# イメージが全く湧かない



## Larris

Hello, I've been trying to figure this out for a while as I have no idea why the verb would be used as it is here. I understand the meaning of the sentence just not why this verb is used

強くなるためならどんな事でもやる覚悟ある。だが……俺が先生の強さに近づけるイメージが全く*湧かない*

Any help would be greatly appreciated. This sentence comes from the popular "One Punch" anime that is going on right now. If any context is needed basically the main character had taken on an apprentice and he wanted to battle with him and was totally outclassed. And then goes on to say this to himself... totally baffled.


I could not find a post regarding sentence translations, and this is more of benefit of learning usage of a verb so I posted here... Don't hurt me!


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## Cowrie

Hi Larris, 
The verb 湧く goes very well with the noun イメージ.
イメージが湧く
イメージが湧かない
I just got curious. Do you have any other verbs in mind that would suit better here?


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## Larris

Not really. I just didn't know the meaning of this verb so I went and checked it with a dictionary but the translations I got just didn't make sense at all.  (to well up, to gush up, to appear, to feel emotions)

It just doesn't make sense here. Is イメージが湧く some sort of phrase? Can I perhaps get an explanation of why the verb is used here?


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## karlalou

Yes, イメージが湧く is just the way we say it.

The original usage of 湧く is like 水が湧く、水が湧き出る, like spring water.
I didn't really know how water come out from the ground, but according to dictionaries and image search, it's like 'well up' or 'gush up'.

Other examples are: 石油(oil)が湧く、温泉(hot spring)が湧く、疑問(question)が湧く、興味(interest)・好奇心(curiosity)が湧く、感情(emotion)が湧く, etc.


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## Larris

Thanks for the reply. So it is a phrase... Wonder why I couldn't find it anywhere in the dictionary or online. Had been driving me crazy as I had thought that originally... What's the actual meaning of it? Unable to picture something or can't see something happening? Or the image just doesn't gush(pop) up?


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## karlalou

Maybe it's written in hiragana, イメージがわく. 湧く is a difficult kanji, I can't write it. XD


Larris said:


> 俺が先生の強さに近づけるイメージが全く*湧かない*


Here it's a negative sentence, so, yes, it's saying he can't imagine, can't picture himself being able to come closer to his teacher's strength at all.


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## Larris

That's what the internet is for! Magical appearing Kanji!  Yea I tried that version as well, nothing showed up. I assume i'll find it somewhere eventually. Thanks.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

(how to look for Japanese on the internet)
The Google you're looking at and the Google I'm looking at are different.
You're using Google America, and I'm using Google Japan.
The company provides us with the closest site for our location, somehow.
And I know that Google America cannot show enough Japanese.
If possible, you should select "Google Japan" instead, I think.

(about the verb わく　（湧く））
If you put "わく" on Google (Japan) search, you would probably hit about 1,940,000 results.
One typical Japanese online dictionary is the following:
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/237923/meaning/m0u/

(If you can open this reference, the number 4 is the definition of this context.)


(about the collocation between イメージ and わく）
They have a good collocation.
イメージがうかぶ
イメージがわく　is the natural word choice in Japanese.

For example, "you made a mistake", but not "you did a mistake."
In Japanese, we shouldn't say まちがいを作った, but we usually say まちがいをした.
Your question seemed to be a kid's question, "why do you say "make a mistake"?, I don't understand. Why you don't say "do a mistake" in English?"
I have to answer that it's a rule of English. "English and Japanese is not the same, as a matter of course."
So this is the answer to yours too.
Does this explanation make sense to you?


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## frequency

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> One typical Japanese online dictionary is the following:
> http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/237923/meaning/m0u/
> (If you can open this reference, the number 4 is the definition of this context.)
> 
> イメージがうかぶ
> イメージがわく　is the natural word choice in Japanese.


 
Larris, yours is _An image doesn't bring to (my) mind_. What kind of image? The preceding clause: 俺が～～近づける.


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## Larris

Thanks for the replies. Weird verb indeed. Surprised I never saw it before, sounds weird put together.


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## karlalou

This is the URL for Google日本: https://www.google.co.jp/


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