qwertyytrewq wrote:

人[ひと]は 見[み]かけに<b>よらない</b>な。
You can't judge people by their appearance.

Which yoru does the verb to judge come from?

'Judge' is just one way to translate it, but による in this case serves the purpose of indicating something from which you can make a judgement or conclusion on, like 'based on', 'depending on' or 'according to'.

So it's like saying you can't only depend on a person's looks before judging them, or people don't conduct themselves according to/based on how they look, so you can't just judge them on looks alone.

'According to' can also fit another definition which looks similar to による (によると), so it's easy to confuse them.

天気予報によると、明日は雨のち曇りだそうです。

This one is used more to indicate something you've heard externally (the weather report in this case), rather than a decision based on your own judgement.

Last edited by CaLeDee (February 13, 7:41 am)

That is, the positive version of the sentence, an incomplete fragment, 人は見かけによる, would mean something like "people vary according to their appearance..."

That's not a fragment; よる is a normal verb so it can appear at the end of the sentence.

yudantaiteki wrote:

That's not a fragment; よる is a normal verb so it can appear at the end of the sentence.

I phrased that badly--fragment is a somewhat technical term and it's not really what I meant.  I meant that for some reason that sentence seemed strange to me without something after it (even if it is indeed a complete sentence grammatically).  Maybe 人は見かけによるものだ or something.  But looking at it now I realize I'm really not sure if one is more natural than the other, especially since in the negative it didn't need anything after it.

Last edited by Tzadeck (February 13, 9:09 am)

Taurus wrote:

Sorry, by nuance, I meant a widely-accepted nuance. ie. is it a widely-used set phrase? Does it have a specific meaning in the context of business jargon/slang?　

Here is the original context though (the narrator is describing a meeting between his company - an ad agency - and another - a lingerie manufacturer):

メーカーの広報と交通広告代理店の営業という職種の違いこそあれ、立場は似たようなものなのだろう。いわゆる「お供の若手」というやつだ。

In case anyone was interested, I solved this. I thought the speaker was comparing the manufacturer and the agency; in fact he is comparing himself and his counterpart in the meeting, and he is saying that although they are just tagging along to accompany their bosses (although he goes on to say that his counterpart is taking a much more active role in the meeting). So I guess there is no real nuance!

Hi Kuzonoha13, congratulations on your vocab progress. Since it sounds like this is your first time really getting in to native media I just wanted to share some general advice before getting in to the specifics of your questions. Some of it might be obvious or just plain wrong, but hopefully it will be helpful.

Firstly, the language level is obviously going to stay pretty much the same throughout, so the amount you need to make sure you understand before moving on can be drastically reduced. If you move on without understanding something in a textbook you can quickly find yourself getting left behind as it asks more and more of you, but with a VN there's absolutely no reason to think that the next section will be any more difficult than the last, so if something's giving you trouble just make sure you understand enough of the plot to follow what's happening and move on. If you're really stuck you can just move on and hope to pick up on what's happening anyway, but if there is one available I'd recommend you use a translation to fill the gaps, since that will ensure you always know what's happening which will make things much easier and more enjoyable.

Inference also goes a long way towards making something comprehensible, even at the higher levels (I bet even in English you find yourself relying on it, especially in noisy situations). It can be hard starting a new series (let alone a new series set in a culture your not familiar with and told through a medium you've not tried before), because you simply have no idea what to expect anyone or anything to say, but as you learn more about the plot, characters and setting (not to mention the writer's personal lexicon and idiosyncrasies), things will get a lot easier.

Finally, most difficult sentences are difficult because they contain multiple "easy" things that you still haven't quite got the hang of yet. Your brain can only cope with so much at one time so trying to parse a sentence containing multiple words/grammar points you're not completely comfortable with can be like trying to scoop your eyes out with a too small spoon, but as you get more practice with their component parts, these sentences will also start to fall in to place. This is another reason not to waste time on things you can't understand.

Okay, on to your actual questions:

1) 配置されているキャラがそれぞれの個性により自己主張をし、様々な変化を呼ぶ仕組み。
(This game is) designed in such a way that each of the characters spread (throughout this world) have their own personal traits through which they assert their individuality and undergo various changes. 　I think 呼ぶ is probably a typo here?

3)あっというまに攻略できる人もいればじっくりいかないといけない人もいるわね。
While there are people people you can capture almost instantly, there are also those with whom you must go slowly.
I think think the 攻略 meter is being used as a countdown to say that the more you get someone to like you the closer you are to "capturing" them.
いかない＝行かない = Not go
じっと行かない　＝　Not go slowly/carefully
いけない　＝　Bad/unacceptable
Xといけない＝　It's unacceptable to do X
じっといかないといけない　= It's unacceptable to not go slowly.

2) 攻略できるHPが少ないからと言ってふらふらと油断していると痛い目にあうかもね
I'm not really sure about this one since it seems to be talking about game mechanics which I know nothing about, but...
You might get in trouble if you say, "I can capture them because their HP is low" and thoughtlessly let your guard down.

Sorry this ended up so long. Hopefully you think it's worth reading anyway.

Last edited by Splatted (February 20, 9:01 am)

Splatted wrote:

I think 呼ぶ is probably a typo here?

or an idiom

Thanks for the tips! I did go through about a dozen volumes of Yotsuba&. It wasn't too hard, but I think that it's generally agreed upon to be on the easier side of things. This is proving to be more of a challenge, but the trade-off is that I'll (hopefully) learn a bit more. I also found a few items covered in the Dictionary of Advanced Grammar, which I had initially underestimated for not being as useful as the previous two (at the time). But it's probably worth it now to go back over it. I think what Splatted said about having multiple small things add up is an accurate explanation of my experience right now. But thanks to everyone for the translations, they've been very helpful.

なぐる, maybe?

Last edited by yudantaiteki (February 21, 6:33 pm)

What does 上り電車 mean, and in what ways is it used? There's a Core sentence これは上り電車です, that's translated "this train is going downtown".

I'm officially dumbfounded.

Stansfield123 wrote:

What does 上り電車 mean, and in what ways is it used? There's a Core sentence これは上り電車です, that's translated "this train is going downtown".

I'm officially dumbfounded.

I think it's just Tokyo-bound train, both 上り and 下り can be used to mean something like "up-town" and "down-town" (respectively) bound train/bus.

Last edited by afterglowefx (February 24, 11:03 pm)

afterglowefx wrote:

howtwosavealif3 wrote:

Naguru is punching like in a fight. So if they're punching you can say that

Tataku is hit
You could also say 手を出すな it has the other meaning about being violent besides the literal meaning which is also a valid use of this phrase
You could say 暴力は something

You could just say やめろ やめて instead of being specific

Yeah, my usual go-to is やめなさい or just 何々はだめ but sometimes I need to be specific, especially when they like to pretend they didn't do anything. I hadn't heard of 手を出す, I'll try that out and see if I get any funny looks. Thanks!

You'd probably get a confused look or two..
手を出す has the nuance of starting or getting involved so it would be odd to use after they'd already started smacking each other. If they aren't actually punching each other then たたく is the precise verb you want. 喧嘩するな works too, of course. For those general fighty times.

Inny Jan wrote:

afterglowefx wrote:

Stansfield123 wrote:

What does 上り電車 mean, and in what ways is it used? There's a Core sentence これは上り電車です, that's translated "this train is going downtown".

I'm officially dumbfounded.

I think it's just Tokyo-bound train, both 上り and 下り can be used to mean something like "up-town" and "down-town" (respectively) bound train/bus.

Just to clarify:
下り電車 - train going from the city center
上り電車 - train going towards the city center (downtown) (I guess this one is counter-intuitive...)

So this is Tokyo-only, or is it used in any city?

"kaesanee" is the "tough"/slangy version of "kaesanai", which is the negative form of the verb "kaesu" = "to let someone return". You are probably familiar with the verb "kaeru" = "to return"; "kaesu" is the transitive version of that verb.

"ikashicha" is slang for "ikashite". "Ikasu", in this context, means "to let live" (it's the transitive version of "ikiru" = "to live").

(Sorry for the romaji; in the office without a Japanese IME.)

Edit: I wrote originally that "ikashicha" was "ikashite shimau"; that was a mistake. Apologies.

Last edited by fzort (February 25, 7:31 am)