よつばと! Vol 2 Discussion Thread (Yotsuba&! Reading Club)

As an exercise for yourself, I’m sure it would! But for a wider audience, I think a translation into polite Japanese would be more useful than another translation into English!

Page 16

Another question from me, and one I feel sure I must already know the answer to. But I’ve quite forgotten and can’t seem to find it.
この公園で描くんだー
What is that ん?
I know I ought to know this by now. I’m sure it cropped up a million times in vol.1. but I’m wracking my brains (what’s left of them) to no avail.

Edit: Is this it? http://www.japanese-language.aiyori.org/article10.html

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That would be funny.
んだ is from んです, yes. :slight_smile:

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Thank you so much for the confirmation.
んだ, のだ, んです, のです - and all difficult to know how to use! Thanks again!

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Thank you for this link - I suspect this will be very useful as I work my way through this series of manga.

Edit:- Just had a thorough read, and I realised I have used this as per situation 6 when on the phone to book bus tickets (東京へ行きたいんです。) - my boss had taught me what to say, but had only explained the use of ん with “It sounds more natural.”

Cheers again for this - I feel a little more learned now! :blush:

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It would be pretty fun to do a translation of Yotsuba to polite Japanese. Maybe I should’ve done that instead. Whoops.

In the meantime, here’s my English version of Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Drawing

Page 3
Yotsuba: Jumbo is supposed to be big, yet this Jumbo is small…

Page 7
Miura: Hello!
Fuuka: Ah, Miura-chan! 'sup?
Miura: 'sup!
Fuuka: Ena! Miura-chan came!
Ena (off-screen): Please wait a little bit!

Page 8
Fuuka: Oh, sketching? Is that your summer vacation homework?
Miura: Yeah.
Fuuka: That’s nice! Sketching sounds fun.
Miura: Fuuka-neechan, are you good (at sketching)?
Fuuka: More or less (humble agreement).
Miura: Those clothes…
Fuuka: Hm? These? Cute, aren’t they?
Miura: Neechan, isn’t your clothes sense a little bad?
Fuuka: You’re kidding?! (literally: a lie?!) Huh?! These aren’t cute?!
Ena: Sorry for the wait!

Page 9
Ena: I’ll be off now.
Fuuka: Take care. (experiencing despair at her clothes) Huh???
Ena: Ah… Is there going to be water over there, perhaps?
Miura: Yup, there’s a water supply!
Ena: Well then… (surprise) What’s that?

Page 10
Ena: It’s my neighbor Yotsuba-chan.
Miura: Hm…
Ena: Yotsuba-chan! What are you doing?
Yotsuba: Oh! Ena! Look! (gestures at a silhouette of Jumbo)
Ena: …a murder incident?
Miura: What a big corpse…

Page 11
Yotsuba: It’s Jumbo!
Ena: What?!
Miura: (to herself) Jumbo? Who’s that?
Yotsuba: Are you going out?
Ena: Yup! Together with my friend, see? We’re going to draw.
Yotsuba: I APPROVE!!!
Ena: Huh?

Page 12
Ena: Um…
Miura: Hm? Are you going with us?
Ena: (Are you) coming?
Yotsuba: I’ll go! I’ll prepare, then come! Daddy (toochan)! I’m going to draw with Ena!

Page 13
Ena: Yotsuba-chan, this is my friend Miura-chan.
Miura: Yo!
Yotsuba: Yo!
Miura: I’m called Hayasaka Miura. (Calling me) Miura is fine.
Yotsuba: Koiwai Yotsuba! Yotsuba Koiwai!
Miura: …which one is it?
Yotsuba: Yotsuba!

Page 14
Yotsuba: Hey… about yesterday… “Ba”- (part of “bangohan”: dinner)
Miura: (rolling)
Yotsuba: ?!
Ena: What’s wrong?
Miura: … (walking normally)
Yotsuba: Huh? Um… About yesterday’s dinne…r. Gah?!
Miura: (rolling) Hm?

Page 15
Yotsuba: (pushing Miura)
Miura: Woah! What is it?! Don’t push me! (rolling…)
Yotsuba: Wow~! (to Ena, pointing at Miura) Hey~! Hey~! Did you see? (Miura) slid!! (To Miura) What kind of thing are you?!
Miura: (I could say the) same to you. What are you?

Miura: It’s this, see? On the shoe’s reverse side, a roller is attached. See?
Yotsuba: Ooh… Very well thought out!
Miura: No… It wasn’t me who thought of it, so… Let go of me.

Page 16
Ena: We’ll draw in this park.
Yotsuba: You’ve found a good place! …it’s a sea!
Miura: Look at it closer!!! Is it a sea?! Is it a sea?! It’s a pond!!!
Yotsuba: (dazed)

Page 17
Ena: Where should we draw?
Miura: Let’s do it over there, in that tree’s shadow.
Yotsuba: (still dazed)
Miura: Alright! Let’s draw!
Yotsuba + Ena: (cheer)
Yotsuba: Yotsuba is skillful, you know!
Miura: Oh…?

Page 18
Miura: Ena is skillful after all… (Then, after looking at Yotsuba’s) What is that?

Page 19
Yotsuba: A bird!
Miura: Hm…
Yotsuba: How is it?! Ena?
Ena: Yeah, it’s well done, isn’t it?
Yotsuba: Ena’s is also quite good, isn’t it?
Ena: Is that so?
Miura: No… I’d say that (…)

Page 20
Miura: (…) Yotsuba’s is bad, isn’t it?
Yotsuba: (shell-shocked) Huh?!
Miura: No… It’s not “huh?” It really is bad.
Yotsuba: But Ena, Fuuka, and Daddy (toochan)… Everyone said that I’m good (at drawing).
Miura: Those are lies. Ahaha!

Page 21
Yotsuba: (becomes disheartened)

Page 22
Ena: (Miura-chan!!!)
Miura: (Sorry! It… it wasn’t intentional!)
Ena: Well, I think that picture is good though…
Yotsuba: ?! But Miura said it was bad! Was Miura lying?
Miura: It isn’t a lie! It really is bad! (realized) Uh…
Ena: It’s good… It’s good…
Yotsuba: ?! Which is it? Is Miura lying?

Page 23
Ena: It’s not a lie, but it’s good… Um… Um… Miura-chan is bad at drawing, so she doesn’t understand!
Miura: (shocked)
Ena: (shocked)

Page 24
Miura: ?! Huge!! Is it a person?! Could it be that… the one over there is Jumbo?
Ena + Yotsuba: Ah.
Yotsuba: Oy! Jumbo! Oy!!! Jumbo!!

Page 25
Ena: But why did Miura-chan know that it was Jumbo-san?
Yotsuba: That’s true.
Miura: Um… That’s because… You see? It’s because of the drawing that Yotsuba drew in front of the house.
Yotsuba: Oh?
Miura: That (drawing)… It was very skillful, so… it was exactly like (Jumbo), which is why I knew.
Ena: ! That’s it! That’s right! It was exactly like (Jumbo)!
Yotsuba: (surprised)
Miura: See?!

Page 26
Yotsuba: …was that (drawing) good?
Miura: Yeah! Yotsuba’s drawings are good!
Yotsuba: ? But…
Jumbo: Yo! What are you doing, Yotsuba? Ena-chan too.
Yotsuba: Drawings… We were drawing.
Ena: Jumbo-san, what are you doing?
Jumbo: I was making deliveries for work until I came here. What’s (that)? Sketches?
Yotsuba: I drew this.
Jumbo: Oh…?

Page 27
Yotsuba: How is it? Is it good?
Jumbo: Is Yotsuba’s drawing good? Hm…?
Ena: (Please say it’s good.)
Miura: (Say that it’s good.)
Ena+Miura: (Say that it’s good!)

Page 28
Jumbo: Yeah, Yotsuba is good (at drawing).
Ena+Miura: Right…?
Ena: See? As expected, you are good, Yotsuba-chan!
Miura: At first, I saw it (the drawing) wrong. As expected, you are good~!

Page 29
Yotsuba: Is that so? … Is that so?! As expected, Yotsuba did it well?!
Jumbo: Huh? Y-yeah… it’s good.
Yotsuba: Banzai!

Page 30
Ena+Yotsuba+Miura: Banzai!
Jumbo: Banzai…?
Asagi: (seeing Yotsuba’s street drawing of Jumbo) What is this…?

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But I want it on the manga! This is too hard. /:
Nice translation, everything felt accurate.

I agree, what a superb translation!
I’m reading through it now and it looks really natural.
(Though it has raised a few questions for me which I’ll post later!)
Nice work!

とーちゃーんえなとえーかきにいくー!!
I thought this said “Daddy, I’m going (out) with Ena and the artist”
(Which is pretty funny!)

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Haha!

とーちゃーん - Daddy
えなと - with Ena
えーかき - drawing
にいく - go (to do something)

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Oh boy, that’s pretty much exactly how the Nakama textbook explains it. “Using んです creates harmony.” … But why? “It just does, ok?”

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Building on what @Kazzeon said, と is, like の, a particle with a whole lot of different uses. In this case, it’s like the title of the series, よつばと, which also shows up in how chapters are named. This often gets translated pretty directly as “and”, but it’s really not uncommon to see it used immediately after a noun, to identify other participants, making it more of a “with”. Noun-related Particles – Learn Japanese sheds some light on this case.

As you encountered in the first volume, it can also be used to indicate a natural consequence, like XとY can mean Y follows because X.

And it’s used to present quotations.

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Wow, we are already past 100 comments and we’ve barely even started! <3
This was a fun little chapter. Was able to read through it in one sitting thanks to all the comments here, which I had already read as they came in =)
Great work with all the explanations and links =^_^=

I just love that last panel, simple but fun little ?!! =D

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よく考えたなー :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Yay, caught this one in time to read with everyone else :slight_smile:

On page 13 where miura introduces herself 早坂みうらってゆーんだ. Based on the vocabulary list it seems like she is explaining to yotsuba that she can call her 早坂みうら. Is ゆう usually used for 言う when it means call? Instead of いう which WK teaches as to say.

Could anyone explain the って construction? I’m still kind of confused after reading through Tae Kim’s grammar guide for という or って. Err maybe I’ve got it. I am known as Hayasaka Miura. (with an explanatory tone)?

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Nope. This is a slurred form. She’s not stressing the い that would normally be present; the intent is likely to establish her informal personality.

If Making and performing actions on quotations - Tae Kim's Japanese grammar guide is the section you read, the key is that って is a direct substitute for と言う and any other stuff that would normally follow the quote, like who said it or why.

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Thanks fl0rm! I wouldn’t have guessed it was a slurred form.

There’s a lot of slurring going on in Miura’s speech.

In Yotsuba’s case, she either can’t pronounce things properly or just doesn’t know how yet. In Miura’s, she’s being lazy or extremely casual, closer to Jumbo’s style.

Her character is very much a tomboy and it shows in her dialogue and mannerisms.

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I feel like I’ve cheated a bit reading this but it has made the chapter a lot more enjoyable and I’m starting to see where the words fit in, thanks a lot :slight_smile:

(especially 最初 on page 28 which is where I’m up to in my Anki deck and was struggling with)

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So if みうらってゆーんだ is the slurred form, what does the unslurred form look like?
Is it みうらっていうんだ
And would the more formal patern be みうらといういます / みうらと言いますor something different?
My head is spinning now!