Happiness Week 3 - Absolute Beginner Book Club

I just had to look up, to confirm by aural suspicion.

Yep, I definitely have heard it before, but not in Japanese. (It was in my early piano lessons. I haven’t been to London, though.)

Also, to say, I think your translation is quite accurate.

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A few thoughts on the reading:

Page 45-46
I like the classic turn around by the doctor, and how menacing they made his face look. Really conveys a sense of danger, but we don’t really know why… Makoto also lies for the first time, which increases our sense of danger as he seems to be a very honest character (his name means ‘truth, honesty, fidelity’ lol).


Page 49

Interesting how the food looks like frog eggs, very reminiscent of Tokyo Ghoul. Will Makoto be able to keep eating human food and live normally?


Page 52

The doctor scene was a bit unbelievable… I’m no doctor but I can see that there’s clearly two puncture wounds… that’s not a normal injury and probably should raise some questions. Makoto says he’s been attacked, but the wound is like a snake bite… His family also sees nothing wrong with this. Gotta keep the story moving I guess :sweat_smile:

Also, the bloodsucking scene flashback always disgusts me. Why did there also have to be licking?


Grammar questions:
Page 45
The use of 様子 ‘state of affairs, situation, sign, indication’ is interesting versus 場合 ‘case, situation’, or 合図 ‘sign, signal, cue’. The former seems to encompass the ideas of both the latter combined. Cool to see how different languages encode nuances in meaning.

Page 52
Does ‘やつ’ commonly refer to males only? If so, its interesting Everyone assumes the assailant was a man

Thanks everyone for the grammar explanations. The school chime thing was also cool.

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Even doctors can’t defy authorities and higher-ups, everything will reflect their decisions. Also, they will only say what is beneficial rather than raising concerns, anyway. Calming people down is a part of the practice.

And I guess two puncture holes might look like snake bite, but maybe not, depending on how it is drawn.

Pretty sure it will end in ハピネス.

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I wasn’t able to start this sooner because I had school deadlines. :grin:
Okay, a lot of kanji I don’t know yet.

I’m not sure if I’m understanding this correctly but pp. 44-45:

44B1: Since your wounds aren’t severe,
44B2: it’ll be fine for you to leave the hospital.
45B1: In any case
45B2: you’ll have to come back after a week for a check-up.

Found it a little difficult to understand this p.46

B6: Well, since you don’t have that symptom anymore
B7: I believe it resulted from your emotional state.

Having fun so far! :love_letter:

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It can refer to women as well. It just means “a**hole” in this sense pretty much. The issue imo is that English itself carries some form of gender implications with these sort of words.

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場合 and 合図 are both rather literal in their uses for “case” and “signal” respectively. I can’t explain 様子’s nuances well, but it’s usage is very common, even in contexts when no corresponding word would be used in English. In this case it’s fairly straightforward though.

やつ (奴) is a term than can be used to refer to someone in a derogatory way, or in some cases in an endearing way, as long as they’re of lower status, if I understand it correctly. I don’t think it has a specifically male connotation. Confusingly, it can also refer to things, not just people. One of those words that seem to mean nearly anything depending on context, really.

まあ特に異常は無いし - Well, it’s not especially abnormal/strange
精神的なものだと思うから - I think it’s psychological
Your translation of B7 is fine. In my translation I ignored し and から - They tend to be used in Japanese more than in English, and sometimes there’s no straightforward way to translate. They’re there to give an explanation/reason, but I think in English they’re okay to omit.

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Finished! lot of unknown vocab.

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FWIW those sounds are known AFAIK as the Westminster Chimes or Westminster Quarters. Pretty common clock chimes and I miss hearing them these days!

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Finished Week 3 reading. Can’t wait to know how the story unfolds further. I like the visual style very much, it feels very clean and uncluttered compared to what I expect from a manga.

Grammar points I learned:

  • し conjunction meaning “and what’s more”, “not only… but also”
  • かい sentence-final particle that marks yes-no question in informal male speech
  • 無い as a writing of ない

:scroll: p44

傷は大したことないから、もう退院して大丈夫でしょう。

Summary

:point_right: As the wound is not serious, you’ll soon be able to leave the hospital,

Literally: “As for the wound, considerable abstract thing is non-existent since, soon leave the hospital problem-free”

I’m just not sure about the て大丈夫 part, I don’t know what grammar construction this is.


とりあえず また、一週間後来て頂いて、様子を見ましょう。

Summary

:point_right: For now, please come again in one week and get your state checked.

  • I used “please” to translate the volitional form.

:scroll: p46

すごく喉が渇くって言ってたけれど・・・どうだい?まだ渇くかい?

Summary

:point_right: You were saying you are extremely thirsty however… How is it going? Are you still thirsty?


喉が渇くって言うか・・・でも大法部です!もう・・・ほとんど・・・

Summary

:point_right: Did I say I was thirsty? Now I’m fine!.. Well… Almost…


まあ特に異常は無いし精神的なものだと思うから

Summary

:point_right: I think, there’s nothing strange, it’s an emotional thing, if you think about it???
Literally: “I think, in particular, there’s no strangeness, and what’s more, when an emotional thing exists, think since” :hot_face: I don’t understand the 精神的なものだと思うから part.


:scroll: p48
誠ほら食べろ食べろ

Summary

:point_right: Hey, Makoto! Eat, eat!


:scroll: p50

けどさあムカつくような。おまえをおそったやつ、何考えてんだよ。ゆるせねー 早くつかまれといいわね。

Summary

:point_right: However, I don’t know, I think I’m angry! The guy that attacked you, what was he/she thinking about? I don’t forgive him. Would be good if he/she is caught quickly, wouldn’t it?


:scroll: p56

無利しないで。体調悪くなったら早退してくるのよ。

Summary

:point_right: Don’t overdo it! If your physical condition gets worse, leave early!

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So the first sentence I would go for “Well, the thing is, there are no anomalies/abnormalities in particular” for a natural translation. The し is sadly not the usage you found but more the 3rd meaning. Meaning they found nothing wrong with him.
And than comes the next sentence which is his reasoning why hes feeling thirsty. ( から at the end) “Because, I think it’s something emotional/mental” (that’s why we didn’t find anything abnormal)

If you keep this speed up you will be done with the first volume by tomorrow -.-.

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I don’t know if there’s still anyone active on this thread, but I have a question:

p. 45: とりあえず また、一週間後来て頂いて、様子を見ましょう。

image

I can’t grasp why the 頂く is there.

Is it a causative verb in here? as like 岡崎くん (the protag) is made to come back to the hospital by the doctor after one week?

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My understanding is that strictly grammatically speaking 頂く here is not in any way in causative form, but certainly the construction てもらう can be used with a meaning that would be similar to a causative verb.

一週間後来て頂いて would literally mean “I’ll receive (from you) the action of coming after a week”. The difference with using a causative is that the causative more strongly denies the will of the target of the verb. In this case, the target being 岡崎くん. てもらう in this sentence has some degree of pushiness (i.e., they are the doctor’s orders), but not to the same level a causative would have (Okazaki-kun could certainly decide to ignore it).

Also, using てもらう is definitely more polite than using a causative would be.

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I wasn’t understand the “receive (from you)” part, but I see now, thank you very much!!!

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