成績の良いマーニャは、同じクラスの友達よりも、少なくともニ学年は上の勉強をしていました。
Manya had good school results, compared to her classmates she studied at least two grades higher.
勉強は、天に続く長い階段に似ています。
Studying is like a long stairway leading to heaven.
一段一段上るごとに、今まで見えなかった景色が、少しずつ遠くまで見えてくるのです。
As you climb it step by step, sceneries that you couldn’t see before, little by little come in sight in the distance.
（もっと知りたい！もっと見たい！）マーニャは、大学に行きたいと思いました。
“I want to know more! I want to see more!” Manya wanted to go to university.
Hey, thanks for sharing your translation.
I think you forgot to translate the second sentence: フランスでは、女性も大学に行けます。
And I think you misinterpreted the last sentences. In my opinion this is a dialogue between Manya and Bronia.
translation
But at the these times in the country called Poland, where Manya was born, women were not allowed to go to university. In France on the other hand even women can go to university. But the family had no money for going to France or just attending university. So Manya contemplated. „Bronia, my big sister, you probably want to go to university too.“ „I want to go. I want to become a doctor.“ „Please go. I will earn the money.“ „Manya, what are you going to do?“
Great to have your contribution. There’s another sentence between the first two in my version of the book - フランスでは、女性も大学に行けます。I think you might have combined this sentence with the third sentence in your translation.
Regarding the last four sentences, did you realise that this is a back and forth conversation between Mania and her sister Bronya? The punctuation marks「 」are quotation marks for speech.
So the first sentence is Mania speaking to Bronya: “My sister Bronya, perhaps you want to go to university too?”
Your translation sounds a bit as if the whole family was thinking about going to France, but I think it’s only about her: The money for her going to France and attending University was simply not existent in the family.
To me I think this translation sounds fine in English, in the context of your translation I don’t think it sounds like the whole family is thinking about going to France.
I had to think about the だけ in this sentence. Without it I think the sentence says - “There wasn’t money in the family for going to France and going to university”. With the だけ I think the sentence says - “There wasn’t money in the family for going to France, or even just for going to university”. Implying that even if she could go to university in Poland they wouldn’t be able to afford it. Does that make sense?
By the way, we are running a little ahead of schedule and having translations posted a few hours before the page technically turns at midnight in Japan. I don’t see that as a problem, the schedule is there just to give us a pace to work to, but I just thought I’d mention. @2000kanji posts his translations carefully timed just after the page turns each day.
It is not the first time I am not sure which page we are on today. I guess my weekdays are blurry from overworking so when Saturday comes I want to study but lost any track of pages. If I am the only one, let me try to keep up better. If there are more people like me, may be we can make page calendar per day, not per week?
I was confused by the fact that there is no money to move but they are still discussing who should be studying. What exact expression is pointing out to “earning money”?
I thought in English one would phrase this as “But the family had no money for her going to France or just attending university.” But as I’m not a native speaker, this might be totally off
I think this is tied with the understanding of ~て in フランスに 行って 大学に かようだけ. I don’t read this as “or” like some other translators, but instead as “and then”. On top of that, だけ applies to the full sentence in my opinion:
(フランスに 行って 大学に かよう) だけ
i.e. “for (going to France and attending university) only / just / nothing but, the family did not have the money.”
(If だけ would only apply to the going to the university, then what would the て-form of the first part connect to? It would need a full sentence, and there is none…)
[details=“my translation”]
しかし、その頃マーニャの生まれたポーランドという国では、女性は大学へ行くことが許されていませんでした。
However, in those days women were not allowed to go to university in Manya’s birthland Poland.
フランスでは、女性も大学に行けます。
In France, women can also go to university.
でも、フランスに行って大学に通うだけのお金は、家にありませんでした。
But the family had not the money needed for her going to France and attending university.
そこで、マーニャは考えました。
So Manya considered.
「ブローニャ姉さんも大学に行きたいでしょ。」
“Bronya, sister, you too want to go to university, don’t you?”
「行きたいわ。私、お医者さんになりたいの。」
“Sure I want to go. I want to become a doctor.”
「行きなさいよ。私がお金を稼ぐわ。」
“Do go. I’ll earn money.”
「マーニャは、どうするの。」
“Manya, what will you do?”
Thanks, that was exactly the thought process I was going through. The grammar to me suggested that the word だけ applied to both going to France and going to university. But the translating だけ as “only” I was thinking it just applied to one thing - i.e. “going to university”.
I wonder if I am better looking at the second definition of だけ in Jisho - “as much as; to the extent of; enough to.” It’s a much simpler translation then:
Page 33: でも、フランスに 行って 大学に かようだけの お金は、家に ありませんでした。
But the family didn’t have money to the extent of [paying for] going to France and attending university.
「姉さんが大学を卒業したら、次は私をフランスに呼んでほしいの。」
“When you graduate from college, I want you to invite me to France next.”
マーニャは、お金を稼ぐために、田舎です住み込みの家庭教師になりました。
Manya became a live-in private tutor in the countryside, in order to earn money.
田舎には、貧しくて学校へ行けず、自分の名前も書けない子がたくさんいました。
In the countryside, there were many children who were too poor to go to school and couldn’t even write their name.
マーニャは、そんな子たちには、お金をもらわずに読み書きを教えました。
Manya taught those children to read and write without taking money.
時間を見つけては、自分の勉強も続けました。
When she could find time, she continued her studies as well.
マーニャは、科学が一番好きでした。
Manya liked science best.
Can I break this one down. We haven’t done much of this so far in this book:
Breakdown
田舎には - in the countryside/rural areas (+ は - topic marking particle)
貧しくて - poor (adjective, in て-form/connective form)
学校へ行けず - without being able to go to school (potential verb in the ず-form)
自分の名前も書けない - not even able to write their own name (negative potential form of 書く)
子が - children (+ が - subject marking particle)
たくさんいました - there were many
And putting it back together:
子がたくさんいました
There were many children
自分の名前も書けない子がたくさんいました
There were many children who were unable to write even their own name
学校へ行けず、自分の名前も書けない子がたくさんいました
There were many children who, without being able to go to school, were unable to write even their own name
貧しくて学校へ行けず、自分の名前も書けない子がたくさんいました
There were many children who were poor and, without being able to go to school, were unable to write even their own name.
田舎には、貧しくて学校へ行けず、自分の名前も書けない子がたくさんいました
In the rural areas, there were many children who were poor and, without being able to go to school, were unable to write even their own name.
I think connecting the phrases with „and“ makes sense but I liked that @2000kanji translated the being poor as a reason for not being able to go to school. Which makes sense to me too because the て-form in contexts like this often has this causative element.
Thanks for breaking this sentence down! I am also reading along every day but I still have problems to understand the sentences because I do not know enough grammar.
Maybe I can participate in discussions in some of the next chapters.
I really like your translation, it captures the meaning very well, I think 