ちいさな森のオオカミちゃん 🌳 Week 2 (The Wolf of the Small Forest Book Club)

Thanks for the feedback! I’ll share your thoughts with the team.

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Consider the difference between these sentences in English:

*You’re a big sister now, so [etc]."

“The thing is, you’re a big sister now, so [etc].”

The latter can be seen as emphasizing the point of being a big sister.

I don’t know of any articles online that really cover this, but the book “A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar” states:

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I don’t even have anything to discuss this week, it was perfectly understandable with barely a few words to look up. I also notice I start to guess more grammar on my own, just like when I made my breakthrough learning English. Children stories (like, baby ones) didn’t work for me so this manga is very encouraging and truly the first piece of japanese media I do comprehend.

Couldn’t resist finishing the first chapter, I think I’ll try to read ahead just to see if I can :slight_smile:

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Oh wow, that sounds great. I guess B) fits this sentence pretty good.

Still having a hard time getting the overall structure on this. Would the sentence without this be “みあはもうお姉ちゃんだ” but then we want to add のだ, so the だ that is already there has to turn into a な and then の gets shortened to ん?

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So I have that one from bunpro. But yeah, that can’t be the case here cause for a し ending it can only work with す verbs or する.

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It’s an unusual one, but the more you see it, the easier it gets as long as you know what is going on with the parts.

Yes, you have it exactly correct.

As you encounter 「なのだ」 and 「なんだ 」 again in the future, keep this structure in mind (or if you forget, then work it out again or ask for a refresher), and one day you’ll recognize it on sight without thinking.

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Ah, I see the confusion. That’s very much just the masu stem. The only reason it ends in し is that する’s masu stem is し from します.

It’s also quite formal, and this is a children’s manga.

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Finished this week’s reading really quickly! :smiley:
This manga is really cute so far, いたいのいたいの飛んでいけ on p15 made me smile

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Pg. 12

わがまま()わないの
Feeling a little silly but I’m having trouble clicking these pieces together in my brain.
squarepegroundhole

We have an adjective (na) that’s not connected to anything, and a verb, say/declare. That’s in the negative non-past form, and so that’d be something like not say, will not say, does not say(?), right?
In the previous panel, the mom is talking to Mia, so I am guessing that whatever is said is directed towards Mia, unless otherwise indicated. But all I’m getting from this snippet is “(I) do not say (be) selfish” so I’m having trouble making the leap from what I am reading to the idea in English of “don’t be selfish”.

I loved this week’s segment! I was enjoying it so much I even went on ahead, until I got too stuck. I spend a lot of time analyzing, so I’d like to get to a point where the reading happens more … flow-like… but hey, we’ll get there. I’m reading Tadoku readers in between. At least I can easily understand those. :laughing:

Page 12

For the わがまま line, don't forget to do a thread search to see some prior mention.

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Some of what I write here will repeat that, but repetition never hurts when learning, so here we go!

「わがままを()う」 is commonly used enough that it’s considered an expression.

An expression can hold more meaning than you get from the words alone. For example, last week I was feeling under the weather. Most people will know it means I was sick, but someone new to learning English who isn’t familiar with the expression might have no idea what I’m talking about.

In the case of 「わがままを()う」, it’s used to mean “to be unreasonable; to whine; to act like a baby”. Basically, you’re saying selfish things (which thankfully isn’t nearly as cryptic as “under the weather”).

Welcome to the world of dropped particles. It often happens in material with casual speech, and especially in many expressions.

In this case, the expression may be seen with the particle を.

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However, it's almost always used without を.

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This follows the expectation that consuming native material is deciphering early on.

I went through quite a few manga, learning more vocabulary, and especially learning grammar, thinking I’d never reach that point. But it does happen! You just need to keep deciphering, keep building up pattern recognition, and don’t lose hope.

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I’ve been approaching the material first like a graded reader, where I read the section without looking anything up and understand only as much as I can. After doing that a few times over a couple days, then I sit down and do the time-consuming task of trying to decipher the text. I’m finding it helpful to enjoy the manga as a piece of entertainment first, then as an educational tool. Even if I only understand a few words, those pockets of understanding are very encouraging and take the edge off the hard work that needs to happen.

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ありがとうございます!Your replies are so helpful and detailed. I appreciate that you include manga examples as well. (Manga is definitely a different flavor of reading than, say, NHK news!) Have you thought about writing a blog? :heart:(⌒▽⌒)
And thank you for the protip on the search – I had just scanned the thread quickly but will absolutely use this feature in the future.

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Only something mostly for my own use, meaning it’s usually not very detailed or well written…

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I love this! I’m guessing you’re a developer? What a cool idea.

I wrote some translations too. I again revised a few things after reading through the thread, but some things I have to read more in detail when I have more time. :slight_smile:

Page 9

オオカミだよ!
I’m a wolf, you know!

じゃあ
いくわよ
So, let’s go

みあちゃん待って
Wait, Mia-chan!

そっちが危ないからダメ!
It’s dangerous over there, so don’t go there!

ついてきなさい
Come and follow me

Page 10

みあちゃん、ちょっと
Mia-chan, just a second…

休憩しない?
No breaks?

Page 11

よく遊んだね
We played a lot, right

日が暮れてきたし
And it’s getting dark

そろそろ
帰るっか
Should we slowly return?


みあちゃん
Hey, Mia-chan

どうして森に来たの?
Why did you come into the forest?

Page 12

ママとケンカしたの
I had a fight with my mom

ママは弟が生まれてから弟のことばかり。。。
For my mom, everything has been about my brother since he was born…

ただいま!
I’m home!

ママ!
みてみて
きれいなお花見つけたの!
Mom, look, I found beautiful flowers!

みあ
静かにしなさい
弟くんが起きるでしょ
Mia, be quiet, your brother will wake up

ねえ、ママってば
Hey, Mom…

わがまま言わないの
Don’t be unreasonable

みあはもうお姉ちゃん
なんだからわかるでしょ
Mia, understand that you’re now a big sister

ママは忙しいからまたあとでね
I (Mom) am busy so let’s talk later

ママのばか
Mom is an idiot

Page 13

夢中で走って
I ran like in a trance

気がついたらこの森にいたの
Before I knew it, I was in the forest

だから帰らないわ
あたしは悪くないもん
That is why I am not returning,
because I am not at fault.

ママなんか弟がいれば
Somehow, with my brother existing (being born)…

あたしはいらないのよ
I am not needed

Page 14

な。。。泣いてる
どうしょう
c-crying
what should I do?

こういう時涙を止めるには
(Revised this after reading the breakdown from ChristopherFritz)
In order to stop tears in this situation…

Page 15

いたいのいたいの飛んでいけ
pain, pain, go away

オオカミなのに。。。
変なの
Despite being a wolf, (you’re) strange

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p10

Since this is a question, there is an omitted か particle at the end. Which puts this into the “Shouldn’t we do x” form. “Shouldn’t we take a break?”

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I’m probably going to continue to be a week behind in reading for as long as Tears of the Kingdom remains unbeaten. Anyway, I’m assuming this is just a full slice of life series. At least so far, it’s cute and the language used seems far more friendly than Ruri Dragon. Okay, Week 2 translations, 行こう!

Pages 11-12

オオカミ:そっちは危ないからダメ!
Wolf: That way’s no good because it’s dangerous!

ミア:ついてきなさい!
Mia: Follow me then!

オオカミ:休憩しない?
Wolf: Won’t you take a rest?

Pages 13-14

オオカミ:よく遊んだね。
Wolf: You played well.

オオカミ:日が暮れてきたし。
Wolf: The sun has begun to set.

オオカミ:どうして森に来たの?
Wolf: Why did you come to the forest?

ミア:ママとケンカしたの。
Mia: I had an argument with my mama.

ミア:ママは弟が生まれてから弟のことばかり…
Mia: Since my younger brother was born, my mama has focused on nothing but him…

ミア:みてみてきれいなお花見つけたの!
Mia: Look, look, I found this pretty flower!

ミアのお母さん:みあ静かにしなさい弟くんが起きるでしょ。
Mia’s Mother: Mia, be quiet. Your younger brother will wake up, won’t he?

ミアのお母さん:わがまま言わないの。
Mia’s Mother: Don’t be so selfish.

ミアのお母さん:みあはもうお姉ちゃんなんだからわかるでしょ。
Mia’s Mother: You’re the older sister now, so you understand, right?

ミア:ママは忙しいからまたあとでね。
Mia: Mama’s busy, so I’ll see you later.

Pages 15-17

ミア:夢中で走って。
Mia: I was obsessed with running away.

ミア:気がついたらこの森にいたの。
Mia: I realized I was in this forest.

ミア:だから帰らないわあたしは悪くないもん。
Mia: That’s why I won’t go home. I’m not bad.

ミア:ママなんか弟がいれば
Mia: If mama has my little brother…

ミア:あたしはいらないのよ。
Mia: …I don’t need her.

オオカミ:こういう時涙を止めるには…
Wolf: To stop the tears when it’s like this…

オオカミ:いたいのいたいの飛んでいけ!
Wolf: Pain, pain, fly away!

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Looks good for the most part

p. 15-17

More like “I ran away in a daze”

気づいたら is something along the lines of “by the time I realized”. It connects to the previous sentence - she’s saying she wasn’t paying attention to anything, and by the time she was aware of her surroundings again she was in the forest.

It’s the usage of ~たら that indicates when something happened

Other way around - her mother doesn’t need Mia. That’s why she ran away, she basically feels like her brother’s getting all the attention and Mia’s just yesterday’s news.

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p13-14

よく is usually “often”, or “a lot”. “We’ve played a lot”

p15-17

Just to add to this, it’s using the で particle, which (in this case at least) shows how an action was done. Here 夢中で or “in a daze”, or basically what this is getting to is she ran away without really thinking about where she was running.

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