもYだ」 pattern mean? \"Like X, like Y\"? \"X will be X, and\nY will be Y\"?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-... | [
{
"body": "In my understanding, that mean\n\n> They all are the same\n\nI would translate 上官が上官なら部下も部下だな as\n\nOfficer do (whatever they like), and also subordinates do the same thing, they\nall are the same finally.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-... | 870 | 880 | 880 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "878",
"answer_count": 8,
"body": "Is there an authoritative source that explains where the different kanji come\nfrom and what the radicals mean? I think it's hard to tell from most of the\ntextbooks/other sources whether a shown kanji's origin is correct or if it's\nmade up. Does it even... | [
{
"body": "Probably get this book called 新漢和大辞典(shin kanwa daijiten), **20k** kanjis\nthere.\n\nWhich also include 漢字の成り立ち(How kanji formed)\n\n\n\nref:\n\n * <http://www.gakken.jp/jiten/data/kanwa.html#kanwadaijiten>\n * <http://www.gakken.j... | 871 | 878 | 878 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "What is the difference between the Japanese term \"敬語\" (keigo) and the English\nterm \"politeness\" (Specifically regarding language)?\n\nI assumed politeness is more general covering things like \"please\" and \"thank\nyou\" and that \"敬語\" (keigo) speci... | [
{
"body": "Keigo (敬語) is the general term for honorifics in the Japanese language, which\ncan be further classified into three main categories: sonkeigo (尊敬語),\nrespectful language; kenjōgo (謙譲語), humble language; and teineigo (丁寧語),\npolite language. The former are the so called ‘referent honorifics’ and are\n... | 882 | null | 890 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "897",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "I picked up a bad habit of using ～たら (a form of conditional) when I mean ～てから\n(once something happens, something else will happen) from a friend many years\nback while learning Japanese.\n\nIn the years since, I learned the difference and felt bad when I... | [
{
"body": "Short answer: No.\n\n～ておく and ～ている can become ～とく and ～てる because they have consecutive vowels,\nwhich are easily slurred/elided, but to get ～てから to become ～たら, you'd have to\ndrop a consonant, which I don't believe ever happens in Japanese (but I would\nwelcome a correction here). In addition, the ～... | 889 | 897 | 897 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "895",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I've got two questions. Firstly, what is the difference between 特殊{とくしゅ} and\n特別{とくべつ}?\n\nSecondly, is it true that all these grammar forms are correct:\n\n * 特殊{とくしゅ}な ＋ [noun]\n * 特別{とくべつ}な ＋ [noun]\n * 特殊{とくしゅ}の ＋ [noun]\n * 特別{とくべつ}の ＋ [noun]",
... | [
{
"body": "I'm a Japanese student studying English at university. Let me try and answer\nyour question.\n\nWe use 特殊 _tokushu_ in academic situations, describing something strange or\ncrazy.\n\nIn contrast, we say 特別 _tokubetsu_ in casual situation, describing something\nprecious or valuable.\n\nFor example, we... | 892 | 895 | 895 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "943",
"answer_count": 8,
"body": "Is the term ハーフ (mixed-race Japanese/other) derogatory? Can you use it in a\nnewspaper article? Can you use it to describe your boss? If it is derogatory,\nwhat word(s) should one use instead?",
"comment_count": 9,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
... | [
{
"body": "From what I've seen it doesn't seem derogatory. Same goes for the 2nd-\ngeneration Japanese from Brazil as well with the word \"Nikei\"\n\nJust make sure you don't say \"New Half\" as that will surely upset your boss.\n\nEdit: Apparently it WAS derogatory back in the day when there weren't many\nfore... | 898 | 943 | 1662 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "976",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I came across this on Twitter, it seems to be mostly a question but sometimes\nan exclamation. Is it とは, or maybe とか? How do you use it? My dictionary has a\nとな as word that come at the end of a sentence to get confirmation. Is this the\nsame?\n\n[画像も貼らずに... | [
{
"body": "とな is basically formed by combination of と and な.\n\nYou may use ～とな at the end of the sentenses like that, basically use when you\nheard it from somewhere else and also express your agreement when you repeat\nthat. It has similar meaning with ～というのだね.\n\nYou may also use ～とな at the end of the phrase... | 899 | 976 | 921 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "908",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "Last night I had dinner in a ramen restaurant in northern Japan and was\nsurprised to read the katakana \"ライス\" (raisu) on the menu. This is obviously\nthe English word \"rice\" borrowed. But what kind of rice or method of\npreparation might it refer to g... | [
{
"body": "I think it has to do with the fact that there are certain dishes that are\nwestern in origin. They use rice, but they are served differently. Take a look\nat dishes like 「カレーライス」 or 「ハヤシライス」 or 「タコライス」. All of these are served on\nplate or with western ingredients. ご飯 and 丼 are usually served in thei... | 901 | 908 | 908 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "925",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "why is it that some 形容動詞 accepts の after it while some only accepts な after\nit?\n\nExamples:\n\nの only: 普通、大勢\n\nな or の: 初心、特別、特殊\n\nIs there a way for us to tell if a 形容動詞 needs a の or な particle after it.. or\nis it just by brute force memory?\n\nBtw m... | [
{
"body": "I'm not sure if there's a real answer to that. At least not something that\nwill help you learn which is which. Some 形容動詞 take な, some take の, and some\ntake both. How did that happen? That's quite simple.\n\nAll 形容動詞 are in fact a special class of nouns. In academic English material,\nthey are often... | 920 | 925 | 925 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "927",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Is there a grammatically correct expression similar to the {～って感じ} slang?\n\nFor example, I heard something like the following conversation in an anime:\n\n> A: テストはどう? \n> B: どうって? 「もう死にてぇ」って感じだぜ。 \n> A: アハハ。何だそれ?\n\nWhat grammatically correct expres... | [
{
"body": "I guess you can always use `～という感じがする` or `～という感じです`, which, I guess, is where\n`～って感じ` comes from.",
"comment_count": 14,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-10T07:35:23.403",
"id": "927",
"last_activity_date": "2011-06-10T07:35:23.403",
"last_edit_da... | 926 | 927 | 927 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "933",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I'd like to know what the difference between 悪 and 惡 is. And also what usage\nyou should do between both. I heard that they both mean \"bad\"",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-10T09:15:07.413",
"fav... | [
{
"body": "惡 is the traditional (pre-1946) form of the kanji, while 悪 is the new,\nsimplified form. The simplification in this case may not seem much (just a\nsingle stroke has been removed), but it was probably made to make the form of\nthe kanji more 'natural' and flowing.",
"comment_count": 0,
"conte... | 932 | 933 | 933 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "What is the difference between にかんして and について? Example usage would be much\nappreciated!",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-10T09:53:44.443",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "934",
"last_activity_date"... | [
{
"body": "に関して => Related to, in relation to について => Concerning, along, under, per\n\nこの問題に関して質問を受ける Be questioned in relation with this problem\n\nこの点に関しての米国の見方は、各国が必要とする行動には差異があるということです。 The view of the United States on this\npoint is that there is differentiation in what countries need to do\n\n（人）の学校での一日につ... | 934 | null | 942 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "954",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Today I heard the phrase なんてことしてくれた, as in:\n\n> 君！なんてことしてくれたんだ！\n\nwhich I learned means \"[Look what you've\ndone](http://english.mag2.com/marvin/beginner_37.html)\". I thought くれる was\nonly used when someone does something nice for you. Is this just a ... | [
{
"body": "Speaking from personal experience, I do hear the ~くれる form used this way all\nthe time in video games and such, and it seems to me that it does carry a kind\nof sarcasm(the Japanese kind :D).\n\nI mostly hear やってくれたな! when the opponent does something to the person, but I\nseldom hear it used this way... | 938 | 954 | 954 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "947",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "When people imitate yakuza speech, what are the major things they do to make\nit recognizable as such?\n\nIf possible, how accurate is this compared to actual yakuza speech?\n\nI've seen mention elsewhere on this site that there is some relationship with\... | [
{
"body": "As you probably already read in the [question on\ndialects](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/654/how-many-dialects-\nare-commonly-used-today), Yakuzas are often pictured speaking Hiroshima-ben\n_on TV_. According to Japanese friends, this has probably as much to do with\nthe fact that Hir... | 941 | 947 | 947 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "946",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "The katakana changes with time, and so recently they introduced the \"v\" \"ヴ\",\nand I'd like to know if there's a possibility they'll add letters like \"si\"\n\"セィ\" or something similar in the future? Do the Japanese government has some\nplans for that... | [
{
"body": "There are no plans that I know of, but I would be surprised if Katakana (and\neven Hiragana) does not change over time. Writing systems tend to change with\ntime, to better reflect natural changes in the languages they represent. So\nthe real question should probably be whether there will be a change... | 945 | 946 | 946 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "950",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "In this scene a young girl, Yotsuba, drops in on her neighbors for some\nbreakfast. The mother who's cooking breakfast says:\n\n> 「今お父さんの焼いてるからその次ねー。ちょっと待っててー。」\n\nSo I guess she's preparing her husbands food first, and tells Yotsuba to hang\non for a min... | [
{
"body": "I think it's short for 待っていて. Though I'm just taking a guess in the dark here.",
"comment_count": 5,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-10T15:36:34.447",
"id": "949",
"last_activity_date": "2017-07-01T11:52:18.567",
"last_edit_date": "2017-07-01T11:52... | 948 | 950 | 950 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "953",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "My friend and I are learning Japanese. For a time, all we knew was 私, but\nafter we learned more words, she started to use あたし when referring to herself,\nand I began using 僕. What I'm wondering is, how commonly are these used?\n\nRelated: [Is it ok for n... | [
{
"body": "あたし is quite common for females, but 僕 is not that much. In my feeling, 僕 has\nsome romantic sense, so using 僕 when you talk to girls should be no problem at\nall. (Note that I use romatic sense here is for non-family members, and non-\nclosed friends)\n\nJapanese use 俺 a lot recently, and here is a\... | 952 | 953 | 953 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "970",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Way back when, I remember being taught that when you want to say a really\npolite \"thank you\", sentences such as these are basically the same:\n\n> 文章を訂正して **いただきまして** ありがとうございます。\n>\n> 文章を訂正して **くださいまして** ありがとうございます。\n\nBut are they really? Does it mak... | [
{
"body": "I had been wondering for years why we hear ～いただきましてありがとうございます more often than\n～くださいましてありがとうございます, but now I can make up a plausible explanation, inspired by\nBoaz’s comment on the question. This is very incomplete, but let me post it as\nan answer because I hope that it explains a small part of the ... | 957 | 970 | 970 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "969",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "I remember reading that there is a dialect in which older men refer to\nthemselves as あたし. It didn't have a feminine connotation, it may have even\nbeen a bit rough.\n\nI think I read it on Wikipedia, but being as I can't find it now, I wonder if\nit was ... | [
{
"body": "No. Older men might use わし, but men don't use あたし. Maybe if they are\nhomosexuals (like Tanoshingo) and even then, it would be to joke around, I\nthink.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-11T04:34:34.420",
"id": "962",
"last_activity... | 961 | 969 | 963 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "968",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "is it true that なら is merely a short form of ならば and as such, both are totally\ninterchangeable without affecting the nuance of the sentence?\n\nAlso, a second question is is ならば more \"formal\" than \"なら\" ?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "... | [
{
"body": "First things first, なら does come historically from ならば. ならば itself is the\nhypothetical form of the old copula なり, and it was constructed in the same way\nthe auxiliary verb たり changed into たらば, as I've already explained here: [Can\n【～たら】 be a short form of\n【～てから】?](https://japanese.stackexchange.co... | 964 | 968 | 968 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "977",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "Is it true that the prefix 超 to mean “very” is seldom used in written works\n(like novels, not counting direct speech), and is usually only used when\ntalking?",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-11T17:... | [
{
"body": "It depends on what kind of written works you consider.\n\nAs Boaz wrote in a comment on the question, 超 (ちょう) meaning “very” is very\ncolloquial. It is highly unlikely to see it in formal contexts, written or\nspoken.\n\nHowever, this does not mean that 超 (also written チョー or ちょー) is not used in\nwri... | 972 | 977 | 983 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "975",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "I have occasionally heard and read instances, where a person has referred to\nthemselves as これ. My Japanese dictionary also lists \"Me, I.\" as a definition\nof これ.\n\nNow, this obviously isn't used as frequently as 私, 僕, etc., so it makes me\nwonder: Whe... | [
{
"body": "I think that would be おれ 「俺」, and actually most frequently used first person\npronoun for males in Japan currently when speaking.\n\nThe one you found in dictionary might be from まくらそうし「枕草子」 at Middle Heian-Era\n(around 1000 Years ago) but I don't think that one is in used recently.\n\nor [これ](http:/... | 973 | 975 | 975 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1358",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I've noticed the following sets of words that seem to have a very obvious\npattern, and, of course, their meanings are very closely related:\n\n * これ、 それ、 あれ、 どれ\n * この、 その、 あの、 どの\n * ここ、 そこ、 あそこ、 どこ\n\nWhat are the origins of these sets of words? I'... | [
{
"body": "Well, if you use the kanjis, you see the pattern even better!\n\n此れ、 其れ、 彼、 何れ\n\n此の、 其の、 彼の、 何の\n\n此処、 其処、 彼処、 何処\n\nFrom there, the suffixes \"れ\"、 \"の\"、 and \"こ\" indicate whether you're talking\nabout a thing, a \"possessive\", or a location. \nThe prefixes are, as you had guessed, the \"distan... | 978 | 1358 | 1358 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1067",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "Yay, yet another first-person-pronoun question!\n\nI know that 自分 is commonly used as a personal pronoun in _indirect speech_ ,\ne.g.:\n\nマイクは、自分はなんと不注意なのだろうと言った。→ Mike said that he was very careless. \nスミスさんは自分はニューヨークの生まれだと言った。→ Mr Smith said, \"I was ... | [
{
"body": "Not much of an answer, but between myself and my native speaker girlfriend, we\nboth thought the same thing, \"It's the exact same in meaning and sense to 私／僕\nor any of those, but it's definitely less formal.\"\n\nAt the same time, I don't think that means it's particularly informal; I just\nbelieve... | 979 | 1067 | 982 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "994",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "I'm (trying) to read a Japanese spy novel at the moment. It could just be the\nauthor's style, but I see lots of sentences end in 〜気配がする。\n\nThe more I read, the more I wonder - is there any difference between this and\n気がする?\n\n> 一人で公園のベンチで本を読んだら、隣にだれか座っ... | [
{
"body": "気配 => indication, sign, tendence ; quotation (esp. stock market) 気がする => To\nhave a certain mood or feeling, to have a hunch.",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-12T14:59:15.433",
"id": "987",
"last_activity_date": "2011-06-12T14:59:1... | 980 | 994 | 994 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1442",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "What is the etymology of 右に出る, as in 「右に出る者はいない」? What on earth makes the\nright superior to the left?\n\nRelatedly, is 左に出る ever used to mean \"inferior to\"?",
"comment_count": 7,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-12T06... | [
{
"body": "I don't know Chinese histroy but my Japanese dictionary says that during [Han\nDynastry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty) at China, they defined the\nsystem that right side of the place (eg., for seat) is for higher rank. And\nJapanese just follow it.",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_l... | 984 | 1442 | 985 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "992",
"answer_count": 5,
"body": "What’s the difference between [v] たとしても and just the plain ても? Example:\n\n> (1) 説明書を読んでも分かりにくい\n>\n> (2) 説明書を読んだとしても分かりにくい",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-12T15:40:07.400",
"favorite_count": 0,
... | [
{
"body": "1. 説明書を読んでも分かりにくい\n\nIt's hard to understand although I read instructions.\n\n 2. 説明書を読んだとしても分かりにくい\n\nIt's hard to understand even if I read the instructions.\n\n〜ても also has some sense like としても, if you use like\n\n> 読んでも分からないと思う (I don't think I will understand it even if I read it)",
"commen... | 989 | 992 | 992 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "996",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "My boss is a native Japanese speaker.\n\nIn English, when I have a question or an issue to bring up, I can ask \"Do you\nhave a minute?\" to see if it is an appropriate time to interrupt them. In\nJapanese, when I tried the literal translation `一分【いっぷん】があ... | [
{
"body": "ちょっといいですか is a casual expression. Depending on the relation between you and\nyour boss, you may not want to use the phrase to your boss.\n\nOne of the formal and polite expressions is お時間をいただいてもよろしいですか\n(おじかんをいただいてもよろしいですか). If you want to state an estimate of the length (say five\nminutes), you can ... | 995 | 996 | 996 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "998",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "A few years ago I was told by a Japanese friend \"社会の窓\" (shakai no mado).\n\nIt was explained after some giggling that this is what is said to a man who\nhas inadvertently left his fly open, and that it means literally \"society's\nwindow\".\n\nSo why us... | [
{
"body": "[俗語辞書（ぞくごじしょ）](http://zokugo-dict.com/12si/shakainomado.htm) (slang\ndictionary) says that that word was formed because of the radio program called\n社会の窓（しゃかいのまど） around 1948-1960, which tried expose anything about\nsociety/community.\n\nAnd people start to called zip fasteners 社会の窓, because it is a ... | 997 | 998 | 998 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1001",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "When dining at Yoshinoya I never know how to ask for the size meal I want.\n\nTheir sizes are 並, 大, and 特.\n\nI only know that \"大\" means big, but it also has two readings so I have no idea\nwhether to ask for \"dai\" or \"ooki\". And since the word/cha... | [
{
"body": "Although 並(nami), 大(dai) will work in most of the places, others would depend\non each restaurant.\n\n * For Small - 小 (shou), ミニ (mini), 半分 (hanbun), 少なめ (sukuname), S (エス)...\n\n * For Normal - 並 (nami), 普通 (futsuu), 中(chuu), M (エム)...\n\n * For Big - 大 (dai), 大盛り (oomori), 多め (oome), L (エル)...\... | 999 | 1001 | 1001 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1011",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "[Statistics](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/952/how-commonly-\nare-atashi-or-boku-used-in-japan/953#953) seem to show that (for young males,\nanyway) 俺{おれ} is beginning to be used more often than 僕{ぼく} to refer to\noneself. I have read that... | [
{
"body": "For the younger generations, the rude connotations seem to be disappearing\nfast. I spent considerable time with Japanese in their '20s over the past two\nyears and the vast majority of males consistently used 俺 to refer to\nthemselves in casual situations. Many of them were far removed from the type... | 1000 | 1011 | 1011 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1005",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "In my wanderings around Japan giving my kana knowledge some practice I've\nnoticed both the words \"ガール\" (gāru) and \"ガールズ\" (gāruzu) in use at least in\nsignage. Obviously they are borrowed from English \"girl\" and \"girls\" in turn,\nbut is either or... | [
{
"body": "Japanese also called ガール as ギャル, but the word ギャル is taken by\nblackish/brownish (may be sun-burn or make-ups) girls, see the\n[ギャル](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AE%E3%83%A3%E3%83%AB) on Wikipedia.\n\nSo, I guess someone start using ガール as normal girls.\n\nAnd I think ガールズ comes from something... | 1003 | 1005 | 1005 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1015",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I've noticed that some of my Japanese friends with fluent but imperfect\nEnglish often say \"too _adjective_ \" when a native English speaker would say\njust \"very _adjective_ \".\n\n(I am asking about \"too\" in the sense \"too big\", not as in \"me to... | [
{
"body": "I've always heard that \"very\" is 「とても」 (「とても美味しい」), whereas \"too\" is 「～過ぎ」\n(「大き過ぎ」).",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-13T06:09:00.113",
"id": "1009",
"last_activity_date": "2011-06-13T06:09:00.113",
"last_edit_date": null,... | 1007 | 1015 | 1015 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1016",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "Japanese has two kinds of adjectives known by several terms but the ones I\nknow are `i-adjectives` and `na-adjectives` \\- why?\n\nI recall that Japanese adjectives are much more like verbs than in English and\nmost European languages (where they are mo... | [
{
"body": "My understanding is that な-adj are actually a completely different type of\nword that are closer to nouns but are taught as な-Adj.\n\ntaken from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_adjectives>\n\n> **adjectival verbs** 形容詞 keiyōshi adjectival verbs, i-adjectives,\n> adjectives, stative verbs \n> ... | 1008 | 1016 | 1016 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1017",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "On the [talk page of the Wikipedia article on \"Japanese\nadjectives\"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3aJapanese_adjectives), user\nDougalg suggested nearly two years ago:\n\n> I know these are falling out of use, but still exist. If anyone can give ... | [
{
"body": "Today these are mostly frozen forms that behave like attributives (連体詞, see my\nanswer [here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1008/why-does-\njapanese-have-two-kinds-of-adjectives-i-adjectives-and-na-adjectives)). Verbs\nin this class include 確たる ( _sure_ , _certain_ ) and 堂々たる (majestic... | 1013 | 1017 | 1017 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "Mainly inspired by [this question on what seems to be the misuse of a standard\nidiom by a Japanese\nemployee](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/798/usage-of-chdo/), I\nwas reminded of being told about バイト敬{けい}語{ご} (\"manual keigo\") in the past... | [
{
"body": "Using ～から like １万円 **から** お預かりします, which seems to be grammatically incorrect.",
"comment_count": 12,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-13T09:20:57.543",
"id": "1019",
"last_activity_date": "2011-06-13T09:36:14.123",
"last_edit_date": "2011-06-13T09:3... | 1018 | null | 1019 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 5,
"body": "Regarding `すごい`:\n\n 1. What is the right way to spell it?\n\n 2. Is it vulgar, or is it slang like the English \"cool\"?, or informal or colloquial? Is it archaic?\n\n 3. If it is slang, does it have a non-slang meaning?\n\n 4. If it would be consider... | [
{
"body": "I think it is pretty hard to differentiate between slang and informal, but my\nguess would be that it would be considered informal because it is used across\nall of Japan AND there is another way to say \"sugei\" that is definitely slang.\n\nI don't think it would be considered vulgar, as there aren'... | 1023 | null | 1055 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1056",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "青 _ao_ seems to be used very much interchangeably for both _blue_ and _green_.\nWhy is that so, and how does 緑 _midori_ play into this?",
"comment_count": 11,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-13T12:36:26.320",
"favorit... | [
{
"body": "[This page in the 日本語Q&A over at\nALC](http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/jpn_npa?stage=2&sn=185) addresses this\nquestion. Apparently the historical definition of 青【あお】, even when defined\nnarrowly, covered an entire range of colors which are today separated as\n青【あお】, 緑【みどり】, and 藍【あい】 (indigo). This tre... | 1024 | 1056 | 1056 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1074",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "I am searching for a way to ask a question like \"When did you last see her?\"\nor \"When did you last do the laundry?, or also \"When did we last meet?\"\nBasically, how do you construct a question with this content:\n\n> \"When was the most recent time... | [
{
"body": "\"When did you last see her?\" \n最後に彼女を見たのはいつ(ですか)?\n\n\"When did you last do the laundry?\" \n最後に洗濯をしたのはいつ(ですか)?\n\n\"When did we last meet?\" \n最後に会ったのはいつ(ですか)?\n\nI think you can easily use 最後に to say \"last\" in this context.",
"comment_count": 5,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
... | 1060 | 1074 | 1061 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1414",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "When I had the chance to go on a Jungle Cruise at Tokyo Disneyland, I noticed\nthe skipper talked with sprinkles of prolonged vowels and uncommon rising and\nfalling intonation patterns.\n\nIs this \"dialect\" original, or was it borrowed from existing\n... | [
{
"body": "It's just typical for entertainers who want to capture the attention of the\naudience.\n\nIt's not even unique to Japanese. When you take the English one in Disney\nWorld (Florida) they talk the same way.\n\n<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtDKnYCTIh0> The guide in this one does the\nsame thing in En... | 1062 | 1414 | 1414 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1065",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "[WWWJDIC](http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C) lists 差す\nas an intransitive verb, but in all of the example sentences I've seen it\nlooks more like a transitive verb.\n\nSo my question is, is 差す a transitive or intransitive verb?",
... | [
{
"body": "It's both. My copy of Kōjien has entries for both the transitive and\nintransitive uses of this verb.\n\n**Intransitive**\n\n * 夕日が部屋に差し込む。 (ゆうひがへやにさしこむ。)\n * 潮が差す。 (しおがさす。)\n\n**Transitive**\n\n * 傘を差す。 (かさをさす。)\n * 会話に水を差す。 (かいわにみずをさす。)",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA... | 1064 | 1065 | 1065 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "3356",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "i was wondering what may be the difference in nuance between 右へ曲がる and 右に曲がる ?\n\nExample: Take a right turn and you'll see the library.\n\n1) 右へ曲がると、図書館がある。\n\n2) 右に曲がると、図書館がある。\n\nAs for [noun-location] with the verb 行く, the へ should be used when we wa... | [
{
"body": "I think it's not much different than the other threads (to which I will not\nlink). I would say it's nothing more than 右に being \"turn right\" and 右へ being\n\"turn to the right\" or \"turn right-ish\".",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-13T1... | 1068 | 3356 | 3356 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1071",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "After reading the 2 threads: [How to use へ (-e), に (-ni), まで (made) and の方\n(no-hō) with destination and\ndirection?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/275/how-to-use-e-ni-\nmade-and-no-h-with-destination-and-directi) and [When going somewhere... | [
{
"body": "Well, I'm not native, so I don't know if this disqualifies me from\nanswering... ... But in the context of your question, I'd say この後（で）どこ{へ／に}行く？\n\nYour #1 could work, but using just あと instead of このあと gives a sense of \"later\"\nlater. Adding the この solidifies the meaning of \"after this\", where ... | 1069 | 1071 | 1071 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1935",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I'm looking for a cheap secondhand character dictionary in Japan but:\n\nI don't know if there is one or more kind of these, and I don't know what they\nare called.\n\nTwo I saw had these on their spines, but I don't know if they are titles or\ntypes of ... | [
{
"body": "[漢和辞典](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%BC%A2%E5%92%8C%E8%BE%9E%E5%85%B8) is\nwhat you want:\n\nShinchosha have just released a Kanji-only dictionary called: Shin'Nihongo\nKanji Jiten: <http://www.shinchosha.co.jp/jiten/kanjijiten/index.html> that\nincludes not only words with origins in China, but a... | 1075 | 1935 | 1935 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1645",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "How are fiction books such as novels sorted on the shelves at Japanese\nbookshops? Kana order seems to play a small part but not the whole part.\n\n(I'm not asking about nonfiction books since those are ordered by category and\nare much easier to find)",... | [
{
"body": "I haven't been to a Japanese library yet, but judging from the book shops I\nhave been to so far, fiction and such have been sorted by publishing house\n(such as Kadokawa or DC Comics).",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-14T07:31:15.427",
... | 1076 | 1645 | 1645 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1121",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "What function does は provide in statements such as 本ではない or 本だとは思わない? I notice\nthe は after と is often left out, at least if a Google search for 思わない is any\nindication, but there still seems to be a general trend of sticking は into\nnegatives where I pr... | [
{
"body": "To answer that, I think we first have to look at one of the more important\nroles of topic markers (in any language that has them): marking contrast.\n\n## The topic marker as a marker of contrast\n\nLook at this conversation for instance:\n\n> A: 一番好きな中華料理か？ たぶん麻婆豆腐だと思う。 \n> My favorite Chinese di... | 1077 | 1121 | 1121 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1192",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I know that you can use ご～いただく toward \"clients\" (which is something I've never\nreally understood; maybe better as a question of its own) such as\nご来店いただき、まことにありがとうございます (\"Thank you (customer) for coming to our store\").\n\nFollowing this logic, I kno... | [
{
"body": "These phrases are about politely telling someone they \"can do\" or are \"allowed\nto do\" an action. I like to think of it as the action \"is available to you\".\n\nMany people misunderstand this basic point (@istrasci: I know you get this). I\nam only mentioning it because even native speakers freq... | 1078 | 1192 | 1138 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "The term \"onigiri\" covers all kinds of rice balls, with or without filling,\nand with or without nori seaweed around it.\n\nIs there a specific term that only covers the one class of onigiri available\nin supermarkets and konbinis that is triangular in s... | [
{
"body": "Not really. The closest is \"三角のおにぎり\" to describe the shape. Onigiri have been\nmade in many different shapes over time, including a round shape and the\noccasionally clever shape that a creative mom might try to make. But many\npeople now think of triangular ones as the normal mode, so you wouldn't... | 1079 | null | 1090 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1122",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "When you first begin to learn Japanese you are taught that Japanese has no\nstress and each syllable should be pronounced equally.\n\nYou also learn that certain vowels are not pronounced, or only pronounced very\nslightly, such as the \"u\" in \"desu\" ... | [
{
"body": "I have a book in my university library that has a 100-odd page article\ndedicated to these mute vowels, and it still doesn't seem to give a complete\npicture. So unfortunately, this feature of Japanese phonology is quite\ncomplex.\n\nStill, there's a rather simple rule of thumb that can point you to ... | 1095 | 1122 | 1122 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1130",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "The title should be pretty self-explanatory. What meanings does each convey?\nAnd in what kinds of circumstances would one be used instead of the other?\n\nFor example, what are the differences between these two sentences?\n\n> 図書館に本がある。\n>\n> 図書館には本がある。... | [
{
"body": "私には means \"as for me\" and it is similar to 私にとって.\n\nIt is a different usage of には completely unrelated to the one that you added\nas an example in a later edit.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-14T06:31:59.647",
"id": "1104",
"l... | 1096 | 1130 | 1130 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1151",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "As the title says- I'm wondering if anyone is aware of a website used for\nlearning dialects and internet lingo?",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-14T07:16:34.477",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "11... | [
{
"body": "There's a zokugo dictionary [here](http://zokugo-dict.com/), which includes\nboth normal slang and internet slang. Of course, it's all in Japanese.\n\nI haven't been able to find any other resources for this sort of thing,\nthough.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
... | 1114 | 1151 | 1151 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1149",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "毎日は楽しくなりました。\n\nWould you translate this: Every day was fun.\n\nor\n\nEvery day became fun.\n\nI know that なる can be used to say that A becomes B. But in this example what\nis the nuance of the meaning of なる？",
"comment_count": 6,
"content_license": ... | [
{
"body": "毎日は楽しくなりました generally makes it seem like the context is:\n\n1) everyday life was not much fun before\n\n2) a particular thing happened and pretty much changed it over night\n\n3) everyday life is now fun.\n\nThus, it's difficult to actually translate this into an English sentence that\ncontains all t... | 1126 | 1149 | 1149 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1132",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "It seems there are three words for the same Japanese food item, a kind of\n\"sushi in a long roll\":\n\n * \"巻寿司\" (makizushi)\n * \"海苔巻き\" (norimaki)\n * \"巻物\" (makimono)\n\nAre they all identical / synonyms? Do they refer to subtly different things... | [
{
"body": "**Norimaki & Makizushi** both refer to the rolled up sushi. Makizushi is used\nmore commonly used than Norimaki. INterestingly Google has 2.28M occurrences\nof _Norimaki_ but 4.85M of _Makizushi_.\n\n**Makimono** (lit: rolled up thing) covers rolled sushi but also describes\ncalligraphic scrolls.\n\n... | 1127 | 1132 | 1132 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1195",
"answer_count": 7,
"body": "I was wondering about this one recently. \"Fuck\" in English is famous for being\napplicable in a wide, wide range of circumstances (none of them formal).\n\nWhat word in Japanese covers a wide spectrum of possible meanings and uses\nlike \"fuck\" does. ... | [
{
"body": "I would say 馬鹿(バカ) is kind of like that. You could use like バカデカイ(** huge).",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-14T14:04:01.087",
"id": "1131",
"last_activity_date": "2011-06-14T14:04:01.087",
"last_edit_date": null,
"last_edi... | 1129 | 1195 | 1195 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1194",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "These two phrases seem to have very similar usage and I'm unable to determine\nthe difference between them.\n\nThe examples I have are:\n\n> 彼は服装 **からして** だらしない。きっと他の面も同じだろう。 \n> _kare ha fukusou karashite darashinai. kitto hoka no men mo onaji darou._... | [
{
"body": "I learned them as an interchangable set (along with からすれば thrown into the mix,\nthough that one sounds a little bit more formal to my ears), and the two\ngrammar reference books I just checked don't list any nuance differences\nbetween the two. One difference is that adding a も for good measure after... | 1133 | 1194 | 1194 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1215",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "After showing a project to a Japanese coworker, he answered me the following:\n\n感動した！、小泉元総理風\n\nI found this amusing, but I couldn't get the Mr.Koizumi reference. Is there a\nstory behind this?",
"comment_count": 4,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0"... | [
{
"body": "Well, since no one has commented with a contradictory theory, I'll post mine\nas an actual answer. Quoting a recent\n[MSN産経ニュース](http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/110528/mrt11052803210000-n1.htm)\n\"10 years ago today\" article:\n\n> **ケガに負けず貴乃花２２度目Ｖ**\n>\n>\n> 大相撲夏場所千秋楽で、東横綱の貴乃花が西横綱の武蔵丸を優勝決定戦の末に下... | 1139 | 1215 | 1215 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1153",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I recently used a following sentence in my homework:\n\n> 今日までに 私は 二百まいしゃしんを とりました。\n\nNow, in my homework I actually used 今日まで, without に, and I got it corrected.\nWhat's the difference between 今日まで and 今日までに?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license"... | [
{
"body": "I believe that when you use までに, you're referring to a deadline - thus 今日までに\nwould be \"before the end of today (you need to have finished something, you\nhad done something, etc)\". It's referring to that specific day, in which you\ntook the pictures.\n\nまで, however, is usually just used to specify... | 1150 | 1153 | 1153 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1183",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "If my manager says something that I know to be factually incorrect, how can I\npoint that out without sounding disrespectful? (Is ~違います appropriate in this\ncontext or is that too strong?)\n\nIs this a situation where I would use speech that is more form... | [
{
"body": "Dave hit it right on the spot. You don't disagree. You have to agree and then\noffer up your own idea as addendum while stating that you are unsure. one way\nto disagree is \"その考え方もあるけど．．．\"",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-15T03:04:51.717... | 1154 | 1183 | 1183 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1162",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "I know the general meaning of using お疲れ様です／でした to express gratitude for some\nwork, but I'm a bit fuzzy about appropriate times to use it.\n\nI know it is a common saying when leaving for the day, and I've also seen it\nin email when replying to someone ... | [
{
"body": "I'd describe it best as a _greeting_ or _set phrase_ used after (any sort of)\nwork has been done. It can be used in a variety of situations:\n\n * at the end of _any_ shared activity (before leaving home from work, after volunteer work, after group activities like hiking), very much in the sense of... | 1158 | 1162 | 1162 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I'm having trouble putting this question into words, especially short enough\nto use as the question title, basically I'm confused about what the term\n\"keigo\" applies to:\n\n * Is it just the addition of honorific, humble, polite, respectful elements t... | [
{
"body": "I think this is a rather hard question to answer, since you'll find people\nusing the term keigo in both senses. I prefer to use in the first sense, but\nit's practically inevitable that keigo training manuals (especially those\ndirected at foreigners) will also teach about the second one, since know... | 1159 | null | 1221 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1186",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "As a gyudon addict I have noticed that the names of the three major national\nrestaurant chains all end in \"ya\" but they used two different characters:\n\n * \"吉野家\" (Yoshinoya)\n * \"松屋\" (Matsuya)\n * \"すき家\" (Sukiya)\n\nOther shops and restaurant... | [
{
"body": "屋 and 家 both roughly mean _\"house\"_ , with 屋 tending more towards the meaning\nof _building_ and 家 more towards _home_. The choice of which to use is\nentirely the owner's. や is the ambiguous way to write either and is pretty\nmuch a stylistic choice. Do keep in mind that in the olden days Japanese... | 1185 | 1186 | 1186 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1189",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "if お腹が空いた means \"I'm hungry\",\n\nthen what would be the past tense of お腹が空いた since (i think) it's already in\nthe past tense?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-15T04:45:54.290",
"favorite_count":... | [
{
"body": "The past tense would be:\n\n**お腹がすいていた**\n\nThis would be along the lines of \"my stomach was in the state of being empty\"\nor simply \"I was hungry.\"\n\nAdditionally, the \"た” in お腹がすいた is not showing \"past tense\" but is actually\nshowing the completion of an action. In this case, the stomach ha... | 1187 | 1189 | 1189 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1203",
"answer_count": 6,
"body": "How do you pronounce the Japanese \"r\"? Is it more like an \"l\" or something\ninbetween? Would there be any picture or video explaining it correctly, please\nlink it!",
"comment_count": 2,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011... | [
{
"body": "It's in between the English \"l\" and \"r\" sounds. Make a \"l\" sound, but sweep\nthe tip of your tongue back without letting it touch your hard palate.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-15T10:24:53.503",
"id": "1200",
"last_activi... | 1199 | 1203 | 1203 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "> **Possible Duplicate:** \n> [Significance of the kanji 「茶」 in the set phrase 「滅茶滅茶 / 目茶目茶」\n> {めちゃめちゃ}](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/666/significance-of-\n> the-kanji-in-the-set-phrase)\n\nSo, in Kansai they use めっちゃ, and in Kanto 超. Bu... | [
{
"body": "Mecha has kanji and was explained in another thread [Significance of the kanji\n茶 in the set phrase 滅茶滅茶{めちゃめちゃ} /\n目茶目茶{めちゃめちゃ}](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/666/significance-\nof-the-kanji-in-the-set-phrase)",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creat... | 1202 | null | 1228 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1248",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "A little while ago I was in a shop, and about 5 minutes after I left, they\nphoned me to tell me I had left my USB stick there. I said I would head back\nand pick it up.\n\nI used `戻{もど}って行{い}く` to mean \"I'll go back\", but I wonder if `戻{もど}ってくる`\nwoul... | [
{
"body": "戻ってくる is the one to choose.\n\nBasically, when opponent is in same place where you're going to, you may need\nto use 来る.",
"comment_count": 8,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-15T11:35:21.067",
"id": "1205",
"last_activity_date": "2011-06-15T11:35:21.06... | 1204 | 1248 | 1208 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1212",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "A friend just wrote this as a comment on a photo of mine on Facebook.\n\nIs it an actual word or is it what I call a \"vocal noise\"?\n\nBy \"vocal noise\" I mean those things which convey some meaning but they're not\nreally lexical and can't be used li... | [
{
"body": "According to this: <http://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%82%E3%82%89%E3%82%89>\n\nIt is a word that is used when you are surprised or astonished.\n\nPerhaps like the English \"woah\"?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-15T13:32:00.467",
"id": ... | 1206 | 1212 | 1212 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1211",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I thought the character \"を\" (wo) was only used for the particle whose only job\nwas to indicate the direct object of a verb.\n\nBut today I saw it at the end of an exclamation on a sign I think on a shop:\n\n> 西部に活力を!!\n\nSo what job is を doing here?",... | [
{
"body": "It's still the object marker. The sentence is just not finished and the verb\nis implied.\n\n(there was a question mentioning suspended sentences but I cannot find it for\nthe moment)\n\nAnyway it's often used:\n\n> フォースと共{とも}にあらんことを\n>\n> May the force be with you!\n\nAdditionally it gives some kind... | 1209 | 1211 | 1211 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1214",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "For the longest time I've been hearing the word ダイヤ and just always assumed it\nmeant \"Diamond\", but found recently it all means \"train schedule\". My question\nis, what word/language did this word originally come from?",
"comment_count": 0,
"cont... | [
{
"body": "Original word is from \"Diagram\" ダイヤグラム, which is a 外来語.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-15T14:37:55.253",
"id": "1214",
"last_activity_date": "2011-06-15T14:45:11.427",
"last_edit_date": "2011-06-15T14:45:11.427",
"last_... | 1213 | 1214 | 1214 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1219",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "Today I saw onigiri claiming to contain \"しゃけ\" (shake). When I asked my friend\nwhat that was, she said it was the same as \"さけ\" (sake), \"salmon\".\n\nSo are these two just different readings of a kanji, regional differences,\nused by different genera... | [
{
"body": "This answer from another site claims that しゃけ is an accent difference in\nSaitama, Chiba, Shizuoka (basically Kantou).\n\n<http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/11481.html>\n\nBut, when I did a part-time job at an 居酒屋(いざかや) during my college time in 四国\n(Shikoku - not in Kantou region) around 2005, some people... | 1217 | 1219 | 1219 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1236",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "開ける, 明ける and 空ける are all read as あける.\n\nFrom their kanji, it is obvious that 開ける has to do more with opening (a door\netc), 明ける with dawning and 空ける with emptying...\n\n**However** , [JMDict](http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-\nbin/wwwjdic.cgi?1E) ... | [
{
"body": "My understanding was that while they all have the same reading, they are in\nfact completely different words. Which the 3 definitions that you have\nmentioned Dave being in line with how _I_ would use and have seen these kanji\nbeing used in Japan.\n\nSo to answer your question, i think the Edict is ... | 1229 | 1236 | 1236 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1233",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Both 問い合わせ and 依頼 can mean to ask, but my co-workers are using both words in\nthe application we are working on as if they are two different words.\n\nI have a suspicion one is transitive and one is intransitive in their usage,\nbut not entirely sure.\n\... | [
{
"body": "The two words mean different things. They just happen to be different things\nthat can sometimes be represented by a single English word.\n\n`問い合わせ` is a request for information. You often see it used for customer\nsupport phone numbers you can call if you have questions about the product you\njust b... | 1231 | 1233 | 1233 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1235",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "Both 完了 and 終了 seem to have the connotation of finished/complete, but what is\nthe difference, if any, in usage?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-16T07:39:38.980",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "12... | [
{
"body": "完了 _kanryō_ means \"completed\", while 終了 _shūryō_ means \"ended\".\n\n> 式典の準備は完了した - The preparations for the ceremony are complete. \n> 祭りは夜更けになってようやく終了した - The festivities finally came to an end late at night.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": ... | 1232 | 1235 | 1235 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1242",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "Is there a difference in usage between these words?\n\n 1. 演算 (えんざん)\n 2. 算出 (さんしゅつ)\n 3. 計算 (けいさん)",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-16T07:43:33.173",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "1234",
"la... | [
{
"body": "演算 is an operation. When you apply an operation, such as a boolean NOT, you\ncould use this word.\n\n計算 is a computation, a calculation. Morally, it involves many operations. It\nis also the word for formal calculi in the scientific domain (such as \"lambda\ncalculus\" or \"pi calculus\")\n\nI never ... | 1234 | 1242 | 1242 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1246",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I'm vaguely aware that the usage of _furigana_ is based on the intended target\naudience. The younger or less likely literate the target audience the more\n_furigana_ are employed. But is there a system to decide which words receive\n_furigana_ and which... | [
{
"body": "I can't answer on the particular case of a word that would receive furigana\n_after_ not receiving it earlier (the opposite, however, is naturally quite\ncommon): assuming the words are rigorously identical and identically read both\ntimes, this sounds more like an oversight than anything.\n\nAs for ... | 1243 | 1246 | 1246 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "One thing I have noticed among my Japanese coworkers is that it seems that\nthey overuse the verb \"confirm\" when translating 確認する:\n\n> テストを確認する (\"confirm the tests\")\n>\n> 彼と確認して欲しい (\"[I want you to] confirm this with him\")\n>\n> 確認方法 (\"method of c... | [
{
"body": "\"check\" is too vague a word to fit all instances, but \"confirm\" is also too\nspecific. I would substitute \"validate\" and other words in there as the\ncontext fits, rewriting entire phrases if necessary.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-... | 1244 | null | 1245 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1262",
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "what is the theory that 僕は自分にプレゼントをあげる is right but not 僕は自分にプレゼントをくれる ?\n\nBtw I'm also curious if these sentences are equally valid:\n\nA) 僕は自身にプレゼントをあげる\n\nB) 僕は自分自身にプレゼントをある\n\nC) ボブはボブにプレゼントを[あげる/くれる?]\n\nD) ボブはボブ自分にプレゼントを[あげる/くれる?]\n\nE) ボブは自分自身にプレ... | [
{
"body": "This is just my personal opinion, but I thought I'd share it.\n\n 1. I don't think 私は私にプレゼントをあげた / 僕は僕にプレゼントをあげた are correct, because you can't あげる something to 私. You would have to もらう or くれる it. On the other hand, I see 私は自分にプレゼントをあげた as possibly being grammatically correct, as 自分 is a reflexive p... | 1247 | 1262 | 1262 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1253",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I recently saw 冗談だっつの. What does it っつの mean, or how does it modify the\nmeaning of a sentence?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-16T19:15:30.113",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "1252",
"last_acti... | [
{
"body": "っつ (sometimes つう) is a slang version of という (or an alternate version like\nといった, depending on the context). It's extremely informal.\n\n> 冗談【じょうだん】だ **っつ** の。 (＝冗談だ【じょうだん】 **といった** の。) I said I was joking.\n> [Idiomatically: Chill out, I was just kidding.]\n>\n> 彼【かれ】はやめたい **っつって** んだから、やめさせてやりゃいいじゃん... | 1252 | 1253 | 1253 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 4,
"body": "The Japanese hiragana and katakana syllabaries can mostly be described as\nphonetic. But there are two exceptions, the two pairs of syllables modified to\nbe voiced with the _dakuten_ diacritic which turns them into homophones:\n\n * す (su) → ず (zu); つ (t... | [
{
"body": "In modern Japanese these pairs are pronounced exactly the same:\n\n * ず, づ are pronounced either `[dzu]` or `[zu]`. \n * じ, ぢ are pronounced either `[dʑi]` or `[ʑi]`. \n(the first sounding like the English J and the second like the French J, but\nboth are with the middle of the tongue raised to th... | 1254 | null | 1255 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1393",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "As a valuable feature of my software product, I want to say that results are\ncalculated on-the-fly, meaning the user does not have to wait and receive\nresults by email: results are displayed after two seconds.\n\nShould I say オンザフライ as advised by my fr... | [
{
"body": "Doubt there is anything better than katakana for the exact term \"on the fly\",\nbut if you mean to say \"real-time\"/\"immediate\", perhaps 即時に【そくじに】 would do?",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-17T08:17:29.110",
"id": "1264",
"last... | 1261 | 1393 | 1393 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1274",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "In what context and relationship wise to who can I safely say ご苦労様\n(gokurousama)?\n\nI often defer to using otsukaresama since I'm not sure if I'm talking down to\nsomeone by saying gokurousama. Please provide some example contexts where it\nwould be ap... | [
{
"body": "AFAIK, it means more or less the same thing as お疲れ様 (おつかれさま). But the nuance\nis to whom you say it. お疲れ様 is used for colleagues or superiours (\"highers\"),\nご苦労様 I believe is only used from superiours to subordinates (\"highers\" to\n\"lowers\"). So you'd probably only say it if you have people \"w... | 1266 | 1274 | 1274 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1269",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "My friend tells me one is more polite. I think they're the same. Who's right?\nWhen can I use one or the other?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-17T15:14:37.923",
"favorite_count": 0,
"id": "126... | [
{
"body": "す **み** ません is the correct pronunciation, so on that count I suppose it would\nbe considered more polite by a very small margin. But just like in English,\npeople can be lazy with pronunciation, which is why you'll sometimes hear す\n**い** ません. You also might run across す **ん** ません and す **ん** ま **へ**... | 1268 | 1269 | 1270 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1273",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "What does the もて before a verb means?\n\nI found this word in the dictionary <http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-\nbin/wwwjdic.cgi?1MDEemphatic%20prefix> (which only says it is an \"emphatic\nverb prefix\" and give no other information on it whatsoev... | [
{
"body": "It seems like a rather rare prefix, really. I tried to count all the verbs\nthat have it in my Kenkyusha dictionary (I could go for a larger one, but I\ndidn't want rare verbs) and I've got these:\n\n * もてあそぶ (sometimes in Kanji: 弄ぶ) - _to toy with something or someone_\n * 持て余す - _to be too much_ ... | 1271 | 1273 | 1273 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1275",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "For example, from the song Fare Well by L'Arc~en~Ciel:\n\n> あなたは いつまでも この僕のこと 愛してくれたのかな\n\nand countless examples from manga, like:\n\n> だが このオレは 死なん...\n>\n> こんどは このオレが きさまを 滅ぼす\n>\n> このオレに 勝てるわけがない\n\nMy guess is that it この + first-person-pronoun is ju... | [
{
"body": "I would say nuance of ラルク song is different with other manga texts.\n\n> あなたは いつまでも この僕のこと 愛してくれたのかな\n\nこの僕 in above sentence is more like こんな僕, kind of humble.\n\nWill you ever love me even if I were such ...\n\nBut, other sentences on manga are trying to express himself superior\n\n> だが このオレは 死なん..... | 1272 | 1275 | 1275 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1326",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "The gag expression 掘った芋いじるな (hotta imo ijiruna) sounds to japanese ears\nuncannily like \"What time is it now?\" I'm guessing this is Showa era humour,\nsince English probably sounded more foreign then than now.\n\nDoes anyone know the origin of this say... | [
{
"body": "To my surprise, after some research I found a strong link between the \"hotta\nimo\" phrase and **John Manjiro** , Japan's first \"exchange student\" to\nAmerica.\n\nJohn Manjiro was a Japanese fisherman who, along with his four brothers, was\nship wrecked on a pacific island and rescued by a passing... | 1277 | 1326 | 1326 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1281",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "When describing intransitive actions that are commencing, I often end up\nsaying dumb things like 沸き始まる (わきはじまる) instead of 沸き始める (わきはじめる) - starting to\nboil. Perhaps it's some meta pattern I am projecting from my knowledge of\nEnglish!?!\n\nWhen should... | [
{
"body": "When you express the idea of \"begin to [verb]\", the pattern is masu stem +\nはじめる, without exception, whether the verb is transitive or not. The\ndistinction between はじめる and はじまる only applies when the verb is used on its\nown.\n\nYou could think of, say, 走り始める as having 走り as a sort of object of 始め... | 1278 | 1281 | 1281 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1280",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "I was surpised to hear from a Japanese coworker that using a question mark \"?\"\n(gimonfu) after the か particle is correct Japanese.\n\nWhich of these are NG?\n\n 1. 何時に会いましょうか\n 2. 何時に会いましょうか？\n 3. 何時に会いましょう？\n\nIn what context is each acceptable/ap... | [
{
"body": "All 3 are correct.\n\n 1. could appear in old and/or formal Japanese, where [the question mark is often absent](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%96%91%E5%95%8F%E7%AC%A6). Note that you would still need a punctuation then, probably a full stop: 「。」\n\n 2. and 3. will both appear anywhere and depend ... | 1279 | 1280 | 1280 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1301",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "The fermented rice alcohol called \"sake\" in English is usually referred to as\n日本酒【にほんしゅ】 in Japanese, while 酒【さけ】 merely means \"alcohol\" in general.\n\nYet, all dictionaries list both \"alcohol\" and \"fermented rice\nalcohol/sake/nihonshu\" as tran... | [
{
"body": "It is perfectly normal to use お酒 in modern context.\n\nIn English you don't often say \"Let's drink alcohol,\" but in Japanese it's\nperfectly normal to say \"一緒にお酒を飲みましょう\" (i.e. let's drink alcohol together.) In\nthis case お酒 can stand for any type of alcoholic beverages.\n\nFor example, we often s... | 1282 | 1301 | 1285 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1297",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I still have trouble with how に and で differ when dealing with locations, and\nI just stumbled across にて. Are these all interchangeable? How are they\ndifferent?\n\n * オンラインマーケット **にて** 販売開始しました。 \n * オンラインマーケット **に** 販売開始しました。 \n * オンラインマーケット **で** 販... | [
{
"body": "My understanding is:\n\n> マーケットにて販売開始しました。 [\"にて\" is just the formal version of \"で\".] \n> マーケットに販売開始しました。 [Here, the action is taking place at the market.] \n> マーケットで販売開始しました。 [Here, the action is taking place in the market.]\n\nYour example is a little difficult because one could be referring... | 1290 | 1297 | 1297 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1303",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "I observed in drama and anime (being outside Japan, those are my only ways of\nkeeping in touch with spoken 日本語) that elder people sometimes say お出で to\nyounger people when they want to say something like \"Come here\". But there are\na few things I thin... | [
{
"body": "I think this shouldn't count as a humble form, but rather as a patronizing\nform - which is still quite respectful to the recipient, but it's only that\nusually implies that the speaker is in superior position than the recipient of\nthis form.\n\nThere are several forms of patronizing requests, and I... | 1299 | 1303 | 1303 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "I've noticed (through much frustration) that many 自～／他～ pairs have \"opposite\"\nforms; particularly with the ~u and ~eru types. For example, 焼く・焼ける are\nopposite from 開く・開ける.\n\n> 焼く （他） － パン **を** 焼く (\"Bake bread\") \n> 焼ける （自）－ パン **が** ちょうどよく焼けた (\"... | [
{
"body": "<http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/ti_list.html> Has a good list of them, in\ncase you wanted to see them at a glance.\n\nNothing I could find gave a good reason for it. Probably the language just\nevolved organically, as they tend to do.\n\nOf course, linguists will try to explain anything, so I'm ... | 1306 | null | 1447 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1315",
"answer_count": 3,
"body": "I see that those two compounds mean husband and wife, as a married couple. But\nis there a difference in usage or context?",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_date": "2011-06-18T20:43:25.913",
"favorite_count": 0,
... | [
{
"body": "夫妻 is the more formal of the two, and shouldn't be used when talking about\nyourself or people from your inner circle. As a general rule of thumb, use 夫婦\nfor such close relations or for general comments about married couples, and 夫妻\nwhen talking about people outside your group.",
"comment_count... | 1307 | 1315 | 1314 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1332",
"answer_count": 2,
"body": "In particular which one is closer to the idea of \"ability to reason over\nthings\" as a quality of someone in particular?\n\nWhat I believe is that 知識 on the other hand is closer to \"knowledge\" and\n\"understanding\" and 眼識 is more about \"discriminat... | [
{
"body": "知恵 - means \"wisdom\" \n知能、知性 - means \"intelligence\" or \"intellect\"; my dictionary cites them as\nsimilar meanings \n知識 - means \"knowledge (of/about)\"; that is, the knowledge itself, not the\nproperty of \"having knowledge\"\n\nSo, 知能、知性 are probably what you'd use for \"the ability to reason... | 1308 | 1332 | 1332 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": null,
"answer_count": 6,
"body": "I know that -たち and -ら pluralize the nouns they come after (or indicate a\ngroup that the noun is part of), but most of the time the plural in Japanese\nis implicit. When is it appropriate or necessary to use -たち or -ら?\n\n(Bonus question: is there any dif... | [
{
"body": "「～[方]{がた}」, 「～[達]{たち}」, and 「～[等]{ら}」 have the same meaning as \"et alia\" or\n\"and company\" in English; you use it when you mean one person (any of the\nthree suffixes) or animal (「～達」 and 「～等」 only) and all the others that are\nattending them (e.g. 「アマンダさん方」).\n\n「～方」 is honorific and 「～達」 is neu... | 1310 | null | 1311 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1325",
"answer_count": 6,
"body": "Why is the correct counter for rabbits 羽（わ）, the counter that is used for\nbirds.\n\nI figured it is because they jump, cause fly and jump are the same verb in\nJapanese, but then frogs are 匹.",
"comment_count": 0,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
... | [
{
"body": "The usual story is that Japanese Buddhist monks, who were unable to eat meat\nother than birds, liked the taste of rabbit so much that they \"reclassified\"\nthem as flightless birds due to their various body features.",
"comment_count": 1,
"content_license": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
"creation_dat... | 1316 | 1325 | 1318 |
{
"accepted_answer_id": "1319",
"answer_count": 1,
"body": "There's this rather unpleasant sign on a restaurant that says:\n\n> 中国人＆帰化人、残留孤児、中国系混血人児、絶対入店禁止、純血日本男児のみ。\n\nPutting aside the racist content, from a linguistic point of view, the one\nword that throws me is 人児. It's not in\n[Yahoo](http://dic.search.yah... | [
{
"body": "児 is just means child, but could also be used for adopted, and can even used\nto non-humans.\n\nthe one you seen in 中国系混血人児 is not supposed to be 人児, but which should be\n\n> 中国系(ちゅうごくけい) + 混血人(こんけつじん) + 児（じ） - chinese related (japanese) + mixed blood\n> people's + child\n\n**Note** : according to so... | 1317 | 1319 | 1319 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.