この俺様だ！犠牲的精神で引き受けるぜ！

What does Hikiukeru mean in this context? Does it mean that the speaker is willing to "undertake sacrificing himself"?

Sounds like he's decided to do something difficult at no benefit to himself (or that will actually cause negative consequences for him. He's doing it with 'a spirit of self-sacrifice.'). So 引き受ける means 'do' or 'undertake.'

(Should there be a な or に after 犠牲的?)

I'm having trouble with a sentence from 死神の制度, which is the book I'm reading at the moment. The main character is a 死神 and the sentence that confuses me is his thoughts having just met a man who's graffitied "God", on a wall.

私たち死神も、一応はその神の一種なのだと言ったら、末席を汚しているのだと謙遜したら、この彼は何と言うのか、と私は想像をする。

The bold part is what's confusing me. Is he saying something along the lines of "even if I were to humbly describe myself as the lowest form of god"?

By the way, I'd recommend this book to anyone who's looking for something to read that's not too difficult. It's a book of short stories about the same character, so it has some continuity but is in more manageable chunks for a learner.

Splatted Wrote:私たち死神も、一応はその神の一種なのだと言ったら、末席を汚しているのだと謙遜したら、この彼は何と言うのか、と私は想像をする。

I guess it's an enumeration with two conditionals (言ったら・～と謙遜したら) and if it helps, the bold part is an expression.
末席を汚している = to attend a meeting (hum)

Tori-kun Wrote:

Splatted Wrote:私たち死神も、一応はその神の一種なのだと言ったら、末席を汚しているのだと謙遜したら、この彼は何と言うのか、と私は想像をする。

I guess it's an enumeration with two conditionals (言ったら・～と謙遜したら) and if it helps, the bold part is an expression.

You mean I should take the "even" out of my translation, so it's something like:

If I told him that a shinigami like me was also a god, if I humbly described myself as the lowest form of god, I wonder what he would say.

That seems to make more sense. I'm not sure why I added it in the first place.

Tori-kun Wrote:末席を汚している = to attend a meeting (hum)

Yeah, but since he's obviously not attending a meeting I decided it was being used more abstractly to mean part of the group. I'm assuming that it's one of those phrases in which speak of yourself as less than others, but it's really just a way of being polite. So he's saying he's the lowest form of god, but he doesn't necessarily believe that or intend for the person he's speaking to to believe that.

Thanks for the help Tori-kun. I feel a lot more confident about this now but I'd appreciate it if someone could confirm (or correct) it for me.

I'm reading a new book, なぜ？どうして？みぢかなぎもん一年生, the next sentence from a short on the usage of もしもし, obviously it's saying something like "since もうしあげます was too long it was later changed to もしもし". However I can't translate it and it's frustrating because I do get what's said but not exactly.

これが、長く使われて行くうちに、「もうし、もうし」となり、「もしもし」に、変わって行ったと、言われています。

うちに?
なり?
I searched in JGram and renshuu but neither of the なり they have seem to be this one.

変わって行ったと
when gradually changed.

言われています
being said ?

うちに is like "While this is going on..." or "During the course of this going on..." ("Over the course of this being used for a long time....")

なり　is from なる. In written language, often instead of the て　form, this form will be used instead, where the う　in う　verbs turns into い, and the る　in える・いる　verbs gets deleted. (So, 歩き　 instead of あるいて, ながめ　instead of ながめて). So, なり　is just another way of saying なって. "It became もうし、もうし, and..."

変わって行ったと、言われています。

This is probably confusing because of the comma, but the と　actually goes with 言われています. It links 言われている　with what is being said: "It is said that it gradually changed." (Japanese uses the ている　form because people didn't stop saying that it gradually changed, but in English the present feels more natural.)

Ah, of course, the と goes with the 言う. But the other stuff beat me, I never learned that, like うちに, geez, where did you learn this?.

これが、長く使われて行くうちに
This went used for a long time and...

「もうし、もうし」となり、「もしもし」に、変わって行ったと、言われています。
...it became もうし、もうし and, it is said that it gradually changed into もしもし.

I learnt it from the dictionaries of Japanese grammar books - I would recommend the grammar Anki decks which I am using now - they are very helpful.

These Anki decks you are talking about are based off the grammar books? Which ones? I am interested.

I am currently working on the 8547 Japanese sentences one and it is good for me.

If someone said うちに, I'd just think they said "in my house"

Where are these sentences taken from?. The grammar dictionaries?

the one I am using now comes from the 日本語文法辞典 which is a book aimed at foreigners (i think)

pervygoat Wrote:If someone said うちに, I'd just think they said "in my house"

That rarely makes sense. As you get deeper into japanese, you stop being surprised by homonyms and you start getting surprised when other learners point them out. You'd have to craft a pretty weird sentence to get my brain to misinterpret that one at this point. うちに the grammar point and うち meaning one's home sit in totally different parts of my brain.

What does "HP" mean in this sentence? (This is a explanation of business letters, starting the letter and finishing the letter)

『拝啓』で始まる手紙は必ず『敬具』で終わります。
その場合、拝啓のあとには時候の挨拶を入れます。

時候の挨拶を省略したい場合は『前略』で始め『早々』で終わります。

具体的な書き方については下記HPなどに詳しく出ています。 <--- what is HP?
http://www.hamajima.co.jp/kokugo/tegami/

I think it's home page.

Home Page. (Well, it means "web page," but it's an abbreviation for Home Page.)

me and Fillanzea agree - it is definitely home page.

This one is explaining why おじぞうさん usually wear red bibs.

赤いよだれかけは、赤ちゃんと同じものをかけて、赤ちゃんの命を、守ってもらおうという、皆の願いなのです。

What is 守ってもらおうという? and what is the grammar involved in using the volitional + という.

The という is connected to 願い, and it doesn't have anything to do with the volitional that comes before it in a direct way. The という is almost like a long version of the quotative "A wish (of everyone) that says...."

という is often used to mark the content of a wish, thought, desire, etc.

守ってもらう is "receiving (the おじぞうさん's) protecting (their babies) -- or more naturally in English, "having the Jizou protect their babies' lives/ getting the Jizou to protect their babies' lives."

The volitional is used because if it was 赤ちゃんの命を守ってもらう, it would be like you could boss the おじぞうさん　around and make him protect your baby's life. Which is unfortunately not the case! The volitional form emphasizes that while it's the parents' wish, it's not under their control.

Ah, that makes more sense now.

EDIT: How does the volitional emphasize this? Isn't the volitional "let's".

"Let's" is often but not always an appropriate translation for the volitional. "Let's" really only works when you're talking to another person about something that you'd hypothetically be doing together, and the volitional in Japanese is broader than that.

中国に行こうと思います。"I think I'll go to China." This is speculating about the future, not a certain thing. It sounds weird to say 中国に行くと思います because you're expressing certainty (行く) and uncertainty (と思います) at the same time.

教師になろうとしています。　"I'm trying to become a teacher." Again you use the volitional for something that you're not certain will happen in the future.

turvy Wrote:Ah, that makes more sense now.

EDIT: How does the volitional emphasize this? Isn't the volitional "let's".

Japanese grammatical terms often don't really match to the English - the ta isn't the past tense it is the perfect aspect, ie it means COMPLETED. I fell into this trap till Yudantaiteki pointed it out.