Japanese Help Questions/Translations

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by GLL99

Ah, okay. I did find that after Googling, but I just didn't get the use of なんとか over ばか. What's the euphemism there, though? I'm not really getting why guy-in-red takes it to mean blue-hair'll take him on.

It is euphemism in that the "whole" saying is being quoted without uttering the word バカ, which in reality, may not make the addressee feel any better but it could make the speaker feel a little better. There are many sayings containing the word and it often gets replaced by なんとか or なんとやら when the speaker is clearly referring to a particular person.

Guy in red feels challenged because blue Hair says "Fools and smoke end up in high places."

...Oh. Nope, I think this is the first time I've heard him use 「ド」 as "very," lol. And yep, that's his sentence-ender.

You will keep hearing this ド from now on in phrases like 「ド迫力大画面」、 「超ド級」、 「ド真ん中」、 「ド田舎（いなか）」, etc.

A popular manga/anime in my days was titled 「ど根性ガエル」.
http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

Try "parsing" 「ドデカミン」, the name of an energy drink!
http://drink-king.seesaa.net/image/20060625.gif

So, would "Is it not quite the sight to see duels continuing well into the sunset?" work?

Definitely.

[Maxful]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

Yes to both. There is no direct object in either sentence in Japanese. Not even in an English translation.

Thanks, KyleGoetz.

[masaegu]

@GLL99

Regarding your question 4c, I think I am hearing 「帆立バター」. Is this "Italian" guy known for making completely nonsense comments? If so, 「帆立バター」 would be it. If not, I just have no idea of what he is saying.

[GLL99]

Originally Posted by masaegu

It is euphemism in that the "whole" saying is being quoted without uttering the word バカ, which in reality, may not make the addressee feel any better but it could make the speaker feel a little better. There are many sayings containing the word and it often gets replaced by なんとか or なんとやら when the speaker is clearly referring to a particular person.

Guy in red feels challenged because blue Hair says "Fools and smoke end up in high places."

Ah, gotcha. He probably is just letting out steam for having to hike that far up a mountain, lol.

Originally Posted by masaegu

You will keep hearing this ド from now on in phrases like 「ド迫力大画面」、 「超ド級」、 「ド真ん中」、 「ド田舎（いなか）」, etc.

A popular manga/anime in my days was titled 「ど根性ガエル」.
http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

Try "parsing" 「ドデカミン」, the name of an energy drink!
http://drink-king.seesaa.net/image/20060625.gif

Yeah, I'm definitely going to make a note of it for whenever it pops up again. And I just looked that manga up, and it sounds kinda interesting. I'm surprised it's from that long ago, though, haha. I think the earliest anime/manga (writing-wise) I might've heard of was Dragon Ball, but that was published in the mid-to-late 80's, IIRC.

Oh, it has that English "deca" prefix and the "min" from the English "vitamin!" I see what you did there.

Originally Posted by masaegu

Definitely.

Awesome. Thanks again for all your help and clarifying. =] Now, to put this episode behind me until I watch it on my DVD player at some point, lol.

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by GLL99

Oh, it has that English "deca" prefix and the "min" from the English "vitamin!" I see what you did there.

ウ～ン、惜（お）しいな～。

「デカ」は英語の「ＤＥＣＡ」ではなく、「でかい = "big"」から来てるんですよ。「どでかい/ドデカイ = "very big"」と言うこともあります。覚えといてね！

「どでかいアピール」のＣＭ

[delacroix01]

Again, I have some vocabulary and grammar questions today.

1. http://i.imgur.com/vkJf8.jpg
早めに別れをきりだそう...
Both 早めに and きりだす are unfamiliar to me, and the examples in dictionaries didn't help much, so I'm taking a guess. Does the line mean "I'll part with her soon"?

http://i.imgur.com/ZfAVR.jpg
2. とても考えて行動しているとは思えん！！！
Similarly, the use of とても before a verb is new to me. Does this line mean "What she's thinking and doing are completely different from what I thought"? Or did I guess it incorrectly?

3. 断じてついてなど行くものか！！！
Does this line literally mean "there's absolutely no way I can do things like accompanying her"?

http://i.imgur.com/9RxW4.jpg
4. 美しい顔が純粋に思えてより深い美しさを帯びている
Can someone please explain the function of 思えて here?

5. 明治通りを進んでるから
明治通り here is a street in Tokyo, correct?

6. http://i.imgur.com/n6riL.jpg
渋谷あたりまではついていくほかあるまい...
There are two things that bug me about the line above :
- Does あたり mean "around"?
- Does ほか have it usual meaning ("other") here?

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by delacroix01

1. http://i.imgur.com/vkJf8.jpg
早めに別れをきりだそう...
Both 早めに and きりだす are unfamiliar to me, and the examples in dictionaries didn't help much, so I'm taking a guess. Does the line mean "I'll part with her soon"?

http://i.imgur.com/ZfAVR.jpg
2. とても考えて行動しているとは思えん！！！
Similarly, the use of とても before a verb is new to me. Does this line mean "What she's thinking and doing are completely different from what I thought"? Or did I guess it incorrectly?

3. 断じてついてなど行くものか！！！
Does this line literally mean "there's absolutely no way I can do things like accompanying her"?

http://i.imgur.com/9RxW4.jpg
4. 美しい顔が純粋に思えてより深い美しさを帯びている
Can someone please explain the function of 思えて here?

5. 明治通りを進んでるから
明治通り here is a street in Tokyo, correct?

6. http://i.imgur.com/n6riL.jpg
渋谷あたりまではついていくほかあるまい...
There are two things that bug me about the line above :
- Does あたり mean "around"?
- Does ほか have it usual meaning ("other") here?

1. 早め means "earlier than one would expect" or "as early as possible". This "Adjective + め" form is extremely useful and is used very often but for some reason, Japanese-learners rarely use it.

「ご飯少なめでお願いします。」<-- You are asking for a little less rice (than normal).
「こどもには大きめの服を買った方がいい。」

切り出す means to take up the subject with ~~.

早めに別れをきりだそう means "I am going to bring up the subject of parting pretty soon."

2. This とても means "just cannot ~~", "not at all", etc.

Your TL is not necessarily incorrect but it's wordy. Mine would be: ""Just can't believe she actually thinks before taking actions!"

3. Yes.

4. It is connecting two ideas. 思えて is the connective form of 思える.
Idea 1: The pretty face looks pure.
Idea 2: It looks even prettier (because of the speaker's prejudice about the language difference that is making the girl look more attractive than meets the eye.)

5. Yes.

6. Yes x 2.
ほか　＝　以外
"There seems no other way but to follow her to around Shibuya."

[yuriyuri]

Originally Posted by masaegu

This "Adjective + め" form is extremely useful and is used very often but for some reason, Japanese-learners rarely use it.

In my opinion, whether it is correct or not, this is because most Japanese learners don't usually know it exists - I mean, of course people see it in things like 早めに as in the question you answered above, but most people don't know it exists as a kind of conjugation (or at least, that's what I think).
To the best of my knowledge I haven't seen it in any text books which I have tried to read.
And it isn't even in my grammar dictionaries, which usually serve me quite well.

The only reason I knew it existed was because I saw it in a manga or drama or something like that quite some time ago.
And even then it was pretty difficult to find any information about it in English (Then again I may have just not known what to look for)

Anyway, my point in making this post is because I decided to look on the internet for some kind of explanation of this conjugation in Japanese, and I found the explanation below this paragraph which is an excerpt from a PDF, which is as far as I know entitled "形容詞の名詞化接尾辞：「-さ」・「-み」・「-め」と「-き」について"
And I just wondered if you would agree with this small explanation from the PDF.

"4. 名詞化接尾辞「-め」と「-き」
日本語形容詞の名詞化接尾辞には「-さ」と「-み」のほかに、それに似た働きをもつ「-め」と「-き」がある。「-め」は次元形容詞「長い・短い・太い・細い・厚い・薄 い・深い・浅い」などの語幹に付いて、「葱を長／短か めに切る」「牛蒡を太／細めに削る」「テンプラを厚／ 薄めに揚げる」「畠を深／浅めに掘り返す」などのよう に、程度や傾向を表す名詞を派生する。
一方、｢-め」が口語で多く使われるのに対し、「-き」は文語や文語めいた文脈の中で使われる。"

Since this is the most in depth explanation I have found so far (I haven't been searching for very long) I wondered if this is an accurate description of the conjugation you spoke about in your quote at the top of this post.

Also, after reading your explanation and the explanation I quoted above (if it is correct) would it be correct for example to say:
お酒は熱めの方がいい

And would it be correct to translate this into something like:
I like my sake on the hot side

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by yuriyuri

Anyway, my point in making this post is because I decided to look on the internet for some kind of explanation of this conjugation in Japanese, and I found the explanation below this paragraph which is an excerpt from a PDF, which is as far as I know entitled "形容詞の名詞化接尾辞：「-さ」・「-み」・「-め」と「-き」について"
And I just wondered if you would agree with this small explanation from the PDF.

"4. 名詞化接尾辞「-め」と「-き」
日本語形容詞の名詞化接尾辞には「-さ」と「-み」のほかに、それに似た働きをもつ「-め」と「-き」がある。「-め」は次元形容詞「長い・短い・太い・細い・厚い・薄 い・深い・浅い」などの語幹に付いて、「葱を長／短か めに切る」「牛蒡を太／細めに削る」「テンプラを厚／ 薄めに揚げる」「畠を深／浅めに掘り返す」などのよう に、程度や傾向を表す名詞を派生する。
一方、｢-め」が口語で多く使われるのに対し、「-き」は文語や文語めいた文脈の中で使われる。"

Since this is the most in depth explanation I have found so far (I haven't been searching for very long) I wondered if this is an accurate description of the conjugation you spoke about in your quote at the top of this post.

This PDF looks really impressive and it is definitely pro-work!

I first read only the part that you had quoted and felt unsatisfied by the last part because it sounded as if it were saying that 「め」 and 「き」 were interchangeable. Then I opened the PDF myself and read a few paragraphs only to find out that these authors know exactly what they are talking about.

I really think learning to use this 「め」 will help one speak more natural-sounding Japanese. 「き」 can wait until one is near-fluent but not 「め」 in my opinion because that is something the vast majority of Japanese-speakers use on a daily basis.

Also, after reading your explanation and the explanation I quoted above (if it is correct) would it be correct for example to say:
お酒は熱めの方がいい

And would it be correct to translate this into something like:
I like my sake on the hot side

Exactly! You are starting to "think" in Japanese, yuriyuri.
よー知っとるわっ、マジで。

[yuriyuri]

Thank you very much for your reply, masaegu!
It's nice to know that the PDF is an accurate description of this grammar, and I will make sure to keep a copy saved just in case I need to read about it again.
I will also add as much of this grammar as I can to my flash cards to ensure I never forget it.

Also, since you said the writers of this PDF know what they are talking about, it couldn't hurt to leave a link to it here just in case anybody else would like to read it for themselves.
So for those who are interested, this is the link:
形容詞の名詞化接尾辞：「-さ」・「-み」・「-め」と「-き」について
(It might ask you to download the PDF or just display it depending on your browser)

Once again, thank you for your reply masaegu