The Foreign Languages Thread

[Gare]

Anyone have a suggestion for a forum to read native Japanese?

I was thinking 2chan but knowing how 4chan is a horrible place to be I'm kind of afraid 2chan will be the same.

Wouldn't recommend 2chan, probably full of internet slang.

Well, Wikipedia is one option. Or visual novels, but that's a literary style. One more thing is personal blogs, you can maybe search for game reviews written by Japanese bloggers. The term you need to search for here is either the katakana version of review (レビュー), or 感想 (kansou, meaning thoughts, impressions), this is usually how bloggers label their reviews.

[Spose']

Wouldn't recommend 2chan, probably full of internet slang.

Well, Wikipedia is one option. Or visual novels, but that's a literary style. One more thing is personal blogs, you can maybe search for game reviews written by Japanese bloggers. The term you need to search for here is either the katakana version of review (レビュー), or 感想 (kansou, meaning thoughts, impressions), this is usually how bloggers label their reviews.

Alright thanks, I might try a combination of both. With more emphasis on the reviews. I feel like it could be important to be able to read online slang so I can converse with people on a specific topic, but maybe that's a bad thought.

[Spose']

Ok, so this is something extremely minor and of minimal importance, but it's still bothering me.

I've noticed the word すごい means Terrible; dreadful; amazing; terrific; wonderful. The thing that bothers me is that it could be a positive or negative word. Coudln't this cause confusion when you want to say "That's terrible" or "That's amazing"?

I guess there is some way to tell the difference besides guessing?

[Gare]

Honestly most of the time it's used in a positive sense. Other than that you'd have to rely on the context or the way the person says it, but as far as horrible/dreadful is concerned people more often use the word ひどい instead.

I've seen やばい used more often in the ambiguous sense, it can mean either "shit, this is bad" or "fuck me, this is awesome!" at the same time. But it's mostly a slang term, so keep that in mind.

[Elin]

(´・ω・｀)

[Spose']

Alright, thanks both of you. I assumed it was something like context but I wasn't fully sure and it was bothering me in the back of mind.

[Spose']

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Intended meaning is something along the lines of "Is money a big problem"/"Money is a big problem".

[Gare]

Well, nothing, but... why not just say お金は問題ですか?　

である is basically a formal/literary version of です (for ex. である is used in research papers, novels, Wikipedia, etc.), which you've made even more polite by making it であります. Hence my question. ですか is fine imo.

Also, it can't mean "Money is a big problem" since it's a question with a question particle at the end.

[Spose']

Well, nothing, but... why not just say お金は問題ですか?　

である is basically a formal/literary version of です (for ex. である is used in research papers, novels, Wikipedia, etc.), which you've made even more polite by making it であります. Hence my question. ですか is fine imo.

Also, it can't mean "Money is a big problem" since it's a question with a question particle at the end.

I felt like ある was more fitting for some odd reason I guess I can't explain. I guess since it was discussed as a way to mean to be/to exist. I had です at first, but switched it to あります after some thinking about how it is meant to be proper.

I mean it like "Money is a big problem?", just forget to put the ? into it. Since that is kinda how it is stated in some small way. That's purely my mistake for how I stated it.

Back onto the topic on hand, I guess being extremely polite is a good thing, since the context of the sentence is replying to someone about e-sports in Japan. Would rather come of as not being rude wondering it.

I thought I did something wrong there, mostly the use of で. But I guess I didn't. Thanks.

[Gare]

Well, I meant it was polite to the point of sounding weird. But eh, whatever floats your boat.

Keep in mind that "desu" is still very much polite speech, in fact it's literally called "polite language", aka teineigo / 丁寧語.

[Spose']

Well, I meant it was polite to the point of sounding weird. But eh, whatever floats your boat.

Keep in mind that "desu" is still very much polite speech, in fact it's literally called "polite language", aka teineigo / 丁寧語.

I guess I could see how being too polite could come off as creepy.

[Gare]

I've also never heard anyone use that form, ever. So... make of that what you will.

[Spose']

Ok. So I finally have something to ask.

In the following, I don't see how してみました means "I tried to".

Download Links:
Links are hidden from guests. Please register to be able to view these links. I understand what is trying to be said. He's saying he tried to play 紅蓮の弓矢 on his flute. But the verb する the the みる would appear to mean "I tried to look" or something of the similar. So why does it translate to just "I tried to".

[Gare]

To be precise it's ~てみる, as in, て-form+みる　and it's a fixed expression. If you want to get really technical, you could say it's "a sequence of an action and then seeing the result" (Tae Kim), but feel free to not fuss over the details and just remember it as the fixed construction -てみる.

The only reason it became してみました in your example is because the verb form of 演奏 is used with する, and the て-form of する is して, so in the end it became してみる --> してみました. You can use it with any verb, including non-suru ones: Download Links:
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[Spose']

To be precise it's ~てみる, as in, て-form+みる　and it's a fixed expression. If you want to get really technical, you could say it's "a sequence of an action and then seeing the result" (Tae Kim), but feel free to not fuss over the details and just remember it as the fixed construction -てみる.

The only reason it became してみました in your example is because the verb form of 演奏 is used with する, and the て-form of する is して, so in the end it became してみる --> してみました. You can use it with any verb, including non-suru ones: Download Links:
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Alright, now I get it. Thanks Gare.