とれそう / 異国情緒 / にして / あしたお返しします... / 大学の経営...

Hello!

1. １週間くらい休みがとれそうですから、家族と一緒にハ ワイに行こうと思います。

My transation: "It seems I can take a week's holiday, so I think I'll go with my family to Hawaii."

Is this とれそう from the potential form of 取る ("take"), per my translation "seems I can take"? There are so many different versions of とる and とれる in the dictionary, it's bewildering...


2. 異国情緒あふれる街並みが続く。

Translation given: "The streets are filled with an air of exoticism."

I don't get the grammar of this sentence. Is there a missing particle or something? Should it be 異国情緒があふれる modifying 街並み? That would kind of make sense to me.


3. すみませんが、勉強中なのでもう少し静かにしてもらえ ませんか。

My translation: "Excuse me, I'm in the middle of studying, so could you possibly be a little quieter?"

Here I am unsure about にして. Should I think of 静かに as "quietly" and して as "acting", so literally it would be something like "could I receive the favour of your acting a little more quietly"?


4. あしたお返ししますので、この本を１日貸していただけ ませんか。

My translation: "I'll return it tomorrow, so could you lend me this book for one day?"

Is this OK? (In fact, in English, the sentence is slightly odd because "so" does not quite fit the relationship between the clauses. I'm not fussed about this provided my understanding of the Japanese is essentially correct.)


5. 大学の経営が厳しいらしい。それは若者の人口が減って いるからだ。

I translated this as "The university management seems strict. This is because the numbers of young people are decreasing." However, I don't really understand my translation. What has one thing got to do with the other? What am I missing?

1)
Yes. That's the potential 窶堙??堙ｪ窶堙ｩ + 窶堋ｻ窶堋､.

2)
Right. The subject marker 窶堋ｪ/窶堙 is omitted, i.e., the clause ﾋ?卍坂?伉湘ｮﾂ渉鞘?堋?窶堙凪?堙ｪ窶堙ｩ is modifying ﾅ?X窶｢ﾃ?窶堙 and the main verb of the sentence is 窶伉ｱ窶堋ｭ.

3)
Yes.

4)
I'll return this book tomorrow --> I won't borrow it long term --> I won't make you trouble by borrowing it --> so could you lend me?

5)
the numbers of young people are decreasing --> the enrollments decreasing --> the university management being difficult

EDIT:
Oh, I missed "strict" part in #5. Thanks undrentide-san.

eeky said:

1. １週間くらい休みがとれそうですから、家族と一緒にハワイに行こうと思います。

My transation: "It seems I can take a week's holiday, so I think I'll go with my family to Hawaii."

Is this とれそう from the potential form of 取る ("take"), per my translation "seems I can take"? There are so many different versions of とる and とれる in the dictionary, it's bewildering...

Click to expand...

Yes.
とれそう＝とることができそう

eeky said:

2. 異国情緒あふれる街並みが続く。

Translation given: "The streets are filled with an air of exoticism."

I don't get the grammar of this sentence. Is there a missing particle or something? Should it be 異国情緒があふれる modifying 街並み? That would kind of make sense to me.

Click to expand...

異国情緒あふれる is a set phrase, meaning "full of exoticism", "very exotic".

eeky said:

3. すみませんが、勉強中なのでもう少し静かにしてもらえませんか。

My translation: "Excuse me, I'm in the middle of studying, so could you possibly be a little quieter?"

Here I am unsure about にして. Should I think of 静かに as "quietly" and して as "acting", so literally it would be something like "could I receive the favour of your acting a little more quietly"?

Click to expand...

静かにする means to be(come) quiet/make (themselves) quiet.

静かになる to become quiet (spontaneously, without particular effort)
静かにする to become quiet (intentionally, as a result of effort, etc.)

eeky said:

4. あしたお返ししますので、この本を１日貸していただけませんか。

My translation: "I'll return it tomorrow, so could you lend me this book for one day?"

Is this OK? (In fact, in English, the sentence is slightly odd because "so" does not quite fit the relationship between the clauses. I'm not fussed about this provided my understanding of the Japanese is essentially correct.)

Click to expand...

Yes, your understanding is correct.
Its connotation is something like "I'll return it as soon as tomorrow, so could you lend me this book just for one day?".
"Could you lend me this book just for one day? I'll return it tomorrow."

eeky said:

5. 大学の経営が厳しいらしい。それは若者の人口が減っているからだ。

I translated this as "The university management seems strict. This is because the numbers of young people are decreasing." However, I don't really understand my translation. What has one thing got to do with the other? What am I missing?

Click to expand...

Here 厳しい means "difficult".
The logic is:
To run a university with healthy financial conditions, they need a lot of students. Decreasing of young population means they have less chance to get students who will pay the tuition which eventually contributes to the finance.

edit: Oh, Toritoribe san beat me!

Thanks Toritoribe!

In #2, is the omission of が/の a typo, or does the sentence read like good Japanese? (I know that certain particles may sometimes be dropped, but I don't really understand the rules governing this.)

Edit: Thanks also Undrentide; your reply has just popped up, and you may have answered my question!

The suject marker is sometimes omitted in adjectival clauses, especially in classical-like sentences.

寒さ厳しき折（＝ 寒さの厳しい頃）


Also, in conversation, there're some cases that no particle is natural, since using a particle(the subject marker が/は, the object marker を) unnecessarily emphasizes the meaning.

その髪形、かわいいね。
その髪形は/がかわいいね。（＝ 前の髪形はかわいくなかった。）