What does this mean?

[hinataishot_256]

What does the Japanese text in this pic of my desktop mean? http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1282/1214492265_285f71f6cb.jpg

[Ertai87]

It says "Ganbatte", and, as the English subtitle says, it means "do your best".

[hinataishot_256]

Thanks

[Chortos-2]

Can anybody explain 信じてる? :( I have searched in the Internet, but all I found was 信じる and 信じて.

[Rizuchan]

Can anybody explain 信じてる?Shinjiteru, it means, "to believe in."

I have searched in the Internet, but all I found was 信じる and 信じて.As a rule of about any language, words that are exactly the same except for the letters/characters at the end or words that are super similar are going to mean the same thing but it different tenses. (like run, running, and ran) Japanese is a bit different in that it has a lot of words that seem like they would mean the same thing but are really quite different, but if the two words have all of the same kanji, its probably a safe bet they mean about the same thing.

[Ertai87]

Shinjiteru, it means, "to believe in."
As a rule of about any language, words that are exactly the same except for the letters/characters at the end or words that are super similar are going to mean the same thing but it different tenses. (like run, running, and ran) Japanese is a bit different in that it has a lot of words that seem like they would mean the same thing but are really quite different, but if the two words have all of the same kanji, its probably a safe bet they mean about the same thing.

Not quite. "Shinjiru" means "to believe in". "Shinjiteru", as far as I know, is not a word. It could be a contraction of the phrase "shinjite iru", which is the progressive ("-ing") form of Shinjiru and is likely used more since the Japanese progressive is a lot looser than the English (for example, the verb "to know" is always progressive when used in present positive form, as in "I am knowing [something]" instead of "I know [something]"...Japanese is weird that way).

[Rizuchan]

Not quite. "Shinjiru" means "to believe in". "Shinjiteru", as far as I know, is not a word. It could be a contraction of the phrase "shinjite iru", which is the progressive ("-ing")
You're right, I apparently wasn't thinking straight, sorry! >< Don't I feel dumb now... anyway, shinjiteru is to my knowledge, as you said, a contraction of shinjite and iru.
But my main point still stands. I was just trying to express to Chortos-2 that words in Japanese can have some odd contractions or ending particles that might not be found in a Japanese to English dictionary and by knowing the root words, you can still usually get a basic understanding of the word's meaning.

[Chortos-2]

Thank you both. :) I understand what Rizuchan said, I just wanted to find out what this specific form means. :p

[VraieEsprit]

This exact thing confused me a lot when I first got going on Japanese too, actually...the Japanese habit of contracting the iru and shoving it on the end of the verb.

In romaji it's often written with an apostrophe as shinjite'ru which makes it more obvious what the Japanese have done. But they're not quite so helpful with their own kana...especially considering how much they seem to use this :S

Vraie

[shinnraiu]

Not quite. "Shinjiru" means "to believe in". "Shinjiteru", as far as I know, is not a word. It could be a contraction of the phrase "shinjite iru", which is the progressive ("-ing") form of Shinjiru and is likely used more since the Japanese progressive is a lot looser than the English (for example, the verb "to know" is always progressive when used in present positive form, as in "I am knowing [something]" instead of "I know [something]"...Japanese is weird that way).

No shinjiteiru sounds way weird and long (at least in my book) so its mostly just used shinjiteru (much simpler) just like all other ~teiru is made into ~teru... (okay none of that sounded right...)

As for the knowing comment you made, Japanese is not weird in that way.

"Shiru" is more like to get to know something or to find out something... So you have to say "shitteru" to mean that you know it already. Just saying "shiru" or "shirimasu" sounds weird... Cause I can't even say what it would mean most of the time...

So you don't have to read all that crap I just wrote, basically "shitteiru" doesn't mean that you are knowing something. It just means that you know something. =3 (But don't do this with the negative form...)

...I hope I'm not repeating something someone else already said ^^;;;; If I am then sorry...

[Ertai87]

Well, to explain "-te" form the closest thing you would say in English is "-ing", except there are verbs in Japanese that are considered states of being that are not considered like that in English. I mean, ostensibly, one could say "I am knowing [something]", but you wouldn't say that. You would say "I know [something]". The Japanese equivalent, strictly speaking, would be "shirimasu", but it's not since it's a state of being and not an action verb, so it's a bit weird when you translate it. It makes perfect sense if you think about it, but it's not intuitive if nobody tells you.

[shinnraiu]

Well, to explain "-te" form the closest thing you would say in English is "-ing", except there are verbs in Japanese that are considered states of being that are not considered like that in English. I mean, ostensibly, one could say "I am knowing [something]", but you wouldn't say that. You would say "I know [something]". The Japanese equivalent, strictly speaking, would be "shirimasu", but it's not since it's a state of being and not an action verb, so it's a bit weird when you translate it. It makes perfect sense if you think about it, but it's not intuitive if nobody tells you.

=/ There's no true way to really translate anything in any language. But I mean... "shirimasu" sounds so odd...naturally... I never even thought about using it before... But I guess if it's a foreign language then you'd need to be taught..? I don't know... (You have such good english; I don't understand some of what you're explaining/the terms you use so you're probably right.)

[Ertai87]

=/ There's no true way to really translate anything in any language.

That's some existential crap right there :P (for those who haven't studied existentialism, read Waiting for Godot. You get a cookie if you can get all the way through without ripping hair out. You get another cookie if you can do the same with Jane Austen's Emma)


But I mean... "shirimasu" sounds so odd...naturally... I never even thought about using it before... But I guess if it's a foreign language then you'd need to be taught..? I don't know... (You have such good english; I don't understand some of what you're explaining/the terms you use so you're probably right.)

Well let me try to explain...in Japanese, or so I understand, when you are in the process of doing something , you would use "-te" form (e.g. "I am studying" = "Watashi wa benkyoushite iru"). In English, this is equivalent to the "-ing" form ("studyING", etc.). By similar logic, if one was to translate "watashi wa shitte iru" or "watashi wa shinjite iru", it would translate to "I am knowing" or "I am believing". However, in English, you wouldn't say it like that, you'd instead say "I know" or "I believe" (there are times when you might say "I am believing", but for the sake of argument, bear with me). Thus, to do the literal translation from English to Japanese, you would say "watashi wa shirimasu" or "watashi wa shinjirimasu" (I think "shinjiru" is an exception to that rule...), which sounds weird in Japanese but is correct in English. Hence, to an English speaker, this would be weird because the literal translation doesn't always work.

[shinnraiu]

That's some existential crap right there :P (for those who haven't studied existentialism, read Waiting for Godot. You get a cookie if you can get all the way through without ripping hair out. You get another cookie if you can do the same with Jane Austen's Emma)



Well let me try to explain...in Japanese, or so I understand, when you are in the process of doing something , you would use "-te" form (e.g. "I am studying" = "Watashi wa benkyoushite iru"). In English, this is equivalent to the "-ing" form ("studyING", etc.). By similar logic, if one was to translate "watashi wa shitte iru" or "watashi wa shinjite iru", it would translate to "I am knowing" or "I am believing". However, in English, you wouldn't say it like that, you'd instead say "I know" or "I believe" (there are times when you might say "I am believing", but for the sake of argument, bear with me). Thus, to do the literal translation from English to Japanese, you would say "watashi wa shirimasu" or "watashi wa shinjirimasu" (I think "shinjiru" is an exception to that rule...), which sounds weird in Japanese but is correct in English. Hence, to an English speaker, this would be weird because the literal translation doesn't always work.

Lol what. I know how benkyoushiteru and stuff like that translates. But yeah I guess I understand what you're saying about how it sounds to an English-speaking person. I'm actually not sure what Shirimasu would mean lol (not talking about literal translations). The word doesn't really exist to me.

dareka kiitemiyokkana tte omotteru ze....