nihongo wo benkyou shitai

JLPT Exam Question #5

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 09:25:00 +0000

A bit late with today's example question, but Christmas kind of got in the way...

This question is from the 2002 日本語能力試験 paper, specifically 文字語彙問題V question 5. Presented with a word, you must choose the correct usage of it.

あんぜん

この　まちは　よるも　あんぜんです。
にちようびは　いつも　いえで　あんぜんに　して　います。
この　きかいは　あんぜんてきに　つかって　ください。
わたしは　げんきですから、あんぜんして　ください。

[
The correct answer is option 1.

The ease with which you can answer this question depends on being able to know what the chosen word is. It may seem an obvious point to make, but unlike other types of question where you could take educated guesses, here you need actually need to know the word.

Hopefully, you'll recognise あんぜん (安全) as a 三級 required vocabulary word meaning 'safe'. If so, it's simply a case of translating each of the four options and seeing which makes the most sense. In Jenglish:

[this][town][night][too][safe][is]
[Sunday][always][house][at][safe][change into + present progressive]
[this][chance][safe + suffix meaning typical][use + please]
[I][healthy][but][safe + to do + please]

Once translated, option 1 makes the most sense. Options 2 and 3, whilst grammatically permissible, don't really make sense. Option 4, as far as I know, is grammatically incorrect in that you can't follow an adjective with the する verb.
]

JLPT Exam Question #4

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:34:00 +0000

Today's example question appeared as question 5 in the 2006 三級の読解文法 paper. In essence, this question is a particle test, a subject that constantly confuses me.

いろいろさがした_______見つからないんです。

のに
ので
のを
のが

[
According to the answer booklet, the answer is option 1.

My first thought is to translate this into English to see if that gives any clues. The Jenglish transliteration is [various] [to look for (past)] [_____] [to not be found] and already I have a vague idea of what the answer is. However, pride comes before a fall, so let's check all the options first.

Option 1 is のに, which has a few meanings including despite, in spite of and because. Option 2 is ので which as far as I know simply means because. Option 3 is のを which is the normalizer の followed by the direct object marker. Finally, option 4 is のが - the normalizer followed by the subject marker.

Option 1 is quite promising. Using のに, my translation in English would be Despite [the fact that] I looked a number of times, it isn't to be found.

Substituting option 2 doesn't work nearly as well: Because I looked a number of times, it isn't to be found.

Given that 見つからない in option 3 is the negative form of the intransitive verb 見つかる, I think we can rule out のを (see point 1 of my description of を and you'll see that it's used with direct objects and intransitive verbs don't have direct objects).

Option 4 could be a possibility. Intransitive verbs use the particle が and it's possible that the normalizer would work here. However the sentence doesn't seem to make much sense when translated.
]

またね・・・

エディンバラ旅行

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:17:00 +0000

僕はエディンバラ旅行の写真をインターネットの写真帳でやっとアップロードしたところだ。

JLPT Exam Question #3

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:29:00 +0000

Another 三級 question today, this time it's question 40 of the 2005 読解文法. This question, rather than test your ability to conjugate correctly, is a test of your ability to read and understand the question and then answer, As such, it is one of the more difficult styles of question in the exam.

「このテストは、ひらがなで書いてもいいですか。」
「ええ、＿＿＿＿＿。」

1. だめですよ
2. かまいませんよ
3. 書きますよ
4. 書きませんよ

[
According the the answer booklet, the correct answer is option 2.

Let’s start by translating the question:

“For this test, is it OK to write in hiragana?”
“Yes,___________.”

It would be tempting to immediately ignore options (2) and (4) as they are both negative conjugations, and the response in the example text begins with ‘yes’. However, be careful when doing this. It’s best to translate all the options first.

Option (1) translates as “It’s no good”; option (2) as “I don’t mind”; (3) as “write” and option (4) as “don’t write”. Option (2) is the sneaky one here as, despite, being a negative verb, it is the negative of かまう, a 三級 vocabulary that means “to mind” or “to care about”.

Slotting each of these possible answers into the example we get:

1. “Yes, it’s no good.”
2. “Yes, I don’t mind.”
3. “Yes, write.”
4. “Yes, don’t write.”

Clearly, options (1) and (4) make no logical sense. Option (3) conveys a logically correct meaning, but comes across as a command, not appropriate in this context. So option (2) is the correct answer.

Could this one be guessed? That’s a tough one to answer. I think that you could eliminate options (3) and (4) on the basis that they are too abrupt. Option (1) can be ignored if you know what だめ means. It’s touch-and-go, but you could get this right by precluding the other three answer... maybe.
]

JLPT Exam Question #2

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:32:00 +0000

Today’s example comes from the 2004 三級 paper (question 28 in the 読解文法 section) and is, in essence, a conjugation test. Hopefully none of the vocabulary presents a challenge; other than the use of hiragana for words that would be easily recognizable if in kanji.

図書館でこの町のれきしを＿＿＿＿ことができます

1. しらべた
2. しらべられる
3. しらべる
4. しらべて

Have a go and once you're happy you can see the answer and my reasoning below by clicking and dragging you mouse between the brackets.

[
The answer is option 3.

Each of the 4 possible answers have the same root verb and so this is simply a case of knowing the verb form that goes before ことができる.

Option (1) is the plain past, option (2) could be either the potential or the passive (depending on context), option (3) the plain non-past and option (4) is the て form. I think it’s pretty safe to rule out option (4) immediately as I can’t think of any て conjugation where て is followed by a nominalizer. Nominalizers are used to convert a verb clause into nouns, whereas て conjugations are used to modify the way in which the verb’s result is performed or perceived.

Option (2) is a safe one to rule out as well, in either of it’s meanings. If we take られる to be the potential form, then we have a tautological sentence, effectively mentioning the ability to do something twice. If we take られる to be the passive, then we have a sentence that does not make sense. In passive sentences, the subject is an unwilling recipient of some action, which doesn’t really fit with the use of できる.

That leaves options (1) and (3), both of which are plausible. If I did not know that ことができる comes after the plain non-past (or base 3) form of a verb, I’d have to make a guess based on the English translation. With option (1) we get “You could study this town’s history at the library” which doesn’t seem right. Option (3) would give us “You can study this town’s history at the library”, which just feels better.

So, even if you do not know the correct verb form to use with ことができる, it would be possible to correctly guess this one by looking at the English translation.

つまり、（３）は正しい答えです。
]

JLPT Exam Question #1

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 11:27:00 +0000

Today we see the first of a new feature in the blog and one I want to do once a week at least, maybe more depending on time. The idea is to go through real JLPT questions and analyze them. As I found out during revision, knowing the grammar is one thing, but to answer questions on it's usage is quite another. Hopefully, a weekly question or two will get my mind into the 'JLPT zone'...

Today's example is from 2006, question 34 of the ３級読解文法 to be precise. I picked this question as I got it wrong during my revision, so let's see if I can analyze it. First, the question:

先生がなかなか来ないので、学生がさわぎ＿＿＿＿。

つづいた
はじまった
おわった
だした

To see the answer and my reasoning, click and drag your mouse over the area between the brackets!

[
The answer is option 4.

On the face of it, the grammatical point is quite straight-forward. I've covered the use of はじめる, おわる, だす and つづける after a verb in base 2 and seen that they mean to start, finish, continue and suddenly start some action respectively.

The question itself also seems pretty straight-forward: in Jenglish we get [teacher] [by no means] [come] [because], [students] [make noise/kick up a fuss], or more naturally, Because the teacher hadn't come, the students _____ kicked up a fuss.

My first reaction, now I've read up on the grammar, is to ignore (1) and (2). All my research suggests that, in compound verbs, you use はじめる and not はじまる. Likewise it's つづける and not つづく. (3) also seems wrong, if not grammatically then semantically. So, by process of elimination, the answer is 4.
]

またね・・・

JLPT3: と思う

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:55:00 +0000

日本語：	[verb (short)] と思う
日本語：	[ adjective] と思う
日本語：	[ adjective] だと思う
日本語：	[noun] だと思う
日本語：	[verb (base 3,7)] とは思わない。
English:	I think...

Back to basics for today's post, but as it does feature in the JLPT on a regular basis, it's worth a quick look. As we learn in first year Japanese, と思う is the functional equivalent of 'to think', although, there are restrictions on when you can use it:

You can only use it to indicate your own thoughts on some topic. You can't use it to indicate your intentions. So, "I think it's tasty" will use と思う, but "I think I will go to the cinema." will not. For the latter you need to use と思う after the volitional form.
When referring to someone else's thoughts, you can only use と思う in the question form. To indicate that someone else (appears to be) thinking something, you should use たがっている.
Not so much a restriction, but it is usual to conjugate the quoted thought and not と思う. However, I have seen the English concept of 'I don't think' written as とは思いません. Note that it's とは and not と.

Let's try some examples:

English:	I think that the book I borrowed from the library was interesting.
Jenglish:	[library][from][borrowed][book][was interesting][think]
日本語：	図書館から借りた本は面白かったと思う。

English:	I think that the vase was broken by the burglar.
Jenglish:	[burglar][vase][broke+passive][I think]
日本語：	泥棒に花瓶を壊されたと思う。

The second example sentence uses the passive form; another grammatical point that is essential for the JLPT - and very common in everyday Japanese speech. It will be covered soon.

今は、インターネットを探そう！

例一番目：

最初の例文はこのサイトが見つかる。ちょっと面白いと思う！

日本語：	彼氏が浮気したのではと思う態度ランキング
Jenglish:	[boyfriend] [GA] [unfaithful] [NODE] [WA] [think] [behaviour] [ranking]

The first thing that I noticed is that と思う is directly followed by a noun which is our old friend the subordinate clause. In other words, the final part of the sentence is being described by the first part. The final part is, in fact, two nouns without the possessive particle の, but I guess this has been omitted due to the casual nature of the site. So, this final part comes out as ranking of behaviour.

The first part starts with 彼氏が浮気した, which given the use of the particle が make s me think this is in intransitive form. So, with that we have boyfriend was unfaithful. Where I am confused is the use of のでは. Is that ので + は or の + では? I think ので + は makes more sense, which makes the first part of the sentence because [your] boyfriend was unfaithful.So, ignoring the use of は and adding と思う, my translation is:

A ranking of behaviour that makes you think your boyfriend was unfaithful.

例二番目：

この例はここが見つかました。

日本語：	デザインってスゴイんだってことをもっと本気で言わなきゃダメだと思う
Jenglish:	[design] [TTE] [wonderful] [or something][KOTO] [WO] [more] [seriousness] [DE] [say + if one does not] [no good] [I think]

A real tough one this time. Lots of particles and a sentence structure not suited for the western brain. But let's make a start.

Scanning left-to-right, let's identify the bits I don't know. First, we have って, which is a casual way of quoting. Next there's だって which is a colloquial form of ても. The final bit I didn't know was 言わなきゃ, which is a conjugation which adds a meaning similar to 'if one does not...'.

Let's examine the first part of the sentence: デザインってスゴイんだってことを. First it ends in を which likely means that this is an object that some verb will act upon. There's also a こと in there which could be a nominalizer. I think the use of って here is to bring emphasis to the fact that we're talking about the concept of design. So, at this stage, we have Design is wonderful or something [like that].

Scanning ahead in the sentence to find a verb, we get 言わなきゃダメだ. Literally translated, we get 'if one does not say' and 'is no good'. Combining this and the previous translated sections, we get no good that if one does not say design is wonderful or something [like that]

The next bit is もっと本気で. Literally 'more seriousness', the final で is a little confusing. Looking at my blog entry on で, I'm tempted to go with meaning two and translates its use here as 'with'. So, adding this in to our translation gives no good that if one does not say design is wonderful or something [like that] with more seriousness.

It's an awful mess and my only hope is that much of my confusion has arisen as a result of this being pretty casual Japanese. But, with a little bit of smoothing into natural English, I'm guessing the translation is: I think it's useless to say things like 'design is wonderful' if one does not say with more seriousness.

またね・・・

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:54:00 +0000

The Gates unto Hell.

Taken before the JLPT level 3 exam today before all hope was ripped from me. It was not a pleasant experience. Sections 1 (vocabulary) and 3 (grammar) were pretty reasonable to be honest and I'm confident I have passed each one. However, section 2 (the listening comprehension) was a joke.... I honestly guessed each one. No, honestly.

Guess I'm taking 三級 again next year!

Quick update...

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:01:00 +0000

Yes, the blog has been somewhat ignored recently, but what with being on holiday 3 times (photos here and here) and revision for this year's 日本語能力試験３級 I have been a busy, busy boy.

The good news is that after having gone through the past papers I have lots of blog entries lined up covering essential grammar points. I'm planning to post them after the exam when I have more time...

みんな、今年の試験に備えて本当に一生懸命に頑張ってください！

JLPT3: ばかり

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:57:00 +0000

日本語：	[verb (base 6)] ばかりいる
日本語：	[noun]
English:	Nothing but..., all [it] ever does is...

Today's grammar point is one that I've come across many times over the years and I was pretty happy that I understood. However, whilst revising for the JLPT (in under two weeks time!) I realised that I have some confusion about exactly how it is used. After doing some digging, my investigations reveal that ばかり can be used in two ways and that's the source of my confusion. Today we'll look at one usage; indicating that some activity is performed to the exclusion of everything else.

In this context, the use of ばかり is pretty simple. With verbs, first conjugate to the て-form, then add ばかり. Note that because we're talking about a state of being, we have to add いる. With する verbs, ばかり is placed before the する; for example, 運転ばかりしている.

It can also be used after nouns, and in this situation the inference is that there is nothing but that noun.

手作り例文を見よう！

English:	All he ever does is complain about global warming.
Jenglish:	[he] [global warming] [about] [complain + nothing but]
日本語：	彼は地球温暖化について不平と言ってばかりいる。

English:	Because of the JLPT, recently I've done nothing by study.
Jenglish:	[JLPT] [because] [recently] [study + nothing but]
日本語：	日本語能力試験で、最近勉強ばかりいる。

相変わらず、インタネットを探す・・・

例文第一：

最初の例文はこのウェブサイトを見つかった。

日本語：	おもいでを歌い続けてばかりいた
Jenglish:	[memories] [WO] [sing + continue + nothing but]

The odd thing for this small example is that I know what the English is - I just can't easily see the translation. In essence, I believe the use of the verb 歌う here is analogous to the English phrase "to sing it's praises". There's also an element of continuation provided by 続く so whatever we're talking about, we're still very pleased with it. The only problem is the use of おもいで. The direct translation is along the lines of memories or recollections, but I feel that it would be better to here translate it as 'experience'.

だから、この日本語を英語に翻訳するときは：I'm still have nothing but praise for the experience.

例文第に：

このブログに次の例文を見つかった。

日本語：	ゴロゴロ寝てばかりいる猫と楽しく遊ぶ方法
Jenglish:	[purring] [sleep + nothing but] [cat] [TO] [enjoyably] [have fun + how to]

Sounds like a normal cat to me! Again, nothing too complex here. I've translated the と particle as 'with' and ゴロゴロ as the sound of purring.

翻訳は朝飯前じゃないけど、割合に簡単だと思う：Ways to enjoyably have fun with a cat that does nothing but sleep.

またね・・・

JLPT3: ～くる

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 09:30:00 +0000

日本語：	[verb (base 6)] くる
English:	Come to (a point)..., Continue...

Today's grammar point is a nice simple one, at least grammatically. As we know, the verb 来る means to come and is something we've been using since our first year studies. However, it can also act as an auxiliary verb and in such instances it can take on the following meanings:

To go and do something, and then return
To reach a point where some state is achieved
To continue some action that has been ongoing
If the attached verb is a motion verb, the motion is towards the speaker
The appearance of an object or the occurrence of some action

I took the above list off JapanesePod101, but in a general Google search, a lot of these meanings don't show up. Looking in my JLPT study guide, it only lists two of these meanings and so, whilst it's worthwhile remembering all five exist, points 2 and 3 are the ones listed in the JLPT specification.

The second point above uses くる in it's more abstract form to indicate that some point in a state or action has been reached; in other words, you've come to some point in that action. For example, after years of study you feel you have arrived at the point where you can confidently take the exam. The JLPT study guide describes this use as a change that takes place over time and the inference is that the point where the change is complete has been reached.

The third point is to indicate that the described action is an ongoing state. Quite how this is different to ている I do not know and my JLPT grammar book even uses ている in the example sentence for this point, so I have no idea what's going on.

The good news is that in terms of the usage I keep seeing, てくる normally takes on the meaning of either go and come back or reached the point where, both of which are nice and simple.

手作りの例文を見ましょう・・・

English:	He's reached the point where he can take the exam.
Jenglish:	[he] [exam] [take + come to the point]
日本語：	彼は試験を受けてきます。

English:	After the meeting I understood their concerns.
Jenglish:	[meeting] [after] [concerns] [understood + come to the point]
日本語：	会議の後で関心事をわかってきました。

English:	I'm going to take pictures of the sunset (but I'll be back).
Jenglish:	[sunset] [of] [pictures] [take]
日本語：	日を入りの写真を撮ってきます。

じゃぁ・・・インタネットで調べましょう！

１番目の例文：

この例文はこのサイトを見つかる。

日本語：	上司に連れられてキャバクラ行ってきた
Jenglish:	[boss] [take a person (potential/passive] [cabaret club] [went (and came back)]

On the whole, the vocabulary wasn't much of an issue here. The only area where confusion may crop up is whether we have a potential or passive verb. The clue is the use of に which indicates 'who made someone do something' in passive sentences. My guess here is that the subject is missing from the sentence and is the speaker. So, my translation is My boss took me to a cabaret club with a hint that the speaker wasn't too happy about it.

２番目の例文：

この例文はここで見つかる。

日本語：	そこでiPhoneパーティーでもおなじみ、キャスタリアの山脇さんにiPhoneをお借りして、New Yorkで10日間使ってきた。
Jenglish:	[so] [iPhone] [party] [but, however, still] [well-known, familiar], [??] [Mr. Yamawaki] [NI] [iPhone] [borrowing/use] [New York] [DE] [10 hours] [use + continue]

Lots of vocabulary I didn't know here,and the grammar is confusing, but let's make a start with what we can understand. I'm assuming that "New Yorkで" is where whatever is being talked about is happening as で can indicate the location of an action. That gives us "iPhoneをお借りして、10日間使ってきた" which raises the question as to what お借りして means. 借り is the noun form of 'to borrow' or 'to use temporarily' and the お at the start would indicate some kind of honourific/humble statement, so I am guessing お借りする is an humble form 'to borrow' or 'to use', which is conjugated to show some following action, in this case 10日間使ってきた. Given the context, I think the use here of today's grammar point indicates continued action. So far, then, we have used an iPhone in New York and continued to use it for 10 hours. Now we're getting somewhere.

Next up is キャスタリアの山脇さんに. I've no idea what キャスタリア is, but it is followed by the possessive particle and a name, so it's Mr. Yamawaki's something. This is all followed by に. に can mean many things, including passive and causative actions, but from the verb conjugation, there is no indication of either passive or causative. So に may be indicating the recipient of an action or the location of an action.

Next, we have 'そこでiPhoneパーティーでもおなじみ'. そこで means 'accordingly' and given that this sentence is a lead-on from a previous paragraph in the article, I'm happy with that. iPhoneパーティー should be obvious, but I'm guessing we don't mean a real party, but instead something like 'story' or 'hype'. It's followed by でも. We covered this grammar point before and saw that after a noun it can mean even if or even. The final word, おなじみ, means 'familiar' or 'well-known'.

Well, overall, I'm not very confident on this, but my translation is: Accordingly, even if the iPhone hype is well-known, I used an iPhone in New York at Mr Yamawaki's ??? and continued to use for 10 hours.

またね・・・

The Lowdown

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:54:00 +0000

先生がなかなか来ないので、学生がさわぎ＿＿＿＿。

つづいた
はじまった
おわった
だした

The answer is option 4.

On the face of it, the grammatical point is quite straight-forward. I've covered the use of はじめる, おわる, だす and つづける after a verb in base 2 and seen that they mean to start, finish, continue and suddenly start some action respectively.

The question itself also seems pretty straight-forward: in Jenglish we get [teacher] [by no means] [come] [because], [students] [make noise/kick up a fuss], or more naturally, Because the teacher hadn't come, the students _____ kicked up a fuss.

My first reaction, now I've read up on the grammar, is to ignore (1) and (2). All my research suggests that, in compound verbs, you use はじめる and not はじまる. Likewise it's つづける and not つづく. (3) also seems wrong, if not grammatically then semantically. So, by process of elimination, the answer is 4.

またね・・・

エジプトの写真はやっとオンライン！

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 09:03:00 +0000

最近、とても忙しかっただ。エジプト旅行の後で、オンライン写真帳のために写真を選んでいった。写真を５６０枚を撮った！運良く、オンライン捨身帳は百以下がある。僕の写真を楽しんでください。

Egypt 2007.

またね・・・

JLPT3: はず

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:24:00 +0000

日本語：	[verb (b3/b7)] はず
日本語：	[adjective] はず
日本語：	[noun] のはず
English:	Should..., ought..., expect

How annoying! After spending 2 hours on this post, I've just realised I covered it here! Ah well... Still, I think this post is better and more accurate.

Today is a nice easy conjugation that allows us to express our belief about something. As such, it falls into the grammatical classification of presumption, along with several other constructs we've seen, for example でしょう and かもしれない, but whereas these constructs are used to indicate something may be, はず is used to express the expectation that something is the case.

はず follows the three grammatical structures of verbs, adjectives and nouns. With verbs, it follows the plain past (base 7) and plain non-past (base 3) forms. If you want to express the negative, はずがない is used instead of はずです (in other words, the coupla is negated instead of the verb). With い adjectives, simply add はず and with な adjective, drop the な. With nouns, add の then はず.

じゃぁ、例文を見ましょう！

English:	I expect he'll be hungover after last night's party.
Jenglish:	[last night] [party] [after] [he] [hungover + expect]
日本語：	昨夜のパーティーの後で、彼は二日酔いはずだ。

English:	Because she's the newspaper's ace reporter, I expected her to get the scoop.
Jenglish:	[newspaper] [ace reporter] [because] [scoop + expect]
日本語：	彼女は新聞のエース新聞記者ですから、スクープするはずだ。

今、インターネットで調べよう！

例文１：

最初の例文はこのサイトを見つかった。

日本語：	インターネット「使い放題」のはずが、使いすぎで接続切断
Jenglish:	[internet] "[use] [as much as you like]" [expect] [but], [use + too much] [connection] [disconnection]

This one uses a lot of grammar we've looked at, so other than the vocabulary, it shouldn't be too difficult. I'm guessing here that the writer is using the 「」 in the same way we would quote a word in English; namely to indicate that the concept within the quotes may not be as it seems (that is, saying something whilst making quote marks with our hands). 放題 is a suffix that means 'as much as you want', so here I'm translating this as 'use as much as you want', or more naturally as 'unlimited use'. As 放題 is a noun, we have のはず, followed by the conjunction 'but'.

The last half of the example makes use of two conjugations we should know; the use of すぎる to indicate too much of something and the て form to act as the conjunction 'and'. So, my translation is: You expect unlimited internet access, but use it too much and you get disconnected.

例文２：

日本語：	「1年以上かかるはずだった計算も数週間」--Folding@homeにPS3ユーザー25万人以上が登録
Jenglish:	"[1 year] [over] [take] [expected] [calculation] [MO] [several weeks]" - [Folding@home] [NI] [PS3] [user] [250,000] [over] [are registered]

OK, so a little trickier, but let's break it down and look at the part in the 「」. My immediate thought is that we have a verb in past tense (だった) followed by a noun, so I am assuming this is a subordinate clause meaning everything before the noun simply describes it. Already we have The calculation that... Adding the first part to our noun, we then get The calculation that was expected to take over a year.

The problems start we I get to the も数週間 bit. Ages ago, I had a look at the kanji 数 and discovered that if it goes before a word, it can be translated as several and if it goes after a word, it can be translated as number of. So here we probably have 'several weeks'. The real problem is the particle も. My only knowledge of it use is to mean 'also', 'as well' or 'too', none of which make sense here. So I will guess it's use as a shorthand way of 'copying' the verb from the previous part of the sentence. So, now I have The calculation that was expected to take over a year, took several weeks.

The next section should be easier. It's starts with 'Folding@home' (a massively distributed home PC client that makes use of your idle PC time to perform some scientific calculations, like cancer research), followed by the particle に. As Folding@home is also a website I'll translate this as 'on'. The rest should be easy.

So, my translation is The calculation that was expected to take over a year took several weeks - over 250,000 PS3 users register on Folding@home.

またね・・・

エジプト旅行：エドフでホルス神殿

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:43:00 +0000

じゃぁ、エジプト旅行は本当に凄かった！毎日、気温は以上摂氏４２度だった。たくさんの写真を撮った・・・５６０枚だ！この写真はエドフにホルス神殿だ。高いなぁ！

JLPT3: と思う

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:45:00 +0000

日本語：	[verb (volitional)] と思う
English:	I think I will...

Way back in my first year of studying I came across と思う as a means of expressing my thoughts. So I was a little confused when I started looking into today's grammar point, as it seemed to overlap with this simpler と思う form, however there is a difference.

Whilst the previous use of と思う came after verbs in the plain form (as well as adjectives and nouns), today's usage is after the volitional form of verbs. In this context, it takes on a meaning similar to 'I think I will...' which added to my confusion as I now had two ways to express the same idea. For example: to say "I think I'll eat the sushi" could now be translated as either of the following:

寿司を食べると思う。
寿司と食べようと思う。

Luckily, this ambiguity is a(nother) case of my lack of understanding: the simpler と思う conjugation is used to express one's thoughts and views, but to express one's intentions we have to use the volitional form if the verb followed by と思う. As such, the first example sentence above is not grammatically correct.

Things do get a little cloudy, however, as there seem to be two common uses of the volitional form; と思う and と思っている. Usually this would be a simple (if time consuming) job for Google, but I have been getting conflicting answers on the differences. One source (my 元気 textbook) suggests that if the intention to do something has just been reached, then use と思う, otherwise use と思っている however, a source on the web suggests the opposite. However, given that ーている expresses a state, I am inclined to think that と思っている expresses an intention already reached と思う expresses an intention that has just been made.

例文を見ましょう！

English:	I think I'll order the pizza at the restaurant tonight.
Jenglish:	[tonight][restaurant][at][pizza][order + I think I will]
日本語：	今晩レストランでピザを注文しようと思ってる。

English:	Actually, I think I will buy two batteries after all.
Jenglish:	[battery][2][buy + I think I will]
日本語：	電池を２本買おうと思う。

次は、インターネットでし調べよう！

例文１

最初の例文はこのサイトを見つかった。

日本語：	携帯を買い替えようとおもってます。
Jenglish:	[mobile phone] [replace + I think I will]

OK. An easy example to start off and the opening question on a web site asking about what people could recommend and why. As there seem little of real difficulty here, I'll go straight for the translation: I'm thinking of replacing my mobile.

例文２
このサイトから、この例文はもっと難しいと思う。

日本語：	株の勉強をしようとおもっているのですが、初心者でもよくわかるサイトありませんか？
Jenglish:	[shares] [study + I think I will] [NO] [is] [but], [beginner] [DEMO] [often] [to understand] [site] [there is] [KA]?

Well, where to start? I've left a couple of particles in as they require special discussion. The first part seems relatively straightforward. Then we have the particle NO, used here to normalise the preceding statement into a noun. After that we have です which most will recognise as the verb to be. Here though, there is no English equivalent and so it will get dropped from the translation. Next we have the conjunction but, thereby creating a natural break in the sentence. So , at the halfway point we have I'm thinking of studying shares but... which, although not natural sounding , is understandable.

The next part of the sentence slightly more complex. We have a verb in there (わかる) followed by a noun, so it's my favourite subordinate clause again. Since everything before the noun is describing it, I shall ignore that for a moment and look at the remainder of the sentence, which is straightforward. This should give us: Is there a site that....

The final part looks at the subordinate clause. The first difficulty I had here was the translation of でも. I covered this a while ago here and here and as both can follow a noun, it's difficult to choose. I have decided to translate でも in this case as or something... on the grounds that it seems a slightly better option. The last part (よくわかる) seems a little odd to me. The literal translation is often understand which really feels awkward in this context. I have therefore decided to change the translation to a more natural-sounding easily understand because if something can be understood frequently, it must be easy to understand. Right?

Anyway, my final translation is: I'm thinking of following stocks and shares but is there a site that is easily understandable for beginners and such?

またね・・・

JLPT3: ところだ

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 08:49:00 +0000

日本語：	[verb (base 3, 7)] ところだ
日本語：	[verb (base 6)] いる + ところだ
日本語：	[verb (base 6)] いた + ところだ
English:	To be about to..., to have just..., to be in the middle of..., to have been in the middle of...

I covered this grammar point back in May 2006, but have come back to visit it for two reasons: first I didn't cover what has to be a very useful meaning of it and second, I like the new blog format. According to JapanesePod101, ところ can also be used after adjectives and nouns, but this does not seem to be a requirement for the 日本語能力試験三級 so I'm not going to look into such usage here.

As covered in the original blog entry, ところ can follow verbs in base 3 and 7. Here the meaning is that some action is just about to be performed (base 3) or has just been performed (base 7). What I did not cover then is the usage of ところ after the present & past progressive verbal forms. After such forms, ところ can be used to indicate that the subject of the sentence is in the middle of, or was in the middle of performing some action.

じゃぁ、例文を作ろう！

English:	He is just about to leave the office.
Jenglish:	[he][office][leave + just about to]
日本語：	彼はオフィスを出るところだ。

English:	I have just bought the HiS Crossfire PCIe X1950 graphics card.
Jenglish:	[HiS Crossfire PCIe X1950] [called] [graphics card] [bought + just]
日本語：	ヒースコロスフィアピシアイX１９５０というグラフィクスカードを買ったところだ。

English:	I am in the middle of preparing dinner so can I call you later?
Jenglish:	[dinner] [prepare + in the middle of] [because] [later] [call + can]
日本語：	食事を料理しているつもりからあとで電話できますか。

今、インタネットから例文を調べよう！

例文１

この例文はこのウェブサイトが見つかりました。サイトのアイデアはとても面白いと思います。

日本語：	「カメラマンが写真を撮っているところ」を撮った写真いろいろ
Jenglish:	"[cameramen] [pictures] [taking + middle of]" [took] [pictures] [various]

What a great idea for a web site and probably as interesting as the pictures they were taking! Anyway, perhaps nothing too complex here. The adjective is stuck right at the end of the sentence, which is a little odd I think (but my failing memory seems to remember this is possible). Also, another sentence with a subordinate clause. So my translation is: A variety of pictures taken of cameramen in the middle of taking pictures.

例文２

同じサイトに他の例文を見つかりました。

日本語：	女性が自分の体型で気にしているところは？
Jenglish:	[women] [GA] [myself] [NO] [figure] [DE] [worry about + middle of] [WA]

Now this is much more tricky. In the Jenglish, I've included the particles as well since they're going to play a big part in this translation. First, I'm going to translate で as becuase in this case as it comes directly after a noun. A quick check on Jim Breen's online dictionary suggests that 気にする can be translated as to worry about. However, it didn't feel right when I tried to fit the words 'in the middle of' into this sentence and so I haven't. Instead I have decided that, because the verb is in the て form, we are looking at an ongoing state and adding adding ところ simply reinforces that fact. So, my initial translation would be Women worrying about their figures, however because of the 自分 and the question mark at the end I'm going for Are you a woman worrying about your figure?.

Interesting result from the study too!

またね・・・

ブログは死なない・・・

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:09:00 +0000

じゃあ、久しぶりだなぁ・・・

この写真はニューブリの運河だ。今日はちょっとつまらなくて写真と撮ることにした。そして、正直と言えば他の理由だ。今月末、旅行に行く！！！！！２７日にエジプトに行く予定だ。今は用意がたくさんあるから、超忙しいだよ！

でも、ニューブリの写真はなぜ？じゃぁ、カメラを使うのを連絡しなければなれない。

JLPT3: だろう and でしょう

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:41:00 +0000

日本語：	[verb (plain)] でしょう
日本語：	[adjective] でしょう
日本語：	[noun] でしょう
English:	Probably..., Isn't that so?, Isn't that right?

It's always embarrassing to have to admit my lack of understanding of rudimentary Japanese, but here's another basic point that I've only really just comes to terms with. Today, we'll look at でしょう and it's casual equivalent だろう.

To be fair, I've known since my first year of study that でしょう is a sentence-ending conjugation that adds an element of uncertainty to the statement that comes before. I covered the concept of conjecture last year when looking at かもしれません, and from that we discovered there are different degrees of uncertainty. でしょう is used when the the likelihood of the statement coming to pass is high. It can be seen as being the equivalent of the phrase most likely.

What I didn't really understand is that it can also be used as a tag question. In sentences where we want to seek confirmation from someone as to the statement we've just made, we can add でしょう to the end and instantly we have the Japanese equivalent of isn't that right? or right?. Not a big thing, but one that makes for a much more natural sentence.

The conjugation is pretty straightforward: it follows the plain form of verbs (so bases 1, 3 and 7), adjectives and nouns. To use as a tag question, both でしょう and だろう are spoken with a rising edge.

English:	After last night, Matt will surely have a hangover.
Jenglish:	[last night][after],[Matt][hangover][have + surely]
日本語：	昨夜の後でマットくんは二日酔いがあるだろう。

English:	Because it's new, you probably can't download it.
Jenglish:	[it][new][because][download][can + negative + probably]
日本語：	これは新しいからダウンロード出来ないでしょう。

English:	If I go to confront him, you'll come too, right?
Jenglish:	[him][confront + go + if],[you][also][come + right?]
日本語：	彼に直面しに行ったら、あなたも行くだろう。

今はインターネットで、例を探そう！

一番目の例：

この例はこのサイトで見つかった。

日本語：	皆さんもよく経験があることだろう。
Jenglish:	[everyone] [too] [often] [experience] [have] [thing] [probably]

じゃぁ、この例は簡単なようだね・・・On the face of it, this sentence may seem a little unusual, but it is taken from an ongoing conversation on the site. Other than some mild confusion about the use of こと (which I believe is preceded by my favourite grammar - the subordinate clause), nothing really seems too challenging. So my translation is: A thing that probably everyone often experiences.

二番目の例：

二番目の例はこのサイトで見つかった。面白そうだ。

日本語：	終電に逃げられた人は、毎夜一杯いるだろう。
Jenglish:	[last train] [on] [escape] [people] [TM] [every evening] [a lot] [are] [probably].

Again, other than a new verb (逃げる) nothing really challenged me too much. Yet another subordinate clause (honestly, I don't go looking for them). My translation is: There are probably a lot of people who, every evening, escape [home] on the last train.

じゃぁ。。。またね！

悪いニュース！

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 19:23:00 +0000

罪を犯される！最近TESCOと言うスーパーは「Finest」ブランドからレーズンとナッツのチョコレートを作り終わった。最悪よ！！一番のレーズンとナッツのチョコレートだ！

東京で新しいTESCOはまだ売れてるかも。

JLPT3: でも (II) & ても

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:42:00 +0000

日本語：	[verb (base 6)] も
日本語：	[い adjective] くても
日本語：	[な adjective] でも
日本語：	[noun] でも
English:	Even if...

Recently we had a look at the use of でも after nouns where it could be used to say things like even such-and-such or so-and-so or whatever. Today we'll look at another use of でも after nouns as well as it's use after adjectives and verbs. In such circumstances, it's English translation is even if...

There's not an awful lot to discuss on this point, other than to look at the conjugation. After verbs in base 6 (ーて form) add も. With adjectives, we also move them into ーて form, so we drop the い in い-adjectives and add くても whilst the な in な-adjectives becomes で followed by も. With nouns, the です becomes で followed by も.

Let's look at some examples!

English:	Even if I study everyday, my Japanese doesn't improve.
Jenglish:	[everyday][study][even if],[Japanese][doesn't improve]
日本語：	毎日勉強しても、日本語を上達しないでしまう。

NOTE: 23/06/2007 - Actually, after re-reading my post on しまう and the comments, I think that it's use here may not be correct...

English:	Even if you take care when drinking, you always have a hangover next day.
Jenglish:	[drinking][when][take care][even if],[next day][always][hangover][have]
日本語：	飲むの時は注意しても、翌日にいつも二日酔いがある。

It's also worth noting that ても/でも can be used with interrogatives. In this case it's takes on the meaning akin to no matter.... The below example is taken from Jim Breen's web site:

運転する時はいくら注意しても注意しすぎることはない。

If we break this down literally, we get:

[when driving] [how much] [take care + even if] [take care + too much] [is not]

The combination of the interrogative (in this case how much) and ても can be translated as no matter how much. So the best translation I have is No matter how much you take car when driving, it not too much.

じゃあ、インタネットで例文を探そう！

一番目例文：

Here's an example from this web site.

日本語：	「ただ乗り」されてもグーグルのトラフィックは必要？--ジレンマに悩む新聞業界
Jenglish:	[free ride] [to do + passive + even if] [Google traffic] [TP] [necessary?] [dilemma] [DP] [to be worried] [newspaper industry] [world]

Well, a bit demoralising to be honest. I had a nice start on this, but the first bit totally threw me. ただ乗り means 'free ride' but then we get される. The obvious translation to 'to do free rides' but that doesn't really make sense. 30 minutes later, I'm still no clearer so I'm leaving my translation as Even if it's free access, is Google's traffic necessary? The dilemma that the world of the newspaper industry worries about. Please help!!!

二番目例文：

Well, taken from this web site this example looks like the title of a drama.

日本語：	日が暮れても彼女と歩いてた
Jenglish:	[day] [SM] [to get dark + even if] [her] [with] [to walk (past progressive)]

Let's take a risk and not think about this one too much: My first thought is I walked with her, even if the day got dark. I'm guessing that 日が暮れる is idiomatic and translates to something like 'things got tough'. Come to think of it 彼女と歩いていた is probably also idiomatic and means 'I stayed with her' or something. Any ideas?

またね・・・

JLPT３：でも (I)

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:57:00 +0000

日本語：	[noun] でも
English:	even..., or something...

It's been a while since I dared have a look at the bane of my life - particles. So here's one that cropped up recently and caught my eye.

I'm sure that anyone who's studied Japanese will have come across でも very early on as one of the (many) ways to say but. However it has a much broader range and here we shall concentrate on it's use directly after nouns. In such instances, it can be used in a couple of ways:

As a means of emphasising the noun. For example:
When he came home, even the dog was quiet.
To highlight that the noun it follows is just one of a list of possible items. For example:
After the film, would you like a coffee or something?

So, it seems to be a useful bit of grammar and certainly allows more natural-sounding sentences to be constructed. でも can also be used after nouns to mean even if, but that's a separate blog entry!

Let's see it in use; first in some of my Japanese and then in real Japanese!

English:	When he came home, even the dog was quiet.
Jenglish:	[he][home][came],[dog][even][quiet]
日本語：	彼は家に帰った時、犬でも静かだった。

English:	After the film, would you like a coffee or something?
Jenglish:	[film][after][coffee][or something][drink + ?]
日本語：	映画の後で、コーヒーでも飲みませんか。

次、インターネットで調べよう・・・

一番目例文：

この例文はこのウエブサイトに見つけました。

日本語：	猫でもわかるプログラミング
Jenglish:	[cats][even][understand][programming]

Well, I think this is a nice one to start with. A quick scan shows a verb in base 3 (plain) form followed by a noun, so we have a subjunctive clause here. So my guess is: Programming even cats understand.

２番目例文：

もう一つ例文は・・・今回このサイトからです。

日本語：	絵日記でもかいてみようか
Jenglish:	[Illustrated diary][or something][write + try + let's]

A bit of a verb conjugation going on here. I did struggle over which meaning of でも　to use. I've guessed or something in this case. As for the verb, it's the volitional form of write in it's ーてみる form. So I think it says: Let's try and keep an illustrated diary (or something like that).

またね・・・

JLPT3: にする (II)

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 14:23:00 +0000

日本語：	[い adjective] くする
日本語：	[な adjective] にする
日本語：	[noun] にする
English:	Change into..., make...

Recently we covered one use of にする and found that it could be used to mean to decide upon or choose some object. Today we'll look at another meaning: to change something into or to make something . In essence it is similar to になる, but whereas になる indicates a natural change in state, にする indicates that the change is brought about by some external entity.

Usage is pretty straight-forward: with い adjectives, drop the い; with な adjectives, drop な. With nouns, simply add にする to the noun.

English:	His mood was pretty bad so I told some jokes. In short, that made him happy.
Jenglish:	[his][mood][pretty][bad][because][jokes][told]. [In short] [that] [happy + made]
日本語：	彼の機嫌はかなり悪いですので、冗談を言ったんだ。つまり、そのは嬉しくした。

English:	The film plot was not very good, but because Koyuki starred, somehow it made it interesting :-)
Jenglish:	[film plot][good + not very][but][koyuki][starred][somehow][interesting + made]
日本語：	映画の筋はあまり良くないけど、小雪さんを主演したから、なんとなく面白くした(^o^)

インタネットで調べよう！

Example 1:

Here's a book title found here.

日本語：	シカクいアタマをマルくする。
Jenglish:	[square] [head] [round + make]

Well, on the face of it, all seems easy enough, however I suspect that this is some kind of idiomatic expression. My translation is Make square heads round, but I can only guess a to the meaning. Any ideas?

Example 2:

Here's another more translatable (can I say that??) from a technology blog.

日本語：	注射針を不要にする新技術(下)
Jenglish:	[needle] [unnecessary + make] [new technology]

Nice and simple one here and even the subjunctive clause didn't cause much confusion. My translation is New technology that makes needles unnecessary.

Example 3:

もう一つ例文・・・今回このサイトから取りました。

日本語：	Webアプリケーションのオフライン動作を可能にする「Google Gears」
Jenglish:	[web application] [PM] [offline] [action] [OM] [possible + make]

OK, so slightly more tricky due to the lack of particles, subject, topic etc... but I'm guessing Offline web application actions made possible: Google Gears.

またね・・・

JLPT3: がっている

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 12:47:00 +0000

日本語：	[verb (base 2)] たがっている
日本語：	[adjective] がっている
English:	Shows signs of...

Here's another little surprise; I had never heard of this grammar point before last Thursday and now that I've looked into it a bit, it seems (a) to be very common and (b) very useful. In fact, it's so closely related to the ーたい conjugation that we learn in first year Japanese that I am surprised that I haven't come across it before.

I haven't written a blog entry on the たい conjugation yet, simply because I was pretty sure that I understood it. Not so, it appears; at least not fully. たい is a verb conjugation that adds a want to... aspect to sentences. For example ビールを飲みたい. What I did not realise is that たい can only be used when the subject of the sentence is either the first person (I/we), or the second person (you) in question form. If the subject is the third-person you have to use がっている. When used, it adds a wants to... or seems to... aspect to the sentence.

The conjugation is pretty easy; with verbs you move the verb to base 2 and add た (as in たい), then add がっている. With い and な adjectives, drop the い and な respectively.

English:	He wants to move to Japan this year.
Jenglish:	[this year][he][Japan][move + want]
日本語：	今年、彼は日本に引っ越したがっている。

English:	She looks like she wants to leave.
Jenglish:	[she][leave + looks like]
日本語：	彼女は帰りたがっている。

English:	Despite the warm breeze, they seem to be cold.
Jenglish:	[warm][breeze][despite][they][cold + seem]
日本語：	暖かいそれ風のに、彼らは寒がっている。

インタネットで調べよう！

Example 1:

The first example is the title of a very business-like example about some problems with Japanese Airlines.

日本語：	JAL経営陣との決別！パート２世界の投資家はJAL筆頭株主の座を欲しがっている
Jenglish:	[JAL] [management ranks] [of] [separation/farewell]! [part 2] [world] [of] [investor] [SM] [JAL] [first on list] [shareholder] [of] [seat] [OM] [shows signs of wanting]

Ummmm, a simple-looking sentence, but one with lots of kanji jammed together like sardines. The first problem was the use of との in the first part. Couldn't find a reference to it's meaning and so I've translated it as of. After that we have the subject ('the world of investors') who want something (欲しがっている). I was getting a little confused here so I simply 'ignored' a couple of words. So my translation is: JAL management farewell! The world of investors want JAL shareholders top of the list.

Example 2:

The Japanese are going green like the rest of us. Here's a quick example.

日本語：	企業はごみを欲しがっている！
Jenglish:	[enterprise] [SM] [rubbish] [OM] [wants]

I'm going to be bold here and just translate it - I'm THAT confident! I get Enterprises want rubbish!. It's so easy - it just has to be wrong. Anyway interesting article on eco towns sponsored by the ministy of economy, trade & industry (METI) and the ministry of the environment.

またね・・・

JLPT3: にする (I)

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Hoggan) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 09:55:00 +0000

日本語：	[noun] にする
English:	Decide on...

Back in August we covered ことにする which, following a verb in bases 1 or 3, means to decide upon some action. Today we'll look at it's counterpart for nouns. A word of caution though; にする also has another meaning which is entirely different, so when you see にする used you'll have to rely on the context to determine whether it means decide on or change into.

English:	It was difficult to choose but I've decided on the steak.
Jenglish:	[choose][difficult][but][steak][decided]
日本語：	比べるのは難しいですがステーキにしました。

English:	Despite the fact that it was expensive, she decided on the Prada handbag.
Jenglish:	[fact][expensive][despite][she][Prada handbag][decided]
日本語：	事実は高いのに、彼女はプラダのかばんにしました。

じゃあ、今日の点はインタネットに調べよう！

例文１：

This example comes from a somewhat girly site - the kind I don't frequent... honest!!

日本語：	間接照明だけだと暗い感じになるかなぁと思ってシャンデリアにしました。
Jenglish:	[indirect lighting] [only] [if] [gloomy] [feeling/impression] [become] [I wonder] [I think] [and] [chandelier] [decided on]

Umm... well on the face of it, it seems pretty straight-forward, the only thing that confuses me is the use of かなぁ and と思う together. That's like saying 'I think I wonder...' which doesn't really work. However, my Japanese friend pointed out that it is OK to use かなぁと思う as another way of saying I wonder. So, my translation is: If there were only indirect lighting, I wondered that it would be gloomy and so I decided on a chandelier.

例文２：

Here's another from some geeky site.

日本語：	コロンブスの卵「思い切ってシリコンHDDという名前にしました」
Jenglish:	[Columbus' Egg] [bravely] [silicon] [HDD] [called] [name] [decided on]

Well, this one turned out to be educational - in both English history and Japanese! The first bit was a show-stopper in terms of understanding. A Google search revealed the history behind the great explorer's egg story, but I couldn't see how it was related to the next bit. The second, less difficult, issue was the use of 思い切って. According to Jim Breen, 思い切って is translated as resolutely, which really didn't make much sense. So I trawled through a couple of paper dictionaries and discovered a translation of bravely. Both of these issues were cleared up by a Japanese friend who confirmed that in this case bravely was correct and also helped me understand why Columbus' Egg was relevant here. Apparently it can be used as a means of saying 'to think outside the box'. Ahhh.....

So, after much education, I'm translating this as Thinking outside the box: bravely decided on the name Silicon HDD and it refers to Buffalo's decision to re-brand USB pen drives as 'Silicon HDDs'. Why is this brave? If you can guess, leave a comment!!

またね・・・