開けて、中の仕様を見たそうなようすだが、私は黙っていた。
This is regarding 2 guys. One guy is watching the other approach the former's suitcase. I know it says 開けて; however, I'm not sure he does open it from the context. From what I understand he appears familiar with the details of this type of suitcase?

Ah okey, but if 之 is used for names does that mean it counts the chapter title as a "name"?

As in: "The 1st - :chapter title:"

A0015 Wrote:Ah okey, but if 之 is used for names does that mean it counts the chapter title as a "name"?

As in: "The 1st - :chapter title:"

No, it's just the mangaka having fun with obsolete kanjis really...
I just meant that 之 is generally used in names, just as its other version 乃 (e.g. 桐乃).

TheVinster Wrote:開けて、中の仕様を見たそうなようすだが、私は黙っていた。

Rough translation:
Even though it seemed that he had opened [it] and seen what was inside, I kept quiet.
I'm not absolutely sure about this one, so if someone else could have a look at it, that would be great.

A0015 Wrote:Ah okey, but if 之 is used for names does that mean it counts the chapter title as a "name"?
"

No. It's generally used in names in modern Japanese, but in older Japanese it was used as the kanji for the particle の. その written as 其之 is not normal even in older Japanese but it's an attempt at a faux-archaic style.

Oke got it, thanks XD.

Not technically a "what's the word or phrase", however it probably isn't worth a thread of it's own.

After changing computers and operating systems, I was having font issues with Anki. On thing I noticed is that certain radicals were displaying what I assume to be some form of simplified hanzi. Drew up an image to illustrate this:

http://oi44.tinypic.com/5nvuvo.jpg

The top is an example of how some radicals appeared (system wide) and the below is back to "normal", after installing different fonts.

My question is: where does the alternate radical for ジン, in this context come from?

示 is the original form of 礻. 示 and 礻 are both known as しめすへん. You can see how they are related in this picture:
http://art59.photozou.jp/pub/92/1077092/...20_org.jpg

There are Japanese words still using the original form of 示 : 祠, 神祇, 祈禱書 (where 禱 is just the old character for 祷), 禮記 (or 礼記 now).
Also, the same character can be displayed differently in a Japanese or Chinese font (typically the 4 ones I gave above would be displayed with 礻 in a Chinese font).

Interesting, and thanks for the speedy response, Taishi and Warp2243. Just now changing the browser encoding to UTF-8 and it changed the radical 礻 to 示 (actually, I'm not sure if anyone else can see the difference unless they are using the same character encoding ). Under EUC-JP, 示 radicals in all compounds have changed back to 礻, aside from ç¥ (for obvious reasons).

Is there a standard character encoding format that is used by Japanese Internet media? That is, if I were to a unicode (UTF-8, which I use for most documents involving Japanese or Chinese characters and a related true type font) encoding for all form of browsing (and reading), is there a way to tell whether or not I've come across a similar situation with words using original kanji forms? Would simply reading a lot of printed text such as novels and newspapers, cover these instances well enough?


Ah, this is probably getting too tangential.

what does 目「め」　mean?　I'm inputting sentences from Genki and the sentence is: 一つ目の信号を右に曲がる。　

also,
how would you say お金わどこで(change money)か。　　It's in an audio course and I can't understand the pronunciation too well.

last question, how would you say someone is better at something? Ex: ジム is better at tennis than メアリ.

From the spreadsheet found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?...sp=sharing

Quote:目
A suffix which represents an ordinal number - -th; -th one

ー目 in this use is always preceded by a number and a counter. The counter ーつ changes to ー番 for numbers larger than nine, as in (1). 八つ目、九つ目、十番目、十一番目… (. . . , eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, . . .)

The "saying someone is better than someone else at" particle you might find useful could be

Quote:より
A particle which indicates that s.t. /s.o. is being compared with s.t./s.o. / than; rather ~ than ~; more ~ than ~

Either a noun phrase or a sentence precedes より. When verbs precede より, they are usually nonpast. However, there are a few cases where past tense verbs as used, as in (1) その試験は思ったより易しかった。 (The exam was easier than I though.) In KS(a), KS(b) and KS©. も is optional after より and does not change the meaning of the sentence.

ryanjmack Wrote:what does 目「め」　mean?　I'm inputting sentences from Genki and the sentence is: 一つ目の信号を右に曲がる。　

also,
how would you say お金わどこで(change money)か。　　It's in an audio course and I can't understand the pronunciation too well.

last question, how would you say someone is better at something? Ex: ジム is better at tennis than メアリ.

1)目 is a suffix used to indicate order. For example, 一つ目 - the first object, 二人目 - the second person, etc.
2)Could be 両替する or 替える (or something else), but I don't have access to your audio course, so I don't know what word was used there.
Please note that the sentence particle "wa" (like watashi wa...desu) is always written as は.
3) The usual way to do it is using ～より　and\or ～のほうが.
ジムさんはメアリよりテニスが上手です。
Jim is better at tennis than Marie.
テニスなら、メアリより、ジムのほうが上手です。
If to speak of tennis, Jim is the better one, rather than Marie.
I would highly suggest you take a look at Tae Kim's guide (or any other textbook you trust) for more examples.

なにも無理にその土地の名物を探すことなんかないんだ。
Is the person being told they they don't have to force themselves to find popular destinations?

今夜は飲み明らかそうじゃないか。
Just curious as to the translation. Not sure how 飲み明らか works.

TheVinster Wrote:なにも無理にその土地の名物を探すことなんかないんだ。
Is the person being told they they don't have to force themselves to find popular destinations?

名物 is products a region is famous for. Your understanding of the structure/grammar is fine.

Don't know your second one, and google doesn't give any hits -- are you sure you typed it correctly? (Unless it's 飲み、明らかそう -- just "Drink, and then things will become clear")

uisukii Wrote:From the spreadsheet found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?...sp=sharing

目
A suffix which represents an ordinal number - -th; -th one

ー目 in this use is always preceded by a number and a counter.

より
A particle which indicates that s.t. /s.o. is being compared with s.t./s.o. / than; rather ~ than ~; more ~ than ~

That clears up quite a few headaches. Thanks uisukii!

adamus Wrote:2)Could be 両替する or 替える (or something else), but I don't have access to your audio course, so I don't know what word was used there.
Please note that the sentence particle "wa" (like watashi wa...desu) is always written as は.

I would highly suggest you take a look at Tae Kim's guide (or any other textbook you trust) for more examples.

As for number 2 it was 替える. I feel looking at the word helps smooth out the rough edges when doing an audio course.

I'll make sure I use は from now on. I am studying Tae Kim but unfortunately I'm not very far in to it. Maybe 70 cards.
Hey, thanks for the input Adamus, it is appreciated.

yudantaiteki Wrote:

TheVinster Wrote:なにも無理にその土地の名物を探すことなんかないんだ。
Is the person being told they they don't have to force themselves to find popular destinations?

名物 is products a region is famous for. Your understanding of the structure/grammar is fine.

Don't know your second one, and google doesn't give any hits -- are you sure you typed it correctly? (Unless it's 飲み、明らかそう -- just "Drink, and then things will become clear")

Thanks, as always I have input one of them wrong. It was 飲み明かそうじゃないか. So he was asking the guy if he wanted to drink the night away. Simple enough.

So this is kind of embarrassing as it is a very simple sentence... but for the life of me I can't figure out how to translate it.

I want to say thank you to a friend for letting me stay at her place.
泊まらせてくれてありがとう。
is probably wrong, but you get the idea.

how do i say that? thanks!

泊まらせてくれてありがとう (what you put) is perfectly fine.

I think 泊めてくれてありがとう sounds a bit better?
泊める being to let someone stay over. Basically the opposite of 泊まる.

Ah, brilliant. Thanks!

SomeCallMeChris Wrote:窓が閉まっていた - The window(s) was/were closed
When I arrived, the windows were closed.
Enduring state that was observed in the past.

窓が閉まった The window(s) closed
In the automated house, at 6 pm the windows closed.
Action that was observed in the past (but it's hard to have 'windows closed' make sense with this conjugation, though it can happen.)

Arigatou! Your explanation pointed me towards more detailed explanations too starting to really get a hold of tense/aspect now (at least I think so... haha)

Trying to read some handwriting --



くやしくも、
海賊はただ
逮捕、〇〇

can someone help with the last two characters?

edit -- maybe 投獄?

Yep, 投獄

nice job figuring out that 海賊 xD

Are -ru and -te iru interchangeable for habitual actions?

私は電車で通学しています。
I go to school by train.

彼は毎晩3キロ走っています。
Every night he runs 3 kilometers.

I assume using しますand 走ります would differ only by preference of the writer? Maybe te iru puts more focus on the subject/action? Could it be that te iru is less ambiguous in some contexts? I dunno...

「いい教訓になっただろ。今度から大切なテープはちゃんとツメ折っておけよ」
"It's a good lesson for you, isn't it? Next time, set your important tapes as read-only."

I don't understand ツメ折って. Can anyone help?