My understanding is that なんて adds vagueness and makes her statement more general.
左右反転 => inverted left and right
左右反転なんて => something like inverted left and right.
左右反転なんてしている => doing something like inverting left and right.
左右反転なんてしていない => not doing something like inverting left and right.
左右反転なんてしていなくて => not doing something like inverting left and right, AND … (ない in its て-form used to connect to her next sentence)
She’s using なんて to express that it’s not an inversion of left and right, nor anything of the sort. Instead, it’s something completely different, which she explains afterwards through the next few pages.
I found that なんない might be a contraction of ならない. Is it true? Does it mean that Kon wonders if he will have a day off?
Page 125
どうせだしなんか素材撮って帰る。。。
I’m not sure how to parse this sentence. When I try to translate it word by word, I get something like “At least there is a pretext, I’ll take a raw photo and come back”, but it’s a wild guess and I feel like I’m terribly wrong here
General comment
Me, doing WK lessons some time ago: 左右 as “left and right”? That’s a cool word, but I don’t think it will be useful. Me, this week: OK, I take it back.
This week I was affected by the bug, too, because I try to read everything that appears in the background. I was taking screenshots and flipping them in MS Paint
Yes, I believe that’s a somewhat common abbreviation in informal japanese. And yes, the sentence would mean “I wonder if (this situation) won’t turn into school being cancelled”.
Page 125
My breakdown is the following:
どうせだし => This means “might as well”. This is basically the equivalent of どうせだから, but using し instead of から to express a reason (in this context the reason being “given the current situation”). し makes the reason more vague, so it’s implying there are other, unnamed underlying reasons.
なんか => some kind of
素材 => “material” From context, he probably means pictures and video for a movie or something.
撮って => take (this kanji used mostly for picture or video). The てーform connects with the following verb (“and…”)
帰る => go back.
Putting this altogether: “(Given the situation) I might as well take some pictures and go back”.
Thanks for asking exactly the same questions I had, @electrosuccess!
Here are my other questions this chapter:
Page 110
Somebody: っていうかなんかもう
Is that “Or rather, what the hell”?
Page 123
Teacher: じゃあ後で写真に撮って反転した画像提出してもらおうかな
Student to another student: お前余計なことを！
I’m not quite sure what the teacher is suggesting there, and what the student is saying to the other student.
PS: I finally caught up! (Although it seems there isn’t much happening in the threads at the moment…)
I’m not really sure either, but the gist of what I interpreted was something like:
The teacher is saying that the student can take a photo of their note and invert the image to make it readable
The other student said something along the lines of that being a lot of work
Congrats on catching up, you were pretty fast ! I saw the all the notifications but I doubt I could help you much since in some cases it made me realized I didn’t get it either ! woops !
Anyway, I was a bit behind regarding Japanese reading practice this week so I didn’t participate
I don’t think it’s the teacher is offering something nice there. The male student seems shocked, and judging from the female student’s facial expression and speech bubble I think she might be angry with the male student for complaining earlier.
Thinking more about it, here’s what I get:
じゃあ後で - Then later
写真に撮って反転した画像 - an image of a photo that was taken and reversed
提出してもらおうかな - I’ll make you submit, maybe
So, I think she’s planning of making him (or maybe all students?) do something, and since he’s shocked, it’s probably a lot of work. Maybe write/draw out a reverse image, additionally to the notes they are taking right now?
Even if it’s that, I still can’t place what the female student is saying. Maybe she’s chastising him for doing an uncessary thing, maybe she’s talking about unnecessary work that now needs to be done. Maybe something else?
Thanks! It definitely was a bit stressful, haha. But since I actually also finished this chapter now, I finally have a bit of time to relax, and maybe actually answer a question or two…
I don’t think this is like “what the hell”. I think the もう here is like “further” in definition 3 of Jisho. She’s basically going off of the previous statement that the seats are reversed and saying it goes further than that. That then leads to the next statement (presumably by the same person) that everything is reversed left to right. It’s like a transitional statement.
That’s what I think it is anyway.
Page 123
Before that, the teacher had said to take notes. The student complained that even if they take notes, they won’t be able to read them later.
The teacher responds that it’s important for the students to write it down (maybe the idea that writing things helps you remember them better). Then the students whine some more (えー). That leads to this:
じゃあ後で写真に撮って反転した画像提出してもらおうかな
じゃあ = well then
後で = afterward
写真に撮って = take a picture
反転した画像 = reversed image
提出して = submit
もらおう = to get someone to do something (definition 2 in Jisho)
かな = Should I (definition 2 in Jisho)
Put it all together:
Maybe afterward I’ll have you take a picture and turn in the reversed image.
I guess they would have to reverse the image because the idea is that they turn it in after the bug is fixed. That way, she knows the students created readable versions of their notes that they can review later. That’s just me guessing though.
And the other student:
お前余計なことを
There is a dropped verb at the end:
お前余計なことを言った
This is “You said something you didn’t have to say” (definition 2 of 余計 in Jisho, “unnecessary, uncalled-for”). The student is saying that because the other student complained, now they may all have to submit photos of their notes. Meaning they all have to take notes. And notes that will satisfy the teacher as well.
If he hadn’t said anything, they could have just not taken notes at all, or taken sloppier notes.
I’ve been playing catch up and after chapter 2 I felt like maybe I’d drop this after this volume. Then chapter 3 was a bit more interesting, and now I feel same level of extra interest or possibly a bit more. Still don’t know if I’ll continue with it, but at least I’m enjoying the journey so far.
And thanks everyone for asking questions, it has helped me understand things better too.
