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1500 questions
19
votes
2 answers
What's the difference in usage and nuance between やはり and やっぱり?
I know that we say にっぽん instead of にほん when we want to inject a little national pride into the word, but I've never had a good understanding of the difference in meaning/nuance/usage between やはり and やっぱり.
I would guess that there is some variation…
Ali
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19
votes
2 answers
"Te-form" versus "masu-stem + して" (消しているうちに versus 消ししているうちに)
Is there any difference between 消して and 消しして in the following sentences?
For example,
A: 手紙を書いては消し、書いては消ししているうちに、朝になってしまった。
B: 手紙を書いては消し、書いては消しているうちに、朝になってしまった。
Display Name
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19
votes
3 answers
Should I use the formal form (~ます) on the buttons of an app?
I'm an iOS app developer who's learning Japanese. I want to localize my app to Japanese (make a Japanese version of it, basically). For context, my app falls into the "Utilities" category on the app store.
In the user interface of my app, suppose…
Sweeper
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19
votes
1 answer
Politeness in examination questions
1) Why do Japanese school examination questions get more rude as the year gets higher?
In elementary school
...してください。
or
...しましょう。 ... です。 ...ですか。
In junior high school to high school
...しなさい。
In university
...せよ。 ...である。 ...か。
2) When even…
user458
19
votes
5 answers
Why are some words written backwards on trucks
I was driving the other day and saw a truck with 一般 written as 般一 on the drivers side door. My wife was telling me that this is often the case with trucks, where it is actually written from right to left in 縦 style, as if there was only 1 row. …
Mark Hosang
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19
votes
3 answers
What form is あり?
On the road outside my daughter's nursery is painted 保育園アリ. I guess this is a form of ある, but what's it called, and why is あり used not ある？
Abbief
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19
votes
2 answers
Pronunciation of "何" as "なん" or "なに"
"何" is pronounced as "なん" before counter-words like in "何時{なんじ}", "何歳{なんさい}" etc; or before particles like in "何で", "何とか" etc.
However, it remains to be pronounced as "なに" in some words like "何事{なにごと}", "何色{なにいろ}", "何者{なにもの}" etc. It can also be…
Lukman
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19
votes
1 answer
Difference between これから、いまから
What is the difference between これから and いまから？ Both seem to have the meaning of 'from now on'.
これから、食べます。
いまから、食べます。
Do the sentences above carry the same meaning?
user743
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19
votes
2 answers
What are the various ways to express 'or' and when are they appropriate?
I'd like to get an idea of when it is appropriate to use different expressions for expressing disjunction (of the inclusive AND exclusive variety).
「AとBとCの中で...」、「どちら」、and 「か」 come to mind, but I think they have situational usage (that I'm not…
Anon
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19
votes
3 answers
Conjunctive form (e.g. 書き) vs Conj + mono (e.g. 書き物)
I'm trying to fully understand the plain conjunctive form without a suffix. I've seen it mainly in the form of 話, where it means a talk or speech. So I think it means something along the lines of "the thing that is produced when someone speaks for a…
Benjamin Lindley
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19
votes
1 answer
Why isn't a large amount of money a good enough reason to kill someone?
In my JLPT workbook, there is this example question:
適当{てきとう}な語{ご}を選{えら}びなさい
この殺人{さつじん}事件{じけん}の裏{うら}には（ ）上{じょう}のトラブルがあるようだ。
A 金額{きんがく} B 大金{たいきん} C 金銭{きんせん} D 基金{ききん}
The answer is... (drum roll, please)... C, 金銭{きんせん}.
First, I'm a little…
Questioner
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19
votes
3 answers
Why are there many kanji that are read and mean the same?
My question comes from this case:
会う
逢う
遭う
遇う
I see they all are read あう, and mean "to meet". So, why are there these many cases? And more important, which one should I use? I knew 会う, and when I read 逢う I thought it was a completely different…
Adrian Ferreyra
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19
votes
6 answers
Is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) a good measure of my Japanese language ability?
Given that there has been discussion by the Japanese government to use the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) as one of the measures by which permanent residences or citizenship might be granted, how good of a measure of it of actual real…
user51
19
votes
2 answers
What are the pitch-accent rules for compound nouns?
I've been trying to learn the pitch-accent of standard Japanese, but this is more difficult as it should be as it's hard to find good learning resources that provide proper descriptions of how the accent works. For many words, this isn't too much of…
Harith Vasant
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19
votes
4 answers
Is it offensive to say あなた?
My teacher says that we should avoid あなた, like わたし, which could be taken off. Following this, I try to refer to the second person by the name: 加藤さんの趣味は何ですか. But there are situations where we forget the name. How can we say "You" without being rude,…
daniel tomio
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