Weird examples that don't actually use the word in the way we have been taught by WK

Am I the only one to notice that WK gives a certain translation to a word, then proceeds to give an example that seems to bare little or no relation to that word?

Example: 実感 is translated as 'actual feeling or ‘real feeling’, which seems to make sense given the kanji. But the example sentence is,

“Only after I went to America did I realise how small Japan really is”.

…where JIKKAN is the translation of ‘to realise’… which to me is just nothing like ‘actual feeling’ or ‘real feeling’. These latter words would be more like, “I told my boss I like my job but he doesn’t know what I really think”… or something.

This is one example but I have come across MANY of these…

No, there are lots of threads on this topic

Ahh, sorry, that’s annoying, I shouldn’t have started a new one. Gomen!

It’s okay, the search function sucks, but I’m sure you can find some thread if you use the right keywords. I’d link you if I weren’t on mobile

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実感 means 実際に感じること, basically, as you can see from the kanji involved… I don’t see how “realize” is a bad translation.

“Only after I went to America did I really grasp how small Japan really is”
“Only after I went to America did I come to actually get a feel for how small Japan really is”

…would also be acceptable. The problem is we don’t really have a good noun equivalent for the Japanese noun in English, so “true feeling” is used as the meaning, but it’s never going to be used that way in a translation, because we just don’t say that.

So, yeah, I don’t see how 実感 isn’t being used the way we were taught. The English translation is a natural one, rather than a literal one.

There are a small number of examples where Japanese idioms are used in the example sentences. Those are the only ones I feel tend to yield legitimate complaints on these.

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