よつばと!Vol 1 Discussion Thread (Beginner's Book Club)

Come to think of it, I’m not sure I ever got around to reading volume one here. I skipped to volume two because that’s where the book club was up to at the time…

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Page 13
用意してきてやる
Preparations do come do?
A way of emphasizing that he will do it?

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I shouldn’t even be answering this, my level is so low, but that’s what it looks like to me!

用意 - preparations (する verb)
して - する in connective て-form
きて - くる, to do and come back, in connective て-form
やる - to do

I’ll go and do the preparations.

I was thinking that there are a lot of "do"s in the Japanese, the して, the くる, and the やる, but then again, it’s the same in the English with the “will”, the “go” and the “do”.

But yes, sorry, I haven’t answered your question!
It is very interesting and I hope someone will be along soon who can!

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I think it’s:
やる #15.

to do … for (someone of equal or lower status); to do … to (sometimes with negative nuance)
​Usually written using kana alone, after the -te form of a verb

Verb ( te -form) + やる is used in the same way as verb ( te -form) + あげる by male speakers in casual conversation. The respondent or someone else who receives the favor is an equal or of a lower status than the speaker.

:slight_smile:

So ジャンボ’s saying that he will do it (for him).

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I’d tried to read よつばと back when this book club first started, but found it too challenging at the time. When I was in Japan at the end of last year I picked up the first volume though, and read through it over this last week or so. I was so surprised at how easily I could read most of it!

Thanks to everyone who commented in this thread. It was great to read through all the questions and clear up some questions that I also had (and verify that I’d understood properly for other questions). I’ve ordered the next four volumes already, so I’ll be sure to follow along with the other threads and hopefully catch up soon enough! :smiley:

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Only on page 26, but pretty good so far. Simple and cute story.
I feel both satisfied and bummed with how I’m doing though.
On one hand, I feel like I’m doing alright. Looking up some words here and there, and double checking things to see if I’m getting the basic idea. Jisho and Google Translate can only ‘explain’ so much
But on the other hand, how much is context helping? I feel like if I didn’t have pictures to help setup the situation, I’d be completely lost.
But, with only 25 pages down, I feel like I’ll continue the series after this first volume.

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I totally get how it can feel like cheating when you have pictures there to help you get the meaning of a word, but one thing I’ve found is that later on when you try to recall a word you didn’t know, having that picture to think back to can be a great touch point and sometimes make remembering a word easier.

Also, as others have said, chapter one is the hardest part of volume one, so stick with it! 頑張って!

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Page 29. こえ?
She’s just saying ‘voice’ a bunch of times? She spooked that the other girl was yelling? Or is she just mumbling/screaming or something?

I don’t have the book with me… it’s on a ship coming from the US… I cannot help you :frowning:

It means こわい, scary

こわい → こうぇ → こえー

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…Bummer. @Kumirei beat me to it…

It’s slang version of こわい . People often say い-adjectives with え endings for some reason. すげーor すっげー might also be useful to know as an alternative to すごい.

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Thanks, makes sense. All these dang shortenings they do :disappointed:

I think it was earlier in this, perhaps somewhere else recently, that I can’t across すげー. Google Translate actually got that one :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

1+ year later, you help another.
Somehow I did not pick up on なる in there. I was looking at ‘かなくなって’ thinking, “what the hell kind of conjugation is that…” thinking it was somehow based off 動かなかった.

and thanks @dkytmonster for asking as well

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Page 170:
じゃあよつばのわけてくる
Well, Yotsuba will share ?
From context, I would have expected more of a “Well, Yotsuba cheated”
Do I just think I’m missing something, because dad should be more of a jerk? Or is he really just saying that Yotsuba is a sweet girl and will share?

He’s asking Yotsuba to share hers since she’s saying that he can’t have any ice cream.

よつばの「アイスを」分けてくれ

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Alright cool, so I was mostly right. Thought it was more of a statement than a question. Caught me off guard as I was expecting him to be more snarky. Was sure I must have missed some subtext with such a nice response.

Several years ago, I picked up the first volume of とつばと! after hearing it suggested over and over as the best for beginners. I was really excited to really start reading Japanese when I got it.Then I cracked it open and… It was basically impenetrable.

Despite knowing a decent amount of kanji and vocab, my lack of grammar knowledge made it extremely painful and slow to read, and even when I did slowly decipher things, all the extremely casual speech/contractions meant I still didn’t understand a lot of it.

So it was sort of amazing to come back to it now, after I started studying grammar in earnest early this year (after having taken a break from learning Japanese for a couple of years, then eventually resetting Wanikani to begin again), and having done some other book clubs (present and, like this one, past.)

I was able to breeze through a manga that seemed impossible for me the last time I tried it. And was able to do so at a pace that, while slower than I read English for sure, wasn’t so slow it wasn’t just enjoyable as pure reading, even without considering it Japanese studying.

And there was still plenty I learned, outside of just getting practice with things I already knew. I needed help with at least a few things every chapter, and thankfully I wasn’t the only one, since I always managed to find my answer in this thread if I couldn’t otherwise figure it out.

So if anyone is struggling with ‘beginner’ reading, like I did, don’t get disheartened (like I did the first time I tried.) Give it some time and study, and you’ll likely be amazed at how far you’ve gotten.

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I have also started re reading the first Volume and it’s amazing. I can read it faster and understand like 90% of it without a dictionary

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I didn’t notice at all, either. Actually went back to check. :shushing_face:

It’s like you’re me! :smiley: I ordered Yotsuba after a couple months of studying when I was probably still solidifying N5 grammar early last year. I might have jishoed my way through 2 chapters or so before putting it aside, but now it feels so easy! Really gratifying! :slight_smile:

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How does the 分 in そのダンボールゴミに出す分ですか?on page 16 work? Bilingual Manga translates it as “Do you want to throw away that cardboard” but I can’t find any source for 分 conveying desire.

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