As far as I know, as long as Japan is written in roman letters, the address can be in Japanese. (You probably shouldn't post his real address and name here; I would edit your post and PM someone if you want them to help transliterate that.)

yudantaiteki Wrote:As far as I know, as long as Japan is written in roman letters, the address can be in Japanese. (You probably shouldn't post his real address and name here; I would edit your post and PM someone if you want them to help transliterate that.)

Yeah it can be a bit dodgy posting personal details etc. Just make sure that when you write it out in romaji you keep the -ken, -shi -ku suffixes just to be safe.

Just to add something small: when mailing internationally it's customary to underline the country of destination. So you can print out the address, and write Japan underneath, and that should be good. You don't need to write it in roman letters.

Rayath Wrote:You got the meaning right. 死んだって - だって is colloquial version of でも (たって -> ても), so it's 死んでも.

Ah, so it was a contraction. I didn't know that one. I actually have cheatsheets for stuff like this, but for some reason it didn't occur to me that it was probably a colloquialism :/

Rayath Wrote:Your first question - my guess is that something good came because of all that mess - in the sense that she is now better off. Maybe she understands something better now, or she got some other benefit - some added bonus came with tackling this problem (that's why おつりが来るぐらい - you thought it will leave you worse off, but you even got some change in the end).

I see. I re-read the passage just now and I think your interpretation makes sense. Thanks!

「自分たちの食料さえままならないというのに、・・・」

It goes on, which I understand, but the さえままならない here is confusing me. For some reason さえ in general just confuses me, even though it's basically "even". So, what, "Even if [they] didn't have the food," or something? It goes on to ask how much the people would pay for the food, if that makes sense to anyone looking to help.

ままならない is a unit that means something like "can't even" or "can barely even". Alc has some good examples:

誓いのために食べることもままならないほどである
virtually starve for the sake of one's vow
食べることすらままならない
can't even eat

I don't think the さえ is strictly necessary but it just emphasizes the ままならない -- they don't even have enough food to feed themselves.

Thanks

what does ぞ mean in:

神のみぞが知る。

thanks

mourei Wrote:It means the same thing as いく (it's an alternate reading for 行く)。
The only difference is that ゆく sounds more poetic, and it's often used in for example songs for this reason.

So, just read it as と受け継がれいく意志.

thank you man, nice

errtu Wrote:what does ぞ mean in:

神のみぞが知る。

thanks

ぞ adds emphasis. in this case, to 神のみ.

more: http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/...1122989241

so I'm not a fan of raising the intonation of the end of my plain form sentences to make them into questions. I know that's how many ppl do it but it doesn't feel very natural to me right now... so I've been using (overusing probably) の after them.
but recently a friend told me that 座りたいの？doesn't actually mean "do you want to sit?", but actually is a more pushy kind of "you want to sit down don't you??"... could someone please explain that to me?
thanks,

dtcamero Wrote:but recently a friend told me that 座りたいの？doesn't actually mean "do you want to sit?", but actually is a more pushy kind of "you want to sit down don't you??"... could someone please explain that to me?

If you currently have not yet learned what "の" means, it's probably safest to leave it out. If you leave it out where it would have been better to use it, you'll still be understood, but if you put it in where it doesn't belong, then you will be misunderstood.

"の" has the effect of emphasizing the question in a way that implies that you already know the answer (hence your friend translates it into "don't you?") So a situation you might use this would be if he was looking around for a place to sit.

Since you're then asking the question when you've already observed that your friend does indeed want to sit, this is rather impolite. The usual reaction would be to offer a seat, or tell your guest to sit on the couch and make himself at home. Your sentence therefore suggests a bit of exasperation or at least of not being very welcoming.

Well I feel (or felt) like I had a pretty good handle on that particle and it's potential uses, I'm prob at about N2 level now. But this situation feels like a pretty weird idiosyncratic usage... or it's related to のだ... i.e. an explanatory feeling?
(thanks for your reply by the way)

Do you guys mind putting this in the negative for me?
海外に行くことにした。
(This means I decided I will go abroad, and I'd like "I decided I won't go abroad.")
Is it 'Kaigai ni ikunakushita.', by any chance? (sorry, don't have Japanese imput enabled on this PC).

海外に行かないことにした

dtcamero Wrote:or it's related to のだ... i.e. an explanatory feeling?

Yes, I think it is, although I'd say it's more like an abbreviation of "のか". It sets up an empathetic connection by acknowledging the addressee's observed situation or previous statement.

If you want to see examples, watch any TV show with dialogue, and they should start coming quickly. This is from the first few minutes of last night's Shin Sekai Yori:

野狐丸のことを知ってるの？ ("の" used to acknowledge overhead conversation about 野狐丸)
扉が壊れてるのか？ ("の" used to acknowledge someone who just reported the damage)
じゃあ どうするの？ ("の" used to acknowledge someone's objection to the plan)
何やってんだよ 来ないのか？ ("の" used to address the rest of the group's reluctance to come ashore)

headphone_child Wrote:

errtu Wrote:what does ぞ mean in:

神のみぞが知る。

thanks

ぞ adds emphasis. in this case, to 神のみ.

more: http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/...1122989241

Thanks man, and thanks for the link

Mushi Wrote:

dtcamero Wrote:or it's related to のだ... i.e. an explanatory feeling?

Yes, I think it is, although I'd say it's more like an abbreviation of "のか". It sets up an empathetic connection by acknowledging the addressee's observed situation or previous statement.

If you want to see examples, watch any TV show with dialogue, and they should start coming quickly. This is from the first few minutes of last night's Shin Sekai Yori:

野狐丸のことを知ってるの？ ("の" used to acknowledge overhead conversation about 野狐丸)
扉が壊れてるのか？ ("の" used to acknowledge someone who just reported the damage)
じゃあ どうするの？ ("の" used to acknowledge someone's objection to the plan)
何やってんだよ 来ないのか？ ("の" used to address the rest of the group's reluctance to come ashore)

well thanks a lot... that is pretty helpful. ok I'll keep an eye out. cheers,

Source: subtitles.

The comment is uttered by the mother to his daughter regarding the teacher who has just left their house after escorting the girl back home. Anyway, I just want to know what かって means here.

塾も行かせてないのかって嫌み言われたようなもんじゃない。

か = question particle, って = quote

Ah, I see, thank you!

I posted this a while back, but I don't think I got any responses, so I guess I'll try again.

I'm trying to understand these lines from a song:

我儘はあなたの分だよ
我慢したあなたの分だよ

I understand all the words individually (or I think I do), but I can't figure out what it's supposed to express overall. If more context is needed, here are the full lyrics http://j-lyric.net/artist/a0006e4/l028efa.html or the song itself

headphone_child Wrote:I'm trying to understand these lines from a song:

我儘はあなたの分だよ
我慢したあなたの分だよ

I think it's something like:
The one that was selfish was you.
The one that tried to put up with it was you.

Rayath Wrote:

headphone_child Wrote:I'm trying to understand these lines from a song:

我儘はあなたの分だよ
我慢したあなたの分だよ

I think it's something like:
The one that was selfish was you.
The one that tried to put up with it was you.

Also, note that the way the two original sentences do not have parallel construction, and the second line is a sentence fragment. It implies something like, "You're the one who was selfish, because you're the one who put up with it."

Thanks for the input. I also found this blog post http://blog.livedoor.jp/narasaki_sikari/...60748.html which interprets the song lyrics, including that line:

Quote:「我儘はあなたの分だよ」と優しくささやく一方で、「いっそ殺してくれないか」と切なく叫ぶ。当事者のようでもあり、保護者のようでもあり、どっちつかずの立場を巧みに歌い分けている。不安を嘆いて、不安を慰める。というのが「いつものドアを」の特徴で、背中を押すのではなくて、寄り添ってくれる曲。

　怖いと歌いながら、怖がってもいいけど、怖がることでもないとも歌う。なんというか、とっても優しい曲だと思いました。共感と祝福を同時に込めている印象ですね。そういう意味では、リヴスコールに相応しい一曲なのかもしれません。

I don't know if that helps in interpreting this, but it says that line is gently whispered, in contrast to a different line in the song. And that the song overall is 優しい. It feels like "you're selfish" doesn't really fit that interpretation, but maybe it's something like "you are selfish (but that's ok)" as opposed to "grr you're so selfish". Of course also it's possible that this person's interpretation isn't correct...