It can, though then it sounds a bit like a research project’s summary. “Pass down” or something feels more conversational, but it’s true that “transmit” isn’t wrong or anything.
I just checked on google and “pass down” is more colloquial, you’re right.
⓪「人種で差別することをやめよう」東京でデモを行う
人種: race (of a person);
差別: discrimination;
やめる: v. to stop;
What is the function of 〜よう here? I’ve looked in my dictionary of grammar and there’s no entry about it. There’s some about よう(に)but…
I mean I know that the sentence says race discrimination has to stop as part of a demonstration in Tokyo but I’d like to know about 〜よう here.
It’s a conjugation of the word やめる, so if you check how やめる can be conjugated you should find it.
That’s interesting, it wasn’t in my dictionary, I had to check online.
やめよう volitional form;
Volitional Form
This verb form is used in sentences in which the speaker suggests, urges, or initiates an act. This form is a plain form of the equivalent polite form ending ましょう.
How can you guess if the speaker urges or suggests? They’re pretty different in tone.
I’m going to ask this again as I’d like to know:
How can you guess if the speaker urges or suggests ? They’re pretty different in tone.
I wouldn’t overthink it. Usually this is just thought of as the “let’s [verb]” form, when the usage is directed toward someone else. So in the same way you can mean “let’s [verb]” differently in English, through tone or other implications, this can be used similarly.
Here’s a description of that usage in Japanese.
親しい聞き手に対して使って、勧誘を表わしたり、自分の行為を申し出たりすることができます。
① アメリカのミネアポリスで、5月、白人の警官が黒人のジョージ・フロイドさんの首を足で強く押したため、フロイドさんが亡くなりました。
“In America’s Minneapolis, in May, a white police officer killed George Floyd, a black man, by pushing strongly on his neck with his leg”
(I was in holiday for 10 days which is why I didn’t work on this)
ミネアポリス: Minneapolis;
Maybe it’s to simplify the text but I thought the police officer used his knee to be precise (膝).
Speaking of which, since a leg and a foot is so different, how do you determine whether is speaking about a leg or a foot when using 足?
The regular article uses ひざ (no kanji), so this is presumably just NHK News Easy deciding that あし was a word more people would understand.
Well, a foot is part of a leg. They are different words, but one is included within the other. It’s mostly a matter of context. Verbs can disambiguate. You wouldn’t usually say 押す to talk about stepping, you’d use 踏む or something like that. So 押す kind of gives an image that doesn’t suggest the foot was used, despite the fact that the word 足 means foot was an option.
Adding to this, in more advanced texts they often use 脚 for leg and 足 for foot.
I feel like I should move on to tackle real, authentic newspapers…
Any newspapers in particular to recommend?
Well there is always the ‘normal’ NHK.
Thank you, will finish this one first for the sake of not letting something unfinished.
“After this incident, there has been vast demonstrations about discrimination against people from other races”
反対: I’m thinking here means racism in this context or discrimination.
③ 京の渋谷区でも14日、ときどき雨が降る天気でしたが、留学生や日本人の大学生などが集まってデモをしました。
“In Tokyo’s Shibuya district on the 14th, despite at times rainy weather, students from University and the like gathered for a demonstration”
④ 集まった人たちは「黒人の命も大切だ」と英語で書いたメッセージなどを持って、渋谷駅の前にある交差点や原宿駅の前を3km歩きました。
“The people gathered said: “Black people lives also matter” and they held messages written in English (which said the same?). In front of Shibuya station at the intersection in front of Harajuku station they walked for 3 kilometres”
⑤ そして「差別をやめよう」と大きな声でみんなに言いました。
“And so they all said loudly/as one voice: “Let’s stop discrimination”.
⑥ デモをした人たちは「何千人も、たくさんの人たちがデモに参加しました」と言っています。
“The people who were demonstrating said: “Many thousands of people also joined in the demonstration”
Can you explain what you mean? Keep in mind that it’s 差別のことに反対する
Sure can!
差別のこと: discrimination + thing (nominaliser)
『に』indirect object;
反対する: opposition+する: to oppose
“To oppose discrimination”
Okay, that makes sense… maybe I misunderstood your thought bubble message, which I thought you were saying 反対 means racism.
The sentence doesn’t say that the demonstrations are wide (広い) but that they are spreading (広がっている)
(and as Leebo said, 反対する determines デモ (なにかに反対するデモ : demonstrations that oppose something (I would rather translate it as “demonstrations against something”, but in the original it is a verb))
I don’t understand the grammatical role of や here.
Recently I learned that を can mark a starting point for a motion verb (opposing に that marks the ending point); so is it
{ (渋谷駅の前にある交差点) や (原宿駅の前) } を
that is, the starting point of the march being the intersection situated in front of Sibuya station, and (non exhaustive and) also the front of SinjukuHarajuku station?
The を there marks a location that an action moves through. Not a starting point.
You were referring to definition 5 here, but in this case it’s definition 3
article text
東京などの空に光の玉が見えて「とても大きな音が聞こえた」
2日午前2時半ごろ、東京など関東地方のいろいろな所で、爆発のような大きな音がしたと、たくさんの人がツイッターに書きました。「ボーンという大きな音がして家が少し揺れた」とか「雷が落ちたような音がした」などです。
ツイッターにはビデオもあって、光の玉のようなものが午前2時半ごろ、東京の空を西から東へ飛んでいきました。
専門家は「小さな星などが割れて、小さな石のような物が地球の近くに来たときに燃えて強く光る『火球』です。音が聞こえるのはとても珍しいです」と話しています。
First, a glance through
Tokyo, sky, ball of light was seen - very loud sound was heard
On the 2nd, around 2:30 AM, in Tokyo and various places in the Kansai… region (?) something something loud sound, many people reported (+ some katakana in the middle which I really should be practicing more).
“loud sound, something about the house, something that isn’t rain fell”
Somebody with a katakana name made a video. Ball of light, around 2:30, Tokyo sky traveling west to east.
Specialist says “small - hey, that’s the first time I’ve seen hoshi used as meteor. Or maybe comet. I’ll look that up - meteor, small boulder came close to earth. Bright light, fireball. Sound totally … unrelated? - I don’t know that kanji, but that would kind of fit in the context”
Ok, dictionary time.
Kantou, Kantou region. Not Kansai. Pfft.
Ok, loud sound similar to an explosion.
Twitter, that’s the katakana for twitter. Need to remember that. People twittered about the explosion sound.
Katakana for bomb, take a note of that one too. It shook the house. Crap, I know that word from Torii - didn’t recognise.
Indeed not rain, but thunder. And those are Twitter examples, not a quote from an interview.
Twitter (again) video
Hoshi is defined as any heavenly body emiting or reflecting light. So pretty much everything except for dark matter. Helpful, astronomy must be a really difficult major in Japan. I’m going with meteor.
Sometimes they burn up - ok.
Unusual, ok so I lied. I know that one from Torii as well, but I only recognise the hiragana form. I find this happens frequently when I don’t know the individual kanji via WK.
Question time
(1) 東京などの空に
Is it ok to translate this as “In the sky over the Tokyo area”?
など is listed as etcetera, so I guess it’s Tokyo and some other places nearby.
(2) 「雷が落ちたような音がした」
“It was a sound like thunder crashing”?
I’m not at all sure what to make of the combination of thunder and 落ちる.
Strange that they use ようなもの first and then ような物 a sentence later.
(3) 小さな石のような物が地球の近くに来たときに燃えて強く光る『火球』です
This part feels more like two separate sentences, I don’t see how they would fit together. An object like a small stone came close to the earth / sometimes it burns up and it is a bright shining “fireball”. Maybe I’m not recognising the 来た correctly - it is an irregular verb after all and the second part isn’t in the past tense. Is this perhaps a “when it comes close” instead of “came close” ?