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Hopefully people find my website kanjiwebeasy helpful. If you find a word and you can't quite understand the meaning, feel free to look it up on kanjiwebeasy to find other sentences in which that word occur!

If you that's not sufficient, you can also look it up on Tatoeba where most other website/apps get their example sentences from.

Japan Airlines creates new low-cost airline

Japan Airlines has decided to create a new airline with cheap ticket prices. Until 2020 the new airline will fly between Narita and Asian countries. After that, they are considering flights to Europe and America too.

ANA Holdings Inc owns two low-cost airlines, and have plans to merge the companies by March 2020, and fly to more locations.

The number of people who use cheap airlines are increasing, and it seems that the competition between the airlines is getting more intense.

Expression	Meaning
航空[こうくう]	aviation
日本航空	Japan Airlines
成田空港	Narita airport
激しい[はげしい]	intense, steep
ＡＮＡ	All Nippon Airways

I think that tough sentence in the first paragraph might be something along the lines of "However, it has become more difficult for many democratically-inclined people in opposition to the Chinese government to run for election."

選挙に出る is "run for election" according to jisho.org, though the only sentence I could find using something similar used 選挙に出馬(しゅつば) instead.

In the second paragraph, the demonstrations happened near Hong Kong government buildings, not Chinese government ones… important distinction.

> Could someone more confident than I (including the OP) confirm that 2つ以上 definitely includes 2?

My confidence comes from the dictionary, which says:

> 以上 > > 1. not less than; ... and more; ... and upwards​ > > ６歳以上の子供は学校に通わなければならない。 > > Children of six and above should attend school.

But I must admit I thought it meant "more than" before I did this translation. I actually had translated it as "more than 2 jobs" at first, but that didn't make sense to me and made me check.

> I think that both of these clauses are things that the government says it wants to do. > > "Currently, the government says that it would like to make it so that company employees are able work secondary jobs and are able to work in various ways." I think this も might be one of those uses that emphasizes extent and doesn't really translate.

That makes sense, I was very doubtful about that last paragraph to be honest. Thanks! :)

According to Genki 2, Ch 16, といいですね／といいね is used to say that you hope something good happens to someone other than yourself. (For yourself you use といいんですが／どいいんだけど). Examples

So the correct translation of いい年になるといいですね is probably "I hope it will become a good year".

> "紙には、

On the paper

> 犯人が家に置いていったトレーナー

the jumper, which has been placed (left) at the house by the criminal (置いていった = 置いている in past tense, plain form)

> について

about (the jumper)

> かいてあります

(the jumper) was described (or maybe: depicted?)

So to sum it up: "On the piece of paper, (the police) have described the jumper which the criminal left at the house."

Here is some more about ~てある http://maggiesensei.com/2014/09/04/how-to-use-%E3%80%9C%E3%81%A6%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B-te-aru/

---

> サイズはＬで、

(It's) size was "L", and... (で here is a -te form of です here, ish, as far as I can tell, and the te-form is used in the way that joins two sentences)

> 薄い灰色、

(it) was of light grey colour

> 袖は薄い紫です。

(and its) sleeves were light purple.

So to sum it up: The jumper was of size L and light grey colour, while its sleeves were purple.

---

> この服は、日本で１３０枚しか売っていませんでした"

Of this (type of) garment, (they) sold only 130 pieces in Japan.

しか is a particle which requires a negative form of verb afterwards: http://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%97%E3%81%8B

http://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%93%E3%81%AE%E3%81%BE%E3%81%BE

I understand it as "(continue) like this". So, I think the full sentence means that "Furthermore, he said that, since it wasn't good for the [state of] country's politics to continue [in the same state] as before, [he] planned to resign by the end of next April."

Lots of examples for まま here: http://maggiesensei.com/2014/03/09/%E2%98%85how-to-use-%E3%81%BE%E3%81%BEmama/

> ヤマアジサイは、研究して作ったアジサイと比べて少し小さくて、花の外側にある赤や白のがくが花のように見えます。
Mountain hydrangeas are a little smaller compared to grown hydrangeas and appear with a flower with a red outside framed in white.

がく here is 萼, which translates to "calyx", which refers to the sepals of a flower. 花の外側にある赤や白のがくが花のように見えます means "The white and red sepals on the outside of the flower look like flowers."

> この事故で

> This accident caused

In the Japanese sentence, the accident doesn't actually do any action (else, it'd be marked by a particle like が).

> 高校生など２９５人

> 295 high school students

This actually says something more like "295 people, among whom were high school students and others". If it were to say specifically "295 high school students", it would probably read more like ２９５人の高校生.

> 水の中での作業を始めて

> work in the sea will start

While your translation sounds pretty natural in English (and if this article was written in English first, it would probably be written intransitively), the Japanese sentence is a transitive verb with a を object, therefore the actor が is doing the verb, not the object を. The phrase "work will start" in Japanese would be written something like 作業が始まる, using an intransitive verb.

> と言っています

> It is said that

Your translation is in passive form, but the Japanese sentence is in an active form. Active verbs are done by some actor が.

The phrase "it is said" in Japanese can be formed with the passive as と言われる. Check out some examples for "it is said" and see that many Japanese sentences are passive.

Thanks, your feedback is appreciated!

It turned out to be hard to find info on the dono ... mo construction, but I did find a word reference with a clear example.

Integrated approach is a textbook that kind of picks up where Genki leaves off (not as good imo but for learning new grammar in a logical progression it does a decent job). Here is the amazon link https://smile.amazon.com/Integrated-Approach-Intermediate-Japanese-Revised/dp/4789013073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524849771&sr=8-1&keywords=integrated+approach+to+intermediate+japanese . From what I've seen the two best ones after Genki are this and Tobira. But, I also read that Tobira is a little further than just Genki and and while I might have been able to do it, I think I am just going to finish Integrated Approach and then double back and do Tobira and if I learn the same topics twice, that's just review. I think that will put me near the end of N3.

Also unrelated but for Kanji, I am using Kodansha and am at about 1400 and slowing down to make sure I fully know all of them (at about 90% recognition right now on them).

A drone examines a large hole in Russia's frozen soil

Large holes have been found in Russia's Yamal Peninsula, Siberia and other places where frozen soil spreads since 2014. A Russian research team used a drone to examine the 17th hole found in July last year.

This hole is 25 meters in diameter and about 30 meters deep, and at the bottom of the hole, they found a large hole that extends horizontally. It is possible that such a large hole was created by an explosion of gas in the frozen soil, but it is still not clear.

The research team said, "As the earth's temperature rises, the frozen soil melts and becomes weaker. We would like to find out more about the cause of the hole," said a member of the research team.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Evacuation in Times of Disaster: AI Uses Mobile Phone Location Information to Inform

In the event of a disaster, a system has been developed in which AI can use location information on where a cell phone is located to notify each person of the need to evacuate. It was created by the AI Disaster Prevention Council, which includes research institutes and IT companies.

The system will be used when there is a danger of mountains collapsing or rivers overflowing due to earthquakes or heavy rain.

The AI considers whether people in the area should evacuate, using location information from cell phones, rainfall information from the Japan Meteorological Agency, and hazard maps that show dangerous places in the event of a disaster. If evacuation is necessary, we will notify people via the "LINE" application. A map of nearby evacuation centers will also be provided. People who are elderly or have babies in their wombs can be notified earlier than others.

​

A member of the council said, "It is very important to let people know about the dangers of their current location. We will make preparations so that this system can be used all over Japan.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Thanks! Even after I'd found out from the page about the festival that ホーリャイ is actually more like ホーライ that didn't really help me much as the word didn't mean anything to me. I tried onomatopoeia dictionaries without success and then found an article by someone whose name is Hourai who was musing about what it means in English.

The article helpfully provides some info about hourai, mentioning >「ホーライ！ホーライ！」という掛け声

And finally jisho.org defines 掛け声 as "yell used to time or encourage activity (e.g. "Heave ho!", "On three ... One, two, three!" in English)"

Phew!

For "しかし、大勢の外国人がもっと楽しく旅行できるようにする必要があります," I think the translation, "However, it is necessary to make sure that foreigners can enjoy their trips even more." See: http://jisho.org/search/%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B

For the last sentence, I think the statement is actually a contrast (that despite China's economic growth slowing down, they still think that Chinese visitors will increase). Also to be fair, this statement is not completely random- the Chinese certainly makes up a huge portion of their foreign visitors (especially when you include Taiwan, but I don't know how Kosher that is). But we shouldn't expect NHK Easy News to have the best reporting anyways.

> on the outside of the flower a red flower with a white frame can be seen.

がく here is 萼, which translates to "calyx", which refers to the sepals of a flower. 花の外側にある赤や白のがくが花のように見えます means "The white and red sepals on the outside of the flower look like flowers."

> We want others from Hokkaido all the way to Kyushuu in many places to see the blooming Mountain Hydrangea's various colors and shapes.

[北海道から九州まで多くの所に咲いている]ヤマアジサイの、いろいろな色や形を見てほしいです
Everything in brackets here is part of the relative clause modifying アジサイ. "Hydrangeas that bloom in many places from Hokkaido to Kyushu." This sentence means "We want [people] to see the various shapes and colors of the Hydrangeas that bloom in many places from Hokkaido to Kyushu."

> Ok, but the pigeons are not coming back to where we are, or where the writer is, or where the race took place. They've been taken away from home, and then during the race they returned home and stayed there afterwards.

Right, this is the context for knowing where the words are referring to. They've been taken away from home (which was their starting point) and then the race is to get home (get back to starting point), so 戻る and くる both refer to their original homes referenced at the beginning of the article.

Remember that news articles are typically written without reporter influence, so this is not a person telling you the news, it is the news simply being known, like it is an omnipresent source. If you were actually standing next to a person who was directly telling you ハトが遠い所から戻ってくる then it would definitely mean that the birds are coming right back to the place where you two are, but generic reporting isn't really grounded in a specific spot.

> １３日、ハトを長崎県から１０００ｋｍ以上遠い山形県や新潟県まで飛ばすレース（＝競争）がありました。

> On 13th [this month], a race (= a contest) took place, in which [participants] let their pigeons fly from Nagasaki prefecture to Yamagata prefecture and Niigata prefecture, [both] more than 1000 km away [from the starting point].

Also, this is translated slightly incorrectly. You said "let their pigeons fly", but the causative "let" would be constructed like 飛ぶ -> 飛ばせる and the sentence would look like 彼らがハトに飛ばせる (lit. They cause flying to pigeon). Instead, the written sentence is ハトを飛ばす using a transitive verb, which means "(they) fly pigeons".

> ハトを長崎県から１０００ｋｍ以上遠い山形県や新潟県まで飛ばすレース

> A race where (people) fly pigeons from Nagasaki to places over 1000km away like Yamagata and Niigata

I get that this is 5 days old now, but this is just my 2c. I am Australian and I don't understand how you can't understand what Helicopter-shaped means? If I said I wanted a helicopter-shaped cake for my birthday would you not understand? If I said I wanted a helicopter shaped plushie? Sure it might be more natural to say "Cake shaped like a helicopter" or for the plushie just "helicopter plushie". But all of those phrases are basic English and just as easily understandable. Indeed a quick search online gets you stuff like this.

If the proposed translation was "Drone shaped like a helicopter" would that work better for you? I agree with the other poster that by saying it is "helicopter-like" you're leaving out significant information. If the Japanese article wanted to just say 'helicopter like' they would have said ヘリコプターのようなドローン. Most drones are copter drones and they tend to be very flat and have multiple arms with 4-6 rotors. This specific drone, however, is very much more like a helicopter in terms of its overall shape and configuration than the standard drones most people know of. It has a single set of counter rotating blades and a bulky body that is suspended below the single rotor.

If you were writing this article in English; true, you might very well be okay with only saying 'helicopter-like' in terms of what information you want to give. But giving more specific information to clarify exactly how it is helicopter like isn't somehow ungrammatical, or unnatural.