If they can’t translate the sentence using a single one of their meaning words then they should write a different example sentence.
I’m not trying to pick on this one example either. I come across this same situation daily, where it feels like the sentences are purposely written to evade learners who don’t have a great handle on grammar yet.
Their meaning is correct. 勢いで means with force/vigor (the exact definition in wanikani).
勢いで + 向かって行きます means forcefully going towards, or more naturally combined into a verb like bolt.
English and Japanese are two different languages and in most cases you cant just rely on being able to literally translate everything word for word. The translation is correct and the usage is correct. This is how the word is used in a native context. If you are learning Japanese, if you read Japanese, you will see this usage later on.
I dont understand your point. The example sentences must use that vocabulary and it does. The usage is correct.
Your statement was addressed in the first post. For now you can use the current sentences and learn from them. If you dont like those sentences, you can also paste the word into Jisho and get example sentences there.
Neither. It’s a gloss not a translation. It’s a convenient pair of English words to associate it with until you learn what the word actually means.
None of them
They’ve translated the sentence, not the words. I prefer that, you don’t…both opinions are valid.
But that would sound unnatural and you lose some of the meaning 勢い is bringing to the sentence. I have a really strong mental image of what a dog bolting towards a milk-bone looks like. A dog vigorously running towards a bone just doesn’t evoke anything similar.
I would totally agree with you that trying to maintain the intention and tone of the original writing would be paramount if this was a translation of poetry or fiction. But in the context of trying to parse the meaning of the word by looking at an example sentence, I found it quite difficult to figure out what grammatical work the word was doing in the sentence.
Anyway, I was just trying to give a concrete example since I had brought this up earlier without an example. I didn’t mean to start an argument, and I’m sorry that it seemingly became one.
I’m 100% with you on this, I really appreciate the nuances and being able to see how a word that seemingly translates to simple English is actually used in different ways in Japanese. I’ve found it so useful in being able to more readily understand written Japanese from a variety of sources, as I get most of my reading practice from native material. The amount of grammar I’ve had reinforced through the sentences has been a bonus too because they don’t make things too easy. I guess my view is that I don’t want to understand things immediately all the time otherwise I’m not really learning anything.
I can definitely see how the example sentences would be frustrating for certain types of learners though, particularly people who’ve started their kanji studies without having studied any grammar at all. I know the common recommendation here is to not pick up a textbook until you’re level 10, but I came in a lot later in my studies. Perhaps in the future it might be nice to see a toggle option where you can select if you’re entirely new, or you have a certain level of understanding so you’re shown appropriate material if that would be more beneficial for different styles of learning.
Glad to see I’m not alone in this. Personally I’d prefer having a lot of sentences in increasing difficulty for each word, letting users read up to the desired difficulty level. But of course all of that extra content is more work for the people that write the sentences, which would likely increase the cost.
Wondering if someone can help me out.
済ます, we’re told means TO FINISH / TO SETTLE.
The only context sentence:
私は本当に何もやっていません。今朝そこで、父のためにちょっと用事を済ませていただけなんです。
I swear I didn’t do anything. I was just running some errands there for my dad this morning.
So does 済ます also mean running errands?
Or does this sentence more specifically mean that the speaker had to go out settling debts for his father?
I’m not at the grammar level where I’ve been introduced to the imperative form so I’m probably missing something else here.
Ahh, okay i think I get it. I thought maybe it was debts, because to me, those were the only things that would be “settled” in the context of an errand