なぜ?どうして?Finished!

It’s fine for me also.

I think we are only 5 that regularly post translations, and not even always around 00:00am Japan time.
For me, you can change the page whatever time you go to sleep, and I’ll try to post a translation around 00:00am. If somebody does it before me, it’s completely fine.

In a couple of weeks I’ll be in Hawaii for 2 weeks and I don’t expect to be able to post any translation… After that I’m moving to Europe, and who knows what my new schedule will be…

P.S. I know you don’t like off-topic post in this thread, but there aren’t that many posts per day that we would lost track… Also we should start thinking about the new book… as it might take some time for some people to get it physically. Do you want to start a new thread for that?

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+1
I think that sounds like a good idea :slight_smile:

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Midnight in Japan is 2am for me at the moment. :upside_down_face:

Though somehow it seems like I’m practically here first, so my turn to attempt a translation. :slightly_smiling_face:

メガネザル

Tarsier (literally, “glasses monkey”)

めがねのような 大きな 目 を もつ サル。

A monkey with large eyes like it’s wearing glasses.

10センチメートルくらいの とても 小さい 体で、 インドネシアなどの 島じまに います。

With a tiny ten-centimetre body, it lives on the islands of Indonesia and other countries.

デンキナマズ

Electric catfish

えものを つかまえる ときや きけんを かんじる ときに、 体から 電気を はっせいされる ナマズ。

A catfish which generates electricity from its body when it’s trying to catch prey, or when it feels threatened.

アフリカの エジプトなどを ながれる ナイル川に います。

It lives in the flowing waters of the Nile River in Africa’s Egypt and other countries.

(And of course the usual “you can find maps on pages 2-3” line.)

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Great breakdown thank you!

The only thing that came up when I typed おそわれ into Jisho was おそわれる = 魘われる - to be tormented (by dreams), to have a nightmare.

But looking at your translation I think it is おそう=
襲う - to attack - in passive form (as a stem)

Your translation - when it looks like it’s being attacked - makes a lot more sense than mine did!

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I’m struggling with this one. Why is ながれる modifying the river Nile, and not acting on the noun (Africa’s Egypt) before the を?

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It’s doing both. It is in the Nile, which flows through Africa’s Egypt (and elsewhere).

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Ah, you’re right. I made a mistake - put the start of the noun-modifying phrase in the wrong place. It’s “It lives in the Nile River, which flows through Africa’s Egypt and other countries.”

(Or “Egypt, and other countries in Africa” might be more natural English?)

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Thanks emucat, but not really! When this book is finished I hope to give it a good re-read, and I also hope that by then the Yotsuba vol.7 thread will be up and running. So I don’t, myself, want to set up a new なぜ?どうして?bookclub, but will certainly participate if someone else does! And all the best for your travels!

Just wanted to say thanks to the people still posting translations. I haven’t been able to contribute recently as things at work have been changing and I just haven’t had the time. :frowning:

Hopefully once things have settled down I will be able to fit it back into my schedule again, but you are all doing an amazing job and it’s super helpful for a beginner like me. :slight_smile:

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I’d be keen to continue with another book after this considering the Beginner book-club has titles which are fun but just a tiny bit too complicated for my level.

Enjoy Hawaii!

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I’m really interested as well! I would love to join if there’s a group of people who wants to read another book on this kind of level. I just don’t have the courage to open a new thread as I’m fairly new to the community and haven’t joined any reading/book group yet… so I don’t really know how things work (yet).

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It’s dead easy to set up a reading group on the WK forums!

  1. Pick your book.
  2. Use this or another bookclub thread as a template.
  3. Set the club up with at least a month’s notice so that people can buy the book in time.
  4. Hundreds of people will sign up with enthusiasm, and a few weeks after the start you’ll have your core people and you can settle down into actual study.

But now, please, for the sake of future readers of this thread, can we get back back to the book! Further discussion could happen in a new thread, or in an already existing thread. But best of all (in my opinion) is action not words - anyone can set up a club any time, you don’t need discussion or permission to do so! If anyone would like to set up the next なぜ?どして?book (or any other!), go for it!

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Page 89

Start of section 4!

学校 • くらしなどのふしぎ

School, life, and what have you, it’s amazing


Opening Post
Section one
Section two
Section three
Post-book-club discussion

Just to close the discussion, I have created that post, so if anyone wants to discuss, go there!!

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Page 90

学校の チャイムの メロディーは、イギリスから 来たんだって!

Did I hear that the school bell’s melody came from England!

あなたが 通っている 学校では、じゅぎょうの はじまりや おわりなどを 知らせる チャイムが なりますか。

When you are at school, are things like the start and end of classes made known by a bell?

日本の 学校の ほとんどが 「キーン コーン カーン コーン」と いう メロディーの チャイムを つかっています。

In most Japanese schools, they use a chime melody called “bing-bong-bang-bong”.

Asterisk comment (bottom of page 91 - but references to this sentence):

ちがう メロディーの チャイムを つかう 学校や、チャイムを つかわない 学校も あります。

There are schools that use different chime melodies, and schools that don’t use a chime.

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Why did you translate it as “to be”? In WK I learned as “to commute”…

BTW: I have read today’s page and I have understood almost 100% of it without a dictionary!! :kissing:

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I had “to commute” in my head from WK too but it didn’t make sense. Jisho has several other translations. I went for “to attend (school)” or just “to be at school” for a natural translation.

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I like attend!! Great!

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A more accurate way to translate this would be “At the school you attend, does a chime ring to let you know things like classes beginning and ending?”
通う just happens to be the word used for going to a school as well as to work on a regular basis. Dunno why we don’t use the word commute for school in English, honestly.

why does this thread use spoiler blur

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Thanks, that makes sense. The あなたが通っている modifies the がっこう: the (you attending) school.

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