Need a word or phrase translated?

[Elizabeth]

I would translate
"I want to stay in Canada for as long as I can."
出来るだけ長くカナダに滞在したく思っています。

Maybe したいと思います is more common. But either way isn't this closer to
I want my stay (short-term?) to be as long as possible ?

And で過ごす literally I want to be there (passing/spending time) as much as possible used a lot for vacations and weekends and stuff.
If this is like an extended period in Canada, "ni itai" or "ni sumitai" are clearer I think.

 

[Elizabeth]

その本以外にもたくさんの作品を発表しています。

This is a sentence I received in a conversation about the writer 倉橋由美子 which is clear enough except for happyou shite imasu. Meaning other works are being written, being planned, have already been issued ? (this one was 1985) Or is it something I'm totally misreading.... :emoji_flushed:

 

[PaulTB]

その本以外にもたくさんの作品を発表しています。

This is a sentence I received in a conversation about the writer 倉橋由美子 which is clear enough except for happyou shite imasu. Meaning other works are being written, being planned, have already been issued ? (this one was 1985) Or is it something I'm totally misreading....

"She has many other works published apart from that book."

It's quite clear if you check the Examples search function in WWWJDIC for を発表

 

[Elizabeth]

"She has many other works published apart from that book."

It's quite clear if you check the Examples search function in WWWJDIC for を発表

Thanks, Paul ! I didn't have a chance just then to look through the examples, but it's a really convenient usage to know. .

 

[Elizabeth]

ご自宅へ返送したのですが、先方が「受取拒否をした」との連絡を受けました。]

Does all this mean basically is that the mail was returned to sender as
undeliverable ? ☝

あて先が私の住所でない場合に、「受取拒否」を使いますか？

 

[J44xm]

ジョナサンの日本語は正しいと思いますよ。
でも、分からない時もあります。私も英語を勉強したいと思います。ジョナサンも日本語を勉強してくださいね！

Looking at the blue text (demo, wakaranai toki mo arimasu) -- the other text is for context -- am I being told that the speaker doesn't understand parts of my Japanese?

Also:

病気すごくひどかったんですね！でも少し良くなったみたいで安心です。
試験は、できなくて残念です。次はがんばってくださいね！
ウェブサイト見ましたよ！すごいですね。分かりやすかったです。

(From Aaaa: "byôki sugo kuhidokattan desu ne! demo sukoshi yoku natta mitai de anshin desu.
shiken wa, deki nakute zannen desu. tsugi wa ganbatte kudasai ne!
webusaito mimashita yo! sugoi desu ne. wakari yasukatta desu." It's a bit off, as usual, and I'm having trouble understanding what's being said. Are there any similar kanji/kana-to-rômaji services?)

I understand everything once the website is mentioned, but I hope I might get help with the preceding text. Thanks! (39!) ^_^

 

[Shas]

well this might not exactly fit in here but im looking for a japanese (nick)name that fits for somebody who is really tall ... i would be very glad if you could write it in western letters (werent they called romaji?), japanese letters and translation

that would be great! im curious

 

[Elizabeth]

ジョナサンの日本語は正しいと思いますよ。
でも、分からない時もあります。私も英語を勉強したいと思います。ジョナサンも日本語を勉強してくださいね！

Looking at the blue text (demo, wakaranai toki mo arimasu) -- the other text is for context -- am I being told that the speaker doesn't understand parts of my Japanese?

Also でも、分からない時もあります。 just means 'but there are some places I don't understand,' not that they didn't understand at all. It's hard to say if they are using this as an excuse to study English or genuinely couldn't get it or what. You can always clear a response here first for a 100% guarantee :--)

Yes, sorry I don't have time to look over the rest now. :sorry:

 

[wakarimasen]

Hi again J44xm,

I'm gonna take a crack at this translation. I think Aaaa is a really cool service (I owe a great debt to its creators!!) However, it seems like it made a few mistakes in splitting the words in your text. Specifically, it appears to have messed up on the i-adjective endings.

病気すごくひどかったんですね！
byouki sugoku hidokatta n desu ne!
(Your) illness was terribly serious, wasn't it?
As an aside, I think this one is missing a は or が after 病気. "Sugoku" is an adverbial form of "sugoi" and "hidokatta" is the past-tense of "hidoi."

でも少し良くなったみたいで安心です。
demo sukoshi yoku natta mitai de anshin desu.
But, I'm relieved that it seems to have improved a bit.
This is my best guess, and I'm not confident that it's right. FYI, "yoku" is the adverbial form of "yoi/ii" (good) and "natta" is the past-tense of "naru" (to become). So, 良くなった is "became good."

試験は、できなくて残念です。
shiken wa dekinakute zannen desu.
It's too bad that you aren't/won't be able to do the test.
This is again a best guess, since I'm not entirely clear on what happens with stuff after ～て verb forms such as the できなくて in this sentence. Edit: I originally had this as "weren't able" but realized that there is nothing past-tense about this sentence...

次はがんばってくださいね！
tsugi wa ganbatte kudasai ne!
Please do your best next time.

Please correct me, all....
HTH,
Justin

 

[Glenn]

病気すごくひどかったんですね！
byouki sugoku hidokatta n desu ne!
(Your) illness was terribly serious, wasn't it?
As an aside, I think this one is missing a は or が after 病気. "Sugoku" is an adverbial form of "sugoi" and "hidokatta" is the past-tense of "hidoi."

Right.

でも少し良くなったみたいで安心です。
demo sukoshi yoku natta mitai de anshin desu.
But, I'm relieved that it seems to have improved a bit.
This is my best guess, and I'm not confident that it's right. FYI, "yoku" is the adverbial form of "yoi/ii" (good) and "natta" is the past-tense of "naru" (to become). So, 良くなった is "became good."

Mostly right, except that よくなる is "get better." I don't really understand it, but I've always seen it translated as "get better" in texts and such.

試験は、できなくて残念です。
shiken wa dekinakute zannen desu.
It's too bad that you aren't/won't be able to do the test.
This is again a best guess, since I'm not entirely clear on what happens with stuff after ～て verb forms such as the できなくて in this sentence. Edit: I originally had this as "weren't able" but realized that there is nothing past-tense about this sentence...

The past tense form is right. It's in reference to his not doing well on the test that they had previously talked about. The zannen desu shows a state, so I don't think it really shows the action tense of the preceding clause. This is one of those context things that Japanese is famous for. If it weren't for the context, your translations would be mostly right, except I get the feeling that they assume too much.

次はがんばってくださいね！
tsugi wa ganbatte kudasai ne!
Please do your best next time.

Good enough. This is one of those difficult ones that everyone understands but no one really knows how to translate all that well. It's mostly on a case-by-case basis, and can be hard to find an English phrase that is natural and stays true to the meaning of the original.

Your Japanese is coming along really well, wakarimasen. Well, either that or you were lying about having "limited knowledge."

 

[J44xm]

For Elizabeth, Justin, and Glenn: Many thanks! My study of grammar and verbs has been slowed by illness and school, but I can see that I'll be much more keen once I really hit the books again.

試験は、できなくて残念です。
shiken wa dekinakute zannen desu.

I note that WWWJDIC says that can also mean "to be ready," so might this best be translated "As for the test, it's unfortunate that you weren't ready" since I'd mentioned to her that I took the test and ... well, wasn't ready? ^_^

Also, what is difficult about 次はがんばってくださいね！ (tsugi wa ganbatte kudasai ne!)? Isn't it a pretty clear sentence? ("As for next time, do your best"?) Am I missing something?

I suppose 分かりやすかったです (wakari yasukatta desu) is a bit more confusing than I thought. I can't ascertain the jisho (dictionary) form of yasukatta.

Again, thanks!

 

[moofs]

I suppose 分かりやすかったです (wakari yasukatta desu) is a bit more confusing than I thought. I can't ascertain the jisho (dictionary) form of yasukatta.

Again, thanks!

I can help on this one... ^^

やすかった is the past tense form of やすい。When you combine yasui with い-stem form of the verb, it becomes "easy to do something". So, in your example, 分かり易かった, means "easy to understand".

In this sentence: ウェブサイト見ましたよ！すごいですね。分かりやすかったです。
It means: "I saw your website! It's amazing. It was easy to understand."

Note: you can say "hard to do something" by replacing やすい with 難い(nikui).
Eg, 時々漢字は読み難いです。(tokidoki, kanji wa yominikui desu) which means "Kanji are hard to read sometimes." I think you can use え-stem of the verb too. So if I were to use 読め難い instead, it would become "Kanji can be hard to read sometimes." I think...

 

[wakarimasen]

Your Japanese is coming along really well, wakarimasen. Well, either that or you were lying about having "limited knowledge."

どうもありがとう Glenn
No, I really have been studying Japanese for only four months or so. I guess it's just that I'm a certain kind of person where, when I focus on something, I really have to learn everything about it as fast as I can. I'd estimate that I spend more than 4 hours a day studying Japanese or doing something otherwise Japanese-related. Between Pimsleur, an ever-growing set of wonderful books and (probably most important of all) ye olde Internet, I guess I have picked up quite a bit in a short time.

(Now, don't get the idea that I didn't have my dictionary out when translating J44xm's sentences Even if I know the words, Kanji is still mostly an impenetrable barrier for me...)

I'm also having a lot of fun e-mailing with a Japanese pen pal. Unfortunately, I think she's too shy to correct my Japanese when I write to her. I guess correcting others must be a very touchy subject for the Japanese; I think I hurt her feelings once while trying to help her with her English. :/

In any case, thanks to you and everyone else here who have helped me and provided great opportunities for practice.

Also, what is difficult about 次はがんばってくださいね！ (tsugi wa ganbatte kudasai ne!)? Isn't it a pretty clear sentence? ("As for next time, do your best"?) Am I missing something?

I guess it's probably that がんばって is used idiomatically and doesn't have a good direct match in English. WWWJDIC's examples page for 頑張る shows it translated at least 20 different ways...

I suppose 分かりやすかったです (wakari yasukatta desu) is a bit more confusing than I thought. I can't ascertain the jisho (dictionary) form of yasukatta.

The root of "yasukatta" can be found in the dictionary as "yasui" (安い). Since 安い means "cheap," which didn't seem to fit in this context, I searched a little more and found 分かりやすい as a single compound word meaning "easy to understand!"

Here's a page that provides a good reference for i-adjective endings. It's kind of confusing to look at, but just ignore everything except for the rightmost column ("Adjectives") under Terminal Endings. This helped me learn to recognize i-adjective inflections and also to inflect them myself... For example with your 分かりやすかった, that page shows that ～かった is the past-tense form. If you strip off the ～かった and add the present ～い, you can look it up in WWWJDIC, or wherever you please.

Justin

 

[rajs20]

Hi,

I noticed in a lot of anime they say "chotto matte te" or something. What's the extra "te" there at the end?

Thanks,
Raj

 

[moofs]

Hi,

I noticed in a lot of anime they say "chotto matte te" or something. What's the extra "te" there at the end?

Thanks,
Raj

I've always thought of it as the te-form of the te-form, haha.

Since te-form can have ru at the end like 待てる, so you just change that te-form to te-form again! 待てて！ Not sure if that's correct, but it just seems logical. It would probably be an imperative form too. Like using the え-stem (except for verbs with る) of verb to command people (eg. 死ね！Die!)

Or... this may be farfetched but in some languages you'd double the word to make it sound "cute" or to make it baby talk. Like in Chinese, if you say "Che che" (che meaning car) is how you would say 'car' to a baby(when they're playing with car toys or something...).

 

[Buntaro]

rajs20,

That -te may be Japanese quotation marks:

"Ikanai te."

--> He said that he is not going to go.

 

[Elizabeth]

rajs20,

That -te may be Japanese quotation marks:

"Ikanai te."

--> He said that he is not going to go.

In this case though it is just short for "matte ite kudasai" or "Please continue waiting here."

 

[rajs20]

Cool, thanks a lot! I always wondered about that

 

[Exidez]

im not quite sure how to say this:
"In a way of saying thanks for looking after me while in japan, i have bought many Australian gifts of which i hope you like."

something around the lines of that... it doesnt have to be exact. i know most of the words i want to use but have not idea how put put the together...

 

[Bekkichan]

I've got a couple random questions that should probably be easy to translate, but I get the feeling there are far more natural ways to express them than the ones I've been able to think of... so I'd love some opinions.

1. (asked to a group) Do you have nicknames for each other?
(my guess: お互いにあだ名を付けていますか？ :?)

2. Doesn't your hair suffer damage from being colored too much?
(my guess: 髪の毛は毛染めで傷めてありませんか？ REALLY not sure about this one... don't know the best verbs to use for 'damage' or for for using/applying hair dye, and left out the 'too much' part...)

よろしくお願いします m(_ _)m

 

[Buntaro]

Bekkichan,

The word for nickname is the English word nikkuneimu.

 

[Elizabeth]

Bekkichan,

The word for nickname is the English word nikkuneimu.

Depending on the case, I think tsuushou may be better...adana may have a negative or slighting undertone (used by kids especially).

 

[Miki-san]

Need help with these terms:


1. おもまくまま

doing a search on this didn't help

2. 王様の耳はオコノミミ

this is a manga title and I was not sure what okonomimi referred to


thanks
Miki-san

 

[Kennin]

Little, strange question...
I practice martial arts (Bujinkan) and it is said that the latter Takamatsu Sensei, the previous grandmaster, had writen a quote from Dante's "Divina Comedia" above the door to his dōjō.
This would have been: "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here".
Now my question, I suppose the Divina Comedia is translated in Japanese and the quote should be known or at least one should be able to find it.
So, my question: can anybody help me out here?
I'd like to have this in Japanese:

"Abandon hope, all ye who enter here" - divine comedy

Thank you very much anyhow!

 

[kuritiusu]

How do you translate this:

お後は次のお楽しみ

I still don't understand the exact meaning of お楽しみ(に).