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Need a word or phrase translated?

gakusei is a student. But what about pupil? is shougakusei/chuugakusei/koukousei is right, or should I use something else? What, in this case?
 
In the Japanese media, "gakusei" is a university student. High school students and younger are "seito" (生徒) :
 
Kama-san,

Seito is good enough to say student, but if you want to specify high school student, then the word is koukousei. You got it right!
 
epigene said:
In the Japanese media, "gakusei" is a university student. High school students and younger are "seito" (生徒)
[生徒」と聞いたら、[小学生]について話しているというのは、考える日本人が多い。。。となんだかこんな印象があるけど。
 
Glenn said:
Is that 尺 as in 尺度?

Oddly, it's literally on it's own. Here's the original sentence:
尺が決まっていない映像に音楽を付けるのは本当に不毛だ。

Thanks for the help on the Kansai-ben though, Glenn. You're a star!
 
Elizabeth said:
小学生に、児童という言葉を使うことはほとんどないじゃなの? :?
It's not a special or rare term. It is used as an objective age group of children (from the adult perspective, of course).
It may be infrequently used in colloquial speech but will be used if the conversation is academic-oriented.
 
Inquiry: What does "MYSTERY anata ni muchuu" mean? Apparently, muchuu refers to being in a state of delirium or in a (literal, I believe) fog, but I'm not sure how this all fits together.
 
Ed-E said:
Oddly, it's literally on it's own. Here's the original sentence:
尺が決まっていない映像に音楽を付けるのは本当に不毛だ。

Well, looking up 尺 in the dictionary, I found this and this. I believe it's the second one, and he's saying that putting music to a film (or video) whose length hasn't been determined is pointless (or some perhaps more suitable gloss of 不毛). Does that make sense?

Ed-E said:
Thanks for the help on the Kansai-ben though, Glenn. You're a star!

Wow, I've never been called a star before! Thanks!
 
J44xm said:
Inquiry: What does "MYSTERY anata ni muchuu" mean? Apparently, muchuu refers to being in a state of delirium or in a (literal, I believe) fog, but I'm not sure how this all fits together.

That's one of those words that throws me in translation too. I once saw it translated as being in love, so perhaps "MYSTERY, I'm in love with you." I really don't know how "MYSTERY" fits in there, though. I hate when they throw English into the middle of Japanese lyrics. Understanding lyrics is enough of a problem on its own. Anyway...
 

Yup! Much better than what I was thinking. It fits in pretty well!
Thanks again! ^^
 
I'm not sure about use of "otat ota".

Should it be "Ore wa ota ota shita" or "Ore wa ota ota bikkuri shita." ?
 
Kama said:
I'm not sure about use of "otat ota".

Should it be "Ore wa ota ota shita" or "Ore wa ota ota bikkuri shita." ?

I think the former is right and the latter should be "ore ha bikkuri shite, ota ota shita."


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「彼は授業中、よく机の上で寝ていた。」
He would often sleep on the desk in (his?) class.

日本語で、「机の上で寝る」と表現したら、文脈にもよりますが、
普通は本当に机の上に全身を置いて寝るということではなく、
頭を机の上に乗っけて居眠りするというような意味になります。
これをそのまま英語に訳しても、同じ意味になりますか?
それとも英語には英語の言い方がありますか?
 
I got one.

How do you say Jaa, sou des ne. In Japanese? Would you write this katakana or hiragana? In English, this means "So, I see.."
I have a question.

Does this sentence mean this option A) or option B)?
日本語の勉強 がんばってください = A)Please try to study Japanese hard.
Nihongo no benkyou ganbatekudai = B) Please keep trying to study Japanese

I think I got the gist of his sentence though.
 

I think it means the same in English, but it's been a while since I've either used or heard such an expression, so I'm having a bit of trouble remembering. "He often fell asleep on his desk in the middle of class." I think a more natural and colloquial translation would be "he used to sleep on his desk in class a lot."
 
GoldCoinLover said:
I got one.

How do you say Jaa, sou des ne. In Japanese? Would you write this katakana or hiragana? In English, this means "So, I see.."

I once saw a guy on a Japanese message board who wrote in kanji and katakana, but he was quite the exception to the rule. If it isn't a Japanese word, use katakana; if it is, use hiragana. That's the basic rule. There are times when katakana is used with native Japanese words, but I wouldn't worry about that just yet.

じゃあ、そうですね。


"Do your best with your study of Japanese" is probably the most literal translation for it. Also note that while it is acceptable to drop particles in colloquial speech, you may want to leave them in there at the beginner levels. 日本語の勉強がんばってください。
 
Kama said:
I'm not sure about use of "otat ota".

Should it be "Ore wa ota ota shita" or "Ore wa ota ota bikkuri shita." ?

おたおたする。(ota ota suru)
=[panic] to be confused because of something unexpected
be flurried / panic / get panicky / get scared / get rattled / lose one's head
 
Thanks, Hiroyuki. Is "ota ota" an example of Japanese onomatopoeia?
 
Thanks a lot.

Buntaro, yes it's onomatopoeia.

I have another question. How to say "She is in a loveless relationship"?
 
Kama said:
Thanks a lot.

Buntaro, yes it's onomatopoeia.

I have another question. How to say "She is in a loveless relationship"?
I don't know....isn't being in a relationship 関係における?And 愛のない for loveless ? Although it'll probably end up being something completely idiomatic in this case.


And now I have one as well. Is there anything that can be linked to kikibae (no aru ongaku) meaning 'music that is pleasing/pleasant to the ear.' I stumbled across the phrase a while back and while the 'bae' suffix is 'something that can be shown to advantage', I'm not able to reference it any further. Is there a kanji for this, or a description in wider usage ?

耳に心地よい音楽 is all I have to make due with now....
 
how do u say "You're the closest to heaven than i'll ever be"
 
Eve said:
how do u say "You're the closest to heaven than i'll ever be"

Similes and expressions such as this do not translate literally very well. They don't use the word for heaven ("tengoku") to describe a person.

If you're trying to say "You're prettier than I'll ever be," it might be

"Anata wa watashi nanka yori sugoku kirei yo."

Sorry. Did my best.
 
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