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1500 questions
21
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2 answers
What is the role of 空書 (writing kanji in the air) in modern Japanese?
What is the role of 空書{くうしょ} in modern Japanese?
空書 is tracing characters in the air with your finger (or on a flat surface), a phenomenon which apparently develops only in users of Chinese characters. It's something I've found myself doing, as…
user1478
21
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2 answers
What is 〜からです and when is it used? How does it differ from 〜ですから and 〜んです?
I have seen this expression a few times, and have never quite understood it. In particular, it seems to be equatable both to ですから and to んです, but I can't figure out where it would be used over either of those two expressions. Here is an example I…
rurouniwallace
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What's the difference in usage between 氏名 (しめい) and 名前 (なまえ)?
What's the difference in usage between 氏名 (しめい) and 名前 (なまえ)?
I often see these two words used interchangeably, but more often than not I see 氏名 on websites. Is this a politeness difference or an actual word definition difference?
Mark Hosang
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21
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6 answers
Is exact Kanji stroke length important?
Context:
I am currently on a quest to learn how to hand write the 2000 most commonly used Kanji. This requires lots of memorization, so efficiency is important.
I have come across Kanji that have strokes with little "extra tails", created from a…
Blake Allen
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21
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1 answer
What does it mean when multiple 々 marks follow a 、?
I was glancing at some old manuscripts from the Heian period (左経記 pg. 10) when I saw the following:
I know that typically 々 means to repeat the previous kanji, but what does it mean when its following a 、? Also, is there a reason there are so many…
Ringil
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21
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3 answers
What exactly is this ※ symbol, and what does it mean/how is it used?
I keep running into this symbol: ※
What is it, exactly? How is it used?
According to this Wikipedia link on Japanese typographic symbols, this ※ is called 米{こめ} or 米印{こめじるし}. It is used in notes as a reference mark, similar to an asterisk.
With…
silvermaple
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21
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1 answer
Can polite and casual Japanese be combined?
What I mean is, is there any overlap? are you allowed to speak in a way that combines both forms of speech?
like are there words that, even if using formal speech, are typical to use casual speech for and vice versa?
I really struggle getting my…
Fuure
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21
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2 answers
When did the "wu" character drop out of use?
In the last century, the ゐ and ゑ characters were eliminated from common use. But it seems like there used to also be a "wu" character that has since been lost. Given that it's a lot harder to find information about "wu", I assume it vanished much…
Troyen
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21
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Difference between sentence final ものだ and ことだ
My understanding is that ものだ is used to assert things which are mostly known to everyone.
誰かの家に招待されたときは、何か手土産をもっていくものだ
'When invited to somebody's home it's customary to bring presents'.
On the other hand, ことだ is used to give someone advice.
A:…
buskila
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21
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2 answers
What does や after someone's name mean exactly?
I'm reading a manga and I've seen "nameや" a couple times now, but I'm not sure what it means exactly. Does it show affection?
Two examples:
Dorus
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21
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1 answer
Can someone identify this stamp in a Bible that allowed my roommate's Grandpa to keep it in a POW camp in WW2?
Can someone identify this stamp in a Bible that allowed my roommate's Grandpa to keep it in a POW camp in WW2?
Normally Bibles would have been forbidden but apparently this stamp that was inspected regularly allowed him to keep it throughout the…
MattCom
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21
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2 answers
What does the nakaguro (・) between these two words mean?
The first sentence on the Mac OS X article on the Japanese version of Wikipedia reads:
Mac OS X（マック オーエス テン）は、アップルが[開発]{かいはつ}・[販売]{はんばい}する、Macintoshコンピュータ[用]{よう}の[現行]{げんこう}オペレーティングシステム (OS) である。
Now, in between the words 開発 and 販売 there happens to…
Miguel
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21
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2 answers
Why is ふとんがふとんだ a pun?
I was reading an article about how the humour in the Yakuza games gets translated into English, and in the original Japanese a pun is made.
ふとんがふとんだ
The article says it is a play on words. But I cannot find any explanation online but I do see a…
VictorySaber
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1 answer
Can you use "anata" with people you don't know well?
I have read repeatedly that the pronoun "anata" (meaning "you") is very personal and should not be used.
But to say something like "Which car is yours?" I would say "Dono kuruma ga anata no desu ka?"
I don't really know a way around phrasing it that…
temporary_user_name
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21
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1 answer
Why is it 「ロワイアル」?
Always loved the "Battle royale" anime, but am curious about why in the Japanese title it's「ロワイアル」.
Shouldn't it be something like「ローヤル」, if you wanted to match the French pronunciation? Why the「ワ」?
(I know royal is「ロイヤル」)
Y12K
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