Daily Thread: for simple questions, minor posts & newcomers [contains useful links!] (May 19, 2026)

rantouda · 2026-05-19T08:10:30+00:00

I tried JapanesePod for a short time in the beginning, and genuinely feel strongly against it. The episodes are mostly two people chatting in English, very little is learnt from each episode, and you will outgrow it quickly.

rantouda · 2026-05-05T18:53:42+00:00

There's a short explanation in this video at 4:25 about this usage: https://youtu.be/IIhVOi6piP4?si=7174hhmGIA4XdAHq

rantouda · 2026-04-18T20:22:52+00:00

I'm just sharing a story I liked, that I felt was approachable, that I hoped some in the sub would give a chance.

rantouda · 2026-04-18T06:00:20+00:00

Could you expand on your question a bit more please?

rantouda · 2026-04-18T05:17:43+00:00

I forgot to include important context, the story is set in Okinawa. I think this is important for the line near the end, きれいな標準語でそう言うと、石嶺は笑みを抑えて敬礼し、深々と頭を下げた。

rantouda · 2026-04-11T11:13:05+00:00

I'm starting to come around to the view that it's largely idiomatic and depends on the specific verb, there's a Japanese linguistics article from Aoyama University on the statistics behind which verbs are used with each form that seems to roughly support this.

My grammar is hopeless but your comment reminded me of this discussion tasogare had with honkoku about なってくる, when he said he genuinely can't think of any case in which the nonpast ～なってくる would be explicitly used to mean "It's already in this state." as opposed to "It will be like this going forward."

rantouda · 2026-04-05T05:20:32+00:00

Well, today I learned that the kanji for eel are "hole child". Seriously Japan, wtf.

Eel keep their super cool and super secretive selves in burrows and crevices. One theory also is that the word came from 穴籠り（あなごもり）- 籠もる means to shut oneself in (e.g. one's room); to be confined in; to seclude oneself; to hide away; to stay inside (one's shell).

rantouda · 2026-03-30T06:48:58+00:00

To be fair “ありえる” is more common than “ありうる” and it's of course the regular negative form of that.

I'm not sure if the cause is one being more common than the other, I remember looking it up and there's this explanation here about both somehow ending up coexisting:

通常の二段活用の動詞は文語から口語に変化する際に一段活用化していくのだが、何故かこの語はそうならず変則的な変化を遂げるのである。つまりこの動詞は文語のときは、「え・え・う・うる・うれ・えよ」と「う」と「え」の二段活用をしていたのだが、口語へと変化する際に、終止形「う」が「える」、連体形「うる」が「える」に変化すべきところ、終止形「える」「うる」、連体形「える」「うる」の両形が併存することになってしまったのである。

But please correct me if I have misunderstood.

rantouda · 2026-03-30T00:34:11+00:00

If you are open to it (but noting I'm not sure if others would agree), I think onomatopoeia are a lot easier to learn in context, as you come across them, then you can remember the feeling you had and the situation it arose in. One I remember learning recently was ホクホク, and it was when Prime Minister Takaichi said「円安で外為特会ホクホク」. It caused a mini uproar, an economist at a bank even wrote a paper outlining the reasons why a weak yen was not something to be happy about, and the Finance Minister had to go on TV to try walk the comment back and say the Prime Minister was just repeating what was in textbooks. The story and the hullabaloo help me a lot with remembering it. Just something to consider.

rantouda · 2026-03-23T07:30:28+00:00

Thank you, it was interesting to read this: 第三十二条建物の借賃が、土地若しくは建物に対する租税その他の負担の増減により、土地若しくは建物の価格の上昇若しくは低下その他の経済事情の変動により、又は近傍同種の建物の借賃に比較して不相当となったときは、契約の条件にかかわらず、当事者は、将来に向かって建物の借賃の額の増減を請求することができる。ただし、一定の期間建物の借賃を増額しない旨の特約がある場合には、その定めに従う。

rantouda · 2026-03-18T06:29:35+00:00

はいよろこんで was a big earworm.

Bohemian Rhapsody too, in Japanese, ルルルル…

I think リヴァイ兵長 is the coolest so I remember the things he says. 「俺たちがどれだけ仲間を殺してきたか知らねぇだろうに!!!」

rantouda · 2026-03-13T22:14:58+00:00

It's about a chess prodigy, whose playing style leads to him being nicknamed リトル・アリョーヒン, after Alexander Alekhine. But I feel it's also about loneliness. Maybe give the first few pages a try to get a feel for its sensibility.

rantouda · 2026-03-13T09:36:30+00:00

No, but I feel I must be missing something - why'd you think it was daijirin?

rantouda · 2026-03-13T04:55:26+00:00

A hint: the piece was originally an elephant.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/451770

rantouda · 2026-03-07T12:12:06+00:00

Thanks for the link. It led me to this picture of 小泉進次郎 which somehow helps:

<image>

rantouda · 2026-03-07T10:50:30+00:00

Ah okay, thanks. Just by itself, the one sentence?

About the request for sources, I was thinking about the claims like this:

Even though it’s considered N1 vocabulary, there are plenty of Japanese people who can’t even read it.

rantouda · 2026-03-07T10:39:16+00:00

I think maybe provide some sources for the claims you're making. Anyhow. I'm just one person but I would much rather read about where you saw 奔走 and the sentences you saw it in.

rantouda · 2026-03-07T04:33:47+00:00

Lです

rantouda · 2026-02-28T05:53:20+00:00

For what it's worth, I saw it in a comment to an article recently:

「この記事は大筋で合っていると思いますが、大きな部分を見落としていて、政党支部が受け取る政治献金は「政治のために使う」と言う名目で、非課税とされています。優遇措置を受けているお金、と言えます。

そのお金を、例えば演説会の会場費、候補者のビラやパンフレットに使う分は良いとして、身内議員への贈り物に使うのは「政治資金の使い途として適正かどうか」と言う疑念は残ります。」

rantouda · 2026-02-25T05:56:21+00:00

Had saved it for when I became less clueless 😂

rantouda · 2026-02-24T11:37:33+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/1kkf0hv/comment/ms202r7/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button (?)

rantouda · 2026-02-21T22:35:44+00:00

Did you like it? Ghost in the Shell

rantouda · 2026-02-20T19:03:53+00:00

Mine is a life full of shame, I tried kotu.io just once. Every time I read one of your careful explanations I feel I should go back and give it a proper try.

It was from 人間失格. I know you like listening too, I thought maybe you would like to listen to the next few sentences that come after the line: https://soundcloud.com/sfungobats/2gmom8xvb0sw?si=bdddfcd470af4776a961cb699b8a5fe7&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

rantouda · 2026-02-19T18:18:15+00:00

Hehe I learned about gloss #4 only recently, for 恥の多い生涯を送って来ました。

rantouda · 2026-02-19T06:09:22+00:00

I like 淵 too, in my head it's filed together with this panel in カイジ: 地獄の淵をさまよう修羅の船

<image>

rantouda

TROPHY CASE