数年前に大きな病気をして以来、健康に注意するようになった。

In the phrase above, would it be interpreted as the speaker having contracted the illness, or just having observed an illness in general (i.e. on the news) and subsequently decided to pay closer attention to his health?

病気をする is 'to get sick, get an illness' so the speaker had an illness.

just a small correction re: 多分今週は穏やかに過ごせるかな？

tzadeck Wrote:So, it means, "I wonder if (and think that probably) this week will be able to pass calmly."

it actually means "I wonder if (i'll) be able to spend (pass/get through) the week calmly." 過ごす is transitive.

TheTrueBlue Wrote:我々の業界ではご褒美ですとは、一般的に見ればとてもご褒美とは思えない行為が相手やそれを受ける人物によってご褒美に昇華するという他殺志願者業界御用達のタグである。

tough sentence to translate. This is my take:

"In our business, 'it's a reward' is a tag within transactions in the business of murder applicants (people requesting to be murdered), actions that cannot generally be thought of as a reward (getting murdered) become (depending on the perpetrator and victim) a reward."

That sentence is pretty hard to make sense of especially without any context but 他殺志願者 means people who want to be murdered.

Yeah, from the google results I can see, 他殺志願者 does indeed mean someone who wants to be killed, not someone who wants to kill others. I saw it used a lot in reference to so-called "suicide by cop" situations.

I just checked the original source. It's a a page describing the tag '我々の業界ではご褒美です' (in our business, it's a reward) used in certain online communities apparently for example in response to pictures etc. I'm not sure exactly how the 他殺志願者業界御用達 fits into that though. Is it just the name of a specific online community or thread or something?

他殺(たさつ） is homicided or muder. A literal translation 他殺志願者 is a person who volunteers commit murder. I would suspect that in the context that it is being used means "a person who wants to make a killing."

Isn't it saying that it's related to bondage materials of some sort? The heading tag for pixiv (perhaps it's sort of like the naming schemes for tvtropes), and then that bit about a murder candidate or whatnot might refer to someone who has a perverse desire to be murdered? Maybe the purveyor stuff refers to the role the tag plays in letting them know to treat the illustration as 18+?

I'm a bit confused about the following sentence from one of the reading exercises in Genki II:

このおもしろい話を落語と言い、落語をする人を落語家と言います。

I figure it says "these amusing stories are called rakugo and the people who do them are called rakugoka". But what are the first and third を's doing? I would have expected が or は.

Elenkis Wrote:I figure it says "these amusing stories are called rakugo and the people who do them are called rakugoka". But what are the first and third を's doing? I would have expected が or は.

「このおもしろい話」 is not the subject, but the object. The subject is unspecified. "[People] call these amusing stories 'rakugo'". If you want to make 「このおもしろい話」 the subject, then, at very least, you should use the passive.

TheTrueBlue Wrote:我々の業界ではご褒美ですとは、一般的に見ればとてもご褒美とは思えない行為が相手やそれを受ける人物によってご褒美に昇華するという他殺志願者業界御用達のタグである。

"Among us, this is a reward" is a tag used among aspiring murderers who, depending on the perpetrator and the victim, elevate to the status of 'reward' actions which normal people would never consider to be rewarding.

iSoron Wrote:「このおもしろい話」 is not the subject, but the object. The subject is unspecified. "[People] call these amusing stories 'rakugo'". If you want to make 「このおもしろい話」 the subject, then, at very least, you should use the passive.

Thanks, but what exactly is the difference between this and a sentence such as: この魚は鯛といいます (from Tae Kim's Guide)?

Your answer makes complete sense but I just hadn't seen という using the direct object marker before, so I guess it threw me off a bit.

It's the same as any difference between を and は; one marks topic or contrast, the other object (typically with a focus meaning like が). を can always be replaced by は with different nuance.

yudantaiteki Wrote:It's the same as any difference between を and は; one marks topic or contrast, the other object (typically with a focus meaning like が). を can always be replaced by は with different nuance.

Thanks, it's still hard to grasp the differences in nuance sometimes but I'm certainly learning a lot. I appreciate the help!

I often say "you might want to come back to this later" to mean "you're probably not advanced enough to understand this yet, or you should at least learn other things first before you learn this." Is there a similar idiom or way to say this in Japanese that is either subtle or idiomatic?

‘Hahaha. You're a thousand years too early to challenge this sentence!’

nest0r Wrote:‘Hahaha. You're a thousand years too early to challenge this sentence!’

I'm thinking 慣れてきたら、こうした方がいいと思います。
But, I'm not sure if there's some sort of idiom or respectful way to say it.

I need some help finding an explanation for 殆ど～ない. In DOAJG i was able to find this grammar point 滅多に～ない listed as 殆ど～ない. According to the book, this grammar point is similar in function to 殆ど～ない. I just wonder if both really are the same. Because if that is the case, i could simply change

交換プログラム以外の大学に留学したい場合は、大学が殆ど何も助けてくれないから、入学申し込みはぜんぜん自分でやらなければならない。

into

交換プログラム以外の大学に留学したい場合は、大学が滅多に何も助けてくれないから、入学申し込みはぜんぜん自分でやらなければならない。

since both would mean the exact same thing one would hardly get any help ... right? Or is there a separate entry in DOB|I|AJG that i just haven't found? If so, please tell me in which of the books i can find it, thank you.

To me, the first one reads as 'hardly offer any help,' and the second 'hardly ever offer any help.' As far as I know, 滅多にない always means 'rarely,' while 殆どない means 'hardly.'

I'm kind of confused with two sentences from Kanzen Master 1kyuu:

収入が増えれば増えたなりに、支出も多くなっていく。

部屋が狭ければ狭いなりに、工夫して使っています。

I'm confused as to what the __-れば__ parts mean. How would these sentences be translated?

ＸばＸほど means "The more...the more" (i.e. "The larger it is, the more it costs" would be　大きければ大きいほど、高くなる)

My memory is a little rusty here but doesn't なりに mean "depending on"? If so I think this basically has the same meaning as the ほど one but more formal or written.

yudantaiteki Wrote:ＸばＸほど means "The more...the more" (i.e. "The larger it is, the more it costs" would be　大きければ大きいほど、高くなる)

My memory is a little rusty here but doesn't なりに mean "depending on"? If so I think this basically has the same meaning as the ほど one but more formal or written.

Ah, so it's like ＸばＸほど? That makes sense. Thanks!^-^

Javizy Wrote:To me, the first one reads as 'hardly offer any help,' and the second 'hardly ever offer any help.' As far as I know, 滅多にない always means 'rarely,' while 殆どない means 'hardly.'

I see. In the example sentences in DOAJG 滅多にない is translated with rarely, hardly, almost never, etc. So am I right in assuming that the only real difference is the frequency of occurence of something?

例: 滅多にない Very rare, hardly ever v.s. 殆どない hardly, rare, ...

Bokusenou Wrote:I'm kind of confused with two sentences from Kanzen Master 1kyuu:

収入が増えれば増えたなりに、支出も多くなっていく。

部屋が狭ければ狭いなりに、工夫して使っています。

I'm confused as to what the __-れば__ parts mean. How would these sentences be translated?

In DOIJG it has many examples of なりに where N1はN2なりに has N1=N2, and it's translated ‘N1's own’, ‘in N1's own way’, etc.; but I think with the ば construction it changes to something more like: ‘in response to ~’

(Source: http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/jlpt1/grammar/usage/ [~なりに / ~なりの section])

nest0r Wrote:

Bokusenou Wrote:I'm kind of confused with two sentences from Kanzen Master 1kyuu:

収入が増えれば増えたなりに、支出も多くなっていく。

部屋が狭ければ狭いなりに、工夫して使っています。

I'm confused as to what the __-れば__ parts mean. How would these sentences be translated?

In DOIJG it has many examples of なりに where N1はN2なりに has N1=N2, and it's translated ‘N1's own’, ‘in N1's own way’, etc.; but I think with the ば construction it changes to something more like: ‘in response to ~’

(Source: http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/jlpt1/grammar/usage/ [~なりに / ~なりの section])

Ah, that's what ば～なりに means! Thanks!