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You very much won’t be able to rely on WiFi being available, even in hotels. You’ll need a 3G capable phone with a travel SIM (so, a phone that’s not locked to one SIM card).
Another option is to just rent a phone when you get to Japan. There’s a few places at Narita Airport, where you can get one. I can’t really speak for the other airports, but I presume they have some too.
ここ = here
こちら = this way
こちら is also slightly more formal than ここ, so (for example) if you’re introducing someone of higher social standing, you might go こちらはアリア部長です rather than ここは. Similarly, if you’re asking them to come here, you’d use こちら as well. こっち is more casual.
Same deal goes for そこ/そちら, あそこ/あちら and どこ/どちら (though the last one also has an alternate usage – どちらさま means “who”).
A Serpent Guard, a Horus Guard and a Setesh Guard meet on a neutral planet…
Kinda thinking it’s culture-specific. Could be a pun, though (生姜 = しょうが). Where’d you see/hear it from?
Welcome back!
Just… who are you? =P
Yeah, looks like “enduring state of being” and “enduring state of action” are the same thing. (I wouldn’t call them that, though. The names could be a little confusing.)
As for a difference in meaning between transitive and intransitive, I’m pretty sure that’s just for the てある form, and it’s not quite the same thing. Both are descriptive of a resultant state, but Vintrans-てある expresses the result of a non-intentional action, while Vtrans-てある expresses he result of an intentional action.
For example:
ビールを冷やしてある = The beer has been chilled (because I put it in the fridge)
ビールが冷えてある = The beer has been chilled (because it… got left outside in the snow? Bad example, maybe)
ビールが冷えている = The beer is cold
My textbook notes that verbs like 入る and 乗る are never used in てある constructions, only ている.
Just idly, why do you think using JLPT as the standard narrows your perspective? I’ve heard that N1 is tricky even for native speakers.
… Though, to be honest, I’m not entirely certain I didn’t just make that up. =)
Haven’t felt the need, so far. Also, I forgot I’d intended to respond. =P
Basically, there’s two different types of verbs, the fancy names of which I’ve forgotten at the moment, but for the purposes of this post I’ll call “continual verbs” and “state verbs”. Continual verbs are things that happen over a period of time, or that take time to do, but tend to not leave an immediate obvious change, like running, eating, studying, et cetera – for these verbs, ている means “in the middle of doing it”.
State verbs are things that happen once, and in doing so change the state of the doer (or doee) – for example, getting married, dying, going somewhere. For these verbs, ている means “is now in the state of having done it”.
The trick is that it can sometimes be difficult to tell which is which. For example, 乗っている (“I’m riding [a train]“) looks like a continual verb, but it’s actually a state verb (“I’m in a state of having boarded the train”). Coming and going can take time, but since they result in a change of state, they’re state verbs, not continual verbs.
I haven’t got my grammar dictionary on me at the moment, but I’m inclined to say that Koichi’s usage in the example sentence is wrong.
Yeah, “strings of nouns” in English are basically exactly the same – a bunch of nouns all in a row, with little or no other grammar bits in between. Like “North London Public High School”. Or “Department of Roads and Traffic Safety”. Et cetera.
And something else I forgot to add: it might be worth crunching the numbers to see if a JR East Pass is worth the money – since you’re only staying in Tokyo, you’ll probably find it’s not (and an all-Japan JR Pass certainly wouldn’t be) but there’s no harm in checking. It gives you free travel on all JR trains (though not the private subways). It tends to pay for itself if you’re riding the Shinkansen around the place, but not so much if you’re staying in one city.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/eastpass
If you want to find out train fares, Hyperdia is the place to go. There’s other similar websites, but Hyperdia is the one I use the most. =)
One minor side note: it’s “Tokyo” rather than “Tokio” – in hiragana, とうきょう. If you pronounce it とうきお, you’re going to get some funny looks. =)
Also, concur with Winterpromise: tell us all about it. =D
Or a Suica card. It’s useable in more places, you don’t have a pre-charge it with quite so much when you first get it, and if you’re coming from Narita Airport, you can get a Suica + Narita Express package deal.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2359_suica_nex.html
I can’t say that I’ve ever seen someone suggest getting a Pasmo before. =)
You’d rather study on a bed of rocks? =P
上で – indicates the location that the action is taking place.
Anything you should know? Nothing really springs to mind. First greeting could be a little weird, though – as host, you should be initiating the greeting, but it’s a little uncertain whether you should bow or shake hands. He may offer to shake hands (which, thanks to Western influence, is starting to become more common in Japan) – if he does, don’t bow while you’re doing so.
Lone Star, I am your father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate…
Blurb? I reached that conclusion after reading the first half of the book’s title. =P
マーク:
I’m glad you understand, because I can’t make heads or tails of what you’re trying to say. =P You seem to be thinking some things, but not actually writing them down – on more than one occasion, you’ve said “as I explained above”, but I can’t seem to spot the referenced explanations…
Shudouken:
I’m sorry about the thing that I did. Similar words behave similarly – ありがとうございました = thank you for that thing you did. It’s a little different from English, because our words “sorry” and “thanks” refer to the actual act of being sorrowful or thankful, whereas in Japanese, they refer to the regret or gratitude of the transgression or favour being done / that was done in the past.
Incidentally, ごめん and すみません are usually written in kana. =)
