夜カフェ ☕ Chapter 2 (Beginner Book Club)

夜カフェ Book Club - Chapter 2

:exclamation: Please Note: :exclamation:
We will be reading this chapter over two weeks.
Goal for the first week (2nd to 8th Apr): End of page 25 of the physical edition. (The last sentence should be それからダッシュで玄関から飛び出した。)
Goal for second week (9th to 15th Apr): End of chapter 2
Discussions for the 2nd half start here.

It’s the longest chapter of the book so don’t panic and take your time :heart:

Note for week 1

If you read ahead, and have questions for the 2nd half of the chapter before April 9th, be sure to use spoiler tags and note (outside of the tag) that it’s about the 2nd half.

Start date current chapter: 2nd April 2022
Previous chapter: Chapter 1
Next chapter: Chapter 3
Home thread: 夜カフェ Book Club Home Thread
BBC Home thread: Beginner Book Club

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We are reading the first volume of 夜カフェ as the Beginner Book Club!.
This thread is for chapter related discussion. We are reading together from the aforementioned date on, but this thread will be kept open mu~ch longer (like 10 years longer). So don’t be shy to ask questions even if you are late to the party :heart:

Vocabulary List

Feel free to add any words you looked up as well! Page numbers may be off by one or two because of differences between physical and digital editions, but we try to keep the words roughly in order of appearance

The book is also available over at koohi.cafe (formerly known as floflo).

Discussion Guidelines

  • Please blur / hide any major events in the current week’s pages (however early they occur), like so: [spoiler]texthere[/spoiler] result: texthere
  • When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked
  • Join the conversation — it’s fun!

Participation poll

  • I’m reading along
  • I’m planning to read but haven’t started yet
  • I’m from the future and reading way later
  • I’m not reading, just passing by

0 voters

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I did a cursory read of the first half of chapter 2 over the last 2 days!

I actually wanted to spend 3 days on it, pacing myself with 4 ebook pages a day (which is a third of a normal-length chapter, and already takes a long time for me!), but then I couldn’t put it down during the tension-filled later section… and I ended up reading 9 ebook pages instead, haha. And I don’t know how anyone could actually stop at 「それからダッシュで玄関から飛び出した。」! Poor Hanabi, with things escalating at home. When it gets physical - even if it’s “just” things breaking - it gets even more scary…

Also, Hanabi friend foreshadowing, I assume, with stylish karaage girl!

Next up: Going through the chapter more closely. There were a few sentences where I think I got the gist at least, but that were still rather confusing.

I’m surprised how well it’s going, although I am predictably still glued to jisho.org while reading. I think in a few chapters, when I feel like I got a fair bit of vocab already down, I want to try to see how much I get when reading a chapter without a dictionary first!

And the new grammar that I learnt in chapter 1 was super useful. Thanks for the help and links!

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I wonder how “first half of chapter 2” is counted.

Page outlines

This actually is Visual Studio Code with Git tracking.

I like it that it forces everything to be plain text (markdown). Also, lines are collapsible, as well as syntax highlighting.

It’s still pretty much a cursory read, though. Perhaps, except some first pages (when I still don’t get the plot).

As for some questions regarding the language.

  • Page 17
    • 運動部に入ったたちは、グラウンドでも体育館でも、はりきって声をあげてがんばってしまった。
      • Those who entered sports club raised their voice in both グラウンド (on the field (like grassy?)) and 体育館 (gymnasium)
      • 頑張ってしまった - I am lost here…
    • そのわきを通りすぎて、ひとり早くうちに帰っていくあたしに気づく人は、だれもいない。
      • そのを通り過ぎて - while those Sempai passed by that side? What is その脇?
      • 小学校の時より人数が増えたぶん、ますます自分の存在感がうすくなったように思った。
      • 〜増えたぶん、 - I am lost here, but I guess it is (〜増えた)分、
    • What’s the difference between 妙に vs 妙な?

Plot-wise,

  • Kaarage girl’s importance is yet to be explained.
  • It is very nice that Hanabi found somebody to talk to, enough in details of here problems.
  • Why is Yamato still here after 2 weeks after recovery?

I wonder what is an optimal way to read? Especially when I am still not good enough at the language (both vocab-wise and grammar-wise, actually).

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I answered for some parts:

運動部に入った 人たちは、グラウンドでも 体育館でも、はりきって 声をあげて がんばっている
you mixed it with the previous sentence

Those who entered sports club raised their voice in both グラウンド (on the field (like grassy?)) and 体育館 (gymnasium)
I think so too

頑張ってしまった - I am lost here…
頑張っている they are doing their best, at the sport they are playing, I understood in the sense that they are lively and active (with the loud voice etc)

そのわきを通りすぎて、ひとり早くうちに帰っていくあたしに気づく人は、だれもいない。
わき=脇 I think so
“senpai” is not in the sentence

With those long sentences, when in doubt I try to isolate the core sentence and then progressively expand:
その脇を 通りすぎて、ひとり 早く うちに 帰っていく あたしに 気づく人は、だれも いない。
The core is だれも いない。(it could be a complete sentence in itself) There is nobody.
More precision about nobody : あたしに 気づく人は、だれも いない。people noticing me, there is nobody. So: There is nobody noticing me.
More precision about あたし: うちに 帰っていく, I go back home
More precision: 早く
More precision: ひとり
So I am going back home, quickly, alone, and nobody notices me.
More precision: その脇を 通りすぎて. The その is referring to the previous scene, people playing sports. On the side to that, I pass by, and.
So the full sentence: I pass on the side and nobody notices me going quickly back home. (not a perfect translation but I think that is the idea of the sentence)

小学校の時より 人数 が 増えた ぶん、ますます 自分の 存在感が うすくなったように 思った。
〜増えたぶん、 - I am lost here, but I guess it is (〜増えた)分、
I think that she is reflecting on the 自分の 存在感が うすくなった, and one reason for it is 小学校の時より 人数 が 増えた. That is partly the reason ( 分). That is my personal interpretation, the dictionary didn’t say “partly” but it seems fitting.

What’s the difference between 妙に vs 妙な?
I remember reading it, but I don’t find it anymore… Where is it?

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妙に would be the adverbial form (oddly) while 妙な is attributive (odd [noun]). In other words 妙に describes an action, 妙な describes a thing

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I shouldn’t be confused about がんばっている…

As I passed by the side of what? Those scenes? Those who have entered the club before? (I guessed - those scenes.)

妙に is in

おもしろいことも言えないし、みょうに緊張してしまって、うまく会話が進まない。

Therefore, strangely stressed, I guess.

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strangely stressed :+1:

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I believe this 分 is the 分 that means “in proportion” (definition 6 on Jisho).
Bad attempt at translation: I think it’s like my presence is gradually fading in proportion to the increase of people from the time of elementary school

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So glad ハナビ finally stood up for herself and expressed herself by yelling at her parents! That part felt really good to read. And the rest of the chapter is very fun and intriguing too!

I’m feeling a little guilty about this, but I think I might not be able to stick to the reading club schedule. I did not expect to read this book with such ease and enjoyment!

Have to go to work for now, hope everyone is enjoying this chapter as much as I did!

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For this sentence (a bit before the first image), I don’t understand this part: ハンドメイドもする気になれずにいた。

学校で楽しい気分になることはないし、家に帰ってからも、時間はたっぷりあるのに、ハンドメイドもする気になれずにいた。

The sentence seems to be negative (as in school sucks), and probably continues because of the し, も and のに, is what I’m guessing, but still can’t understand the last part, probably some grammar in there?

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I’m not exactly sure of everything you don’t understand so if after my comment It still does not make sense please feel free to ask again.

ずに is a more literary form of ないで。E.g 食べないで = 食べずに . The ni can be optional in this contsruct with slight nuance. https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/ずに-zuni-meaning/

The も is “even”.

EDIT: After reading your question once more, I thought maybe you had trouble with the 家に帰ってからも part too. That means “Even after coming back home”. The even is from the ても and the after is from the てから which is a temporal connector meaning the first action is completed before the connecting action after it happens/happend.

Rough translation:
So 時間はたっぷりあるのに “Even though she had ample (free) time”. The even comes from のに
ハンドメイドもする気になれずにいた。“She was there without even being able to put her mind on doing handmade stuff.” This even is the も. Not even handmade stuff (which is her hobby) could excite her kinda meaning.
気になる is a bit hard to translate but it’s something that’s on your mind, interests you. It is in potential negative so she can’t get it on her mind.

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“She was there without even being able to put her mind on doing handmade stuff.” Got it!
Seems so simple after reading your translation, I understand how to use the ずに now as well.

Sometimes I get stuck on the most simple parts, but it’s a really nice feeling rereading it after and understanding everything.

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This weeks reading took me ages, but its mostly just getting used to reading a novel instead of manga I think since I wasn’t particularly struggling with understanding anything :slight_smile:

That said, I did find myself not being able to read some words that were written in kana, then looking them up and then realizing I did know them once I saw the kanji.
I was finding it a bit frustrating, so I started typing some of the kana-heavy sentences into a google doc when I was having trouble parsing them so that my IME would automatically convert some of the kana to kanji.
It was slower than looking stuff up in the vocab list - it took about the same amount of time as looking up the words on jisho - but I found it less frustrating than looking it up and then being cross with myself for not recognising it from the kana.

I added a few words to the vocab list, and corrected a few page numbers too, I hope nobody minds!

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It’s always apreciated when additions to the vocab sheet are made.

Regarding the words in Kana only I would argue you then consequently didn’t know the words fully.
You would have at least not recognized the words when spoken either. The good thing is, the more exposed you are the more familiar you will become with all the words you already learned with Kanji and this “problem” will solve itself over time.
Also you will start to anticipate what word makes sense in which part of the sentence. Get a feel for what feels natural.

This is one of the reasons reading is just so damn effective. It does not only improve your reading but also unlocks a huge part of your listening skills by getting you used to patterns. Which in turn improves your conversation skills overall since you need to undersand first before you can even attempt to answer or take part in conversation ^^.
(Not that you don’t need to train listening specifically too, to be able to differentiate the sounds but that is a dfferent story)

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of all the places to split the chapter in two… :smiley:

what a way to encourage motivation to continue!!! I’m sure it wasn’t intentional but if this were a tv drama…heck of a cliffhanger

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Yup, this is an ongoing problem I have! My ability to recognise kanji is easily my strongest skill - I’m hoping everything else catches up eventually. My listening in particular is terrible :sweat_smile:
I’m working on it though!

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this reminds me… for some of the clubs there have been outload reading sessions on discord…looked an didn’t see one for this club (the dates/times had rarely worked for me in the past)…but throwing it out there as a reminder to whomever coordinates those sorts of things…

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I have some questions :person_raising_hand:

Said questions:

First and foremost, any easier way to find the ending sentences in these cases easier? I usually can look through a page to find words, but that relies on words existing with set boundaries (aka, spaces). Currently I just went on a kanji hunt and found my sentence that way, but any solutions that worked for other people?

I’m failing to parse the sentence:
入りそびれたまま二週間たってしまった
I have the feeling it’s trying to say that she has only 2 weeks left before the deadline, but I can’t see how these words would connect.

image
The amount of horizontal lines this word has is just absurd. I can barely read it :joy:

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My limited understanding of まま includes that when the だ after it (as まま is a noun) is in its joining form で, it can be dropped. I haven’t really read up on this, so I don’t know the grammar for that well, or even if I understand it properly.

So perhaps we can look at this sentence as:

「入りそびれたまま二週間たってしまった」

Here, 入りそびれたまま would be the unchanged condition of “(having) failed to enroll” in the club.

And the second part, 二週間経ってしまった, tells us that two weeks passed.

Together: She (remained in the state of having) failed to enroll in the club, and two weeks passed (which means it’s too late to enroll now).

Hopefully that’s about right, but I absolutely welcome any corrections or improvements!

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Done with this weeks reading. It seemed way shorter than last weeks reading somehow. Don’t know why. Maybe the dialog scenes are just easier to read through and there was more tension this week.

The language was also easier for me this week. Not that I struggled last week but only had 9 Vocab words in the complete text weren’t known and I added to the deck. Compared with last weeks 25 or so that is way less.

As others have already said pretty good choice for a stop sentence in the middle of the chapter :frowning_face:.

I’m also looking forward to Karaage girl and the aunt. The aunt seems like a creative type which probably works well with hanabi liking crafts and so on.

@ChristopherFritz sorry didn’t mean to reply to you -.-

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