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

Japanese Language Book Clubs
87

It’s specifically because you noticed that in its definition that I’m curious. I’d have imagined (prescriptive) proper use being something like すごい靴を考えた and nothing else.

考えた人 makes intuitive sense to me and I wouldn’t question it even for a second while reading, but I don’t recall encountering any rules that explain why it’s valid.

Wait, yes, I do: の. It’s just an omission of that particle. Or not. See comments by others below, if anyone’s reading through this now. Having it effectively become an adjective makes a lot more sense.

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This site seems good enough. :stuck_out_tongue: If you or anyone had any doubts.
Noun modifier

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89

It’s actually not the omission of の. You need の to modify nouns with other non-past nouns, like 黒の猫 (not the best example since you could use 黒い but I couldn’t think of a better noun off the top of my head).

On the other hand, verbs can directly modify nouns without any particles or other modifiers. So for example:

本を読んでる人 = person that is reading (a) book
本を読んだ人 = person that read (the) book

It’s super handy being able to treat verbs as adjectives.

Obviously the article @Kazzeon posted will go into much more detail, but I wanted to post a quick explanation for those that didn’t have time to read the whole article.

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90

Here goes my try at the first chapter of volume 2.

I hadn’t seen or heard やっぱし before .-.
Just an alternative to やっぱり it seems.

Really quick chapter, the next one’s cover is so good!

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Page 8
I can’t figure out why Miura refers to Fuuka as "ねえさん” when she is describing her sense in clothes as a little bit bad.
I know that ねえさん can refer to a young woman or a big sister, but wouldn’t it be more polite to call her by her name or add the お in front?

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Miura isn’t exactly the most polite person in Yotsubato! xD
But yes, although it’s also common for children to refer to other people as ねえちゃん or にいさん.
From what I know.

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93

But she doesn’t, does she?
In the second panel Miura calls Fuuka 風香ねーちゃん
And in the bottom panel she uses just ねーちゃん
Your point is still a good one, Miura is using very casual language here, but strictly speaking she does not say ねえさん as far as I can see.

Edit: Of course calling her さん would actually raise the politeness level

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94

Yes, I think Miura only uses ねーちゃん too. Miura seems a bit inconsiderate, to the detriment of Fuuka and Yotsuba. Thankfully, the cast were able to spare Yotsuba’s feelings this time. :slight_smile:

Yotsuba! doesn’t provide much opportunity for polite grammar practice, from what I’ve read. I wonder if I only understand the manga because anime uses so much casual speech. Still, I’m glad to practice vocab, slang, and casual grammar through this light-hearted story.

Is it worth making my own translation? I would enjoy comparing mine with others’, and it might be of use to others reading along.

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95

@anon20839864: Can you make this thread into a wiki?

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97

Translation to the whole chapter? .-. That’s a lot.

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98

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!

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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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100

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

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101

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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102

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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103

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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104

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

105

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!

106

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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107

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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