Help with this sentence

[Toritoribe]

first)
To say "way of thinking" or "way of doing" is often by far more precise, and therefore easy to understand.

second)
I used focus as "the most important part the speaker want to convey".
Incidentally, は is more natural if the predicative is 少ない, i.e., ～と言ったほうがずっと正確でわかりやすい場合は少ない。, if this can be helpful for your understanding.
は is "wa", not "ha", by the way.

third)
I would simply use "often" for 場合が多い, as in my translation above.

 

[Narktor]

Thanks, this helped me a lot

The intermediate level book heavily emphasizes small scale, free textproduction. One exercise connected to this text demands from me to write down my opinion about the use of foreign words. Unfortunately, I can't really "check" my own texts, because such exercises don't allow for standardized solutions to which I could compare my own solution.^^
If you want, you can give me some feedback on my text, how understandable it is and how many mistakes I've made...^^ I'll also provide an english version, so in case my japanese is incomprehensible, you can compare it to the english version to figure out what I actually wanted to say xD

外来語はいろいろな目的に有用なことばです。たとえば、 医学界とかぶん額とかで複雑なことには名称がつけられる。このみたいなことを正確にとくのは役に立ちます。でも、いつでも大和言葉のいみが同じですが、このことばを使ったほうがいいと思おいます。

=> Foreign words are useful words for various purposes. For example, in the medical or literary circles they can name complicated things.
They are useful to precisely explain such things. But, whenever the meaning of a word of japanese origin is the same, I think it is better to use these words.

 

[Narktor]

Next is the following exercise where I don't fully understand the task:
あなたの国で外来語が使われていますか。あなたの国のことをにほんの場合と比べながら、クラスの人に紹介してください。
=> Are foreignwords used in your country? While comparing your countries things with the japanese cases,
A introduce yourself to the classmates please
B present it (your results?) to your classmates please.
---------------
Overall, I think the exercise wants me to compare foreign words used in both countries and then present the results of my mental labor to others ^^
However, I have issues with the sentences grammar and vocabulary:
1) を and と are used both in a familiar and unfamiliar way. を seems to mark the object. と I translated with "with", but it doesn't work as a connector (or any other syntactical function like conditional etc.), but as a preposition. This seems off to me. I feel like I'm interpreting these particles in the ways of my own native tongue. I can't come up with an alternative construction here, but the sentence feels "not japanese" to me, at least in the way I understand it from a grammatical perspective. That's why I think that I'm wrong, and that's why I'm not sure wether I understood the task correctly or not.

2) "nagara" indicates that two actions are performed at the same time, like: 利用料金をつくりながらミラーさんに電話をかける。
That's at least what I've learned so far.
This semantics could fit here, it would mean that I have to improvise my speech as I go. But I feel uncertain about it...^^

3) 紹介 means to introduce myself or someone else to someone else.
shoukai - Jisho.org
"presentation" is listed here as well, but this doesn't necessarily mean that the kind of presentation I think I have to do is meant here.

 

[lanthas]

The 紹介 refers back to the first sentence:

"Are there foreign words used in your country? Introduce them to your classmates while comparing them to those used in Japan."

 

[Narktor]

Thanks for the translation!
I've worked out my text for this, I'll do it the same way as above, feel free to comment on it if you like ^^

ドイツの外来語と日本語の外来語で「trottoir」と「パソコン」を紹介してみたいです。「trottoir」というのは歩く人の道のことだ。。このことばは貴族に鳴るために使われているとおもっています。

「パソコン」はえいごのことばです。「パソコン」というのは個人用のコンピュータのことだ。このことばは外国の発明を名称を付けるために使われているので、やくにたつりょうとおもっています。

=> Out of the foreign words in german and japanese, I will try to introduce you to "trottoir" and "pasokon". "trottoir" means "way for pedestrians". I think this word is used to sound noble.

"pasokon" is an english word. "pasokon" means "computer for personal use" ("computer of for personal use").
Because this word is used to describe a foreign countries invention, I think it is useful.

(-> of course nowadays computers are a global thing, but especially the PC originated in the US if I got it right, so I used this here to have some argument I can express, more or less xD)

 

[Narktor]

I have a problem with a sentence in context of the following dialogue:
IMG_20170102_0001_NEW.pdf - DocDroid

Its this sentence:
A: 違うんですよ。運転していた僕がわるいんだそうです。シートベルトをするように言わなかったから。

=> "It's different of course. As the one who drove, it seems I was the bad one. Because I haven't said to fasten the seatbelt."

First, the underlined red part is an attribute to "boku" in my opinion. But I'm unsure wether my way of translation for this attribute is okay.
Second, I'm struggling with the overall meaning of the red sentence.
I'm not sure wether the man wants to say that he himself thinks that he is "the bad guy", or that he wants to say that he is deemed to be the "the bad guy" by the police. I guess this problem stems from my lack of understanding for the "soudesu" constructions, as we've found out recently. But I haven't learned more about it yet ^^

 

[Narktor]

携帯電話を持ったら家のでわが要らなくなった。
=> I'm having trouble with the red form.
I understand the sentence as follows>
"When I got a mobilephone, I didnt need the houses phone (anymore)."
I think it is a negative of the past tense, but this なくなった confuses me.
For example, I'd write the negative past tense of 書く like this:
書かなかった.

So, whats the "ku" doing in there?^^

 

[Toritoribe]

1)
It's quite the same as 同じ.

ＡとＢは同じだ。
A and B are the same.
ＡはＢと同じだ。
A is the same as B.

Help with this sentence | Page 6 | Japan Forum
ＡとＢを比べる。
to compare A and B
ＡをＢと比べる。
to compare A to/with B

As for the difference between these two structures, A and B are in apposition in the former, whereas A is the main object and B is the reference for comparison in the latter, as in the English translations.

First, the underlined red part is an attribute to "boku" in my opinion. But I'm unsure wether my way of translation for this attribute is okay.

I have to give you the same advise again. You can put number #4, #5 and #6 for each question, for instance. It's quite inconvenient to answer.

Well, how about to number your questions, not just in a post but the whole your questions?

Help with this sentence | Page 6 | Japan Forum

Yes, 運転していた modifies 僕.

Second, I'm struggling with the overall meaning of the red sentence.
I'm not sure wether the man wants to say that he himself thinks that he is "the bad guy", or that he wants to say that he is deemed to be the "the bad guy" by the police. I guess this problem stems from my lack of understanding for the "soudesu" constructions, as we've found out recently. But I haven't learned more about it yet ^^

I already pointed out previously also for this structure. You should ask about it, if you can't get it yet.

Your answer shows that you don't get the difference of the two functions of そう yet. The obvious and critical difference is that 振りそう for #1 "to seem like" and さむくなるそう for #2 hearsay.

Help with this sentence | Page 6 | Japan Forum

携帯電話を持ったら家のでわが要らなくなった。
=> I'm having trouble with the red form.
I understand the sentence as follows>
"When I got a mobilephone, I didnt need the houses phone (anymore)."
I think it is a negative of the past tense, but this なくなった confuses me.
For example, I'd write the negative past tense of 書く like this:
書かなかった.

So, whats the "ku" doing in there?^^

家のでんわ

It's "i-adjective + なる (to become)", not the simple negative past of 要る.

要る --> 要らない --> 要らなくなる --> 要らなくなった
書く --> 書かない --> 書かなくなる --> 書かなくなった

As for your compositions, is there any reason you mixed polite and non-polite forms? Besides inappropriate choice of the Japanese words, you at least must be able to fix obvious typos such like ぶん額 vs. 文学 by yourself.

 

[Narktor]

1) Okay, the problem was just that when I wrote my first question, I didn't know I'd post more questions before the next answer. And unortunately I can't edit posts after 15minutes since last posting has past. So at first I didn't thought numbers were necessary, and then it was too late to change it.
From now on, I'll just continuously number my questions with 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 etc. and my corresponding comments on your responses with 2.1,2.2 etc. (maybe even 3.1... 4.1 etc. if need be). The only exception will be this last block of questions, because I already screwed up numbering it...

2) I'm sry that I somewhere overlooked a typo. I usually look up words where I don't know the kanji, but it seems I sometimes happen to chose the wrong option from the dropdown menu nevertheless.
The problem is that I may not recognize the mistake when proofreading my text. But in the future I'll look more vigorously at words which I use only rarely.

Overall I used non-masu form in contexts where I learned that other forms are necessary from a grammatical point of view, or in places where I learned that masu-form is necessary (or at least where the construction was introduced with a masu form in certain places).
In my last text, I used non-masu form only in such places as described. So I didn't think that I had switched between polite/non-polite tone because in places where I didn't use masu-form I thought it was a grammatical necessity and therefore "neutral". I thought that only the verb-forms free of any specific grammatical function would determine the overall tone of the whole sentence (similar to te-form, which when used as a connector derives its temporal information from the final verb in the chain).

3) "soudesu" can express that I assess something based on what I have perceived with my 5 senses. Thats about what my book told me when introducing this function.
"soudesu" can also express that I heard something from someone else. For example that I heard in the news that the weather shall be rainy tomorrow.
That's what I already understood. If there's anything more to it than just that, then I just can't learn it yet. I'll have to wait until I reach those chapters where it is explained in my book.

4) Thanks!

要る --> 要らない --> 要らなくなる --> 要らなくなった
書く --> 書かない --> 書かなくなる --> 書かなくなった

That's about what I already suspected, but I didn't really know what to do with it. So, literally it would translate into: "..., I became not needing the houses phone. "(needy? wouldn't use that though, I think it has a rather special semantics not really suitable for this case).
However, one wouldn't really translate it like that, would one?
So would my first translation be okay here?
"When I got a mobilephone, I didnt need the houses phone (anymore)."



I'll comment on 1) later.

 

[Toritoribe]

1) Okay, the problem was just that when I wrote my first question, I didn't know I'd post more questions before the next answer. And unortunately I can't edit posts after 15minutes since last posting has past. So at first I didn't thought numbers were necessary, and then it was too late to change it.
From now on, I'll just continuously number my questions with 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 etc. and my corresponding comments on your responses with 2.1,2.2 etc. (maybe even 3.1... 4.1 etc. if need be). The only exception will be this last block of questions, because I already screwed up numbering it...

You put #1, 2 and 3 to your questions in this post, and then asked next questions in this post. Thus, you knew you had already asked three questions when you asked next two questions in your new post. You don't need to edit your previous post at all. It's OK you just check your post and put number 4 and 5 to your next questions, right?

But in the future I'll look more vigorously at words which I use only rarely.

You can do it for the compositions you made even now, no?

Overall I used non-masu form in contexts where I learned that other forms are necessary from a grammatical point of view, or in places where I learned that masu-form is necessary (or at least where the construction was introduced with a masu form in certain places).
In my last text, I used non-masu form only in such places as described. So I didn't think that I had switched between polite/non-polite tone because in places where I didn't use masu-form I thought it was a grammatical necessity and therefore "neutral". I thought that only the verb-forms free of any specific grammatical function would determine the overall tone of the whole sentence (similar to te-form, which when used as a connector derives its temporal information from the final verb in the chain).

…ことばです。…つけられる。…と思います。
…してみたいです。…道のことだ。…とおもっています。
…ことばです。…ことだ。…とおもっています。

Sounds odd.

3) "soudesu" can express that I assess something based on what I have perceived with my 5 senses. Thats about what my book told me when introducing this function.
"soudesu" can also express that I heard something from someone else. For example that I heard in the news that the weather shall be rainy tomorrow.
That's what I already understood. If there's anything more to it than just that, then I just can't learn it yet. I'll have to wait until I reach those chapters where it is explained in my book.

I highlighted the difference in my previous post to make clear it.

降りそうです。
It seems like it will rain.
(I've just noticed that you used wrong kanji also here, by the way.)
Notice that 降り is the -masu stem.

あしたは寒くなるそうです。
I heard that it will become cold tomorrow.
なる is not the -masu stem. "Non-polite form of predicative (verb, adjective or copula, including negative, past, potential, -te iru form or other variations) + そう" is hearsay. I believe that all decent textbooks must mention this obvious difference between these two meanings.

4) Thanks!

要る --> 要らない --> 要らなくなる --> 要らなくなった
書く --> 書かない --> 書かなくなる --> 書かなくなった

That's about what I already suspected, but I didn't really know what to do with it. So, literally it would translate into: "..., I became not needing the houses phone. "(needy? wouldn't use that though, I think it has a rather special semantics not really suitable for this case).
However, one wouldn't really translate it like that, would one?
So would my first translation be okay here?
"When I got a mobilephone, I didnt need the houses phone (anymore)."

There is no problem with your translation if you got the structure and the original meaning correctly.

I'll comment on 1) later.

So, you are going to use (1 in the same post twice again...

 

[Narktor]

So, you are going to use (1 in the same post twice again...

Thats why I'll switch to the system I've presented to you, it just didn't work this time because there was no numbering at start.
I think I got it about the comparison now.

降りそうです。
It seems like it will rain.
(I've just noticed that you used wrong kanji also here, by the way.)
Notice that 降り is the -masu stem.

あしたは寒くなるそうです。
I heard that it will become cold tomorrow.
なる is not the -masu stem. "Non-polite form of predicative (verb, adjective or copula, including negative, past, potential, -te iru form or other variations) + そう" is hearsay. I believe that all decent textbooks must mention this obvious difference between these two meanings.

Here is what I initially asked you on page 6:


"「アドレス」は日本語では 「mailadress」の意味なんだそうだ."

First, I know two "major" functions for "そうです":
1) 曇りですね。振りそうです。
-> it's cloudy, isn't it. It will probaly rain/It seems like it will rain.
2) 天気予報によると、あしたはさむくなるそうです。
-> According to the weather forecast, it shall become cold tomorrow.


=> So, didn't I do it right from start?
In my translation, I tried to express clearly that the masu-form + soudesu expresses one's own conclusions derived from one's own perception.
I also tried to express clearly that dictionary-form + soudesu expresses hearsay (in this case the news from the weatherforecast).

I know this difference already, and I thought I did it right all the time. So in consequence, I thought I had done something else wrong.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, here my first new question:
1.1: When I try to type ふり my transcription program doesn't offer me this kanji 降 Oo
It offers me 100+ options to chose from, but this kanji isn't displayed among them. What should I do in this case?

 

[Toritoribe]

Thats why I'll switch to the system I've presented to you, it just didn't work this time because there was no numbering at start.

You already put #1 to your question about を and と, and I already replied to it using the same number #1. You can put another number to the one starting with "Okay, the problem was just that when I wrote my first question..." instead of "1)" to avoid confusion in the first place. Am I wrong?

You don't get そう yet. 意味なんだ is not the stem. わるいんだ is not, either. The stem of the i-adjective 悪い is 悪（わる）, i.e, 悪そう means "seems like bad". Furthermore, nouns such like 意味 can't be attached to そう as the meaning "seems like".

1.1
Try ふりそう instead of just ふり. MS-IME gives only 5 options for ふりそう, including all hiragana and all katakana. 降り appears also for just ふり, though. If your system doesn't return 降り, you'd better change it since it's useless.

 

[Narktor]

2.1
Okay I've setup MS-IME with this guide and scrapped Google-IME out the window:
How to Type Japanese - Installing MS-IME
And it displays 降る without any problem

EDIT: I'll repost the corrected versions of my texts soon.

 

[Narktor]

You don't get そう yet. 意味なんだ is not the stem. わるいんだ is not, either. The stem of the i-adjective 悪い is 悪（わる）, i.e, 悪そう means "seems like bad". Furthermore, nouns such like 意味 can't be attached to そう as the meaning "seems like".

I'm having some trouble following you, however, I'll try.
So, for the "seems like" meaning, I attach "そう" to the stem. for "hearsay", I attach "そう" to the dictionary-form (or any other form that is applicable, if there are some, I only know dictionary form so far).

Basically thats how I understood it in the first place, but I might've done it wrong in several places because I didn't identify correctly what is a stem and what isn't.

 

[Narktor]

1.2

子どものとき、毎晩母がしてくれた話を今も覚えています。

=> Even now I remember the stories told by my mother when I was a child.

A) I just want to know wether the translation I did is okay, especially in respect to してくれた => "told"
B) The komma. I don't want to delve too deep into the topic of punctuation in japanese, but here I got a bit confused because 子どものとき kind of belongs to hanashi/is an attribute to hanashi (at least to my understanding). I just wouldn't expect a komma to be there, because in my language elements which belong to each other so closely wouldn't be segregated from each other by kommas, unless it is to mark a number of bulletpoints (for example: "the yellow, tall, ugly building) .

 

[Toritoribe]

2.1

I, or all other members here, use the same number for the same topic or related questions, as I used "1.1" for my reply to your question "1.1", whereas you used "2.1" for the same topic. This is the cause of the confusion so far, perhaps?

I didn't identify correctly what is a stem and what isn't.

This is a huge problem for your learning Japanese. If you can't grasp it, you will face many difficulties also in the future.

forms of verbs that can be used as a predicative (except imperative or volitional form)
書く, 書かない, 書いた, 書かなかった, 書ける, 書いている, 書かれる, 書かせる, 書かされる, 書きたい, 書きたがる, 書きやすい, 書きにくい or other combined verbs such like 書きすぎる, 書き終える or 書き出す, etc. etc. (including combinations such like 書かされたがっていなかった)

-masu stem of verbs/the form attached to the polite suffix ます (also know as 連用形, i-form, etc.)
書き (including potential 書け, passive 書かれ or other combined verbs)


forms of i-adjective that can be used as a predicative
寒い, 寒くない, 寒かった, 寒くなかった

stem of i-adjectives
寒 (non-conjugated part. い is removed from the dictionary form)
Note that the -tai form or -yasui/-nikui of verbs also perform as i-adjectives. Also, negative forms and ない are also treated as i-adjectives, but なさ, not just な, is used for そう as an exception, e.g. 書いていなさそう or 寒くなさそう)


na-adjectives
静かだ, 静かじゃない, 静かだった, 静かじゃなかった

stem of na-adjectives
静か (non-conjugated part)

As for 意味なんだ and わるいんだ, copula だ is attached to そう, therefore this そう is hearsay, as I already explained.

"Non-polite form of predicative (verb, adjective or copula, including negative, past, potential, -te iru form or other variations) + そう" is hearsay.

1.2) A)
してくれた is not passive. The subject of してくれた is 母, so the literal translation is "stories my mother gave me a favor of telling to me / stories my mother told to me".

B)
Actually, 子どものとき is a temporal adverbial phrase that modifies してくれた (Notice that "the time my mother told the stories to me" is "when I was a child", and it's not "stories when I was a child").
There is no strict rules where a comma should be put in Japanese, but it's often put after temporal adverbs such like 一年前, 昨日, 今度の日曜 or 来年.
の is needed if it's an attributive clause (子どものときの話).

 

[Narktor]

I, or all other members here, use the same number for the same topic or related questions, as I used "1.1" for my reply to your question "1.1", whereas you used "2.1" for the same topic. This is the cause of the confusion so far, perhaps?

I just did as I said before:

From now on, I'll just continuously number my questions with 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 etc. and my corresponding comments on your responses with 2.1,2.2 etc. (maybe even 3.1... 4.1 etc. if need be).

1.x is for the questions.
Anything 2.x, 3.x is for my comments/further questions on your responses to the respective questions of mine. This way I want to avoid conflicting enumeration.

EDIT: But if you want I can switch to the version preferred on this forum. I think it can bring problems, but if my solution causes more problems for you than it solves, then it's no use anyway.

 

[Toritoribe]

Your numbering system seems to be rather confusing to me. I'll continue to use the same number as your question; my reply #1 is for your question #1 as same as before.

 

[Narktor]

The subject of してくれた is 母, so the literal translation is "stories my mother gave me a favor of telling to me / stories my mother told to me".

1) Thanks, that's what I wanted to say! I know the construction(s) -te form + kureru/morau/ageru/kudasau etc., of course also with the corresponding polite forms.
But I didn't manage to figure out a translation reflecting this active semantics of the verbal complex. I know that it is basically "to give (action)", for example "my mum gives me the favor of knitting new socks".

 

[Narktor]

forms of i-adjective that can be used as a predicative

2) There is some confusion on my side on the terminology here.
I know that in english, predicative is basically the "main verb" of a sentence. In my language however, this "main verb" is called "Prädikat", for example: "I've shot the deer". Then, there's also the word "prädikativ", which refers to stuff like this: "The house is yellow" here, the adjectiv yellow, is the "prädikativ", which is also called "predicative" in english, as I've seen:
English ⇔ German Dictionary - leo.org: Start page
The adjective itself isn't viewed as a verb, its simply called predicative because it became "part" of the predicative/Prädikat.

So, when you say:

forms of i-adjective that can be used as a predicative
寒い, 寒くない, 寒かった, 寒くなかった

You probably mean this in context of a copula connecting the adjective to the corresponding subject?

 

[Narktor]

This is a huge problem for your learning Japanese. If you can't grasp it, you will face many difficulties also in the future.

Judging from your list of conjugated wordforms, I think I got it right in most cases.

寒 (non-conjugated part. い is removed from the dictionary form)
Note that the -tai form or -yasui/-nikui of verbs also perform as i-adjectives. Also, negative forms and ない are also treated as i-adjectives, but なさ, not just な, is used for そう as an exception, e.g. 書いていなさそう or 寒くなさそう)

This is very helpful, especially in context of the problem I recently had (which we already solved): 携帯電話を持ったら家のでわが要らなくなった。
I haven't learned the "nasa" stuff yet.

 

[Narktor]

Thanks a lot for your efforts, but I think we're going nowhere. I still don't really know what I did wrong in the first place.
I think the reason is that I, despite knowing the difference between "to seem like" and "hearsay" in part, I don't know it in full.
For reference, I've attached two scans from my grammar chapters on soudesu in both of the discussed functions (I've put in some english commentary because the whole text is in german, except for the construction pattern and the japanese examples of course):

to seem like: picload.org | toseemlike.jpg
hearsay: picload.org | hearsay.jpg

This is all I've learned so far on the topic of soudesu, and for the most part of my exercises, I always did it right according to the answer book.

If you try to tell me something new, then I just don't get it. I hope I'll cover it in future grammar sections, but whenever you've explained my mistakes to me, I just didn't see my mistake or I didn't understand what exactly you wanted me to do differently. I also feel pretty silly in this situation, because you're pouring so much effort into your answers and at the end of the day, I still don't understand it.

For example, this phrase I've used as exemplary phrases above were directly out of my textbook/grammarbook:

1) 天気予報によると、あしたはさむくなるそうです。
-> According to the weather forecast, it shall become cold tomorrow.

Yet you still said that I got it wrong. I'm not saying that I didn't do something wrong, but I get the feeling that you're talking about something that wasn't covered by my book yet. Or I'm just stupid. Either way, I feel like we aren't getting anywhere anymore with soudesu. Still, lots of the other stuff we've clarified was helpful for me, even if not directly for the problem of soudesu

 

[Toritoribe]

2)
I'm not using German. I don't know it (or "forget it completely". I've learned it in college, but I've never used it since then). I can use the Japanese terms 述部, 語幹, 形容動詞, 副詞, 普通体, 連用形, 被修飾語, etc. for accuracy instead of English ones, if you like (and it's by far easier to me).

You probably mean this in context of a copula connecting the adjective to the corresponding subject?

That's an example of i-adjectives. 寒い is a predicative/main verb by itself, for instance in 今日は寒い。. There is no copula here. です is not copula in 今日は寒いです, just to be sure.

I've never said your two examples;
1) 曇りですね。振りそうです。
-> it's cloudy, isn't it. It will probaly rain/It seems like it will rain.
2) 天気予報によると、あしたはさむくなるそうです。
-> According to the weather forecast, it shall become cold tomorrow.
are wrong. Please read my posts more carefully. You can see I quoted them in my previous post;
降りそうです。
It seems like it will rain.
あしたは寒くなるそうです。
I heard that it will become cold tomorrow.
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I pointed out repeatedly your interpretation of the two sentences are wrong.
(Blue is your posts, and pink is my ones.)

"「アドレス」は日本語では 「mailadress」の意味なんだそうだ."
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" 'Address' seems to have the meaning 'mailaddress' in japanese."
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Not really. Your answer shows that you don't get the difference of the two functions of そう yet. The obvious and critical difference is that 振りそう for #1 "to seem like" and さむくなるそう for #2 hearsay.
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(I clearly pointed out about the difference here with quoting your examples, and not saying these two examples are wrong, right?)

A: 違うんですよ。運転していた僕がわるいんだそうです。シートベルトをするように言わなかったから。
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=> "It's different of course. As the one who drove, it seems I was the bad one. Because I haven't said to fasten the seatbelt."
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I'm not sure wether the man wants to say that he himself thinks that he is "the bad guy", or that he wants to say that he is deemed to be the "the bad guy" by the police.
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I already pointed out previously also for this structure. You should ask about it, if you can't get it yet.
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"Non-polite form of predicative (verb, adjective or copula, including negative, past, potential, -te iru form or other variations) + そう" is hearsay.
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You don't get そう yet. 意味なんだ is not the stem. わるいんだ is not, either.
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As for 意味なんだ and わるいんだ, copula だ is attached to そう, therefore this そう is hearsay, as I already explained.
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意味なんだそうだ and わるいんだそうです are both hearsay, not "seems like".
Should I write the answer directly like this in my initial replies, not waiting until you can realize it by yourself?

 

[Narktor]

2) It's okay as it is, I just wanted some disambiguation for this specific case because the english terminology was ambiguous :=)

Not really. Your answer shows that you don't get the difference of the two functions of そう yet. The obvious and critical difference is that 振りそう for #1 "to seem like" and さむくなるそう for #2 hearsay.

(I clearly pointed out about the difference here with quoting your examples, and not saying these two examples are wrong, right?)

Yes, I finally see it ^^
I somehow thought that not just my chosen translation was wrong, but that the whole thing was somehow wrong.^^ This sparked even more confusion on my side, ultimately leading to this chaos...^^

3) I also think that I found out why I had these massive problems with the morphology of the two.

"意味なんだそうだ " in my whole textbook, there is no example what this would look like if it beared the meaning of "seems like".

"「アドレス」は日本語では 「mailadress」の意味なんだそうだ."
=> "It is said that in japanese, 'adress' has the meaning of mailadress." (I hope I finally got it right? xD)
What would this look like if one wanted to use the "seems like" construction here?
In my textbook, it is introduced that "soudesu" is attached to the masu-stem of a verb, or to an i-adjective or na-adjective minus the i- and na-ending when I want to confer the "seems like" semantics.
But it wasn't explained what happens if "soudesu" shall be attached to a noun in this function? Is this possible at all?
I would do it like this:
"「アドレス」は日本語では 「mailadress」の意味そうだ."
But that's just guessing ^^

4)

違うんですよ。運転していた僕がわるいんだそうです。シートベルトをするように言わなかったから

=> "It's different of course. It is said that I am the bad guy as the one who drove. Because I haven't told to fasten the seatbelt."

 

[Narktor]

5)
子どもには、一日に２時間以上はテレビを見せないことにしています。
=>For the children/Concerning the children, they have acquired the habit of not watching TV for 2 hours and upwards.

First, I don't understand why there is には、 and not just は. I might have interpreted it the wrong way, but I don't know what else I should do.

Second, the second は confused me a lot. In it's use as topic-marker, I tend to use the phrase "concerning..." as a first approach to interprete the は-phrases. It sounds very strange to me in this case: "...concerning two hours and upwards, [the children] have acquired the habit of not watching TV."
Marking the timeframe as the topic and not the action of watching TV seems so strange to me I feel like I did something wrong.
That's why I'm asking about it here^^