To me as well. If the entire sentence is supposed to mean “to make sure one has all necessary books (and probably other things)”, that’s a kind of convoluted way to put it 
. Unless I’m missing the JP aspect of it here.
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Honestly, while it’s true I didn’t know 見届ける until today, based on the definitions (and the components), I don’t think I would use it here because it seems to be ‘make sure’ in the sense of ‘watch till something is done/confirmed’. I think 確認する, 確かめる or even just チェックする might be more common.
But OK, if we’re comparing it to the translation, where 必要な本 are just one example among many, I agree that it doesn’t mean the same thing. I would expect the next examples to be things like ‘that my bottle is full and that my shirt is tucked in’.
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I once came across 見届ける in a book and it’s a fairly “heavy-handed” word for this context. I think either 確かめる or simpler yet チェックする would fit better.
But the entire sentence might need to be simplified, using 必要がある to express necessity and replacing 本 with 教科書.
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I’m more concerned about the nuance, even though it’s true that it sounds like it involves a lot more effort than quick checks before school should take. I think it’s something that’s usually used for processes and other things that take a while.
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Right, in which case shouldn’t it be 必要な本などがある (or whatever verb) to be clear that the “etc.” is with the needed books rather than with the phrase as a whole?
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Yup, agreed.
oh thats awesome! thank you…
I think that gets weird over time but I can get it with practice. Trying to show the fact that いい can cover both of those ideas in Japanese can seem confusing at first.
いい gets translated strange so thats why i think i struggle
This was so very helpful! Thank you for the PS as well
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In Lagtrain, there’s this section:
夕方の駅のホームはひどく混み合って, then 独り占めできるまで休憩して欲しくて
The train station is crowded, and I think I get the latter part about wanting to rest, but what’s 独り占め about? The song feels like it’s about loneliness, but I don’t know what she’d be monopolizing here. Deepl says it means “have you all to myself”. After that comes a separate sentence.
There’s also this soul-crushing part:
離れた街と街を繋ぐ列車が, then 呼んだ風に飛ばされないでいてくれ
Oh my god that 飛ぶ. The train that connects the two cities did not receive the cause to fly from the wind that was called? What’s up with くれ, was the train commanding the wind to come?
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Could you write the full passage with all that’s written? 
if you just want to know the translation, check out @NicoleIsEnough’s link above…
I just wrote a bunch of stuff to procrastinate going to bed…
Summary
I think they’re saying they want the station to take a break, up until the point that they can monopolise the platform to themselves. maybe an overly literal interpretation, but at least on the surface level, the platform is crowded and they want some space.
and then the next line (また集団下校があなたを急かしている) comes along almost like it’s interrupting the thought, which I thought was a nice touch
離れた街と街を繋ぐ列車が呼んだ is a sentence that’s kinda acting like an adjective on the 風, so together “it’s the wind that’s called by the train that connects the two cities together”.
に飛ばされないでいて this is the continuative of the negative of the causative of 飛ばす (what a mouthful). the に attaches to the 風 before, so it’s the indirect object (by the wind)
飛ば → 飛ばす - transitive “to fly”
され → される - causative (made to fly)
ないでいて → て form of ないでいる (in the state of not being made to fly)
くれ → please. it’s just an informal version of ください, and like ください this has to be from the point of view of the speaker (singer in this case).
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Yeap, that’s the one.
Huh, alright, guess it really was the literal translation.
The issue in the second part is ないで. Would it mean being made to fly without asking?
I think 飛ばす is actually the transitive form (or perhaps more accurately… something like an old causative form?) of 飛ぶ. 飛ぶ is ‘to fly’. 飛ばすis ‘to cause to fly’, ‘to make fly’, or perhaps more naturally ‘to send flying’. す becoming される means the verb is in the passive form, and that becomes されないで, whose meaning @theghostofdenzo already explained.
Not exactly. 〜ないで tends to express a continuous state of ‘not’ doing something, and can sometimes be translated as ‘without doing ~’. When combined with いる, you get the sense that the person doing the action remains in that state. With 〜てくれ, one asks (in an informal/casual context) that someone else perform the action expressed by ~. In other words, in this line, the speaker (or the persona in the song, if you prefer) is asking someone else to ‘please remain in the state of not being made to fly by the wind that is called/summoned by the train connecting two cities that are far apart’. In other words, it’s something like ‘please don’t get blown away by the wind whipped up by the train connecting those two faraway cities’.
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Whoops, good catch. “to fly” is transitive in English, it just means something different apparently 
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Yeah, transitive fly in English is more like 操縦する in Japanese.
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Ahhhhh, please remain in state of not being made to fly, now I get it. Thank you very much.
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Quick question:
追い詰められると砂を巻き上げ追跡者をの目を眩まそうとする。
Why are there two を’s? Is 眩まそうとする affecting both 追跡者 and 追跡者の目 at the same time or what?
Looks like a typo to me tbh
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I saw the following sentence in a book (just changed the name).
ミアはミアで、黙ったまま、唇を嚙みしめた。
Is the nameはnameで (or nounはnounで) a specfic grammar point? I didn’t see anything on Bunpro, in my grammar dictionaries, or from a quick google search.
If not, is it just で as in the て-form a だ? In which case, I want to translate it as “because Mia is Mia [rest of sentence]” since the て-form can sometimes be used to give a reason for something. Is that a reasonable interpretation?
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