Japanese Language Stack Exchange
Japanese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [terminology]

専門用語. Specialized words and phrases which cover specific concepts, fields, or phenomena.

132 questions
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What do you call brothers or sisters of the same age?

From what I can see people are forced to use the term of a younger or older brother/sister oneesan, oniisan, etc. But what do you call a brother or sister if they're the same age as you?
Tek
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Grammatically, is a 体言止めの文 a "Japanese sentence"?

In Japanese, a 文【ぶん】 is basically anything which is delimited by periods (マル) or question/exclamation marks. For example, let's say there is a paragraph like this in the middle of the main text of a novel. 夕暮れの川岸を一人で歩く俺。太陽の光を浴びて輝く水面。頬を撫でる風。 Here,…
naruto
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Does Japanese have a term equivalent to "Engrish"?

It seems common enough for Japanese to attempt to use English, that we get some truly bizarre translations. Especially bad are older games that were non-professionally translated to what we came to call "Engrish", due to what could have been a…
AlbeyAmakiir
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Is 土方 a common term for a "construction worker"?

In American English "construction worker" can refer to any manual labor worker at a construction site. Is 土方{どかた} a common term to refer to such person in Japan?
user1602
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Term for English heading and Japanese body

There seems to be a tendency to have a heading (or emphasized text) in English, but the body of the text in Japanese. For example, Tokyo train stations have posters with Saving Electricity in English, and the body in Japanese, and this anti-groping…
Golden Cuy
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Does 旧車 clearly imply "classic car" or will it simply mean "old car" to many Japanese speakers?

Now on my latest trip in Japan in spring 2019 I've noticed many more classic cars around than I expected. In English "classic car" is a somewhat vague term but is often used for old cars that have been preserved or restored from the 1950s to about…
hippietrail
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What does the term "prenominally" mean?

The term "手の込んだ" is described in denshi jisho as being a "Noun or verb acting prenominally". In the context of Japanese, what does it mean for something to be acting prenominally? For example, does it mean that there's restrictions on where such a…
Golden Cuy
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Why do English speaking learners of Japanese use term "volitional" to refer to 未然形+う?

There are four distinct cases of 未然形+う: intention, plus three of irrealis moods: hortative, dubitative, presumptive, . Very often Japanese grammar books refer to all of them as volitional form. Linguistic volition is defined semantically or…
user1602
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Politeness vs. Formality

Is politeness the right term to describe 連用形+ます inflection? Should it be always referred as formal instead of polite, and informal instead of plain? Politeness is the listener's interpretation of the opponent's communication style. Words in…
user1602
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Clarification of hard to understand Japanese Mahjong rule

This one probably needs a Japanese and Mahjong expert to decipher: （３）全局を一ハン（飜）しばりとし、二ハン場とする。 This is the third rule about the basic game setup of (my version of) the official Japanese Mahjong Tournament rules. A 局 kyoku is one round, a ハン／飜 han…
deceze
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What do you call these words?

I'm trying to figure out what the term is that describes words that look like this: やっぱり；　さっぱり；　うっかり；　こっそり；　ひっそり；　ぐっすり；　すっきり They seem similar to 擬態語、義質語、and　擬音語, but I think they have a separate classification... Is there a term that describes…
Chris
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Japanese 濁音 dyslexia

I'm wondering if there is a real type of dyslexia in Japanese with [濁音]{だく・おん}, where the person sees the word written, but mentally pronounces the 濁音 for a different mora. Not to diagnose myself with anything, but I find myself doing it all the…
istrasci
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Japanese terms for an attribute and adverbial (part of a sentence)

What are the correct terms for: attribute (a part of sentence) as a word or phrase that is syntactically subordinate to another and serves to limit, identify, particularize, describe, or supplement the meaning of the form with which it is in…
user1602
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Would it be appropriate to use 棋士 to describe players of games other than Shogi?

I realize this is is a bit of a specialized question, but I'm trying to figure out what to call a person who plays chess or go professionally. I'm aware of the term 棋士 (きし) / プロ棋士 in professional Shogi, and was wondering if this term could be used…
DTR
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How to explain 区取り位置

In MS Excel 区切り位置 is a label that corresponds to English "Text to Columns" functionality. I understand that 位置 means place, but cannot find any translation of 区切り and cannot combine these two together to make any sense of it.
user1602
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