Could someone enlighten me to the meaning of the bolded part? I don't know if あまり is being used as "remainder" or "too much" here, and I'm guessing that に here is "in response to X"? My best guess is something like "Most of my remarks can only be understood" which doesn't make any sense

「なんてわがままなのだろう!?あまりの言い草に悟るしかない。奴には言葉は通じない。」

あまりの言い草に悟るしかない

I would say its something more in the line of "Nearly no remarks can be understood" or "most remarks cannot be understood".

But who am I? Im still studying chapter 12 of RtK1 lol

Just guessing because iirc あまり can only be used for negative sentences.

FooSoft Wrote:Could someone enlighten me to the meaning of the bolded part? I don't know if あまり is being used as "remainder" or "too much" here, and I'm guessing that に here is "in response to X"? My best guess is something like "Most of my remarks can only be understood" which doesn't make any sense

「なんてわがままなのだろう!?あまりの言い草に悟るしかない。奴には言葉は通じない。」

I'd like to know too, as I haven't heard this expression before! But if I had to take a guess, this sounds like he's dismissing (悟るしかない) some previous remarks (言い草) as being so many words (あまりの). But someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not 100% sure of the meaning of that phrase, but あまり can be used in positive constructions as well, the basic meaning is "extra" or "left over" and often "too much". Also, predicate+しかない means "there is no choice but to do X", and Xに悟る means "realize X". I'm not sure who the subjects are here or exactly what the context is so I'm not certain what the whole thing means, but it seems like something along the lines of "How selfish!! [I?] just have to realize it's useless remarks; words have no effect on him."

jonuhey Wrote:Just guessing because iirc あまり can only be used for negative sentences.

Is that the case? I use it for positive sentences as well, for example, the simplest use of this word I could think of would be something like "あんまりです!"

Here's some context, maybe it will help. Basically this is a conversation between Taiga and Ryuuji. Taiga is pissed off and trying to kill Ryuuji because he accidentally found her ラブレター; if he is dead or gets the memory beaten out of him then he can't tell anyone else and Taiga won't die from embarassment. Ryuuji is trying to stop the violence but Taiga won't listen and is intent on beating him up.

Quote:「うるさあい！　あれを知られてしまったからには、私はもはや生きてはいけないっ！　あんな恥を晒してしまったんだ、私はもうもう死ぬしか、なーいっ！」
　喉仏を狙って突き上げられる木刀の切っ先、
「ひいい！　し、死ぬしかないっていうか、俺を殺そうとしてるじゃねえかっ！」
　奇跡的な反射で竜児は避けるが、逢坂のパワーは凄まじい。その勢いのまま襖を真一文字に切り裂き（張り替え代が！）、さらに突きを仕掛けてくる。その見開かれた瞳に迷いはなく、必死、決死、そんなのだけが。
「死にたくないから、殺すしかないのっ！　悪いけど死んでっ！　さもなくば記憶を全部なくせーっ！」
「無理だーっ！」
「無理じゃないからだいじょーぶっ！　こいつで、」
　チラ、と磨き抜かれた木刀に目線、
「脳天ぶっ叩きゃ、息の根止めるのは無理にしたって記憶ぐらいは飛ぶだろうよ！」
「飛ばすなーっ！」
　なんてわがままなのだろう!?　あまりの言い草に悟るしかない。奴には言葉は通じない。常識とかモラルとか、他人に迷惑はかけちゃダメとか、そんなの逢坂には関係ないのだ。
　ああ――だから関わりたくなかったのに！
　血を吐くような竜児の思いとは裏腹に、逢坂の破壊行為は絶好調だ。逃げる竜児を追い詰めようと箪笥の上のかごをなぎ倒し、襖にずどんと穴を開け、小さな卓袱台を蹴り飛ばす。そうしながらも、

Mushi Wrote:

jonuhey Wrote:Just guessing because iirc あまり can only be used for negative sentences.

Is that the case? I use it for positive sentences as well, for example, the simplest use of this word I could think of would be something like "あんまりです!"

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it can be used positively too, it just doesn't happen as often I believe.

FooSoft Wrote:Here's some context, maybe it will help. Basically this is a conversation between Taiga and Ryuuji. Taiga is pissed off and trying to kill Ryuuji because he accidentally found her ラブレター; if he is dead or gets the memory beaten out of him then he can't tell anyone else and Taiga won't die from embarassment. Ryuuji is trying to stop the violence but Taiga won't listen and is intent on beating him up.

The narration here in particular is above my level of Japanese, particularly in the use of kanji. But it does make more sense, now that it's clear that it's not dialogue. Based on this, I think that yudan and I are pretty close to the mark.

I hope that I'll be at the level someday where I can read stuff like this.

yudantaiteki Wrote:I'm not 100% sure of the meaning of that phrase, but あまり can be used in positive constructions as well, the basic meaning is "extra" or "left over" and often "too much". Also, predicate+しかない means "there is no choice but to do X", and Xに悟る means "realize X". I'm not sure who the subjects are here or exactly what the context is so I'm not certain what the whole thing means, but it seems like something along the lines of "How selfish!! [I?] just have to realize it's useless remarks; words have no effect on him."

This translation make sense in context, but wouldn't the 「あまりの言い草に悟るしかない」bit then mean more like "I have no choice to admit it's too many remarks"?

FooSoft Wrote:

yudantaiteki Wrote:I'm not 100% sure of the meaning of that phrase, but あまり can be used in positive constructions as well, the basic meaning is "extra" or "left over" and often "too much". Also, predicate+しかない means "there is no choice but to do X", and Xに悟る means "realize X". I'm not sure who the subjects are here or exactly what the context is so I'm not certain what the whole thing means, but it seems like something along the lines of "How selfish!! [I?] just have to realize it's useless remarks; words have no effect on him."

This translation make sense in context, but wouldn't the 「あまりの言い草に悟るしかない」bit then mean more like "I have no choice to admit it's too many remarks"?

I'd adjust the tenor of your translation somewhat to "It can only be interpreted as" instead of "I have no choice to admit", and "so many words" instead of "too many remarks". Then, you see it matches Yudan's.

Mushi Wrote:I'd adjust the tenor of your translation somewhat to "It can only be interpreted as" instead of "I have no choice to admit", and "so many words" instead of "too many remarks". Then, you see it matches Yudan's.

yudantaiteki's version also has the sense of "useless remarks" which I guess probably comes from あまり having a negative connotation in positive sentences. I guess that and also the fact that they don't reach Taiga makes them useless.

"admit" works OK, like I said, Xに悟る means "realize X", so "admit" can be OK as well.

Here are some examples of あまりのＸ from Eijiro:

あまりの仕事の多さに不平を言う
mutter about too much work
あまりの思慮のなさ
utter thoughtlessness
あまりの恐怖に口に手を当てる
clap one's hand to one's mouth in horror
あまりの悲しみに狂乱状態になって
in a frenzy of grief
あまりの未成熟さ
striking immaturity
あまりの熱意
overzealousness
あまりの落胆に答えることができない
be too dejected to answer
そのあまりの違いにショックを受けている
be shocked at how different it is
自分のあまりのぐうたらさ加減に参ってしまう
be overcome by a burst of one's wishy-washiness
（人）のあまりのエキサイトぶりにたじろぐ
become disturbed by the intensity of someone's emotions
（～での）あまりの選択肢の多さに困惑してしまう
be overwhelmed by the endless options (at)

FooSoft Wrote:「なんてわがままなのだろう!?あまりの言い草に悟るしかない。奴には言葉は通じない。」

My take: "Given these outrageous [over the top, inordinate] remarks, I have no choice but to acknowledge the truth [to realize]: words are useless with this girl; she doesn't care about others, etc."

I think this sentence is essentialy the same as「あまりの痛みに泣く」

Makes a lot of sense now, the sample sentences are great too - you guys are the best

何しているの？
Does it mean "What's up?" or "What are you doing?"
I think they made a Budweiser commercial about this.

jcdietz03 Wrote:何しているの？
Does it mean "What's up?" or "What are you doing?"
I think they made a Budweiser commercial about this.

It's "What are you doing?" (although doesn't that mean practially the same thing as "What's up", in English )

I thought どうも meant 'cant say/cannot tell'
but jgram.org tells me it is 'apparently'

What is the real meaning of どうも?

どうも has many different meanings depending on the context; it's kind of an all-purpose response that you can use in many situations. Or it can be used in a sentence with a number of meanings as well. There is no "real meaning" of どうも without any context; it has too many meanings.

Quick question about this sentence:

「たとえ今が平日の午前三時であろうとも、竜児の技に淀みはなかった。」
"For example, even though it is now 3am on a weekday, Ryuuji's skill doesn't falter".

Is たとえ short for たとえば here, or can you just use directly like this?

EDIT: Nevermind, just saw that たとえ is also an adverb... I thought it was simply a noun, that's why it can be at the start of the sentence like that.

It doesn't mean "for example"; たとえ.....ろうとも means "Even if X happens" or "Even if X is true".

yudantaiteki Wrote:It doesn't mean "for example"; たとえ.....ろうとも means "Even if X happens" or "Even if X is true".

Doh, thanks for the correction.

この電車は二駅おきに止まる
Does this mean, stops at every other station or every third station?

Every third station, according to DBJ. I guess you can see the おき as 置く, to put aside or place. If it's ごとに then it means every other.

仕方がない、それはいかんともしがたい。

What is going on with this sentence? That last part after the comma had me scratching my head in fury. Point me in the right direction, much thanks.

いかんともしがたい　（如何ともし難い）
「することが難しい」の意。