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

Japanese Language Reading
#230

I have a few more questions from volume 4… thank you so much in advance to you Kazzeon, or to anyone else who is kind enough to help out!

Page 141 - panel 3: so, someone says “Miura hasn’t come again” and the reply is “みうらちゃんちは 高いところだから 来るの大変なんだよ”. This looks to me like “Because Miura is in a high (or expensive?) place, it is hard for him to come”. The next speech bubble, カンケーないよそうれ, I don’t understand at all.

Page 153 - panel 6: as is often the case, I figure out the answer just by writing the question! わ is simply the feminine ending, followed by よ. No problems there!

Page 154 - panel 4: よつばしんぶんは どこよりも はやくて やすいよ! - “Yotsuba’s newspaper (Yotsuba News) is faster and cheaper than anywhere else”. No problems, but that どこ has me scratching my head. Am I misunderstanding something?

Page 170 - panel 5: very complicated! I guess the clothes came from Yotsuba’s ばーちゃん (I wonder when we get to see her), but can someone please help break down the verb for me, it’s a frighteningly long string of kana! 買ってもらったやつか

Page 171 - panel 5: I know that 終わらせない is the causative negative of 終わる, to finish, but what does that actually mean? Perhaps “I did not cause summer to end”?

Page 178 - whole page: So Asagi says Yotsuba looks cute, Yotsuba asks something (なんだかわかったー? - I have no idea). Asagi says “Children’s Day” and Yotsuba looks upset and says something about sunflowers. I have no idea what is going on. Even Google translate is as confused as I am!

Page 180 - panel 5: いやーしかし, does that just mean “no, but”?

Nearly there! Thanks again for any help anyone can offer!

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#231

:joy: You always ask questions when I’m about to eat, so it’ll be like half an hour, but I got you. :wink:

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#232
いただきます!

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#233

Miura’s house is

high place, yes. :stuck_out_tongue:

Miura =/= him :eyes:

カンケーないよそれ
“That’s unrelated!”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with it.” :joy:

Since, of course the height of her house has nothing to do with being able to attend. :stuck_out_tongue:

:smiley: :+1:

Basically, yeah. :slight_smile: どこ is just where. :stuck_out_tongue:
https://japanesetest4you.com/flashcard/learn-jlpt-n3-grammar-よりも-yorimo/

More than anywhere else -> Faster and cheaper than anywhere else. :smiley:

No misunderstandings there!

The previous panel is important!

image
ふくだして！ふく
“Take out the clothes! The clothes!”
ようせいみたいなやつ
“The ones that look like a fairy.”

So, with this we see that 買ってもらったやつか is actually 買ってもらったやつか.
So the verb is just 買ってもらった, so “The clothes your grandmother bought (and gave) you?”

Yotsuba says, なつがおわりまーす “Summer is over.”
Then Dad says, とーちゃん夏好きだから終わらせないでくれよ
“Dad likes summer, so don’t make it end (for me・that’s the くれよ, like ください).”

じゃあこれで “Then, like this…”
なんだか -> なんですか “what is it”
わかったー? “do you know?”
“Then, do you know what I am? (when I’m like this・with the costume and the hat and all)”

image
These are the こどもの日 hats, and the 鯉のぼり (which appear in another chapter) :stuck_out_tongue:

Then Yotsuba says, やっぱりひまわりもないとだめだなー
“As I thought, it’s no good without the sunflower.”
I think the もないと is basically がないと. So, “if I don’t have the sunflower, だめだな”.

Yep. It’s basically, “No, but (that’s not important)…”

Hope it helps. If you have more questions, feel free. :slight_smile:
You’re almost there! :smiley:

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#234

Whooops! But at least I’m not the only one who makes that mistake!

Thanks again so much Kazzeon. I really can’t tell you how grateful I am. Your answers are amazing, and thank you so much for all the links and even the pictures too! I am simply flabbergasted by your kindness. Thank you.

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#235

Finally finished! Just a few questions for you Kazzeon (or anyone else that would like to reply!) - and thank you so much in advance!

Page 181 - panel 5:
あのあと飛行機探したらキャンセルで一つだけ空いてたからさ
I’m in the funny position of being able to read most of this, but just not getting it:
after that + aeroplane + to look for + if (when?) + cancellation + one thing + only + to become empty + because/since + assertive sentence ending
"After that, when I looked for flights, since just one cancellation became available…
(のった = I flew!)
Am I close?

Page 182 - panel 2: みうら呼べよ - “call me Miura” - ??!!

Page 184 - panel 2:
ひまわりって代用の方むくれんじゃなかったっけ
I don’t get this one at all. I think my main problem is むくれん. Perhaps “to be taken off​” (the weeds, that is), but I really am quite lost.

Page 188 - panel 5: なんかお礼言っとかんとなぁ. I’m okay until we get to かんとなぁ. Any ideas?

Page 190 - and… done!

Thanks so much again Kazzeon! Or anyone else who might reply!

Like I say, I’m not sure how I managed to miss the whole second-half of volume 4, but I’ve read it now and that means I’m back up-to-date with the bookclub… 8 volumes finished and volume 9 up next as soon as there is demand!

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#236

Pretty much, yeah. :slight_smile:

:joy: Call Miura. :stuck_out_tongue:

image :eyes:
ひまわりって太陽(not 代用 :stuck_out_tongue:)の方向くんじゃなかったっけ？(no むくれん :slight_smile:)
“Huh? Didn’t sunflowers face the sun?” 向いてないぞ :thinking:
“Shouldn’t sunflowers look towards the sun?”

なんかお礼言っておかないとなぁ :sweat_smile: Your nemesis once again. :stuck_out_tongue:

:tada: :partying_face: :four_leaf_clover:

Might be sooner than we thought. :smiley:

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#237

I demand…

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#238

Thank you so much again Kazzeon! And thanks for pointing out my awful mis-readings! That’s what happens when you rush the final few pages!

Looking back over this thread for volume 4, you’ve been so amazing, just as you have been for every volume, and I’m certain this wonderful Yotsuba reading group would hardly exist without you.

Thank you so much! :bowing_man::four_leaf_clover::sunflower::sunflower::sunflower:

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#239

The numbers don’t lie! :smiley: Give yourself a little more credit. :wink:
image

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#240

The dream team! :four_leaf_clover:

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#241

Hi All,

Yotsuba says a few times in this volume, 「つくつくぼーし」. I can’t find this in the dictionary (jisho.org). Any clues what this means?

Ethab

#242
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#243

https://jisho.org/word/つくつく法師

#244

It’s also worth noting that つくつくぼうし works to look up on Jisho as well. When a hiragana word is written with an お sound followed by ー, and there’s no result when searching for the word, always try replacing the ー with う (in this case, ぼーし to ぼうし).

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#245

Thanks. I actually saw that, and figured it couldn’t be that she was asking about some bug. Maybe I have to go re-read to understand why a bug makes sense in that sentence.

Thanks again!

#246

Yotsuba loves bugs, so yeah. :stuck_out_tongue:

Also, cicadas are (as said in a volume, I don’t know if this one) a part of summer.

#247

Ah. I see. I was trying to recall whether Fuka was in the part about cicada catching, but I think not. But relating to summer ending does make sense. Thanks again again!

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#248

The big cicada hunt is chapter 6, せみとり, at the end of volume 1. In that chapter the sound the cicadas make is じじ.

I never distinguished one sound of cicadas from another, despite reading Yotsuba, until just a few days ago, when I was in the park in the evening with my wife and she pointed out a much nicer sound, and said that this one comes along later in the summer. And it was a lovely sound. I reckon that must be the one here, in volume 4. つくつくぼーし!

Yotsuba first notices it on page 73, draws it on page 96, and becomes it in chapter 27, つくつくぼうし, which starts on page 163.

I’m going to be away for a few weeks now, so won’t be able to hear if the sound changes again, but I’ve just decided - thank you everyone - that volume four is going to be my holiday book! A nice bit of re-reading while I’m away!

PS - welcome to the forums @eaburns, and a specially warm welcome to the よつばと！reading club! It’s so nice to see a new face! I’m sure you know, but you can check that questions haven’t already been answered by using the search button at the top right of the screen (tick “search this topic” ) and please put page numbers for any questions you ask. Looking forward to seeing you around more! Nice one!

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#249

(If that still doesn’t work, then just omit the ー and try again.)

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