As I am in complete and total disagreement with hans moleman, I'll try to answer your questions. (You should try to understand the grammar as well as possible; it will never hurt you, and it can help you a lot. Do not trust the idea that you will "naturally" pick things up; what you are likely to "naturally" pick up is rules that you are inventing yourself, and that thus have a high chance to be wrong or incomplete. If you ask the questions and don't understand the responses that's one thing, but to suggest that the questions shouldn't even be asked is wrong.)

chochajin Wrote:Hello,

I'm back with some more questions.
Thanks a lot in advance for any help

上野動物園にはパンダをはじめ、子供たちに人気がある動物がたくさんいます。
Why is に used here after 子供たち?
Is "ni" always used for phrases that want to express something like "among .."?

I think in this case it's not "among" but more like "for" -- this is a similar construction to 子供にあぶない (dangerous for children).

Quote:参加者はそれほど多くはあるまい。
Why's the adverbial form of "多い" used here? Can't it just be "多い"?

As the previous responder said, it modifies ある. Two things are going on here -- first, 多くない can be "clefted" (split) and the particle は put between them to come up with 多くはない. This has the same meaning as は usually does; that is, contrast. So in this case, at least they are not それほど多い. Now, instead of ない, the writer here has used あるまい instead (まい being the opposite of べき), but the same explanation of the は applies.

Quote:ケーキは買うまいと思っても、見るとつい買ってしまう。
"～ても" usually means "even (if)", but here it seems to mean "even though". Wouldn't it be better to use "と思ったのに"?

I'm not sure where you got the idea that ても "usually" means even if, it very often means "even though".

May someone help me? What does this mean exactly?? :
妖しくもきらびやかな世界観は多くの人々を酔わせ、熱狂
させてきた。
It's just to make sure I understand, thank you in advance =)

Quick clarification if someone could

In a sentence like:
「俺はゆっくりと身体を起こして藤林に向き直る。」

I know that ゆっくり is a type of adverb that can be used with と, but is this required? Could you drop it from that sentence? If so, does the meaning change?

Trying to figure out which of these is "more correct."

ワクワク的な性格 or ワクワクみたいな性格
Or could you get away with ワクワク性格？

The attempted phrase is "Bubbly personality"

vix86 Wrote:Trying to figure out which of these is "more correct."

ワクワク的な性格 or ワクワクみたいな性格
Or could you get away with ワクワク性格？

The attempted phrase is "Bubbly personality"

I'm going to be a butt and instead of helping you (because I honestly don't know), I'm going to make it even more complicated by adding that most onomatopoeia are adverbs and you would in that case have to use ワクワクとした性格

vix86 Wrote:Trying to figure out which of these is "more correct."

ワクワク的な性格 or ワクワクみたいな性格
Or could you get away with ワクワク性格？

The attempted phrase is "Bubbly personality"

I think you'd be better off using a different word like 陽気, 快活, 明るい, etc. If you mean the annoying kind of "bubbly" where people aren't laid back and just keep talking, then you can say テンションが高い.

@Tobberoth: Ah I see, that might work for what I was going to use it for, but I'm not sure on the meaning and the grammar of that. I realized it was an adverb, but Edict also claims its a noun. I found it odd they weren't adj-na's when I checked, cause some onomon you would think could almost act like adjetives. Thanks.

@Javizy: Ya those other adjectives would work as well and were kind of what I was aiming at with ワクワク. I just needed something to go with 性格 in my example field. Thanks.

Got a a new one. I'm having trouble understanding what も does in this excerpt:
「私も先日マスターに目覚めさせて頂いたばかりですしそのカードについてはあらかじめ私の中に情報があっただけで」 pulled from 空のおとしもの, I'm checking with a scanlation, and they translate this fragment as：
"I just awoke when I received the summoning from master a few days ago that was the only detail regarding the card from the backup in side my body."

Even before checking the 'lation and even still, I only get 私も="I too [don't have a clue]."

Thanks in advance.

Without seeing anything that comes before it's hard to say, but what's wrong with 私も just meaning "I too"? "I, too, had just been awakened recently by (the?) master..."

That scanlation is pretty bad; not only is it missing punctuation and not very natural English, but the translation is wrong as well.

「どんな女の子が好みなの？　おとなし系？　イケイケ系？」

What does it mean to describe a girl's personality as イケイケ系 ?

I'm not sure if EDICT's definition really captures the meaning. It seems kind of harsh for the context this is from (a short novel for 小学生).

Well, I'm sure you can guess the meaning from the sentence. イケイケ系 and おとなし系 are complete opposites.

Someone asked the same question on chiebukuro, here's the answer:

バブル語ではなくもっと前からありましたよ。「押せ押せ、行け行け！」って「ノリノリ」の状態を表します。最初に使い出したのは、ヤッチャンか、博打打ちみたいですよ。「イケイケ、ゴーゴー、○池屋ポテトチップス！」というCMソングが語源と言う説もあります。

http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/...1027621185

yudantaiteki Wrote:Without seeing anything that comes before it's hard to say, but what's wrong with 私も just meaning "I too"? "I, too, had just been awakened recently by (the?) master..."

That scanlation is pretty bad; not only is it missing punctuation and not very natural English, but the translation is wrong as well.

See, I thought it was "I too" because it 'fit' when I started reading the passage, but it threw me when it started talking about 'being awoken by(?) the the master's request'. The prior context basically has the "master" inquiring about a card. And I typoed one of the punctuations in their translation (...master a few days ago. That was the only...). Either way, I guess now I know the usual disclaimers on scanlations apply more heavily to this particular group.

If intersted, found this http://mangahelpers.com/downloads/read-online/16135/70 for context, may have to turn it back a page to get the rest.

Regardless, Thanks for the help!

The pattern させていただきます combines the causative with -te itadaku and can be a little tricky if you haven't seen it. マスターに目覚めさせていただきました literally means something like "The master let me wake up [as a favor to me]".

Now, it's possible here that the 私も does not actually mean "I, in addition to other people previously mentioned, was allowed to wake up..." I would have to read further back in the manga to figure that out; sometimes も, even in this case, can work to mean something more like "Also, in addition to the situation mentioned before, I just woke up a few days ago".

内科＝physician
外科＝surgeon

What? Who thought of that!
It should be the opposite. aka, physician are people who look at the outside of the bodies while surgeons work on the inside of the body. なんで日本語！w

vix86 Wrote:「私も先日マスターに目覚めさせて頂いたばかりですしそのカードについてはあらかじめ私の中に情報があっただけで」

I think it means the same as だって in 私だって目覚めさせて頂いたばかりです. It's just adding some emphasis. "[I don't know about the details; and how would I?] I myself have just been awakened by you a few days ago, Master".

gyuujuice Wrote:内科＝physician
外科＝surgeon

What? Who thought of that!
It should be the opposite. aka, physician are people who look at the outside of the bodies while surgeons work on the inside of the body. なんで日本語！w

Physician is needed when the illness is not visible and inside the body, surgeon comes into play when something on the outside of the body is so obviously not well, you need to cut it off. Does it make any sense?

yudantaiteki Wrote:The pattern させていただきます combines the causative with -te itadaku and can be a little tricky if you haven't seen it. マスターに目覚めさせていただきました literally means something like "The master let me wake up [as a favor to me]".

Now, it's possible here that the 私も does not actually mean "I, in addition to other people previously mentioned, was allowed to wake up..." I would have to read further back in the manga to figure that out; sometimes も, even in this case, can work to mean something more like "Also, in addition to the situation mentioned before, I just woke up a few days ago".

Cool! Thanks for the input. Its good to see that my general grasp on the passage was at least somewhat right. Outside of context I could defiantly read it as "I and others were allowed to wake up." I haven't started volume 2 in the manga yet (Still word-mining haha), but I think they introduce some other character(s) later on, so it could be that "私も" is foreshadowing; but that's a stretch I think. I still think the 私も might mean "I too haven't got a clue, I only was allowed to wake up just a few days ago and my memory holds no information." But its pretty much saying the "haven't got a clue" without saying it.

Just to clarify though, as I don't understand polite phrasal patterns too well. That line implies that the character was allowed to wake up "as a favor to her?"

Thanks for the input, it helps!

@iSoron: Ah, ya thats possible. But thats a really weird way to say it though.

The function of the いただきます there is to express that the waking was done as a favor to her.

I guess I will have to imagine the old physicians and surgeons.
ありがとうございます。

いただきます is the 謙譲語　version of もらう.　謙譲語　is one type of 敬語。
The other types are 丁寧語　and 尊敬語。

http://www.sanseido.net/Main/words/hyakka/sonkei/

I'm having some trouble understanding a sentence that a friend wrote to me in an email:
アランは自分の話す日本語の語気の強さ（意味の強さ）とかって授業で習ったの？どうやって身につけたのかしら？

First of all, that 「自分」. Does it refer to the speaker, or to the person who is being spoken about? I've never been particularly clear about the usage of this word. It's one of those that I (usually) understand when someone else uses it, but I never know when to use it myself...
And then, what is this 「身につけた」 thing?
And then as for the overall sentence, for some reason I just can't really grasp the meaning of it. I know almost all of the words, but for some reason it's not coming together for me.

moleman Wrote:いただきます is the 謙譲語　version of もらう.　謙譲語　is one type of 敬語。
The other types are 丁寧語　and 尊敬語。

http://www.sanseido.net/Main/words/hyakka/sonkei/

My head just exploded.

Zarxax,
http://jisho.org/words?jap=身に付ける;dict=edict
The "自分" refers to you. I think you can use like the English word myself or yourself.

I am rather new to Japanese in comparisom to most people here but I THINK she said," Aran, about your Japanese tone (as in manner of speach ect.), did you learn that in class? How did you learn that?" (My translation sucks I know)

頑張ってね。

Thanks gyuujuice. I was surprised that there was a definition for 身につけた in edict, since RikaiChan didn't recognize it! I'll have to check more carefully from now on.

^__^ どういたしまして〜☆
jisho.org can reconize a lot of varients of words. Even so, if a word doesn't seem to work, just conjugate it.

わたしは子供のころ、病気で死にかけたことがあるそうだ。
I wonder what exactly the "shi ni kaketa" means here.
"I began to die / I was about to die?"
As far as I know "ni kakeru" means something has already started / you're in the middle of doing it, but not finished yet.

彼女がそんなことをするとは、信じがたい。
I'm not sure why "to ha" is used here after "suru". Why? What's the function?
Would it be possible to say: するのを (I know you can't have 2 を in a sentences, though...)

無理をしないで体力に応じた運動をしてください。
Why is に応じて here used in past tense form?
Don't exaggerate and only exercise according to your body strength.
There's no past tense in here, so ... I'm consufed.

あんなやせた人が、相撲とりのわけがない。
What's the "no" doing here? Why is it there? Because there has to be something between noun and "wake"? If so, could I say 相撲とりであるわけ・・・

『日本語能力試験」が近づいたので、焦り気味だ。
Past tense + present tense = getting me confused here.
Because the JLPT came closer, I'm nervous/ in a rush.
Wouldn't be "is coming closer" more accurate? Then why is there past tense in the Japanese sentence?

美術品のことは何も知らないので、この壷が安いのやら高いのやら全然見当がつかない。
Why is there "no" between an i-adj. and "yara"? Is it some sort of emphasis or do I actually NEED it in this sentence and if so, what does it do?

新しいビルの完成目前で社長は亡くなってしまった。
What happened first? The completion of the building or the dead of the 社長??

卒業してから就職するか大学院に進むか、まだ決心がつかないでいる。
I've never really seen the form "naide iru", but it seems to be quite common, right?
So, what's the difference between:
話していない　⇔　話さないでいる

毎日毎日残業で、土曜・日曜は休日出勤。これじゃあ、体がいくつあっても足りないよ。
I have the feeling that the last part of the sentence is kind of a saying?!? and thus can't be translated literally? Anybody knows that saying and how to best translate it?
(That reminds me, I wanted to ask if anybody knows a good website with (common) Japanese sayings and maybe translations/meanings of those sayings?!

私は一年を通して五回ぐらい海外に行っている。
Why "itteiru"? That would mean that I went there and am still there now, no?!

お見舞いならカーネーションなんてどうかしら。
「この機械に詳しい人はいませんか。」「彼など詳しいと思いますよ。」
"nado", "nante" etc. still didn't sink in, I have a hard time getting the exact meaning. I know that it's kind of an emphasis and thus it probably can't really be translated.
I'd say:
For the call wouldn't be carnations or something like that be nice?
Isn't there anybody who knows a lot about this machine? He, or so(?), knows a lot about it, I think!


From Kanzen Master 2kyuu test book:
株価は経済評論家の予想に(____)、暴落した。
a) 反して b)　対して c) 加えて　d) 応じて

Actually I thought that a), b) and d) are all possible and chose d) in the end, but according to the book only a) is correct. Why?

平和(___)世界の人々が望んでいるものだ。
a) さえ　b) こそ　c) など　d) ほど

I chose c).
"People worldwide wish for freedom and things like that." (while I thought that "mono da" is an emphasis here.
The correct answer is "koso" - which of course also makes sense, but what I want to know is why c) is wrong or maybe not wrong, but the "most fitting" because that's what the task is: to find the best fitting answer.



Gathered quite a lot again before I decided to post. Maybe I should post more often so that the posts will be shorter :/

Thanks so much in advance for your help!!
It's really appreciated!!!

And I agree with yudantaiteki!
I've reached a point where I have no other choice but to analize sentences like I do now in order to get a better understanding. I hit a dead end and now I'm finally improving slowly again.
mr_hans_moleman, I don't know how long you already study Japanese. As for me, I started studying in 2002 and, you know, at some point you just lose patience. I know that what I'm doing now is somewhat helping me to improve, so ... just let me do it, k?