TAKOBOTO

cannot stand; cannot do; no value to
I can't stand listening to his karaoke

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これはげいじゅつさくひんどころか、みるにたえないほどのできだ。

This is far from being an artists work, its so bad its hard to look at

きくにたえないうたいぶり

execrable singing

さいきんのテレビには、みるにたえないほどひどいばんぐみがある

TV of late, the programs are so terrible, I can't stand to watch them

みるにたえない

butt-ugly

いうにたえない

unspeakable

ああいうかげぐちはきくにたえません。

I can't stand to hear that kind of bitching behind people's backs.

こっかいぎいんというようしょくにあるかれがさけによってまいるじょうたいは、まったくみるにたえないすがただ。

Holding such an important job as he does as a member of the diet, I utterly cannot endure seeing him behaving so unruly under the influence of alcohol. (1999 paper)

耐える means to bear.

Vdic + に + 耐えない = (Verb) is unbearable

dc

On the difference between [nitaienai1] and [nitaienai2]
There are two たえないs of note in the Japanese language... hurray.　How to distinguish them?
[nitaienai1] is for saying you just can't stand something and should be constructed from VERB辞書形 + にたえない
[nitaienai2] is for saying that you have a strong emotional reaction to something - "氏の当会へのご援助はまことに感謝に堪えません｜We cannot be too grateful to him for the help he has given our society." and should be constructed NOUN + たえない.

Both are on the old JLPT 1 syllabus, if anyone knows what's on the new N1, please advise

LR

Ref # Kanzen Master Level 1 - p67 - no.63

LR

Customarily used only with a set number of verbs like "can't stand to look", "can't stand to hear" "can't stand to read" "can't stand to face up to" - 見る、聴く、読む、正視する

LR

Moving this to level 1, 2010/12/4

LR

This entry should be listed as belonging to Level 1.

Olivier

Should it not be 耐えられない instead, since it's a potential verb?

I looked it up at ALC Space, and most of the examples have a られる ending: http://eow.alc.co.jp/%E8%80%90/UTF-8/

kin_sama