Need a word or phrase translated?

[Toritoribe]

seems like ヘアアイロン is most common.

ヘアアイロン is the large category of all kind of "hair iron", including such like hair curler.

The word/picture you posted above was limited to "the iron to make hair straight/flat", so I selected the word. Or, are you simply looking for the word "hair iron" in Japanese?
数学的に言うと、ヘアアイロンが全体集合、ストレートヘアアイロンもヘアカーラーもその部分集合、という感じでしょうね。

i guess 小山さんによろしく伝えてください is better though D: ?

Right. a bit more politely, 「小山さんによろしくお伝えください。」 also can be used.

note:
小山さんによろしくと言っておきます。
I'll say hi to Mr. koyama for you.

 

[regregreg]

There's no difference in meaning, all of them mean "puppy/kiskutya".
子犬 and 小犬 are found in dictionaries but 仔犬 is sometimes used, too.
子 means child, 小 means small, 仔 means small child (also something small), so all of them make sense.

Yup, I already knew that, but in a Youtube video (still can't put links in my messages, sorry) a Japanese girl and an American guy are talking about those different "ko"s and the girl says that the kanji changes the meaning a little bit. So I've been trying to figure out how is that possible. How can a 小犬 be different from 子犬 for example. I came up with the explanation that 小犬 is a puppy that is small and 子犬 is a puppy that's otherwise is quite big for a "baby dog". I know this is silly but I couldn't come up with anything better. (^^

 

[undrentide]

Yup, I already knew that, but in a Youtube video (still can't put links in my messages, sorry) a Japanese girl and an American guy are talking about those different "ko"s and the girl says that the kanji changes the meaning a little bit. So I've been trying to figure out how is that possible. How can a 小犬 be different from 子犬 for example. I came up with the explanation that 小犬 is a puppy that is small and 子犬 is a puppy that's otherwise is quite big for a "baby dog". I know this is silly but I couldn't come up with anything better. (^^

Of course each kanji has different meaning as already explained, but in this case you should not "read too much".
こいぬ means a dog which is not grown up yet.
If you use 子 for こ, then you can see the dog is still a child, not adult.
If you use 小 for こ, it means small dog, and a dog which is not fully grown is definitely smaller than the adult one.

But it does not change the meaning of the whole word こいぬ.
子犬 and 小犬 do not make any difference, it just means puppy.
Even if you use 小犬, it does NOT mean it is smaller type of puppy compared with 子犬.

 

[regregreg]

Of course each kanji has different meaning as already explained, but in this case you should not "read too much".
こいぬ means a dog which is not grown up yet.
If you use 子 for こ, then you can see the dog is still a child, not adult.
If you use 小 for こ, it means small dog, and a dog which is not fully grown is definitely smaller than the adult one.
But it does not change the meaning of the whole word こいぬ.
子犬 and 小犬 do not make any difference, it just means puppy.
Even if you use 小犬, it does NOT mean it is smaller type of puppy compared with 子犬.

Well, she said it changes the word, not me. But I guess, she doesn't know her own language then.
Anyway, thanks for the answer.

 

[82riceballs]

皆さん、こんにちは。

以上の文は意味をなしますか。間違いがあれば正解の書き方を教えてくれてください。
(Hope that makes sense ^^)

まず、両親のことを話します。お父さん(or 父ーちち？）は平日にいつも慌しい。働きすぎてクタクタのでいったん家へ帰る後、夕食を食べてから、速く寝ます。休みのときはほとんどないに等しいで残念です。でも週末のお父さんは全く違う人になります。もう眠くなくて疲れていません。気が晴れて、子供と遊びます。じゃ、お母さんを紹介します。お母さんは柔らかくて優しい人です。美人じゃありませんが、頭がすごくいいです。たいてい目まぐるしいから、ちょっぴりしつこいで、時々細かいことに悩みますけどお母さんはずっとめでたいです。

First I will talk about my parents. My father is always busy/flurried on weekdays. Because he works too much, he is exhausted, and once he returns home, after eating dinner, he goes to bed. It is a pity that he basically has no time to rest. However, my dad on the weekend is a completely different person. He is no longer sleepy and tired. He becomes refreshed and plays with his children. Now, I will introduce my mother. My mother is a gentle and kind person. Though she is not a beauty, she is terribly smart. Because she is often hectic, she is nagging and sometimes worries about trifling things, but my mother is always happy.

I think some of the ideas probably don't make sense, but that's okay. As long as my terrible Japanese is corrected.

Thanks!

 

[Charles Barkley]

以上 means above, but your passage was 'below.' Below is 以下. Also 意味をなす or whatever it is you wrote, I don't think quite works. I think a 大丈夫、 正しい, OK, or 分かる would work much better...I will let someone better than me offer some natural sentences, but here are a few comments:

-use 父 （ちち）
-ittan is quite a difficult construction, I would say avoid it for now--just using てから or たあと would suffice
-別人みたい or 別人のよう would be useful
ーやさしい instead of 柔らかい--the latter is physical softness, pliability

A general recommendation--avoid looking up English words in a EJ dictionary and using translations, as you come across a lot of obscure words or words that seem out of context. Be as concise as possible using words you already know. If you know how to say someone is nice, don't bother finding another synonym because you are tired of using the word nice--just figure out something else that's interesting to say. I found once I stopped trying to increase my vocabulary like that, my japanese became more natural...

 

[Jericho Desu]

How can I say,"I would like the big Magro Teriyaki please". I say 'big' because there are two sushi sizes, one pack with 4 rolls or one with 8 rolls. I'm always going to Japan Centre and even though I don't want to look like an idiot who thinks he knows Japanese, I'd like to know what I would usually expect to say if I was in Japan.
Thanks

 

[undrentide]

How can I say,"I would like the big Magro Teriyaki please". I say 'big' because there are two sushi sizes, one pack with 4 rolls or one with 8 rolls. I'm always going to Japan Centre and even though I don't want to look like an idiot who thinks he knows Japanese, I'd like to know what I would usually expect to say if I was in Japan.
Thanks

I would say マグロの照焼きの大きいほうをください／大きいのをお願いします。
(maguro no teriyaki no ookii hou wo kudasai / ookii no wo onegai shimasu.)
方 and の can be used as "one" when there are two choices, like "big one".
Alternatively 八個入りをください／お願いします。 (hakko iri wo kudasai/onegai shimasu.)
～入り means something containing ～.
八個入り here means the package containing 8 pieces of sushi.
.

 

[Jericho Desu]

I would say マグロの照焼きの大きいほうをください／大きいのをお願いします。
(maguro no teriyaki no ookii hou wo kudasai / ookii no wo onegai shimasu.)
方 and の can be used as "one" when there are two choices, like "big one".
Alternatively 八個入りをください／お願いします。 (hakko iri wo kudasai/onegai shimasu.)
～入り means something containing ～.
八個入り here means the package containing 8 pieces of sushi.

Cool, thanks for your help

 

[frankiec]

Sorry, wrong post. See below, thanks.

 

[frankiec]

A newbie needs help.........

Could someone help me say wonderful life or delicious life? I wanted to use a short phrase to describe life using something similar to umami. I had also considered the word "world" but could not find it translated to romaji. I forgot to mention that I want to use romaji to spell it. I looked at jinsei for life, daichi for earth and yokei for blessings. This is for a blog I am writing that includes food, travel and all things that I love about being alive. I thought of using "umami san" but I was not sure if it was correct usage and not sure if it was actually what I wanted. Sorry for the long request but all the online translators were confusing. I finally found this site. Thanks in advance! :

 

[undrentide]

Could someone help me say wonderful life or delicious life? I wanted to use a short phrase to describe life using something similar to umami. I had also considered the word "world" but could not find it translated to romaji. I forgot to mention that I want to use romaji to spell it. I looked at jinsei for life, daichi for earth and yokei for blessings. This is for a blog I am writing that includes food, travel and all things that I love about being alive. I thought of using "umami san" but I was not sure if it was correct usage and not sure if it was actually what I wanted. Sorry for the long request but all the online translators were confusing. I finally found this site. Thanks in advance! :

How about "oishii seikatsu" or "oishii kurashi"? It literally means "delicious life".

"Jinsei" also means "life" but connotation is different, "seikatsu" and "kurashi" refer to everyday life while "jinsei" is more like your whole life from birth to death.
There are several words which is pronounced "yokei", but the one which means "(unexpected) blessing" is not a commonly used word, what comes to people's mind when they hear "yokei" is "excess (with rather a negative connotation)".
"umai" indeed means "delicious" but when it is made into noun "umami", it refers to one of the taste elements (glutamin / other elements are sweetness, hot (aigre), bitter, salty, etc.)

 

[Toritoribe]

Could someone help me say wonderful life or delicious life? I wanted to use a short phrase to describe life using something similar to umami.

美味しい生活(oishii seikatsu) or 美味しい暮らし(oishii kurashi)
"umami" sounds just a little bit rough/manly than "oishii".

world: 世界(sekai), ワールド(wârudo)
blessings: 恵み(megumi), 祝福(shukuhuku)
blessings from earth: 大地の恵み(daichi no megumi)

hope this helpful

失礼。undrentideさん。見事に同じ答え

EDIT:
Oh, I misread "umami" as "umai". "umami" is, as undrentide explained, a kind of nominalization of the adjective "umai", and its meaning is slightly changed.
What I wanted to say is "umai sounds just a little bit rough/manly than oishii". sorry.

 

[Elizabeth]

alrighty then here goes, don't laugh!
池の中に咲いている蓮の花は、みんな玉のように真っ白で、その真ん中
にある金色の部分からは、不思議なよいにおいが 花のまわりにあふれています。
The blooming lotus flowers on the pond, like bright jewels, from the golden colour part in the middle, a miraculous smell surrounded them.
...kinda thing XD

All the blooming lotus flowers in the pond...
Like pure white jewels...
あふれています is a less than descriptive choice of words. Try thinking instead of 漂う. ...from their golden middle, a wonderfully mysterious scent drifted across the surrounding flowers.


The Japanese may be awkwardly constructed and easy to lose stuff in...so hope this helps bring it around for you !

 

[Elizabeth]

A general recommendation--avoid looking up English words in a EJ dictionary and using translations, as you come across a lot of obscure words or words that seem out of context. Be as concise as possible using words you already know. If you know how to say someone is nice, don't bother finding another synonym because you are tired of using the word nice--just figure out something else that's interesting to say. I found once I stopped trying to increase my vocabulary like that, my japanese became more natural...

私は Charles Barkley さんの意見に同意しています。
出来ないことはしないようにね。。。


それが簡単であるなら、分かり易いですね。

 

[frankiec]

Thank you so much! I realize that it is difficult to do what I am trying and I appreciate you taking the time to answer my "not so serious" language question. I obviously do not speak Japanese but want to benefit from its pleasant ways and sounds.

 

[Buckaroo Banzai]

I'd like to point out in reference to an earlier post that 意味をなす（成す） actually does make sense and it means...'to make sense.' Look it up, it's there. I'll check my kojien and see if it has a reference to it.

Also I will have to disagree slightly with Charles Barkley. I think that learning synonyms is absolutely necessary in order to advance your ability in that language but take it slow though because you will get confused. However there are many words in a JE dictionary that are not provided with context, this is true. Of course if you know anything about kanji you can usu. understand fairly well what context is meant. But you can only learn so much on your own. At a certain point you had better take classes at a university or study under someone like with private lessons. Otherwise, unless you go to Japan, you will never have someone to ask about connotations and proper usage.

Some dictionaries give you the connotations and various meanings of a word, like 'momu' which means to kneed or give a massage, but it also means to debate something thoroughly. There is no reason why you should have confused yawarakai and yasashii, absolutely none. Unless you just looked it up in a simple EJ-JE dictionary that gave you 'soft' without any indication of what sense of soft it meant. Try Kodansha. They give example sentences and word connotations. And you can trust them, they're Japanese. Also, when you can read enough, get Kojien and look everything up there.

 

[Elizabeth]

I'd like to point out in reference to an earlier post that 意味をなす（成す） actually does make sense and it means...'to make sense.' Look it up, it's there. I'll check my kojien and see if it has a reference to it.

「意味をなす」は普段使わないですね。 「正しい, 分かる ....」です。」「正しい, 分かる ....」が一般的ですが「意味をなす」を使うときもありますね。

This seems to me at least what Charles was saying with bit of advice tied into the dictionary comment.

 

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Yes, it is true, it is not commonly used. In fact I've never heard it used. However, it does appear in Kodansha's dictionary.

 

[Toritoribe]

否定形の「意味を成さない」という形のほうがよく使われるでしょうね。「君のその質問は意味を成さない」とか、相手と討論してるとき言いそうなセリフですね

 

[Elizabeth]

否定形の「意味を成さない」という形のほうがよく使われるでしょうね。「君のその質問は意味を成さない」とか、相手と討論してるとき言いそうなセリフですね

そうですね。英語でも、「Doesn't make sense」も同じく「Too incomprehensible, impossible to understand」という状況・意味で使えます。でも。。。

日本語では、Grammar/sentence check Does this make sense ? みたいな状況・意味で使う場合は同じような感じがあまりないでしょうね。。。。といいたかったんだけですよね。。

つまり、英語だと、状況やによって「Does this make sense ?」と「Do you understand」が分かれるという言い方は聞いたことがないですね。

 

[Charles Barkley]

Yes, it is true, it is not commonly used. In fact I've never heard it used. However, it does appear in Kodansha's dictionary.

As you point out, that phrase is not commonly used, and it also souds unnatural in this context. I think particularly for people who arent in Japan and arent advanced enough to use a J-J dictionary or yahoo.co.jp searches to test how natural/common a word is, that J-E dictionaries (which is what I am guessing the OP was using) will often be more trouble than they're worth. My advice to the OP was simply to avoid trying to use more difficult synonyms when simple words already suffice (and probably will come off sounding more natural from a less advanced learner who won't be aware of context as much).

 

[Toritoribe]

そうですね。英語でも、「Doesn't make sense」も同じく「Too incomprehensible, impossible to understand」という状況・意味で使えます。でも。。。

日本語では、Grammar/sentence check Does this make sense ? みたいな状況・意味で使う場合は同じような感じがあまりないでしょうね。。。。といいたかったんだけですよね。。

つまり、英語だと、状況やによって「Does this make sense ?」と「Do you understand」が分かれるという言い方は聞いたことがないですね。

なるほど。82riceballsさんのポストに戻れば、 その通りですね。
Charles Barkleyさんも言っているように、 「この言い方は正しいですか？」「この文章で意味は通じますか？」と言うほうが一般的で、「意味を成す」と言う言い方を "Does this make sense ?" の文脈では使わないでしょうね。

 

[Elizabeth]

なるほど。82riceballsさんのポストに戻れば、 その通りですね。
Charles Barkleyさんも言っているように、 「この言い方は正しいですか？」「この文章で意味は通じますか？」と言うほうが一般的で、「意味を成す」と言う言い方を "Does this make sense ?" の文脈では使わないでしょうね。

そのときによって使い方は、変わりますが、日本語を直してもらうという状況では、一般的に「意味がよくわからない」と言うのは、文章自体の意味がわからないときに、よく使われますね。一方、「意味を成さない」は、文章や会話自体は文法的に正しいけどその人の考え、論理的や目的がわからないときに、よく使えるかな。。。


要するに、「意味が、わからない、意味を成さない」。。。って 日本語に関して言ってるんでしょうか、、それとも話の内容によって？どちらにしろ、あいまいな文ですね。

 

[yevgeny]

Original phrase:
(He) speaks English as well as Russian. //Meaning, "(His) English is as good as Russian."

Is my translation correct:
英語はロシア語と同じよく話します。

Maybe in this case 上手に is better than よく because of the ambiguity of よく, which means also "often".