なぜ？どうして？Finished!

Japanese Language Book Clubs
2797

Page 143

こどもは本来、学びの意欲、好奇心に満ちています。

Children are by nature full of curiosity and desire to learn.

そして、伸びようという本能があります。

And they have an instinct to grow.

ですから、年齢が低いほど「なぜ？」「どうして？」に素直に立ち向かい、聞いたり調べたり確かめたりすることに貪欲です。

So, the younger they are, the more frankly they confront things with “why?” or “how?”, always greedy to hear, or to investigate, or to confirm.

知ることに、恥じらいも気後れも極めて少ないこの時期に、「知らないことを知ることのおもしろさ」をより多く体験した子の人生は、より豊かで味わい深いにちがいあるません。

There is no doubt that the life of a child who experiences these stages of “the enjoyment of learning things I don’t know” without shyness or timidity is much richer and more meaningful.

さらに、子どもは年齢が低いほど環境に育てられる部分が多いものです。

Furthermore, the younger a child is, the bigger a part the environment they are raised in becomes.

書物は、子どもにとって大切な環境の一部です。

Books are an important part of the environment for children.

本書を聞くことが、子どもたちが世界へ目を向ける、きっかけ作りとなったらうれしく思います。

I think it would be nice if listening to this book created chances for children to focus their attention on the world.

本書をはさんで、親子で、そしてきょうだいで、世界の国や地域の、人・物・事の「なぜ？どうして？」を話し合ってください。

For the parents and children and brothers and sisters holding this book, please talk together about “why? how?” of the people, things and matters of the countries and regions of the world.

地図や地球儀に接する機会も作って楽しんでください。

Please make the opportunity to touch maps or globes, and enjoy.

大きくなったらその国へ行って確かめたいという夢がうまれるかもしれません。

Perhaps it will give birth to a dream of " when I grow up, I want to go to those countries and confirm for myself".

いつまでも知りたいことがいっぱいあるって、自分を元気で幸せにしてくれます。

There will always be many things I want to know, and this makes me energetic and happy.

どうぞ本書を活用して「知らないことを知る楽しさ」「知らないことを知るともっと知りたいことがうまれるワクワク感」そして「知らないことがたくさんある楽しさ」をご家族で味わってください。

Please use this book to appreciate “the enjoyment of learning things I don’t know”, “the exciting feeling of learning things I don’t know giving birth to more things I want to learn”, and furthermore “the enjoyment of having many things I want to know” with your families.

Whew. That took a fair bit longer than a regular page. Currently pondering whether to translate the endpapers as well…

1 Like
2798

Wow! こんなにあるぞ！！！ やっぱり great work.

Although I had a hard time with some of the sentences, after looking at your translations I think for the most part I was able to come up with something close at least. I wasn’t too excessively off course.

Thanks again and best wishes with… wait…how many books are you currently reading right now…4? 5? 6? :astonished:

1 Like
2799

No worries. Have fun with the kids. Belthazar did a great job finishing up the sentences.

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2800

Just four. Aria, Yotsuba, Girls’ Last Tour, Shirokuma Cafe.

Five if you count the novelisation of the drama series I’ve been translating on the side. :slightly_smiling_face:

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2801

Sat in the airport waiting for our flight to 東京, kids are playing janken over and over again!! I’m glad the book has prepared us for our first trip to Japan!!

7 Likes
2802

Come on @frayderike, you are almost done! I can see your progress with your “likes” :stuck_out_tongue:

8 Likes
2803

You’re right :smiley: I guess I’m spamming you all with likes :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: I plan to finish it this weekend!

5 Likes
2804

It’s not spam, it’s wonderful!

4 Likes
2805

Finished! :partying_face::partying_face::partying_face:

Can’t wait to pick this up in a few months and see how I progressed.
But even now, just because of reading this book the past months, I noticed some progress. In the beginning, I was really struggeling but now, especially these past days, I stumbled upon 2-3 pages that I was able to read/paraphrase without looking anything up already! And I was so happy just about every sentence that I was able to read/paraphrase without looking up words or grammar :blush:

Thanks for all the translations and explenations, they helped me a lot while going through most of the book by myself.

8 Likes
2806

:clap: Fantastic! :clap:

It’s been really good fun watching you progress through the thread with your likes! And well done on getting to the end! Nice one!

And see you in the next one!

:+1:

5 Likes
2807

Continuing with にゃんにゃん now! So expect more likes over there :slight_smile:

3 Likes
2808

Wow! That’s great!

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2809

Well done on finishing the book. You seemed to fly through!

I picked up にゃんにゃん a couple of weeks ago. It looks very good. I enjoyed the first few pages so far. Not sure I’ll be able to keep up with you though!

2 Likes
2810

Just did 4 pages a day (and yesterday 8) because I really wanted to finish it to move on with にゃんにゃん :wink: Can’t keep up this pace because I’m really busy with work, so I think I’ll go with 1-2 pages a day for にゃんにゃん.

1 Like
2811

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the spreadsheet! It’s still helping people three years later :wink:

5 Likes
2812

Ran into something I didn’t see answered in this thread… Does anyone know what（ア）means in the second sets of furigana on p. 96 and 97? I assume those furigana represent the Chinese pronunciation, but why the（ア）for some of them?

2813

Unless I’m not spotting one, the（ア）is only on the character 車, so I’d say it has something to do with dialectical or historical pronunciation. Wiktionary says that 火車, for example, is huo3che1 in Mandarin, and fo2ce1 in Cantonese, but a lot of other dialects have sounds that end in A - including Middle Chinese (huɑX t͡ɕʰia), Korean (hwacha) and Vietnamese (hỏa xa).

2 Likes