ケサランなにがしとスープ屋さん Week 2

[hotdogsuplex]

We’re reading this as part of the Absolute Beginner Book Club

Week 2	April 4
End page	15
Chapter(s)	1
Last week	ケサランなにがしとスープ屋さん Week 1
Next week	ケサランなにがしとスープ屋さん Week 3
Home thread	ケサランなにがしとスープ屋さん ・ Kesaran Something and the Soup Shop Home Thread

Final panel(s)

Discussion Rules

• Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current section(s) and any content in future sections.
• When asking for help, please mention the volume and page number.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if they initially seem embarrassing. All of us are here to learn.
• To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation; it’s fun!
• Always mention what kind of soup you ate while reading

Participation

Mark your participation status by voting in this poll. (You can change your answer later if you’d like.)

• I’m reading along
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[hotdogsuplex]

Did you turn the page and cry when you saw the first panel? Then this post is here to help!

First, make sure you download the super helpful

Grammar sheet

Let’s go one speech bubble at a time

First speech bubble:

Vocab:
ケサランパサラン - Kesaran
白い - white
毛玉 - furball
空中 - sky
フワフワ - lightly, buoyant
飛ぶ - to fly
謎 - riddle, enigma
物体 - object; physical body

I know what you did. You thought that 白い毛玉のような was modifying 空中, and reading “a sky like a white furball.” Here’s the trick: that bold phrase at the end, 謎の物体, is the main thing that everything else in the sentence is modifying. So let’s separate 白い毛玉のような “something like a white furball” and 空中をフワフワ飛んでいる “floating throughout the sky” and apply them both to 謎の物体. I would translate it as “Kesaran is a mysterious creature that resembles a white furball and floats buoyantly throughout the sky.”

Second speech bubble:

Vocab:
穴 - hole
開く - to open
桐 - paulownia
箱 - box
中 - inside
おしろい - face powder
与える - to give
飼育 - breeding
可能 - possibility

I was first confused by the 穴の開いた, until I looked at the picture and saw the little hole in the corner of the box, and realized that it’s “in a paulownia box with a hole in it,”

And the second part of the sentence: “if you add face powder, it’s possible to breed (them)” It’s implied that you put the Kesaran in the box first, then add the face powder. The little hole must be so that they can breathe.

Third speech bubble:

Vocab:
増殖 - multiplying
持ち主 - owner
幸せ - happiness
呼ぶ - to call

“They multiply and bring happiness to their owners.”

Final panel on page 10:

Vocab:
せっかくだし - might as well
増やす - to increase

We’re combining the てみる form with the volitional form:
増やして: て form of 増やす
増やしてみる: add みる to get the てみる form, meaning “try increasing it”
増やしてみよう: the volitional form of みる is みよう, so the whole thing means “let’s try increasing it.”

[Dathmach]

What is this first page

Is it a good thing or a bad thing that my Japanese isn’t good enough for me to even attempt to read it on my own?

Page 10

The Kesaran Pasaran is a mysterious white furball that flies in the air
It’s possible to keep them if you put them in a paulownia wood box with holes in it and face powder
They sometimes multiply and bring happiness to their owner
Big Brother! Kesaran Tesaran brings happiness!
I caught it
Quick, lets raise it!
Since we have the chance, shall we multiply them?
Yeah!

Page 11

But there’s no face powder, I can only find silver vine
Eh?
Well…. it’ll be fine won’t it?
To begin with it isn’t even a paulownia box, it’s a jar
2nd day
It’s grown ears!
It’s seem to have grown cat ears, huh?
5th day
What is that!?
Isn’t it supposed to multiply!?
It’s grown hasn’t it…
7th day

Page 12

Woah!
This is completely different from what I thought!
I wonder if this is the influence of the silver vine
What even is this thing
Let’s take it out of the jar
Eh
It’ll be fine… probably

Page 13

Sneeze
Hmmm maybe it’s cold…
Just a moment
I’m sure that there’s a stuffed animal over here
Here it is

Page 14

…It’s settled down
So cute…
….Ah, I just realize that I still need to prepare for the morning soup
There’s still work left?
Just a little!
Big brother, could you watch over it?
Sure…

Page 15

Even if she’s my little sister, she sure works hard…
I hope this little guy will bring her a bit of happiness…
…….

[JupiterJesus]

Here’s my readings for the week. Note that I’m mostly sticking to super literal translations here to make it easier for newbies to follow, rather than natural translations that make more sense in english.

Page 10

There are a LOT of words I’ve never seen in this book of hers. I get the grammar, but I can imagine it’s going to be rough for a beginner.
ケサランパサランは 白い毛玉のような 空中をフワフワ 飛んでいる 謎の物体 - The Kesaran Pasaran is a mysterious object, like a white puffball, that lightly flies/floats in midair.
穴の開いた 桐の箱の中で おしろいを与えると 飼育も可能 - If you provide them with face powder (?) in a box made of Paulownia wood with a hole in it, it is even possible to breed them.
増殖したり 持ち主に 幸せを呼ぶ こともある - They will multiply, and might even bring happiness to their owners. (したり normally has a する after it, not sure why it is used here, other than to imply other things are going on…; こともある suggests a surprising thing happens sometimes)

お兄ちゃん ケサランテサラン 幸せを呼ぶんだって! - Big brother, it says that Kesaran Pasaran bring happiness!

つかまえた - Caught it.

仕事が早い! - That job is quick! / That was fast!

せっかくだし 増やしてみようか It’s rare, let’s try to increase it. (by increase, does he mean grow it bigger, or breed it? He doesn’t use the same word for multiply/breed that the book uses)

うん！ - Yes/okay!

Page 11

でもおしろい なくてマタタビしか 見つからない - But, we don’t have white/face powder. Nothing but “cat powder” / “silver vine” (?) was found.
[スープ用の] (used for soup)
えっ？ - Huh?

まあ…大丈夫かな? Maybe it’s okay?
そもそも 桐箱もなくて 瓶だし - To start with, we don’t have a Paulownia box, so it is (I used) a bottle.

[2日目] (the second day)
なんか… - Whaat… OR Such a thing… (not sure about this one, though I heard someone just saying なんか！ a lot as an exclamation in a game I played last night, so maybe it’s just an abbreviation of なにか)
耳っぽいの 出てきた! - Ear-like things appeared!
猫みたいに なってるね - It is becoming in such a way that it is like a cat / It’s starting to look like a cat isn’t it?

[5日目] (the fifth day)

あれ!? - Huh!?
増えるんじゃ ないの!? - Isn’t it increasing / getting bigger!?
生えてるね… - It’s growing…

[7日目] (the seventh day)

Page 12

うわーっ - Uwaaah (yikes, wow, OMG)
思ってたのと 全然違う! - It’s completely different from what I thought!
マタタビの影響かなー - I wonder if it’s the influence of the (silver vine / cat powder).

おしろいなかったしね… - Since we didn’t have the white / face powder…
…中から 出してあげようか - Let’s take it out from in there…

え - Uh…
大丈夫だよ …多分 - It’ll be okay… probably.

Page 13

なんか 寒そうだな… - Huh, it seems cold. (なんか exclamation again, そう is when you think someone else feels an adjective)
ちょっと待ってて - Wait a bit.

たしか こっちの方に ぬいぐるみの… - If I remember correctly, over here (there is) a stuffed animal …

あった - Got it.

Page 14

収まったな - That’s been taken care of.
ナニコレ かわいい… - OMG cute…

[ゆっくり] (slow down) [しすぎた] (it’s too much)
そうだ 明日のスープの 仕込みしないと - Right, I need to do the prep for tomorrow’s soup. (I thought と was short for と思う, but apparently there’s a common pattern with ないと, meaning “if I don’t X, …”, implying negative consequences if you don’t
まだ仕事 残ってるの? - Is there any work still left?

少しだけ! - Just a little bit!
お兄ちゃん 先に寝ててね - Big brother, sleep first.
うん - Okay.

Page 15

わが妹ながら よく働くな… - Though she’s my little sister, she sure works well (hard).
こいつが少しでも 幸せを運んで くれるといいけど… If this thing conveys happiness even a little bit, it would be good, but…

[Tonitaco]

ナニコレ ＝ なにこれ。it got me for a little bit.

When they say things like 瓶だし なかったしね, do you think it’s the explanatory し or a manner of speaking they have?

Ate some instant coffee soup while reading.

[JupiterJesus]

He’s explaining why they used a bottle, because they didn’t have a box, so it’s definitely explanatory.

[LouBin95]

I think it’s an okay thing. It doesn’t feel like it, but I promise the exposure is doing something. My first beginner book club was rough, and after failing to complete it, I picked up Pokémon Dungeon in Japanese for the Switch. I didn’t fully understand a lot of it at first, but after a little while, things started clicking.

It’s made this book club a lot easier. Exposure and repetition really do help, and I think just being a part of this book club is an accomplishment.

[Enigmaxprincex]

It’s time to read again

I’ll make sure to finish this today , since I have a small vacation next week

[Enigmaxprincex]

I finished this week’s reading and it was something

I’m thankful for everyone here providing translations and different points of view on how you can understand the content

I also felt honored to be mentioned in the manga

It always amazes me how much you can understand from the context and what’s drawn when you encounter new words that you have no idea what they mean

I wonder if anyone knows what the name of the book on the top right panel of page 10 is?

A Sakura to help accompany you on this reading journey

[Enigmaxprincex]

I would echo what LouBin said. This is my first time and I’m trying to enjoy the process of reading and building some stamina for reading

I’m not trying to understand every single word written. I’m just trying to get the gist of what’s happening, what words I know and can recognize, what grammar point I might be familiar with, what can I understand from the context and the drawings / panels and definitely enjoy the cute drawings of the manga

Don’t be too hard on yourself and try to enjoy the process more Then you’ll notice how better you become at understanding everything (or what’s happening) over time

The community is also here to support you, me and everyone else on this journey we’re taking

[ChristopherFritz]

@Enigmaxprincex

the name of the book

I’m going with “Japanin kielen sanakirja”, meaning “Japanese Language Dictionary”.

[LouBin95]

I read all day yesterday, and my brain basically did a hard shutdown after posting on the forum lol. So here are my translations. I got the first page wrong, which was confirmed by @hotdogsuplex ‘s post. However, I am going to leave what I originally wrote down because I think it will be helpful. Sometimes seeing that someone else makes a mistake is just as helpful as seeing the right answers.

Pg 10

WB1: ケセランパセランは白い毛玉のような空中をフワフワ飛んでいる謎の物体： Keserans look like white fury balls that can be seen floating and soaring in the air, how mysterious.
WB2: 穴の開いた 桐の箱の中で おしろいを与えると 飼育も可能：They hide in open boxes and can breed.
WB3: 増殖したり 持ち主に 幸せを呼ぶ こともある: They can bring good fortune.
WB4: お兄ちゃん ケサランテサラン 幸せを呼ぶんだって!: Hey, Older brother! Keseran’s are lucky!
WB5: つかまえた: I caught it.
WB6: 仕事が早い: Quick work!
WB7: せっかくだし 増やしてみようか: I was a little confused on this. I know it mentions rare, but I ended up going with: “Why don’t we collect a few more?”
WB8: うん！: Sure.

Pg 11

WB1: でもおしろい なくてマタタビしか 見つからない: Here is where I was very confused because I didn’t realize おしろい meant face powder. I ended up translating this to: “We only have silver vine.”
WB2: えっ：Huh?
WB3: まあ。。。大丈夫かな？そもそも桐箱もなくて瓶だし：Is it alright if it’s in a jar and not a box?

WB4: 2日目：How it looks after 2 days
WB5:なんか。。。： What?!
WB6: 耳っぽいの出てきた：It looks like it has ears sticking out?
WB7: 猫みたいになってるね：Kind of looks like a cat…

WB8: 5日目：What it looks like after 5 days
WB9: あれ！？増えるんじゃないの！？：The あれ was somewhat confusing because I know it’s “That” so I thought maybe it could mean look at that? “Look! It’s not multiplying…”
WB10: 生えてるね：It’s growing/I think it’s taller.

WB11: 7日目：How it looks after 7 days

Pg 12

WB1: うわーっ 思ってたのと全然違う！：Whaa! I don’t think this is right.
WB2:マタタビの影響かなー： Is this because of the Silver vine?
WB3: おしろいなかったしね：….I never used powder.
WB4: 。。。中から出してあげようか：Should we let it out?
WB5: え：ummm
WB6: 大丈夫だよ。。。多分Its okay…probably

Pg 13

WB1:なんか 寒そうだな…： Oh, it looks cold.
WB2: ちょっと待ってて：Just a second!
WB3: たしかこっちの方にぬいぐるみの。。。If I remember right, its over here.
WB4: あった：Found it!

Pg 14

WB1: 収まったな：It fits!
WB2: ナニコレ かわいい：ITS SO CUTE!!! (Also, my reaction this entire time while reading this manga)
WB3: そうだ 明日のスープの 仕込みしないと：Ah! I need to prepare the soup for tomorrow.
WB4: まだ仕事 残ってるの?：You still have work to do?
WB5: 少しだけ! お兄ちゃん 先に寝ててね：This one was hard. I ultimately decided on this translation: “Not much, I can get it done before you go to bed.”
WB6:うん： Okay

Pg 15

WB1: わが妹ながら よく働くな…こいつが少しでも 幸せを運んで くれるといいけど…：My younger sister does a lot. I hope you bring a little bit of joy.

Also, can I just say this part right here was unbelievably cute:

[StevenSB]

I finally got around to reading this week’s pages. My schedule has been pretty wild lately, so I don’t have much time until later in the week.

Anyway, I felt like I got the jist of what was going on, but there was still a lot I didn’t understand. Mostly the kana parts, just like last week. I’ve been going through the Kaishi 1.5k Anki deck to hopefully pick up a lot of those words more quickly (it’s definitely helping), as well as Tae Kim’s grammar guide for grammar. I tried Genki and Bunpro a while back, but it just didn’t click with me. What I find works best is for me to just read something I don’t understand and look up the grammar points I come across. That’s when I go down a rabbit hole and learn a little more, which sticks because I’ve seen real examples of it being used.

Somehow, against all odds, I actually got the first text box pretty much right on the money. I don’t know exactly why, but I didn’t think 白い毛玉のような was modifying the word after it like you said, for a few different reasons. First, I completely blanked on the idea that the な could potentially make that whole thing an adjective, which would modify what comes after it. I think I treated it like it’s there for emphasis, so I basically ignored it. The other reason is that I have a pretty bad habit of taking each line of text and treating it separately, figuring out what each part means, then putting it all together in a way that makes sense. I’d hardly call that “reading” (more like deciphering), but I guess it worked for me in this situation. I almost feel like I got the right answer despite using the wrong formula, but it worked out here.

That being said, most of the rest of page 1 was a mystery to me. I assumed おしろい meant ‘white’, which I probably shouldn’t have given that it was written in Kanji in the textbox right before that one. and I had no idea what paulownia was. You know it’s bad when I have to look up what the English word means, haha.

The rest of the pages were pretty standard reading for me. I feel like I understood less than last week, but I was able to sort of figure out what was going on. I need to do a better job of trying to figure out what all the text means and not looking them up so quickly. After reading the translations, I felt like I could have figured out a few of them on my own if I had given them some more thought.

[Oceansea]

I’m just posting that I’m quietly reading along but haven’t had time to interact with the thread yet.

[Shardplate]

It was fun to read this weeks part. Definitely much easier than the last manga now, because i get more of the grammar. Anyone who knows what the long で－－ン on page 10 means? Is it used in other manga?

[LouBin95]

Just checking you mean this part right?

If so I think it’s でーん which I took as DING. I think it’s a sound effect but also I could be wrong here too.