Cool will do. Thanks for the info!
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It is the thread that ChristopherFritz is posting those little memes in with your profile picture 
But just in case, it’s this one..
You needn’t worry about spoilers in the Home Thread. All discussion takes place in the discussion threads linked there. The Home Thread is purely for organizational purposes. 
Well, I was reading along with the Ayumu book club (by the same author as Takagi-san) right after finishing the first volume of Takagi-san. By the time the first volume of Ayumu and the second volume of Takagi-san were done, I was feeling confident enough to try and read with the BBC, and joined The Way of the Househusband. I finished the first volume, but decided to do other volumes later because, while very fun, most of my questions ended up being about the use of Kansai dialect, and it felt like a distraction from learning standard Japanese for the time being.
I would say if you have the time once you finish the first volume of this, you would be safe picking up something like Nagatoro or Dress-Up Darling, but they would be harder given those aren’t in a book club, so you wouldn’t have a group to ask questions of that are reading/have read the manga (I have considered nominating either or both for the ABBC at some point, but haven’t sat down to read them myself yet to determine how well they fit there). You could also join the Ayumu club for something that is slightly harder than Takagi-san (to start, before you get used to character speech patterns and some different vocabulary, since it is a series that has a lot to do with Shogi), but that has an ongoing club with many of the same members as Takagi-san, so you’d have a lot of help that way, if you needed it.
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However…
But Death Note is probably more like “upper beginner”. It will be more difficult and require a lot more stamina. I recommend spending some time on items from the Absolute Beginner Book Club (or a similar easy-level manga) until you are comfortable with your reading speed and stamina.
After that, decide if you want to start with an easier beginner-level manga or dive right into something like Death Note.
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Great, I wasn’t sure if it was the right one
About the little memes, pretty accurate 
Oh great, I thought it was an active reading thread!
Would you suggest me reading Ayumu somewhen eventually? Considering that at some point I will feel the need to read different genres, I’d like to eventually read everything Takagi-san related, 1-18 and the other parallel stories (also how is it called the sequel with the two married?)
Just checked this on learnnatively.com and it’s listed at lv26, so could I go for everything around level 20-26 after my 3rd or 4th Takagi-san volume?
Actually had a thought about it and I’d like to hear your thoughts on it
I made myself of the idea that focusing too much on the rare exceptions and on the smallest details at the beginning can be counterproductive, because it makes you “lose” (not really) time on uncommon grammar points while you could be learning more important grammar and increasing the frequency at which you encounter useful grammar points and vocabs. This of course is referred to my phase of learning. Does this makes sense to you?
This might be a huge problem and an great excuse to postpone reading by myself to much later (2 months at least) because atm I’m definitely feeling like I couldn’t go without wise suggestions from the above
Or, a solution could be to infest the ‘short grammar questions’ thread
Definitely, if I find Nishikata monologues complex I can’t imagine what I would think of Light’s theories 
I’ll probably keep focusing 100% on Takagi-san till I will have reached you guys 
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I mean, I definitely enjoy the series. It’s cute, funny, and lighthearted, much like Takagi-san, and the art style is fantastic, so I would recommend it, for sure.
The sequel series is からかい上手の（元）高木さん
The thing to remember with Natively is that it is an estimation of difficulty, so even if books are listed as being at the same level, each one might have quirks that actually make it more difficult than you might expect.
Examples of those quirks for Househusband:
- The main character has a Yakuza style of speaking, and the Kansai dialect, which varies from Standard Japanese, so that can be difficult to parse until you get used to at least some of the basics.
- There is little furigana in the series, so it requires more kanji knowledge than a manga that has furigana. The furigana that is there is usually not the actual kanji reading, but a literary tool where the furigana is used to (usually) represent what the character actually says, and the kanji is the intended meaning of the word. You especially see this a lot in fantasy games like the Tales series. Example panel from Househusband:
He refers to 包丁 (which is read ほうちょう), which means kitchen knife, as ヤッパ, which is a Yakuza slang term for a blade (usually like, an actual blade for violence, not a kitchen knife). A lot of the humour in Househusband is totally based around being aware of these things, because the characters in the series totally misunderstand him because of the way he speaks. They think he is being all sketchy and gangster-y, but he’s actually just behaving like a househusband, and thinks he is being totally normal.
For fun, an even more extreme example from a different series. This is the first manga I decided to try to read on my own, without being aware what I was getting into. (Hence why, when we talked about it before, I said that I made a really bad pick for my first attempt before getting into the book clubs):
You can see that the furigana actually just has more kanji in it. 
I also get the impression that the roles are reversed this time. The main kanji is what the character actually says (she is a bit chuunibyou), and the furigana is the intended meaning. So, yeah. Just something to watch out for in general.
But that aside, I would just say that once you get to the point where you want to branch out more, you should check out samples of series you want to read and see if it feels like something you can do or not because it’s hard to judge just off of the Natively level. It can give you a general idea, but that’s about it.
Yep, I definitely agree with this. That’s why I will often give you an answer that includes the etymology and stuff (because you asked), but I will end it with, “But I don’t know if it’s helpful to focus on that just yet.”
Going too in-depth can slow down your exposure and overload your memory. Sometimes it is better to just accept, “This is what it means,” and then come back to it later to find out the “why does it mean that?”
Not in every case, of course, as sometimes being able to break down grammar points is extremely helpful and can increase the understanding. It’s a spectrum, for sure, and you have to find the balance that works for you as an individual.
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Got it, I guess it would be a hell for someone at my level to approach something different from Takagi-san atm… I mean reading stuff in dialect sounds difficult… but this househusband seems like a cool read
Ok when I saw this my first honest reaction was ‘what in the actual fuck’ 
I think I’ll go for takagi-san for a little while
I didn’t think about it you know, it’s something I’m realizing just these last days… definitely appreciate the suggestion, always!
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It would be difficult, for sure, especially if you don’t have much kanji under your belt. It would be doable, because there is a vocab sheet you can check with that particular book (since it is a book club), but yeah, it would be pretty taxing, for sure.
It’s definitely a cool read, though. I loved it; I just couldn’t justify the time spent on Kansai dialect while I was still so early on in learning standard Japanese. 
That is a fair reaction, and why I still haven’t read that manga series. It remains a bit too difficult for me yet. Checking it now, I can make out what is meant, since I have a lot more vocabulary now, but I think the joke of what exactly she is saying would still go over my head in most cases, though this specific speech bubble, I think I can actually read fine now, which is a nice confidence boost.
If you're curious
Intended meaning: “Because we may finally (the finally comes from a previous speech bubble) be able to stand in that place (which, from context, she is yearning after somebody, so that place is literally just “being together.”)”
What she actually says: “Because we may finally be able to stand in earthly paradise.”
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At the moment my kanji knowledge is indeed quite restrict if not absent, I merely know what I learnt till level 5 and a couple more but everywhere I go I definitely encounter tons of kanji I don’t know… as for grammar, you know my level
About this kansai dialect thing, it seems like this alone is a good reason for postponing the read of such mangas
I get what you mean, and I too couldn’t bear the feeling of missing the humour of the manga
Ok I don’t know how you’ve been able to intend this it sounds complicate, even in english!
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How do you have so much time. 
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Oops, I apparently ran out of likes today.
During the week, it’s because I work in network admin and system repair for my company, and my day-to-day duties are actually quite light when things run well and we don’t have any new equipment to set up. I’m pretty much just there in case there are problems and to look into new equipment and the like when the time rolls around for that.
I also work 4 day work weeks, so having that extra day every week gives me a lot of extra time to do my reading. I pretty much read a bit every evening when I’m home (and during down times at work when I can’t find anything to fill my time 
), and finish up the harder reads over the weekend.
I’ll likely be less active here (though still keeping up with my reading) in the coming weeks, though, as we have some equipment upgrades due. In theory, that should have been this week, but our equipment delivery got delayed (surprise, surprise. That’s basically a fact of life anymore).
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Yeaah so I started the journey !
So far I made it to chapter 4, but mostly I just read along with the vocabulary list without bothering to much on digging the grammar points. But today I had some free time so I read chapter 1 again, trying to clear some gramatical mysteries.
I wanted to read the thread for chapter 1, as I’m sure a lot has already been covered but i stumbled on this :
何？！
Spoiler, I didn’t go through everything but I did manage to find some valuable information.
Some were answer I needed, some were answer i did not know I needed. Shoutout to @ChristopherFritz who cleared a lot of points already (the の explanation 
)
Here are my interrogations
Page 3: 今日こそおれがたかぎさんをからかってやる
Why the use of てやる in this sentence ? From what I understand it implies that you do an action as a favor for someone. Is it a way for Nishikata to say that he is going to return the favor as an euphemism for taking revenge ?
Page 5: しかも俺がやろうとしたことを先に
I’ve written this one, but it was also adressed
Page 5: 求めるなんて
I’ve found an answer previously stating it means “something like”. I’ve also read it’s a way to show emphasis for surprise or emotion.
Page 5: そうで気づけよ俺
I don’t quite get そうで is it an abbreviation for そうです?
Page 9: 書いたのかおれ？！忘れてるだけで
忘れてる did they dropped the い and in reality it would be 忘れている?
Also couldn’t he have used 忘れちゃった in this context ?
Page 10: 何も書いてないじゃん
Why is there ない and then じゃん ? Isn’t that two negative form in a row ?
Page 11: こっちのセリフだ
Does that mean “That’s my line” ?
Page 13: 見てやるこうなりゃ全部
こうなりゃ lost me there
Page 7: 次の手を考えなければ
@ChristopherFritz you wrote
Essentially, you’d have to be a kid to think that at our age . Note that he’s not saying Takagi is a kid for it, because she’s not saying the thinks that. She’s only recalling having heard it before.
If she didn’t stated that she “heard it” by using そいえば, Could Nishikata sentence be translated to “Now that I think about it, you truly are a child” That’s how I understood it when I read it.
That’s about it, and it’s already a lot ! Thanks for your help
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I think Bunpro puts it better than I can:
てやる may be used ironically to show anger, or the strong resolve to perform undesirable actions to the listener (threatening), rather than performing favors for others sake. In addition it may also be used to express an intention to show off one’s true ability/power.
This is そこ＋で. Does that make it more clear, or are you still curious about the use of で?
In spoken Japanese (which comics tend to use), 〜ている often comes out as 〜てる. It’s similar to contractions in English (cannot => can’t). You will see it a lot, so you’ll get used to it.
This could be used if he realized he wrote a name and forgot about it. However, in this case, he is not certain whether he actually did write a name and forgot.
This use of じゃん is fairly common, although it’s actually pretty rare in the Takagi series.
It acts as a tag question, and is like ending an English sentence with “isn’t it?” or “aren’t you?”
This is one of those areas where you can’t perfectly map the Japanese to English, so you’ll probably just get a feel for it over time. (Except that it’s not used much in this series, but you’ll likely see it in other things you read over time.)
Correct.
なりゃ is another contraction often heard in spoken conversation. It’s contracted from なれば (which is the provisional/conditional form of なる, “if it becomes”).
This is also pretty much the only time you’ll see this contraction in this series, at least across the first seven volumes. (It might come up again later than that, though.)
The そういえば refers to the topic of erasers, so the so the “heard it” aspect of Takagi’s speech is in her saying, 「ってやつあった」, where って is quoting what came before it, saying there was (あった) a thing (やつ) along those lines.
I can’t comment on how the sentence would read differently in the situation you suggest as I have basically zero experience with production. I imagine Nishikata’s line would be worded differently in that situation.
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てやる may be used ironically to show anger, or the strong resolve to perform undesirable actions to the listener (threatening)
Ok that’s kind of what I thought was going on here, thank you for the confirmation
I misread そこで for そうで 
It makes sense now !
Ok, I thought as much since dropping some letters are a topic that came up in some previous post, but I wanted to make sure !
Ok I see the nuance there!
Ok, I’ve noted that down in my brain, next time it won’t throw me off !
I see, so what he say is something like : “if it became like this, I will look it all”
This one might take a little longer to sip in, especially if there is not a lot of occurence coming up.
Ok, thanks for correcting me, I was off the mark in my analysis !
Generally, I feel like I understand what’s being said from the context, but I’m lacking accuracy in figuring out the nuances. Well I guess, it is going to get better as I read more and work my way though some grammar.
Thank you for your answers, it was very clear !
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I’m pretty late to the party, but I hope someone can help me out with this.
One sentence that left me quite confused is:
筆箱があかなくって。
I do understand that the なくって is actually just なくて. However, that still leaves the question why a て-form is at the end of the sentence. I’ve read about four cases where that might happen:
- The speaker uses the て-form as connective form and implies that the sentence would actually continue.
- The て-form is shortened for a request: てください.
- The sentence order is jumbled around and the part that would come after the て-form is pulled to the beginning.
- It’s an interjection (like 助けて).
(2) is not possible because there is no request. (3) is not possible because there is no part that could have been reversed. (4) is not the case.
Which leaves option (1) but I can’t quite wrap my head around what Takagi could imply by letting the sentence dangling on a て-form. (“My pencil case doesn’t open, and …”) And what exactly? Is it just to imply that she is too busy trying to open the pencil case to really continue the sentence?
Would be nice if someone could elaborate on this 
.
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You have correctly deduced that it is number 1. As far as what it’s implying? That’s always a fun guessing game.
In this case, I think the implied part is literally just explanatory.
Well, my pencil box won’t open, and that’s why I’m struggling.
But honestly, when we have implied sentences, I usually don’t look for what the implication is that deeply, because you could interpret it a number of different ways, and all of them could be right to some degree. We do the same thing in English, we just use a trailing tone instead of an actual conjunction and mark it with ellipses in written speech (though “so” is used that way in English as well, if you wanted a conjunction).
西片: What’s wrong?
高木さん: Well, my pencil box won’t open…
That would be a perfectly normal exchange, and you wouldn’t usually try and fill in an actual sentence. You would just intuitively understand that was the explanation, right?
That’s often the case with the conjunctive て that “implies” a second sentence. You don’t really need to fill in the blank, so much as just view it as having ellipses, in my opinion.
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Thank you, that makes sense to me. I guess it will come naturally as I start reading more and more. In the beginning one is often compelled to try and fit every textbook grammar one knows 100% accurately (which of course never works ).
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