よつばと! Vol 4 Discussion Thread (Yotsuba&! Reading Club)

But where I am from, in Norwegian it is spelled Konjakk and looked very much like Konnyaku was a loan word for it to me :wink:

As for the translation, you mean the “わっかだ”? My keyboard input automatically made it in to “輪っかだ” when typing, and it is translated to “A RING” (about the smoke ring)

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It’s コニャック. Which is completely different. :roll_eyes:

Aye, that’s exactly what I thought. ADV seems to have misread it as わかった, and have translated it as “Whoa! You get it!?” and I find it odd that noone in the editorial staff seems to have spotted it, especially considering they transate it correctly on the immediately following page.

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p. 73 and p 74: I don’t fully understand the conversation about cicadas. Could you translate what Koiwai says in panel 4 as “Unfortunately, the end of summer causes their chirping to end”? But then on the next page he says he doesn’t like the sound of cicadas very much? Is he just being gentle because he’s talking to his kid?

On p. 76, why does Yotsuba yell at the kid? Just her being a little weirdo?

One of the things I love about living in Japan and reading/watching Japanese stuff is the tiny details I now pick up. On p. 77, the carrots come 3 o a bag. I have never seen carrots come any other way here. Back in Canada, we would usually buy maybe 20 skinny carrots at a time, or pick out a few individual ones, but in Japan it’s always three big fat ones in a bag. Also, tiny portions of meat. Ha.

In panel 7 on p. 77, she says よつばんち again (first time is panel 4 on p. 76). The vocab pack lists うち as “we” or “house”, but it is not clear what she is saying. Is it a contraction? Should it be よつばのうち which got squooshed to よつばんち?

p. 78: The feels! I relate so hard to this scenario. Thankfully, my local grocery store is under 10 mins from my house.

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pg 74 (what I think is being said)
Koiwai: When/If the cicadas cry, summer is ending (unfortunately + explanatory).
Yotsuba: Are cicadas causing it to end?
Koiwai: Yeah
Yotsuba: Oh… amazing
Koiwai: That’s why I don’t like that/their sound/voice very much.

I do think Koiwai is just humoring Yotsuba.

pg 76
I think Yotsuba is being weird and somewhat bragging at the other kid who wanted hamburgers for dinner.

よつばのうち → よつばんち is the contraction I think of too.

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I’m a bit amused that this week’s chapter features radio taiso quite heavily, considering there was literally just a conversation about it in the What’s the last English word you learned thanks to WK thread.

In any case, it looks something like this. The music is broadcast on the radio every morning, and supposedly the exact set of exercises have been standardised since 1954. No idea if people still gather in parks like they do in the chapter, though.

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Even though the title is newspaper (新聞), it’s mostly about the radio exercises (ラジオ 体操)!

Discussion of Chapter 26 starts here.

Chapter 26 Vocab

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Hey guys, I’m back to catch up on the 4コマ and Chapter 25.

Can someone break down for me, page 113, first speech bubble where Fuuka says 「…私もそれなりには少しはモテたことあるのよ」
Something like “I was kinda popular in my own way…”?

Poor Fuuka with her 太い足.

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i understood it that way too, but I didn’t personally know the grammar behind:
それなりに

After looking it up, it means “in one’s/its way”. So I agree with your interpretation. (For clarity, Fuuka actually had two separate utterances, so the は might not really be the same sentence.)

私もそれなりには
I too, in my way… (topic marker with no follow-up)

少しはモテたことあるのよ
A little “being popular” has happened (emphasis/explanatory).

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Discussion of Chapter 27 starts here.

Chapter 27 Vocab

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Huh. Not much talk about the previous chapter. Are we losing steam?

So much emotion in the final panel of page 175. I imagine Azuma-sensei draws from experience. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’ve been busy. :joy: But I’ll be back this week to catch up.

I got a little behind last week, but now I’m caught up. I can’t believe we’re already at the end of this book, it seems like it went really fast :open_mouth: The opening sequence of this chapter was so cute. Summer turns to…spring xD

Did Jumbo seriously go to Hawaii for just one night? -_- What a バカ indeed :laughing:

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Worse, he went to Hawaii for one night purely so that he’d have boasting rights against Miura, who is what… ten years old?

Still, I confess I sometimes don’t quite understand the Japanese practice of travelling halfway across Japan for a single night’s holiday. I feel like if you’re going to take a holiday, you need to go for at least a few days.

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Is that actually a thing? I don’t think I’d take a flight anywhere for just one day.

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It’s not something I’m turning up any references on the internet for, but it is something I’ve frequently seen in anime and manga. Usually by train, though, rather than flying.

I’m absolutely with you on that, either way. It’s like, if you’re going to spend a fortune on a holiday, you need to actually holiday. Recently, my uncle and cousin who live in England came to visit us here in Australia for a single weekend. They practically spent more time flying than they spent here.

I mean, I suppose most domestic flights in Japan are pretty short (compared to somewhere like the US), unless you’re really going to opposite ends of the country. I still can’t imagine myself going anywhere for just one night, though. Just not worth the hassle, and if I only had that much time off, I certainly wouldn’t want to waste half of it sitting on planes/trains, packing and unpacking, etc… By the time I got wherever I was going, I would probably be tired and just feel like doing nothing, which…I could have easily done at home for free, with more privacy xD It wouldn’t even feel like a vacation at that point.

@Belthazar That long a flight for a weekend?? Unless there’s a special event or something, what’s even the point? xD

I wouldn’t just for fun. If it’s a matter of obligation or a special event, it makes sense, but it’s kinda wasteful otherwise.

Jumbo is very petty. :smiley:

I’m mostly lurking until v5 starts before following along directly again (I finished v4 before the bookclub started).

But I also didn’t really see any questions go unanswered, was out of town, tried to make sure Aria could have my full attention on day one, and have been struggling, in a losing battle, with the Intermediate club’s LN.

(chapter 27 was the last chapter)

Chapter 28, the final chapter of Volume 4

Chapter 28 Vocab

* Opening Post
* Chapter 27
* Bottom of Page

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… Isn’t chapter 28 the first chapter in volume 5?

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