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I was downloading an update for a phone game I set in Japanese and on the
screen it said 「ダウンロード中」and I don’t understand the use of 中. Middle? In the
middle of downloading?
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2019-05-26T14:01:53.843
68496
2019-05-27T15:29:36.380
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question
meaning kanji word-usage
What is the 中 in ダウンロード中？
I think you answered your own question. 中{ちゅう} is a suffix that means "in the
middle of". e.g.

> 道路は工事中だ  
>  The road is in the middle of construction.
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2019-05-26T14:20:24.800
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2019-05-26T14:20:24.800
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Yes, you are correct that 中 (ちゅう) in this case means "in the middle of ～ ".
For your sentence, the simple translation "downloading" is probably the most
natural.

It is fairly common to combine a noun with the suffix 中(ちゅう) to express the
idea of the `"currently in the process of (NOUN)"`. A few examples of `NOUN +
中`:

> 保留{ほりゅう} deferment, holding: 保留中{ほりゅうちゅう} on hold ('in the middle of
> holding').
>
> 貸{か}し出{だ}し lending, loaning: 貸{か}し出{だ}し中{ちゅう} on loan ('in the middle of
> loaning).
>
> 稼働{かどう} operation (of a machine): 稼働中{かどうちゅう} in operation ('in the middle
> of operation').

You might be wondering "Why not just use the `VERB ～ている` form instead?". For
example, using ダウンロードしている. But to use an active form like that you generally
need to identify the subject of the verb, and it is not always expedient to do
that. Using `NOUN + 中` is a useful way to describe the state where some
process is happening but you don't have to specify who or what is performing
the action.
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2019-05-26T14:20:32.060
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2019-05-27T15:29:36.380
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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Let a Chinese who learned Japanese before answer this question. That 中
(pronounced as chyuu) actually mean "ing". The katakana is the verb -
download, so the integrity is downloading. Of course 中 in both Chinese and
Japanese has the meaning of "in the middle of sth", but that is not quite
accurate in the context here.
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2019-05-27T07:20:12.570
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2019-05-27T07:32:16.273
2019-05-27T07:32:16.273
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