(Red book p28)
I’m not sure if you realise you’ve left out part of the sentence?
いずれはこのかあさんのほうきも古くなるでしょうよ、そうしたらキキの好きなのにしなさい。そのときはあなたも一人前になっているでしょうから。
Summary
Before long, this broom of your mother’s will become old, and when that happens you can choose one that you like. Because you’ll be an adult by then.
Red book p30. I still have a question mark in my book against this! I would read it the same way you have, but I couldn’t find it as a phrase anywhere online. You will find in a later chapter than there is more than one type of black, so maybe it is referring to a medium shade of black? 決まっている in this case means decided or fixed rather than chosen.
Red book pp30-31
まかしといて is a slightly colloquial form of 任しておいて which means ’leave it to me’. Hopefully it makes sense now?
Be careful with your ろs versus るs. Only mentioning since I saw you did that twice in the same post.
By the way, what version of the book do you have? The page numbers don’t seem to line up with the version I have (what we’ve been calling the blue book) or the version @Kyasurin has (what we’ve been calling the red book).
I made a mistake while copying it down here, did read the full thing but still don’t understand what she’s saying. Something about her broom getting old, kiki doing as she pleases…
oooh i will be careful. its true that i mix those up when reading and then sometimes end of remembering vocabulary wrong.
I’m reading a digital version purchased from ebookjapan. Page numbers don’t sync up? That’s a bother It’ll be inconvenient to answer my questions then unless I type in whole paragraphs!
Yeah, the pages don’t line up, so it can be tough. Sometimes with ebooks you can even resize the text, so you can change how many “pages” there are in the book.
As long as you give us a bit of context, I’m sure we can find things!
I wrote my translation above, click on the Summary button. We sometimes use the Hide Details or Blue Spoiler options (available under that Options/cog icon when you reply) so that people can have a go at their own translation before reading someone else’s.
It may be a bit weird to ask a question about this now, long after the book club already has finished the book, but I guess I’ll just give it a go anyway and see if anyone answers. The last sentence of the chapter is:
右手がエプロンのすそをにぎって、そっと目のほうにもちあげられたようでした。
And I don’t really feel like I get it… so I’d be grateful if anyone would be kind enough to provide an explanation or translation or something like that!(And apologies in case this has been answered already and I missed it)
No worries! Always feel free to ask questions. I don’t have the book in front of me, but here is roughly what I think it means.
Basically whoever this is about gripped the cuff/hem of the apron with their right hand and then gently raised it towards their eyes. With the added よう at the end, I guess it seems/appears like that happened? It’s hard to say on that part without reading the context.
In the scene you mentioned, Kiki’s mother is experiencing a moment of emotion but trying not to show it. One moment she’s smiling, then she suddenly turns away, and raises the hem of her apron … as if to wipe away a tear.
Well that’s how I read it anyway
Also, I second @seanblue’s comment. Please shout if you have any more questions.
I have a fully annotated copy of that book and I am not afraid to use it.
Oh perfect! I just didn’t realize this possibility, I convinced myself that this meant she’s just getting out of the apron because it’s sleeping time. But now that I read this, makes perfect sense. “She grasped the hem of her apron, and with a quiet move, [it looked like as if] she held it up to her eyes [to wipe a tear].”
It’ll be inconvenient to answer my questions then unless I type in whole paragraphs!
We sometimes use the Hide Details or Blue Spoiler options (available under that Options/cog icon when you reply) so that people can have a go at their own translation before reading someone else’s.
