@TheTrueBlue
Take a look at this typical Japanese keyboard:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/...le1_28.jpg

If you follow the keys of く, い, り, り, ら, ...., い, and you get, "hello this is me."

The Japanese letters on those keys are used to type more efficiently than the usual romanized input. Technically you're typing a consonant+vowel set in one shot, so it's supposed to be faster.

Edit: hehe I'm the fastest!

I assume it's direct kana input where each key is a different kana (H = ク, E = イ, L = リ, I = ニ, etc.).　Someone just typed 'hello this is me' (or used on of those kana fonts) and that's what came out.

Edit; ah, beaten to it.

On JP keyboards when you input kana you have two methods - romaji input where you type konnitiha for こんにちは or kana input. The individual keys have kana written on them as well so you can put in kana with just one keystroke.

Through the typical jp keyboard layout, typing helloitisme produces くいりりらにかにともい.

EDIT: you jerks beat me to it in the 5 minutes it took me to write this.

The fates conspired to poke the eyeballs of helpful forum-goers here at 2:30 GMT-6.

ありがとうございました

@sennahoj
どうかしてる basically means "something is wrong" and is often said in situations where you're surprised by an unusual behavior and say, "What's wrong with you," "I don't get it," etc. You can also use it when something is broken and is behaving strangely.

If you want an utterly useless, non-practical explanation, here it is:

It is a spoken form of どうかしている. As you probably already know, どう is similar to an interrogative "how" in English. It is implying here that the speaker doesn't know how this could happen or what's going on, I think. Also, している is often said it's the equivalent of the progressive form "-ing" in English. As usual, the subject of the sentence is left out because it's obvious from context.

So, it means that (Omitted Subject) is in the state of making you think "How could this happen?, What's going on?!, I don't get it! etc."

Note that this explanation is as stupid as this explanation of "What's going on?":

"What's" is a contraction of "what is." "Is going" is the progressive tense so it means something is in the state of "go." Finally, "on" is a word that is often used when you mean "continuing." Oh, "what" is a word to ask a question when you don't understand something. The "something" referred to by "what" should be a noun. So it means "There exists a continuing thing that I do not understand."

As for 秋葉原通り魔事件, the word 通り魔 (とおりま) means a random attacker as in a person who attacks passengers indiscriminately in the street. I don't know how anyone can translate a word without context, but I might translate it as "the Akihabara rampage" or something similar.

albion Wrote:「アシュレイのよき理解者。」

From just looking at it, I can guess that 理解者 would be something like 「自分のことを（よく）理解してくれる人」? But is it read りかいしゃ or りかいもの? My instinct was りかいしゃ, and Googling it seems to bring that one up more, but I just wanted to check.

Edit; While I'm at it:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/rnoj/chara...ayoko.html

記憶を研究する優秀な科学者で黒い瞳と強い意志を持った女性だった。

Is there some significance to mentioning 黒い瞳 like that, with 強い意志?

Edit; And again:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/rnoj/system/search.html

室内では画面左右に矢印が表示され
アシュレイの視点を方向転換できます。

Is 左右 most commonly さゆう (which I what I've been assuming) or ひだりみぎ?

The reading of 理解者 is りかいしゃ.

黒い瞳 is often used to describe a person's appearance, especially in novels. Eyes with a lighter color can be seen by the Japanese as mysterious, exotic, etc., and sometimes darker eyes imply the person is down to earth.

左右 is さゆう, and 右左 is みぎひだり. Usually a compound of two Japanese words (wago) follows these rules:

1. If one of the wagos begins with a vowel, it's the first.
2. If either of them starts with a consonant, the shorter one comes first.

For example, neither みぎ nor ひだり comes from Chinese, and neither of them starts with vowels. So the shorter one, i.e., みぎ, comes first.

Chinese also has certain rules, and probably 左右 are following them. But I only took classical Chinese classes at high school and don't know the rules well. Maybe someone who speaks Chinese or learned classical Chinese better knows the rules.

lanval Wrote:この瓶はもう空ね。 この びん は もう から ね 。
Anyone know why this is flagged? I cant find that word for empty in the dictionary.

It's not incorrect. Who said it was ungrammatical?

Tzadeck Wrote:This is a backwards "What's this word/phrase." I'm wondering what you say to someone in Japanese when they've had a bad day. Something equivalent to the English, "That's too bad," "I'm sorry," or "I hope tomorrow goes better!" For example, if someone said they had a bad day at work and almost cried, what are some responses that people say? Is it similar to what is said in English?

お気の毒です。 (おきのどくです) would be the most textbook-ish expression for that. It can be too stilted or sound sarcastic if you say it to your close friends, family members and others who you're supposed to speak to without honorifics.

お気の毒に。 is a little less informal version of お気の毒です。, and wouldn't sound stilted or sarcastic, though you can't use it to a person of higher rank.

If you want to be sarcastic, you can say ご愁傷様。 (ごしゅうしょうさま). This is a shortened version of ご愁傷様です。, which is used especially when someone lost their relative.

お疲れ様でした。is a greeting that can never be translated into English because English speakers don't greet when the Japanese do with the phrase. This is one of the most frequent phrases, so you'll naturally learn how and when to use it sooner or later. You don't use it when someone is about to cry unless you want to sound rude and offensive.

In Pokemon, there is an item called あなぬけのヒモ
In the English version, I believe it's called "escape rope" or something like that. I get that "ヒモ" is the rope part, but I can't parse the meaning of あなぬけ. What exactly is this saying?

あな=穴 = hole
ぬけ=抜け = escape (among other meanings)

A rope to let you escape from a hole.

Pokemon needs to ditch all the hiragana and use some kanji. They can make it like Zelda with touch-furigana for all the kiddies who can't read.

IceCream Wrote:few questions:

きっと　脈あるって。 is this a saying?

あんたみたいなのがタイプだって　男でも現れないかぎり。 i'm a bit unsure of 男でも現れないかぎり. There's a limit to which men appear? There's a limit to which men don't appear? Something else? Oh, & ive forgotten what the なのが grammar does in the middle of the sentence?

男　連れ込んで　同棲してたでしょ。そうみたいですね。頭きたから　追い出してやった。　ざま見ろだ。
whats the 頭きたから? and the ざま見ろだ?

hope you can help!

脈 can mean a ray of hope. It is often used in context of romantic relationship, but you can use it in various situations. Usually you use it when there is a certain sign or evidence.

The most versatile translation of X (usually noun) でもY (usually verb) ないかぎり is probably "unless X does/is Y."

頭に来る is an idiomatic expression that means "get angry" or "make someone angry." If you 頭に来た, you are upset. If something 頭にくる, it makes you angry.

ざまー見ろ is a Japanese equivalent of "Good for you!," "Serves you right!," etc. ざま is 様, which means "situation," "state" or something along those lines. So its literal meaning is "Look at (this sorry) situation (that you deserve)."

Edit: Forgot to address なのが in your example sentence. Xみたいなのが means "thing(s)/person/people that is/are like X."

IceCream Wrote:てゃんきょう！！　：）

これは何だ？

仮名の英語かも知れない。

sennahoj Wrote:What does こうなると or そうなると mean at the beginning of a sentence? "This being the case"? "When it's like that"?

Anything like that, based on context. It's not a particularly idiomatic construction, so you can just read it as presented.

秋になると、両リーグを通しての日本一を決める試合が行われる。

It looks like it means that when autumn comes, the best Japanese team is determined in a game. (The two leagues here are the pacific and the central league it says, I know nothing about baseball.)

1. What does 通す mean here? I thought it was just the intransitive version of 通る.
2. Why does の appear after 通して? Are verbs in て-form nouns?

Thanks in advance!

sennahoj Wrote:

twinzen Wrote:秋になると、両リーグを通しての日本一を決める試合が行われる。

It looks like it means that when autumn comes, the best Japanese team is determined in a game. (The two leagues here are the pacific and the central league it says, I know nothing about baseball.)

1. What does 通す mean here? I thought it was just the intransitive version of 通る.
2. Why does の appear after 通して? Are verbs in て-form nouns?

Thanks in advance!

http://www.jref.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43273

Ehe, I actually got a decent reply after a while, (the first answer is garbage) thanks for googling my question. :p I noticed there was a similar thread here for phrase questions so I'll just stick to this place I think.

kazelee Wrote:

IceCream Wrote:てゃんきょう！！　：）

これは何だ？

Is it これは or それは (or even あれは) that kazelee should be using?

Honestly have no idea how things on an internet forum should be referred to as they are kind of "here", "there" (and well, "out there") and really want to know.

Edit: no idea what your response to kazelee was either IceCream btw

Rooboy Wrote:

kazelee Wrote:

IceCream Wrote:てゃんきょう！！　：）

これは何だ？

Is it これは or それは (or even あれは) that kazelee should be using?

Honestly have no idea how things on an internet forum should be referred to as they are kind of "here", "there" (and well, "out there") and really want to know.

Edit: no idea what your response to kazelee was either IceCream btw

I think since kazelee quoted it and the quote was right here, これ makes sense too. Just a hunch though

IceCream Wrote:

kazelee Wrote:

IceCream Wrote:てゃんきょう！！　：）

これは何だ？

うあｔ　あれ　よう　たｌきんｇ　あぼうｔ？日本語ですね

決してこのように続くと僕の頭を爆発させますよ。

ropsta Wrote:

IceCream Wrote:

kazelee Wrote:これは何だ？

うあｔ　あれ　よう　たｌきんｇ　あぼうｔ？日本語ですね

決してこのように続くと僕の頭を爆発させますよ。

まあまあー

This makes me sound like a complete beginner, but when pronouncing ４ヶ月, is it よんかげつ？ That sounds the most correct to me because it seems very familiar, like I've heard it many times, but I want to know for sure whether it's not something else like よかげつ or even　しかげつ (somehow this is sounding odd to me). Also, what about ７ヶ月？ 9ヶ月？

From a little Googling, よんかげつ seems to be right.

7 seems to be ななかげつ, and 9 is きゅうかげつ.

albion Wrote:From a little Googling, よんかげつ seems to be right.

7 seems to be ななかげつ, and 9 is きゅうかげつ.

I forgot all about googling :B Thanks!

I just remembered another question I have. I can't seem to find the pronunciation for the word "ざら” (as in "common")．
Definition: どこにでもあって珍しくないさま。ありふれているさま。
Example sentence: "このような例はざらです"

Is there an accent for this word? If so, is the mora on 1 or 2?

ちょっとした完全主義者です。

Nuriko Wrote:I just remembered another question I have. I can't seem to find the pronunciation for the word "ざら” (as in "common")．
Definition: どこにでもあって珍しくないさま。ありふれているさま。
Example sentence: "このような例はざらです"

Is there an accent for this word? If so, is the mora on 1 or 2?

ちょっとした完全主義者です。

You can find the pronunciation here: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-b...dic.cgi?1C