Sometimes "at least" or "just" seem to work. "If you could just/at least listen to what she has to say?"

For expressions like this which don't appear as regular dictionary entries, I find the various phrase dictionaries quite useful. Here's the entry for VるだけはV from 日本語文型辞典. As yudantt mentioned,　 だけ　here indicates limit/degree/extent (works a bit like ほど.)

VるだけはV
この程度のことまではするという意味。それ以外のことは期待しない、要求しないという表現が続くことが多い。

例：　
このことは両親にも話すでけは話しておいた方がいい。

やるだけはやったのだから、静かにに結果を待とう。

息子の言い分を聞くだけは聞いてやってくれませんか。

Yes, Magamo discussed similar expression (VるだけVて)　earlier in this thread. It has a separate entry in this 文型辞典.

As for Savii's sentence, I'm not confident I understand how ともかく　is being used in order to understand/translate it. Could someone provide a translation?

とまかく　is sometimes used like 少なくとも、so it might be kind of redundant or for emphasis. But it can also have a sense of "somehow". (Is "At least I managed to tell my surprised mother about what happened today" a possibility?) Or could ともかく here have the sense of "Shocked mom, but at least I told her about what happened today." ? (I might be merging it with ____はともかく, though.）

edit: fixed url.

This might help the understanding:

言うだけ言ったらすっきりした. I feel good now that I've said ┌what I had to say [my say].

｢借金の話ならお断りだよ｣｢まあ聞くだけ聞いてくれ｣ "If it's a loan you want, the answer's no."―"Come on, at least listen to what I have to say."

迷惑をかけるだけかけておいて挨拶なしとは不届き千万. That's outrageous, not to say sorry after putting us to all that trouble.

What is なり doing when immediately after a word? Such as: 僕なりに. I can't find the whole sentence in particular but I don't think I'm grasping the particular meaning of it.

なり can mean a lot of things after a word depending on what word that is, but the specific example you're giving is sort of an idiom; 自分なりに is common:

自分なりに

according to one's （own） lights
after one's kind〈古〉
in one's （own） way ［fashion］

自分なりにその可能性を考えてみる
turn the possibility over in one's mind
自分なりに決断を下す
reach one's own decision
自分なりに発見する
make one's own discovery
自分なりに答えを見つける
find one's own answer
自分なりに考えてやる
do with one's thoughts
自分なりに設計図を描く
draw up one's own design
自分なりに説明を考え出す
make up one's own explanation
自分なりに責任を果たす
carry out one's responsibility in one's own way
自分なりに（人）を支える
support someone in one's own way

Maybe those help? I don't know what the exact context is.

Thanks, yeah I can apply it to the context of my situation.

Woa , thanks everyone.

A lot of words , which I not know yet.
Thanks thanks very much <3

Hi, I'm reading in One Piece now, and i found the phrase: 「今後役に立つアテもない」. It was said by person in a context where he had been betrayed. Does anyone understand what アテもないmeans here?

Perhaps that helps:

あて【当て】
1) 行動の目当てや目標｡目的｡｢─もなくさまよい歩く｣
2) 将来に対する見通し｡先行きの見込み｡｢返済の─がつく｣｢─が外れる｣ b)心頼みとすること｡｢親を─にする｣｢酔っ払いの約束は─にならない｣
3) (造)保護･補強などのためにあてがうもの｡｢腹─･ひじ─｣

Eijiro also has three examples of the phrase:


このイライラする気持ちを彼女に説明しようとしてきたのですが、彼女は、私が約束をするのがこわいだけだとか、今すぐには具体的な計画も仕事の当てもないのにアメリカに帰国するなんてばかげているなどと言います。
I've tried talking to her about my frustrations, but she says I'm just afraid of commitment and that its preposterous to go to America with no concrete plan or job in the ofing.〔【出典】Hiragana Times, 1997年8月号◆【出版社】株式会社ヤック企画 〕 全文表示
それどころか、次の食事の当てもない世界中の何百万という子どもたちに比べ、自分たちはとても恵まれていると思っていました。
Actually we thought of ourselves as very lucky compared to the millions of children worldwide who don't even know where their next meal will come from.〔【出典】Hiragana Times, 1998年8月号◆【出版社】株式会社ヤック企画 〕 全文表示
イスラエル軍が空からチラシを投下し、ガザ地区北部の住民に同地区から避難するよう警告したことによって、攻撃に対してなすすべがなく逃げる当てもない同地域の住民の恐怖は強まっている。
Yesterday's warning by the Israeli army, conveyed by air-dropped leaflets, that residents should evacuate the North Gaza area has heightened fear among the population there, who have long been vulnerable to attacks by Israeli forces but who have nowhere else to go.〔【出典】アムネスティ発表国際ニュース（2006年6月29日） 〕

The last example, with 逃げる当てもない ("Nowhere else to go [escape]") is probably the closest to your example.

Thanks guys. I think I could make out the function of the word in most of these sentences, but I couldn't figure out what neither 「返済のあてがつく」 nor 「あてが外れる」 means.

Hm. I think the translation as "to rely on" fits in pretty well in the context where I read this.

Something like that. あて is the noun form of あてる, meaning "to hit a target", so あて in all these phrases has the meaning of "target" or "goal", sometimes metaphorically.

あてが外れる is in my dictionary as "miss the mark", "wrong guess".

企業が経営資金のやりくりがつかなくなってつぶれること。

Can anyone help with this super verb つかなく. つく I think? What's the meaning in this sentence?

やりくりがつく seems to mean "handle/manage well" from what I can tell; there's one alc example for that and google seems to confirm that as well. つく is one of those vague verbs that can have a lot of different meanings -- the sentence is "[This word means that?] a business no longer X'ing the management of the funds and going bankrupt." I'm not sure what exact word you should put in there for X to match つく.

It's the definition for 倒産. Have to learn those verbs as phrases I guess with everything. I think I understand well enough.

From this page, http://www.geocities.jp/tomomi965/ko-jien08/ya02.html there is a definition in Japanese:
・遣り繰りが付く（やりくりがつく）　算段が付くという意味で､金銭や時間､また仕事の手順などを工夫して､通常無理なことが巧く行くようになること。

I suppose that makes it something like, "倒産：A business not successfully handling a crisis in fund management and ceasing to function."

[Zgarbas]

So we have this in my school textbook and I'm confused about it. It's one big text which randomly jumps from how one country handles its lucky numbers to another... and after a sentence about how license plates in china cost thousands of dollars if you want them to have lucky numbers, it throws a non-sequitur about "日本では抽選に当たれば、人気が ある 番号（1や8888など）を手数料だけで手に入れることができますから、日本人からすると 考えられないことです。" before going back to Chinese license plates...

How would you translate this literally? They don't even bother playing those numbers since they'd barely get some commission(since so many people are playing them)? They don't play those numbers since you'd have to give someone commission to get your hands on them? For some reason the phrasing confuses me =/

Zgarbas Wrote:So we have this in my school textbook and I'm confused about it. It's one big text which randomly jumps from how one country handles its lucky numbers to another... and after a sentence about how license plates in china cost thousands of dollars if you want them to have lucky numbers, it throws a non-sequitur about "日本では抽選に当たれば、人気が ある 番号（1や8888など）を手数料だけで手に入れることができますから、日本人からすると 考えられないことです。" before going back to Chinese license plates...

It's still on the topic of license plates but is comparing Japan to China. The Japanese system allows people to enter a raffle to win the right to get popular numbers (there is a list of popular numbers that fall under this rule). IF you win, all you pay is the regular fee and you get the number. So Japanese people find it crazy that, in China, people are willing to pay large sums of money to get the same thing.

[Zgarbas]

... I would never have thought of that o.O. Thank you!

「・・・そいう時期につまらない歪みかたすると・・・」

I cut out the beginning and end of the sentence, I don't think it needs the context. I just need to understand what a つまらない歪み is (I understand them separately) and what かたする is.

つまらない　can also mean 取るに足らない・問題にする価値がない besides simply "boring/uninteresting".

Perhaps the narrator wants to say something "a warp not worth mentioning". I expect 歪み to be used here to describe a person's character.

As 時期 stands for the time something is being done （テストの時期）, the conditional sentence might mean something like "Getting warped up in this way worthless mentioning, it will only be bad for him afterwards". I think something bad is implied after the usage of this と.... Just from my feeling though

TheVinster Wrote:「・・・そいう時期につまらない歪みかたすると・・・」

I cut out the beginning and end of the sentence, I don't think it needs the context. I just need to understand what a つまらない歪み is (I understand them separately) and what かたする is.

かたする is not a unit; it's 歪みかた (way of bending/warping) + する + と. I'm not confident in what this means without the whole context, though.

I'm reading a book by Ekuni Kaori, and there are some words she uses furigana for once and then drops the furigana. I figure this is for names, rare kanji, or to state which pronunciation when it's unclear. .
I am wondering about a couple words whose pronunciation isn't stated on first appearance but maybe the third or fifth time it is used. The word I specifically remember is 訊く(きく)。so I was wondering if there might be some artistic reason for this or what. Why not put furigana on first appearance?
I know it's not so much a word or phrase, but I thought this question fit best in this thread. Thanks.

There's no way to know, unfortunately.

Hmm, I guess that's true. I was kind of expecting that answer but I figured I'd give it a go.

How should the 下 in 東京都下 be read (and if possible to explain, why)? Does it mean 'below' in the sense of height, direction, distance or something else?