Nagareboshi Wrote:

Tori-kun Wrote:その鴉（からす）が人間の言葉を話せたのは、たまたま巣が映画館の軒先にあったことが原因でした。

My interpretation:
The cause was that there had been a nest at the eaves of the edge of the movie theater, so that by chance the raven was able to speak the human language.

Hmm, but the たまたま is paired with 巣が映画館の軒先にあったこと, so it seems like the author is saying that what happened by chance was the location of the nest being at the theater. Not that the raven was able to speak the human language by chance.

Right. Tori-kun's translation is fine if you just replace "occasionally" with "by chance".

turvy Wrote:すると、「ワンワン！」僕のすぐ後ろで、かわいい子犬が、吠えてるじゃないか。
Then, "woof woof", right behind me, (well isn't that) a cute puppy yapping.

It feels like じゃないか is just a self confirmation question like saying "well, isn't this nice?".

Can anybody please address this one I posted a few days ago?. Sorry for quoting but I don't know how to link post replies.

That's certainly a possibility; I would need to see the whole context to say 100% for sure.

The story is called 何でも電話. A boy gets a call from a mysterious person that grants him anything he wishes for.

「犬が欲しい」って、いってみたんだ。すると、「ワンワン！」僕のすぐ後ろで、かわいい子犬が、吠えてるじゃないか。いったい、どういうわけだろう。

Looks like an expression of surprise to me.

What is an expression of surprise? I mean I understand what you are saying but where do you get this?.

じゃないか is often put after statements that go against your expectation; maybe it's not literally showing surprise but that's the effect, I suppose.

Tzadeck Wrote:

Nagareboshi Wrote:

Tori-kun Wrote:その鴉（からす）が人間の言葉を話せたのは、たまたま巣が映画館の軒先にあったことが原因でした。

My interpretation:
The cause was that there had been a nest at the eaves of the edge of the movie theater, so that by chance the raven was able to speak the human language.

Hmm, but the たまたま is paired with 巣が映画館の軒先にあったこと, so it seems like the author is saying that what happened by chance was the location of the nest being at the theater. Not that the raven was able to speak the human language by chance.

I expected that it wouldn't be correct, but it was worth to give it a try. I see the mistake now, thank you!

「あたしは「が？」友達になろうなんて思わなきゃ」

My understanding of なきゃ　has been thus far, it is equal to なければならない meaning something like 'have to/should do'

The above sentence though, in context it seems like the meaning is reversed, becoming something like 'i shouldnt be thinking about things like making friends'.

I am thinking that this なきゃ is just an omission of なければよかったのに

Never heard of なきゃ being used for anything other than なければならない

(なあかん in real Japanese)

kitakitsune Wrote:Never heard of なきゃ being used for anything other than なければならない

(なあかん in real Japanese)

Real Japanese? なあかん is Kansai-ben. The only real Japanese are 関西人, comedians, and tough guys in anime, apparently...

Anyway, なきゃ just means なければ, so its use is not limited to just なければならない. In this particular situations I'm not sure without more context.

Joke

kitakitsune Wrote:Joke

I mean, my response was also tongue-and-cheek.

Not funny

kitakitsune Wrote:Not funny

Yours too

sikieiki Wrote:「あたしは「が？」友達になろうなんて思わなきゃ」

What is that 「が？」

Quote:The above sentence though, in context it seems like the meaning is reversed, becoming something like 'i shouldnt be thinking about things like making friends'.

You didn't give the context, and you want us to answer what the sentence might mean based on the context?

What does 「おはありです！」 mean? I just started using twitter, following a few Japanese users and 1 of them tweeted ( is that the right term?) this to me. This was his/her reply to my 「おはようございます！」 tweet/message.

Sorry if this has been asked before xD just wanted to know what the person was saying to me. (I'm a beginner)

They just said good morning back to you in a weird twitter way.

おは = おはよう
あり = ございます

RawrPk Wrote:What does 「おはありです！」 mean? I just started using twitter, following a few Japanese users and 1 of them tweeted ( is that the right term?) this to me. This was his/her reply to my 「おはようございます！」 tweet/message.

Sorry if this has been asked before xD just wanted to know what the person was saying to me. (I'm a beginner)

It's abbreviation of おはよう and ありがとう (in full 「おはようの挨拶をありがとう」) so basically he is saying おはよう back and thanking you for your message.

Source: http://zokugo-dict.com/05o/ohaari.htm

kitakitsune & Rayath thank you for both of your replies.

Rayath Wrote:

RawrPk Wrote:What does 「おはありです！」 mean? I just started using twitter, following a few Japanese users and 1 of them tweeted ( is that the right term?) this to me. This was his/her reply to my 「おはようございます！」 tweet/message.

Sorry if this has been asked before xD just wanted to know what the person was saying to me. (I'm a beginner)

It's abbreviation of おはよう and ありがとう (in full 「おはようの挨拶をありがとう」) so basically he is saying おはよう back and thanking you for your message.

Source: http://zokugo-dict.com/05o/ohaari.htm

I like the website. Had to use rikiasama to even read the explanation lol. Definitely gonna bookmark

I'm having trouble with a sentence from Volume 1 of Rurouni Kenshin. One of the characters has just promised to use his influence as a government official to make sure no one talks shit about Kenshin, who replies:

そういった思い上がりがああいうヤツをのさばらせてしまうんです

I can't work out what のさばる　means in this context. I checked a translation that said the sentence was "To think like that leads to conceit and arrogance, just like it did to them", but I'm pretty sure that's completely wrong.

Thanks for any help.

のさばる　is "to act as one pleases; to throw one's weight around; to have everything one's own way." This is the causative form, so "allows/forces (the object) to throw their weight around."

"That kind of arrogance ends up letting those kind of guys throw their weight around"/ "That kind of arrogance ends up letting those kinds of guys just do what they want to do."

I've noticed that in a lot of places, 'ni' is used and it seems to be taking the place of 'ha'. For example, 「私に金があったら」「私には、姉妹がいない。」「私には分からない」

In these cases it seems that 'ni' or 'ni ha' can be replaced by 'ha' without changing the meaning of the sentence at all, and I dont really pick up any nuance in these examples that would be lost.

Whats the deal with 'ni'?

It's an alternative to が in these sort of constructions, although it can only mark the subject, not the object. That is, instead of 私が英語が分かる you can say 私に英語が分かる (but not *英語に分かる). に alone should be equivalent to が (note that the first example there is in a subordinate clause ending in ったら, which is one of the places you find the actual XがYがZ constructions). には is essentially the same as は.

The Koujien says 動作の主体を、「その人が」と指し示すのをはばかって示す。 and Daijisen has 12 （場所を示す用法から転じて、多く「には」の形で）敬意の対象を表す。「博士―は古稀(こき)の祝いを迎えられた」「先生―はいかがお過ごしですか」
「うへ―も聞こしめして渡りおはしましたり」〈枕・九〉

But it's definitely used outside of keigo also, and the dictionaries there don't seem to cover that use.