There are some kanji that bug me, I'll use the example of 海 which mostly is written like this http://kaimm.files.wordpress.com/200...anji.gif?w=500
However, there are some fonts that use : 母 (without a change) in it instead, my question is, how much do these differences matter? are some deprecated and other contemporary?
　 　
sorry, I don't know how to google it -.-

Old vs. New.

The bottom part of 「毎」 used to be written as 「母」 ; therefore, 「海」 was written with a 「母」 . If you used that old style of 「海」 in school or business in Japan, you would surely be corrected because that is not how the kanji appears in textbooks (or newspapers, magazines, legal papers, etc.).

However, if you used it in a form of artistic expression like calligraphy, you would just look cool.

Thank you. This fits the larger context perfectly. :D

For one second I thought I made a stupid question, I am glad to know it isn't the case.

I will try my best to follow the contemporary rules, then.

can you translate this for me???
 

It is a father's day Haiku i wrote for my father who is learning japanese...

You are my father
you have given me so much
for this i thank you

happy father's day
I love you
Gina

I'd like it to be in the haiku form if possible...
I appreciate any assistance

love laugh and dream
g

Well, technically it can't take on haiku form because it's not got a nature reference (a requirement), but it can be similar. Here's my one-minute attempt:

父親は (Father,)
たくさんくれて (for giving me much,)
ありがとう (thanks)

I warn you: in Japanese this sounds bland and shitty.

thank you
 

yes I remembered that about haiku being a nature theme... as i was posting this... I had pretty much given up on the haiku think when i realized i had no idea how it was going to translate any way... this is good enough I think my father will appreciate the effort... thank you

love laugh and dream
g

Howdy y'all! Man, I've been too busy here lately. :P Anyway, I have a real quick question; I was reading on ja.wiki about a mangaka and I'm not sure if they're male or female based on what they write/draw :confused: Does 「女性で既婚。」 mean "married woman" or "married to a woman" (probably the former, right?).

Howdy!

Literally, "Female and married." 「で」is the "te-form" of the auxiliary verb 「だ」.

「マサはハンサムで親切だ。」
「カイルは金持ちでカッコいい。」
「ＳＰはきれいで背が高い」

Haha! Love the example sentences :D I should've known that but I'm familiar with 結婚, not 既婚 so I just wanted to be sure.

One more question, not really a language question but more of a living in Japan question... How common are ツツガムシ? I've been working in a heavily wooded area with tornado relief and chiggers are kickin' my butt! Between mosquitoes, biting gnats and chiggers I've probably got 50+ bites on me at the moment. Lie to me and tell me the bugs aren't this bad in Japan! :mtongue:

There ain't no bugs in Japan!

If I were to tell the truth, however, Japan is bugs heaven as it is very humid here. Chiggers are everywhere except in urban areas. Being a central Tokyo resident, all the bugs I ever see are occasional mosquitos and flies in the summer.

Hehe, thanks for the info. I'm just sittin' here itchin' so I was curious. :p
Doesn't sound too bad ;)

Hi, could someone kindly explain to me how do the listeners know if Tanaka spared or saved my life if I say "田中は僕の命を助けた。"?

Context, most likely.

Native speakers would not use the verb 助ける there. We would use 救う in the form of 救ってくれた.

As for your question, KyleGoetz answered it correctly.

help please!
 

im looking to get a tattoo and looking for someone to translate it too japanese please.. it is "what the heart has once known, it shall never forget"

thanks! :)

Literary and proverbial:
心中にて察知したること、是永遠に忘却せず。

Vernacular:
心が一度知ってしまったことは決して忘れられない。

Just an inebriate amateur's attempt, mind you. (Drunk as a skunk but still sober enough to know the first one sounds much better.)

Again, there's a list of reading questions I would like to ask today.

1. http://i.imgur.com/f6s4c.jpg
Just to be sure, does 子年を飾る means "to adorn the year of the rat"? Also, does ご覧あれ means "behold"?

2. ではロミオとジュリエットの劇をするにあたって説明と 皆さんの自己紹介を行います
Can someone tell me what にあたって might mean in the sentence above?

3. http://i.imgur.com/WDOVj.jpg
Does the line 学生がしてもいいとお思いですか mean "do you think students can do that"?

4. http://i.imgur.com/P3cik.jpg
a/ I know this is troublesome, but can someone read the part between 何 and でもあるのでしょうか in the first panel? I totally can't read those words at all.
b/ Does お相手の方 mean "the acting partner" in this contex?

5. http://i.imgur.com/8X0up.jpg
a/ Just to be sure, does 女の子に囲まれて困ってるかもしれないし means that 瑞穂 is probably in trouble being surrounded by girls at the moment?
b/ Does the structure AがてらB mean "do A and B at the same time"? How is it different from ながら?
c/ 帰ろ is the girl's way of saying 帰ろう, correct?

1. Yes + Yes.

2. It means "regarding ~~~".

3. Yes. "Do you think it's okay for students to (kiss)?"

4a. 「何やら問題でもあるのでしょうか」

4b. Yes.

5a. Yes.

5b. Best question so far!! There is a big difference.

ながら = doing two things simultaneously
がてら = doing Thing B (secondary purpose) on the occasion that you do Thing A (main purpose)

5c. No. It's used by both men and women when speaking colloquially.

Hey guys it's me again I've been gone for a little bit. I was going over my lessons in Genki to do some review and started to learn kanji since in lesson 3&4 start to use it. I'm learning the grammar for があります. Here some practice sentences I made.
1)わたしはねこがあります。-I own a cat.
2)リーさんはいぬがありますか。-lee do you have a cat?
3)わたしは本があります。( I wanted to try some kanji I learnt, hope I used it right) I own a book.
4)わたしはテレビがありません。 I don't have a t.v

A cat is a living creature, so it doesn't あります anywhere. It いますs all over the place, though!

Thanks for the explanations, KyleGoetz and masaegu.

Sry for the late reply I get what I did wrong I should have read alittle bit more :)

Thanks again for the reply, masaegu :)

I'm adding some questions.

1. http://i.imgur.com/xwf3I.jpg
Just to be sure, does 様子見 mean "checking a person's health condition" in this context?

http://i.imgur.com/MteR0.jpg
2. 言葉のままです
Does this expression mean "it is exactly as I said"? If not, what is its meaning?

Finally, there are some lines I'm not very sure about, so would you mind checking my translations again?

3. あなたがお姉さまにベタベタして他人をよせつけないよ うにしていることわかりませんか
Don't you know that you're clinging to onee-sama and keeping other people away from her?

4. 紫苑さまはお姉さまと他の生徒が交流できるようにして 下さってるのに対してあなたはお姉さまを自分のものだ と思ってらっしゃるように思えます
Shion-sama is doing so that onee-sama and other students can interact. In contrast with her, it appears that you think of onee-sama as your belonging.

5. 何やら問題でもあるのでしょうか
Could there possibly be some problem? {Does 何やら mean the same as 何か?}

1. Exactly.

2. Yes. "You can take it literally."

3. Good.

4. Nice. "Shion-sama is doing what she can so that ~~"

5. Those are synonymous with the former sounding a little softer than the latter.

Quick question I want to say I have 5 little brothers can I write it like this??
わたしは五おとうとがいます。

In Japanese, you need to use a counter. You cannot say "(number) + noun" like you do in European languages. The counter for people is 人（にん）.

(わたしには)おとうとが５人（ごにん）います。You can drop the pronoun + particle. If you must use a subject (noun or pronoun), use には instead of just は because that is what sounds more natural.

Exceptions:
If you only have one or two little brothers, use 「ひとり」for one and 「ふたり」for two instead of ５人. For more than two, it is " (number) + 人（にん）.

「おとうとが５人います。」 is the most natural-sounding way to say this. Notice the difference in the structure between Japanese and English.

「５人のおとうとがいます。」 would be the "English way" to say it but not in Japanese. This one is not incorrect but it does not sound as natural as the sentence above.

Learn the kanji 「人 = person」as it is super-easy.

Thx for the explanation Im going copy and paste this so I can come back to if i need help for next time lol.

Sry for the double post I want to see f my self intro is good this time. I hoping no mistakes:vsign: .

はじめまして、わたしはロバートです。わたしはにじゅ ういっさいです。わたしはまいにち本をよみます。わた しはときどきえいがをみます。わたしはよく水をのみま す。

No mistakes for sure. If, however, the question had been: "Do Japanese-speakers speak/write like that?", then I am afraid I would have to say 'no'.

Many of us would use the pronoun only once at the most to say what you said. Some would not use it even once because your reader/listener knows exactly who you are talking about.

You made no mistakes and I personally know that you have been studying very hard. We just do not have a "me-me-me" culture over here. I would suggest that you drop all the 「わたしは」's except, perhaps, the third one.

Ok So when I'm talking about myself I can drop all the わたしは. Can you explain why I would keep it on the third one though?I really do appreciate all the help u are giving me.

No. You drop the subject whenever it's obvious what you're talking about. It's like in English you're allowed to say "Going to the mall?" and it's obvious you mean "Are you going to the mall?" You're allowed to drop the subject (and auxiliary verb).

(日本人が少ないところ)
Is this like "Japan-town?"

Where in the world did you get that translation? It literally means "a place of few Japanese people."

I was just getting the likes of "small" and "japanese place."

Wings, I thought you lived in Japan...? O:

Literally;
日本人 Japanese people
が are
少ない few/scarce
ところ place
"A place where Japanese people are scarce." / "A place where there are few Japanese people."
Here, 「日本人が少ない」 is an adjective clause modifying 「ところ」.

Could someone give me a couple sentences using 横切る？

I looked it up on Space Alc and it gave ～の前を横切る as one of the examples saying it meant "cut across in front of". I thought maybe a sentence like this would work: 堀川今出川の前を横切る for "cut across Horikawa Imadegawa (street)" as if you were giving directions or something. When I looked up the phrase on google it was giving me things like カメラの前を横切る and コーラの前を横切る... I can understand the camera one I guess, but cola? I know I'm not giving any context, but I guess my real question is whether or not I used it correctly when making my own sentence.

よろしくお願いします～

Edit: Would something like 堀川今出川を横切る by itself just be better?

It's better. With の前 it means "to cut in front of" (like for the camera, you understand).

To say "cross the street," you'd say 通りを横切る as per Eijiro.

Initially, I was going to say that was an impossible phrase but after a moment of reflection, I could imagine a situation where one might say it. That is when talking not about a person but a small bug or toy car passing by a can or glass of coke. I know what I am saying sounds straining, though.

That is because I thought a change of pace might be a nice touch in there. You could rattle off the 5 things about yourself without using a pronoun once. However, all the sentenecs are very short; therefore, leaving one of the pronouns would make the over-all flow a little better.