tashippy Wrote: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 reason, they just forgot or can't be bothered to be consistent.

Savii Wrote: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?

I'm just taking a stab in the dark here, but I think this would be read as: とうきょうとか- 都下「とか」- referring to "in the capital" or "東京都下 meaning "within the capital or Tokyo", or something similar. I think the "below" could be in the sense of "within", as in "within the place" (都「と」 referring to a city, metropolis, etc.).

Would you be able to provide a little more context?

Savii Wrote: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?

東京都下、pronounced とうきょうとか、is most often used to mean "places outside of the 23 wards of Tokyo city proper." These are places that didn't used to be a part of 東京都.

東京都内 = 23 wards (the city proper)-- OR all of Tokyo.
東京都下 = everything outside of the wards but still considered "Tokyo."

東京都内 + 東京都下 = 東京都

参考：http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/...q138164168

uisukii Wrote:

Savii Wrote: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?

I'm just taking a stab in the dark here, but I think this would be read as: とうきょうとか- 都下「とか」- referring to "in the capital" or "東京都下 meaning "within the capital or Tokyo", or something similar. I think the "below" could be in the sense of "within", as in "within the place" (都「と」 referring to a city, metropolis, etc.).

Would you be able to provide a little more context?

I think your hunch is right. It's simply used as a sentence by itself, as part of a passage describing a school. So it would make sense to just mean 'it's located within the capital of Tokyo' -- it's just not the most straightforward way of saying so, from a learner's perspective at least. It didn't occur to me to try looking up 都下 as a separate word, because 東京都 is usually a unit and 下/上 are often used as suffixes... wrong assumptions, the mother of all screwups ^^

Edit: thanks drdunlap, that's a great specific answer I think this means my initial assumption was right after all; it looks like 下 is used as a suffix meaning something like 'in the sphere of'.

Hi quick (but maybe silly) question.

Stumbled upon this vocab 「包んで」during my homework. Checked my imiwa?辞書and got this result:

包む, 裹む [くるむ, つつむ]
to wrap up, to tuck in, to pack, to do up, to cover with, to dress in, to conceal, to hide, to be engulfed in, to be enveloped by

There are 2 readings. My textbook uses つつむ as the reading. But on imiwa? it only shows the verb conjugations in the くるむ reading. So my question is how do I read 包んで？As つつんで to reflect my textbook's reading choice or くるんで as imiwa? suggested?

Here it is in context: 「これをお歳暮用に包んでください。」

ありがとうございます！

It's read つつむ as you would expect a year-end present to be fully wrapped -- like a present. くるむ is used when something is very loosely wrapped, or at least not fully (like e.g. a present etc.)

See this page here: http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/thsrs/1...%E3%82%80/

Just remember 小包（こづつみ） for package/parcel.

I don't know what a お歳暮用 is and my dictionary's not helping, but it's probably つつんで. くるむ has a close meaning but it's more limited in use; I don't know the exact difference but I would just go with つつんで　unless someone else tells me I'm wrong. There are a lot of these situations where multiple verbs with close meanings can be represented by the same kanji; usually one of them is really common and the others are more limited in use.

@Tori-kun: thanks for the goo dict link as a reference. Very good example sentence to differentiate つつむ and くるむ using wrapping a present vs an infant. I doubt anyone would want to fully wrap a baby :o lol

@yudantaiteki: Thanks! Going with the common reading is usually the best option. I just didn't know what was the common reading out of the 2 of them xD

This might be a laughable question but I have to ask this.

I decided to grab my Inuyasha manga and read it. I have the raw and the Viz Big Edition side by side. This 一九九六年 caught my attention. I compared it with the English translation, it says 1997. I couldn't believe it so I searched for an online fan-translation (http://www.mangahere.com/manga/inuyasha/c001/6.html). It says 1997 too not 1996. Why? By RTK, 一九九六年 = one nine nine six year right? Google sensei agreed that it is 1996. Is this just a typo? But it is too simple to be a typo for official and fan translations...

I don't have a screenshot for the raw. I can make one later.

Presumably the English version was published a year later than the Japanese version and the date was modified to make the English version still be 'this year' rather than to be the actual number.

SomeCallMeChris Wrote:Presumably the English version was published a year later than the Japanese version and the date was modified to make the English version still be 'this year' rather than to be the actual number.

Hi! I just checked the wiki page. You're correct. If I have no prior kanji knowledge, I will believe that 六 is indeed 7.

Thanks for your help!

You're welcome.

bimspramirez Wrote:If I have no prior kanji knowledge, I will believe that 六 is indeed 7.

The trouble with professional translations, I think you'll find, is that they are too loose to trust - they make changes to make things contemporary, to replace untranslatable puns, or simply to gloss over cultural differences that would make a work less marketable. Looking at the translation is handy, but there are going to be sections that are more rewritten than translated.

Searching the forums didn't reveal anything about this, so I thought I'd ask about the difference between 己 and 巳 here.

I know that many sources list the former as myself and the latter as "sign of the snake", but the confusing thing is that depending on your font, one character or the other might be displayed, suggesting that these two kanji are interchangeable. What gives?

Thanks.

They are not interchangeable, and although I'm not a font expert, I would uninstall and avoid any font that cannot tell between them.

My dictionary indicates that 己 can be used to represent "sign of the snake" although it's not the standard character used for that.

I have come across the word 口元a number of times in novels and stories but I can't really understand what it means. Usually it's referring to a character's action. 母は赤い口元をほころばせ、小さな包みを笑子に手渡すと、お元気、と言って目を細めた。I guess my question is how is this word different than 口？Thanks.

It means "the area around the mouth"; Koujien gives 口元をほころばせる as an example phrase so it must be an idiom.

I came across this sentence in the book I'm reading at the moment: 「なんだか、逃げてばかりいるな。」

I don't think I've seen this this v+te+bakari+iru form before, and I definitely haven't studied it, but my intuition tells me it means something like "It kinda seems like I'm doing nothing but running." How far off am I?

Onelove_yo Wrote:I don't think I've seen this this v+te+bakari+iru form before, and I definitely haven't studied it, but my intuition tells me it means something like "It kinda seems like I'm doing nothing but running." How far off am I?

Yeah, you're pretty much right. てばかりいる is a common construction, and you should be able to find entries explaining it in the DoJG, JLPT guides, and elsewhere.

Thanks!

Onelove_yo Wrote:I don't think I've seen this this v+te+bakari+iru form before, and I definitely haven't studied it, but my intuition tells me it means something like "It kinda seems like I'm doing nothing but running." How far off am I?

Btw, is it the same as 逃げているばかりだ ??

「今私の中にはね、一ヶ月ぶんくらいの何やかやが絡みあって貯ってもやもやしてるのよ。」

Need a translation. I understand it for the most part but would like to see it in English.

I was watching Howl's Moving Castle and in it, the main character often says
ありがとうさん
At first I thought she was saying "Thank you, mister" but I'm pretty sure さん can't be used on its own.
The person who says it is an old lady, so I assume it must be some kind of elderly slang?
EDIT: never mind, found the meaning in a dictionary. Simply means "Thanks a lot"

It's mostly found in anime, though (it's probably derived from some real regional dialect). I would advise against using it yourself.

In the sentence どこでもいい、二、三日姿を消してしまおう。how do you read 二、三日? Thanks.

Edit: I found an answer, if it was written 二日三日, then it would be ふつかみっか. But written like 二、三日, it is read に、さんにち.

Hirakana Wrote:I was watching Howl's Moving Castle and in it, the main character often says
ありがとうさん
At first I thought she was saying "Thank you, mister" but I'm pretty sure さん can't be used on its own.
The person who says it is an old lady, so I assume it must be some kind of elderly slang?
EDIT: never mind, found the meaning in a dictionary. Simply means "Thanks a lot"

This is a Kansai thing. It does come mostly from older people but I've heard people in their late 20s-30s say it as well. In Osaka I hear おおきに more often, though.

Kansaiben sticks さん on the end of a lot of words.
おはようさん
おめでとうさん
お豆さん
飴ちゃん (not さん but same idea)
お粥さん（pronounced おかいさん）

etc. etc.