Intermediate Japanese Book Club // Now Reading: セーラー服と機関銃

Just a random question: When you all read, do you think only in the target language or are you needing to think in your native language? I am finding that I am having to translate in my mind what I am reading and wondered if I am getting all I can out of this reading exercise if I am still thinking in my native language.

It’s no problem at all. In the past we discussed every story. This book has 33 short stories which consists of two or three in a week. So that’s how we came across the idea of just discussing one of them.

@bolaurent we are reading all three for the week, but like Snowflying said, we are discussing 幸せグラフ this week (on Sunday the 11th?). So if you focus on that one, you can actively participate in the discussion. If you’re having trouble understanding something, you’re free to ask questions about any of the stories, provided you have spoilers put in (if necessary).

@Snowflying please be sure to announce that on the book thread as that some people may not be following this thread.

@Steffy47 usually try to stay in Japanese unless I simply have no idea what’s going on. I also look up words I don’t understand as well. So there are times when I’m not 100% about how a certain grammar point works, but I don’t fuss about how to translate it into English because it always seems to turn out to be a lot of work.

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I would say it’s best to try not to translate it to your native language. If there’s something that you’re really having a hard time understanding, then it’s probably ok to translate, but you should work towards being able to read without translating. And I agree with LucasDesu, for English it can be a real chore to figure out how exactly to translate things sometimes since the grammar is so different. I know that I miss a lot of nuances, but as long as I understand the main idea I just keep going. Doing that also helps with reading speed so that I don’t get bored or tired by my lack of progress.

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My rule of thumb is if I get lost, I break down the sentence and translate. But if I’m not lost yet, I just keep reading. Sometimes I read the same sentence twice in Japanese to fully ‘get it,’ though. Or I might summarize what just happened in English in other words to check my understanding instead of translating exactly. Like, ‘this sentence is saying X, so Y, which meant Z…’ Especially if there are a lot of clauses or conjunctions.

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Can you tell me where the discussion will take place? I’ve read the three stories for this week and am looking forward to participating.

My understanding is that discussions for the stories happen on Sundays on the forum in this thread the reason being everyone can’t participate on Discord due to timing and location. But I’m sure there will be some discussion of the stories of the stories there, I’m not 100% sure, though.

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How does one find the discussion on Discord?

The link is in the original post of this thread, toward the bottom (the section is titled “Discord”)

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Moved the discord link to the top of the post for easy access.

The main place for discussion is still the discussion thread! We’re just gonna have a bit of a meetup on the discord for people who can attend and want to discuss things live. Last time we voice called and took turns reading from the book; I imagine we could do that this time, or just have some discussion. :+1:

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@LucasDesu @charlesfm @Ell @Dorotheian @bolaurent Hey folks! If you’re still available, the Discord discussion group should be held as planned. Just pop on the Discord server at the designated time; a link is at the top of the OP.

@NickNickovich @Rain32 @doku-chan Glad to hear you’re interested in a Discord discussion :blush: Hopefully we can hold a discussion session for your timezones soon. For reference, what days of the week/times would be ideal for you?

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Not sure if I’ll be able to make it. D: I’m going prom dress shopping with my sister, to the cheesecake factory and to the movies today. And it’s her prom not mine. I’m only going because she tempted me with food. Not sure what time I’ll get back but I’ll try to make it if I can.

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Okay, Sorry for the delay, but the poll results are in! And you guessed it! the winner was…さすが、君の名は!As excepted of such a popular story! :0

Just kidding it’s actually はたらく魔王さま!. Now get to buying your books lackeys >:V

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You got me there for a sec :rofl: I was about to go
noooo

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I have free time on Saturdays 16-21 UTC and on Sundays 10-20 UTC.

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On the Discord now! Anyone who’s around, feel free to pop in

EDIT: Thanks to all those who showed up! It was fun.

We had difficulties on Discord and switched to Google Hangouts, but that gave us some problems too. Maybe Skype or something next time?

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I like Skype better because it doesn’t require installing browser plugins.

My time zone is JST (UTC+9) and I’m usually free on Saturday mornings and afternoons (although probably not this Saturday) and Sunday evenings after 18:00. Also, I’m free fairly often on weekdays after 18:00 as well, but I assume weekdays aren’t great for most people.

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Waugh, I spent all week looking forward to it and then it completely escaped my mind when the day came. OK, next time I’ll put it into my calendar…

I mentioned that I am reading パン屋再襲撃 by 村上, and promised to share a screen shot of a page, so others can see what the complexity is. I’m finding it not more difficult than 5分後に意外な結末。

Here’s page one, from the kindle book I purchased from amazon.co.jp. Link here. With kindle, you can use the kindle dictionaries (J-J and J-E), or you can choose “google…” and the selected text will open in a browser tab, from where you can modify it and look things up in, eg http://jisho.org.

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Thanks for sharing this. I will definitely check this out!