🍀よつばと！・ Yotsuba&! - Week 11

[StevenSB]

We’re reading this as part of the Absolute Beginner Book Club

Week 11	September 19
End Page	116
Chapter	3
Home Thread	よつばと！・ Yotsuba&! (Absolute Beginners Book Club) // Home Thread

Final Page

Discussion Rules

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• When asking for help, please mention the volume and page number.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if they initially seem embarrassing. All of us are here to learn.
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[Belthazar]

Ena, those are some very big words that you’re inserting into that very impressionable child’s mind.

ちきゅうのおんかんばー！

[mgevaert]

I was reading whole chapters at a go and got a little ahead, but just popping in to say I’m still enjoying the reading

[martywolfman]

Lot’s of pages this week!

I expect I’m writing this at the same time as @Dathmach again, but i enjoyed having a go at doing a full translation last week, so here goes again:

Page 101

Eeeenaaaa
huh? who?
Enaa
huh? Yotsuba
What’s going on?
(Apparently the きょろきょろ onomatopoeai here means ’ * Looking around because of confusion or being in a new place.')

Page 102

Sooo… Asagi said Ena is good at drawing
HUH??
What’s wrong?
This room is hot!!
Ena, do you know what a cooler is?
of course I know!
There’s one here in this room too. Look.
Oh that’s true.
but it’s hot here!
hmmm… I try to use it as little as possible.

Page 103

Do you know about Global Warming?
earth..what? (confused about the word)
Yeah, I don’t really understand much about it though
(Not totally sure about this)Literal translation seems to be something like ‘that’s a very big thing to say’ But based on what just happened (and @Belthazar comment above) I’m guessing the meaning is more like:
That’s a really big word
Using the cooler causes the earth to become warmer
the north pole ice is melting, islands are sinking (though i assume this really is meaning sea levels are rising and islands will be flooded)
It’s becoming a very difficult situation for the planet
(Side note, I’ve never seen とてもwritten as とっても before - I’m guessing it just adds a little emphasis? Like in English we might say reeeeeally instead of really)
That’s Global Warming
Global warming? (checking she’s saying it right)
That’s right

Page 104

So I use the cooler as little as possible
But on very hot days I use it.
OK I’m pretty sure this sentence above is right, but I’m completely unfamiliar with this particular conjugation of つける
hehe
cooler is bad?!?
It’s the enemy of the earth??
nu-uh. so much (not totally sure what she’s trying to say here)
huh? Yotsuba’s house dousn;t have a cooler, right?
Don’t have it
Dad is a good guy after all
So we don’t have a cooler
right. OK.
I think we don’t…
huh?? Yotsuba!?

Page 105

Daaaaaad!!
thumpthumpthumpthumpthump
what?
dad! does this house have a cooler?
Grandma’s house didn’t have it, grandad didn’t like it (wait, this is grandma’s house? or the place where they moved from was?)

Page 106

(turns the page - oh, never mind)
But this house has it!!!
Tadaaaaa!

Page 107

The bedrooms upstairs (on the 2nd floor) have it too
I’m really disappointed in you dad!
Whaaat?

Page 108

What? why? Whay are you dissapointed in me?
u
u
Global warming!!!
what?
oh, you know about that?
oh, Asagi too

Page 109

Asagi!! Turn the cooler off!!!
argh! Yotsuba
oh, Ena.
u
What’s going on?
My house has coolers
dad…
he was an enemy of the Earth
what??
but…but

Page 110

ummm
coolers make it cooler(…) That’s really nice.
recent models use less power and are kinder to the earth.
What’s going on?
Asagi is an enemy of the Earth!!
Global warming!! (said wrongly)
huh???

Page 111

Global warming!!!
Ena has…
Coolers are cooling down the earth.
really?

Page 112

This room is cool isn’t it?
It’s not hot right?
It’s cool
right?
so coolers aren’t bad?
coolers are very good things!
They’re not bad

Page 113

Yotsuba made a little mistake!
little miss thoughtless
ahahahah
Well, that means dad wasn’t a bad person too
Busy child
(OK, Asagi seems a bit mean)

Page 114

Dad!
This rooms hot. Turn the cooler on! (There’s this wierd conjugation again)
what??
coolers are good!
i have a better opinion of dad now

OK that was funny. She got so frantic, like she thought the earth was gonna end right then or something. But that’s kids for ya. Definitely enjoying this manga.

Same as usual for me this week. needed vocabulary help, but the grammar seems fins for me mostly, except this unfamiliar conjugation of that appeared a couple of timesつけちゃand あつちゃ

[Dathmach]

Here we are for another week! For some reason I thought it was only six pages at first and had assumed we were going to have a lighter week lol

Page 101

Eh? Who is it?
Ena
Huh!? Yotsuba chan
Uhh? What is it?

Page 102

So Asagi said that Ena
is good at drawing!
Huh!?
What is it?
The room is hot!!
Ena do you know what an air conditioner is?
I do
There’s one right over there
That’s true!
But it’s hot?
I try not to use it as much as possible.

Page 103

Do you know about global warming?
Global?
Well I don’t really understand it either,
To put it simply
When you use air conditioners the earth gets hotter
The north pole melts and islands sink
And the Earth gets into big trouble
That’s global warming
Global warming
yeah

Page 104

So we try not to use the air conditioner when possible
But on hot days we turn it on
…
The air conditioner is bad?
It’s the enemy of the Earth?
Huh?
Not to that extent
Doesn’t your house have an air conditioner Yotsubachan?
Th-there’s not!
Because Dad is a good person!
There’s no way we have one!
Hmmm I see
…I think we don’t
Huh!? Yotsuba chan!?

Page 105

Dad!!
What is it?
Dad!! Do we have an air conditioner?
Aah
An air conditioner!
Well grandma didn’t have one
Grandpa hates them you see

Page 106

But this house has one!
Tada!

Page 107

There’s one in the bedroom and one on the second floor
Daddy’s a bad person!!
Eeeh!?

Page 108

Wh-why are you looking at me like that!?
uu
uuuu
Huh!?
Global warming!!
What!?
You know about that…?
Gasp
Asagi too

Page 109

Asagi!!
Turn it off!!
Woah, Yotsuba chan
Ah, Ena
Uuu…
Wh-what is it?
We have it
An air conditioner
Dad
He’s a bad person…
Huh!?
No.. uh…

Page 110

Uh.. well..
Air conditioning keeps you cool and is super nice…
Recent one save power and are eco-friendly
They create negative ions…
What are you doing?
Asagi is an enemy of Earth!?
Global warming!!
Huuuh!?

Page 111

The Earth is going to get hot!!
It was Ena…
That’s why…
We’re using air conditioners to cool down the Earth
!
Huh?

Page 112

See? This room is super cool, right?
It’s not hot at all
It’s cool
Right?
…
So then air conditioners aren’t bad?
Air conditioners are wonderful things
They’re not bad

Page 113

Yotsuba made a small mistake!!
You silly girl
Ahahaha
Ah, so Daddy isn’t a bad person after all!
?
What a busy kid

Page 114

Daddy!!
The room is hot, lets turn on the air conditioner
Huh!?
Air conditioning is great!
I take back what I said about you!

Honestly, I’ve been having more trouble with Yotsuba than the other manga clubs I’ve been in. I’m pretty sure it’s because most of my Japanese knowledge is tied up in kanji, so when it’s taken away I’m left floundering.

[Belthazar]

@martywolfman

Page 103

@martywolfman

(Not totally sure about this)Literal translation seems to be something like ‘that’s a very big thing to say’ But based on what just happened (and @Belthazar comment above) I’m guessing the meaning is more like:

That’s a really big word

My comment wasn’t intended to be a translation.

Jisho has 大まかに言えば as an entry meaning “generally speaking” - since 大まか on its own means “rough (estimate, outline, etc.); broad; general”, you could translate this literally as “if I were to speak in general terms”. Ena has used 言うと instead of 言えば, but since they’re both just conditional forms (i.e. “if”, albeit with slight different subtexts), you can just take 大まかに言うと as having the same meaning. So basically the general flow of Ena’s dialogue is “I don’t entirely understand [global warming] myself, but in very general terms, [explanation]”.

(But yeah, “air cons make the earth heat up” is extremely general. Several steps are being skipped, there.)

@martywolfman

(Side note, I’ve never seen とてもwritten as とっても before - I’m guessing it just adds a little emphasis? Like in English we might say reeeeeally instead of really)

Yep, emphasis. You can get more emphasis by adding more っ - とっっっっても.

Page 104

@martywolfman

But on very hot days I use it.
OK I’m pretty sure this sentence above is right, but I’m completely unfamiliar with this particular conjugation of つける

つけちゃう is an abbreviation of つけてしまう. ～てしまう adds a subtext of regret to a verb (or, in other contexts, completion, but here it’s regret). つける = I turn on the aircon, つけてしまう = I regrettably am forced to turn on the aircon. Sort of thing.

For godan verbs that use で as the ～て form (for example 飲む > 飲んで), the abbreviation is ～じゃう

飲んでしまう > 飲んじゃう

@martywolfman

nu-uh. so much (not totally sure what she’s trying to say here)

It’s “Weeell… I wouldn’t really go quite that far…” though she trails off before saying the predicate, so a more literal translation might be “That much is…”

Page 105

@martywolfman

Grandma’s house didn’t have it, grandad didn’t like it (wait, this is grandma’s house? or the place where they moved from was?)

Where they came from.

Page 107

@martywolfman

The bedrooms upstairs (on the 2nd floor) have it too

There’s one in the bedroom and one on the second floor. The two lines in that bubble are essentially different sentences. Their bedroom is on the first floor.

(We haven’t seen much of the house in this volume yet, since we’ve only just started, but over time you do get a sense for where everything is. Weirdly, though, even as far as the current volume, we’ve still only seen one of the upstairs rooms. This page has a fan-created floor plan - it’s about two-thirds of the way down.)

Page 110

@martywolfman

What’s going on?

You missed the マイナスイオンs

Page 111

@martywolfman

Global warming!!!

Yes, but what she specifically said was “The earth is getting hotter!!”

Page 113

@martywolfman

(OK, Asagi seems a bit mean)

Just a bit, but she did defuse the crisis.

Page 114

@martywolfman

This rooms hot. Turn the cooler on! (There’s this wierd conjugation again)

Different conjugation, innit? つけよう is the volitional form - “let’s [verb]”

[martywolfman]

@Belthazar

Different conjugation, innit? つけよう is the volitional form - “let’s [verb]”

Oh, haha, yeah, apparently I completely misread that! But yeah, thanks for all the help as always

[Hismena]

Fortunately, only one of the characters has kana-only speech bubbles. Unfortunately, she’s the MC! I find it helps my comprehension to read aloud, but that’s probably some half-conscious ear training from years of anime viewing.

[Twelvewishes]

Oh no that’s so many pages to read! Okay I can do this.

This chapter Yotsuba is once again in top form when it comes to the amount of hilarious expression she makes.

ページ１０３

北極の氷がとけて
島が沈んじゃったり

I’m wondering whether both が function as subject markers or if one means “but”, since the て appears to connect the two sentences.

Since the nothpole ice is melting, the island(s) will sink.

I think because a conjunction is used they are technically two phrases and so you can have two subject markers?

ページ１０８

知ってんのか…

Okay let’s look at this a bit closer, I want to know what’s going on. One idea:
ているの ⇒ てん, however this is marked as kansai dialect on bunpro. Also, what function would the additional の have in this case? Wouldn’t that be redundant? I’m going to assume that it belongs to the か and ichi.moe considers のか a sentence ending particle “lamenting reflections on the preceding statement”, which works rather well here.

You know this (uh-oh!)?

Love all the characterisations, Ena being thoughtful about advanced concepts (and I wonder what her understanding of negative ions is), while Asagi shows her proficiency in being an older sibling by defusing Yotsuba’s thoughtbomb and breaking the concept down to simple child logic.

[Hismena]

@Twelvewishes

ページ１０３

北極の氷がとけて
島が沈んじゃったり

I think those are 2 independent clauses connected by the て form of とける. The first subject marked with が is 北極の氷 and the second is 島. The 2nd verb phrase (which I’m leaving unconjugated and uncontracted) is 沈む with its helper verb, てしまう, and its particle, たり.

So, “The Arctic ice melts and the islands unfortunately sink, and so on.” There might be an implied cause and effect, but it isn’t stated (no から, ので, etc).

[Belthazar]

@Twelvewishes

I’m wondering whether both が function as subject markers or if one means “but”, since the て appears to connect the two sentences.

They’re both subject markers. Particles in Japanese are post-positions - they modify the word that they follow. The subject of a sentence or clause is the doer of the verb, and you’ve got two different verbs here, with two different subjects: “the polar ice^subject is melting, and the islands^subject are sinking”. が-as-but must come at the end of a clause, not in the middle. “The polar ice, but melting” doesn’t really make sense. The ～て form is functioning as “and” here.

@Twelvewishes

Okay let’s look at this a bit closer, I want to know what’s going on. One idea:
ているの ⇒ てん, however this is marked as kansai dialect on bunpro. Also, what function would the additional の have in this case? Wouldn’t that be redundant?

There is a general tendency in casual speech to abbreviate る to ん when followed by な-line kana. Can also see it happening with ら, as in 分からない > 分かんない. It’s not really an extra の here, it’s just the same one. Having something be marked as Kansai-ben in the dictionary doesn’t prevent other people from using it.