新米のくせに / プロ / はかり方 / 聞かれる / 馬鹿にされる

Hi,


1. 新米のくせに大きな顔をするな。

Translation given: "Act your place."

I understand that 大きな顔をする means roughly "don't act like you are so important", but what does 新米のくせに mean (literally and/or idiomatically)?


2. ©(株)石森章太郎プロ

I know 石森章太郎 = Shotaro Ishinomori. I know プロ usually means "professional", but what is its purpose here?


3. 意志疎通のはかり方は、文化によって決まるからである。

I believe this is saying something about methods of mutual understanding being determined by cultural considerations. However,

a) Assuming that はかり is from はかる, in what sense is this verb used here?

b) I don't know how, but I seem to have confused myself about the intent of からである here. Does it just make the sentence into an explanatory one (like prefixing the sentence with "the reason is..." in English)?


4. Someone is introducing themselves and has said that they come from 安城市.

「安城市ってどこ？」ってよく聞かれるんですけど、「新幹線の駅があるよね」と言ってくれる人もいます。

My translation: "It's often asked 'Where is Anjō', and some people say 'Well, it has a Shinkansen station!'."

Here I am unsure who or what is the subject of 聞かれる (which I'm assuming is passive). Is it 「安城市ってどこ？」 (i.e. "「安城市ってどこ？」 is often asked"?) Is it the speaker (i.e. "I am often asked...")? Is it people in general? At first I thought it was the speaker, but then I hit 人 and I couldn't connect "I am often asked" with "there are people who say...".


5. 「安城市」は、あの・・・「日本のデンマーク」と呼ばれていて（笑）、これを言うとみんなに馬鹿にされるんですが、農業の盛んな所で...

My part translation: "Anjō is, erm, called 'Japan's Denmark' (laughter); when you say this, everyone ... ??? ..., but (actually) it is a prosperous farming area ..."

What does みんなに馬鹿にされる mean? I would guess it could mean "everyone thinks (people from Anjō) are stupid", but is it a joke in Japan that Danish people are stupid? Anyway, I'm surprised they would print such a thing in a textbook...

2. プロ is used as an honorific, just something like 先生、社長、課長 or the like. You can sometimes find abbreviated 外来語 positions or titles used this way.

5. 馬鹿にされる is an idiom meaning "to be made fun of". What is being made fun of here is the heavily rural / agricultural nature of the area. Nothing about the Danes being stupid.

eeky said:

2. (株)石森章太郎プロ
I know 石森章太郎 = Shotaro Ishinomori. I know プロ usually means "professional", but what is its purpose here?

Click to expand...

プロ, in this case, means "production". It is the name of the famed manga-artist's production company, Ishimori Production Inc.

That's a wonderful example of why I hate 外来語

Hi eeky,

1. 新米のくせに大きな顔をするな。
I understand that 大きな顔をする means roughly "don't act like you are so important", but what does 新米のくせに mean (literally and/or idiomatically)?

～くせに is to express one's negative feeling, often accusation, looking down upon, etc.
"Don't act like you are so important, you're nothing but a newbie", for example.
縺上○縺ｫ縲千剿縺ｫ縲托ｼｻ謗･蜉ｩ・ｽ縺ｮ諢丞袖 - 蝗ｽ隱櫁ｾ樊嶌 - goo霎樊嶌
くせに【癖に】
［接助］《名詞「くせ（癖）」＋格助詞「に」から》活用語の連体形および格助詞「の」に付く。
非難や不満の気持ちを込めて逆接条件を表す。
にもかかわらず。のに。くせして。「弱い―強がりを言う」「本当は好きな―、そぶりも見せない 」

3. 意志疎通のはかり方は、文化によって決まるからである。
I believe this is saying something about methods of mutual understanding being determined by cultural considerations. However,

a) Assuming that はかり is from はかる, in what sense is this verb used here?
～を図る means to make efforts to do something, or to commit something.
縺ｯ縺九ｋ縲占ｨ医ｋ・城㍼繧具ｼ乗ｸｬ繧具ｼ丞峙繧具ｼ剰ｬ €繧具ｼ剰ｫｮ繧九€代・諢丞袖 - 蝗ｽ隱櫁ｾ樊嶌 - goo霎樊嶌
意思疎通を図る means to try to communicate, or simply to communicate.

b) I don't know how, but I seem to have confused myself about the intent of からである here.
Does it just make the sentence into an explanatory one (like prefixing the sentence with "the reason is..." in English)?
Yes. And there must be some 'conclusion' before this sentence.

4. Someone is introducing themselves and has said that they come from 安城市.
「安城市ってどこ？」ってよく聞かれるんですけど、「新幹線の駅があるよね」と言ってくれる人 もいます。
My translation: "It's often asked 'Where is Anjō', and some people say 'Well, it has a Shinkansen station!'."

Here I am unsure who or what is the subject of 聞かれる (which I'm assuming is passive). Is it 「安城市ってどこ？」 (i.e. "「安城市ってどこ？」 is often asked"?) Is it the speaker (i.e. "I am often asked...")? Is it people in general? At first I thought it was the speaker, but then I hit 人 and I couldn't connect "I am often asked" with "there are people who say...".

聞かれる is passive, the speaker is often asked 'where is 安城市?'.
That means most people do not know, have no idea where 安城市, which might be disappointment for the speaker - assuming it's his home town, and even though he knows that it's a small, minor city yet it is a bit sad for him that people do not know about it.
Then there are some people who know 安城市, saying "it has a Shinkansen station, doesn't it?"
It's something he is pleased to hear, thus 言って「くれる」 - he feels as if he received some favour.

Hope the above helps.

Thanks everyone!