The quick or short Language Questions Thread (not grammar)

機能 for the feature and 搭載する for the device having a certain feature (transitive expression).

Taken from a N2 聴解 passage about computers.

Example: CPUを搭載したノートパソコン

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Maybe the passage did contain some stuff about features being 搭載されている, but it seems that this is something you’d use for equipment or cargo. It’s about ‘carrying’ something or ‘being equipped with’ something. The examples I saw seem to refer to physical objects, and I have to say that the kanji meanings match that: 搭 tends to mean stuff like ‘to put/get on (something movable in order to transport/be transported)’, and 載 similarly refers to getting stuff onto a something like a vehicle (or a page).

I didn’t know this work existed though, so it was interesting to see. Thanks!

Well, I’m not sure if this is digital-tech-specific, but my first instinct was to use something containing the kanji 具 or the kanji 備, and I found this example sentence for 備える in the Meikyou dictionary (明鏡国語辞典):

「高速走行性能を備えた乗用車」
A passenger vehicle possessing the capacity to move at high speeds

According to 大辞林, 性能 can refer to 機能 that enable someone or something to perform a task, so this seems appropriate. There was another example expressing that a piece of music had a traditional form, so 備える is certainly suited to expressing the fact that something has an abstract quality or ability. I think that means that 備える (which can also be written as 具える, which I think is the more appropriate kanji for this meaning) is appropriate. By a similar token, I think 備わる would have been correct as well (because Meikyou uses almost exactly the same wording), but you’d need to use it intransitively in order to mean that the feature is present.

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Yes, I was also a little surprised at first, but I think it’s fine in the context of a phone being equipped with a camera. Except the meaning is physical.

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Yes and yes. I think that’s how it works.

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I work with IT in Japan, 搭載 is definitely not limited to the physical interpretation nowadays and is indeed very common in the tech area.

From Weblio:
2 機器・自動車などに、ある装備や機能を組み込むこと。「カメラ機能を—した携帯電話」

機能 refers to any functionality or feature, not limited to physical parts or such, even if the Kanji originally have that meaning.

Also from Weblio example sentences:

それが独自開発のサーバー管理システムを搭載しています
新しいパソコンにはアクセス制御機能が搭載されている。
小さなボディに充実の性能を搭載しました

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ditto 機能 since I’ve heard it used in this context a few times (usually in the form of X機能がある)

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Thanks everyone. I knew the word 機能 (just couldn’t think of it off the top of my head), but 搭載 is totally new to me! From the example sentences it seems to fit pretty well. Particularly

which includes one of the exact scenarios I was asking about.

Based on that, could I say キンドルが辞書機能を搭載している or something like that?


My hold up with 備わる and 備える is that they seem to emphasize need.

For 備わる: 必要なものが不足なくそろい、整っている。
For 備える: 必要なときにいつでも使えるように、前もって整えておく。

Maybe it’s just me, but it feels overly dramatic to describe the Kindle’s dictionary or a phone’s camera this way. Well, particularly 備わる I guess. The definition of 備える feels a little more okay for this type of usage, even though logically if one fits the other should too.


This is a funny example. What personal computer doesn’t come with a CPU? :joy:

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I think the most natural way is just simply with 持つ. For example: このスピーカーはサラウンド機能を持っている。

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Probably meant to be used for something where the CPU matters like M2チップ搭載MacBook Air :wink:

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持つ, I think? But good point. I think that’s a good common way of saying it. Or at least, I’ve seen it as quite a generic way of saying ‘to have’.

I understand what you mean, but it also depends on the definition you’re using. The definitions you raised are the ones that more traditionally (I think) go with the kanji 備 (my dictionary tells me that this is the preferred kanji for all meanings now, but I’m just trying to highlight the different nuances), whereas the ones that fit this particular usage traditionally go with 具. Here are the relevant definitions from the Meikyou dictionary:

  1. 具わる: 本来的なもの、身に付いたものとして能力・人徳などがある。また、それを特徴づけるものとしてある性質がある。

  2. 具える: 本来的なもの、身に付いたものとして能力・人徳などを持っている。また、それを特徴づけるものとしてある性質を持っている。具有する。

In other words, this sort of usage refers to an innate quality or a characteristic trait that is in someone/something’s possession or present on/in someone or something. That’s appropriate for this particular usage, in my opinion. I agree that the using these words with other definition would strike me as slightly strange.

EDIT: OK, I can see that this definition isn’t detailed quite as much in the online JP-JP dictionaries most of us use, especially 大辞泉 on Goo/Weblio/Kotobank, and this idea isn’t immediately obvious from the definitions I can see there. I guess we could say it’s an extension of the idea of being born with or possessing certain qualities? A product is designed with certain qualities and features in mind, after all, so it’s as though those things are inherent in it.

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Yeah, typoed.

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What about something like 機能がついている? For example, I found this sentence on weblio

その椅子にはマッサージ機能が付いている。

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Yeah, I thought of 持つ as well, but when I went to double check the definition for nuance it didn’t feel right. But maybe that’s just because it’s a basic/generic way of saying it and I was looking for something very specific.

Ah, that seems like a good fit too.

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I cut out the needless parts. It was originally 最新のCPU.

Also, for added context the entire passage was a TV ad and in keigo.

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Welcome to the future. Where you have to update the software on your TV after unboxing it. :joy::sob:

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How would the word 屁理屈野郎 be accurately translated into english?

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Is it true that 思う has a connotation of “think emotionally” like “to feel” while 考える has a connotation of “think logically” like solving a math problem?

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I would divide it more like 思う relates to thoughts you don’t intentionally have, they’re the thoughts that just pop into your head, while 考える relates to intentional thinking. You can 思う something that isn’t emotional or related to feelings, like saying “I thought the book was on my desk”, and you can 考える something that isn’t dependent on logic like “think about which of two equally appealing side dishes to order”.

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Sophist, I guess?

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I suppose it could be “argumentative bastard” depending on the context. :joy:

Edit: I suppose I should not that this is more of a localization than a translation. 野郎 can go all the way from guy/dude to a**hole and worse depending on the context. There’s really no direct English analogue when it comes to things like this.

Also, bastard here is the modern usage where the context of being born out of wedlock is completely absent.

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