Japanese Help Questions/Translations

[Rogozhin]

Originally Posted by Crani

Wow... Thank you very much, but is there any special reason for it to be there?

To be honest, I'm not so sure. I'd say that the よ here seems to make it more of a forceful plea.

[Crani]

Thank you very much for your help.

[Brigitta]

Hello everyone!

I'm kinda new to the Japanese language,just finished Hiragana and getting into grammar and stuff,please excuse the simplicity of my question.

I have been reading and writing some expressions and sentences and I have seen that for example こんにちは is written with は,but no many how many times I listen to voice tracks,I keep hearing "wa".
The same for the particle は that shows who the subject of the sentence is.I keep hearing "wa".

Is it really pronounced wa but written は ?

(Sorry,I had to ask,it is banal,but it's killing me.)
The same goes for を,which seems to have more ambiguity in its pronunciation.Is it just me,but sometimes I hear a "wuo"-like sound where を is written,other times it's just "o"(for example when the word ends in "o").

Thanks.

[Nagoyankee]

Originally Posted by Brigitta

Hello everyone!

I'm kinda new to the Japanese language,just finished Hiragana and getting into grammar and stuff,please excuse the simplicity of my question.

I have been reading and writing some expressions and sentences and I have seen that for example こんにちは is written with は,but no many how many times I listen to voice tracks,I keep hearing "wa".
The same for the particle は that shows who the subject of the sentence is.I keep hearing "wa".

Is it really pronounced wa but written は ?

(Sorry,I had to ask,it is banal,but it's killing me.)
The same goes for を,which seems to have more ambiguity in its pronunciation.Is it just me,but sometimes I hear a "wuo"-like sound where を is written,other times it's just "o"(for example when the word ends in "o").

Thanks.

Welcome to the world of our language.

Let me first assure you that you appear to have healthy ears. You are hearing the sounds in question correctly.

The hiragana は is always pronounced 'wa' when it's used as a particle. Elsewhere it's　always pronounced 'ha'. Please note that there exists no exception to this rule.

What may have confused you is that fact that the final はin the phrase　こんにちは is actually a particle. I don't know why but I've met many second- or third-year Japanese-learners from outside of Japan who still didn't know this.

The same goes for を. This kana is only used as a particle in Modern Japanese. Its pronunciation is the same as お in almost any natural settings.

The exceptions where the kana を is pronounced 'uo' are as follow.

1. In grade 1 or 2 in elementary school, some students still make a mistake of using お in place of を. When the teacher notices and corrects it verbally to the student, s/he will be likely to say, "Please use 'uo' instead of the regular 'o'."

2. In singing, を is sometimes pronounced 'uo' or in a cross between 'uo' and 'wuo'. That is done especially when the kana is on a longer note and therefore has to be elongated. Please remember, however, that you will sound very strange if you did that in normal speech.　　

[82riceballs]

Recently, at the Narita Airport, I bought a duty-free copy of the comic, Doraemon, a long-time favorite. What's different about it is that it includes both English & Japanese.

After reading the first few pages, I have a few questions:

1. After the main character, Nobita, is surprised by Doraemon's sudden appearance, he asks a bunch of questions. Doraemon replies: 「いっぺんにきかれてもこまるな。」 which is translated as "I can't answer all those questions at once."
--------A) What is this sentence translated literally? Is it "it's hard to listen to these questions at the same time"?
--------B) Is "kikareru" the "rareru" form of "kiku"? Why is this form needed?
--------C) Is "-temo komaru" a sentence structure?

2. 「きみは年を取って死ぬまで、ろくなめにあわないのだ。」
I understand what the sentence means, but what "me" is this? Does it mean "experience"?

3. 「人に運命なんか、わかってたまるか！！」 translated as: "Nobody knows my fate!!"
What does "tamaru" mean? for some reason, the dictionary definitions don't seem to apply to this sentence.

[Nagoyankee]

Originally Posted by 82riceballs

1. After the main character, Nobita, is surprised by Doraemon's sudden appearance, he asks a bunch of questions. Doraemon replies: 「いっぺんにきかれてもこまるな。」 which is translated as "I can't answer all those questions at once."
--------A) What is this sentence translated literally? Is it "it's hard to listen to these questions at the same time"?
--------B) Is "kikareru" the "rareru" form of "kiku"? Why is this form needed?
--------C) Is "-temo komaru" a sentence structure?

2. 「きみは年を取って死ぬまで、ろくなめにあわないのだ。」
I understand what the sentence means, but what "me" is this? Does it mean "experience"?

3. 「人に運命なんか、わかってたまるか！！」 translated as: "Nobody knows my fate!!"
What does "tamaru" mean? for some reason, the dictionary definitions don't seem to apply to this sentence.

1. A) That sentence sentence actually means "I'm having a hard time being asked (all these questions) at once."

1. B) Yes, it is the rareru-form. As to why, I don't really think someone advanced as you is new to this form. The passive voice sounds much softer in this kind of a situation so that you can keep the sentence short and subject-free. We avoid constructing long sentences using more than one pronoun. (We actually don't want to use even one pronoun in most of the things we say). In other words, a sentence like "You did ABCD, so I now feel WXYZ..." sounds wordy and awkward to us in casual speech. By using the passive voice, we can shorten it to just "いっぺんにきかれてもこまるな"　with no subect or no object whatsoever. This is NATURAL Japanese at its best.

1. C) Yes and you will hear it used VERY often.

2. Yes, if you had to translate め all by itself, it would be 'experience'.

3. Verb + たまるか = There's no way I (or someone) will (Verb). It's hard to translate the たまる part by itself. In fact, we don't use it by itself.

[Brigitta]

Originally Posted by Nagoyankee

Welcome to the world of our language.

Let me first assure you that you appear to have healthy ears. You are hearing the sounds in question correctly.

The hiragana は is always pronounced 'wa' when it's used as a particle. Elsewhere it's　always pronounced 'ha'. Please note that there exists no exception to this rule.

What may have confused you is that fact that the final はin the phrase　こんにちは is actually a particle. I don't know why but I've met many second- or third-year Japanese-learners from outside of Japan who still didn't know this.

The same goes for を. This kana is only used as a particle in Modern Japanese. Its pronunciation is the same as お in almost any natural settings.

The exceptions where the kana を is pronounced 'uo' are as follow.

1. In grade 1 or 2 in elementary school, some students still make a mistake of using お in place of を. When the teacher notices and corrects it verbally to the student, s/he will be likely to say, "Please use 'uo' instead of the regular 'o'."

2. In singing, を is sometimes pronounced 'uo' or in a cross between 'uo' and 'wuo'. That is done especially when the kana is on a longer note and therefore has to be elongated. Please remember, however, that you will sound very strange if you did that in normal speech.　　

Thanks for your fast and accurate reply

I listen to Japanese music a lot these days,well I started with the music first,then language learning,and I instinctively try to break down everything that I hear in kanas and to just recognize the sounds of the words.
That may be why I got used to hearing "uo" and was surprised when I didn't hear it in spoken language.

[82riceballs]

Nagoyankeeさん、 私の質問に答えてくださってありがとうございました！ ！

質問がもう少しあります (hope what I said makes sense )

1. Doraemon pops out of the drawer, and says 「ぼくだけど。」, translated as "It's me."　
What is the purpose of だけど here? Would ぼくだけだ also suffice?

2. After Nobita says 「人の運命なんか、分かってたまるか！！」, Doraemon says 「それがわかるんだ。どうして分かるかというとだね。」 translated as "But I know your fate. Do you wanna know the reason?"
What is the purpose of かというと?

3. Nobita's grandson tells him that Doraemon is going to take care of Nobita from now on. Then he adds　「ぼくがついてればいいんだけど、いそがしいもんでね。」 translated as "I wish I could do it myself, but I'm busy."
------A) What is the meaning of "tsuku" in this sentence?
------B) What is the meaning of "de"? I've never seen someone end a sentence with "de"... is it like "desu" and "da"?

[Lolx5]

what does ossan mean?

[VanFersen]

Hi first,

I really need your help and it is really really urgent.
Because time is not on my side

So here the facts:

I won 2 japanese games in an auction at ebay.The seller is japanese and it is really hard to get in contact with him because it seems that his english is not that good.

I bought these articles 1 week ago and after a week I was finaly at the point where the seller finaly sended me the right payment bill.
But now another problem came up....now it is Paypal.
It seems that the methods paypal are using are gettin quiet harsh these days and it is really not correct how they handle their consumers.

Because last week I bought something and paid with paypal but then a message from paypal apeard and they told me "We have to do a routine security checkup which could take 5-7 working days".....great I was not happy about it and it really took exactly one week.
So and yesterday I wanted to pay something new again and the same message came up. So I canceled the tranfer for now because I want to contact the seller again because I have to tell him that it maybe could take another week to receive his money and that it is not my fault.

But I am sure that he wouldn't understand it if I try to write it in english.

So I really need your help and this as fast as possible.Sorry for the pressure but it is really urgent.

So this is ca. the text which should be in this mail:

"Hi
I am really sorry for these missunderstandings and these problems which came up.But now we have another problem and I wanted to inform you about it.
It seems that paypal is acting quiet strange these days because I tried to pay for the games yesterday through paypal but then a message was shown.
Paypal said that they have to do a routine security checkup first before you will receive the money and this could take 5-7 working days.
I don't understand why this is happening.I am a paypal client for a long time and not since yesterday but this is now the second time this happens in the last to weeks. But before that I never had such problems before.

So my idea is.Before we finaly pay it and you have to wait a long week for your money ...we can try something.
Because it seems that paypal is doing this just when the prize is too high....what ever that means because I don't think that 90 dollars is too high.
Anyway.Could you send me the payment for each game seperately.That means 2 payments? because then the prize would be lower and maybe then I can pay for it without the delay. But after I paid for every of these 2 games please ship them to me together not seperately.

I just want to pay them seperately not send them seperately.
But I can't guarante that it will work.
If it is not working then I will pay the items together that means 90 dollars together.It is just an option because I also want my games as soon as possible like you want your money.

So I really put a lot of work into it to get these games and to conect you.Some people helped me to translate this message into japanese because I can only speak english or german.
So I can't write you in japanese again this will be the last time.
I really want that games and I hope you will not cancel our sale contract.
And finaly if it is not that big problem could you maybe write down a cheaper prize onto the top of the packaging note because of the taxes.That would be great. Something like 30 dollars would be the best.

Thank you in advance

best regards

Arashi_kishu"

So this would be the message.I am sorry it is quite a lot but I hope it will be no problem.If it is not exactly what I wrote then it is ok too.It is only important that the sense what I want to say is correct and that he knows what I want.

I really would be very thankful....very very thank full
So please help me out.

Thank you a lot in advance

VanFersen