This sentence tripped me up too, I actually meant to go back to it to figure it out so thanks for reminding me
This is what I got:
かあさん、もうキキにまかせたらどうだい:
かあさん = wife/honey
もう = now
キキに = to Kiki
まかせたら = leave to
どうだい = how about?
→ “Wife, how about we leave it to Kiki now?”
キキがその気にならなくちゃ、いくらいってもむだだと思うよ:
キキが = Kiki
その気にならなくちゃ = have to feel like it/get to think that way (comes from the construction of その気になる + なくちゃ [“must” do, casual form]) いくらいっても= no matter how much you say (comes from the grammar rule of “no matter how” – formation: いくら + Verb-てform + も [here it’s the てform of 言う, making it “no matter how much you say”])
むだだ = it’s pointless
と思うよ = I think
→ “For Kiki to have to feel like it, no matter how many times you say it, I think it’s pointless”
Altogether contextual interpretation: “Honey, how about we leave it to Kiki? No matter how many times you tell her to have to feel like it, I think it’s pointless”
Thank you for pointing me towards the いくら～ても grammar point. That was a big part of what I was missing.
It’s worth noting that その気になる appears to be its own grammar point, meaning “to feel like it”. That’s why I thought it meant “Kiki has to feel like it”.
One big difference between our interpretations is that you said the 「キキがその気にならなくちゃ」part is effectively a quote from the mom. That makes sense, but I guess I didn’t make the connection because of the lack of quoting particle. I suppose I should expect that, particularly in dialog, but it threw me off.
Just wanted to say, if you’re struggling and don’t feel bad about sorta cheating like me, you can look at a general (ballpark) translation of the first chapter (and some of the second) by Lynne Riggs. Click on Look Inside.
I have a slightly different interpretation here. -ちゃ is just an abbreviation of -ては, and is used as such in other contexts; it literally just means “if”. As Maggie-Sensei points out, when this comes after the ない form of a verb (i.e. -なくちゃ), then it is often is followed by something like いけない or だめだ or (more formally) ならない, in which case we have “if not ~, it’s no good” which is how we say “must ~”. And this いけない/だめだ/ならない is often omitted and left implied.
But that doesn’t mean that -なくちゃ has to be used that way. It could also be literal, simply “if not ~” with nothing left omitted (provided there is some other explicit consequence given). I think that’s what’s happening here.
So in that case we have “If Kiki doesn’t feel like it, then no matter how many times you say it, it’s pointless I think.” Which makes more sense to me.
もちろん、小さな女の子にとってそれはたいへんなことだったのですが
But of course, for small girls this is difficult (referring to moving out on their own to a city/town with no witches from the previous sentence).
今では魔法の力も弱くなり
Now their magical power is still weak (not sure on this part)
数もめっきり少なくなってしまった魔女たちが生きのこっていくためには
A remarkably small number of witches have survived (?) (excluding the ためには part for now)
たいせつな習慣なのでした
It was an important custom.
So besides not really understanding that third part, I don’t know how the sentence comes together. I don’t fully understand the following sentence either, but let’s take it one at a time.
ために is “for the sake of” (just learned that one on WK, was super-proud of myself for recognizing it xD) Apparently (as I just found out thanks to Jisho), 生きのこっていく is split as 生き (living) and のこっていく (conjugated form of 残る, to remain/to be left).
Got it. I knew ために, but couldn’t fit it into the way I split the sentence in my post so I didn’t bother.
One thing that’s throwing me off here is the lack of comma between 「数もめっきり小なくなってしまった」and「魔女たちが生きのこっていくためには」. Without a comma, it seems like the first part is modifying 魔女たち, though I’m having trouble getting that to make sense. The translation you quoted from @keithb makes more sense, though the fact that this whole thing is one sentence is confusing.
Now that you say that…maybe it is? Maybe it’s more like “Of course, this is a tough thing for little girls, but nowadays, magic is weakening, so for the sake of the remaining witches (whose numbers have fallen remarkably), it is an important custom.” Kind of says the same thing, but in a slightly different way.
((Does that make any sense at all? There’s a good chance I’m wrong, because my grammar is…mostly based on educated guesses and in-the-moment googling, but that’s how I would roughly translate it if that piece is supposed to be modifying the witches instead of its own separate clause))
For the sake of the witches, whose numbers are falling, to go on existing… (this custom is important)
You’re right about the modifying clause, though I separated it too much when I parceled it in my translation. I think my new sentence above may be more accurate.
I just had a minor epiphany related to the sentence I asked about. I kept trying to figure out what も meant in these two places, but the problem was that I was looking at them in isolation. I just realized that they should be treated together using the AもBも construct. Based on this, I think the entire part I quoted above is a single relative clause modifying 魔女たち.
Also a note about 魔女たちが生きのこっていく:
I originally thought it meant “surviving witches”, but that would be something like 生きのこっている魔女. Also, I don’t know much about the いく grammar point, but one of it’s uses is “to continue” the verb it’s attached to. So I actually think this means something more like “witches continue to survive” or “continued survival of witches”.
With these realizations and what everyone else has mentioned, I’d translate it as:
Of course this is difficult for small girls, but for the sake of the continued survival of witches, whose magic is weakening and whose numbers have become remarkably small, this is an important custom.
So I’m having trouble following the narration about brooms / flying on page 11 (blue book).
First part says that Kiki quickly because good at flying on the broom. But after that I’m not quite getting everything.
「ただ、ちょっぴりおとなになりかけでしたから、飛んでいるといろいろなことに気をひかれてしまうのでした。」
However, since Kiki is in the midst of becoming a little bit of an adult, when she flies, she is drawn to (or fascinated by?) various things (unexpectedly).
I think that’s pretty close, but I’m not sure what the 気 is doing in this sentence. Maybe it’s her mind that is drawn to the various things?
Would it be more accurate to translate 気をひかれてしまう as “to be distracted by”?
The next sentence starts with たとえば, so I think it was giving examples of things she’s been drawn to (again, distracted by?) while flying - the いろいろなこと from the previous sentence.
「たとえば、鼻のわきによく出る大きなにきびのこととか、友だちの誕生日に着るドレスのこととか。」
For example, a big pimple appearing on the side of her nose or the dress she’s wearing on her friend’s birthday.
「するとたいへん、ほうきは急に落ち始めます。」
Thereupon, the broom starts to fall very suddenly.
「あるときは、はじめて着たレースの下着のことばかり気にして、ほうきが落ちだしたのも気づかずに電信柱にぶつかってしまったのです。」
On one occasion, she was paying too much attention to (nothing more than) it being the first time wearing lace underwear, and without noticing that her broom started to fall, she crashed into a telephone pole.
Anyway… as always I tend to figure some things out as I’m writing up these posts/questions. Are there any issues with my translation?
I think I spent over an hour analyzing these sentences.
The translations look solid to me not that that means too much. The 気をひかれてしまう I took as her attention was drawn to いろいろなこと… But I am not sure. That is just my thought on it.
As far as I remember they haven’t stated Jiji’s gender, but on page 22 in the red version he refers to himself a “boku”, so we can assume he is a boy.
I really like the next chapter. The dialog makes it much easier =)
That and i read the Swedish version first, so I knew what to expect =P (Swedish is not my primary language, but I grew up listening to it so I understand it fair enough)
