It is all about how the "I" is pronounced.

Ivane (rise, prize, fight) = アイヴァニー

Ivane (pick, mix, win) = イヴァニー

No. It was a period.

ahh ok i get it now, thank you very much!

Hi all,

I'm working on translating some dialogue and was hoping someone could help me with one part.

The line is:

ふふふ　い―の　い―の あれくらい!

What does i-no i-no (in bold) mean, or how is it used?

depending on context
it's good/it's fine/that's good/that's fine

Here, the いー is いい (good) and の is a softer (some would say "more feminine") version of よ.

There are some questions I'd like to ask today.

1. シャルの問いかけにたいして、俺は歯切れの悪さを悟ら れないように短く答える。
Can someone please tell me what 歯切れの悪さを悟られないように means? I can find the meaning of each word in my dictionary, but there's no example that is useful enough to help me understand the whole phrase.

2. 家族のこと......もとい、両親に関することは俺と千冬姉 の間では暗黙の了解でタブーになっているところがある 。
Does 間 mean "between (people)" here? And how is it read in the sentence?

1. "so that s/he would not sense the ambiguity in my answer"

2. It is read あいだ. "between 千冬姉 and me"

:eek: I thought it was something related to eating since the characters are having a meal, but it turned out to be something else O_o I have to note this one right away. Thanks again masaegu.

歯切れの良い/歯切れの悪い can mean "crisp/uncrisp", but the (un)crispness of a food item is not something one can 悟る.　悟る is a pretty big word meaning "to perceive (with a great amount of intelligence)".

These phrases are much more often used for their figurative meanings "articulate/ambiguous"

Thank you that clears it up! I had wondered if いー could be いい, and it definitely is a female speaking.

I need help with some dialogue;
「そのすぐ感情的になるところは致命的だ」
I'm pretty sure the speaker is saying "Your quickness to lose your composure will get you killed." but I'm not sure.

Indeed. And for the benefit of learners, 悟, as a kanji, connotes enlightenment or depth of mind.

覚悟 = (mental) readiness
悟り = enlightenment
悟性 = wisdom

Word to word literal translation would be;
"(Your) becoming emotional easily will be fatal".

It is a big problem of you to become so excited at little things.

So you got it right, I think.

Thank you Supperman! I wasn't sure what the literal translation would be so I just went for (what I thought was) the general meaning. Thanks for the translation and second opinion :D

Ok, this is not actually my question, but a question I found in another forum. It got me rather curious. Someone asked for the meaning of the phrase 闘う意味はそれでいい. Now, I have seen and used before Ｘという意味, but never a verb right before 意味. I looked online and I noticed it not an uncommon thing...so now I keep wondering about the meaning. At first sight I would just translate it as "fighting is OK" seeing as 意味 not the grammatical meaning of 闘う, but more a concept/moral meaning...am I far?

Context would be needed if it were available. The phrase is so short and it could mean different things.

The structure of the phrase itself, as you said, is pretty normal.

If I see that, without more context, I would imagine the followings.
意味　here is "大義名分" or "意義”　　or ”理由づけ” "目的".
たたかう意味はそれでいい。
=たたかうことの意味はそれでいい。（たたかうという� �味はそれでいい。）
＝「たたかう」ことの大義名分はそれでいい。　or 「たたかう」ことの意義はそれでいい。
The purpose of the fight is OK.
The reason of the fight is OK.
The significance of the fight is OK.

For example;
「組合員のくらしを守るために闘う。」　闘う意味はそ れでいい。（闘うことの意義についてはそれで良いと認 めてあげますが、）　しかし問題は、タイミングだ。会 社が倒産するかしないかの大事な時にあえてストライキ を起こすのは自殺行為に等しい。しかも集団自殺！

Thank you very much. In effect I was more interested in the form more than the actual meaning (and no sorry I have no more context).
I ignored the fact that for ことの意味 and という意味 I could omit ことの and という.

Hey guys, I had some more listening stuff I wanted to be sure about, if anyone isn't too busy:

1. Dailymotion - Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episode 80 Subbed (1/2) - a Film & TV video

At about 4:30 in that video. I'm trying to listen to the voice that says まったく, but I can't really make out the rest of his line because of the girl's voice, so I was hoping someone might have a better ear. Sounds something like, 「まったく、ででにしちゃって…」 to me, so after a quick lookup, I thought it might have to do with dedication.

2. Dailymotion - 81 qs clip - a Film & TV video

a) At about 0:17, he says, "これこそクイズをたくといわれたぼくの自信のデッキ" (I'm assuming, based on his lack of confidence so far until he gets this game show persona going, that it's 自信 and not 自身.) I was thinking the part in red might be クイズオタク, and since オタク also means "enthusiast", I had it translated as "This is what I call my 'Quiz Buff' deck of confidence." to get the "enthusiast/'geek'" thing across (like how we call people who are into movies "Movie Buffs"). Just wanted a second opinion on this one to make sure I'm hearing it right.

b1) Around 1:12, he says, "おたくが持ってる運や体力なんて生まれ付いてのもの." , and I translated that as "All that luck and endurance you have--you were born with them." Just wanted to get it double-checked.

b2) After that, he says, "そんなものでめだってる方がズルでしょう？", which I translated as "Wouldn't the one standing out with them be the sneaky one?", but I wanted to make sure I was getting めだってる's meaning (and the general gist) right here.

Thanks in advance, as always. =]

まったくデレデレしちゃって is it. :)
クイズおたく is correct.

I don't know the interpretation, because my English is poor.

Good evening everybody :ywave: Need a wee bit of help with dialogue.
「にわかには信じられなかったが
"I couldn't believe it at first but
世に知られていない力は最強の武器だ」
a power unknown to the world is the greatest weapon"

I don't know what 「にわかには」 means, and the way I translated the first line (in bold) doesn't the context well. Thanks as always :D

にわか（俄）には＝immediately, at once, of a sudden

Correct.

You've got it.

Awesome; thanks, you two. =D I'm glad I was at least on the right track with the listening, haha. And Supperman, that's no problem now that I know what it is; I figure "Geez, he's just so lovestruck..." should do the trick. :)

Just a shot without any context...

If it didn't fit the context, it was probably because you translated it with the first-person as the subject, no?

Try and see if "It sounded far-fetched at first." still wouldn't fit there.

Hi, I can across this phrase "オレンジ・ジュースが入ったグラスにストローを挿す (put a straw into a glass of orange juice)", I was wondering if "置く" could supersede "挿す" as "Put" in the above phrase?

こたえます - Answer, Reply, Respond.
返事します - Answer, Reply.

I keep messing them up.
These words seem to be really similar. Does anybody know the difference between them?

No, it could not.

If you said ストローを置く, native speakers would automatically think you are placing it someplace and doing so horizontally. You are not using the straw.

Thanks masaegu.

Very tricky question because you are writing the first one in kana. Which こたえる are you referring to? 答える or 応える?

返事する means "to reply" when your name is called or when you receive a letter/email, etc.

答える = to answer a question

応える = to respond, to react, to reward

Ahh sorry, the IME didn't produce the kanji.

I meant to say 答える

Thank you for the answer.

There's a few questions I would like to ask today.

1. http://i.imgur.com/aJoHb.jpg
ダス〇ンも顔負けです
I'm trying to figure out the censored kana. Does anyone have any idea of what it might be? It doesn't seem to be a sensitive word here.

2. http://i.imgur.com/3Es97.jpg
I'm trying to find out the English name for this kind of confectionary. Is ビスケットサンドアイス the same as this one? Or is it different?

3. 千早さまが通いづらいのなら内部から変えていかねばと 思いまして
Can someone please tell me what it means when a verb in its negative conditional form is used with 思う like in the sentence above?

1. ダスキン
Google and find out what this company does. It should fit the context.

2. That is it.

3. It means "I think I must (verb)".

Once again I cannot understand the difference between these, sorry to bother you.

物静かな性格
or
静かな性格

I can only venture a guess that 物静か is a noun and 静か isn't a noun. I still can't see the difference between the meaning of the na-adjective form. Since 物静か has the kanji 物 on the front, I can only guess that it is as silent as an object.. but that is a far-fetched assumption.

Both are na-adjectives.

The 物 part of 物静か has nothing to do with "object". It is a prefix meaning "somewhat" or "somehow". It is only used with limited words, such as 物静か、物寂しい、物悲しい、物めずらしい, etc.

The difference between 物静かな性格 and 静かな性格 is very subtle. I would say that the former was preferred among better writers/speakers. The former puts a little more emphasis on the "composed" part of the personality while the latter says one is plain "quiet".

The only thing I can figure for #1 is a misspelling of ダスティング (dusting) since she's holding a duster and talking about various household chores. Alternatively, ダスキン, a company that makes dust cloths, and this was done to avoid trademark infringement.

As for #2, the English is "ice cream sandwich." The katakana is ビスケットサンドアイス, an excellent example of 和製英語 in that it is a portmanteau of "biscuit," "sandwich," and "ice cream."

Thanks again for the great help, Kyle and masaegu :D

Hi guys. Are any of you free to have a look at my thread?

http://www.japanforum.com/forum/gene...eo-guitar.html

It's a guitar related video that I need help translating.

Thank you,
E

Hey it's me again the person who ask alot of questions lol. I have 4 sentences I made doing a practice from genki workbook. I just wanna make sure there right thx for the help.


1)きむらさんはねんせいですか。
よんねんせい。
2)きむらさんはせんこうですか。
れきしです。
3)きむらさんはなんさいですか。
じゅうきゅうさいです。
４）きむらさんはでんわばんごうですか。
よんさんのろくきゅういちななです。
Ps. They provided the answer but I had to form the question..

#1 きむらさんはなんねんせいですか。 You need the "nan" there to make it a question!
よねんせいです。 You need to end the sentence with です at this level of "formality." Match です with です.

#2 きむらさんのせんこうはなんですか。Your attempt says "Is Mr. Kimura an academic major?"
れきしがくです。 Your attempt used the word "history" as in actual history as opposed to "the subject history."

#3 correct!

#4 きむらさんのでんわばんごうはなんですか。
As for your answer, it's not a real Japanese phone number, and also there's some weirdish stuff about phone numbers that I can't remember off the top of my head and Google is failing me. Some of the numbers are altered slightly I think. But you got it right that the dash is pronounced の.

Your translation attempt says "Is Mr. Kimura a telephone number?"

You made the same mistake twice. I suggest you re-read how to use the particle の.

Of course, assuming you are speaking about Mr. Kimura or to him about himself already, you don't need to use the の at all, and can just leave きむらさん totally out of the questions:
でんわばんごうは（なんですか）？
せんこうは（なんですか）？

Thx I will re-read the lesson on no particle, but if im talking to the person I dont have to put there name in the question, thats where i was confused.I was going to do it without the name but I thought I would be doing it wrong. Thx for the help it was much needed.