Japanese Help Questions/Translations II

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by TBox

As I said before, even light novels aren't written this way.

Just buy a collection of Murakami short stories. Or google for Japanese prose translation competitions online. Some have PDFs of what is to be translated, and they're almost always either short works of fiction or essays.

[Sumippi]

Originally Posted by hitotsz

Yes. Thank you. What would be the difference between いますか and いるんですか？

「韓国人の友達はいますか？」「韓国人の友達はいるん ですか？」
--Not very different but the latter sounds a bit conversational to me. Hmm...the former sounds like just asking 'Do you have any Korean friends?' and the other one sounds a bit like '(You have Japanese friends, and) how about Korean friends? Do you have any friends from Korea?'

btw if you use が instead of は、like 「韓国人の友達がいるんですか？」, it'd sound like '(Oh, so) you have a Korean friend?', like you're confirming or guessing from what someone has just said. We don't say 「韓国人の友達がいますか？」.

You can also say 「韓国人の友達はいる（の）？」and「韓国人の友達がい るの？」in daily conversations. These are not polite forms.

[Sumippi]

Originally Posted by hitotsz

Thank you. What is the difference between 上手なんですか and 上手なんですか？

同じだけど・・・（^_^;）　何か抜けた？

You wanted to ask about 「上手なんですか」and「お上手なんですか」?
「お」 is an honorific/polite prefix, or お/ご prefix. (I think I leaned this from Kyle sensei~ww! Thanks Kyle sensei~^^.)

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Sumippi

同じだけど・・・（^_^;）　何か抜けた？

You wanted to ask about 「上手なんですか」and「お上手なんですか」?
「お」 is an honorific/polite prefix, or お/ご prefix. (I think I leaned this from Kyle sensei~ww! Thanks Kyle sensei~^^.)

Judging by hitotz's previous question, I think he probably meant to ask the difference between 上手なんですか and 上手ですか.

The answer is that the 〜んです form (also 〜のです) "gives the [sentence] an explanatory force" compared to just です. The な is there because it's required after な-adjectives and nouns before ん／のです. For verbs and い-adjectives, it's not.

The English translation doesn't really change when it's added; it's just got a slightly different, "I am explaining something I think you didn't absolutely realize" feel to it.

Consider A and B. They see C, who is wearing a blue shirt.
Cさんは青いシャツを着ています。 C is wearing a blue shirt.
No explanatory feel would be proper since both are seeing it.

Now maybe A is telling B about how C was difficult to see in the ocean.
Cさんは青いシャツを着ていたんですよ。
Even without the んです it would be a grammatically correct and understandable sentence. Just maybe it wouldn't feel as perfectly native. Depending on context. Don't really sweat it too much. Some facility with the construction will come with time, and even if you're never fully comfortable with it (sometimes I wonder if I am), it will never be an obstacle to being understood or understanding someone.

Contrived sentences, but you hopefully understand what I'm trying to say.

Edit realized I didn't address the category of Questionんですか. Simple variation: it implies you're seeking an explanation.

Maybe a bit of a feel like the difference between
You're talented?
vs.
You're talented? [Tell me how you got that way.]

[Sumippi]

あ、そうだったんですか。。。「上手ですか」と、「上 手なんですか」の違い。。。？

Originally Posted by hitotsz

まさえぐさんは、どうやって英語がそんなに上手ですか 。is this right?

「まさえぐさんは、どうして英語がそんなに上手ですか ？」I understand this but it just doesn't sound natural...I'd say 「まさえぐさんは、どうして英語がそんなに上手なんで すか？」。

We say 「どうして～は[形容（動）詞＋]なんですか？」rather than 「どうして～は[形容（動）詞＋]ですか」。
「空はどうして青いん（orの）ですか」but not 「空はどうして青いですか」。。。


なぜ…？なんでかな・・？

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by Sumippi

なぜ…？なんでかな・・？

「なのです（口語では『なんです』）」は日本語の歴史 の中の変化によって生まれた表現なので、初級学習者に 説明するのは極めて困難です。また、非常に長いカキコ になってしまいます。

質問者が使用しなかった「なの」の部分の方が、実は「 です」よりも重要であることは、日本語話者なら本能的 に知っているのです。従って問題となっている文を会話 では「です」を省略して「なの（または関西では『なん 』」で終わらせることもあるのです。「です」は「なの だ」をより丁寧にしているだけなのです。

ところが、日本語学習者は訳しながら日本語を組み立て るので、初級者でも知っている「です」を無条件に使い たがります。彼らの感覚からすれば、「どうして英語が そんなに上手ですか 。」という表現を見て、足りないことばを見つけられな いのですね。「なの」の使用法は日本語学習者にとって ひとつの大きな壁です。日本語教師でこれを説明できる 人はほとんどいないのではないかと思います。

[delacroix01]

Originally Posted by masaegu

I do not mind but I want you to know that I neither read manga nor watch pro-wrestling, so I had to google a lot to answer them.

Roger that. But I can say your answers help me a lot, and I really appreciate that. I have never been to Japan, plus my knowledge in the Japanese culture is very limited, so I still don't know much about googling in Japanese. I find it challenging since some manga and light novel authors seem to enjoy pro-wrestling so much that they feature it in their work, while foreigners like me know very little about it. Having extra information from a native speaker is always better than having no clue at all.

Both appear to be the names of pro-wrestling attacks. I think the first one is
"Captured" but I cannot confirm it anywhere. The second one is Kido Clutch, which was invented by a Japanese wrestler named Kido.

Thanks a lot. This helped me successfully find it on wikipedia (キャプチュード=> Capture suplex or Capchude)

BUT 民明書房 is an imaginary publishing company that seems to be used a lot in manga.

Thanks for letting me know this piece of information. I'm awared that this manga is highly cultural, but the author still keeps surprising me with the amount of jargon he uses in the story.

別マガ　＝　別冊少年マガジン

So this is how magazine names are often written in Japanese. I didn't know they are shortened that much.

I have no more to ask today. Thank you again.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by delacroix01

Thanks for letting me know this piece of information. I'm awared that this manga is highly cultural, but the author still keeps surprising me with the amount of jargon he uses in the story.

Looks like this all may have started with a manga in the 80s. 魁!!男塾 - Wikipedia

[SHAD0W]

Hey guys.

How might someone express the term 'brown noser' in Japanese?
茶鼻 doesn't convey the same meaning.
Bob is a real brown noser.
Bob is always brown nosing Jimmy.

Thanks guys.

[Sumippi]

Originally Posted by SHAD0W

Hey guys.

How might someone express the term 'brown noser' in Japanese?
茶鼻 doesn't convey the same meaning.
Bob is a real brown noser.
Bob is always brown nosing Jimmy.

Thanks guys.

「ごますり」・・・？
「ボブはジミーにいっつもゴマばっか（り）すって・・ ・。」