I just finished up this week’s section and man do I feel like I’ve learned a lot (both in terms of plot and breaking down sentences lol)
Spoilery thoughts for this week It was really awesome getting to learn more about the books and cards and seeing how Sakura became a card captor!! I was kind of surprised to find out that even Sakura hasn’t seen Kero’s true form before, but I guess that makes sense since it hasn’t been long at all since she found him. I’m also really enjoying the humour in the series so far
I definitely struggled the most with pages 31-33 but with the help of this thread and also a bit of chatgpt (thanks @lulidesu for an example of how to use it in a helpful way) I think I got most of everything. I do have a couple questions still of course!
Page 28
ケロちゃんはこの本の表紙からでてきたの
Is the の just adding emphasis to the sentence? I remember someone saying it can be used to indicate a question but that doesn’t seem like what it’s doing here
あ、いつもこの姿なわけじゃないのよ
I’m also confused about what the な is doing in this sentence, does it connect a noun to things in a similar way as な-adjectives?
ほんとうはもっとおっきんだけど、昼間は魔力が足りないらしくて、あのぬいぐるみの姿になってるみたい
I thought that 昼間 means daytime based on the vocab sheet but don’t see that in anyone’s translations here. I translated it as “Truthfully, he’s even bigger but in the daytime he seemingly has insufficient magical power and comes to resemble that stuffed animal” but I guess it’s more like “for now” or “right now” ?
Like magglett I assumed the な was being used to turn 姿 into an adjective, since na adjectives basically are nouns + な anyhow. Not confident here, though.
I definitely see “昼間は魔力が足りないらしくて” in my version (reading on kindle) – could there be version differences here?
Huh, that’s really interesting. My copy (e-book from Bookwalker) also has 昼間, with furigana spelling out ひるま. Does your version still show 昼間, but with furigana spelling out いま, or does 昼間 not show up at all? I wonder what might be the reasoning behind the difference - did the author make a change after the fact, was one of the versions a typo, etc…?
And like zucchi and coraldragonstar my copy also has 昼間 with furigana ひるま (I’m also reading on Bookwalker). Strange, I wonder why it was updated or if it’s an error
The 立ってみ is probably the −てみる grammar point. I forget the exact term for this type, maybe something like complimentary verb? But usually they don’t use the Kanji form even if it’s derived from it. Like てくる、ていく
Okay so I took a huge break out of fear of the tough pages but I was surprised at how much I could figure out with some grammar lookups and a dictionary. I skimmed others translations and when I finished it all, and seems like I was decently on the right track!
Page 30
gave up on handwriting
This book!
This isn’t simply a book, inside, a clow card is inside? Weird wording not sure about this
… the inside is empty
This is horrible!!
If the clue card is not in this book, horrible things will materialize!
Yes yes, very bad things like stealing dinner plates, picking flowers, not doing homework, staying up late…
Page 31
It’s not such small things!
The clow card. When that seal isn’t placed, disaster strikes this world
This is not a joke - seriously
Clow card is an object of great power, made by the magician clow reed
The card held magic power
Page 32
One by one, the cards came alive. Each was given a respective name, form, and magic power
For example, the wind card has wind power, but the fire card has fire powers
The clow cards were made with tremendous power residing inside
Each acted selfishly and with power above the normal person, who is no match.
So, clow made this book with confidence and sealed the cards in
A sealing creature is there. I have that protecting role being put in the cover of this book
Page 33
Well, why is the card not in there?
I slept in the cover for a while and apparently something happened
Isn’t it your role to protect it?
Things happen in life!
Back to what I was saying
This book can’t be opened by someone without magical powers
The book opened and I woke up, so to some extent you must have used and posses magic qualities
Pages 34 - End
what is your name?
Sakura
Stand there Sakura
Here?
Wind key!
Your desired contract is here, girl by the name of Sakura
Key! Give your power to the girl!
Release!
Sakura! Take the staff!
A card captor is born!
(End of memory)
Whew that was a lot! What a week though, things are really starting to ramp up and I’m still having a good time mucking my way through this book with you all
Your translation is good, but think you missed an important nuance.
Summary
なんじとの契約を望む者がここにいる
“Someone who wishes to make a contract with you is here.” I think the one who want to make a contract is Sakura, not the key. (Well, she didn’t consent to that, Kero is tricking her).
Ah yeah that makes sense. I was really struggling to unpack that sentence for some reason. The 望む had me wanting to swing the way of your translation but I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Thanks for the clarification!
So I read through today’s week but I have far too many questions to ask them at the moment. I got the gist of everything and I’m up to date again that’s all that matters to me atm.
I was sick last week and now I’m on vacation in Japan. I really can’t bring myself to do more than the bare minimum at this point haha
Done on time for this week’s deadline!! The hardest sequence so far and Kero monologue in Osaka-ben doesn’t help at all. Jisho and chatgpt when things did not make sense at all helped a lot - and I always like to compare my attempts to your translations and figure out the parts I couldn’t understand.
For me this was the hardest part to understand but I assume it kind of made sense after I read people’s comments here
Page 32
それぞれ好き勝手に行動したがりよる上に並のもんでは歯が立たん
So many new expressions for me!!
I am not still sure of what “りよる上に” means
歯が立たん is a fun idiom though!
After doing some digging (and using chatbots, lol), it seems like this is what it could be:
それぞれ好き勝手に行動した —> Each acted as it pleased
~たがりよる —> たがる (“show signs of wanting to” or something like that) + よる (Kansai-ben) (according to the forum it could be something like ～ている or saying something accusingly)
上に —> In addition to that? (I think)
So probably something like “Each seemed to want to act as it pleased [said in an accusing way], and on top of that…”
Not a hundred percent sure though so maybe double check with someone else too.
Phew! Finally done with week 4. I thought that I’d be able to rely less on online translators by now but alas, Kero’s dialect is really complicated. I need to translate from Kansai dialect into standard japanese before I can try and understand what his dialogues say lmao.
It is getting a bit frustrating but I won’t give up. It does feel a bit daunting and quite challenging for someone with my japanese level… oh well. Hopefully next week will be easier. My brain needs a break hehe.
I need to translate from Kansai dialect into standard japanese before I can try and understand what his dialogues say lmao.
I’m so happy I’ve joined to practice my kansai-ben skills.