V1: Pages 222 - 231
V2: Pages 201 - 209
BookWalker: ?
Last line:
それにしても、そうとうな量です。
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0 voters
These senteces at the very beginning are going over my head:
要はだね、この町の人の耳がいいか……ってところだが。はなはだ心配だがね。なにしろぬけとるようだから。
“what’s important, is whether or not the people of this town can hear well. It’s quite the concern.”
most unsure about the next one: “in any case someting seems to be left out.”
This has to tie in to the luggage left on the train so, even if it seems far fetched to me, does 耳がいいか refer to the station staff’s mistake?
This part also tripped me up. Tried to break it down and grasp it structurally:
要はだね = “What’s important / The point of (the concert is to warm people’s hearts)”
この町の人のみみがいいか = “Are the people in this town’s ears good [enough to appreciate our music]?”
ってところだが = This one got a bit wonky for me, and I feel like I’m still futzing with the interpretation
In one sentence: “We had intended to warm people’s hearts (with a concert). Whether or not the people of this town have an ear for that music… We doubt that’s the case.”
I think your reading of はなはだ心配だがね is the right one.
For なにしろぬけとるようだから:
なにしろ = in any case, because, however, you see
ぬけ = omission, fault, slip
とる = to pick up, to take
よう = seems, form, like
だから = because, therefore
“You see, it’s because (the people in this town) seem to make mistakes.” or “The people in in this town seem quite incompetent.”
I suppose it’s appropriate that snooty artists will use this kind of vague, subtextual language? Can’t say I recall such passive-aggressive dialogue in the book before.
That was a surprising minefield of grammar and syntax I attempted to wade through, so please correct any mistakes I made.
Thanks for your perspective. ところ is such a nuanced word with probably a million uses, not sure if I will ever completely understand it.
Hoo boy. I’ve really made a habit out of being late for the weekly thread. Lots of stress and pressures from real life. In fact, there’s one particularly stressful event going on right now that’s pushing me to try to focus on this book instead of it. We’ll see how well that goes.
Read the first 3 pages of chapter 10 last night, since I got a late start. Time for a reread.
ルルルルー ルルルルー - I know this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this onomatopoeia, but I just need to point out that this is a weird way to onomatopoeificate a telephone ringing.
男の人のひとりが目をきっと光らせて言いました。「いや、楽士ではない。音楽家だ」- This is one that I feel is some sort of cultural difference. It seems to mean that he said it suddenly with shining eyes, but the statement sounds snippy (Not to mention the illustration makes the whole group seem rather dour).
It’s nice to read some keigo. Despite it being ostensibly the most useful sort of language for me to be able to speak, it’s far easier to end up reading a whole lot of casual language.
男の人はうほんと咳払いをする。- Having trouble parsing the 「はうほんと」. うほんと doesn’t seem to be anything, so I can only guess it’s はう+ほんと?
Sure hope none of these folks play the tuba.
うほん・と・咳払いをする
The man cleared his throat “uhon”, is how I understand it.
Keeping this train rolling. Probably shouldn’t talk about trains. Monster Train has become my latest time sink. It seems like anything fun ultimately ends up taking time away from studying. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As a note, we really are in the final stretch, huh? There’s only around 40 or so pages left, from my current reading. Wonder what I’ll do afterwards. Guess I’ll need to read something else, right? These readings the the primary tether between me and Japanese at the moment. Maybe I’ll join another book club. The anki, readings, re-readings, and discussions have been kind of exhausting, but they’ve also kept me engaged. For right now, though. I’ve got to focus on rereading pages 4-5 of chapter 10.
楽器を乗せて列車は行っちゃったというわけなんです。- So, I know that というわけです means “this is why”; “it is the case that”, but what is the なん adding here?
「むりよう、そんなこと」- I think I understand this one. I translated it as, Jesus christ dude, I’m like, 13. And you’re asking me to jump into a moving train? Fuck you, man.
こんな北風みたいなつめたい目をして……春を呼ぶコンサートだってさ。- This one took me some effort to parse, though I think I’ve got it. Looking with eyes as chilly as the north wind… But playing a concert to call springtime.
Ah, that would make some more sense.
I walk an endless expanse.
Am I alone?
Was there… ever anyone else?
I’ve trudged forward for an eternity now, in silence.
All I know, is that I must read.
I think chapters 9 and 10 are my favorite with ridiculous demands from adults and Kiki trying to somehow manage the mess.
V1: Pages 231 - 240
V2: Pages 210 - 218
BookWalker: ?
We’re reading to the end of Chapter 10 this week.
Please briefly check whether questions have already been answered above before posting them, but otherwise don’t hesitate.
0 voters
It’s so ridiculous hahahaha
My entire thought process near the end of Ch. 10 Part 1 was “young lady, this is quite unsafe”. I felt so bad for Jiji :<
Yeah, that poor cat. Kiki says they’ll just go check it out to see if it’s reasonably possible, and when they get there she gives him no chance of backing out.
Just one note of uncertainty from the end of last week’s reading before moving on to the latter half of the chapter:
I can only guess too, but I think より here can better be interpreted as “other than”.
しょうがないわ・より・やる
There is no option - other than - doing it
I thought this might have gotten lost before radish8’s
Repeat club message?
The なん is the same as なの. Maybe you know it as the の of interest/emotion? When this の comes after a noun or na adjectives (which behave very much like nouns grammatically), it needs な to connect it.
What it adds can be difficult to describe. So I’ll leave it to me betters and leave a link to Maggie sensei.: smiley:
Isより used like that? I thought that usage was firmly in しか territory. I interpreted it was a choice of things to say/think. Rather than “I’ll do it,” “I have no choice.”
Could be. I’m not sure.
@Sharpevil @Luviex @Wildjinjer
～よりしょうがない / ～よりしかたがない is a set phrase (grammar point) with the meaning “to have no choice but to…”
Hoo boy. Yakuza: Like A Dragon came out today, so I’ve really got to struggle to keep myself focused and working through this book. The absolute last thing I want is to be behind when we finish it out.
Wonder if anyone would be willing to do a book club for book 2? We’ve still got 16 folks working their way through, plus perhaps a few from the original book club. Not that I regret buying the box set of the full series either way, it looks awfully pretty on the shelf.
Read the first two pages/page and a half of this week’s section last night, and immediately my thoughts go to how much trouble kiki would be in if she crashed/dropped some of those horns causing them to look and sound like my high school marching band’s horns. Also,
Def interested in continuing with Book 2, especially since I’ve finally got a good bead on how to handle the pacing of my reading. Vocab and comprehension still needs some work, but considering I haven’t really worked on grammar aside from inference through reading, I’m doing pretty alright. I doubt the books get that much more difficult (if it all), so it’s really just going to get easier from here on out (knock on wood).
It’s been said before, but this chapter and the last one have been a lot of fun both because a) Kiki is pretty clever with adapting to situations that b) incompetent adults put her in. It helps that the musicians here are pretty ridiculous caricatures of snooty ARTEESTS, so it’s all good fun and games (aside from the genuinely harrowing part of the book where Kiki is in danger of being thrown from a very fast train).
Also, aw yiss Like a Dragon. I work on the Xbox social media team, so today was a v big day for us as well, part of which was pushing Yakuza content out. Still need to properly dive into the series myself! My game time is currently being occupied by Trails of Cold Steel, which I’m enjoying way more than I thought I would.
Oh my god. There was a tuba. There WAS a tuba!
I guess she can carry more than I thought. Thus begins and ends my comments for the 3rd and 4th pages of this week’s reading.
EDIT: Wait… How is the slide not falling right off of that trombone?
Also, I just realized I’ve left myself five pages to read tonight. Whoops. I’ll cut the play-by-play for now so as to be caught up for the final chapter tomorrow.
