Various questions

Cyath · 20 May 2016

Hi all, I have been studying Japanese for some time now (over 10 years) but I occasionally still run into questions that I need answered, or things that I can phrase much better.

1. If 出会わなければ means "if I hadn't met" then by extension 見なければ、should be "If I didn't see" and しなければ "if I didn't do?" right? (I'm just adding the I to make the sentence clearer, I know Japanese has no subject most of the time.)

2. じゃ、それではかれに休むをとるほうがいいだと思います。 (Well, in that case I think he had better get some rest) Is there a better way to phrase this?

３．What is a good way to express "frames of references?" I used 基準点 or maybe 理解の共通点 but those feel a bit clumsy to be TBH.

Majestic · 20 May 2016

1. Yes, you have the idea.
2. 彼は休みをとったほうがいいと思います。
じゃー is already a contraction of では so the phrase じゃー、それでは is a bit redundant, although it might occur in casual speech. If you were writing this out I would drop it altogether, but I don't know the exact context. The end result will depend on the context of the conversation.
休み is the noun form of 休む, which you need if you are saying "he should take a rest/break/holiday".
ったほうがいい is a set phrase. You don't need the だ in there.
3. 視点 or 観点 Might be different depending on the context.

Cyath · 25 May 2016

Thanks for the help. May I know why you use "wa" instead of "ni" in the above?

ゆっくり休むといい。君は決して身勝手な、無責任なことは一世をすることがしんかった。それは単なる過去の亡霊、古傷の残像にすぎん。忘れるな。。。光はすでに我らにある。そして、俺の愛も。

(it's ok to rest slowly. you have never done anything selfish or irresponsible in your life. those are no more than the ghosts of the past, the afterimages of old wounds. don't forget...the light is already with us. as is my love.)

also, is the translation of the above more or less accurate?

A general question I would have is that because I more or less learned Japanese by immersion and osmosis, my knowledge of the particles is rather sketchy in some areas. Is there a resource somewhere that I could get more in-depth information on them? I've Googled of course but I've also found that asking on message boards often yields better information from more knowledgeable sources.

Toritoribe · 25 May 2016

Cyath said:
May I know why you use "wa" instead of "ni" in the above?

彼 is the subject of （休みを）取る, not the target or something, that's why に can't be used there. は is the topicalized version of が in that sentence.

Cyath said:
ゆっくり休むといい。君は決して身勝手な、無責任なことは一世をすることがしんかった。それは単なる過去の亡霊、古傷の残像にすぎん。忘れるな。。。光はすでに我らにある。そして、俺の愛も。

(it's ok to rest slowly. you have never done anything selfish or irresponsible in your life. those are no more than the ghosts of the past, the afterimages of old wounds. don't forget...the light is already with us. as is my love.)

also, is the translation of the above more or less accurate?

しんかった is ungrammatical.
You mistranslated 一世.
"Your life" is not the object of "to have never done".

Cyath said:
A general question I would have is that because I more or less learned Japanese by immersion and osmosis, my knowledge of the particles is rather sketchy in some areas. Is there a resource somewhere that I could get more in-depth information on them? I've Googled of course but I've also found that asking on message boards often yields better information from more knowledgeable sources.

Japanese particles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Japanese grammar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mike Cash · 25 May 2016

I totally understand that 10 years into this the absolute last thing you want to hear is "Get a beginners' textbook and start from Chapter 1", but in all sincerity and without meaning to be insulting that is what I would recommend. You would probably be able to race through it much faster than an actual beginner, but your grasp of grammar is such that I think you would really benefit from going back to square one and going through filling in gaps in your knowledge and correcting things which osmosis have left you with a mistaken or inadequate grasp of.

Cyath · 26 May 2016

Mike Cash said:
I totally understand that 10 years into this the absolute last thing you want to hear is "Get a beginners' textbook and start from Chapter 1", but in all sincerity and without meaning to be insulting that is what I would recommend. You would probably be able to race through it much faster than an actual beginner, but your grasp of grammar is such that I think you would really benefit from going back to square one and going through filling in gaps in your knowledge and correcting things which osmosis have left you with a mistaken or inadequate grasp of.

More like 18 years actually, but...yes, you may be right. I sort of learnt it on an ad hoc basis and as such my grasp of grammar isn't as good as I would like to be.

What book might you recommend? Wikipedia is a good resource but not as thorough as many.

Another random question : what is the best way to say "if only" in Japanese? "のみの場合？"

Toritoribe · 26 May 2016

Genki and みんなの日本語 are often recommended in this forum.

Cyath said:
what is the best way to say "if only" in Japanese? "のみの場合？"

It totally depends on the context.

Mike Cash · 26 May 2016

Cyath said:
what is the best way to say "if only" in Japanese? "のみの場合？"

That would be "only if".

Cyath · 27 May 2016

How about "if only you were here?" 君さえここにいれば？
If only you knew? あなたさえ知っていれば？

Toritoribe · 28 May 2016

あなたがここにいてくれさえすればいいのに
あなたが知っていてくれさえすればいいのに

How about the revision of 君は決して身勝手な、無責任なことは一世をすることがしんかった。? You don't need to know the correct translation?

Various questions

Cyath

後輩

Majestic

先輩

Cyath

後輩

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Cyath

後輩

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Cyath

後輩

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

Similar threads