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Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! You are wrapping up your studies in Japan, and you think the next step for you is to attend a Japanese graduate school. But with Japanese entrance exams, schools’ reputations to consider, and a lot of paperwork to complete, you are feeling overwhelmed. Thank goodness your friends in Japan know all about these things and are ready to help when you need it! In this lesson, you’ll learn the difference in usage between the Japanese auxiliary verbs -nikui, -zurai, and -gatai, all meaning “difficult to.” Our Japanese conversation takes place at a college and is between an advisor and a student. The student will be speaking informal Japanese, and the advisor will be speaking formal Japanese. You’ll also learn other useful Japanese phrases. Visit us at JapanesePod101.com, where you will find many more fantastic Japanese lessons and learning resources! Leave us a message while you are there!
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 19th, 2012 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Upper Intermediate Season 5 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
16 Responses to “Upper Intermediate S5 #13 - It Might be Hard to Pass This Japanese Exam”
at 6:30 pm
みなさん、最近しにくかったことは何かありましたか?教えてください!
at 4:58 am
また面白いレッソンですね。でも、高い踵の靴は歩きにくくても、歩きづらい靴もあれと女から聞いていますけどね。:???:
at 5:57 am
もう一つの質問があります。レッソンの日英翻訳に関するね。。。
レッソンにこの台詞がある:天下大以外の大学からでも合格しにくいということはない
英翻訳は:it’s not especially difficult to pass for those students from universities other than Tenka University.
この英翻訳は天下大はまずい大学であると先生が思いそうですね。だから分かりにくいものです。
この翻訳はどうでしょうか:even for students who didn’t go to Tenka University, it’s not especially difficult to pass.
前の翻訳より正しいですか?
at 2:44 pm
Robertさん
コメント、そしていい英訳をありがとうございました!
We purposefully try to translate the dialogues as directly as possible, which means unfortunately that sometimes elegance is sacrificed…
at 9:22 pm
Kat: The issue is, I don’t think the English version is correct. “It’s not especially difficult to pass for those students from universities other than Tenka University” to me sounds like the professor is saying that anyone who went to Tenka will have trouble but no one else will. That would imply the professor thinks Tenka stinks, and it doesn’t seem likely.
at 7:56 pm
Robert-san,
Please correct me if I understood you wrongly.
I don’t really understand why professor says “anyone who went to Tenka will have trouble but no one else will”.
天下大以外の大学からでも合格しにくいということはない
This sentence means
There’s no such thing as students from other universities (i.e. not Tenka uni, but others) face more difficulties to pass the exam (higher “pass line”).
General idea here is that it’s easy to graduate from one university and continue his/her post-graduate eduaction in the same university. But this boy here spoke with actual post-graduate students in Tenka university who’s in their (maybe) masters/doctors. Those students informed the boy that the requirement and hardship is the same for everyone.
Because of the difference in languages, it might not be very clear…we apologise for that.
at 9:36 pm
なつこ先生、いつもよろしくお願いします。
I am sorry to be a pest, and am sure my feeble attempts at explaining what I am trying to say are getting in the way. My concern is specifically about what the professor told the student and how it is translated into English. I believe the English translation as currently written contains a confusing implication that the Japanese original does not.
The Japanese original is:
天下大以外の大学からでも合格しにくいということはない
The English translation on the site is:
“…it’s not especially difficult to pass for those students from universities other than Tenka University.”
My concern is that this particular English translation implies that (the professor is saying that) the only category of student that would have difficulty passing is students from Tenka U. This of course makes no sense, since as you say one might assume the opposite to be true. If I understand the Japanese correctly, a clearer English translation of the Japanese might be:
“…even for students who didn’t go to Tenka University, it’s not especially difficult to pass.”
or if you want to preserve as much of the original translation as possible:
“…it’s not especially difficult to pass even for those students from universities other than Tenka University.”
The key word is the word “even”. I think it needs to be there for the English to make sense.
It is a minor detail. I only mentioned it because the first couple of times through the lesson I was very confused about why the professor would say what he did to the student (in the English version).
at 5:32 pm
Robert-san,
I agree with you about the word “even”.
Yes; your translations sound better and clearer.
Also, I appreciate your attention to details; it’s really important.
It’s not “a minor detail”, as far as I’m concerned. Especially because this specific expression “~にくいということはない” is very confusing and difficult to understand correctly. Thank you very much for telling us your concerns and opinions with perfect suggestion of translations!!
at 6:53 pm
I had the same problem with the English translation.
Isn’t the usual translation of “でも” in this context “even”?
Otherwise a very helpful lesson.
at 4:00 pm
Christoph-san,
Capture Japanese language as it is, and you’ll understand better how this language works! 
Yes, you’re right; “even” is often translated as でも.
However, usage of words like “even” is different from any words in Japanese. Simple word-to-word translation doesn’t always work.
This is also the reason our translation, where we try to make the similar composition in two completely different languages, made you all confused…
We’re very sorry about that.
Since you’re all in very advanced level already, I recommend you to use Englsih translation only to understand the meanings, not to compare with Japanese literally.
If you have any questions, please feel free to post it here! We’re here to help you
at 2:07 pm
皆さんこんにちは。
数年前日本語能力試験の二級を受験しました。なんとか合格できましたけど受けてから1級の試験に挑戦していません。なぜ挑戦しないかというと、試験のため勉強をし始めるたびに新しい文法や単語は覚えにくくて/覚えがたくてすぐ諦めてしまいます。理由は、一級は役に立たない文法とか単語が多くて日常会話で使う機会が全然ないので忘れるのが早いです。また、僕にとって覚えられる単語や文法の限度があっるし、もっと便利な日本語を覚えたいので一級を受ける意欲がないです。
皆さんどう思いますか。一級に合格した人がいますか?
at 4:33 pm
Scottさん、



そうですね、1級までいくと、とても難しい文法がたくさん出てきますね
でも、どれも日常会話で使うものだと思いますよ。だからきっといつか使う機会があります。
覚えにくいものが多いのも確かですね。それに、良く似た表現がたくさんあります。
難しい表現は、使わないと覚えられないと思います。でも、使えるようになると、とても便利な表現というものが多いので、ぜひがんばってみてください
もし、1級を受ける必要がないのであれば、受けないのもいいと思います。自分が使う単語や文法を
勉強する方が、日本語を勉強する意味があるとおもいますから
いつでもJPodのチームはお手伝いしますから、質問や、練習など、なんでもいいのでサイトを活用してくださいね!
Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com
at 8:18 pm
甲乙つけがたい
use it in situations in which two things or people , but if i have more than two things or people . what’s a prefect phase for this situation here?.
at 1:10 pm
wael-san,
When you wonder “which one” is the best, usually it’s between 2, and that’s why we use this expression. That said…., you can use 甲乙つけがたい OR, 優劣をつけがたい which means the same thing, but 優 means “good” and 劣 is “less good” without order. 甲 and 乙 are like numbers; it’s used to evaluate something and give order where 甲 is the best (= no.1) and 乙 is the second.
Hope this helps!
Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com
at 9:11 pm
but if i have many choices(more that two). what’s perfect phase here?
at 6:00 pm
wael-san, kon’nichiwa
It would depend on people. If I was you, I would say 選びがたい, which means “difficult to choose.” But it is appropriate when you choose something which is the best. For example, looking at a menu at the restaurant, wondering which cake to get out of 10 sorts, etc.
I hope this helps. If you like to ask Natsuko-sensei’s opinion, please ask her as well.
Motoko
Team JapanesePod101.com