都合が悪い and 調子が悪い

Question about Japanese
What is the difference between 都合が悪い and 調子が悪い


Answer:
都合が悪い　there's no free time, or the request is unfavorable

Ａさん：今から、打ち合わせできる？
Ｂさん：ごめん、今手が離せなくて、都合が悪いんだ。

調子が悪い　something don't work well

Ａさん：会社の車、使っていいかな？
Ｂさん：あ、今調子悪いんだ。エンジンがかからないんだよ。

著者 and 作者

Question about Japanese
What is the difference between 著者 and 作者?


Answer:
"著者" means people who wrote some texts. Such as: novelists, writers, dramatists, essayists.

"作者" means people who created some arts. Such as: painters, sculptors, music composers.

The meaning of "作者" includes "著者". So you can replace the word "著者" by "作者".

丸い and 円い

Question about Japanese
What is the difference between 丸い and 円い?


Answer:
There may be some answer that "丸い is used for 3D shapes, 円い is used for 2D shapes".

That answer was correct only in the olden days.

実際には「円い」という表記はほとんど使われません。
「円」はcircleを表すのに対して、
「丸」は角張っていない形を表します。
そのため、「丸」のほうが広い意味で使えるので、「円い」と書くべきときにも「丸い」と書く人が多くなり、今ではそれが普通になっています。

Actually, most Japanese use "丸い" for both 2D and 3D.
The expression "円い" are hardly used.
The reason is:
「円」 represents a circle.
「丸」 represents a shape that is curved and without sharp angles.
So 「丸」 have more broad meaning than 「円」.
In these days, many Japanese people use 「丸い」 for explaining not only 3 dimensional object, but also 2 dimensional objects, such as dishes.

One more note:
「丸い」 can be used for explaining personal characteristics.
Such as: 彼は丸い性格をしている。
Meaning: He has a gentle character.
「円い」 can't be used in such a case.

要旨、要領、要綱、要点

Question about Japanese
Please show me example sentences with 要旨、要領、要綱、要点.
Tell me as many daily expressions as possible.
挙げた文では勝手に代えられる場合もは教えてください。同じ使い方のある他の代えられる言葉あれば教えてください。定義を日本語でも調べたら、同じくらい「まとめたもの」みたいな説明ばかりで、実際の使い分けはわかりません。


Answer:
Imagine that you are listening someone's speech.
If you find some important points, you will write them down.
After that, you will have a bulleted list of several important points. That is "要点".

If you made a new text, well organized and easily understandable, which include the meanings of the list only, with no other information or opinion, for explaining the summary of the speech to others who didn't hear that, the text is "要旨".

"要領" means a guideline.

If there is an organization and participants. The organization has a guideline which the participants should obey. In such case, "要領" is used.

Therefore, if you made a speech, for example "The most impressive place I have ever been to", the summary of it is a "要旨", not a "要領". Because such a kind of speech has no guideline.

"要綱" means a brief text which describes the destination, the long term goal, the basic policy of an organization.

Exceptional usage of "要領" (replaceable with "要点")

Example text:
Tanaka requested Suzuki to explain what they should do.
But Suzuki's explanation was not to the point.

↑The second sentence can be translated into following 2 patterns.

(1) 鈴木の説明では要点がわからなかった
(2) 鈴木の説明は要領を得ていなかった

In this case, both "要領" and "要点" are usable, even if Suzuki's explanation was not about a guideline of an organization.

Because "Tanaka" needed the information "what they should do", this is a kind of guideline. So "要領" can be used there.

スマート

Question about Japanese
What does スマート mean?

Answer:
頭がいい、という意味でスマートを使うことはほとんどありません。

However, the following sentence is an example of such meaning.
彼はスマートなやり方をした。

In Japanese, スマート(meaning of clever) is not used for people. it can be used for explaining a way of doing.

ちょっと補足。
「スマート」は女性に使うことが多く、slim でかつ beautiful なイメージです。clever や intelligent なイメージはありません。
男性に使う場合も同じ意味ですが、そもそも男性にはあまり使いません。

「スマートなやり方」のように、人の行動に対して使う場合は clever, intelligent な意味になります。この用法はよく使われます。

玉と球

Question about Japanese
What is the difference between 玉 and 球?

球 means a ball, which is used for throwing or hitting. So almost all kind sof ball sports are named by using "球".
Such as:
野球 baseball
蹴球 soccer
籠球 basketball
水球 water polo
排球 volleyball
撞球 billiards
(The pronunciation of "球" is "きゅう(kyuu)" for above all cases).

Originally, in ancient Japan, 玉 meant jewel (ex. jasper, jade stone ).
玉 is pronounced as "ぎょく(gyoku)" for this meaning.

In the old days in Japan, jewels were cut, ground and polished as round shape.
So the word 玉 got a new meaning of "round shaped thing". The pronunciation is "たま(tama)" for this meaning.

Compared to 球, there are some differences.

球 is more rounded, more ball like shape.
玉's shapes are more freestyle. Include not ball like shape, such as: a teardrop, a curved teardrop ( you can see examples of curved teardrop shaped 玉's at the URL https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%E7%8E%89&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=939&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwizlL-7mL7OAhUDE5QKHbzGCR4Q_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=%E5%8B%BE%E7%8E%89 ), or oval shape, and so on.

調整 and 調節

Question about Japanese
What is the difference between 調整 and 調節?


Answer:
I hope the following example will help you understand the difference between 調整 and 調節.

The meanings of 調整 and 調節 are very close. I looked up both words in a dictionary, and found the same translation, "control, adjust, regulate" for both.
But they are not identical. The major difference is:

調整 has the meaning of "negotiation", but 調節 doesn't.

Imagine that you are driving two of your friends to some airport.
If friend A requested you to speed up, while friend B wanted you to drive slowly, there is a conflict of opinion. "調整" is used in such a case.

友人Ａはスピードを上げることを望んだけれど、友人Bは安全運転でゆっくり行くことを求めた。
そこで私は２人の意見を調整して、時速80kmぐらいで走ることに決めた。

In this case, "調節" is not suitable. Only "調整" fits the context.

After the negotiation, you decided to drive at 80km/h.
Then you will control the accelerator pedal to go at 80km/h.
This operation is not a negotiation. So "調節" is natural for describing that.

「調整」は、「行き過ぎを抑える」という意味で使われることもあります。

Imagine that there are some movements, such as:

Urbanization of rural areas.
Flow of a river.

When these movements are progressing too rapidly, the administrator of that must take a measure to slow them down.

"調整" can be used in this situation. "調節" can't.

In such a situation, "調整" means "slow down".

友達 and 仲間

Question about Japanese
What is the difference between 友達 and 仲間?

Answer:
The meanings of those words are very close.

If a group of people has common aim, and if they cooperate together for getting the goal, 仲間 is more suitable.

What does 対 mean?

Question about Japanese
What does 対 mean?

Answer:

対（たい）　versus
対（つい）　pair

Additionally, "対" has several different meanings depends on the contexts.

[about]
この議題に対して何か意見はありませんか？
Do you have any opinion about this issue?

[anti, against]
対戦車ミサイル
Antitank missile
万人の万人に対する戦い
The war of all against all

[whereas, while]
彼が南に向かったのに対して、彼女は西へ歩いていった。
She walked toward the west, whereas he went to the south.

causative sentences

Question about Japanese
How do you know the difference between "make somebody do" and "let somebody do" using causative sentences in Japanese.

Ex: お母さんは子供に本を読ませた。

(The mother made/let her child read the book)

Answer:
It's impossible. More information is needed to distinguish that.
If you want to tell the difference clearly, please read the examples below.

お母さんは子供が本を読むことを許した。
The mother let her child read the book.

お母さんは子供に本を読むように命じた。
The mother made her child read the book.

下手(へた)と苦手(にがて)

Question about Japanese
下手(へた)と苦手(にがて)はどうちがいますか

Answer:
See Figure 1 below.

Assume that there is a person (John) and a target. The target can be anything, for example; running, swimming, cooking, a job, another person, etc.

When he does some action to the target, he gets some feeling from a response from it.

Basically, the difference between “下手” and “苦手” is as follows:
“下手(へた)” is an evaluation word for skill.
“苦手(にがて)” is an explanatory word for feeling.

“下手” is used by another person for evaluating John’s skill. Such as:

Another person(Kelly) can say her evaluation of John’s skill as:
Kelly: Johnは泳ぐのが下手だ。( John is bad at swimming)

As opposed to that, “苦手” is used by John for explaining his own feeling. Such as:

John: 私は泳ぐのが苦手です。(I feel bad about swimming)

Basic meanings are shown as above.
However, actually Japanese use those two words interchangeably.
Therefore, all of following four expressions are natural.
1. John: 私は泳ぐのが下手です。I’m bad at swimming.
2. John: 私は泳ぐのが苦手です。I feel bad about swimming.
3. Kelly: John は泳ぐのが下手だ。 John is bad at swimming.
4. Kelly: John は泳ぐのが苦手だ。 John is bad at swimming.

Note the 4th sentence. Kelly cannot know John’s feeling without any explanation from him, so “苦手” in Kelly’s saying means same as “下手”.

Despite the above examples, “下手” and “苦手” are different words which explain different aspects.
Therefore, the following sentence is a natural expression in Japanese.

John: 私は泳ぐのが下手ですが、苦手ではありません。好きです。
　　　I’m bad at swimming, but I don’t dislike it. I like it.

みせ(店) and しょうてん(商店)

What is the difference between みせ(店) and しょうてん(商店) ?

みせ(店) is a generic word usable for stores, shops, restaurants and some kind of business offices.
しょうてん(商店) represents small retail stores only.

"言う" and "話す”

”言う”　と　”話す”　には違いがありますか？
What is the difference between ”言う” and ”話す” ?

”言う” say
"話す" say, communicate, talk

(a) スーザンはスティーブと彼の事業の戦略について話しました。
Susan talked with Steve about the strategy of his business.

The sentence above represents a bilateral communication. So "話す" is suitable. "言う" is not.

(b) スーザンはスティーブにその戦略ではうまく行かないだろうと言いました／話しました。
Susan said to Steve that the strategy will not work well.

The sentence above represents a Susan's opinion. This case, both of "言う" and "話す” can be used.

"らしい" and ”みたい"

"らしい” と "みたい" の違いは何ですか？
What is the difference between "らしい" and ”みたい" ?

Basically, "みたい" is used for an assumption based on some grounds.
On the other hand, "らしい" is used for hearsay information.

See example below:
There are four people; Bill, Steve, Larry, and Bob.
One day Steve saw Bill. He was leaving home equipped with mountain-climbing gear.
Steve said to Larry, "ビルは登山に行ったみたいだよ".
After that, Larry said to Bob, "ビルは登山に行ったらしいよ".

Steve saw Bill leaving, so he can use "みたい".
Larry didn't, so he used "らしい" as the meaning of hearsay information.

"終わる" and "済む"

https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/288674

[Question]
What is the difference between 終わる and 済む?

[Answer]
"終わる" means finishing something which is part of a continuing process.
彼の仕事は終わった。 His work was done.

"済む" means completing expected jobs.
Both meanings are very similar, so you can also say as follows.
"彼の仕事は済んだ"。 His work was done.

A minor difference is that "終わる" can be used when an expected job had not been completed.

For example, if a carpenter gave up his work building someone's house because of a severe earthquake, you can say "地震のために彼の仕事は終わった". 

In contrast, "済む" indicates completion as expected. So you can't say in the same situation "地震のために彼の仕事は済んだ"

"見る" and "見える"

https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/286870
[Question]
Which one is correct if I want to say "I'll watch a movie"?
映画を見る / 映画を見える

[Answer]
If you want to say "I'll watch a movie",
映画を見る is correct.
( Literal translation is "私は映画を見るつもりです。" )

In fact, the word "見る" have a very broad meaning in Japanese.
Such as: look at, watch, see, stare, think, estimate, witness, take care, read, and so on.

"見る" implicitly indicates that a subject person is bearing something in his/her mind. 
"bearing something in one's mind" causes some activity, such as "look at", "watch", "see", "think"... and so on.
It will vary depending on the situation.
Anyway, "見る" is used when you are looking at something with intention.


"見える" has different meanings. 
"seems like" その動物は猫のように見える。 The animal seems like a cat.
↑ On this case, you have no intention to consider the animal as a cat.
"can see"　ここから富士山が見える。 You can see Mt.Fuji from here.
↑ This sentence just conveys reality. It has no relation to anyone's intention.

"見込み" and "可能性"

"見込み" and "可能性" are similar, but not identical. There's some cases, those words are not interchangeable.

For example, we Japanese hardly use "見込み" on pessimistic expectation. 

このプロジェクトが成功する可能性はありますか？　natural
このプロジェクトが成功する見込みはありますか？　natural

このプロジェクトが失敗する可能性はありますか？　natural
このプロジェクトが失敗する見込みはありますか？　not natural

"は" is a topic marker

A question and answer at Hi-Native https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/274760

Question about Japanese

その飛行機は今ごろは関西際空港に当然着いてるはずだ。

その文について、どうして二つの「は」がありますか？

why are there two "は" in that sentence?

[Answer]

Strictly speaking, "は" is a topic marker.

A topic marker is a grammatical particle used to mark the topic of a sentence. This type of particles doesn't exist in European languages. Therefore, it may seem difficult to understand.

Maybe the following explanation helps you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic_marker

I will try to explain about your question.

Imagine there are many coins of different countries.

And there is a Japanese coin.

If you pick up it, you can say that:

”このコインは　日本では　使えます"

↑ There are two "は".

The first "は" distinguishes the Japanese coin from others.

If I translate "このコインは" strictly, I can say that

"I'm speaking about this coin, "

The second "は" distinguishes the location "日本" from the rest of the world.

If I translate "日本では" strictly, I can say that

"I'm speaking about in Japan, "

Therefore, "このコインは　日本では　使えます" can be translated as

"このコインは"   I'm speaking about this coin,

"日本では"       I'm speaking about in Japan,

"使えます"       This is usable

As this example shows, "は" is used to distinguish something from others.

This usage of "は" can be often omitted. For example,

(a) ”このコインは　日本では　使えます"

(b) ”このコインは　日本で　使えます"

Both of the above have almost same meaning.

However, the phrase "日本で" is more emphasized in the sentence (a) compared to (b).

That is because the role of "は", mentioning particular something among others.

"ので","から","ために"

“ので”, “から”, “ために” are Japanese terms used for describing reason or cause.

The meanings of those are very similar, but not identical.
I will try to explain the slight difference of them.

Case1: Cause
Some event causes another event.

On this case, any of the three terms are suitable. Such as:
居眠り運転をしたから、事故を起こしました。
居眠り運転をしたので、事故を起こしました。
居眠り運転をしたために、事故を起こしました。
Any of the above examples are correct expression.


Case2: Decision
Some event occurs, then someone decides his action after that.

On this case, one of the three terms is not natural. Such as:
(In English, “As it stopped raining, I decided to go shopping”)
雨が止んだから、買い物に行こうと思いました。 (natural)
雨が止んだので、買い物に行こうと思いました。 (natural)
雨が止んだために、買い物に行こうと思いました。 (unnatural)

Maybe “ので” sounds more natural than “から”, but both usages are used frequently.


Case3: Presuming a cause from a result
Presuming some unknown cause from some watchable evidence.

On this case, one of three terms is not natural. Such as:
(In English, “Since the road is wet, it must have rained last night.”)
道路が濡れているから、昨夜雨が降ったのでしょう。 (natural)
道路が濡れているので、昨夜雨が降ったのでしょう。 (natural)
道路が濡れているために、昨夜雨が降ったのでしょう。 (unnatural)


Case4: Answering a question asking the cause

When someone asked a question directly asking the cause, such as:

なぜ事故が起きたのですか？ Why did the accident happen?

On this case, only one of three terms is natural. Such as:

居眠り運転をしたからです。 (natural)

居眠り運転をしたのでです。（unnatural)

居眠り運転をしたためにです。（unnatural)

The word “から” describes “cause-result” relation the most strongly. So if someone asked a question directly asking the cause, “から” sounds natural.

How to use "は"(wa) and "が"(ga)

This article is about how to use "は"(wa) and ”が"(ga).
( Usually, the pronunciation of "は" is "ha",
   but on following cases, "wa" is the right pronunciation)

Imagine that there are several words, categorized into two types, words for a subject and words for a complement.



A subject word and a complement word can be combined with a “be” verb.
Such as:
   Tanaka is a fireman.　田中さんは消防士です。
   Sato is a teacher.　佐藤さんは教師です。
   Suzuki is a farmer.   鈴木さんは農家です。

“です” means “is”. 　The examples above are simple Japanese sentences easily understandable.

However, we can say same relation as figure1 another way such as:
　　田中さんが消防士です。
　　佐藤さんが教師です。
　　鈴木さんが農家です。

The difference between two patterns are “は” and “が” (postpositional particles in Japanese grammar).
Many Japanese learners have difficulty in understanding how to use “は” and “が”.
If you feel so, please read the following explanation.

Suppose that there are two people A and B. They are talking about Tanaka.
A: 田中さんの仕事は何ですか？ What is Tanaka’s job?
B: 田中さんは消防士です。 He is a fireman.
This case, A know Tanaka, but don’t know his job. So their matter of concern is his job.
“は” indicates that their matter of concern is the complement part.



On the other hand, “が” is used in a slightly different situation.
A: 誰が消防士ですか？ Who is a fireman?
B: 田中さんが消防士です。 Tanaka is.
This case, A know there is a fireman, but don’t know who is. So their matter of concern is “who”.
“が” indicates that their matter of concern is the “Subject” part.

The difference between "状況" and "状態" (1)

In many cases, “状況” and “状態” are interchangeable. Some examples are listed below.

大雪で交通が遮断されたため、その町は生活物資が枯渇した状態/状況です。
Traffic was blocked by a heavy snow, then daily commodities ran out in the town.

患者の状態/状況を教えてください。
Please tell me the current state of the patient.

あなたはすぐに帰国できる状態/状況ですか？
In your current situation, can you return to your country immediately?

現在は雨が降っている状態/状況です
It is raining now.


However, the meanings of these two words are not identical.

See the chart below. This chart shows an image describing of the meaning of “状態”

The horizontal arrow at the bottom shows time. The vertical arrow at the left shows the value of an object (blue dot).
As time goes by, an object (blue dot) moves along with the red line, from A through B, C, D to E.
The meaning of “状態” is the object’s value of each moment.
“状態” just describes a momentary value of the object at a specific time. It indicates a lack of changing in direction.

On the other hand, the image of “状況” can be shown as is it below.

The object’s movement is exactly same as the previous chart.
However, the word “状況” is used to describe a changing direction.

Suppose that the above chart shows water level of a dam.
At first, the water level decreases from A to B, C. Later it increases from C to D,E.
At the moment of point B, we can describe the situation in Japanese using “状況” and “状態” as follows. (Assume that the water level of B is 20%)

(At the moment of point B)
水位は20%まで下がった状態です。
The water level went down to 20%.
水位は20%を切りつつある状況です。
The water level has been going down under 20% now.

(At the moment of point D)
水位は40%まで上がった状態です。
The water level went up to 40%.
水位は40%を超えつつある状況です。
The water level has been going up to over 40% now.

Even if we interchange the words “状況” and “状態” on the cases shown above, it sounds not so unnatural.  But the expressions listed above are more natural.


....to be continued.

The difference between ・放る ・なげる・すてる

放る（ほうる）, 投げる（なげる）

Original meaning: throw, fling, toss, cast

捨てる（すてる）

Original meaning: discard, dump, abandon, give up

But when someone wants to discard something, he doesn't need to handle it with care.

Even if it were fragile object, he can throw it violently.

So the words "ほうる" and "なげる" are often used as the meaning of discarding.

This way of saying are common in the Kansai region in Japan.

Strictly speaking, there are minor difference between "なげる" and "すてる" as the meaning of "discard", but it is difficult to explain....

「らしい」と「そうだ」

(Sorry, currently this article is Japanese only. I will translate later)

「推定」は自分で判断すること、

「伝聞」は人から聞いたこと。

で、「らしい」と「そうだ」のどちらも、推定と伝聞の両方に使えます。

「そろそろ雨が降るそうだ」　→(1)天気予報など、他人の判断を聞いた場合（伝聞）の表現。

「そろそろ雨が降りそうだ」　→(2)空の様子を見て自分で推定した場合の表現。

「そろそろ雨が降るらしい」　→(3)これも伝聞で、(1)と同じ意味。

「そろそろ雨が降りらしい」　→(4)これは間違いで、こういう表現は使いません。

(2)と(4)の違いに注意してください。「らしい」は未来への推定には使いません。

逆に、過去の推定については「らしい」を使います。

「昨夜は雨が降ったそうだ」　→(5)「雨が降った」ということを誰かから聞いた伝聞の表現。

「昨夜は雨が降ったらしい」　→(6)これは伝聞と推定の両方の場合があります。

(6) について、たとえば

・朝起きた時に誰かから「昨夜、雨が降った」と聞いたとき。

・朝起きて外を見たら濡れていたので、「雨が降ったのだろう」と自分で推定した。

のどちらの場合にでも使えます。

したがって、「らしい」と「そうだ」のどちらも、推定と伝聞の両方に使えます。

ただし、「そうだ」は基本的に未来への推定、「らしい」は過去についての推定です。

といっても、実際には会話の中では厳密に区別されずに使われている場合も多いです。

I found an unrealistic product.

Yesterday, I noticed one of my friends liked an article on facebook about a company that plans to develop a device which can make water out of light and air.

This is the article (Japanese). It wrote that the device can produce 0.5L water in one hour in high temperature and humidity values.

1時間で500mlも作れる。空気を自動で飲み水に変えるボトルが登場 
http://whats.be/133930

Is that true? I doubted its truth.

I found the web-site of the company, the url is below. There are only image videos and dream-like plans, no detailed performance reports, no data-sheets, no real products we can buy right now.

fontus.at 
http://fontus.at/

This company won a James Dyson Award in 2014. I read the explanation of the award sites, but it seems like there's no potential to produce 0.5L warter in an hour.

Fontus - James Dyson Award http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/projects/fontus-2/
"I finally achieved a constant drop-flow of one drop of condensed water per minute"


After that, I found another article. The following article at Jan-16-2016 wrote that Fontus could produce 0.5L water in 1 hour in the "really good" condition, such as:

temperture: between 30 to 40 degrees Celsius
humidity: between 80 percent to 90 percent

http://www.livescience.com/53401-fontus-converts-humidity-into-water.html
"Fontus can produce 0.5 quarts (0.5 liters) of water in 1 hour in what is considered "really good" conditions, with temperatures between 86 degrees and 104 degrees Fahrenheit (30 to 40 degrees Celsius) and between 80 percent and 90 percent humidity, Retezár said. "

No way. Such a "really good" condition is unrealistic. Even though in Tokyo, a place known for high temperature and humidity in summer, that is most unlikely. Because high temperature and high humidity are hardly compatible. If you check summer temperature and humidity of Tokyo, you should easily know that.

For example, let's look at the data of the summer of Tokyo.

東京・2015年8月2日
http://www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/etrn/view/hourly_s1.php?prec_no=44&block_no=47662&year=2015&month=08&day=02&view=p1
午前5時　気温26.4℃　湿度94%
午後1時　気温34.1℃　湿度57%

It is obvious that as temperature goes up, humidity goes down. This phenomenon is caused by a physical law. So this could be true all over the world. If you can find some place with high temperature (over 30 degrees celsius) and high humidity (over 80%) at the same time, it should be somewhere like a spa. That's why I think the device can't be practical

------------------------------(Japanese version follows)-------------------------
昨日、私は友人の1人が、空気と光から水を作る装置を作ることを計画している会社についてfacebookで「いいね！」をつけていることに気がつきました。

これがその記事です（日本語）。そこでは、その装置は高温多湿の条件下では1時間につき0.5リットルの水を製造できると書かれています。

1時間で500mlも作れる。空気を自動で飲み水に変えるボトルが登場 
http://whats.be/133930

本当かな？　私には疑わしく思えました。

私はその会社のウェブサイトを見つけました。URLは下記の通りです。そこにあったのはいくつかのイメージビデオと夢のようなプランだけで、詳細な性能レポートも、データシートも、すぐに買える具体的な製品もありませんでした。

fontus.at 
http://fontus.at/

2014年に James Dyson Award とかを受賞してるらしいけど、そのときの説明を読む限り、1時間に500mlを達成できそうな予感はまったくない。

Fontus - James Dyson Award http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/projects/fontus-2/
"I finally achieved a constant drop-flow of one drop of condensed water per minute"

その後私はもうひとつの記事を見つけました。今年1月16日のその記事では、フォンタスは極めて良い条件の下では1時間で0.5リットルの水を製造できると書いていますが、その条件とは

　気温：30℃～40℃
　湿度：80～90%

です。

http://www.livescience.com/53401-fontus-converts-humidity-into-water.html
"Fontus can produce 0.5 quarts (0.5 liters) of water in 1 hour in what is considered "really good" conditions, with temperatures between 86 degrees and 104 degrees Fahrenheit (30 to 40 degrees Celsius) and between 80 percent and 90 percent humidity, Retezár said. "

ありえません。このような”極めて良い"条件は非現実的です。東京のような夏の高温多湿で有名なところでさえまずありえません。なぜなら、「高温」と「多湿」は両立しにくいからです。このことは夏の東京の気温と湿度を調べてみればすぐわかります。

たとえば気象庁の気象データ検索で、夏の1時間ごとのデータを見てみましょう。
東京・2015年8月2日
http://www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/etrn/view/hourly_s1.php?prec_no=44&block_no=47662&year=2015&month=08&day=02&view=p1
午前5時　気温26.4℃　湿度94%
午後1時　気温34.1℃　湿度57%

気温が上昇するにつれて湿度が下がっているのが明らかです。この現象は物理法則によるものですので、世界中でこうなります。もしあなたが高温（30℃以上）と多湿（80％以上）が同時に成り立つ場所を見つけられるとしたら、そこは温泉の近くのような場所でしょう。そんなわけで、私はこの装置は非現実的なものと考えます。