Happy New Year folks!
2012 ... the year in which I become fluent in Japanese. Heh-heh.
1. 後をたたない違法駐車。中には、代行会社の利用で、「 摘発なんのその」という車も?
(Picture caption.) Translation given: "The inevitable parking violators. Among them, how many are subscribers to traffic ticket proxy companies -- and fearless of being exposed?"
a) What is the literal meaning of 後をたたない, and which of the numerous versions of たつ is this?
b) How is 後 pronounced in this case?
c) How does 摘発なんのその work? While I know that 摘発 means "exposure", I can't figure out how the whole could mean "fearless of being exposed".
2. 静かな住宅街の午後のひととき、くつろいで雑誌を開い ていると、突然、中年の男の声が窓から侵入してくる。 「毎度おなじみのちり紙交換車でございます。」
Translation given: "Sometime in the afternoon, in a quiet residential area of people enjoying a relaxed moment with a magazine, outside the window the voice of a middle-aged man suddenly booms through the quiet. "Your paper collector here!"
a) When I started reading this, I basically understood it OK but thought it was a first-person narrative, like "... I'm relaxing with a magazine ...". In the absence of any further context, is my interpretation possible?
The author continues:
最近の騒音公害にはかなわないが・・・
Translation given: "No one likes the noise pollution of late..."
b) Similarly, I thought this meant "I don't like the the noise pollution of late..." Could it mean that? How do you tell?
3. This is talking about a paper collection man's polite behaviour and humble speech (which has just been quoted):
これにきわめて低姿勢、丁寧なことばづかいだ。これは もしかするとひとつの風物詩といえるかもしれない。
Translation given: "Here, extreme humility and politeness in speech are considered poetic features."
a) In the first sentence, why これに and not これは?
b) Does これはもしかすると mean (literally) "if/when (he) does this"?
c) I always seem to get confused about <noun>のひとつ and ひとつの<noun>. What is the difference?
2012 ... the year in which I become fluent in Japanese. Heh-heh.
1. 後をたたない違法駐車。中には、代行会社の利用で、「 摘発なんのその」という車も?
(Picture caption.) Translation given: "The inevitable parking violators. Among them, how many are subscribers to traffic ticket proxy companies -- and fearless of being exposed?"
a) What is the literal meaning of 後をたたない, and which of the numerous versions of たつ is this?
b) How is 後 pronounced in this case?
c) How does 摘発なんのその work? While I know that 摘発 means "exposure", I can't figure out how the whole could mean "fearless of being exposed".
2. 静かな住宅街の午後のひととき、くつろいで雑誌を開い ていると、突然、中年の男の声が窓から侵入してくる。 「毎度おなじみのちり紙交換車でございます。」
Translation given: "Sometime in the afternoon, in a quiet residential area of people enjoying a relaxed moment with a magazine, outside the window the voice of a middle-aged man suddenly booms through the quiet. "Your paper collector here!"
a) When I started reading this, I basically understood it OK but thought it was a first-person narrative, like "... I'm relaxing with a magazine ...". In the absence of any further context, is my interpretation possible?
The author continues:
最近の騒音公害にはかなわないが・・・
Translation given: "No one likes the noise pollution of late..."
b) Similarly, I thought this meant "I don't like the the noise pollution of late..." Could it mean that? How do you tell?
3. This is talking about a paper collection man's polite behaviour and humble speech (which has just been quoted):
これにきわめて低姿勢、丁寧なことばづかいだ。これは もしかするとひとつの風物詩といえるかもしれない。
Translation given: "Here, extreme humility and politeness in speech are considered poetic features."
a) In the first sentence, why これに and not これは?
b) Does これはもしかすると mean (literally) "if/when (he) does this"?
c) I always seem to get confused about <noun>のひとつ and ひとつの<noun>. What is the difference?