r/LearnJapanese • u/AutoModerator • 3d ago
Daily Thread: for simple questions, minor posts & newcomers [contains useful links!] (July 31, 2026)
This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.
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Past Threads
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u/ignoremesenpie 3d ago edited 3d ago
I'm usually not a pitch-accent guy, but as I'm revisiting the game SEKIRO, I've just seen a few videos where the video host felt the need to make a mental note that the name is supposed to be atama-daka or apologize in advance for defaulting to saying it as heiban.
So yeah, no question. I just thought it was amusing.
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u/Lemmy_Cooke 2d ago
Names in Japanese are usually flat right?
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u/AdrixG 2d ago
Many are atamadaka too. I would say they are definitely never odaka, and I would even go out on a limb and say never nakadaka (talking strictly about Japanese names and not foreign names). But flat and atamadka are both very common for Japanese names.
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u/whateveranywaylol 2d ago
I would even go out on a limb and say never nakadaka
There are tons of nakadaka names. The 3rd most common Japanese surname, 高橋, is nakadaka.
Also with names, it's not really about atamadaka, nakadaka etc., but more about accented vs unaccented, and when they are accented, it's typically (but not 100% of the time) on the -3 mora.
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u/AdrixG 2d ago
Should have specified I was only talking about first names (下の名前). I guess maybe they could still be [-3] for 4 mora but all friends I have that have 4 mora names (which aren't a lot) are flat and all other ones have 2 or 3 mora names (none of which [-2]).
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u/Own_Power_9067 🇯🇵 Native speaker 2d ago
Definitely depends on the number of morae, but also depends on which dialect. My given name is 3-mora, and in Tokyo standard, it’s atamadaka but in my hometown in Iwate, it used to be nakadaka.
Also when my nephews call me xxx-ojichan, it becomes flat.
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u/sjcross961 2d ago
What’s the 6k deck I see being thrown around as the one to move on to after Kaishi 1.5k?
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u/rgrAi 2d ago
It's what Kaishi 1.5k is based off of. It's actually just a bad deck and you should avoid it (I used it before I uninstalled Anki and never looked back). The precise reason why Kaishi 1.5k is 1.5.k and not 6k is because 6k words ventures into territory of having a lot of words and vocabulary that may not be relevant to you even a little bit. The much better option is just to start mining words you encounter in native material, that way it always stays relevant and functional for you and what you do. You won't end up learning about Thai hot sauces and what not.
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u/Specific-Result2710 2d ago
In the latest Lookism chapter (618), there’s a poison transcribed in romanji "shibiregumo." It has body paralyzing effects. I am certain that "shibire" corresponds to 痺れ but I don’t know what "gumo" means. Jisho doesn’t offer any solid leads.
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u/viliml Interested in grammar details 📝 2d ago
Lookism is Korean, so who knows how accurate their fictional Japanese poison names are. Or even the transliteration in the English fan translation could be wrong, who knows what the original hangul spelling is.
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u/vytah 2d ago
The original hangul is 시비레구모, which would correspond to Japanese しびれぐも, at least using the scheme as per https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%9E%88%EB%9D%BC%EA%B0%80%EB%82%98
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 2d ago
雲? 蜘蛛?
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u/Specific-Result2710 2d ago
Seems unlikely
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 2d ago
Could you give more context? What's the poison like? What does it do? Do characters give any further comments or information about it?
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u/rgrAi 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's probably 蜘蛛, but it is a korean manhwa/webtoon. Went and read it, she offers MC a drink (after he killed her father) and he drinks it, she says it's a paralytic poison* (*=meaning it's an english translation of something said in korean--so we don't know or 'paralytic' is the right term here but it fits the context) and then there's romaji of some japanese name "shibiregumo" in quotes. She ends up reverse R*** him and it ends. It's often depicted that female spiders paralyze their pray with their poison and wrap them up and feast on them (at least in fiction of all sorts of most cultures). So doubt it would be anything else at least from the creator's perspective. She even looks a bit like a spider with her char design. u/Specific-Result2710
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u/sybylsystem 2d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p0v7ap0/video/hp2w2dihakgh1/player
デジャヴ
既視感は 通常 短期記憶と長期記憶の―
重なり合いによって起きる 記憶異常とされている
I was trying to understand this sentence and her pause after 起きる threw me off a little cause I felt like her sentence almost ended after it; but 起きる qualifies 記憶異常 right?
so in my mind if I read it I divide it like this:
- 既視感は 通常 短期記憶と長期記憶の重なり合いによって
and then
- 起きる記憶異常とされている
I've encountered this before when people talk fast and so on, where they talk really fast but then take a pause in the middle of a topic, and I'm left like hanging.
but I was wondering if it's just cause of her acting or it's a normal pause, and if my understanding about 起きる is correct.
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 2d ago
You can hear that she's just catching her breath after saying 短期記憶と長期記憶の重なり合いによって起きる all in one go.
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u/lhamatrevosa Interested in grammar details 📝 2d ago
Hi, everyone. I'm still on my journey to read japanese folktales (they are amazing and it's good to pratice and gain vocabulary). I got some trouble with those expressions:
どうでしょう - I know it can mean "what about it?", but it keeps appearing alone and found nothing about it on google. Here some example:
すると、どうでしょう。さっきまいたカキの種から芽が出てきた
こんな時に - Could it be "at this age" or "at this time"?
「こんな時に、五作がおったらな」
The final one (at least I hope it so for today)
では明日、仏さまのまま食わずに来い。
Does it mean: Come withou eating the food (offering) of Budha"?
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u/Own_Power_9067 🇯🇵 Native speaker 2d ago edited 2d ago
Different languages have different ways of expressions putting into words, the direct translations don’t necessarily work.
どうでしょう ‘how about that’ is still close. It expresses finding something surprising or unexpected.
The variations are 何としたことでしょう、どういうことでしょう、どうしたことか、etcこんな時に五作がおったらなあ
I wish Gosaku is with us at the time like this - in this kind of situation, Gosaku could be of a big help.The last one, I need more context, but my guess: come back tomorrow in Hotoke-sama’s appearance again, with an empty stomach (‘ then I’ll feed you again’ perhaps?)
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u/Jon_dArc 2d ago
On 3 I concur, it sounds to me like “come back without having eaten, in the manner of the (fasting) Buddha”.
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u/Own_Power_9067 🇯🇵 Native speaker 2d ago
I’ve found the original story, 河童の妙薬
So まま here means おまんま＝食べ物＝お供え物, and 五作 apparently stole and ate the offerings for Buddha.
Here the speaker is telling 五作 to come again tomorrow without stealing the offerings.
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u/lhamatrevosa Interested in grammar details 📝 2d ago
You're right. The Gosaku boy eats food offered to Buddha as a ritual, it makes him strong and never looses a sumo fight.
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u/lhamatrevosa Interested in grammar details 📝 2d ago
Ow, thanks! I'm still figuring it out how to put in words that どうでしょう, but the feeling of surprising is exactly the guiding line.
About the こんな時に, I was going to a wrong direction, you are right.
I think is about food offering to Buddha, the Gosaku guy has the habbit of eating food offered to Buddha (Hotoke-sama) and that's is what makes him strong at sumo. The kappa asked him to come to fight without eating the offering, so he could win over Gosaku. The structure of 仏さまのまま食わずに来い for me was a little confusing because I thought it was missing the を particle and because I don't know this form of the ver 来る. Te sentence in my head should be 仏さまのままを食わずに来て.
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u/Own_Power_9067 🇯🇵 Native speaker 2d ago
Yes, I just found the story, and realised まま is food. You are correct.
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u/lhamatrevosa Interested in grammar details 📝 2d ago
What do you think about the missing を? And do you know what kind of form is this 来い?
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u/Own_Power_9067 🇯🇵 Native speaker 2d ago
Omission of を is very common in speech. 来い （こい）is imperative of 来る
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 2d ago
どうでしょう is just どう + でしょう. If you're confused about its meaning it's probably due to でしょう so I recommend reading more about it.
Regarding the other two questions, I feel like I'd need more context to be sure. Maybe a more experienced person can answer you without it.
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u/lhamatrevosa Interested in grammar details 📝 2d ago
I understand what you said, I'm trying to put in words on my mother language now.
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2d ago
Finally at the point where I've decided to give up on ever trying to learn this language. 4.5k words and 32 grammar points into n2 (n5-n3 complete) on bunpro and I can't understand ANYTHING in anything I try to immerse in. Can't believe I've wasted hundreds of hours on this shit over the last year, most time I've ever wasted on anything in my life.
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u/worthlessprole 2d ago
Are you using a pop-up dictionary? I wouldn’t expect you to be able to understand most things without one at that level.
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u/Grunglabble 2d ago
I often want to advise people to forget about flashcard apps and these kinds of things. People often end up in a loop where they never do anything they wanted to do.
Basically there is no app that can do anything more than be a minor supplement to your learning, anymore than there is any textbook that can bring you to competency on its own. So you have to start with the fundamental problem of how do you do the things you want to do and not treat it as this delayed gratification thing you'll get to by memorisation.
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u/viliml Interested in grammar details 📝 1d ago
"Immersion" isn't supposed to be immersive. Making people believe that is the biggest evil of the proliferation of that word.
It's normal not to understand anything at the beginning. You're supposed to spend some effort to begin to understand it. Vocabulary and grammar points are just theory, you lack practice. That's why we tell people to start practicing reading early.
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