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Why is this correct:
主人公が犯人だったというのが一番面白かった。
The most interesting thing was that the main character was the criminal.But not this?:
主人公が犯人だった一番面白かった。
Some more examples:
私がよく行く飲み屋はガード下にあるため、いつもガタンゴトンという電車の通過音を聞きながら飲んでいる。
My favorite bar is located below the railway, so I always hear the clanging noise of the trains passing by when I’m drinking.今の日本では、終身雇用や年功序列という雇用慣行が崩れつつある
In today’s Japan, hiring practices like life-time employment and age-based ranking are tending to break down.Haha, the “という” has a different meaning in each sentence. And yeah, this construction takes a while to get used to and does’t always seem necessary from an English-speaking standpoint.
In the first example, the order in which the ideas are presented in the translation differs from the original, as does the topic of the sentence. If you try a more direct translation, I think the purpose of “という” becomes a little more clear.
主人公が犯人だったというのが一番面白かった。 -> The main character was a criminal … was the most interesting thing.Notice that to make this sentence functional in English, we need to turn that first part into a noun:
The fact that the main character was a criminal was the most interesting thing.
という serves the same purpose in the Japanese sentence as “the fact that…” in this case.More examples of this usage:
友達が今日来るということを忘れていた。 I forgot (the fact) that my friend was coming today.
彼がこの集まりに来ないということは考えられない。It’s unthinkable that he won’t come to this gathering.Notice that in the examples, “ということ” is used instead of “というの”. の and こと have similar functions when following a plain-form verb; they turn the clause that ends with that verb into a noun. The Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar has some notes on whether to use こと or の based on the probability that the speaker (or writer) assigns to the event in the clause actually happening…but that stuff gets a little over my head.
Basically, という is a combination of the quotation marker と plus the verb 言う. It tends to mean “that’s called” or “that says” – i.e. 「ハリーポッター」という本 = a book called “Harry Potter” – but as kyle explained, in your first sentence, it takes a meaning of “the fact that”.
Your second sentence is ガタンゴトンという電車 = a train that goes “gatan goton”. You know the sound-effect, yeah? I’m not really sure if we have a similar onomatopoeia in English. “Choo choo” is all that springs to mind for me.
Your third sentence is 終身雇用や年功序列という雇用慣行 = hiring practices called “life-time employment” and “age-based seniority”. Kinda – “called” is a little tenuous here. Maybe “like” or “such as” would be a better English translation. I actually gave a presentation about these in Japanese last year, and I’m ashamed to say I’ve clean forgotten how all of those words are read…
Yeah, I didn’t comment on the second sentence because it actually seemed wrong to me…but then, what do I know? It seems like you would use 鳴く instead of 言う for sound effects (I’ve seen it used for squeaky doors).
And your right about the last sentence,
A と B という 慣行 は．．．-> The practices of A and B are… (specifically)
A や B という 慣行 は．．．-> Practices like A and B are… (including but not limited to)
A と B のような 慣行 は．．．-> Practices like A and B are… (along the same lines as, but not necessarily including)
But again, what do I know?while on this topic, how is this children’s book sentence translated with というからだ at the end?
おばあさんが 孝夫(たかお)の家に あそびに きて、いっしょに さんぽを すると、いつも おじいさんが 公園に はいり、
けやきの 木を 見あげて、うん りっぱだ と いうからだ。という at the end of a sentence means that it’s hearsay – usually transated as “I hear that” or “They say that”.
Yeah, I didn’t comment on the second sentence because it actually seemed wrong to me…but then, what do I know? It seems like you would use 鳴く instead of 言う for sound effects (I’ve seen it used for squeaky doors).
鳴く is used for animal noises. I guess I can see how you’d extend it to a squeaky door, but you wouldn’t use it for a rattling train.
という at the end of a sentence means that it’s hearsay – usually transated as “I hear that” or “They say that”.
so with から after という in this sentence, would it mean something like “because I hear that” or “because they say that”?
It could also be a direct quotation. It’s going to come out a bit clunky in English (cause of run-on sentence) but my take on a possible translation is “When Grandma comes to play at Takao’s house and they go for a walk together, always as Grandpa enters the park, he looks up at the zelkova trees, because he says ‘yes, that’s splendid’ ”
Maybe. Run-on sentence makes me sad.
thanks, Joel. i can always count on your expertise.
thanks, Joel. i can always count on your
expertiseability to muddle through and make it sound convincing.Fixed. =P
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>trout wrote:</div>
thanks, Joel. i can always count on yourexpertiseability to muddle through and make it sound convincing.Fixed. =P
Haha. don’t be so humble. you’ve helped me and many others who’ve gotten stuck in a state of confusion trying to learn this language. give yourself a pat on the back!
Thanks as well, this has cleared things up
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