I was leaning in that direction too, but Jisho gave me this result for 何か用 and it fits with よつば not being able to reach the bell, so that is what I went with.
I think that’s a misunderstanding because some stuff is omitted. If you would say that sentence without any context the translation would make sense. For example if the lady coming out of the house said it. So meaning “do you have business with me” but in more normal english “may I help you” . But when you mean to help (really Help) someone you would say something else.
And the context is (for me at least) clear enough that fuuka wants to help yotsuba. If she was to ask if she should help she would use something like 手伝う or similar.
Hard to explain, maybe someone else can chime in… Do you get the gist though?
A thought: maybe this distinction, based on context and patterns of use, could be unclear to a Japanese child as well, and so よつば is like “yes, you can help me, press the button” while 風香 meant to say “do you have business with them” ?
It’s 00:30 now and I haven’t managed to get around to reading よつばと！ today. I’m taking some English lit courses at uni and two of them assign us a novel a week, I’m a bit behind on the readings so this weekend I read Dune, yesterday I read “salt fish girl” by Larissa Lai, and today I read “mind of my mind” by Octavia Butler (these are for a course on North-American West coast sci-fi, it’s a fun topic). So for the moment I’m caught up with the sci-fi but I’m still one novel behind in my gothic literature class, and I have two other courses besides, so I’m skipping Yotsuba today, maybe tomorrow, I’ll see how things go. Between uni and Japanese I haven’t had time to do anything else lately, and for a few days now I’ve finished my Japanese routine after 1AM every night. That’s just not sustainable:/
Its 2 sentences. The first is a question formulated in negative kinda like “You’re Fuka, aren’t you” “What’s the matter?” (At least I suspect, them being in different lines in the speech bubble. Maybe even different bubbles)
Better to concentrate on your studies and getting good nights sleep. Maybe you will have time on the weekend to get some yotsuba cuteness to relax?
This makes a lot of sense, and I feel like I ought to have caught that:p
Definitely going to do that now👍
I hope so, but if I can fit an hour in in the middle of the day tomorrow then I’ll try that too. I’m not giving up on reading every day unless I really have to.
I suppose I never really took literature classes when I was in college, but that sounds like a really intense schedule of reading! Good on you for hanging in at all; I don’t think I could hang with so many novels so fast even without Japanese on the side.
If I read for two hours a day per class I should be able to keep up I think (I haven’t timed myself/done the math, maybe I should), but it’s very easy to fall behind I’ve noticed. Also, three of the four courses I’m taking strongly recommended that we start reading the required readings over the Xmas vacation so they know what they’re demanding of us.
As for Japanese, I know I’m dedicating too much time to it technically, but after I started reading I’ve felt like I’ve been making so much progress I just can’t stop myself:p
Oh yeah, you’re doing great! I mean, of course coursework remains more important, but as much as possible, I don’t want to see you have to put it down for too long! Excited to watch your progress.
I read another couple pages of よつばと！ today:upside_down_face: I spent a bit too long trying to parse them given my uni workload (and my ambitions of combining uni and Japanese with having a social life on occasion:sweat_smile:), so I might possibly have to limit myself to a page per day on some days. Oh well
よつばと！ vol1, cha2, pp 75-76 🍀
——— 75 ———
だからね？あれは用もないのに押しちゃだめなのよ？
That’s why, you see? If you push (the doorbell) without having business with a person it’s no good, alright?
…ふーん…
…Hmmm…
わかった？
Did you understand (what I said)?
…うん！
… yes!
…あんまりわかってないような…
…I have a feeling you don’t understand very much…
あれ？
Huh?
よつばちゃんそれ…パジャマ？ーにスリッパじゃない⁉︎靴は
Yotsuba, is that… a pajamas? And (not, rhetorical) slippers as well!? Shoes (not sure what は is supposed to do when it’s just 靴は)
——— 76 ———
おー！くつはこのまえ新しいの買ってもらった！
Ohh! (Dad is, I guess) buying new shoes now. (Or these shoes/slippers were recently bought?)
とりあえずよわつばちゃん行こうか
Let’s head to your house right now, alright?
おー！くるか？いらっしゃいませ‼︎
Ohh! Are we going back? Welcome!! (Hmm, welcome doesn’t really fit here does it? Could Yotsuba just be saying “welcome” in anticipation of Fuuka coming in with her when they’re back? I guess so, but I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anticipatory いらっしゃいませ before, how much of a thing is it?)
あいたー
Ouch- (Edit: or I guess “I opened it”, at first I thought it was a variation of 痛 and that he had hurt his fingers getting the lock unstuck, but past tense of 開く also fits and is how the cheat sheet interprets it)
It is just the topic marker. It introduces the shoes as topic and leaves everything she now might say with the shoes as topic to the imagination. Hard to translate. Maybe “What about shoes?”
てもらう is a grammar meaning somebody does something for the benefit of me. Its in past tense so she had someone (I also expect the Dad but its not clear) buy her shoes recently. Since she is saying くつ and not スリッパ she is not talking about the ones she is currently wearing though. That’s the whole thing with the previous part where Fuka introduces くつ as topic and yotsuba now fills the topic with life ^^.
I take the same interpretation as you. Basically I think that is just yotsuba being a child. Nobody would seriously say that in this moment.
Much to deliberate for just 2 Pages of “easy” Manga right? ^^
That is hard to translate. Is she basically saying “[insert pertinent comment about shoes]”?
… I’ve recently noticed I have a blind spot for the past tense. I know that the た-form means past tense and I recognize it when I see it, but when reading and translating it often slips my mind for some reason:/
もらう is to receive (something) right? So that makes sense, if you’re receiving an action from someone then they did it for you.
I thought that might just be Yotsuba having a broad understanding of the term 靴 that also encompasses slippers:p Isn’t that sort of thing common with children? So I wasn’t sure if she was referring to the “shoes” she was wearing or to some other shoes.
I don’t feel that way it’s my first time reading anything in Japanese so I didn’t expect it to be easy, I’m learning a lot (slowly, but still) and I’m enjoying the process.
I could be wrong, but I think it just works as a clarification here. Like “And [aren’t you wearing] just slippers? [As your] footwear.”
I’ve noticed Japanese is quite flexible with moving sentence parts around, and especially clarifying the topic after the original sentence is ubiquitous in speech (which makes sense, because you cannot undo a spoken sentence to insert the topic after you’ve realized you’d better specify it ). Sometimes it’s even with は omitted, so you can figure out that this is what’s happening only from the context.
Generally I totally agree with you but I don’t think that’s the case here. Specifically the に before the slipper means its a continuation of the list she started with pyjamas (Getting used to when one uses ni lists is a whole topic in and of itself). So if the sentence would have been flipped, the topic would apply to pyjamas AND slippers and that makes no sense since the topic is shoes.
I’m still more in favor of my ellipsis theory.
EDIT: at least yotsuba understands it the same way otherwise her answer wouldn’t fit as well I feel.
Yeah, I think you’re right, it’s probably something of an implied question. I guess I didn’t pay enough attention to Yotsuba’s reply
By the way, it’s interesting that these two uses sound quite differently when spoken, so were it an anime there would be no confusion
I read two pages today, I’ve included some questions with my translation attempt. E.g. what’s with the demon world here?
よつばと！vol1, cha2, pp77-78 🍀
——— 77 ———
ただいまー‼︎
I’m home!!
どーぞ、おあがりたまえ‼︎おまかいですが
Welcome, please step up!! (basically please come in, but phrased that way because the Japanese have that lowered shoe-area, right?), (to) the demon world (お魔界, , probably not right?)
え、いや私は…おまかい？
Eh, no I’m… demon world (again, prolly not )
えんりょするな‼︎とーちゃーん‼︎
Don’t hold back/show restraint (something like, “feel like home”?)!! Dad!!
いや、あの…
No, um…
——— 78 ———
こんなんあった
This was there
よつばへかいものへいくるすばんしてろ
To Yotsuba (can へ be used like that?), I’ve gone shopping, wait at home/watch the house/house-sit (while I’m gone).
あら、るすばんしてなさいだって
Oh, it says you should house-sit
よし！じゃあお姉ちゃんも一緒に留守番してあげよう
Alright! Then I’ll house-sit together with you (as a favor, because あげよう is “to give” or in this case to “do for someone”??)
何か用なの？ I would translate more like “Do you have some business (with them)?”
so they know what they’re demanding of us.
it’s my first time reading anything in Japanese so I didn’t expect it to be easy, I’m learning a lot (slowly, but still) and I’m enjoying the process.
). Sometimes it’s even with は omitted, so you can figure out that this is what’s happening only from the context.
, probably not right?)