That's a mistranslation.

どんな味がするんですか。 means "what kind of flavor does it have?"

looking at it more literally, 味(flavor) is the subject of the verb する. So it's literally
what kind of flavor does?
する can be used in this way to express the presence of flavors, smells, feelings etc.
eg:
へんな匂いがする。 There is a strange smell.
映画を見たい気がする。 I feel like seeing a movie.

thanks for clarifying that. upon closer inspection of WWWJDIC I see that the ~がする structure meaning "to be sensed" is listed as meaning number 7 under the する entry. 今度に辞書をもっと調べ上げますよ。

another question:

今度の日曜日はどうするつもりですか。
Next Sunday, ___ are you planning to do?

I'm confused as to why どう is used here. Obviously it doesn't mean "how". The response to this sentence is: 「山に登るつもりです。」 (I plan to climb the mountain), which leads me to think どう here is meaning "what", but then, why not simply say 何をするつもりですか。What is the nuance difference between using 何 versus どう to say "what"? Thanks for any responses.

後記: Sorry if I'm seen as "cluttering" this thread with so many questions. I tend to work through my textbook in rapid bursts, then spend several days going through the cards on anki, so I'll soon stop for a while.

@pm215: Thanks for that, I didn't know that was an expression

@vinniram:
どう is an interrogative adverb; so it it raises a question about how something being done. So it is really asking "how" or "in what way" will you "do" this Sunday. I'm not sure about the nuance between 何をする vs どうする. It's just a hunch, but maybe the former is a more direct question than the latter.

大学に入ってからアルバイトをします。
I'll do part time job after I _____ university.


With this sentence, I'm not sure whether 入る here means "to enter" or "to enroll". Does the sentence mean he'll start a part time job after he enrolls at university? Or does it mean he'll go to his part time job after he first goes to uni (as in physically GOES there, i.e. in the morning or something). ヘルプはどうも。

it means enter, but enter as in start or enroll. It's basically saying:
I'll do part time work after I become a uni student.

I came across this word:

電圧電流測定

Is it like a voltameter?

osakajin Wrote:電圧電流測定

Is it like a voltameter?

So I haven't encountered the word before, but googling suggests that it's not really any more than the sum of its parts: voltage and current measurement. That is, it's the act or function of measuring, not an actual instrument, for which you probably want some variant. For example this uses 電圧電流測定計 as a name for what I would call a multimeter (note that that meter includes a resistance function too).

("Voltammeter" to me is a relatively obscure, physics-lab kind of word.)

Google suggests that writing it with a dot: 電圧・電流測定 is quite popular.

きっとゴルフをしたんでしょう。

With this one, I'm not sure why there's a ん between した and でしょう. Without that ん, the sentence will mean "I think he almost certainly did golf."

Is んでしょう some new form of explanatory のだ, but using the "let's" form of the copula? So does it at an explanatory meaning? Thanks for any help.

ん is just short for の here, so it nominalizes what comes before it
（きっとゴルフをしたの）でしょう

でしょう implies conjecture, so "I think" or "I guess", it's not volitional or anything. きっと makes it more certain.

So the sentence means something like:

"He has surely played golf before"

Even though this sounds pretty confident, でしょう implies that it is still speculation.

1) 今でこそ地球が丸いことは子供でも知っているが、コロンブス以前は誰もが地球は平らだと思っていたわけだ。

I'm confused about the "de" here. All I ever heard is 今こそ.
What's the "de" doing there?

2) 我がチームは出だしは好調だったものの、夏場で失速し、シーズンが終わってみれば 、勝率５割を切るという不本意な成績に終わった。

I can't figure out the "owatte mireba" part. Is "-te mireba" some kind of grammar structure? Never seen it before.
Also, why is "ni" used there? I would have used "de" here.

3) 平凡でつまらないかのようにみえる彼らの人生とて起伏がないわけではない。
"tote"? does that mean something like "demo"? (even in there lives, there are ups and downs)

Thanks in advance

Translation check please I'm kind of extrapolating on this usage of ば

「決してわかりやすくはないが、接近すればわかる程度に。」
[This] certainly wasn't easy to understand, but the closer I approached the better I understood.

ビデオやカメラを持っているから多分日本人でしょう。

Can ビデオ by itself mean "video camera"? Because this sentence in my textbook is next to a picture of a man holding a camera and a video camera, but I've never before heard of ビデオ by itself meaning "video camera".

I hope someone can help with a translation of this phrase.

全てをパソコンで制御する関係上, 前面パネルには電源スイッチ以外の操作つまみや表示系がありません

I am most confused by the 関係上, but I am also a little unclear about the meaning of 表示系.

Thanks

FooSoft Wrote:「決してわかりやすくはないが、接近すればわかる程度に。」
[This] certainly wasn't easy to understand, but the closer I approached the better I understood.

逢坂大河は、[決してわかりやすくはないが接近すればわかる程度に]ニヤついていた。

If you were close to her, you could tell it was a smile.

chochajin Wrote:1) 今でこそ地球が丸いことは子供でも知っているが、コロンブス以前は誰もが地球は平らだと思っていたわけだ。

I'm confused about the "de" here. All I ever heard is 今こそ.
What's the "de" doing there?

The first google hit for "今でこそ" is a dictionary entry giving it as an idiomatic usage with a definition of 現在と過去の状態に差があるさま.

Quote:2) 我がチームは出だしは好調だったものの、夏場で失速し、シーズンが終わってみれば 、勝率５割を切るという不本意な成績に終わった。

I can't figure out the "owatte mireba" part. Is "-te mireba" some kind of grammar structure? Never seen it before.
Also, why is "ni" used there? I would have used "de" here.

日本語文法辞典 discusses てみると and てみたら as both marking 発見のきっかけ: 「そのような状況になって発見した」, and I think this is probably more of the same.
On に: に is marking a metaphorical location, where you've ended up. I tend to think of に終わる as "ending in", as in "ending in failure". で would mark *how* something ends ("ending with"), eg 第二次世界大戦が原爆で終わった, or a time: 結局1日で終わったハプニングだった。

Quote:3) 平凡でつまらないかのようにみえる彼らの人生とて起伏がないわけではない。
"tote"? does that mean something like "demo"? (even in there lives, there are ups and downs)

日本語文法辞典 to the rescue again: とて(も) ~= 「であっても」、「それについても他と同様に」; it's a bit formal/written in tone. Compare だって.

iSoron Wrote:逢坂大河は、[決してわかりやすくはないが接近すればわかる程度に]ニヤついていた。
If you were close to her, you could tell it was a smile.

Thank you for your help!


Interesting - so the part that is hurting my brain right now is 「接近すればわかる程度に」. So I understand that "If I approached then to the degree that I understood X". I can't map it to a non-broken meaning though.

I was kind of expecting this to be similar to this grammar, except the two verbs are different in this case, and instead of using ほど it's using 程度.
「勉強をすればするほど、頭がよくなる。」

So there is no such meaning of "getting closer" and "becoming more evident" here? And 「わかる程度に」just refers to the speaker's possibly incomplete understanding ("as far as I understand...")?

FooSoft Wrote:

iSoron Wrote:逢坂大河は、[決してわかりやすくはないが接近すればわかる程度に]ニヤついていた。
If you were close to her, you could tell it was a smile.

Thank you for your help!

Interesting - so the part that is hurting my brain right now is 「接近すればわかる程度に」. So I understand that "If I approached then to the degree that I understood X". I can't map it to a non-broken meaning though.

(This is much easier with the full sentence rather than only part of it :-))
I think you want to parse it like this:
逢坂大河は、(決してわかりやすくはないが) (((接近すればわかる)程度に)ニヤついていた) :
where the bit you're having trouble with goes something like:
she was smiling (to the extent that (if you were close you would realise it.))

In theory I suppose you could parse it as (接近すれば)((わかる程度に)ニヤついていた) "if you got close then (she would be smiling (enough that you would realise it))" but that doesn't make much sense.

Quote:So there is no such meaning of "getting closer" and "becoming more evident" here? And 「わかる程度に」just refers to the speaker's possibly incomplete understanding ("as far as I understand...")?

There's no 'incomplete understanding' either -- see the bracketing above.

pm215 Wrote:(This is much easier with the full sentence rather than only part of it :-))

I agree, except those bits aren't part of the original text just the way they were I believe iSoron inserted those to give a little bit more context to the sentence, as it seems like the sentence was cut out from the one before it, or rather the second sentence gives more detail about the first. I didn't catch this when I was reading, and I was actually a little bit mistified what would come after 程度に.

逢坂大河は、ニヤついていた。決してわかりやすくはないが、接近すればわかる程度に。満腹した猫みたいに線になって細められた目。

Quote:I think you want to parse it like this:
逢坂大河は、(決してわかりやすくはないが) (((接近すればわかる)程度に)ニヤついていた) :
where the bit you're having trouble with goes something like:
she was smiling (to the extent that (if you were close you would realise it.))

In theory I suppose you could parse it as (接近すれば)((わかる程度に)ニヤついていた) "if you got close then (she would be smiling (enough that you would realise it))" but that doesn't make much sense.

Ah, I see. I was fixated on translating it using the 2nd way, which as you point out is nonsensical and didn't think of the 1st way. I get it now, thanks guys!

osakajin Wrote:I hope someone can help with a translation of this phrase.

全てをパソコンで制御する関係上, 前面パネルには電源スイッチ以外の操作つまみや表示系がありません

I am most confused by the 関係上, but I am also a little unclear about the meaning of 表示系.

関係上 is the combination of the noun 関係 (in the sense which is ~= 影響) and the grammar element 上(じょう). That has a number of meanings, including "from the viewpoint of", and (relevant here) "for the reason of" -- consult a grammar reference for detail (it's in DIJG, for instance). So the meaning of the first clause is roughly "because everything is controlled using a computer", and it's presenting the reason for the rest of the sentence ("the front panel has no display or controls except the power switch".)

表示系 isn't in any of the dictionaries I have to hand but from context it's pretty clearly "display (system)".

pm215 Wrote:関係上 is the combination of the noun 関係 (in the sense which is ~= 影響) and the grammar element 上(じょう). That has a number of meanings, including "from the viewpoint of", and (relevant here) "for the reason of" -- consult a grammar reference for detail (it's in DIJG, for instance). So the meaning of the first clause is roughly "because everything is controlled using a computer", and it's presenting the reason for the rest of the sentence ("the front panel has no display or controls except the power switch".)

表示系 isn't in any of the dictionaries I have to hand but from context it's pretty clearly "display (system)".

Thanks, that's most helpful. I think I get it know.

And one more question:

SN比向上のためのロックイン動作

I'm having a little trouble wrapping my head around the のための bit.

Thanks

osakajin Wrote:And one more question:

SN比向上のためのロックイン動作

I'm having a little trouble wrapping my head around the のための bit.

Thanks

I'm not sure what aspect of のための you're confused about, so I'm a little bit at a loss as to what to clarify, but in case you're having trouble parsing that part, it's "の ため の" both の are particles.

@osakajin

(の)(ため)(の) in this case means "for the sake of". For example:

「外国人のための辞書」"dictionary for foreigners"

ため is just a normal noun.

What does Verbて+来る mean? Examples: 呼んできます、してきます。My textbook uses it but I haven't found any explanation.

てくる -- http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?p...#pid112878

Although without context it's meaning can vary. For instance, with your 呼んでくる, I'm thinking it pretty much means "call and come," as in, for instance, the speaker will leave the current conversation to call someone else, and then return to the original conversation again afterwards.

This use of it is also seen in the familiar "いってきます！" that you say when leaving home. You announce, quite literally, that you will go and come -- leave and return, if you will.

So yeah, without much context, I can't really tell you what use it is, but I'm pretty sure that this is the case this time.