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Need a word or phrase translated?

I totally agree. Deva is definitely better than Angel for 窶弖ﾂ人. I just copied and pasted the title of the novel.
 
My first post XP
I was listening to a song [重き荷を負いて by 中島みゆき] and had a hard time understanding a part:

重き荷を負いて 坂道を登りゆく者(もの)ひとつ
重き荷も坂も 他人には何ひとつ見えはしない

My rough interpretation (that I'm sure is wrong)-

Climbing the hill road while carrying/bearing an important burden is one thing
and it's another when others can not even see the burden or the hill.

Confused on:
者(もの)use - doesn't it mean person? and not 物
Also please explain the meaning and usage of はしない

Japanese grammar sometimes confuses me baaaaad~
Thank you.
 
Yes, 者(もの) means person. You can think 者ひとつ as 者がひとりいる here.

The preceding clause 重き荷を負いて坂道を登りゆく modifies 者.

重き荷も坂も in the second line refers to the ones in the first line.

見えはしない is a negative form of 見える.
e.g.
知りはしない＝知らない
聞きはしない＝聞かない

There is a person climbing a slope while carrying a heavy burden
Others can not see either the slope or the heavy burden at all
(lit. Neither the slope nor the heavy burden is visible by others)
 
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation
 
A huge favor/request

Hello everyone,

My friend does animal rescue and she got a Japanese voice mail on the rescue line. We are not sure if it is a wrong number or not, and I don't know that much Japanese, so I am stumped. If anyone can help me, I did make a video of it on Youtube. I am not sure if it will let me post a url though on here since I am a new member. If anyone can help I would really, really appreciate it, we just don't want there to be an animal out there that needs help.

Thank you sincerely if you can understand any of it or if there's an animal we need to help!
 
As in the comment on youtube, he, Mogi in Burlington, called wrong number. That's definitely a buisness call.
 
several vocabulary questions

Greetings to all. Newbie here. よろしくお願いします。

I live in Japan, and recently my volition to study has increased. I've been saving a few questions.
I look forward to your help.

1) What is the japanese equivalent of the phrase, "I can't wait" when speaking of being excited. Is there something other than, "たのしみにしています"？ I'm guessing it's not, "待てない"。

2) What is the proper/common way to say, "I hope..."? Is it, "私は～きぼうをします"？

3) Are かみなり and でんこう common words for "thunder" and "lightning" respectively?

4) What are some ways to say "less" in Japanese?
Today I am less tired than yesterday.
I eat 2000 calories a day or less.
Do you weigh less than 70 kilograms?

5) In what cases do we use げんご instead of ことば for "language"?

6) Is there a general word for "some" in Japanese? I know "some people" is 何人か, but what about "some food" or "some books"?

7) I happened across the word がいせんしゃ in the dictionary, translated as "(right wing) propaganda trucks." Is this a common word for the loud campaign trucks that are super annoying around election time in Japan? Are there no left wing ones, or do those go by a different name?

That should do it for now. I hope you don't mind me asking so many questions so early. I kept searching for a good site to ask, so I hope I have found it.
 
My Japanese feels like it's slipping a bit, so I don't feel so confident that I can give you good, natural ways of saying some of what you're asking for, so I'll just answer a few of your questions.

2) ばいい(なあ/ねえ) is pretty common for that.

3) It looks like 雷（かみなり）means thunder and lighting together as an event, whereas 電光（でんこう）is just the flash of light. I think 稲妻(いなずま) may be more commont than 電光（でんこう）.

5) I think 言語（げんご）is more specific and scientific, whereas 言葉（ことば）is broader and refers to anything used to relay information (話す・書くなどの行為をする事によって情報伝達手段となりうる、 意味があるものの総称。)

7) From Wikipedia: 街宣車（がいせんしゃ）とは、主義主張・思想の宣伝や商品・サービスの宣伝、商業イベントの告知等のために、大音量で音楽・演説・キャッチフレーズの連呼等を流すために利用する自動車のこと。「街頭宣伝車」の略。
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/街宣車

That basically says that the word 街宣車（がいせんしゃ）means a motor vehicle that's used to broadcast music, speeches, slogans, etc. at a loud volume in order to advertise goods, services, business events, -isms (主義, I guess maybe "beliefs" is good for that), and thoughts/philosophies, etc. And it's an abbreviation of 街頭宣伝車 (がいとうせんでんしゃ).

I'm sure Toritoribe will be able to correct any mistakes I made and answer your other questions.
 
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OK, here's the rest ones.:

1)
待ちきれない, for instance.

2)
Others are 希望します, 望みます, 願います, 信じます, etc.

4)
～より･･･ない（昨日[きのう]より疲[つか]れていない）
～より少[すく]ない/～以下[いか]（2000カロリーかそれ以下, 70キロ以下）

6)
As for the context of "There are some ~", いくつか(for countable nouns), いくらか(for uncountable nouns), "何 + counter for the noun + かの" are the ones.

some food: いくらかの食[た]べ物[もの]
some books: 何冊[なんさつ]かの本[ほん]

7)
What you mentioned would be 選挙カー. It's completely different from 街宣車.
 
By the way, it looks like the word for "thunder" is 雷鳴 (らいめい).

らい‐めい【雷鳴】 かみなりが鳴ること。また、その音。《季 夏》「―を尽くせし後の動かぬ日／草田男」
雷鳴の検索結果 - goo国語辞書

雷鳴
放電現象が発生したときに生じる音である。
雷 - Wikipedia
 
「上りと下りの電車」
Does this refer to a train that allows passengers on and off the train?
Or is it a train that simply goes back and forth along the track?

Thanks!
 
It's more like north-bound and south-bound, but not quite that:

基本的に、その路線の起点方向（だいたい都市方面の事が多い）に向かう電車を上り、逆にその逆を下りといいます。
"Basically, trains going in the direction of the starting point of the line (usually in the direction of a city) is called nobori, and the one going the other direction is called kudari."
上り電車、下り電車 - 上り電車・下り電車って、何を基準にして上る、下るなんですか？？ - Yahoo!知恵袋
 
Thank you so much Glenn and Toritoribe.

Glenn, regarding #2, "I hope", did you, by chance mean がいい(なあ/ねえ)?

Would you (or someone) mind checking my sentences for practice?
1) 札幌に行くことを待ちきれない。 (I can't wait to go to Sapporo.)
2) おぼん中いい天気がある望みます。 (I hope the weather is good during Obon.)
3a) あのらいめいがうるさかった。(That thunder was loud.)
3b) あのいなずまはおきかった。(That flash of lightning was big.)
3c) かのじょはでんこうがこわい。(She is afraid of lightning.)
4a) 今日より明日暑くない。(Tomorrow will be less hot than today.)
4b) 10分かそれ以下につく。(I'll be there in 10 minutes or less).
4c) たいじゅうは ７０キロ以下ですか？(Do you weigh less than 70 kilograms?)
5) 言語を習うとき、文法がだいじ。(When learning a language, grammar is important.)
6a) いくつかのりんごはあかくて いくつかのりんごはみどり。(Some apples are red and some are green.)
6b) いくらかの音楽を聞こう。(Let's listen to some music.)

On #7, I'm confused. In the dictionary I can't find an exact match for 選挙カー but Glenn's English description of the Wikipedia article on 街宣車, seemed to be what I thought fit for those loud annoying vehicles. Is 選挙カー slang, perhaps? Could it be a nuance depending on region or something? Can I say あの街宣車がしつこえ and/or あの選挙カーがしつこえ？

Thank you again
 
No, I meant ~ばいい(なあ/ねえ), like ~なればいい(なあ/ねえ). といい is another way to say it -- e.g., そうだといいなあ (そうなればいいなあ could also work).

選挙カー seems to be to be a type of 街宣車, but I guess we'll have to wait for Toritoribe to explain that one further. 選挙カー is made up of 選挙 (election) and カー (car, from English), and I doubt it's slang. By the way, しつこえ→しつこい, right?
 
1)
It's not incorrect but 札幌に行くのが待ちきれない would be more common.

2)
お盆[ぼん]の間[あいだ]天気がいいといいなあ。/お盆の間天気がいいことを願います。

3a)
あの雷[かみなり]はうるさかった。

3b)
あの雷は大[おお]きかった。

3c)
彼女[かのじょ]は雷が怖[こわ]い。

Basically, there is no strict differentiation between "thunder" and "lightning" in daily Japanese. 雷[かみなり] is the most common word for both.

4a)
明日は今日より暑くない。

4b)
10分かそれ以内[いない]にそこに着[つ]く/10分かそれより早[はや]くそこに着く

6a)
赤いリンゴも緑のリンゴもある

6b)
何か音楽を聴[き]こう

I wrote 'As for the context of "There are some ~",' in my previous post.;-)


This is a 選挙カー.
As Glenn-san explained, it's a car for candidates in elections. The period of use of it(e.g. 12 days for the Lower House election), the hour of use(from 8AM to 8PM), the number of the car(one car for one candidate) or like that are strictly determined by the law 公職選挙法.


街宣車 usually refers to 右翼街宣車 "right wing propaganda trucks", as in the dictionary.


Maybe しつけえ; a vulgar way of saying しつこい?
 
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Hi everyone,

I like to know the meaning for 嫁さん ~ my guess is partner in a relationship.
 
Hey guys! Yet another thing I could not understand in my friend's email. The thing is, what I don't understand are not only some words but also how they are used and how the sentence is structured. Could you guys give me a detailed translation of this?

外国語はnativeの人に聞いてもらって発音を直してもらうのが一番いいと思います.

This is what I think it means: As for foreign languages, I think the best way to receive correction in pronunciation is to listen to native speakers.

If I'm wrong, please correct. Can you please structure the translation like this, breaking the sentence into words and giving me the literal meaning? Especially morau because it confuses me.

植松 さん は 知りませんでした
Mr. Uetmatsu (subject particle) I did not know.

Thanks guys! I really appreciate it.
 
自国とごくわずかな国しか知らない自分には酷く遠い国の事のように思えた。

A full translation would be appreciated, since I keep confusing myself when I try to sort it out. But if nothing else, the underlined portion is what's really throwing me off.

I've never encountered the term ごくわずか before.
In this context, does it mean something like "insignificant"? Or does it just mean "a few"?
 
Thanks Glenn

...can anyone translate this for me,

１度の攻撃で～以上減る。

It doesn't make any sense to me >.<

Thanks!
 
Thanks again Glenn and Totoribe.

Sorry I'm a little late replying (I was away for Obon and the weather didn't hold up in spite of my hopes).

Glenn, I did mean しつこい。 It's been wrong in my brain for months.

Toritoribe, thanks for the thorough explanations which included Youtube videos. Both vehicles are thoroughly しつこい。And I don't look forward to election time.


Thanks for your replies. I'll have more questions later.

 
Here ごく and わずか are separate words. ごく would mean something like "extremely"

I might translate it as follows:

To me, knowing only my own country and extremely few others, it seemed like something concerning a place hideously far away.
 

Having native speakers (of the foreign language) listen to you and correct your pronunciation is the best.

Morau just means to receive. Te-form plus morau means that you "receive" the action, or that somebody is doing something for you.

kiku - listen
kiitemorau - have someone listen to you

植松 さん は 知りませんでした
Mr. Uetmatsu (subject particle) I did not know.
Click to expand...

You got the meaning right, but I suggest translating into natural English to get a better feel for things. Also, は is a topic marker, not a subject one.

I did not know Mr. Uematsu.
 
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