Well I just finished this chapter yesterday. Poor Kiki! I can’t believe the boy broke the broom her mother made for her! And now all she has is the sucky broom the boy made, which bucks like a wild horse, at least until she can make a new one herself. And all this after nearly losing Jiji (not to mention a little boy) to the waves! What an awful day.
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Finished the chapter. I have a question about the end of page 109 in the blue book.
The boy says:
「どうしたら滑らかに飛べるかって研究のほうだったら、ずいぶんしたから、なにか、僕に、手伝えること、あるかもしれないよ。」
I get that the kid is offering to help, but I don’t really understand the first part at all. Something about asking what he can do so Kiki can fly smoothly. But I’m not sure what かって is doing there and how it all connects back to his research.
I think that かって is the “way of doing things” meaning of 勝手, modified by the previous cause, “how to fly smoothly,” and itself modifying 研究 (research). So I read it as something like, “research into how to fly smoothly.”
The whole thing may be a bit halting, like he’s making it up as he goes along, something like “If I did research into how to fly smoothly, did it really well, somehow, might I not be able to help…”
But that’s just my guess; I’m no expert here. 
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That usage of かって makes sense I guess. Though jisho lists that definition as a noun, so it can’t modify 研究 if he’s being grammatically correct (which of course doesn’t have to be the case).
But I’m not sure if he’s talking about the research he already did or new research. The から after ずいぶんした is actually the reason I thought he was talking about past research. I’m not sure how you’d translate から if he’s talking about new research.
I’m still behind at the moment, but could this かって actually be a colloquial version of かというと?
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I’m having trouble finding a definitive meaning for かというと. Is it like “speaking of…”? If so, it could be the intending meaning, but I’m still not able to piece everything together.
On my phone so short answer, but yes: か marking the question (how can you fly smoothly?) plus quoting って to attach it to 研究.
なぜ猫は可愛いかって研究をやってる。
I’m doing research into why cats are so cute.
(I) am doing “why are cats so cute” research.
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So the first part would then be “If we (or I) research how you can fly smoothly, …”. But what about the ずいぶんしたから part? I still can’t figure out which meaning for から would be used here since した is past tense.
Just in case you didn’t look up 海坊主 when the weather forecast talked about 海坊主風 back on p105 red book/p94 blue book, this is what one looks like.
Ukiyo-e print of the sailor Tokuso encountering an umibōzu, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
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I think he might be saying "There may be some way I can help, because I’ve done quite a bit, if we’re talking about research into how to fly smoothly"
Disclaimer: I’ve not read all the pages preceding this section
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That makes a lot of sense, thanks!
I am slowly catching up with this chapter!
According to my Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar (p443), it’s acceptable to use たい with a third person subject in explanatory situations. e.g. 野村さんはあなたと話したいんですよ。（Because Nomura-san wants to talk with you).
My translation is pretty similar to yours.
Jiji has just said they should stop the boy or he’ll hurt himself.
Kiki replies:
He wants to fly, so let’s let him fly. If he hurts himself, he’ll get my point. Don’t you think it’s terrible, taking someone else’s things without so much as a word!?
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Hey, bit late to the party. I only found this thread recently. I’m probably going to read this again, but I couldn’t figure out how Kiki’s broom got broken. I figure it was the cleaning boy, but I’m still confused as to how it got broken.
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So while Kiki was at the beach, a boy snatched her broom because he wanted to see if he could actually fly with it too. Little did he know that without the innate ability to fly with a broom (i.g., magic), it wasn’t possible. He goes up a hill and jumps only to fall and break Kiki’s broom in his fall.
Welcome to the book club! There are several of us who can still help with any more questions you might have.
Hi, for the fans of Kiki : you can practice your listening with flashcards of the movie on https://mainingu.com ! Enjoy
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Repeat Club Discussion (Week 8) Starts Here!
Chapter 5 Part 1
V1: Pages 99 - 110
V2: Pages 88 - 98
BookWalker: ?
Last line:
女の人はそういいながら、首をのばしてあたりを見まわすと、いきなり高い叫び声をあげました。
15 August 2020
Please briefly check whether questions have already been answered above before posting them, but otherwise don’t hesitate.
- I’m reading along
- I’m still reading but haven’t reached this part yet
- I’m dropping this book
- I’m a superhero who’s read it before but is here for chatting
0 voters
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No Kyasurin summary this chapter 
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Yeah, sorry about that 
Me on 20 Feb 2018:
But I think as the number of readers dwindled, so did my enthusiasm for writing chapter summaries.
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