エジソンは 学校が いやになり 、小学校を 三か月で 辞めてしまいました 。
Edison got fed up with school and ended up quitting elementary school after 3 months.
それでも、お母さんだけは、エジソンの、味方でした。
Nevertheless, only his mom was Edisons ally.
「『なぜ』と 思う 心は すばらしいわ 。これからは 毎日、お母さんと 本を 読みましょう。」
“The heart that wonders “Why” is beautiful. From now on every day, lets read a book with mom.”
I do have a question regarding the last line, I kind of peaced it together by what words are used and what would make sense, but is there anyway of knowing that it’s “The heart that wonders”
That is assuming that my translation is correct ofcourse.
noun + だけは means “at least”.
I know すばらしい as “wonderful”, “beautiful” would be something like 美しい.
“the heart thats wonders why” makes sense to me but it’s a rather free translation, I guess. I would say something like “a mind that thinks “why”” or “a mind that searches for reasons”.
Will try and do it every day before work, it’s a really awesome way of learning especially with all the help here. Hopefully people will learn from all the mistakes I make haha!
p. 14
Any suggestions for a more literal translation of the first sentence?
Summary
「お母さん先生」がくれた科学の本には、胸がわくわくすることが一杯乗っていました。
The science books that his “teacher mom” gave him were full of excitement.
中でも、エジソンを驚かせたのは、「電信の仕組み」でした。
Edison was particularly surprised by the “telegraphic system”.
「電気の振動で、遠く離れた人にメッセージを送るのか。
“Using electric oscillations, messages are sent to people far away.
電気の力って、凄いんだなあ。僕も、試してみたい！」
Wow, the power of electricity is amazing. I want to try it, too!”
十二歳なると、エジソンは、汽車の中で新聞を売る仕事を始めました。
At the age of twelve, Edison began working selling newspapers on a steam train.
そして三年後、運命の出来事に出会うのです。
Then, three years later, he met with a fateful event.
On page 14, is the ーなあ on the end of “すごいんだなあ” functioning more as ”ねえ”? I know "ーんだ” from bunpro, but the なあ is messing me up. Like, is it just a more casual/colloquial use of だね?
I’m still working on relearning grammar terms to try to get my meaning across; so sorry for being unclear.
I’m still on p.12, having some difficulties understanding the following. Any help would be much appreciated
I don’t understand one usage of に on this page, namely the one in the father’s first lines. He says “(…) 全く、お前の”なぜ” ”どうして” には、あきれたもんだ”. (I’ll learn how to quote in Japanese style soon, I promise!).
I don’t see how に here fits with any of the usages I’ve seen before. Except referring to time and the usage together with 行く(e.g. went to [verb]), I’ve mostly seen に as an indirect object marker in the form “writing letter to a friend”, “give a gift to my mother”, etc. Is it more general that に is used to also explain sentiments towards actions/smth in some way?
Why is not past tense used in the beginning of p.12? Page 11 ends by saying that Edison sat down on the eggs. Then p.12 follows by (after counting the time) saying that nothing happens?
May I ask why you think that his father is amazed in a negative way? I had some troubles with あきれたもんだ, I first thought it was あきれる together with たもんだ (“used to”, https://www.bunpro.jp/grammar_points/487) so that he’s just saying that he used to be amazed by his “whys” and “hows”. But I’m very uncertain about the grammar in あきれたもんだ.
I had similar confusion with both に and は marking the same thing.
To answer question 1, maybe it helps to know that に also marks the purpose for doing an action, intent being another form of “target,” if you will. More information in this CureDolly video which talks about lots of uses of に. I’m not really sure what には combined means, but considering this, maybe it means all the questions Edison asks are both the topic and the reason the father is exasperated?
