Need a word or phrase translated?

[GoldCoinLover]

Hi, Kevin !
I'll try separating the words in hiragana this time maybe that will help.
It's a little advanced, but always something good to keep in mind.
でも、今 や (around now) その 終わり (the end) が (ga) よう やく
(finally) 見えて (can see) きた (came out) 。。。。と思います。(I think)
Demo ima ya sono owari ga youyaku miete kita to omoimasu.

I thought dewa meant 'well', right? Hmm.

 

[GoldCoinLover]

Elizabeth,
You have brought up an interesting question: Exactly what does "fluent" mean? For example, I have a Japanese guy I work with, and his English is excellent, but he is not fluent.
When I think of "fluent," I always think of my mother (of all people....) My mother was fluent in English, yet she was not an educated woman. (She never graduated from elementary school, typical for early last century.) She could not have any type of intellectual discussion on any intellectual topic, and she never used or understood high'falutin' vocabulary like "inter-stellar space" or tri-glyceride fatty acids" (words an educated person, but not an uneducated person, would be expected to know. Anybody remember Archie Bunker and the way he frequently slaughtered big words...?) My point is, as you said, a person can be fluent without knowing any of these 64-dollar words. This is also true of some grammar forms.
This, then raises the question of what makes my Japanese co-worker non-fluent? Even though his English is excellent, he does not know vocabulary and grammar that even Archie Bunker would have been expected to know. (The phrase "would have been expected" -- what I call past-future continuous perfect -- is a good example of the grammar that I am talking about.)

Actually, even though I give elizabeth-san credit, Didn't I bring it up?

No one credits me for anythin!

 

[henpai]

Hiyas. I've been faced with yet another weird Japanese slang term, キモかわいい, and have no idea what to make of it. Does someone know what this word refers to?

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

I'll take a stab at it, but remember, it's only an educated guess.

キモ is probably from きもい, a shortened version of 気持ちが悪い which I shall loosely translate as "gross" or "sickening".
かわいい is probably the かわいい meaning cute.

So if you put them together: something that is gross, but cute all the same.

Anyone else care to take a stab at it?

 

[pipokun]

Hiyas. I've been faced with yet another weird Japanese slang term, キモかわいい, and have no idea what to make of it. Does someone know what this word refers to?

kimokawaii is someone wierd, but not to be hated for his/her sense of humor or their cute personalities.
Un-Girls, a comedian, is a typical kimokawaii example.

 

[epigene]

I just saw in a segment of a TV program about the recent diversification of "kawaii."
In addition to pipokun's post, I found an elaboration on the topic here:
http://www.alc.co.jp/eng/hontsu/ima/21.html
There's also "ero-kawaii" (sexy & cute), among others...

 

[J44xm]

Uh... 訓練する means to train.

I got the word from WWWJDIC: "訓練(P); 訓連(iK) 【くんれん】 (n,vs) practice; practise; training." I figured it might work. But, er, clearly not.

You could use 訪ねる or 訪問する. I know of a site that counts visitors like X年以来の訪問者, but that's pretty formal, I suppose. It depends on the mood you want to set.

Hmm. My site's moderately informal, I suppose, so the first two options seem appropriate.

I think this is one of those cases where you need to go for expressing the intent rather than the literal translation. I would go for something like 毎度ありがとうございます, which I believe is what they say when you leave a store.

That also sounds like a good idea. (From WWWJDIC: "毎度 【まいど] (n-adv,n-t) each time; common service-sector greeting.") ありがとう。

I think 「私は日本語を"練習する"ためにこのサイトに来まし た」 is natural.

This branches from my original question, but I had always thought that ために needed to be prefaced with の (i.e., のために) for reasons of possession (e.g., 彼のために, his sake). Was I incorrect or is this one of this omissions that natural language makes use of? ありがとう。

「また遊びに来てくださいね」 is friendly phrase. This phrase is used for a friend.

WWWJDIC defines 遊び as "playing" but an example sentence, いつでも遊びにいらっしゃい。, is translated as "Come and see me any time you like." What is this other connotation of 遊び? It seems to be a parallel for "visitation." If so, are there any other nuances I should know about?

（ぜひ）またお越しください also seems very commonly used for web sites.

Thanks for the suggestion. It sounds quite appropriate as well.
ありがとうございました、Ｇｌｅｎｎさん、ＮＡＮＧＩさん、Ｅｌｉｚａｂｅｔｈさん。

 

[Elizabeth]

This branches from my original question, but I had always thought that ために needed to be prefaced with の (i.e., のために) for reasons of possession (e.g., 彼のために, his sake). Was I incorrect or is this one of this omissions that natural language makes use of? ありがとう。

Taking ために as it is defined as 'in order to' or 'for the purpose of,' there is no omission, it is coming after a verb in this case and anyway 'for the sake of' or 'because of' makes no sense in the original translation.

 

[henpai]

Thanks a million. Looks like learning those combination adjectives will be extremely useful for making sense of Tokyo slang.

Then, back to the drawing board to figure out a variety of good translations for kimokawaii...

The first thought I got was "nasty" in some contexts, but it needs careful handling in any case. A couple nights of sleep will probably reveal more...

 

[J44xm]

Taking ために as it is defined as 'in order to' or 'for the purpose of,' there is no omission, it is coming after a verb in this case and anyway 'for the sake of' or 'because of' makes no sense in the original translation.

Ah, I see. Many thanks, as always!

 

[Damicci]

The car is too large to fit/enter the garage.
「Fit」は日本語で分かんない。
私の例文は『車はガラッジに入ることが大き過ぎますです』が、
翻訳は『車はガラッジに入ることができないくらい大きいです。』って言いました。
その例文にはなんで『くらい』を使いました。意味は何ですか？
『ぐらい』と『くらい』の意味は同じですか？でも、翻訳の例文はまだよく分かんない。

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

The car is too large to fit/enter the garage.
「Fit」は日本語で分かんない。
私の例文は『車はガラッジに入ることが大き過ぎますです』が、
翻訳は『車はガラッジに入ることができないくらい大きいです。』って言いました。
その例文にはなんで『くらい』を使いました。意味は何ですか？
『ぐらい』と『くらい』の意味は同じですか？でも、翻訳の例文はまだよく分かんない。

こういうことは昔、僕にも難しかった。
さあ、最初は自分が作った文章を簡単に分析しよう。
そのままだと、「大きい」の対象は車じゃなくて、「ガラッジに入ること」で、車の大きさはこの文章には関係ないんだよね。だから間違っているんだ。

次に、「くらい」と「ぐらい」とはまったく一緒なんだ。同じく「ころ」と「ごろ」とも言える。

意味は多少違うが、僕なら、「車が大き過ぎてガラッジに入らない」と言うかな？

日本語の勉強をがんばれ！

 

[Elizabeth]

It is a funny mistake, though, to think of the garage as being too large to not be able to enter. I couldn't be completely sure either, if you want to use gurai whether

車は大きいぐらいガラッジに入ることができない was correct so would probably end up either using

車が大き過ぎてガラッジ に入らない as Mikawa suggested or ガラッジは小さすぎて、車が入るとが出来ない （？）

Sorry if there are any stupid mistakes, I'm in too much of a hurry now...

 

[Damicci]

三川さん、Elizabethさん、こんにちは
ありがとうございました。
さて、多分二つの文を作るほうがいいと思います。
少し簡単になると思います。
たとえば『車は大きい過ぎから、ガラッジの中に立ってない。』
この文の意味は同じけど、言う方が違うね？

僕に、この文を分かれやすいと思います。なんで前文を考えませんでしたかな。。。
またありがとうございました。

そして、『ころ』と『ごろ』には、いつ『ころ』を使いますか。今まで『ころ』を作るのかずっと見ませんでした。

 

[Elizabeth]

そして、『ころ』と『ごろ』には、いつ『ころ』を使いますか。今まで『ころ』を作るのかずっと見ませんでした。

そうですね。ころという単語は一般的にはあまり聞きません。「『ころ』は「『ごろ』が普通ですね。でも、前に言った様に、前後の文とのかかわりによって違うとおもいます。

「ころ」とは長い時間の枠、時代、(小さいころ)(broader time frame, era, epoch)について話している時に使うからと思います。

どちらで読むかは場合があるかどうかわからないんですけど。

ほとんどの日本人にとっては、間違っていた「ころ」と聞こえたら、
「ごろ」として、自然に受け止めるのでしょうね。

 

[Glenn]

I got the word from WWWJDIC: "訓練(P); 訓連(iK) 【くんれん】 (n,vs) practice; practise; training." I figured it might work. But, er, clearly not.

Oh, if that's what you wanted it to mean then that's fine. It looked to me like you thought it meant "visit," though, that's why I posted what I did.

 

[Glenn]

そのままだと、「大きい」の対象は車じゃなくて、「ガラッジに入ること」で、車の大きさはこの文章には関係ないんだよね。だから間違っているんだ。

Uh, I thought that "can't enter the garage" was the scope of ぐらい here, so it would be perfectly fine. That is, "it's so large that it can't enter the garage." Since 車 is set off by は, it's marked as the theme of the sentence, and the rest of the sentence modifies 車. If we take out the adverbial phrase, we get 車は大きいです, and that certainly speaks to the size of the car.

 

[bentenmusume]

そうですね。ころという単語は一般的にはあまり聞きません。「『ころ』は「『ごろ』が普通ですね。でも、前に言った様に、前後の文とのかかわりによって違うとおもいます。
「ころ」とは長い時間の枠、時代、(小さいころ)(broader time frame, era, epoch)について話している時に使うからと思います。

Can't quite agree with the way you phrase this. I see/hear 頃（ころ) constantly, the most common usage being one that you give an example of. 小さい頃、学生の頃、アメリカにいた頃, その頃, あの頃, or what have you.

Apologies if I'm misunderstanding your point, but it sounds like you're saying that 「ころ」 is extremely rare in general.

As for pronunciation -- until I hear otherwise, I'm going to remain convinced that in the above usage, it's 「ころ」, and when attached to a time expression, it's 「ごろ」. (With some exceptions, like fixed expressions such as このごろ（この頃）)

 

[bentenmusume]

Uh, I thought that "can't enter the garage" was the scope of ぐらい here, so it would be perfectly fine. That is, "it's so large that it can't enter the garage." Since 車 is set off by は, it's marked as the theme of the sentence, and the rest of the sentence modifies 車. If we take out the adverbial phrase, we get 車は大きいです, and that certainly speaks to the size of the car.

I think he was talking about Damicci's original sentence:

私の例文は『車はガラッジに入ることが大き過ぎますです』が

For Damicci,

In case you're still confused about 「くらい」 in the example sentence, maybe you can think of it as describing _to what extent_ the car is big.

車は大きいです。 --> "The car is big."
...how big is it?
ガレージ(or 車庫, read しゃこ）に入らないくらい --> "so big that it won't fit in the garage"
Put it together and get...
車は車庫に入らないくらい大きいです。 --> The car is so big that it won't fit in the garage.
The sentence reads kind of like "textbook" Japanese, but it's worth understanding the structure, I think. You may also see 「ほど」 used in place of くらい in these sorts of expressions.
我慢できないほど痛い --> It hurts so much that I can't stand it. (or "The pain is unbearable.")

Also, from your original example... You probably know this already, but you don't want 「です」 after 「大きすぎます」... Also, the end should be 「ですが」, if indeed you mean it as "My original sentence was (...) _but_ the translation said..."

Hope this helps.

 

[Glenn]

Whoops. My bad.

ごめんなさい、おっさんさん。

 

[Elizabeth]

Can't quite agree with the way you phrase this. I see/hear 頃（ころ) constantly, the most common usage being one that you give an example of. 小さい頃、学生の頃、アメリカにいた頃, その頃, あの頃, or what have you.
Apologies if I'm misunderstanding your point, but it sounds like you're saying that 「ころ」 is extremely rare in general.
As for pronunciation -- until I hear otherwise, I'm going to remain convinced that in the above usage, it's 「ころ」, and when attached to a time expression, it's 「ごろ」. (With some exceptions, like fixed expressions such as このごろ（この頃）)

No, not extremely rare. I was trying to relate it to the exposure that Damicci would have had taking as a starting point that "koro" references a larger time span which wouldn't be as much in evidence in his everyday conversations or reading whatever as "goro" and didn't realize the opposite impression came off as strongly as it seems to have. It's hard to tell the pronunciation of course too without the hiragana, so thanks for the other examples !

 

[Damicci]

I think he was talking about Damicci's original sentence:
For Damicci,
In case you're still confused about 「くらい」 in the example sentence, maybe you can think of it as describing _to what extent_ the car is big.
車は大きいです。 --> "The car is big."
...how big is it?
ガレージ(or 車庫, read しゃこ）に入らないくらい --> "so big that it won't fit in the garage"
Put it together and get...
車は車庫に入らないくらい大きいです。 --> The car is so big that it won't fit in the garage.
The sentence reads kind of like "textbook" Japanese, but it's worth understanding the structure, I think. You may also see 「ほど」 used in place of くらい in these sorts of expressions.
我慢できないほど痛い --> It hurts so much that I can't stand it. (or "The pain is unbearable.")
Also, from your original example... You probably know this already, but you don't want 「です」 after 「大きすぎます」... Also, the end should be 「ですが」, if indeed you mean it as "My original sentence was (...) _but_ the translation said..."
Hope this helps.

So here is what my gf says.

私は練習文章を作りました。
文は「車は大きい過ぎますから、車庫に入ることができない」でした。
でも、誰かは私に「からを使ってない」と言った。なんで？
Damian says:
その人は「『が』ほうがよく使う」と言った。
里絵子 says:
「車は大きい過ぎますから、車庫に入ることができない」
里絵子 says:
より
里絵子 says:
「車は大きい過ぎるので車庫に入ることができない」
里絵子 says:
がいいと思います
Damian says:
でも、『ので』と『から』は同じ？
里絵子 says:
少し違う
Damian says:
そうっか
里絵子 says:
「車が大きい過ぎるから車庫に入ることができない」
里絵子 says:
でも良いと思います
Damian says:
でも、車の大きさは対象です。
里絵子 says:
うん
里絵子 says:
この文の場合車に対して車庫は小さい
Damian says:
そうそう
里絵子 says:
だから、車が大き過ぎて車庫に入れることが出来ません
Damian says:
そうっか
Damian says:
ありがとうBabe
里絵子 says:
わかった？
Damian says:
いいえ
Damian says:
笑
里絵子 says:
あらら

 

[J C]

引っかくような音

Hi,
I read this phrase (引っかくような音) on a Japanese news web-site. I can't find it in WWWJDIC, goo or a couple of other online dictionaries. From the context, I'm guessing it means a scratching or scraping sound or something similar. Does anyone have a idea what it means and why it wouldn't be in WWWJDIC or goo's dictionary?

Thanks,
Jonathan

 

[kumo]

Hi,
I read this phrase (引っかくような音) on a Japanese news web-site. I can't find it in WWWJDIC, goo or a couple of other online dictionaries. From the context, I'm guessing it means a scratching or scraping sound or something similar. Does anyone have a idea what it means and why it wouldn't be in WWWJDIC or goo's dictionary?
Thanks,
Jonathan

Considering 引っ掻く means "to scratch" I think you are correct in your assumption. Maybe you couldn't find it in goo because the 掻く part was in hiragana?

 

[J C]

Thanks you're right - it was the hiragana that was mucking up the online dictionaries - I tried again with the kanji and it came up as "to scratch".