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Hi! My name is Meredith, and I am hoping to become better at Japanese by talking to people on this website! I love languages and traveling, as well as drawing, reading, and skiing. I am glad to help others with English, and would be thrilled to have help with my Japanese. Nice to meet you!
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  • Posted
    What does the phrase, 酔えば勤王醒めれば佐幕 mean? I know it has to do with 山内容堂 and his nickname 鯨海酔侯, and the sake called 酔鯨. Could it be, "Loyal to emperor when drunk, loyal to the shogunate when sober" ?
    December 2, 2015
    3
    0
  • Answered
    Several particles could work here: 三時（に）Machidaさん（と）としょかん（へ）いきました。 At 3, I went to the library with Machida-san. 三時（に）Machidaさん（は）としょかん（へ）いきました。 As for Machida-san, he went to library at 3. 三時（に）Machidaさん（が）としょかん（へ）いきました。 At 3, Machida-san went to the library. You can also replace へ with に and get the same meaning.
    0 voted
    November 25, 2015
    0
  • Answered
    By adding たい to the stem of a verb: 食べる (to eat) -> 食べ ＋ たい ＝ 食べたい (want to eat) 学ぶ (to study) -> 学び ＋ たい ＝ 学びたい (want to study) 見る (to see) -> 見 ＋ たい ＝ 見たい (want to see) する (to do) -> し ＋ たい = したい (want to do) In formal settings, it's common to add と思います (I think) to the end to make the sentence less direct. For example, when giving presentations, you'll often hear a phrase like, 今日、日本の文化について発表したいと思います。(Today, I'd like to give a presentation on Japanese culture.)
    0 voted
    November 25, 2015
    0
  • Answered
    The first sentence implies a process taking place - I'm going to write good jokes, and this will lead to my becoming a comedian. In the second sentence, the comma separates the two actions, and so they are no longer as connected - I'm going to write good jokes, and independently of this, I'm also going to become a comedian.
    0 voted
    November 25, 2015
    1
  • Answered
    I'm in the same predicament - my name is Meredith, and there's no "dith" sound at all in Japanese, so I go by メリ (meri) which is fairly similar to my English nickname Merey. I've even gone so far as to pick out kanji for メリ, but that's more for personal use, I don't write メリ with them. As far as your nickname goes, it doesn't sound too feminine, and you'll often find that Japanese names can be more unisex. I would suggest spelling it ルー, which is how words with long vowel sounds are normally spelled in katakana.
    0 voted
    November 25, 2015
    2
  • Answered
    You'll find that a lot of words in Japanese can function both as onomatopoeia and regular words - ドキドキする (to be excited, nervous), キラキラする (to sparkle) - and that many others are mimetic - がっかりする (to be disappointed), びっくりした (to be surprised). If you look at a manga, you'll see effects like バタン (batan, thud), ガチャ (gacha, sound of a door opening/shutting), ドン (don, bam), ゴゴゴ (gogogo, rumble, an ominous presence) etc. pretty often. For an excellent sound effects index, see http://thejadednetwork.com/sfx/ - I use this website all the time for translating manga.
    0 voted
    November 25, 2015
    2
  • Corrected

    私の日本語

    私の日本語がいいじゃない良くない。四年前から、私は日本語にを勉強している。でも、私は話すとことも読むとことも書くにことがも (あまり? I mean, you <em>can</em> write, technically) できない。私の過ちを犯すとき、私はが私にがっかりしているする。それからだから、私のNew Years Resolutionは、沢山(たくさん is usually written in kana)の日本語のを勉強する事だ!

     

    Once you've denoted a topic by marking it with は, you don't have to say it again, it's implied. Think of は as meaning, "as for". A really helpful article for learning about the difference between は and が is "Wa and Ga: The Answers to Unasked Questions" from Jay Rubin's <em>Making Sense of Japanese.</em> Really helpful book all around for improving your Japanese.

    0 voted
    November 24, 2015
    0
  • Posted
    What does the phrase 再現率１２０％ mean? The context is this sentence from a cookbook recipe: 再現率１２０％！？食べるのがもったいないくらいかわいいカレーの上がり！ I know that 再現率 means "recall ratio" or "recall", but I've only seen it in the context of database searches.
    November 24, 2015
    7
    1
  • Posted
    Using が In the sentence construction, 「_____が_____です」, is it grammatically correct to place a noun after が? I know that が marks whatever precedes it as the grammatical subject of the adjective or verb that follows it. So can a noun follow が? For example, is the sentence それがペンです grammatically correct?
    November 15, 2015
    6
    0
  • Posted
    What do high school 3rd years do inbetween their final exams and graduation? I studied abroad in a Japanese high school, and the calendar on its website shows that the 3rd years take their final exams at the end of January and then graduate at the beginning of March. Do they need to come to school in February? If so, what do they do in class?
    September 12, 2014
    1
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