The "I found some Japanese I don't understand" thread.

[クレイグMember]

久し振りだね

ive been slacking with my studying, too much time spent learning to make video games so now its the winter break its time to cram nihonngo before my trip ! but ye im talking to this japanese girl and one sentence i cant translate properly in my head: もしよかったら、私に英語を教えてくれませんか？Now what ive got is roughly “can you help me with my english studies” or something to that effect as the next sentence is regarding helping me with japanese. just wanted a 2nd opinion.

本当にありがとうみんな！

[JoelMember]

If it’s all right, could you please teach me English?

[クレイグMember]

cheers Joel! thought it was around those lines ^^ i need to get used to reading Japanese again outside of manga :x

[Diana SolisMember]

Hi guys! Could someone help me understand what this comment that was posted on a lang-8 entry of mine means?

訂正：フロレンスは日本ではフィレンツェと呼ばれることが多いです

I understand the first part : “Correction: In Japan, ‘Florence’ is ‘Firenze’”, but i can’t understand the rest. “It is called this a lot”?

Thanks!

[JoelMember]

It’s often called this. =)

Dunno if that’s an expression or a set phrase or something, but ことが多い tends to get translated as “often”.

[Diana SolisMember]

Joel, got it, thank you so much!! :)

[Diana SolisMember]

Hi guys!
I’m sorry, I’m writing again with the same problem.
This time, i’m not nearly advanced enough to understand what this comment on my lang 8 post says:

「はず」は自信がある、自分の考えたことを言うときに使います。
だから、自分の予定言うのは不自然だと思います。過去の文なら大丈夫です。

In case this needs context, the post was titled 「はず」practice
and the sentence this was a response to was this one:
１．明日、私はballetの授業に行くはずです。
This persons correction was only to take out the “授業” and leave everything else.

If anyone understands this, please help me!
Thank you!

[JoelMember]

“Hazu” has self-confidence, you use it when you’re stating your own considerations [erm... well-considered thoughts? Something like that]. So, to use it for your own plans is weird, I think. In past-tense sentences it’s fine.

The grammar dictionary’s phrasing is that it “expresses the speakers expectation, not in the sense of hoping or looking forward to something, but in the sense that the proposition expressed should be true or come true. Thus, when the speaker uses はず, he is not merely guessing but stating a proposition based on reliable information or knowledge.”

[Charles Mc.Member]

Which is correct?
この電車は大きい。
この電車は大きいだ。
Thanks!

[JoelMember]

Either is fine, though the sentence-ending だ doesn’t often get used (unless it’s part of some other grammar structure).

[Avery TangMember]

こんにちはみんなさん

So I just got this comment on my Lang-8 profile: “他の方の添削で十分です。”

The problem here is that the kanji don’t work too well using dictionary translations, so I don’t get what it says.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by  Avery Tang.

[YamadaMember]

Avery Tang wrote:

So I just got this comment on my Lang-8 profile: “他の方の添削で十分です。”

「添削」means “correction” and its reading it 「てんさく」.
「十分」means “sufficient” (etc.) and its reading is 「じゅうぶん」.
「他の方」means “a different way/method” (etc.) and its reading is 「ほかのほう」.

Puttung it all together, the particle 「で」in this case indicates something being dependent on another factor. An example sentence of this usage could be something like, 「この食べ物でまだ生きらる。」　”From this food I can still survive.”

Hence,「他の方の添削で十分です。」should means something like “You should be fine (sufficient) from other corrections.”

Then again, 「方」can as be read as 「かた」by itself referring to a person in a polite manner. So it depends on context, but the meanings are similar.
If in this case the one who wrote that Japanese is referring to another person, it would simply be, 「You’ll be fine (sufficient) from another person’s corrections.」

• This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by  Yamada. Reason: Wrong explanation kf
• This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by  Yamada. Reason: Wrong explanation of the particle で in this case

毎秒は一世一代。

[JoelMember]

What exactly do you mean by “the kanji don’t work too well using dictionary translations”? You can’t find them in your dictionary? What dictionary are you using?

Though speaking of corrections, one fun little fact about 皆: Even though it can be read as both みな and みんな, when it’s written with the honorific as 皆さん, then it’s always read as みなさん. =)

[Avery TangMember]

Joel, I’m using Denshi Jisho. I searched up “添削”, and thought I got the wrong meaning since I took ”十分” literally as “ten minutes”. Whoops…

[troutMember]

Joel wrote:

Either is fine, though the sentence-ending だ doesn’t often get used (unless it’s part of some other grammar structure).

Joel,
Isn’t 大きい (like　小さい）usually initially taught as an i-adjective and therefore, the casual form would be この電車は大きい, while the polite form would add です (この電車は大きいです). Adding だ at the end would not be correct grammatically for an i-adjective. That said, 大きい (like　小さい）are sometimes also used as na-adjectives, so therefore adding だ would be ok grammatically for casual form but typically isn’t だ just simply left off? Why would there be 2 casual forms?

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