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woohoo, nerd gathering. – Ali Sep 19 '10 at 13:31

It's been renamed to "Japanese Language & Usage"! Sounds cooler, though I hope we can choose the URL to be something like "nihongo.stackexchange.com" – Lukman May 24 '11 at 3:23

@awesomeguy: To be honest, I think anybody who has even the slightest chance of contributing to the site will know the meaning of that word. – Matti Virkkunen May 27 '11 at 7:34

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44 Example Questions (6 closed)

active newest votes

up vote 21 down vote

added by Ali Jun 19 '10 at 10:54

	Best example of on-topic question so far, I think. – Grigory M Jun 24 '10 at 6:43
	Interestingly, as an aside, google translate translates とにかく as "anyway", but けっきょく as "kick chemist". Hmm. – Beska Jun 30 '10 at 17:15
	not many sounds means lots of homonyms, that's why we have kanji: 結局 – Ali Jun 30 '10 at 22:48

up vote 20 down vote

added by bdonlan Jun 21 '10 at 2:33

Interesting. Just started learning Japanese, in Chinese it's the same. – xiaohouzi79 Aug 10 '10 at 2:58

up vote 19 down vote

added by Ali Jun 19 '10 at 10:56

	Again, this really seems like a bad example question, these are supposed to be expert questions with answers, and this is a beginner question without any clear answer. – Master Of Disaster Jun 20 '10 at 12:46
	OK, changing the question to something more difficult/requiring expert knowledge. – Ali Jun 20 '10 at 16:34
	My wife, who is Japanese, was stumped on this one. We asked her father and he said it would be お父さん・お母さん rather than ちち・はは. – Ali Jun 20 '10 at 16:52

up vote 19 down vote

added by Grigory M Jun 24 '10 at 6:52

	this is on topic – Ali Jun 24 '10 at 21:10
	@Ali: I hope so ) Maybe this is a kind of question that could be interesting to experts?.. – Grigory M Jun 25 '10 at 9:18

up vote 19 down vote

added by Grigory M Jun 24 '10 at 8:13

[I don't know about any difference for this pair, but] quite often for such pairs (e.g. for 作る/造る) there is difference in usage which is not so easy to understand from dictionaries. – Grigory M Jun 25 '10 at 9:27

@Grigory It's not about answering the question. That's the beta portion of the site. This is drawing the lines of what are good and bad questions. Just a little FYI. – Tim Jul 5 '10 at 2:38

@Tim Yes, I know. The comment just adds some motivation [for allowing such questions on the site], I believe. – Grigory M Jul 5 '10 at 9:14

@Grigory Just making sure... There's a lot of people that seem to be more about answering proposed questions rather than forming what the group is about. Enjoy! – Tim Jul 8 '10 at 18:22

up vote 13 down vote

added by Peter Jul 19 '10 at 20:50

up vote 9 down vote

added by bdonlan Jun 21 '10 at 2:31

up vote 8 down vote

added by Ali Jun 19 '10 at 10:57

This to me requires some level of expert knowledge. You'd need to have lived in Aomori prefecture and have good enough Japanese to pick up on the dialect to answer it. – Ali Jun 20 '10 at 16:51

It's a poor example of a StackExchange question. It asks several different things, and it doesn't afford of a single correct answer. – bignose Jul 24 '10 at 4:21

Good point, it does ask a lot. How would you improve the question? I would think shortening it to just "How does Aomori-ben differ from hyoujungo?" would meet the criteria you outline, though the answer would still be fairly involved. – Ali Jul 28 '10 at 14:14

up vote 8 down vote

added by moonshadow Jun 24 '10 at 16:55

I'm not sure about this one, as in 50-50 either way. On the one hand it's not a question about the language so is technically off-topic (it would fit right in on your favourite linux distros documentation site). On the other it's related to the usage of Japanese and requires expert knowledge. Anyone else care to comment on this one? – Ali Jun 24 '10 at 21:09

I think this belongs more on superuser – bdonlan Jun 24 '10 at 21:24

I think you're much more likely to find an answer from the Japanese language experts than the computer experts. On Topic. (and does it hurt anything to have a tiny bit of overlap? These sites are about useful answering of questions after all, we're only trying to define the scope of the site so that, in the end people get the answers they need as effectively as possible.) – MGOwen Jun 25 '10 at 1:39

It's natural question for "students, learners and teachers of the Japanese language". And I agree with @MGOwen: "you're much more likely to find an answer from the Japanese language experts than the computer experts". So it's perfectly on-topic, I think. – Grigory M Jun 25 '10 at 9:14

OK, I'm convinced, I'd be happy to agree that this is on-topic. – Ali Jun 30 '10 at 10:48

show 1 more improvement suggestion

up vote 5 down vote

added by Armstrongest Jul 12 '10 at 14:32

up vote 5 down vote

added by Armstrongest Jul 12 '10 at 14:38

up vote 4 down vote

added by Zack The Human Jul 20 '10 at 20:58

up vote 3 down vote

added by Ali Aug 30 '10 at 11:10

	Sounds kinda like a motorbike when you string them together... フーーン, ヘーー, ハーー :P – Ali Aug 30 '10 at 11:11
	ハァー、ヒィーッ　コロン！ :P – deceze Aug 31 '10 at 2:10

up vote 3 down vote

added by rjzii Aug 31 '10 at 16:59

up vote 2 down vote

added by Knu Aug 10 '10 at 17:10

	Interesting question. When I learned Japanese, the very existence of dialects was ignored at the beginning - I only heard about it after months. – Daniel Daranas Aug 18 '10 at 12:01
	Yeah hmm. Interesting question, but I'm fairly sure for a beginner at least, the answer is going to be hyoujungo 100% of the time. – Ali Aug 18 '10 at 14:34

up vote 2 down vote

added by deceze Aug 17 '10 at 7:30

up vote 2 down vote

added by rjzii Aug 31 '10 at 17:12

up vote 2 down vote

added by xiaohouzi79, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Sep 2 '10 at 18:53

	I'm a bit torn on this one, it seems to be just a bit too open ended to be a good question but seems on topic since watching Japanese shows is a good way to practice listening to the language. – rjzii Sep 2 '10 at 13:00
	Up until now we haven't been on-topic voting resource questions, though I share your torn-ness. – Ali Sep 4 '10 at 20:09

up vote 2 down vote

added by Nicolas Raoul Sep 4 '10 at 13:51

	Like in "if you have any question, please ask me". I say this a lot at work. – Nicolas Raoul Sep 4 '10 at 13:52
	I like this question, as its about Japanese and indirectly addresses an ambiguity specific to the language (i.e. listen/ask are pronounced the same way). – Ali Sep 4 '10 at 20:08

up vote 1 down vote

added by deceze Aug 17 '10 at 8:10

up vote 1 down vote

added by Knu Aug 31 '10 at 21:40

	If your boy/girlfriend speaks Japanese natively, there's hardly anything better you could do than speaking full time Japanese with him/her. :) – deceze Aug 31 '10 at 23:04
	@deceze en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… – Knu Sep 1 '10 at 2:20
	Sure, but these are small differences that largely boil down to men talking less polite when they don't have to be polite. Unless you're completely ignorant of the differences and have nobody else to talk to you shouldn't have any problem being "spoiled" by practicing with somebody from the opposite gender. Men may get used to slightly more polite speech than they would need to, which is certainly not a bad thing. A woman would need an extraordinarily insensitive teacher to acquire a male-only Japanese speech. Men are able to talk perfectly "properly", especially when teaching somebody. – deceze Sep 1 '10 at 3:30
	I don't know, I actually think this is a good a pretty good question as there are some nuances that could come up that people might have questions about. Likewise, there are some terms in general that are used more by one gender than the other. – rjzii Sep 1 '10 at 12:03
	This question would spark interesting, relevant debate. But it's not actually about Japanese (you could ask this question about any language), and is extremely subjective. – Ali Sep 3 '10 at 12:20

up vote 1 down vote

added by Francesco Gallarotti Sep 2 '10 at 18:23

How do you convey "[nuance-ridden expression in english that is potentially difficult to translate into Japanese while retaining its meaning]"? - would be on-topic IMO. – Ali Sep 3 '10 at 12:18

up vote 0 down vote

added by Martin Jun 19 '10 at 11:03

closed as off topic by bdonlan, Kilhoffer, Präriewolf, 0010001000011101, Michael Barth Jun 26 '10 at 7:58

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

This is a subjective question without a clear answer, also tied to a specific product, so I don't think it's a good example. – Master Of Disaster Jun 20 '10 at 12:42

Per meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/53919/… I think we should avoid letting questions about specific products be ontopic. – bdonlan Jun 21 '10 at 2:33

I think this is a great question. I want to learn Japanese, then I'd definitely look for advice on what classes or software, etc., folks are using. This question invites answers about comparisons to other products or learning approaches, comparison to what level of Japanese you might obtain with the product, etc. What better place to ask it than to a community of learners & teachers like this one? – dave Aug 4 '10 at 20:02

BTW -- look at stackoverflow.com -- even the tags are product-specific. Products aren't off-limits at all -- but they do need to be moderated so you don't get a lot of spam either. – dave Aug 4 '10 at 20:05

On topic, choosing a software for learning Japanese based on user past experience should be allowed. – anno Sep 22 '10 at 15:49

up vote 0 down vote

added by deceze Aug 17 '10 at 7:35

up vote 0 down vote

added by Something Odd About His Name Aug 27 '10 at 20:01

	I'd be interested to know what this question means, it's a little beyond my technical grammar knowledge. – Ali Aug 30 '10 at 11:01
	It's honestly a bit of a gimmick question, since if you know how to ask the question that way, you'd know the answer. I just wanted an example of a more technical question up here. If you're interested in this type of question, look up Kuno's book "Structure of the Japanese Language". – Something Odd About His Name Aug 30 '10 at 20:31

up vote 0 down vote

added by Ali Aug 30 '10 at 10:59

up vote 0 down vote

added by rjzii Aug 31 '10 at 16:43

up vote 0 down vote

added by xiaohouzi79 Sep 2 '10 at 1:01

up vote 0 down vote

added by rjzii Sep 14 '10 at 12:05

closed as off topic by deceze, Something Odd About His Name, Foster Brereton, Justin Svetlik, liori Sep 22 '10 at 15:03

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

	Attempt at an off-topic question for the site. – rjzii Sep 14 '10 at 12:06
	Do you mean the equivalent hanzi (which would be 何, i.e. unchanged) or meaning (which is apparently 何 as well). Maybe use a different kanji, like 紙 → 纸, or a more specific, easily confused meaning, like 手紙. Otherwise it's mostly not-a-good-example instead of off-topic. :) – deceze Sep 15 '10 at 1:23
	@deceze - Well, I meant in terms of the meaning, so lets try something a bit different. – rjzii Sep 15 '10 at 2:12

up vote 0 down vote

added by liori Sep 22 '10 at 15:13

up vote 0 down vote

added by anno Sep 22 '10 at 17:18

Definitely a topic for Life in Japan - area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/5124/… – rjzii Sep 23 '10 at 15:30

up vote -1 down vote

added by Martin Jun 19 '10 at 11:03

closed as off topic by Gelatin, Kilhoffer, Präriewolf, Justin, Ali Jun 23 '10 at 10:22

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

	This should be off-topic. – Master Of Disaster Jun 19 '10 at 11:26
	Too localized... – bdonlan Jun 21 '10 at 2:30
	It may be off-topic, but it's not too localised: the elaboration and answer would be general, like e.g.:"the following websites are good for meeating Japanese people in your area". – MGOwen Jun 21 '10 at 22:47

up vote -1 down vote

added by Michael Barth Jun 26 '10 at 8:10

closed as off topic by moonshadow, Grigory M, percent20, Wayne Werner, Zak Jun 28 '10 at 19:36

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

I think questions like this will also appear, so I'm posting this as off-topic example :) – Michael Barth Jun 26 '10 at 8:10

It's not a good example of an off-topic question, in my opinion anyway. – Master Of Disaster Jun 30 '10 at 14:28

Can you elaborate why you think it's not a good example? – Michael Barth Jun 30 '10 at 16:03

I'd be interested to know the reasoning as well. This seems like the kind of off topic question that would get asked. – Ali Jun 30 '10 at 23:04

up vote -2 down vote

added by Martin Jun 19 '10 at 11:03

This is a subjective question and it's also very low level, so I don't think it is a good example. – Master Of Disaster Jun 20 '10 at 12:42

up vote -2 down vote

added by bdonlan Jun 21 '10 at 2:34

closed as off topic by Beska, Kilhoffer, Präriewolf, Ali, Grigory M Jun 23 '10 at 19:43

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

up vote -2 down vote

added by bdonlan Jun 21 '10 at 2:34

Should questions all in Japanese be permitted? – bdonlan Jun 21 '10 at 2:35

If you want to create a community for experts in Japanese... – Ben Gartner Jun 22 '10 at 3:06

Another question: Should we allow duplicates of questions if one is in Japanese and the other is in English? Should we aim for bilingual question/answers? – Zak Jun 22 '10 at 16:24

What I'd be worried about is turning away beginner/intermediate learners when half of the question titles are all in kanji - but on the other hand, some level of Japanese in question titles and bodies is obviously unavoidable... – bdonlan Jun 23 '10 at 0:13

@bdonlan: I don't think anyone is going to persist with a job like adding translations to all answers and questions without being paid. – Master Of Disaster Jun 23 '10 at 22:03

show 7 more improvement suggestions

up vote -2 down vote

added by Zak Jun 22 '10 at 16:21

The question is on topic but it's extremely general, I'm not sure it would yield particularly useful answers in this form. How about something more specific like: "Do only men use ぼく and おれ? ”. – Ali Jun 30 '10 at 11:27

@Ali, Agreed that this question is not very specific. Perhaps this is one of those "please restrict yourself to one difference per answer" type questions. Personally I enjoy reading those "what's the best hidden feature of X" type questions on stackoverflow. Do we need to decide if we want to allow similar types of questions here? Should I rephrase this question to make it more clear that we don't expect any one comprehensive answer, but rather a set of useful answers to get upvoted? – Zak Jul 1 '10 at 14:37

@Zak, you make a good point, those are some of the best questions on stack overflow! To answer your question, I'm not sure. I think that while the above question shouldn't be in the 'on topics' questions list when you read the sites FAQ, it (and questions like it) could end up on the site and make for very good reading. – Ali Jul 1 '10 at 21:36

This is a good wiki question – Armstrongest Jul 12 '10 at 14:28

up vote -2 down vote

added by Präriewolf Jun 22 '10 at 18:21

A bit of a newbie question, because in the vast majority of cases, the answer is just no. – Ali Jun 30 '10 at 10:53

up vote -3 down vote

added by Binoj Antony Jun 19 '10 at 16:06

Too basic; this is supposed to be a site appealing to experts - while this question might be on-topic, it's not a good example question for the site definition. – bdonlan Jun 21 '10 at 2:29

Yeah, again, you can find the answer on wikipedia. – Ali Jun 23 '10 at 10:23

Even if it weren't basic, questions should be phrased to ask for the information actually wanted. This is simply a yes-or-no question, even though that's not what the querent presumably wants to know, so it's not a good example. – bignose Jul 24 '10 at 4:17

up vote -3 down vote

added by Michael Barth Jun 26 '10 at 8:23

	This question isn't a "real question"; you should make it into a real question like "What politeness level should I use with my Japanese father-in-law?", "What politeness level should I use with the cleaning lady?" "How should I tell my company president his flies are undone?" etc. – Master Of Disaster Jun 26 '10 at 23:32
	So you're saying if I make 3 questions out of this one it would be OK? I don't see what's wrong with asking what politeness level to use with whom at work in a single question as it's related. I could rephrase it to "What politeness level should I use at work?", I just thought it would be more helpful to be a little bit more concrete. – Michael Barth Jun 30 '10 at 16:05
	This is an on-topic question, but I agree that it could be a bit more specific. I could easily write a thousand words on what politeness level to use just with your boss depending on the situation. – Ali Jun 30 '10 at 23:02
	Okay, I tried to come up with a more concrete question. Hope it's not too trivial, though. – Michael Barth Jul 5 '10 at 14:59