＞cpaoutsourcing
＞I am a native English speaker with a high degree of expertise (former editor of the
＞scholarly journal with a graduate degree-level humanities). I am fluent in Japanese, but
＞not fluently. Take these factors into consideration when I give you good advice in both
＞languages.

→ふいた！

いけいけ～

「ふいた」＝「笑った。」「ものすごくおもしろかった 。」

「ネズミくんふいた」＝'Nezumi-kun' was too funny lol!/What Nezumi-kun just said was so funny lol.

「ふく（吹く）」is a colloquial word used by young people, I think it's a shortened form for 「ふきだす（吹き出す）」, 'to laugh out/let go a suppressed laugh/burst into laughter.'

ガ～ン、そんな意味あったんだあ。ネット用語なのかな 、それともただのジェネレーションギャップ？

ジェネレーションギャップだと思います！(^o^)／うふふ� ��

Thank you. Korean uses the same verb used by young people too, it's normally used for things like this:

뿜다
gush, belch, spout, spurt, fume

매연을 뿜다
emit[discharge] exhaust gas[fumes]

증기를 뿜다
give off steam

열기를 뿜다
radiate[give off] heat

물줄기를 뿜다
send up a column[jet] of water

-------
Korean-Japanese dictionary
뿜다
[타동사]

1.吹ふき出だす; 吹ふく; 噴ふく; 噴出ふんしゅつする; 吐はく。

2.吹ふきかける; 霧きりを吹ふく。

what does this mean?
 

自分の弱さ　知らないままに　ただ"強さ"はきちがえてた


It's from the song "Sylvia" Janne Da Arc　　シルビア - YouTube

自分の弱さ（を）知らないままに Without knowing my weakness
ただ、強さ（とは何かを）はきちがえてた I only misunderstood what it is to be strong

はきちがえる＝履き違える、to misunderstand

Thank you.

I have another question. Can 'kirei' be pronounced like 'kire-'? I'm confused which words ending in 'ei' is pronounced like 'e-' and 'ou', 'o-'.

Yes, it is. A good rule of thumb that will be accurate almost every time (there may be a few examples I can't think of offhand) is: (1) えい＝ええ、おう＝おお; unless (2) the え and い (or お／う) are conceptually "divided."

For example, imagine one kanji that ends with お and the next begins with う. This is the conceptual division I'm speaking of. In that case, it's pronounced おう, not おお. For example, in お歌, the お is the honorific prefix, and 歌 is a separate noun, so they are conceptually distinct things. Thus, they are pronounced おうた and not おおた.

Further, to quote Japanese Wikipedia:

help plz >.<
 

Hello buddies!

Well, taking advantage of this topic, I'd like a little bit of help from you ^^
Here's the deal: I want to make a tatoo with a phrase written in japanese, it's a quotation from Zack Fair, a FFVII character. I've alrdy searched on the internet but couldn't find a reliable answer :(
The phrase in English is "Embrace your dreams."
Besides the translation (in japanese characteres preferably) I'd apreciate some advice about cool font styles ^^

Thank you!

Arigatou gozaimasu.

So I had no trouble translating this piece, but the way this character talks strikes me as odd. Given what Masaegu said earlier about the continuative vs. -te form, I'm wondering where this kind of language falls in the grand scheme of things:

Or am I hallucinating and this is normal? I can't even put my finger on what's different about it. Maybe it's just odd because I've been weaned on netspeak?

edit: I lie, there are a lot of things I could point to that strike me as odd, now that I'm reading more of her dialog. She likes に and で in preference to... any other connective, her sentences generally have more clauses than I'm used to, she's fond of using nouns where I would expect verbs, and what she says is extremely vulnerable to back-to-front translation, it's creepy.

(And, hey, just in case I screwed up completely, if you could translate it for me too?)

I am going to say with total confidence that there is no unnaturalness or peculiarity, let alone "mistakes" in this writing except for the absense of periods in the first two sentences, which I cannot imagine is the author's mistake (but your own).

This author appears incomparably more trained in prose writing than the author of the piece that you showed us in your first post here.

Despite your claims, I find no instances where　に or で is used for a connective in the writing. None. The sentences have very few clauses in them, three at the most, to be exact, which is far from unusual. Where did you learn that one would use so many verbs in Japanese? You expect the use of many verbs in Japanese or in your native language?

I am willing to translate this only if you yourself take the time to do it first.

I never suspected there were mistakes in it, and I'm very sorry if I implied I thought there were. It's just not a writing style I'm used to. I had two choices: It's simply everyday formal writing, or it's slightly old fashioned writing, either way would suit the character delivering it. I'm constantly embarrassing myself by making guesses and being corrected, I was hoping to word my question as neutrally as possible, but have failed. In retrospect I see I shouldn't have used the word odd. It is different from what I'm used to. I apologize.

If this is normal, everyday, formal Japanese, I love it. It's been some of the least frustrating translating I've done in a while. I don't see a lot of formal writing. They never teach formal writing. While it's true I only took two semesters of Japanese, I'm confident I could've taken two more and never seen anything like this. It's odd to me because they teach Japanese strangely in the US, not because it's odd Japanese.

Thank you for your help in this.

The writing style used is not "old". It reads like it has been written within the last few decades. People write like this today and people wrote like this 30-40 years as well. It may well be a story from long ago as suggested by the use of the words 「寺子屋」, 「妖怪」 and 「妖精」, but the writing style itself is something any average contemporary junior high school student could read with ease.

Regarding the formality, it is not too formal or informal. It is right down the middle even though only three lines have been given. It is very concise and clear if anything.

I have already discussed the tenses used in stories with you, so I will skip it this time.

Again, I have some questions on casual Japanese in a manga I'm reading.

1. http://i.imgur.com/Fl4KV.jpg
Does コースをふさぐな mean "don't get in my way"?

2. http://i.imgur.com/QQeXt.jpg
a/ What does の身にもなって mean?
b/ Does the girl mean 根性?
c/ Is ものっそい = ものすごい?

3. http://i.imgur.com/GVbph.jpg
a/ I would like to ask about the use of なかれ. Does it always come after a verb in dictionary form? And when do Japanese people use it?
b/ Are 迷わス行ケヨ行ケパわかるサ two separate lines : 迷わず行けよ and 行けばわかるさ?

4. http://i.imgur.com/UbgO1.jpg
Is スーハー here something like せーの?

5. http://i.imgur.com/Qio31.jpg
May I ask what クル means here?

1. Yes. "Do not block my course."

2a. It means "Try to think from the bike's standpoint."
2b. I would say yes though I do not have much context.
2c. Exactly.

3a. No, not always. なかれ follows two things.
1. Verbs in dictionary forms.
2. Verb + こと
We use なかれ when we want to sound dramatic or "cool" in an educated way.
3b. Correct.

4. No. It is what they say when they practice karate punches. Kind of like "One, two."

5. "To be effective".

あの。。。
 

まさえぐさんは、どうやって英語がそんなに上手ですか 。is this right?

what is the difference between these two
 

韓国人友達たちがいるんですか
韓国人友達がいますか

練習は普通いくら長い間しますか?
 

Is that how you say 'How much do you practice usually?'

"When you practice how long do you practice?" is what I want to say.

No. Instead, (depending on what type of practice we're talking about here) 練習は何時間がかかりますか。
or
練習はどのくらい時間がかかりますか。
etc.

時間がかかる here means "time is spent," so the question is literally "As for practice, how much time is spent?"

Thanks again for the help masaegu :)

Now for today's questions, if you don't mind.

1. http://i.imgur.com/COPms.jpg
Do you know what she is referring to by キャプチュート? As for キトクラッチ, could it be "Kido clutch"?

2. http://i.imgur.com/OfZjW.jpg
a/ Does 「ン」ってついた mean "ended with ン?"
b/ What does the author mean by 多分「民明書房」あたりには載っている? It looks to me like "probably can be found in Minmei Shobou", but I'm not really sure.

3. The first sentence looks obscure to me. Can you tell me what it means?

4. http://i.imgur.com/3CCOv.jpg
Does まさかとは思うが… mean "I'm wondering, but..."?

5.a/ Does 週マガ mean "weekly magazine"?
b/ The phrase 読みきり出張致します is bugging me. Does it mean that a side story will be published?

I do not mind but I want you to know that I neither read manga nor watch pro-wrestling, so I had to google a lot to answer them.

Both appear to be the names of pro-wrestling attacks. I think the first one is
"Captured" but I cannot confirm it anywhere. The second one is Kido Clutch, which was invented by a Japanese wrestler named Kido.

a. No. It means "There is a ン in it."
b. That is what it means. BUT 民明書房 is an imaginary publishing company that seems to be used a lot in manga.

別マガ　＝　別冊少年マガジン
Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am only guessing. I know NOTHING about manga. I guess the first phrase means "Both 別マガ and the 単行本 from the 別マガ hit the bookstores on the 9th of each month."

Not really. Your TL does not carry the connotation of まさか.
"I don't think it is the case, but (aren't you thinking that ~~~?)"

a. No. "The Weekly Shounen Magazine", not any weekly magazine.
b. It means that a special complete short story of 『一路平安！』 will appear in the 週マガ44号.

「まさえぐさんは、どうしてそんなに英語がお上手なん ですか？」
or
「どうしてまさえぐさんは、そんなに英語がお上手なん ですか？」
would be more natural.

う～ん・・・どうしてかな・・・？でもhitotszさんも、� �　英語と韓国語が上手でしょう？(^_^)

You want to say 'Do you have any Korean friends?'

「韓国人の友達はいますか？」

I'd say 「普段（ふだん）、どのくらい練習するんですか？」「 普段、どれくらい練習するんですか？/して（い）るんですか？」「いつも、どのくらい練習し て（い）るんですか？」or「毎日(daily)、何時間くらい練 習するんですか/しているんですか？」etc...

If you use 時間がかかる, it sounds as though the person asking the question:

1. cannot wait till the other person is done with the practice. or
2. knows for a fact that the other person does not like to practice whatever s/he practices.

Sumippi gave natural-sounding sentences above.
_____

If you want to use a related word to かかる, use かける and it will no longer sound like someone is not really willing to practice because かける is a transitive verb and it sounds like someone is actually willing to take the time to　practice something.

「練習にどれくらいの時間をかけますか。」
「練習に何時間くらいかけますか。」

Yes. Thank you. What would be the difference between いますか and いるんですか？

Thank you. What is the difference between 上手なんですか and 上手なんですか？

I feel like this is exactly the level I need to be practicing at. As I said before, even light novels aren't written this way. Do you have any ideas where I could find more stuff written like this?

To explain some of my comments:
結果、わたしは本業に支障が出ない範囲でという条件で 寺子屋に通いはじめる。

I chose, "Therefore, I began attending the temple school on the condition that it not interfere with my primary duty."

Given the chance to say it again, instead of calling で a connective, I'd've said, "She prefers adjunct clauses to separate sentences."

支障が出ない, "hindrances do not appear," even though it has the verb 出る, is the kind of place I meant when I said she uses nouns where I would expect verbs. She could have used 差し支える. So the *number* of verbs doesn't change, but how they are used does.

And yes, small as they are, this is still more clauses than I'm used to.

Similar things happen in English, compare "More than once I've awoken to the realization that I have made a mistake in translation" to "Sometimes I wake up and realize I made a mistake in translation."

Wake to the realization > wake up and realize.

More nouns, less verbs (or at the least simpler verbs), adjunct clauses instead of separate sentences. It's a very different way of writing in either language.

Just buy a collection of Murakami short stories. Or google for Japanese prose translation competitions online. Some have PDFs of what is to be translated, and they're almost always either short works of fiction or essays.

「韓国人の友達はいますか？」「韓国人の友達はいるん ですか？」
--Not very different but the latter sounds a bit conversational to me. Hmm...the former sounds like just asking 'Do you have any Korean friends?' and the other one sounds a bit like '(You have Japanese friends, and) how about Korean friends? Do you have any friends from Korea?'

btw if you use が instead of は、like 「韓国人の友達がいるんですか？」, it'd sound like '(Oh, so) you have a Korean friend?', like you're confirming or guessing from what someone has just said. We don't say 「韓国人の友達がいますか？」.

You can also say 「韓国人の友達はいる（の）？」and「韓国人の友達がい るの？」in daily conversations. These are not polite forms.

同じだけど・・・（^_^;）　何か抜けた？

You wanted to ask about 「上手なんですか」and「お上手なんですか」?
「お」 is an honorific/polite prefix, or お/ご prefix. (I think I leaned this from Kyle sensei~ww! Thanks Kyle sensei~^^.)

Judging by hitotz's previous question, I think he probably meant to ask the difference between 上手なんですか and 上手ですか.

The answer is that the 〜んです form (also 〜のです) "gives the [sentence] an explanatory force" compared to just です. The な is there because it's required after な-adjectives and nouns before ん／のです. For verbs and い-adjectives, it's not.

The English translation doesn't really change when it's added; it's just got a slightly different, "I am explaining something I think you didn't absolutely realize" feel to it.

Consider A and B. They see C, who is wearing a blue shirt.
Cさんは青いシャツを着ています。 C is wearing a blue shirt.
No explanatory feel would be proper since both are seeing it.

Now maybe A is telling B about how C was difficult to see in the ocean.
Cさんは青いシャツを着ていたんですよ。
Even without the んです it would be a grammatically correct and understandable sentence. Just maybe it wouldn't feel as perfectly native. Depending on context. Don't really sweat it too much. Some facility with the construction will come with time, and even if you're never fully comfortable with it (sometimes I wonder if I am), it will never be an obstacle to being understood or understanding someone.

Contrived sentences, but you hopefully understand what I'm trying to say.

Edit realized I didn't address the category of Questionんですか. Simple variation: it implies you're seeking an explanation.

Maybe a bit of a feel like the difference between
You're talented?
vs.
You're talented? [Tell me how you got that way.]

あ、そうだったんですか。。。「上手ですか」と、「上 手なんですか」の違い。。。？

「まさえぐさんは、どうして英語がそんなに上手ですか ？」I understand this but it just doesn't sound natural...I'd say 「まさえぐさんは、どうして英語がそんなに上手なんで すか？」。

We say 「どうして～は[形容（動）詞＋]なんですか？」rather than 「どうして～は[形容（動）詞＋]ですか」。
「空はどうして青いん（orの）ですか」but not 「空はどうして青いですか」。。。


なぜ…？なんでかな・・？

「なのです（口語では『なんです』）」は日本語の歴史 の中の変化によって生まれた表現なので、初級学習者に 説明するのは極めて困難です。また、非常に長いカキコ になってしまいます。

質問者が使用しなかった「なの」の部分の方が、実は「 です」よりも重要であることは、日本語話者なら本能的 に知っているのです。従って問題となっている文を会話 では「です」を省略して「なの（または関西では『なん 』」で終わらせることもあるのです。「です」は「なの だ」をより丁寧にしているだけなのです。

ところが、日本語学習者は訳しながら日本語を組み立て るので、初級者でも知っている「です」を無条件に使い たがります。彼らの感覚からすれば、「どうして英語が そんなに上手ですか 。」という表現を見て、足りないことばを見つけられな いのですね。「なの」の使用法は日本語学習者にとって ひとつの大きな壁です。日本語教師でこれを説明できる 人はほとんどいないのではないかと思います。

Roger that. But I can say your answers help me a lot, and I really appreciate that. I have never been to Japan, plus my knowledge in the Japanese culture is very limited, so I still don't know much about googling in Japanese. I find it challenging since some manga and light novel authors seem to enjoy pro-wrestling so much that they feature it in their work, while foreigners like me know very little about it. Having extra information from a native speaker is always better than having no clue at all. :)

Thanks a lot. This helped me successfully find it on wikipedia (キャプチュード=> Capture suplex or Capchude) :)

Thanks for letting me know this piece of information. I'm awared that this manga is highly cultural, but the author still keeps surprising me with the amount of jargon he uses in the story.

So this is how magazine names are often written in Japanese. I didn't know they are shortened that much.

I have no more to ask today. Thank you again. :)

Looks like this all may have started with a manga in the 80s. 魁!!男塾 - Wikipedia

Hey guys.

How might someone express the term 'brown noser' in Japanese?
茶鼻 doesn't convey the same meaning.
Bob is a real brown noser.
Bob is always brown nosing Jimmy.

Thanks guys.

「ごますり」・・・？
「ボブはジミーにいっつもゴマばっか（り）すって・・ ・。」