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I am now retired. I used to teach English and ESL at a local community college. Am currently interested in improving my ability to read and understand the lyrics of Balkan folk songs and dances. Am fairly good in reading/writing French and Spanish and less good in Italian.
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Japanese
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  • Answered
    no desu (or no da or n da) is "a sentence ending which indicates that the speaker is explaining or asking for an explanation about some information shared with the hearer, or is talking about something emotively, as if it were of common interest to the speaker and the hearer" (quoted from _A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar_ by Seiichi Makino and Michio Tsutsui and published by The Japan Times). The ga after desu here is, I think (I say "I think" because you have not given the whole context of the sentence), "a disjunctive coordinate conjunction that combines two sentences", something like "but" in English, e.g., He wants to do it, but I don't. In Japanese the second sentence "is often omitted when it is understandable from the context and/or the situation, or when the speaker doesn't want to continue for some reason (e.g., the sentence is too direct, impolite, embarrassing, etc.)". I hope this answer helps. :)
    0 voted
    April 25, 2010
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  • Commented
     Thanks, Wenny.  I think dattarou is a contraction of datta darou.  Perhaps "When might it have happened?"  or "When might that have been?"  would be possible translations of "Itsu no koto datta darou?"

    I'm learning that colloquial Japanese speech has lots of contractions.  The _Japanese in MangaLand_ series by Marc Bernabe has been helping a great deal, especially the chapter on casual speech (Chapter 53 in _Japanese in MangaLand 3_). 
    0 voted
    April 25, 2010
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  • Posted
    More Japanese I Need Help With  How would you translate the following into English?  I'm interested primarily in the grammar, especially the "no koto" and "dattarou".

    おれはいつのことだったろう？

      Ore wa means "as for me" or simply "I".  Itsu means "when".  I don't understand why "no koto" is needed or what its function is here in this context.  And I wasn't able to puzzle out the meaning of dattarou, which could also be read as　だつだろう.  I wasn't able to tell whether the つ was large or small.

    The translation given in the English version of the manga story is "When did he tell me?"  How on earth the translator got that understanding from the Japanese is beyond me.  LOL  Can anyone help?
    April 20, 2010
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  • Commented
     I've puzzled out the answer to my question #3 above.  Evidently the story is entitled "これってたたり!？”　or "Is this a curse/trick?"  And the その１の巻　probably means "the first volume or part (of the story)".
    0 voted
    April 20, 2010
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  • Commented
    Thanks, Wenny.

    1.   I never thought of that solution, namely that awase is the name of a person.
    2.  The reason that I asked about って is that it usually comes at the end of a sentence, but here it comes right after これ.  Sometimes it stands for は (wa), so I thought that  the clause これってたたり！？ might mean something like "Is this a curse!?"  However, "Is this a trick!?" seems better.
    3.  Now my question is How would you translate the entire sentence: その１”これってたたり！？"の巻 
    0 voted
    April 16, 2010
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  • Commented
     Flypig1017, It's a fictional manga story in an anthology of manga stories.  
    0 voted
    April 16, 2010
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  • Posted
    Need Help Translating Manga (Jap-Eng)  Hello, I need some help translating a few phrases.

    The manga is called _Chinko-no-tsubuyaki_.  _Memories of ?_
    1. What does "chinko" mean here?

    At the beginning of the story it says "Private MB (My Boy) High School, 2 teachers, I'm here (tada ima) in the middle of an excursion."  The "I" refers to a boy.  There is the picture of a building in the background, with laughter and music.

    2.  Then  it says:  Sono 1 "kore tte tatari!?" no maki. 　その１”これってたたり!?"の巻。 I don't understand this.  The character TATA is the kanji for "curse, haunt".  It didn't appear as a kanji when I typed the ひらがな　たた。I don't think it's one of the 1,945 General Use kanji.  I don't understand why the numeral 1 was used.  And I don't understand the use of って here.  Is it a colloquial substitute for は?　

    3.  Further on, it says:  aya se no tonari ni suwareru nante.



    <img id="e7b6be_gif" width="100" height="100" class="mar0000" alt="" src="http://www.saiga-jp.com/dic/img/enlarge/e7b6be.gif" /><img id="e780ac_gif" width="100" height="100" class="mar0000" alt="" src="http://www.saiga-jp.com/dic/img/enlarge/e780ac.gif" />の<img id="e99aa3_gif" width="100" height="100" class="mar0000" alt="" src="http://www.saiga-jp.com/dic/img/enlarge/e99aa3.gif" />に<img id="e5baa7_gif" width="100" height="100" class="mar0000" alt="" src="http://www.saiga-jp.com/dic/img/enlarge/e5baa7.gif" />れるなんて。

    I don't understand the compound kanji ayase.

    Thanks for any help you can give me!

    Prof
    April 16, 2010
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  • Commented
    I may also, some day, if I decide to go to Serbia, learn "survival" Serbian -- only the basic vocabulary needed to be able to read street signs, etc.  If you are interested in acquiring a basic knowledge of the four skills, then a book + CDs like _Teach Yourself Serbian_ would be helpful.  If you want to acquire a more extensive knowledge of Serbian, then a first-year university course with books like _Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian -- A Textbook_ and _Bosnian, Croation, and Serbian -- A Grammar_ published by the University of Wisconsin, accompanied by the CDs, would be helpful.  There is also a very nice overview of grammar in the University of Wisconsin books that I am using to fix in my mind the grammar essentials I need for my purposes.  Also, the clear distinction given among Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian is very helpful,
    0 voted
    February 23, 2009
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  • Commented
    Rami, first decide what your goal is in learning Serbian.  It's very important to define your goal carefully, for in doing so you can concentrate on the language skill(s) -- speaking, listening, reading, writing -- and vocabulary that will help you meet your goal.  For example, my reason for studying Serbian is to be able to understand the songs that accompany Serbian folk dances (kolos), so that I can sing along while I am dancing and understand what I am singing about.  Since I have a very limited focus, my method of study is to quickly get a general overview of the grammar, focusing only on the grammar and very limited vocabulary needed for me to learn to read folk song lyrics.  By doing so, I avoid the many hours of study necessary to improve my listening comprehension, speaking, and writing, and I avoid having to learn a large general vocabulary.
    0 voted
    February 23, 2009
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  • Commented
    Grazie mille per le spiegazioni chiare ed utili !
    0 voted
    August 18, 2008
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