10 Minute Biographies Chapter 5 (Absolute Beginner Book Club)

You are probably right. I hesitated with my translation because ‘surely’ and ‘aren’t there’ seemed contradictory.

I put my unknown vocab from chapter one into an anki deck, but didn’t manage to keep it up after that. But we’ve had two words from chapter one repeat so far in this chapter:

あきれる
わくわくする

We’ve thought before in these books that with it being a children’s book they might try and deliberately repeat words to help build children’s confidence with them.

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p. 74

例えば、こんなことがありました。
For example, this here happened.
ある日、シートンは、お兄さんや近所の人と森の中を歩いていました。
One day, Seton was walking in the forest with his older brother and some neighbors .
すると、大きなタカが、森の上をぐるぐると飛び回っていることに気がつきました。
Thereupon he noticed a large hawk flying in circles above the forest.
「きっと、近くにヒナ鳥がいるんだ。それをタカは狙っているんだろう。」
“Surely there is a chick nearby. The hawk is having an eye on that.”
と、お兄さんは言いました。
So said his brother.
「え、それじゃヒナが食べられちょうよ。」
“Well, then the chick will be eaten.”
シートンが心配をした、その時です。
Seton was worried at this time.

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I would insert something like „probably“ here to cover the だろう.

I would interpret this as one sentence. „…“, said his older brother.

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My version, from Apple books, reads:
「ある日、シートンは近所のおじさんと森の中を歩いていました。」

“his uncle who lived nearby”. I’m not sure which is the later version, but we may never know who he was walking with that one day :upside_down_face:

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おじさん does not necessarily denote his uncle, it is also used to address and label (middle-aged) men, especially by younger children, which makes it all the more likely in the context of this book.

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Morning,

Am I understanding the grammar correctly with 食べられちゃうよ by decoding it as:

It is the potentional form ~られる combined with ~ちゃう, which means “by accident or to be completed”… So the sentence would literally translate to “He will be able to get eaten” and ちゃう would add the implication that this if ofcourse not something the chick wants so “by accident”?

Cheers guys, had no idea who Seton was so I’m enjoying this chapter.

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It’s not the potential form, but passive (which is the same as the potential form for ichidan verbs).
Not „he will be able to accidentally eat“, but simply „he‘ll get eaten!“, with the ちゃう implying that this is an unfortunate event.

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Thank you! I was confused by this so this is really helpfull!

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p. 75

スズメよりも少し大きいだけの鳥が、何倍もの大きさのたかに突っ込んでいったのです。
A bird, only slightly larger than a sparrow, rushed into the hawk, many times its size.
タカが狙っていたヒナ鳥の親でした。
It was one of the parents of the chick that the hawk was after.
その鳥は、何度もタカにぶつかっていきました。
That bird bumped several times into the hawk.
そして、傷つきながらも、ついに追い払ったんです。
And then, although it was hurt, it drove it away.

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Nice translation!

One little remark:
何度も - Jisho.org rather means “often” (for the sake of this translation I would probably use something like “again and again”).
(I guess you were thinking of 何度か?)

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Another great translation! I would add a „finally“ in the last sentence to cover ついに.

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Never heard of a kingbird before.

p. 76

「あの鳥は、キングバードというんだよ。」
“That bird is called a kingbird.”
「子供のために、命がけで戦ったんだね。」
“It risked its life for the sake of its children.”
キングバードの、子を守ろうとする気持ちと勇気に、シートンは心を打たれました。
Seton’s heart was touched by the kingbird’s readiness to protect its child and by its courage.
そして、「僕は、もっともっと、動物のことが知りたい。」ますます動物の観察が、楽しいものになりました。
“I want to know more and more about animals” and the observation of animals became an increasing pleasure for him.

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OMG its scientific name is Tyrannus tyrannus :joy_cat: Sounds … appropriate.

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I think here the 戦った is missing: It fought for its children risking it’s own life.

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Wanikani teaches that it is more “politically correct” nowadays to use 子ども rather than 子供, due to the second kanji meaning “servant”.

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I am still sticking with the schedule, but it gets increasingly frustrating that there are so many words I know but cant recognize because they are written in kana and not kanji. I have seen that there are books in the same series for older pupils, would it be worth a shot (since there are more kanji there), or would I be overwhelmed by the grammar?
Also, I usually use a sheet of paper to cover furigana while reading. With the vertical writing and furigana being on the right, I find no way to do this, since I am able to see what is on the next line.

Questions:

Page 74: それじゃヒナが食べられちゃうよ、 Is it passive form, then then ちゃう and the particle よ? Can you just add ちゃう to make what happening unfortunate, or does it have to be with passive form?

Page 76: 心を打たれました, is it literally his heart was beaten by (passive form), but it gets translated to “it made an impact on” or "he was touched by (emotionally)?

ちゃう doesn’t have to be used with passive, you can also use it with the active form: 食べちゃう. Although maybe you could say that with the active form the nuance is often „to do something completely“, while the nuance of „something regrettable or unfortunate“ fits better with passive, which often already has a negative nuance (the latter is called suffering passive).

ケーキを食べちゃった: I ate (all of the) cake
ケーキを食べられちゃった: the cake was eaten by someone, I’m negatively affected by it

心を打つ is an expression meaning „to impress someone“ or „to touch someone“, so in passive it gets translated as „to make an impact on someone“ or „to be touched by something“.

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I’m reading a book from the the same publisher for third grade students. It’s definitely a step forward but there are still a lot of hiragana and because there are not as many spaces between words as in the second grade book it’s harder to read.
As for the grammar: If you don’t have trouble with the grammar in this book you should go for it.

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p. 77

やがてシートンは、動物の絵が得意な画家として、有名になりました。
Soon, Seton became famous as a painter specializing in animal paintings.
また、アメリカに渡り、動物学者として活躍しました。
Also, he moved to the United States and was active as a zoologist.
シートンは、大人になっても、動物たちの勇気や愛情、知恵には、ずっと感動させられました。
Even as an adult, Seton was still deeply moved by the courage, love and wisdom of animals.

Interesting fact on adult Seton (from Ernest Thompson Seton - Wikipedia):

On his twenty-first birthday, Seton’s father presented him with an invoice for all the expenses connected with his childhood and youth, including the fee charged by the doctor who delivered him. According to one writer, he paid the bill, but never spoke to his father again.

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