Need a word or phrase translated?

[epigene]

Thank you very much for the explanation! Now I understand. I'm glad you posted the url, because I now I have learned more then my aim was

Then パプリカ it is!

Owh maybe one last question. If I wanted to specifically refer to a red パプリカ, could I use 赤いパプリカ or 赤いピーマン?

Sorry for going on about this, but I am asking this for a friend of mine who wants to paint 'red paprika' on her bedroom wall in Japanese (don't ask me why though ). I would hate to have to tell her that she's got it all wrong when the paint is already on the wall

Sorry, I didn't notice this post until now.
It's either パプリカ or 赤ピーマン.

 

[Damicci]

Help a brother out.

大阪の女の子 Wrote: "Soul Food"とは どんなmenuですか？American というと French fries and a hamburger などを 思いうかべます。もしかすると 私はまだ食べた事のないものかもしれません。

また私にかきます下さい。→へんじください。

Soul Food is what kind of menu? American and "iuto"? French Fries and a hamburger nado? omoiukabemasu?(something bought thinking?) moshikasuruto? watashi ha mada tabeta???nonai mono ka moshiremasen?

she uses some vocabulary i don't know.

mata watashi ni kakimasu kudasai (Please write me again. [i wrote this and she is correcting me]) ---> henji kudasai (Please respond)

 

[Elizabeth]

Help a brother out.


Soul Food is what kind of menu? American and "iuto"? French Fries and a hamburger nado? omoiukabemasu?(something bought thinking?) moshikasuruto? watashi ha mada tabeta???nonai mono ka moshiremasen?

she uses some vocabulary i don't know.

mata watashi ni kakimasu kudasai (Please write me again. [i wrote this and she is correcting me]) ---> henji kudasai (Please respond)

The gist of it is "I think of/imagine American food as french fries and hamburgers' but since I may never have had it (real American), I can't be sure."

 

[Damicci]

Great えっと
Can you help me figure out the root of some of those verbs? What was the 漢字 after 食べた？

 

[Elizabeth]

Great えっと
Can you help me figure out the root of some of those verbs? What was the 漢字 after 食べた？

I personally don't have time now....but maybe someone else can. You mean "事(koto)のないものかもしれません" She's saying 'Maybe I've never (eaten).'

 

[Glenn]

Help a brother out.

"Soul Food"とは どんなmenuですか？American というと French fries and a hamburger などを 思いうかべます。もしかすると 私はまだ食べ た事のないものかもしれません。

また私にかきます下さい。→へんじください。

Soul Food is what kind of menu?

Correct!

American and "iuto"? French Fries and a hamburger nado? omoiukabemasu?(something bought thinking?)

"When I think of American food I think of french fries and hamburgers and the like." I'm not sure what nuance 思いかべる has; I'm guessing it's 関西弁. Xというと is like "when you say X." など means something like "etc.," or "and the like."

moshikasuruto? watashi ha mada tabeta???nonai mono ka moshiremasen?

"I might not have had it yet." もしかすると is "perhaps." ことが（の）ある（ない） when used with the past tense means having or not having had an experience, so 食べた事のない means "haven't eaten." かもしれない（しれません） means "maybe," "might," など.

ご参考まで: To use ください with verbs to mean "please do..." connect them with the -te form of the main verb. So "please write" would be 書いてください. "Please do not..." is connected with ないで, so "please do not write" is 書かないでください.

[Edit] That's what I get for taking my time, I guess. Oh well, I'll leave the detailed explanations up anyway.

 

[Damicci]

Thanks a lot guys, it's hard for me to know how to break the kanji down if I don't have a clue what it means. it would have made more sense if i knew that kanji was "koto".
Thanks a lot。 勉強 勉強 勉強

 

[epigene]

"When I think of American food I think of french fries and hamburgers and the like." I'm not sure what nuance 思いかべる has; I'm guessing it's 関西弁.

Just a note to Glenn:

The translation is OK, but the phrase is 思い浮かべる (to think of, come to mind). And it's not Kansai-ben but just standard expression.

 

[Glenn]

Ah, thank you epigene! Somehow I missed that う that was sitting in between the い and the か. I did find some hits for 思いかべる, but I still don't know what it means. Maybe it's a typo.

 

[Elizabeth]

Thanks a lot guys, it's hard for me to know how to break the kanji down if I don't have a clue what it means. it would have made more sense if i knew that kanji was "koto".
Thanks a lot。 勉強 勉強 勉強

なるほどね。 私は漢字字典のない生活など想像できない。

 

[Vinylhoer]

Sorry, I didn't notice this post until now.
It's either パプリカ or 赤ピーマン.

That's ok

Thank you very much for your trouble!

 

[bentenmusume]

Ah, thank you epigene! Somehow I missed that う that was sitting in between the い and the か. I did find some hits for 思いかべる, but I still don't know what it means. Maybe it's a typo.

I get exactly 74 hits for 「思いかべる」, which I think puts it safely in typo range, especially when you consider that something like "I lvoe you" (which to my knowledge is not a valid expression in any dialect of English) gets a staggering 6500+ hits.

Just goes to show you that while Google searching can be a useful tool, you always have to keep the context in mind. All of the examples I looked at, at least, seemed to be pretty obvious typos of 思い浮かべる.

 

[epigene]

jt_san's post reminded me of something else about Googling.

My experience in Googling tells me that hits even in the thousands should not be trusted, when it comes to language usage. It should at least be in the ten thousands, I think.

Also, there is an issue being discussed by professional and skilled writers about the use of kanji on PCs and Internet. Because of IME conversion, people are more inclined to kanji usage than ever before. When everything was handwritten, there was less. Excessive usage of kanji is an obstacle to readability of the Japanese language, and people are being warned to be careful with conversions. I myself didn't realize this until it was pointed out in news articles and found that I am certainly using more kanji than before.

For advanced learners like you, Glenn, I recommend not to trust the number of Google hits in terms of kanji usage and depend more on writings by professionals (i.e., newspapers, essays & novels) in achieving a higher level of Japanese language writing.

Discussions of this issue I found on the Web:
漢字を多用しない
誰でもできる読みやすい文章の書き方（３）

 

[Glenn]

Why I didn't think of the typo issue I don't know. I really like your example, jt_.

That also reminds me of a guy who was wondering what 落ち取る meant. He found that there were plenty of hits on google, but not even Japanese people knew of such a word. Then someone pointed out to him that it was a typo for 落ちとる, the Kansai version of 落ちている. The number of hits for the typo (1,490) seem to support epigene's hypothesis of quantity.

Thanks for the advice and the links, epigene. I'll be sure to read through them. I had heard of people (and seen it, also) using more kanji when typing than I had seen before in books and such, and after thinking about it it seems obvious that it's just much easier to input ゆううつ and convert to 憂鬱 than it is to remember the writing of the second kanji.

 

[J44xm]

I've got one, minna-san:



What's it mean? It's from the cover of a book.

 

[Glenn]

Discussions of this issue I found on the Web:[/url]

I liked both of them, but there were some points that I disagreed on in the first one.

■ ～達、～様、～殿、～等

それぞれ「～たち」「～さま」「～どの」「～など (もしくは「～ら」)」となります。

I think that using all of these kanji is fine, although I would rather see など and ら than 等.

■ ～の様に、～という風に、～に於いて

それぞれ「～のように」「～というふうに」「～において」となります。

様 and 於いて I'd rather see in kana, but 風に I think is fine in kanji.

■ 出来る

仮名で「できる」とします。

I think when it means "can do" it should be kana, and when it means "be finished," "be accomplished," "be made," etc., it should be in kanji.

■ 複合動詞の、重要でないほうの動詞

「出て来る」「申し上げる」など、二つの動詞が結びついているのが複合動詞です。これらは重要でない後方の動詞を仮名にして「出てくる」「申しあげる」とすると読みやすくなります。

I don't have much of a problem with 申し上げる, but when くる is used like in これからは段々暖かくなってくる I think it should be written in kana, because it has lost its original meaning -- the same as いく used in this fashion. Come to think of it, くる in 出てくる is probably the same as the example I provided. Maybe I'm just used to seeing 申し上げる, and that's why that one doesn't bother me.

Of course, these are opinions of a non-native speaker, so I don't know how much they matter. In some cases, I just prefer them to stay the way I learned them. However, I do see arguments for using kana for the ones I thought could be left in kanji in at least some situations. What do our native Japanese speakers think about this?

 

[Glenn]

I've got one, minna-san:

There is no minna-san. It's either mina-san, mina, or minna.

What's it mean? It's from the cover of a book.

What is the book about? Is it a Chinese book? My best guess is some collection of photos picked from the 上戸 region or period or people. I don't really know what that one means.

 

[jesse]

Hi guys. pls help me write this line in kanji:

"Believe (verb). One big fight."

I'd really appreciate any help. thanks

 

[GaijinPunch]

:?

Uh... hard to do since it doesn't make much sense in English. Should it be "Believe in one big fight?". Is the "one" really important? What type of 'fight'? (There's actually a lot of ways to say fight in Japanese).

 

[epigene]

I've got one, minna-san:



What's it mean? It's from the cover of a book.

It means "Photo Collection of Ueto Aya," a Japanese "aidoru tarento."

 

[jesse]

:?

Uh... hard to do since it doesn't make much sense in English. Should it be "Believe in one big fight?". Is the "one" really important? What type of 'fight'? (There's actually a lot of ways to say fight in Japanese).

It's the university basketball varsity team motto. It's supposed to be two different lines, sorry. Please translate the single word "Believe" as in the verb. And separately, the kanji for "One big fight" as well. Fight in the context of a game, but more intense, more spirited. Example, Go Lakers! Fight Lakers!
The word "One" actually has a significance, because it's the last game, the championship round, so kindly retain it. But since we intend to use the motto over and over again and not just for the championship round, I didn't specify the word "Last" (as in Last one big fight). "One big fight" will do.
Help?

 

[Elizabeth]

Just goes to show you that while Google searching can be a useful tool, you always have to keep the context in mind. All of the examples I looked at, at least, seemed to be pretty obvious typos of 思い浮かべる.

Speaking of typos (and the earthquake, btw )....はでなかった looks slightly unnatural....is it OK here ?

かなり揺れましたね。
目はさめましたが、またすぐ寝ました。
東京は震度３だったようです。
死者はでなかったようですね。
Also, I'm wondering why "dake ga" is incorrect here ? With over 4 million hits on that phrase alone, it can't be wrong in every case.

９割のアメリカ人だけが地球温暖化について知っています。

９割ものアメリカ人がが自然でしょうね。

Wouldn't ９割もの emphasize the surprisingly high number of Americans aware of global warming, in contrast to the original which tried to convey that it was actually lower than expected....

 

[CorDarei]

Speaking of typos (and the earthquake, btw )....はでなかった looks slightly unnatural....is it OK here ?

かなり揺れましたね。
目はさめましたが、またすぐ寝ました。
東京は震度３だったようです。
死者はでなかったようですね。

It looks fine to me... does this look better? 死者は出なかったようですね。 I think this is a pretty common use of "deru" actually. Like これ以上ぎせいが出ないように．．．

 

[bentenmusume]

Speaking of typos (and the earthquake, btw )....はでなかった looks slightly unnatural....is it OK here ?

かなり揺れましたね。
目はさめましたが、またすぐ寝ました。
東京は震度３だったようです。
死者はでなかったようですね。

What are you finding unnatural about it? The fact that 「出なかった」 is written in hiragana here, or the phrase itself? It seems completely fine to me. You realize that 「死者が出る」 is an idiomatic way of expressing there being "casualties", right?

Also, I'm wondering why "dake ga" is incorrect here ? With over 4 million hits on that phrase alone, it can't be wrong in every case.

９割のアメリカ人だけが地球温暖化について知っています。

９割ものアメリカ人がが自然でしょうね。

Why it's incorrect? Do you mean that the first sentence is one that you came up with and a native speaker told you was unnatural? Was the second sentence the native speaker's response?

Working under that (possibly mistaken) assumption, I can say that first of all, that this sort of expression with 「だけが」 is generally not the idiomatic way to emphasize a small quantity in Japanese. You'll be much more likely to see expressions 「しか・・・ない」 (only) or 「も・・・ない」 (not even). This is where if you're going to use Google, you have to start trying whole phrases instead of just searching for 「だけが」:

「一人だけが来た」 = 2 hits
「一人しか来なかった」 = 951 hits
「一人も来なかった」 = 4,820 hits

...should give you some idea of the relative naturalness (or lack thereof) of these expressions.

Wouldn't ９割もの emphasize the surprisingly high number of Americans aware of global warming, in contrast to the original which tried to convey that it was actually lower than expected....

It would imply that it's a lot, yes. You were trying to suggest that "only" 90% of Americans knowing about global warming is a small percentage? It doesn't strike me as particularly small to me, considering that according to the 2000 Census data, "only" 80% of Americans are high school graduates, and "only" 23% or so have completed a bachelor's degree or higher. About 7.5% of American students drop out before the ninth grade.

When you consider that, 90% of the population being familiar with global warming doesn't seem all that out of whack to me, either.

These statistics, on the other hand, are extremely frightening, at least to me.

(edit: Oops, CorDarei beat me to the punch -- I guess that's what I get for rambling on so much.)

 

[Elizabeth]

What are you finding unnatural about it? The fact that 「出なかった」 is written in hiragana here, or the phrase itself? It seems completely fine to me. You realize that 「死者が出る」 is an idiomatic way of expressing there being "casualties", right?

I have seen it with 'ga,' so it must have just been an unconscious response to the change in particles. I'm thinking the 'wa' was simply a response to my asking specifically about deaths (as opposed to injuries or property damage)...even now it can sometimes be amazingly difficult for me to appreciate the difference.

Why it's incorrect? Do you mean that the first sentence is one that you came up with and a native speaker told you was unnatural? Was the second sentence the native speaker's response?

Yes, mine was corrected into the second. It was more or less a working assumption that shika...nai would make too strong a statement that more Americans *should* have heard of it . I don't think either are grammatically odd either...the context being a piece from an NHK radio show in which out of the eight people stopped for an on-the-street interview segment, only one had even ever heard of the Kyoto Protocol. I wanted to soften the implications by following it with 'although only 90% of Americans are aware of global warming....' I also wasn't confident of "shiru" here, as an offhand way of saying "have heard of" .... not that either Americans or Japanese could explain it with much detail, of course.

今日、NHKのジャーナルの街頭録音では、聞いた８人で１人だけ京都議定書のことを知っていた。ちょっとびっくりちゃった。