Basically she is quoting what Ruri asked previously. So something like “Even if you ask me ‘what’ (is a dragon)”. then she goes on to say something like “What is it, I wonder…?”
Yeah you’re basically right, her throat is already kind of burnt so a stimulant would probably just irritate it.
言われる is passive, and って is quoting 何
Basically “even if “what” is said”. Your more natural interpretation checks out, but the grammar is a bit different - it’s not about being told what a dragon is, it’s literally about 何 being a thing that’s said (i.e. Ruri asking her what a dragon is, exactly).
I believe 刺激物 can also be translated as ‘irritant’, which I think is a better translation in this context.
Edit: I don’t see it translated that way on Jisho, so I might be incorrect. I’m mostly basing that on the combination of 刺’s possible meanings of thorn, pierce, stab, prick, sting and 激’s meanings of violent, get excited, enraged, chafe, incite
As to whether that is a valid translation or not, someone else would know better than I.
Yeah, I know that it’s passive. I think it’s (and I might be completely wrong here) the “indirect passive”, so if I want to be really literal, it would be “Even if ‘What is a dragon?’ is said at me, …” (which I made a tiny bit more natural by translating it as “being told”, but I have now corrected).
I think you’re right about the indirect passive, but I don’t think it matters much tbh, as long as you understand she’s talking about what Ruri said. Either way it’s one of those wordings that’s gonna sound really stunted in English if you translate it literally.
By the way, if any of you want to “level up” after this book club - the Beginner Book Club is currently (only 18h left!) voting on their next manga/book!
Sadly the start date is a bit inconvient since our last week here starts on May 6th, which is also when this BBC pick will start. But apart from that, the difference between ABBC and BBC is not that big, so if you feel like you’re doing well with Ruri Dragon, this might be a great next step!
Real nouns VS words battle: 1-1
I was proud to recognize that 吉岡 was someone’s name, and then right after that I tripped on 宮下 and couldn’t figure out why they were suddenly involving a shrine 
(even though the ちゃん should have been a pretty huge indication 
)
I’m a bit behind, still missing two pages for the last week, but I’m still hanging there!! I’m a bit shy on questions as everybody clearly are faster than me, but thanks you all for answering and asking in such an organize way that make my life so much easier 
After falling completely behind at the very start of the book club (due to a lot of sad and extremely stressful life events) I’m finally caught up with to this week. Today I’ll probably go through this weeks pages in one go. Thanks to everyone who is continually asking questions about each page every week. I’ve read a decent bit of manga now, but I still like getting extra clarification on sentences and grammar. 
Now I just need to catch up to the BBC too. 
I am currently trying to translate this week and just for the heck of it I asked ChatGPT for help and damn…if you put sentences in there, the AI actually explains every part of that sentence and what everything means. Works better than ichi.moe in parts.
Be very careful with it. It tends to make up grammar points if it has no idea. You might easily learn something from it that doesn’t even exist, at least double check first.
Thanks for the tip. I’ll make sure I will.
Here is an example if anyone is interested for the first sentence on page 56.
As an example of a time when ChatGPT gets it wrong (unless I’m the one who’s mistaken here, which is possible ), here’s how it handled a sentence from Pg. 64 (small spoilers from next week’s section):
Ok, so this week I tried something different. I tried to translate everything myself without looking at the forum first (which is what I did the first month). I don’t think I will do it again because it takes me ages. Like 45 minutes for each page. Because I also have to first transcribe the Japanese 
But anyway here is my bad attempt until page 56 with questions.
教室大丈夫だった?
Was the classroom ok?
“Classroom” or “students in the classroom”?
前の奴の後頭部ちょっと焼いた
The back of the head of the guy in front of me got a little bit burned.
マジか
Seriously?
も。。。毛根までやいてないなヨシ
Also…if the hair roots are not burned, it’s ok.
ヨシじゃない
It’s not ok.
ねえ 何でも何も教えてくれないの?
So…why didnt you inform me of anything?
This is not quite clear to me. I assume it’s 教えてくれる in doing something for me. Why is くれる necessary?
火吐くなんて知らなかったしさ
I did not even know I breath fire.
なんて is a suffix of the verb to emphasis it? Like “even” in this case?
What does しさ mean?
父親が龍ってこともなんで今まで隠してたの
The fact that my father is a dragon, why were you hiding it until now?
Is the も the shortened もん again?
そうだねごめん 隠してたつもりはないんだけど
You’re right, sorry. I did not intend to hide it but…
わざわざ言う必要ないと思ってたの
I did not think telling you was necessary.
I assume 思ってた is again shortened past progressive. It’s a bit hard for me to understand why this is necessary to use. I guess it’s because “thinking it” was a continues state for a longer time?
Also to what part exactly is わざわざ referring to?
何それ
Why is that?
だって。。。こうなるの私も知らなかったんだもん
After all, the reason is that I also did not know why you became this way?
I don’t quite understand the こうなるの part. Could someone explain please?
ええ
yes…
今まで人の姿で育ったらこれからもそうだと思うじゃん。。。
Since until now you grew up in your human form, from now on XXXX, don’t you think?
No idea about the XXXX part.
なのに今朝見たら角生えてるじゃん
And yet this morning when I saw your horns have grown, right?
I feel the “right?” does not make much sense here.
正直ビビったわ
Honestly, I was startled
そうだったのか
Were you?
So I assume the の is to ask for an explanation. Would the sentence without it just mean, “Were you really?” and with it, it means more like “Why were you?”
人と龍の子が全く人の姿のまま生まれてくるのも
A child from a human and a Dragon is born as is with a completely human form
The のも confuses me. Can someone explain?
おかしな話だけどね
But this is a ridiculous speech, isn’t it.
つくづく奇妙な生物だわ
You are an utterly bizarre life form.
Wow that sounds a bit harsh.
。。。でもビシクリしたよね
???
ごめんね
Sorry.
ドラゴンが父親なんて
Your father was something like a dragon.
なかなか言いづらくて
It’s very difficult to talk about.
もう私は別に誰が父親でも気にしないよ
I however especially don’t care that he is my father.
What is the もう doing here?
This sentence could also mean that her father did not care about her. I’m not sure.
そうじゃなくて
Not like that.
I’m not sure how to interpret this one.
ずっと一緒にいる母親が ずっと何か隠してるのは なんかさみしい
Ok, I have no clue.
うんそうだね ありがと
Yes, that’s how it is, thank you.
大人になったね
You have grown up.
はよ車だせ
Get out of the car!
What is that はよ?
今日ねお父さんに合ってきたんだ
Today we will meet with your father.
I have no idea about the きたんだ.
合ったの!? ドラゴンに!?
Meet? With a dragon?
What is the grammar here?
え…仕事は？
Huh, what about your job?
休んだよ
I took vacation / I took a break / I just left
Which one is it and why?
ルリのことで大慌てだったし
Your/this matter needs to be resolved fast.
Something like this? As in “we need to rush to solve this matter”
アイツ山奥いるから
Because he lives deep inside a mountain.
What is アイツ?
なるほど 靴はそれでか
I see. My shoes are …
Are what?
お父さんにルリのこと話したらさ喜んでたよ
When we talk with your father about this, he will be pleased.
What is that さ?
What is the grammar でたよ?
俺の子だとかなんとか言ってさこっちの気もしらないで
You are my child and …
No idea.
龍でも子の成長は嬉しいもんかね
As in being a dragon however, a childs growth is the reason that makes me happy.
I know this is a quite literal translation, but is this basically the meaning?
お父さんか
Father?
私龍のことなら何でも知ってるし
When it comes to dragons, I know everything.
今日は色々調べてきたから
Since I researched various things…
I assume the きた is the ~くる grammar. Is it common to put it behind 調べる? I’m really having difficulty with this grammar point, are there easy rules when to use it?
から is since in this case and connects to the next sentence?
これから龍のこと教えるよ
From now on I can teach you about dragons.
もっと早く教えてくれればこんな騒ぎにならなかった
If you would have tought me earlier, a commotion like this would not have happened.
How do I know if こんな騒ぎ is “a commotion like this” or “commotions like this”.
なる usually means “to become”, right? Why is it used here?
以後気をつけます
From now on I will be careful.
What is the difference between 以後 and これから?
まあ 知ってても避けようがないよな
Well…even if you know, there is no way to avoid it.
Something like that? I have no clue.
One thing I’m noticing a lot in your translations, is that you seem to be putting together the sentences or sentence parts that are in the same group of speech bubbles (so the speech bubbles are connected), but they are in separate bubbles themselves. This is usually not something that should be done, quite often a speech bubble, even if it’s connected to other ones, is its own sentence.
Probably both. Japanese likes itself its synechdoches.
てくれる has a meaning of “to do someone a favor” or “to do something for someone”. It somewhat softens the tone in this case.
Lol, I answered this exact question too. し is the usual “reason/explanation” particle and さ as a sentence ender makes it a bit more assertive. This latter is an N1 grammar point too, so it can go onto @ChristopherFritz’s game.
Again? Was it ever? It’s just “also”. “You also hid the fact that dad was a dragon until now”. もの would be strange right after こと. Thing thing.
Yeah, which makes a lot of sense, since she was continuously in the state of not thinking that.
Well, こうなる is just “became this way”, and I think there’s a は or が missing after の. の in itself is a のminalizer. The translation is a bit off, I believe, I think it’s more like “I didn’t know it would turn out this way”.
More like just “ehhh…”
The translation of the whole second part is a bit off here, so let’s break that down.
“これからもそうだと思うじゃん。。。”
“これから” from now on
“も” also
“そうだ” it will be like that
“と思う” I thought (I think, but this is one of those weird cases)
“じゃん” along the lines of “you see?”
Put together: "(since you’ve grown up as a human, )I thought it would stay the same, you see?
じゃん is very hard to translate, but I feel that “right?” isn’t that bad there.
の doesn’t necessarily mean, that you are actually looking for an explanation. This here is the usual “Were you now?” sort of sarcastic sentence.
It’s the も version of the のは grammar point. Basically takes what’s before it and turns it into the subject or topic of the outer sentence.
It isn’t the manga’s fault, that you choose the harsher words. 
You could just as well write “It’s a very curious lifeform”.
I understood it as “But you surprised me”
These are basically one continuous thought. “Your father being a dragon… it’s difficult to talk about that”
It’s neither, I don’t think.
もう is just the “もううううう” you hear in anime all the time. Sort of “jeez”
The rest of the sentence broken down:
“私は別に誰が父親でも気にしないよ”
“私は” → as for me
“別に” → not really
“誰が父親” → whoever dad is
“でも” → even
“気にしないよ” → I don’t care
Put together “I don’t care about whoever my dad is”
Sort of “don’t say that”, or “That’s not true”. Up to you besides that.
That’s a weird translation you arrived at
Let’s break it down the same way the manga did, into three parts.
“ずっと一緒にいる母親が”
“ずっと” → always
“一緒にいる” → to be together
“母親” → mom
“ずっと何か隠してるのは”
“ずっと”-> always
“何か隠してる” → hiding something
“のは” → that …
“なんかさみしい” → somewhat lonely/sad
Put together, you get something along the lines of “The fact that my mother, who I was with all the time was hiding something is kinda sad”.
早よ just means “quickly”. But this can’t mean “get out of the car”, 出す is transitive, therefore the car is the object that it’s acting on. So it’s actually “Start the car now” or something along those lines.
合ってきた is the past tense of 合ってくる or “to do meet and come back”. So it’s actually “I went and met with your father”.
Which part? The の is the questioning の (short for のですか) and I think you got all of it right.
From context, I’d assume she took a day off. Can’t be “I just left”, I don’t think that’s a possible meaning here.
Probably makes more sense with correct context now, but “Your case was urgent”.
彼奴. A somewhat derogatory “he/she”.
If you remember back to week 1, the mom didn’t take her “everday” shoes with her. So Ruri is saying “I see, so that’s the reason for that”.
This is all past tense. “When I talked with your father, he was very pleased”. 喜んでた is just 喜んでいた. さ is the same as earlier.
“俺の子だとかなんとか言って” → He said “she is my child” or something
“こっちの気もしらないで” → I think this is something along the lines of “He didn’t even notice/care, that I was there”.
It’s close, but not quite.
“龍でも” even for dragons
“子の成長は” the growth of (their) child
“嬉しいもんかね” makes them happy, huh
“Even dragons are happy that their chilren are growing up”
It’s てくる because she did a lot of research and now she’s done with it, she came back.
It connects to the previous sentence, explaining that. This is a fun reordered sentence.
Small thing “she will”, not “she can”
You don’t. Only from context. Though “commotions like these” is definitely weird in English.
It can also mean “to turn out”. It literally just means a state change from something to something else. In this case “There wouldn’t have been this commotion”
以後 is more formal. Same as saying “hereafter” vs “from now on”. But it’s probably used to avoid some word repeats or something.
Sounds about right
I tried my best to translate the phone conversation on pg. 57, because, idk I like a challenge I guess. Please correct me if I interpreted something incorrectly.
床 Yuka
5:04 音声通話 Voice call
2:35:11 音声通話 Voice call
今日 Today
7:05
もう着いてる? Have you arrived yet?
ちょい遅れる I’m running a little late. [I assumed the subject was “I” here because that makes the most sense to me in the context]
7:07
待ってる I’m waiting
ルリ大丈夫だった？ Ruri are you okay?
こっちは大丈夫だよ! Everything’s okay here!
吉岡の頭も無事です Yoshioka’s head is safe too
And then the bottom panel:
宮下ちゃんから今日の！ From Miyashita-chan today!
Looks good!
The missing kanji is 遅:
ちょい遅れる (You/we are) a little late/behind schedule
Thanks! I couldn’t figure that one out for the life of me lol. I’ll edit my translation now
This week was much more difficult. When Ruri’s mom is here things get more complicated lol. I’ll be continuing to translate as much as I can but I should mention that I always try to read without translating first to see how much I can pick up. It’s going well so far, I honestly understand more than I thought I would even if when I go to translate I struggle a lot. Anyway, I expect to need more corrections this week than previously.
教室大丈夫だった？ = Was the classroom alright?
前の奴の後頭部ちょっと焼いた = I burned the back of the head of the person in front of me a little
マジか = Really?
も…毛根まで焼いてないならヨシ = A- as long as the hair wasn’t burned to the root it should be fine
ヨシじゃない = It’s not fine
ねえ、何で何も教えてくれないの？= Hey, why wouldn’t you tell me anything?
火吐くなんて知らなかったしさ… = I didn’t know about the fire breathing so…
父親が龍ってことも何で今まで隠してたの…？ = Why did you hide my dad being a “dragon” until now…?
More literally “Saying my dad’s a ‘dragon’ as well, why did you hide that until now?” but this didn’t feel like the best English to me. For 「火吐くなんて知らなかったしさ」, I couldn’t figure out how to translate the なんて here. It’s hard to tell if it’s an emphasizer or the actual “stuff like this” use. In the end I decided it was best left not directly translated. I also am not sure who the subject of this sentence is. Because the topic isn’t specified I assume it’s 私. I don’t know, something just feels off about the way I’m understanding this sentence in context.
…そうだね、ごめん。隠してたつもりはないんだけど = That’s right, sorry. I didn’t plan on hiding it but…
わざわざ言う必要ないと思ってたの = I didn’t think it was necessary to go to the trouble of saying so
何それ = What the heck
だって…こうなるの私も知らなかったんだもん = I mean… I also didn’t know it would turn out like this
えぇ = Ehh
今まで人の姿で育ったからこれからもそうだと思うじゃん…？ = Because you were raised with the appearance of a person until now, wouldn’t you think that’s how it would continue to be?
More liberties taken with translation here so I want to check that my understanding of this is correct. The 「これからもそうだと思うじゃん」 is saying “wouldn’t you think ‘that is so from here on’?” literally, right?
なのに今朝見たら角生えてるじゃん！？ = However, when I saw you this morning, horns had grown hadn’t they!?
正直ビビったわ = Honestly it surprised me
そうだったのか… = Was that so…
人と竜の子が全く人の姿のまま生まれてくるのもおかしな話だけどね = The child of a human and a dragon being born with a completely human form is a strange story however
つくづく奇妙な生物だわ… = it’s an incredibly strange life
…でもビックリしたよね = But, it still surprised me
ごめんね、ドラゴンが父親なんてなかなか言いづらくて = Sorry, it’s rather hard to say something like ‘your father is a dragon’
もう、わたしは別に誰が父親でも気にしないよ = Jeez, I don’t particularly care whovever my dad is
そうじゃなくて！ = That’s not it at all!
ずっと一緒にいる母親がずっと何か隠してるのはなんか…さみしい = A mother who’s always been together (with me) hiding something the whole time is kinda… lonely
うん、そうだね。ありがと = Yeah, that’s right, isn’t it? Thank you
大人になったね = You’ve become an adult (as in “You’ve grown up”)
はよ車出せ = Hurry up and drive
Needed to take a look at this thread for this one. I did not know はよ was another form of はやく nor that 車を出す is another way to say to drive a car
今日ね、お父さんに会ってきたんだ = You know today I went to meet your father
え？え！？会ったの！？ドラゴンに！？ = Eh? Ehh!? Met him!? A dragon!?
うん = Yep
え…仕事は？ = Eh… what about work?
休んだよ。ルリのことで大慌てだったし、アイツ山奥いるから = I took it off. With everything going on with you, it was a great hassle because that guy is deep in the mountains
Not sure why there is both し and から, and usually から needs to come first but I assume when speaking it can come last. This whole sentence the way I’m understanding it doesn’t make sense though so that tells me I’m not understanding it correctly.
…ああ、なるほど、靴はそれでか = Ah, now I get it, that’s why her shoes this morning…
Had to lean on interpretation here rather than translation. This is something I wish English was good at, being able to make vague verbal gesturings and leaving so much up to context that something that doesn’t even sound like a sentence makes sense. All I get from 「靴はそれでか」 is “about the shoes, with that, question marker” and I have no clue how to turn that into a coherent sentence so I go with that the feeling of that is instead.
お父さんにルリのこと話したらさ…喜んでたよ = When I talked about you with your father, he was glad you know
え？ = Huh?
俺の子だとか何とか言ってさ、こっちの気も知らないで = Saying things like “that’s my girl”, without knowing our feelings
Thank you to yamitenshi for the reminder that ないで is also “without”. I learned the ず-without grammar first so I always always forget that ないで is the more common one and not just the negative polite request form.
龍でも子の成長は嬉しいもんかね = Even dragons are happy for their child’s growth, huh
As a side note I still don’t actually understand the use of もん. I basically ignore it like it wasn’t there and the meaning doesn’t seem to change. Can someone explain what function it actually serves here semantically instead of syntactically?
私 龍のことなら何でも知ってるし、今日は色々調べてきたから = I know anything about dragons since I asked about a lot of things today
これから龍のこと教えるよ = Teach me about dragons then
I assume it’s Ruri talking because the speech bubble has no tail so it should be someone off panel. I can’t think of a good translation that nails the tone I think Ruri is saying this with. I don’t even think what I have here is a good translation
もっと早く教えてくれればこんな騒ぎにならなかった！ = If you had told me earlier then it wouldn’t have become a disturbance like this
そ…そうだね。以後気をつけます = Y-yeah, you’re right. From now on we’ll be careful
…まあ、知ってても避けようがないよな… = Well, even if I knew it couldn’t be avoided
ユカ、教室大丈夫だったって = Yuka, she says the classroom is fine
そっか、よかった = I see, that’s good
ん何か写真来た = What the- a picture came through
宮下ちゃんから今日の = From Miyage-chan today
あはは！ツノ関係ないじゃん = Ahaha! The horns don’t even matter
仲良さそうだね = You seem close (with them)
うっ、見んな = Ugh, don’t look
…で結局龍って何なの？ = So, in the end what is a dragon?
何って言われても…何だろ = Even if someone says ‘what’… I wonder what it is
Can’t figure out a good english phrasing for this and the 何だろ I’m not sure what it actually refers back to
ご飯食べながら話そ = Let’s talk while having dinner
わたしの竜の体質 = My dragon nature
今日何食べたい？ = What do you want to eat today?
んー…カレー = Mmm, curry
ノド焼けてんのに刺激物か = Even though your thoat is burned, you want something spicy?
その１・ツノ
その２・火炎放射 = First thing, horns. Second thing, fire breathing.
