I didn’t even give it a try in Japanese as I figured there’d be no furigana. Nice to know that it’s there!
That’s how I feel about the English translation, even though English is my native language!
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Just a short one page reading session today. I did level up again, pretty much on pace according to my plan, so just 6-8 weeks until I start seeing new material:p
よつばと！vol1, cha4, pp132 🍀
——— 132 ———
そっかー、よつばの友達かぁ
So that’s how it is, you’re Yotsuba’s friend
ふーかだ‼︎
This is Fuuka!!
綾瀬風香ですよろしくー
I’m Ayase Fuuka, pleased to meet you
ジャンボだ‼︎
This is Jumbo!!
ジャンボですよろしく
I’m Jumbo, pleased to meet you
よろしく…それ名前じゃないだろう…
Pleased to meet you… that’s not a name, right?…
しかしこんな美少女と友達になるとは、えらいぞ！
But to have made friends with such a beautiful girl, that fantastic!
やー‼︎ビミョニョってなんだ？
Yeah!! What’s a byulifumerl?
ビミョーじゃない美少女だ
Not “byulifu”, it’s “beautiful girl”
——— end ———
I’m guessing at some of the grammar again 
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The furigana makes it easy to look things up, but there is a lot of story stuff especially at the start of the game.
I’m at roughly N4 level, and I can muddle my way through a lot of the dialogue as long as I have a dictionary available, but its taking me a lot of time, and I do sometimes need to use a translator to make sure I understood something.
Sometimes after a big chunk of dialogue or an important story bit, I go and watch somebody play that segment in english on Youtube to make sure I’m following it - so far I have generally been managing to follow everything though often my understanding of it is basic and missing some nuances!
That said, I’m really enjoying it, and its really satisfying when I encounter bits that I can read easily, or recognise kanji and vocab that I had to look up earlier in the game. There is also an open-worldness between the story parts that allows me to just run around catching pokemon when I don’t feel like doing too much reading!
I’d say at your current reading level its going to be pretty challenging - but not impossible.
If you are a person who doesn’t get disheartened or frustrated when its difficult to understand something then definitely give it a go - I’m having a lot of fun with it!
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Its from yesterday but I wanted to say something about it. So thats a bit of an unusual conjugation. Its causative combined with imperative. So causative means something like “let me do” はく → はかせる and imperative makes this a command “はかせろ!!!” (Let me at least wear pants!!! (command)). I don’t even know how I would express the combination of causative and imperative into any other language ^^. And I’m pretty sure thats the only one I’ve seen this far in my Japanese journey 
EDIT: Maybe something along the lines of “I order you to let me at least wear pants” 
Nice translation touch 
微妙 びみょう is also a Japanese word which makes jotsubas mishearing even funnier ^^ (see especially meaning 3/4)
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“You have to at least let me wear pants” ? ish?
Thanks for your input, I’ll give it a go then 
Another question for anybody reading this: I’ve been thinking of investing in a dicionary of japanese grammar, and I’m wondering if I ought to get both the basic and intermediate volume, or if I should just go for the intermediate one? I’m slowly going through N5 in bunpro atm but since I’m reading native material and planning to read more I’d like to have a resource handy for grammar lookups. So the question is, with only the intermediate volume, how big of a gap is there between my current level and the material covered? Or is there some overlap between the books?
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The books are pretty pricy. So it depends a bit on how deep you want to empty your pockets .
There is no overlap between the two books. I’m not too sure how they ordered the grammar points but it is definitely not according to JLPT. I’ve found N2 grammar in the basic one or N4 grammar in the Intermediate one. (を~下さい is found in the intermediate one for example. You use it basically every time in restaurants XD).
I use them mostly as reference material. The index in the intermediate one shows you where to find the grammar points in the basic one as well, so you can just look into the index and jump to the correct page which is pretty convenient. Since the grammar points are ordered in alphabetical order I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it purely as study material. If you want to look up grammar you stumble upon while reading having both is probably more convenient. Otherwise you can’t be sure if it isn’t grammar or its just not covered by the book.
I have not yet bought the advanced one. The first two cover most of the stuff you should encounter most of the time.
As for the contents. The explanations are pretty wordy and in english. Most stuff is enhanced by (as simple as possible) example sentences with an english translation for each. I find mostly it goes a bit too much in depth for my needs but sometimes it can be useful to get the difference in nuance between two grammar points.
The first book also has a pretty extensive descriptive section in the front (around 30 pages?) that goes into stuff like passive/ causative/ sentence structure/ mixing past and present tense, and other more general topics. They flew over my head pretty hard the first time I’ve read them but I’ve since come to value them quite a bit. So revisiting the book every now and then can be valuable in my opinion.
For a cheaper alternative I can also recommend this one https://www.amazon.de/Handbook-Japanese-Patterns-Teachers-Learners/dp/4874246788
It is also a grammar reference and some stuff I found is explained much easier in it. Though the explanations are much shorter they are often enough to get a feel for the usage. It exists in different Language versions and is structured a little differently from the DOBJG book. Its best you look at the sample page on Amazon to get a feel. It should cover roughly the same material as DOBJG and DOIJG books combined and so you can save quite a few bucks. Maybe also read some of the reviews. They often also compare it with the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar books.
The original is completly Japanese https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/グループ・ジャマシイ/dp/4874241549/ref=pd_vtp_5/355-4690676-2543000?pd_rd_w=21IO2&pf_rd_p=949e26f5-c2ef-4c96-bfde-49d7614d0317&pf_rd_r=KSVBFGFCB5B799RRYQV5&pd_rd_r=53069a79-fb3b-4313-b079-df60e120be3e&pd_rd_wg=X67QJ&pd_rd_i=4874241549&psc=1 and my teacher in Japan used it sometimes to look stuff up. So it should not be completely useless ^^.
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Thanks for the reply, it looks really helpful but I don’t have the time to read it right now-_-‘
I read another page:
よつばと！vol1, cha4, pp133 🍀
——— 133 ———
きれえな女の子って意味だ
It means a girl who is pretty
ふーか、きれいたって
Fuuka, (he) said (you’re) pretty
いやぁ〜
Noo~
で、今からその美少女風香ちゃんにテレビをもらいにいくのだ
So, (from) now let’s go get (receive) a TV from the beautiful Fuuka’s house.
じゃあ俺車もらおう
The let’s get it with my car
あげません、からかれれてる…
(I) haven’t given (it to you yet), (no idea about the last line… and no time either )
——— end ———
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Jumbo is joking here. Because koiwai gets a TV he said. “Okay I’ll receive a car” (もらおうis volitonal “let’s receive”) and fuuka rebuttals this with “I won’t give it to you” followed by a sentence (からかわれている) said more to herself “I’m being teased… ?”
I’m just leaving this here for when you have time 
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Ah, a certain leader made some remarks about nuclear readiness that fucked with my head a bit, so I didn’t read anything yesterday. I read a page now tho, just to keep the habit up, although I’ve neglected Bunpro for a few days now. I’m pretty distracted by the war. Anyway, here’s todays page:
よつばと！vol1, cha4, pp134 🍀
——— 134 ———
奥さん、車ください
Ma’am, please give me a car
でか‼︎
Huge!!
どーしたのあんた⁉︎
How come you’re so big!?
父方の先祖がきりんでして
My ancestors on my father’s side are giraffes
え⁉︎あ！冗談だわ⁉︎
Eh!? Ah! You’re joking!?
——— end ———
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噂 you will find both it depends on your font. If I understand it correctly the one on wanikani is the slightly older version? (「噂」の書き方 - 漢字の正しい書き順(筆順))
JIS X 0213 - Wikipedia Read the text at the end about the change of recommended renderings.
PS.: We should probably encourage wanikani to update it at some point in time ^^ (I mean it renders correctly on my pc because of the font but still uses horns as radical)
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Adding to this:
Japanese font: 噂
Chinese font: 噂
Use in manga
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Hehe I’m in danger
These little changes somehow make me dread the prospect of learning to read handwriting:p
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Good luck!
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So… was reading along on a Japanese study server in discord and talk tried around to Yotsuba and then… sometime posted a link to your study log for a yotsuba sentence that you had made a note of! This study log is open to the entire Internet! Maybe you already knew that… but in case you didn’t…
YOU’RE FAMOUS, BeyondSleepy!!!
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I’m aware that anyone can read it but I wasn’t aware that anyone outside of a few people already on the forums would do so. But it makes sense that someone would stumble across it through Google while trying to read よつばと since I post every single sentence I read
I hope people find it useful 
That said, I probably won’t update my study log much (maybe not at all) until April because of uni. I’ve set aside reading and grammar and I’m only keeping up with Wanikani and Anki for the time being (in case anyone is wondering what’s up, since I’m famous and all😝)
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Ah, finally back to reading every day. Last month of uni was a bit crazy. I started strong by being too sick to study for a week and promptly fell behind in all my classes, then it was just one obligatory assignment after the other so only now am I in a position to start catching up on the (university) reading I’ve missed. But I’m still going to try to translate at least one よつば-page a day going forward:)
よつばとvol1, cha4, pp135 🍀
——— 135 ———
前のテレビよつばちゃんちにあげようと思って
I was thinking of giving the old TV to Yotsuba’s household
あー、いいよ、いいよ。持ってっちゃって邪魔だから
A- that’s good, that’s good. Since (だから) having it is a hindrance/nuisance.
(Not sure what ちゃって means/is doing, Jisho wasn’t helpful)
あら、わーかわいい！あなたがよつばちゃんね！
Oh, whaa- so cute! You’re Yotsuba, right!
そうです！
That’s right!
うちの子とも仲よくしてね
You’re getting along with my kids aren’t you?
遊びにきていいか⁉︎
Is it alright if I come over and play!?
(Or maybe she’s asking if it’s okay that she’s been coming over? That way the next sentence could mean “it’s fine, it’s fine if you keep coming over too”)
いいわよー、毎日きても
It’s fiiine, (You can) come every day
まいにちきていいって‼︎
It’s fine if I come over every day!!
よかったなぁ、お礼言いなさい
That’s good isn’t it, you have to thank her
うん、アイスクリームください‼︎
Yes, can I have some ice cream please!!
あら、いいわよー
Ah, of course~
——— end ———
Does anyone know a good resource for studying/reading about common kana-only words? They’re kicking my butt in Anki 
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Good to have you updating again!
I think I talked about てしまう (sort of a “do completely,” but that’s woefully insufficient and I’d recommend reading about it elsewhere in more depth or checking out the Cure Dolly video or something) with you in the past? The full form here is like 持っていってしまって with the ている turned into てしまう and that gets contracted to ちゃう which is also put in the て form here. That’s such a mouthful I hope I didn’t mess up the details heh.
This is a non-past form so it is indeed asking about coming over now/in the future (I don’t have it in front of me for context but something like that). For a little more nuance, that following line ending in ても is like “even if,” so what she’s saying in non-graceful English is like “it’s fine even if you come every day.” Which maybe you know cause you clean up your translations more but I wanted to make that point just in case!
Oh, also, I just recalled 遊び can be used more like… doing something leisurely/without having serious business? Like Jisho actually has an entry for 遊びにくる which they define as “to come and stay; to drop in; to visit.” Given that it’s Yostuba it’s definitely literal play but, fun fact in case you didn’t know. An adult could pretty much say the same thing and have it be fine, in a different way.
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You did but it’s been a busy month between now and the last time I read any Japanese outside of Anki so pretty much nothing is fresh in mind. I’ll be slowly refamiliarizing myself with known grammar for a little while now, but I’ll admit I didn’t manage to internalize the てしまう info back then either.
Ah, I would have included it if I felt sure that that was the correct nuance but I was unsure if も indicated “even if” or “too/also,” does that make sense?
Yes, I think of it as “to play” and “to hang out.” As you say, Yotsuba probably means play:)
Ty for the feedback, it means a lot to me
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Oh yeah I don’t in any way mean for that to be a complaint! You know how many times I’ve had to look up the same things over and over? Heh. Only said that to make the connection (if I was even right, which I wasn’t 100% on) and largely to excuse myself from trying to explain what it means, haha. Plus, you’re encountering it in a fairly corrupted form here, even if the ちゃう contraction is fairly common. Even IT got conjugated!
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Yay. Updates from sleepy. Times are good!!
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