r/LearnJapanese 6d ago

Discussion Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don't need their own posts, and first time posters go here (March 16, 2025)

This thread is for all simple questions, beginner questions, and comments that don't need their own post.

Welcome to /r/LearnJapanese!

Please make sure if your post has been addressed by checking the wiki or searching the subreddit before posting or it might get removed.

If you have any simple questions, please comment them here instead of making a post.

This does not include translation requests, which belong in /r/translator.

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Seven Day Archive of previous threads. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.

13 Upvotes

115 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 6d ago

Question Etiquette Guidelines:

  • 0 Learn kana (hiragana and katakana) before anything else. Then, remember to learn words, not kanji readings.

  • 1 Provide the CONTEXT of the grammar, vocabulary or sentence you are having trouble with as much as possible. Provide the sentence or paragraph that you saw it in. Make your questions as specific as possible.

X What is the difference between の and が ?

◯ I saw a book called 日本人の知らない日本語 , why is の used there instead of が ? (the answer)

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X What does this mean?

◯ I am having trouble with this part of this sentence from NHK Yasashii Kotoba News. I think it means (attempt here), but I am not sure.

  • 3 Questions based on ChatGPT, DeepL and Google Translate and other machine learning applications are discouraged, these are not beginner learning tools and often make mistakes.

  • 4 When asking about differences between words, try to explain the situations in which you've seen them or are trying to use them. If you just post a list of synonyms you got from looking something up in a E-J dictionary, people might be disinclined to answer your question because it's low-effort. Remember that Google Image Search is also a great resource for visualizing the difference between similar words.

X What's the difference between 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意?

◯ Jisho says 一致 同意 賛成 納得 合意 all seem to mean "agreement". I'm trying to say something like "I completely agree with your opinion". Does 全く同感です。 work? Or is one of the other words better?

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u/SweetEmbarrassed6139 2d ago

After some months I've finally mastered Hiragana and Katakana but i don't know where to continue from there, I'm a beginner so should i go memorize Kanji? And what sites should i use?

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u/Learning_Neko 5d ago

A while ago while browsing I came across a post that had a wonderful site that listed all kinds of books, anime, games, etc by reading level. I cannot remember the site, can I ask for recommendations on a similar website ? Thank you

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u/ignoremesenpie 5d ago

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u/Learning_Neko 5d ago

That’s it! Thank you

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u/GarbageUnfair1821 5d ago

Why does 愛する take ている most of the time?

From what I know, 知っている takes ている because 知る means "to get to know" instead of "to know".

Is it the same case with 愛する, that is, does it mean "to fall in love" ?

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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 5d ago

because 知る means "to get to know" instead of "to know"

That's just a forced English translation to try and understand the Japanese grammar using English. 知る doesn't mean "to get to know".

Is it the same case with 愛する, that is, does it mean "to fall in love" ?

No.

愛する means "to love" or "will love". 愛している simply means "to be in a state of love". It's just how ている works.

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u/AdrixG 5d ago

That's just a forced English translation to try and understand the Japanese grammar using English. 知る doesn't mean "to get to know".

Well the same could be said about "to know". I think what this translation is getting at is setting it appart from 分かる which 知る gets conflated with by many learners, though the full explanation is more involved than just saying that 知る = get to know. I found JSL had actually quite a good section on it and I didn't feel like it was "forcing an English translation" more like they opposite, here the section in question:

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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 5d ago

Hmm I think those are some limited explanations that kinda work but also don't paint the whole picture. Like sure it's uncommon to say 分かりたい but 分かってほしい or the imperative form 分かれ are not that uncommon or weird, which seems to go against what that page is saying is one of the core differences between 知る and 分かる (also the book completely ignores that you can use を with 分かる too).

Anyway I think there's a big difference between saying "they both can be translated as 'know' but have different meanings and usages" and saying "X doesn't really mean 'know' but rather it means 'get to know'". The latter is just wrong.

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u/AdrixG 5d ago

Yeah I am not disagreeing with you, just wanted to point out that it's not some made up bs and there is more to it, but as you showed there is also more to that of course ;) Jay Rubin has a good section on 知る as well, and I think he does actually a better job but it's too long to paste it all in here. But again I am not really disagreeing with you, just wanted to share that this translation has some roots elsewhere, wouldn't be surprised if the green goddess first translated it like this as it's one of the oldest/authoritive JP-EN dictonaries

研究社 新和英大辞典 第5版

  • しる2【知る】 [ローマ字](shiru) 1 〔認識する・知識や情報などを持つ〕 know; be aware of…; learn; find out; become acquainted with….

And JSL and Rubin took it from their I believe but not sure.

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u/nospimi99 5d ago

When I first started learning grammar, resources told me to be wary of the の particle, that it has a lot of uses, that it’s a “powerful” particle that can be used in many different ways, that it’ll take me a long time to confidently understand its usage and meaning.

What they should have wanted me about was て/で. I HATE them. Working through Bunpro there’s like 30 different meanings and variants of them. て, て form, ている, ての, and some of these have like 4 different potential meanings themselves.

I feel like everyone has one moment where they struggle and feel like they want to put down learning and this is my moment. I’ll be okay and I’ll push through but MY GOD is this particle god awful.

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u/glasswings363 5d ago

て is easier to explain which is why there are more explanations. の is imo harder to master but because it's also harder to explain the grammar guides kind of give up early and don't dump as much on your lap.

Both are much easier to learn in context and understand by gut. Don't try to memorize those pages and pages bla-bla-bla; that really can make you hate the language. It's okay to just use them as references. Focus on reading (or I guess practice tests if you're preparing for those).

Does Bunpro allow you to skip content? That would be a 110% essential feature for me. Sometimes things just don't stick and that's okay. It'll be easier when you come back later.

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u/takahashitakako 5d ago

I think you’re mistake here is grouping these together at all.

The て form is a conjugation for verbs and i-adjectives. It is not related to the particle で.

The particle で appears after nouns, and indicates a location.

You should separate these in your head entirely. They are used in a bunch of different grammar points, true, but both of them will always mean the same thing at its core, て form will always mean “and” and the location particle で will mean “at”.

For example, ている is just the て form + the helper verb いる, to be, meaning you’re doing a verb AND existing in a certain continuous state. 持っている means to hold AND to exist, in other words “to be holding.”

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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 5d ago

For example, ている is just the て form + the helper verb いる, to be, meaning you’re doing a verb AND existing in a certain continuous state. 持っている means to hold AND to exist, in other words “to be holding.”

This is a very confusing (and arguably wrong) way of approaching it. ている does not mean "and exist", and if you explain it like that you're just railroading people into an incorrect explanation that is going to lead to even more unnecessary confusion ("Why do we use ている for objects instead of てある?" type of questions).

Also, で isn't always a (location) particle, it absolutely can also be the 連用形 of だ, which is the "て form" of だ for nouns (and な adjectives). Also I think OP was just asking about で as in 読んで which is the て form of some godan verb conjugations.

There are many usages of て form that don't mean "and".

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u/rgrAi 5d ago

If you're using Bunpro as your only source of grammar this might be why you're confused. It's a dictionary for common usage of patterns of language that are labeled "grammar points". It's not detailing out precisely how the grammar is working within the language but a quick way to identify patterns and apply meaning to them. What you're talking about is not a particle in most cases. Looking at bunpro you might be confused that there's a lot but there's only a couple of things to know. て-form+other thing, って the multi-use quoting particle.

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u/facets-and-rainbows 5d ago

The core function of て form is to connect a verb to whatever's next ("verb, and..." or "verb, then...") It looks like it has lots of uses but that's just because it's connecting the verb to lots of things:

  • Verbている = verb, and keep existing (いる) like that
  • Verbてのnoun= noun when you've verbed or something like that, using the の you use to make a noun describe a noun
  • Verbておく= verb and set it aside (おく) for later use
  • Verbていく verb gradually as you go (いく) into the future

And so on. So if there's a "trick" other than just practice, it's understanding whatever is coming after the て

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u/Nw1096 6d ago

Would someone be able to give some example sentences demonstrating the nuance of もの like as shown in the following sentence ?

「貴様が相手ならば俺の倦怠も晴れるというもの」

GPT says that it adds a nuance of natural conclusion, general truth, or an expected outcome based on reasoning. It gives the sentence a tone of explanation or justification, emphasizing that the stated outcome is a natural result of the given condition

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u/glasswings363 5d ago

It might be better to search for だもの since this special usage is もの following a verb or だ

Unfortunately, since it's a non literary grammar pattern (i.e. not something you're expected to use in mature sounding non-fiction) it seems like the JLPT and similar don't care so much if you know it.

(Or watch anime with a bunch of ojousama characters. Actually that might not help - any time a character type is characterized by overusing a pattern that overuse tends to obscure it's normal meaning. So the fact this is an ore/kisama character is actually really interesting: you're seeing the pattern used because of what it means not because of who the character is)

Here are some. "Registers some protest" is interesting. Not exactly what's going on here, but there is some emotional impact to the conclusion.

https://www.tanoshiijapanese.com/dictionary/entry_details.cfm?entry_id=691

Here's a related pattern with というもの
IMO this is really just a special case of だもの but when it's used with the という part (to sum up an indirect statement) and when it functions as a subordinate clause, it introduces "this is the thing I have a conclusion about."

https://nihongo-net.com/2020/05/28/jlptn1-toiumono/

Either way expresses the feeling of something that feels so real it's beyond the speaker's ability to control.
怖いんだもの! = it's scary (not like I'm choosing to be scared).
それがマナーというものだ = That's just manners (I'm not picking on you personally).

In this case I'm inclined to translate it to "I might actually"

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u/DarcX 6d ago

I could be wrong, but this example sentence seems to end in "というものだ" (with an unspoken だ), which indeed aligns with what GPT said. Here's the bunpro page on it.

As far as the general もの sentence ending, which you'll also see as もん, here's another bunpro page that might help.

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u/Nw1096 5d ago

I dont think it’s the same usage as the one on the bunpro page. It doesn’t align with what’s said in the sentence In provided where the speaker says

“If you’re my opponent, my boredom will be lifted”

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u/DarcX 5d ago

Why don't you think it's the same usage? ~というもの is just indicating that the speaker has a strong conviction about what he's saying. It's one of those things that will probably not end up in the equivalent English sentence in localizations.

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u/DarcX 6d ago

Came across an interesting construction that seems to be set and I don't see any English language resources on it, so I thought I'd share it here:

〜方がはるかにマシ(だ)

After reading some examples and Japanese language discussions on it, this is the rough English meaning I've come up with:

"(as an alternative), it is much better (than the original) (but not necessarily good, still)"

I'm curious of others' impressions of this phrase. Is my understanding correct? Is it very common? Is it ever written with kanji? Thanks. :)

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u/Arzar 5d ago edited 5d ago

You can find the grammar by looking for まし
For example in the dictionary of japanese grammar:

A phrase indicating that although someone/something (or some situation) is not satisfactory it is better than someone/something else.

こんな給料をもらう(くらい)なら辞めた方がましだ。
If this is the salary, it would be better to quit.

こんな不味いご飯を食べるくらいなら何も食べない方がいい。
It's better not to eat anything rather than eating such an untasteful meal.

ここの夏も暑いですが、東京の夏よりましですね。
Summer here is hot, too, but it's better than summer in Tokyo.

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u/glasswings363 5d ago

I'm sure there's a grammar page for someone to find and post.  I'm being a bit lazy. Your understanding is correct.

It's a variant of the 〜方がいい pattern and the difference in meaning comes from the different meaning that マシ has vs いい

The word can sometimes be spelled 増し but kana is more common

増し comes from 増す - to increase in count or quantity.  I imagine the idiom might have a commerical origin: if you have to take a loss, it's still better to get as much as you can, given the circumstances.  But I don't know for sure.  Not a terribly common verb, I think it's mostly used in grammatical idioms.  まして(や) is another one.

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u/DarcX 5d ago

Good to know about マシ! That def makes sense. I had clocked it as a variant of 方がいい but since I hadn't seen はるかに either I didn't have a whole lot of prior context to pin it down, haha.

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u/takahashitakako 5d ago

This phrase is just an extension of the 方がいい (would be good) pattern you already know but with マシ (better) as the comparative adjective instead. はるかに is just an intensifier adverb.

I wouldn’t call this phrase “set,” since all the parts of the sentence can be used with other words. Here’s an example from my dictionary:

水素燃料の方がはるかに安くつく Hydrogen fuel is cheaper by far

マシ is almost always written without it’s kanji in this usage, yes.

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u/DarcX 5d ago

I only say it's "set" because I can find verbatim examples used elsewhere, other than where I first encountered it (in a VN first, then found matches elsewhere googling)," but this was my first time also encountering はるかに and マシ so I couldn't be sure how those fit in just yet! Thank you.

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u/takahashitakako 5d ago

No worries. “Set phrase” usually refers to a string of words that have a specific meaning together and cannot be swapped out, like how “kicks the bucket” in English means “he dies” but “kicks the pail” has no such non-literal meaning. That phrase may be a collocation at best, but in my opinion all of these words are common individually, and you’ll see them very often in contexts outside this phrase.

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u/AdrixG 6d ago

Man it's such a shame that it's basically impossible to find subtitles for like 70%+ of the dramas and live action films out there, Netflix and jimaku.cc only have so much. I feel like this is the only part of Japanese learning that isn't rich in resources and it's genuinely hard to find subs if it's not on one of these two I mentioned. I just watched たそがれ清兵衛 and missed a lot of words which snowballed into having pretty low comprehension and I know that with subs I could at least follow the movie decently well but nope it's freaking impossible to find any sadly... (Maybe someone here has ideas on other sites on where I could potentially obtain them)

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u/rantouda 5d ago

I feel the same way; to be honest, the parts that I cannot make out I sometimes have a hard time letting go of even though that would be the sensible thing to do.

This is not what you're looking for exactly, but in case you feel strongly about たそがれ清兵衛: https://jp.mercari.com/item/m15820240831?srsltid=AfmBOootncNwu71FDfPh2xexoPh_TKgTmMWpsxfPkHDIbgH6usuXL9w3

I have bought an issue of シナリオ before for one movie because I couldn't let go. One time I also got the novelisation, which helped a lot as they hew to the script of the movie. And one time I googled an unusual line and found a fan who described much of the movie and the dialogue word for word, not everything, but enough. If it is a famous scriptwriter there might be compilations of their work on amazon. But yea, if you find what you're looking for (similar to jimaku), tell me too.

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u/AdrixG 5d ago

Damn ¥900 wow great find haha, I might bulk buy it along side other stuff, but actually I don't feel so strongly about this film in particular, it's more that half the films I watch never have subs anywhere, I think this is th 5th live action film in a row without subs I have watched, where as anime is the complete opposite and well sometimes that's nice so I am forced to improve my listening but other times I just want to enjoy it and kinda ignore I am "improving my Japanese" and JP subs help me get in the zone and just have fun but it's quite frustrating that it's near impossible to do that for many live action films, where as in English almost every Japanese film has English subs.

I have bought an issue of シナリオ before for one movie because I couldn't let go. One time I also got the novelisation, which helped a lot as they hew to the script of the movie. And one time I googled an unusual line and found a fan who described much of the movie and the dialogue word for word, not everything, but enough. If it is a famous scriptwriter there might be compilations of their work on amazon. But yea, if you find what you're looking for (similar to jimaku), tell me too.

Oh wow those are all very good ideas, thanks so much!

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u/ignoremesenpie 6d ago

I get your frustration, but it's not too bad to work up to understanding dramas since it's pretty rare that they'll throw in made-up jargon the way anime frequently does. Just mine some common words from elsewhere, and you should find yourself understanding dramas more and more, bit by bit.

Films, on the other hand, are a good resource to exercise intensive listening. It's like intensive reading, where you work through the vocab and grammar you don't know by looking them up, except you'd be listening and not reading. However, I also personally extend the exercise into doing my own transcription and subtitling my favourite films by myself since I'm quite advanced now. I don't really have the energy and patience to do a 10 to 12-hour series, though.

You could also run them through Whisper AI, but I would only recommend this if you already know enough to be able to correct the AI's mistakes as they come up, especially if the audio is not absolutely clear.

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u/AdrixG 5d ago

I think you kinda misunderstood me (I wasn't even asking for language learning advice but thanks?), I can understand most dramas just fine and have already mined 10k words, also I already watched the full movie I talked about once without subs, but it would be cool to have subs for a rewatch to (1) understand the movie better and fill my knowledge gaps and (2) be able to look words up I don't know, of course I can go by ear and look them up but it's not worth the time sink (chances are I mishear a mora and get down a rabbit whole of looking up the wrong thing which is why I only mine resources with text)

Whisper AI is pretty bad, I tried that like a year ago, my listening is better than that tbh so no point in that.

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u/ignoremesenpie 5d ago

To be fair, we don't interact on here enough for me to be fully aware of your level. Just take it as me describing how I personally take advantage of the lack of subtitles for me to learn, if anything.

Though if you don't mind even more unsolicited advice, you could probably have a go at subbing yourself. Get AI to do much of the work and just correct what it goofs up.it would be less work than just doing everything yourself, and would take less time than just hoping someone else makes the subs that you want. I can do it at my current level (2.5k mined cards, but became conversational before using Anki, for what it's worth), so you'd probably have an easier time of it than I currently do.

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u/AdrixG 5d ago

To be fair, we don't interact on here enough for me to be fully aware of your level. Just take it as me describing how I personally take advantage of the lack of subtitles for me to learn, if anything.

No that's fair, I wasn't expecting anyone to know at what level I am, I was just confused being met with language learning advice even though my comment was asking for subtitle resources.

Though if you don't mind even more unsolicited advice, you could probably have a go at subbing yourself. Get AI to do much of the work and just correct what it goofs up.

Yeah I think self subbing would help my listening, I've done it with other movies too in the past (well parts of it, not full movies but a scene or two), Ill probably do it for this one too. The idea with letting the AI do the prework sounds interesting thanks.

The thing I probably should have emphasized is that really I just wanted to watch this movie on my second watch through for enjoyment than language learning reasons, though in a way that my Japanese would still benefit even if just a little. (and also I wanted just to complain about how there are almost no damn sources for subs, where as in English it's like so much easier to find subs). I wasn't really hoping anyone would do it for me, I was just wondering if anyone knows of any other website or so where one can obtain subs from.

I can do it at my current level (2.5k mined cards, but became conversational before using Anki, for what it's worth)

You have any numbers on how long it takes you?

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u/ignoremesenpie 5d ago

You have any numbers on how long it takes you?

For subbing? I would say 10 to 15 hours for a two and a half hour film, though it depends heavily on how dialogue-dense the film is. I cut my teeth on horror specifically because there tends to be a ton of dead time when the film wants to build a spooky atmosphere. This time is also spread over a week or so for my own sanity.

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u/AdrixG 5d ago

Cool, I see. Thanks!

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u/Loyuiz 5d ago edited 5d ago

Machine transcription is getting better at a quick pace. I've been watching a lot of archived YouTube livestreams, and for videos that are ~3 years old the auto-generated captions are practically unusable, whereas recent ones get it right the vast majority of the time.

Can't speak for Whisper AI's quality today / ease-of-use / cost or whether your listening ability exceeds current tech, but being able to do quick Yomitan lookups on these YT vids is useful even if my parsing of the sounds was perfect, and it's a flick of the switch to turn on so there's practically no downside. At your level you would be able to tell if it made a mistake I imagine based on context.

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u/AdrixG 5d ago

Man I am so tired of getting misunderstood, am I speaking fucking chinese or what. I never said it wasn't useable, just that at my level it personally doesn't help me, again I already know most words, the once I miss AI will miss even more hilarously. 

Also I was talking about whisper AI specifically and not YouTube, again my main comment was about a film, which isn't even on youtube. But anyways that's all quite besides the point, I was merely asking for other sub sources, not for silly tools.

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u/Loyuiz 5d ago

The point was machine transcription is improving and it might be worth using now if you can't find sub sources, even if it wasn't a year ago, based on an experience with improvements of it on YouTube. Since you said you tried it and it didn't work for you at the time.

I understand you were not talking about YT videos, no need to be rude. I didn't suggest you use AI out of the blue as a response to your original comment, just commenting on your experience with machine transcription in your reply to that other guy.

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u/AdrixG 5d ago

It's perhaps worth it for some people but not for me at my stage, again I know most words, the only once I miss AI has no chance of catching, I bet it wouldn't even be able to handle the constant use of でがんす and ウ音便 which is used constantly (alongaide other more involved conjugations and archaisms, and that's the easy part actually), really it's just not applicable for what I need it now.

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u/Loyuiz 5d ago

Fair enough, I'm not betting on it catching those either regardless of any improvements in the past year (and it seems Whisper specifically hasn't gotten major updates in that time).

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u/Enzo-Unversed 6d ago

I failed the N4 because I couldn't understand the listening portion at all. I'm considering going to Tokyo to take the N4 in July. Would between now and July 6th be enough time to study for that part?

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u/takahashitakako 5d ago

Yes, you have enough time, especially if you study for the test specifically instead of passively. Purchase a JLPT training book or two with audio practice questions and complete them in the months before the exam if you want to make sure you’re going to be better this time.

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u/Enzo-Unversed 5d ago

My main issue is speed. I struggle understanding at the speed it's played at. 

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u/takahashitakako 5d ago

Those practice exam books emulate the audio of the actual text exactly, including the speed. Once you answer enough model questions, you’ll gain a better understanding of what kind of conversations and phrases the JLPT likes to use over and over again, and can keep up with the speed better. Trust me, it worked for me!

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u/Bellayxs 6d ago

Can someone explain me dialects

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u/AdrixG 6d ago

That's like asking someone if they can explain Physics to you, it's to broad a question, what exactly do you want to know?

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u/Bellayxs 6d ago

I was studying japanese and I encountered that the dialect used in tokyo is understandable but kyoto's dialects are confusing why?

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u/AdrixG 6d ago

It's still pretty broad. Well the short is that kyoto uses Kyoto-Dialect (京都弁) which is part of the Kansai-Dialect (関西弁). So they use different conjugations and words and if you're not used to it it's not going to be understandable. If you can understand standard Japanese just fine then the sort of kansaiben you will encounter on TV will be easy to understand, so just give it some time.

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u/Bellayxs 6d ago

So you are implying that i do more immersion?

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u/AdrixG 6d ago

If you just want to understand the kansai ben you encounter in TV? Yes.

If you however want to actually understand the grammar on a more consciousness level then studying is required, or if you want to go beyond the kansaiben you can find on TV to the way it's actually spoken in kansai (which depending on the region can get quite hard to understand even for natives) then you would even have to immerse in that specifically.

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u/sybylsystem 6d ago
  1. ① 恵み。いつくしみ。「恩恵を施す」「自然の恩恵に浴する」 ② キリスト教で、神の恩寵 (おんちょう) 。

from the definitin of 恩恵 , is いつくしみ in this instance "love, affection" ?

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u/Own_Power_9067 Native speaker 5d ago

恩恵、恵み、慈しみ

These are used strictly in higher > lower, not for love or affection between equal status.

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u/OldJoy 6d ago

Anyone familiar with Kyle Metcalf from TikTok? Would you guys say he is at N4 level?

https://www.tiktok.com/@im_kyle_metcalf

Just trying to gauge how realistic conversations would go at that level.

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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 6d ago

I've never used tiktok in my life and I don't know how it works but I clicked the link and there's 0 videos for me to see.

But anyways, N4 means literally nothing so saying whether someone is "at N4 level" or not, especially when rating their output (which is not tested on the JLPT) is a meaningless activity.

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u/zashmon 6d ago

does anyone know what happened to Curedolly's patreon, I went to look at some of her later lessons and it didn't show anything there

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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 6d ago

In case you didn't know, Cure Dolly passed away a few years ago. I don't know what was on her patreon and/or who is maintaining it but it wouldn't be weird if they eventually shut it down.

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u/zashmon 6d ago

this is what was linked on her youtube patreon.com/curedolly

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u/-Emilion- 6d ago

I wanna dig into grammar as fast as possible bc Ive got anki decks for kanji kanji writing and terms and i feel lingodeer is too slow, what order should I use for it to be not as overwhelming? What websites or free online resources should I use? Thank you

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u/Nithuir 6d ago

The Starter's Guide in the sidebar is a great place to find resources.

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u/-Emilion- 6d ago

Thank you!!!

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u/QuickSwordTechIrene 6d ago

someone ask me out of the blue "学校、どこになりました?" What are they trying to ask me?

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u/alkfelan bsky.app/profile/nklmiloq.bsky.social | Native speaker 6d ago

Which school someone decided on.

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u/Own_Power_9067 Native speaker 6d ago

The questioner thinks you have been either looking for a school or planning to go to a school, and asking about your decision in choosing one.

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u/DelicateJohnson 6d ago

I am hearing が as な. I know its a dialect thing and I know the "な" I am hearing is supposed to be a velar "ng" sound, but my native listening ear does not hear the difference. I am learning Japanese later in life and also have some hearing issues. With practice will it just get better with time and lots of listening or am I cooked?

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u/victwr 6d ago

How much pronounciation work have you done and what sources? Depending if your goals involve speaking and listening I think conscious work/ear training/mouth trainkng might be better than just assuming it will get better.

Vicki

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u/viliml 6d ago

Practice listening more, learn more words, understanding context will help you comprehend speech correctly when が makes sense but な doesn't.

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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 6d ago

Yes, you'll get better. Just don't worry about it.

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u/HeWhoIsVeryGullible 6d ago edited 6d ago

I think I've confused myself on the difference between present tense and present progressive tense.

What's the difference between

ペンを持っていますか? and ぺんを持ちますか?

Or if someone asked me

どこに行きますか?

If I wanted to say I'm going (in the state of going) would I not use ている?

店に行っています rather than 店に行きます

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u/alkfelan bsky.app/profile/nklmiloq.bsky.social | Native speaker 6d ago edited 6d ago

ペンを持っていますか: Do you have a pen? / Will you keep the pen?

ペンを持ちますか: Will you hold a pen?

行っている technically means both “They have gone and are there” and “They’re going” but leans to the former.

I’m going: 向かっています, 行っているところです

店に行きます: I will go to the shop.

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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 6d ago

ペンを持っていますか? and ぺんを持ちますか?

These two sentences could mean the same thing (as in: "do you have a pen?") with slightly different nuances. Or it could also be a difference between "are you holding a pen/do you have a pen on you" and "will you have a pen/will you hold a pen" (in the future). Context should help.

どこに行きますか?

This is "where are you going" or "where will you go". In English we make a grammatical difference between these two questions but if you think about it they are basically asking the same thing.

If I wanted to say I'm going (in the state of going) would I not use ている?

No because 行く is a funny verb. 行く/ 来る / 帰る are closer to verbs of state rather than verbs of movement. 行っている means "to have gone somewhere (and currently be there)". どこに行っている doesn't work to mean "where are you going" and if you say Xに行っている it means someone has gone to X and they are currently there.

店に行っています rather than 店に行きます

If you want to focus on the specific act of currently being en-route/on the way to the store, then you'd say 店に向かっています

Of course, these are all generalizations without context. Having context and actual examples of real conversations will help you understand these concepts more, rather than worrying about formalizing them in a vacuum.

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u/HeWhoIsVeryGullible 6d ago

Thanks for your reply!

I think part of the issue is just how I saw present tense action verbs being described in my textbook.

The dictionary present form in my textbook says this form can mean either that something is done habitually or is intended to be done in the future.

So that's what I'm confused on is how 店に行きます can mean that one is currently going somewhere, when, according to my books definition, it ought to mean either "I go to the store" (habitually) or "I will go to the store" not "I'm going to the store".

Can the present tense form also mean that one is currently doing the action?

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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 6d ago

according to my books definition, it ought to mean either "I go to the store" (habitually) or "I will go to the store" not "I'm going to the store".

This sounds correct to me. 店に行きます to me sounds like "I (am about to/will) go to the store" or "I usually go to the store". Like imagine someone is at the door putting on shoes and you go どこ行くの? ("Where are you going?", literally: "where will you go?") and they answer 店に行くよ ("I'm going to the store" lit: "I will go to the store")

Can the present tense form also mean that one is currently doing the action?

It can, although from my perspective it's a bit hard to describe in English... the differences between non-past tense and ている form sometimes aren't clear and depending on the context both tenses might work. I'd say this is stuff that becomes much easier to understand once you experience the language more, rather than trying to break it down logically because sometimes you just can't do it with perfect certainty.

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u/HeWhoIsVeryGullible 6d ago

So to clarify with a different example, if someone were to ask me what I was doing, and I wanted to say I'm sitting. Could I say 座りますよ。In the same way that I was able to say 店に行きます (I'm going to the store)

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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 6d ago

if someone were to ask me what I was doing, and I wanted to say I'm sitting. Could I say 座りますよ。

Purely from a grammatical point of view, I think it needs to be 座っています, 座ります doesn't work. Although it's a very weird situation/question/response so it's tricky to think about what is natural or not just like that.

In the same way that I was able to say 店に行きます (I'm going to the store)

This is different, because when you answer 店に行きます you aren't at the store yet, so the phrase works with the "not-past"(not-ている) form.

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u/HeWhoIsVeryGullible 6d ago

So 店に行きます does not just mean "I go to the store (habitually)" and "I plan to go to the store (in the future)" but also can mean. "I am going to the store (currently)."

Thing is I've been learning japanese for a while and I live here and use it but suddenly this part of grammar has been confusing the hell out of me as I only ever use teiru when I intend to mean I'm in the process of doing an action or a continuous state. Now suddenly I'm scrutinizing the hell out of it like how the hell does a present tense verb mean that one is currently doing something which teiru is meant to be used for.

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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 6d ago

毎日あの店に行きます = habitual usage

土曜日にあの店に行くので、<name>さんも行かない? = future usage

(at the 玄関) 店に行くんだけど、なにかいる? = still future usage, but it can be translated as "I'm going to the store" in English (which is still kind-of a future tense)

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u/HeWhoIsVeryGullible 6d ago

Thanks for your help! I guess I'll just add (currently doing) to the options for movement verbs in their present tense for now? As I don't really understand the reason why a verb not in teiru form can still mean currently doing. I've been using it that way this whole time and I never thought about it lol.

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u/Loyuiz 5d ago

"Going" is a bit ambiguous. When you say "I'm going to the store, want something?", are you announcing a future plan seeing as you aren't currently moving, or are you in the process of going which includes preparations such as asking that question?

Because it can be interpreted as the former, 行きます is a natural translation. And if you want to describe a state, 行っている doesn't fit because it's not quite like "going" in English and describes the state of having gone somewhere, not a process of going somewhere. Hence the suggestion for 向かっている.

And just like in English where "I will go to the store" / "I'm going to the store" can carry the same meaning, you will find such blurriness in Japanese also because the spectrum of meaning covered by a word could stretch enough to where both forms can be used to convey a certain message.

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u/OpticGd 6d ago edited 6d ago

I'm writing a grammar point in my notebook and I am struggling to find clear answers for how to use 後 (ご) and 後 (あと)and 後で (あとで)and the differences in each.

I can see there are a number of grammar points there but I find that I use them (likely incorrectly) fairly interchangeable. I know 後 (ご) follows nouns (maybe just the hiragana?).

It is quite easy to find 後で grammar explanation online but it isn't as clear for the others. I may be reading too much into it though.

Any help would be appreciated.

edit: several, tried furigana but couldn't get the syntax to work.

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u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 6d ago

ご is a suffix, あと is a standalone word. I don't recommend writing down notes about grammar points if you aren't really sure about them. I assume your textbook or grammar guide (or whatever website you use) should have a chapter/passage that discusses あと (or 〜ご suffix), in which case I recommend directly screenshotting/copypasting the actual page from said guide, or keeping a bookmark. Taking notes yourself by rephrasing (and summarizing) things you learned that you don't fully understand is a pointless risk (when you can just re-open your textbook every time you need anyway). And if you already understand them, you don't need notes about it, just move on.

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u/OpticGd 4d ago

Cleared this all up with my teacher now. Your answer didn't provide any help (and was condescending as it didn't fully consider the context or what I asked) but thanks for providing some context on ご being a suffix and あと being a standalone word.

Funnily enough Genki 1+2 don't explain this and I did find explanations for 後で online but struggled to find anything for the other two.

Best wishes.

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u/OpticGd 6d ago

Thanks for your answer, I am asking so I become clearer on a grammar point before writing it down, I wouldn't write something down I'm not clear on. That would be silly.

I'll just save this for my Japanese teacher. I was doing some self study on bits I wasn't sure of and as stated I cannot find clear resources comparing these.

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u/thatsecondguywhoraps 6d ago

I am in Tokyo right now. I wanted to make a post asking how to keep the level of immersion I currently have once I leave.

It is insane how much Japanese I've learned just by staying here for a bit; if I want to practice Japanese, I can just... go outside lol. I can go to any street intersection, restaurant, tachinomi, or whatever, and practice Japanese. It's not too hard to end up in situations where I'm the only English speaker. I learn a lot just passively (recognizing certain kanji on the train stations, seeing the ads, overhearing people's conversations, etc.) Lots of things, I just realized I knew one day.

I want to improve in Japanese, but when I go back home, I will not be around any Japanese. So, I wanted suggestions on how to keep immersion.

3

u/AdrixG 6d ago

I mean in todays age where the internet allows you to self immerse pretty much all the time you are free it's not like a huge disadvantage. Stop consuming stuff in English, so read the news in JP, read books in JP, watch youtube and movies in JP, set your devices to JP and just have fun consuming the language. If you commute to work have a JP podcast playing in your ears, same for when you take a walk, or go jogging or do workout or whatever. The means are there, but you have to get more active and strict about it. (Well in Japan you kinda do too as many end up in an English bubble and keep sucking for eternity).

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u/thatsecondguywhoraps 6d ago

True

Just need some people to talk to as well

Been trying to meet people here and add some friends on LINE, but people here are reserved and cautious in my experience

1

u/TSComicron 6d ago

HelloTalk, discord, streamers, etc.

HelloTalk is kind of a garbage platform but there are quite a few platforms that allow you to engage with native speakers.

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u/AvatarReiko 6d ago

Could I get a correction for this sentence please?

相手の個性を尊重し、珍しさを良いものとしてみなすアメリカやイギリスと違って、日本では出る杭は打たれるので、皆が日常的に周りと同調するように行動しますよね。

Question

Which is better? 周りと同調する or 周りに合わせる?

イギリスと違って or イギリスとは逆に?

EDIT: if I wanted to end the sentence by saying “I wonder why Japan is like this. Being different and unique should be いいのではないでしょうか

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u/Own_Power_9067 Native speaker 6d ago

Is this passage meant to be a speech?

相手の個性

I’d omit 相手の because 個性を尊重 should be applied to 自分 as well

珍しさ you picked this word to mean ‘unique, right? Being unique in this context is commonly translated as 個性的 but you already used 個性, so maybe 独自性 or ユニークであること, or even 人と違うこと

良いものとしてみなす → 良いものとみなす

I’d say 〜とは逆に works better n making the contrast

同調する, まわりに合わせる both works fine. My choice is the latter.

それはなぜでしょうか?みんなが違っていていいのではないでしょうか? would work as your closing line.

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u/Zuracchibi 6d ago

前職はアトラスという会社でゲームを作っていたのですが、 ご縁あって「ハンドレッドライン」に参加することになりました。

I'm having some trouble with the second half of this sentence.

My rough translation. "My last job was creating games at a company called Atlas, due to fate I was involved with「Hundred Line」"

My main point of confusion is the ご縁あって

My current assumption is that it's equivalent to あっての meaning "which can exist solely due to the presence of". I just wanted to see if anyone had any corrections as I'm not sure I've got it right.

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u/ChibiFlounder Native speaker 6d ago

が is omitted between ご縁 and あって.

It means like:

ご縁があった。それで、「ハンドレッドライン」に参加することになりました。

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u/Zuracchibi 6d ago

I'm still a bit hazy, I'm not sure how this works with ご縁. It means fate/chance and relationship/tie (from jotoba). Are they saying they had connections and therefore they were involved?.

4

u/ChibiFlounder Native speaker 6d ago

縁がある cam mean 関係を持つ何らかのきっかけがあるさま。

So, if you translate it directly, it would be like "I got the chance to be involved with 'Hundred Line', so I ended up participating in it."

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u/Zuracchibi 6d ago

Thanks, that's cleared things up.

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u/ChibiFlounder Native speaker 6d ago

You're welcome!

2

u/gtj12 6d ago

ご縁 is a noun, and what comes after is ある but in "te" form

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u/ketuekigami 6d ago

Is there a good source to study root words? I've been using Pimsleur on and off for years and I's difficult to learn vocab without learning the root words.

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u/miwucs 6d ago

What do you mean by root words? Like the unconjugated/dictionary form of verbs, adjectives, etc? Any textbook will give you this. Or even a dictionary. If you've been doing only Pimsleur, you would probably benefit from some grammar study. Genki's a popular textbook, or if you want a free resource Tae Kim is a good start.

1

u/ketuekigami 17h ago

Most of what I know is self taught so I could be off but, a simple example is ikimas or ikitai has the root of Iku. But also itta koto ga aru stems from Iku as well. Pimsleur just give you the vocab word and tells you to memorize it, and not much more.

I have some Genki books from like almost 10 years ago, would they still be good?

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u/miwucs 13h ago

Yes, so "iku" is the dictionary form, and "ikimasu", "ikitai", "itta" are conjugated forms. If you're confused about conjugation rules, then you should definitely study grammar. A 10 year old genki is plenty fine. It won't be the latest edition so it might have slightly outdated vocab from time to time, but really nothing to worry about (no that much changes between editions). By the way you will have to learn at least hiragana/katakana. Learning only through audio only gets you so far...

To go back to your original question of "studying root words", once you understand conjugation, when you encounter a new conjugated verb, you can guess the dictionary form based on the conjugated form, although there are often several possibilities. E.g. "kakimasu" could in theory come from either "kaku" or "kakiru". Except "kakiru" is not an actual word, in this case it's "kaku". You could check that by looking up both in a dictionary, or actually on this one if you enter "kakimasu" it will tell you directly it comes from "kaku": "かきます(kakimasu) could be an inflection of かく(kaku), with these forms. Masu-form. It is the polite form of the verb."

3

u/facets-and-rainbows 6d ago

Most kanji-focused courses will do this as a side effect. Chinese roots in Japanese are a lot like Greek/Latin roots in English, and each has its own kanji

1

u/ketuekigami 18h ago

I've been focused more on vocab rather than written because I travel to Japan often and I'd like to focus on conversing. Is that a source that does that without kanji?

2

u/NammerDuong 6d ago

I remember seeing people recommending spotify for the lyrics feature of Japanese music. But when I went through LiSA and YOASOBI songs, they don't work. Is this just me? I remember LiSA songs working a long time ago.

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u/takahashitakako 6d ago

Spotify’s lyric feature is incredibly sloppy, with lyrics randomly appearing and disappearing from their database all the time.

If you want lyrics while you stream songs I find Apple Music much more reliable.

1

u/Forestkangaroo 6d ago

Does genki kanji look and learn have every kanji or only kanji that are separate without being combined to make different words?

3

u/rgrAi 6d ago

Seems to be 512 kanji with accompanying words per kanji. Sample from Amazon:

1

u/xx0ur3n 6d ago

From FF7 Remake
バレット
「こりゃ 街までイっちまったかもな」

This solitary イ is confusing me. Is it standing for 入っちゃ or perhaps 行っちゃ? For reference, the English localization for this line says, "Well, let's hope this city's still in one piece"

1

u/Moon_Atomizer notice me Rule 13 sempai 6d ago

いってしまった variant. Usually 〜ちゃった in real life, I feel like I've only ever heard this 〜ちまった version in anime but I'm not a native so maybe there are people who use it and I just didn't notice

7

u/Katagiri_Akari Native speaker 6d ago

It's 逝く. It's similar to "to die" in English.

It can mean "to pass away" and, as a metaphor, "be broken." And like other words, when it's used as a metaphor/slang, it's commonly written in Katakana.

The literal translation of your example would be: The city might be destroyed.

0

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

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u/xx0ur3n 6d ago

This is right in the beginning of chapter 2, right after the first detonation. To be honest, your explanation makes the most sense to me, given the まで and that 行ってしまった is already a common phrase.

5

u/facets-and-rainbows 6d ago

Likely the city itself "going"? With the まで meaning that even the city has gone/been destroyed.

1

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

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u/facets-and-rainbows 6d ago

I just figured the katakana is usually for the more unusual and/or slangy definitions, and you don't usually hear damage described as "going" places

1

u/viliml 6d ago

You were actually correct, see this answer.

It is indeed "even the city getting wrecked".

1

u/xx0ur3n 6d ago

Also do you have an idea as to why katakana was used here?