キッチン: Week 3 Discussion

Japanese Language Book Clubs
1

Join the Intermediate Book Club here!

キッチン Home Thread

Week 3

image
image703×1000 518 KB

Start Date: Oct 19th
Previous Part: Week 2
Next Part: Week 4

Reading:

End Page End % End Phrase Page Count
43 19% 出なくては。 12

Word lists - Learn the vocabulary for キッチン

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun! :durtle:

Read-along Sessions

Come and read from the previous week’s section, join in the chat about this book (also the previous book, possible future books, WK reviews, all things Japan-related, what else you did on the weekend, etc) or just lurk and listen. Readers of all speeds and abilities welcome - we are here to help each other out. Reading sessions will be held every Sunday at 9:30pm JST.

Week 3 session (in your timezone): Sunday, October 27, 2019 12:30 PM TZ

Participants

Mark your participation status by voting in this poll.

  • I’m reading along
  • I have finished this part
  • I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
  • I am no longer reading the book
  • I’m skipping this book

0 voters

3 Likes
2

Almost stopped at the wrong point - the breaks at the 2nd 出なくては. :smile: Wouldn’t have been confusing at all if there wasn’t a page in between. There’s a 出なくては on page 43, but the break in my version is on page 44. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
3

Hmmm I thought ワープロ only referred to software, but it seems Japan has some specialized machines with that name

image

5 Likes
4

I can’t see the picture ?? but I have never associated the word ワープロ with software, always with the actual computer hardware… And computers back in the 80s were pretty chunky by today’s standards.

4 Likes
5

Same :sweat_smile:
Now that @2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz mentions it, I feel it could also apply to MS word or libreoffice, but I can’t remember if I have ever heard that usage :thinking:

4 Likes
6

Somewhere close to the beginning of the section
風で、雲の波がものすごい勢いで押し流されてゆくのが見えた。この世には──きっと、悲しいことなんか、なんにもありはしない。なにひとつないに違いない。
Does the second/third sentences say that there are absolutely no sad things in this world? Because the wind pushes the clouds away? (I’m kind of trying to find the logic.)

2 Likes
7

This is what I interpreted, but not because of the wind but as a result of talking to 宗太郎 perhaps? I haven’t read further yet so I could be wrong.

I have a question myself:

彼を探すなら、緑の中を、というのはすでに伝説だった。彼は将来、植物関係の仕事に就きたいそうだ。

どうも私は、植物関係の男性に縁がある。

First of all: :open_mouth: is this what reading literature in Japanese feels like
Second of all: it took me a bit to see that 緑 and 縁 are indeed not the same kanji so it had me wondering if there’s a parallel there just like there is one with 植物関係 or if it’s just a coincidence and a Japanese person wouldn’t even think about them being similar.

5 Likes
8

Well, I have now one point of data saying a Japanese person wouldn’t even think about it until it was pointed out to them. That doesn’t mean it isn’t intentional, but I think we are much more sensitive to that kind of thing because we are learners.

7 Likes
9

Wow, I fell into that trap as well, going like “What? There is something green with this guy?” on the second one, and then I looked it up and was flabberghasted :wink:

6 Likes
10

Please, can I get some help with some questions? Meow~

At 14%

Very near the start of this week’s reading
住まなくなってからのここは、まるで別人の顔をするようになった。

I’m confused by the use of 顔 here. So, Sakurai gets back to her old apartment and makes this analogy, but I don’t know what she’s referring to; since the apartment is empty, the only one who could “be making someone else’s face” is herself, but that doesn’t seem to make sense…

At 15%

ゆきかうウエイトレスの間をぬって彼に近づいてゆくと、彼は気づいて笑った。

I have no idea what ぬって means here, or how it connects the waitress that’s coming and going with the rest of the sentence =._.=

At 16%

それに、彼のことはなにも知らないし。 そんなもめごともマヌケなまでに全然、気づかなかったし。」

If my interpretation is correct, does this mean that, to the point of considering herself an idiot, she didn’t notice 雄一 had had a quarrel? Or is マヌケ referring to someone else?

At 17%

私の瞳を通して、胸の深いところにある熱い塊が彼に澄んだ質問をする。 まだ今のうちは、私に心が残っているかい？

This is the scene where Sakurai is saying goodbye to her ex-boyfriend (Shuutarou? Soutarou? Soudarou? Munetarou?). I am confused by two things:

What’s with the use of かい at the end of the question? As far as I know, that way of asking questions is common among older men; and it feels strange since she normally doesn’t seem to talk that way.

What exactly is she asking? Is she wondering if he has any lingering feelings remaining for her?

At 19%

田辺は女の子を万年筆とかと同じようにしか気に入ることができないのよって言ってる。 私は雄一に恋していないので、よくわかる。彼にとっての万年筆と彼女にとってと、全然質や重みが違ったのだ。世の中には万年筆を死ぬほど愛している人だっているかもしれない。

I find this story about the 万年筆 hard to follow… I can’t even parse the first sentence in a way that makes sense =T.T=

I think I kind of understand the sentences that follow “Even though I am not in love with 雄一, I understand very well. The quality and the importance of the fountain pen was completely different for him and for her. Perhaps in this world there are people that love fountain pens to death.” (Though I find the だって in the last sentence confusing too >.< )

As always, any help is appreciated! Also thanks for the patience with all my questions.

2 Likes
11

It seems the appropriate term for MS Word and similar would be ワープロソフト

2 Likes
12

Let me try for a bit:

At 14%

According to Jisho, する can also mean something like “to turn into” or “to cause to become”. So with all the literary freedom I can muster, I would translate this sentence to “Because she lived no longer there, this place was like it had gotten the appearance (= face) of a different person”. Or something :slight_smile:

At 15%

An extremely smart dictionary (not Jisho, unfortunately) told me that ぬって might actually come from 縫う which means “to weave one’s way through a crowd”. So she was slipping through the gaps that the waitresses left in order to get to him.

At 17%

I don’t think this is a question particle because there is a question mark after it, which usually isn’t the case with the question particle. So I suspect it to rather be 回 = the time (when).

And that’s where my reading ends for now, sorry! Maybe somebody else can help you, or I’ll try tomorrow.
Edit: Oh, and I don’t know the answer to your 16% question either…

4 Likes
13

I feel like for most of them I’ll actually have to have the book with me for context, so I’ll take a stan at them later if noone else has done so by then.

14 and 15 @NicoleIsEnough read it the same way I did.

17 %

I did read the かい as a question. It’s not a rule that you can’t have a question mark after a question particle, just a somewhat common stylistic choice, and more importantly: I can’t make sense of the sentence if I think of it as times. XD

Maybe it’s a stylistic choice to show that it’s her heart asking this, and not her rational mind?

19%

田辺は
女の子を
(万年筆とかと同じようにしか)
気に入ることができない+のよ
って言ってる。

Don’t know if that helps at all but that’s roughly what I do when I can’t parse a sentence. :sweat:

Pretty literal take:

“As for Tanabe, he can’t get interested in girls (only to the same level as fountain pens or something), she said.”

Less literal take:

She said he can’t muster more interest in girls than in fountain pens.

As for the だって, I read it something like ‘also’ - there’s also people who…

Most of them I say, when there is only one more. XD

5 Likes
14

Thank you for the help @NicoleIsEnough and @Belerith !

It does feel like a stretch, but that seems to be the interpretation that makes the most sense, that the place looks very different to her.

I should have tried all verbs that would conjugate to ぬって instead of giving up after ぬる failed =._.=

Hmmm as @Belerith mentioned I am also having trouble fitting 回 with the rest of the sentence…

It definitely helps! I can see now how you arrived to the translation you provided.

3 Likes
15

Yeah, I must say, having thought about it once more, I also don’t see it any more :sweat_smile:
So, thanks for double-checking!

3 Likes