contrary to what you think…You’re explanations are detailed enough but not overly complicated… you don’t give yourself enough credit. “a little bit good” is wrong…すごい先生！かなり上手だよ！！！！！
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Slowly chipping away at it - just got through another two pages, and have some more questions/notes - please let me know if I’m completely off on anything too, and sorry if I’m asking too much
Chapter pages 6 and 7
「次の手を考えなければ。」
I need to think of another trick.(?)
- 考えなければ seems to be something like “if (subject) doesn’t think (of something)”, and the object here is 次の手, as marked by を so I’m guessing the subject would be Nishikata himself, but on its own that doesn’t make sense to my brain due to the lack of further clause. Would I be on the right track with what I intuited?
「どうすればいい！？」
What would be good!?
「どうすれば高木さんをはずかしめられる！？」
How can I humiliate Takagi-san!?
「ねえ。」
Hey
「な・・・ 何？」
Wh… what?
「消しゴム貸して、忘れるちゃったの。」
Lend me your eraser, I forgot mine (using the の as an explanatory marker here I think, as well as ちゃった implying she accidentally forgot it - thanks @ChristopherFritz for explaining these earlier)
「ははん！消しゴムを忘れるなんてどじだねえ。」
Tada! Something like forgetting your eraser is a silly mistake, isn’t it. (I think the spirit of what’s being said here is essentially drawing attention to the blunder)
「そーね。」
That’s right
「うーん・・・」
Ughhhhh…
「そーいえばさー」
Speaking of which…
「消しゴムに好きな人の名前書いて、使い切ったら両想いになれるってやつあったよね。」
There was a thing where writing the name of the person you like on an eraser, (they) will become mutual loves if (the eraser is) used up, isn’t that right?
- there’s a lot to take in with this one, I didn’t really try to phrase it naturally in english - @Phryne had a good explanation of the やつあった part, which helped quite a bit here
「あー、あったねそんなの。」
Ah, there was such a thing. (thanks again to @Phryne for already clearing this one up)
「今考えるとホント子供だよね」
Thinking about it now, isn’t it really for children?
- not entirely sure here, my instinct is that it’s something like “isn’t it really childish”, but 子供 here is a noun right?
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Your translations look pretty good to me.
Regarding the 「次の手を考えなければ」 line, it’s a common Japanese sentences structure to say “If I don’t (clause), then it is bad.” Because of how common this is, the “it is bad” part is often left off: “If I don’t (clause), then…”
Since it’s bad if you do not do the thing, it is implied that you do want to be sure to do the thing. That’s why this clause ending in なければ (“if I don’t (clause)”) is often translated as “I must do (clause)”.
Regarding the subject, you are correct. This is one of those situations where you can consider all possible subjects, and realize that only one makes sense:
- Does it make sense that the boy, Nishikata, needs to do this?
- Does it make sense that Takagi needs to do this?
- Does it make sense that the teacher needs to do this?
- Does it make sense that the kid in the seat closest to the door needs to do this?
You won’t actually think of all of these to figure out the subject. (I’ve just exaggerated it a little for effect.) Only one possible subject makes sense, and you were able to figure it perfectly.
As for 「今考えるとホント子供だよね」, as you say,
When と is at the end of a clause (that is to say, when it’s joining two sentences together), it has the meaning of “if” or “when”. “If (first clause) is true, then (second clause) is true.”
Here, the “if” or “when” is the clause: 「今考える」 The subject is unspoken, so I’ll use “one” as a pronoun for the subject in my translation: “One thinks (that) right now.”
Adding in the conditional, we get: “If one thinks (that) right now, then…”
The second clause is: 「ホント子供だ」 This time, I’ll use “they” as the pronoun filling in for the unspoken subject: “They are a child.”
Pulled all together, “If someone thinks (that) now, they are a child.”
If I were writing this as less of a “translation in regards to Japanese grammar” and instead more of a “here’s how it sounds smoothly in English”, I might go with, “If someone thinks that these days, they’re still a kid.” I changed the wording up a bit (it’s no longer a direct translation), but that conveys what I think Nishikata is saying. 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.
16 Likes
After reading the first chapter, it is abundantly clear to me that my limiting factor with reading is vocabulary. I’ve studied all the grammer points for N5 and N4 and have been doing Wanikani for 7 months but I have days where I feel like I know absolutely nothing.
How does everyone study vocab? Is it active or passive? I’ve taken to writing down unfamiliar vocabulary In a notebook but otherwise I’m not doing much else.
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I worked my way through some Tango decks. If you show a guy on reddit called Nukemarine proof of purchase, he’ll send you the Anki decks. There are example sentences with audio that get increasingly more complex and (in 95% of cases) only contain vocab you have already learned at that point, so it’s also great to practice listening with.
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For me, it depends on the word’s relation to WaniKani:
“Do I know all the kanji, and WaniKani will teach me the word later?”
Then I don’t bother learning it yet. (In this case, it’ll come up in WaniKani in the current or next level.)
“Do I know all the kanji, and WaniKani does not teach this word?”
If I can infer the meaning without any ambiguity (based on confirmation from a J-to-E dictionary), I don’t bother committing to learn it. It’s easy enough to figure out when I see it.
If I’m not certain the meaning, or if I have trouble with the reading, I make an Anki card for it.
“Does the word contain at least one kanji I don’t know?”
I don’t bother with it (beyond looking up the meaning so I can keep reading).
When I reach a high enough WaniKani level, I’ll probably start formally learning kanji not covered by WaniKani and adding cards for them. But right now there are so many WaniKani-covered kanji I haven’t reached yet that they’ll likely be paired up with, so I’m holding off probably at least until I complete level 40.
I’m not suggesting this is a good method, just that it’s what I’m currently using!
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I’ll be posting my translations to follow the routine with previous ABBC book. Usually I try to translate literally, but in case of this manga, it seems impossible, so it’ll be mix of literal and normal. General note that if anybody will take their time to check and provide feedback/corrections on translations, I will be super grateful. So far all my questions were answered in the thread and to a great extent.
Pages 1-6 (full Japanese and English, onomatopoeia skipped)
消しゴム
２．
ねえ、西片。
な、何！？高木さん！？
なにしてんの？
べつに。。。なにも。。。
ふーん。
Hey, Nishikata.
Wha-what!? Takagi-san!?
What are you doing?
Nothing in particular. Nothing.
Hmm.
３．
良い、バネだ。
あとはこれを箱に仕込めば、ビックリ箱の完成さ。
見てろよ高木さん。
いつもいつもオレをからかいやがって。
今日こそオレが高木さんをからかってやる。
どしたの？
いや！筆箱が開かなくって。
Good! It bounces.
Once I put it into the box, it will be a perfect jack-in-a-box!
Just you wait and see, Takagi-san.
Always, always she makes fun of me.
It is today that I will tease Takagi-san.
What’s wrong?
Oh no! Pencil box won’t open.
４．
ゆがんじゃったのかなー、ちょっと西片開けてくんない？
あ、うん。うわあ！！！
Maybe it got bent. Hey, Nishikata, why don’t you open it?
Ah, okay. WHAAA!!!
５．
なんだ西片。
な、なんでもありません。
くっくっく。
西片ってホントいい反応するわー。
う、うるさいなっ。
くそ。。。また、まんまとやられた。
しかもオレがやろうとしたことを先に。。。
そもそも高木さんがオレに助けを求めるなんておかしいんだ。
そこで気づけよオレ。。。
さすが高木さん。
What is it, Nishikata?
No-no-nothing.
Mwahahaha.
Nishikata, your reaction is really good.
Shut up!
Darn! Again, she succeeded.
And worse, I tried to do the same thing before.
First of all, Takagi-san asking me for help was suspicious.
I should have realised…
Just as you’d expect from Takagi-san.
６．
次の手を考えなければ。
どうすればいい？
どうすれば高木さんをはずかしめられる！？
ねぇ。
な。。。何？
消しゴム貸して、忘れちゃったの。
I must think of my next move.
What will work well?
What will work to embarrass Takagi-san!?
Hey.
Wh-what?
Can you lend me your eraser? I forgot mine.
8 Likes
Things are looking good in your translations.
This is an “X is Y” sentence of the type like “a kitten is a cat” (in the group of cats, there are kittens) and “an apple is a fruit” (in the group of fruits, there are apples).
Here, we have “(unstated subject) is バネ” (in the group of バネ, there is this).
Thus, a more literal translation may be “Good, it’s a spring.”
I’d say there’s an implication of meaning it functions as a spring.
I wonder, if you look back on earlier items you’ve read, if you’d find more “impossible to translate literally” things than you noticed previously.
At least, that’s how it’s been for me. I often go back and browse random pages of manga I’ve read over the past couple of years, and often I find things I didn’t really “get” as much as I thought I did back when I originally read it. It’s great because I can see my growth.
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Thanks again everyone for the amazing explanations.
Here’s another question from me on page 10:
「何も書いてないじゃん！！」and
「てか高木さん消しゴム持ってるじゃん！！！」
What is that じゃん at the end of both sentences? And the てか in the beginning of the second sentence?
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じゃん is the informal abbreviation of ではない. It’s very often used at the end of a sentence to mean “isn’t it?”. In that particular sentence though, the translation doesn’t quite work directly with “isn’t it?” because the main sentence is a negation
何も書いてない じゃん => There’s nothing written, is there?
てか is another informal abbreviation, in this case of って言うか, which basically means “or rather (say); or perhaps I should say;” This is often used to emphasize that instead of what has been said previously, there’s something else that is more important.
In this case, it’s a more important fact that Takagi asked for an eraser while already having hers, instead of the fact that his eraser that has nothing written on it.
10 Likes
Gonna try doing the same thing as @sansarret and post my own translations. We both followed along with the last ABBC book, where we translated one page per day. That same schedule for this book comes out to 2-3 pages per day, so I’ll try that for now.
pg. 2-3
ふふ…
Heh, heh…
ねえ、西方。
Hey, Nishikata.
な、何⁉︎ 高木さん⁉︎
Wh-what?! Takagi-san?!
何してんの？
What are you doing?
別に…何も…
Nothing…in particular…
ふーん
Hmmm…
良い、バネだ。
Good, it’s a spring.
あとはこれを箱に仕込めば、ビックリ箱の完成さ。
After, if I insert it into a box, the Jack-in-the-box will be complete.
見てろよ高木さん。
Just you watch Takagi.
いつもいつもオレをからかいやがって。
Always, always she teases me.
今日こそオレが高木さんをからかってやる。
But today I will tease her.
んー
Hmm…
どしたの？
What’s wrong?
いやー筆箱があかなくって。
It’s terrible, my pencil case won’t open.
If this is accurate, I hope it helps someone (although try it yourself first!). If not, please let me know of any mistakes 
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pg. 13
So after he takes Takagi-san’s eraser and notices the ろ, is his thought process on this page along the lines of:
ろ!? What else could go after that? It’s not my name is it? No, (to self) don’t be shocked if it’s something else. Screw it! I’m going to look at it, the whole thing!
「こうなりゃ全部」
Can’t make sense of this sentence in particular. Is こうな like こんな? Or is なりゃ something?
Edit: didn’t mean for this to be a reply, sorry about that.
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pg. 16
「無理だと思う」: she thinks it’ll be impossible for him to tease her back
「大チャンスで二分の一を外すようじゃね」: during your big chance, you had a fifty percent chance to not mess it up? (referring to the fact that he could have looked at the other side of the eraser)
Not really sure about that second sentence…
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EDIT: I think I’m using the wrong symbol for spoiler tags. Is not the side carrots? For now, just take this whole comment as a spoiler, and I will edit and fix this when I figure out how to make it properly blur spoilers!
Edit 2: I’m dumb. 
Fixed!
For the second sentence, I kinda interpreted it as explanatory for the first sentence, almost. For example:
“I think you can’t, especially because you missed a big 50/50 chance.”
Now, that’s just me reading between the lines, since there is no actual linking words between the two sentences, not a direct translation. I just get that impression from the context, and I could be totally wrong.
As for your other question regarding Nishikata’s thought process after seeing ろ, I read the thoughts as:
ろ?? ろ!!! Then that means!? (In an implied dejected manner) It’s not my name… Not that I’m really shocked or anything." Then he pauses for a moment before deciding, “Dammit! I’m gonna read the whole thing!”
Again, take it with a grain of salt. I’m not directly translating, just kinda giving my understanding of the text. Others will be far more accurate than me. I’m very new at trying to read Japanese, so if somebody else gives a different interpretation, they are most likely correct.
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Phew, I’m happy I could understand the jist of what was happening without assistance, but I couldn’t quite understand all of the longer text boxes (looking at you bottom of page 9). The spreadsheet was really helpful though, and the other replies were also very clarifying. I’ll be trying out the Anki decks too, until I can work my way through the chapter more cohesively. Thanks everyone!
Overall the chapter was really cute, especially the ending. Looking forward to the next chapter!
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Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I think your reading of the ろ part makes more sense
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Wow, so working through everyone’s questions and answers and I’ve found that all of my questions so far have already been answered =D
Ohhhh thanks for this, I had been stuck on trying to figure out what やがって was doing here.
OMG. I hadn’t noticed this!
I had just assumed (like other manga I had tried) that punctuation wasn’t reliable here, this helps a lot.
Thanks for this, I had been trying to make sense of the ending やられた - I couldn’t figure out what the や/やる meant in there.
There was a lot going on there, thank you thank you!
I’ve just came back to this and I think this might be it
あけ is the negative-stem form of あく(to open)
なくてis the te-form of ない (not)
くて becomes くって for reasons (above @ChristopherFritz suggests struggling to open box, which fits, until seeing that I hadn’t been able to make much progress with the ending)
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I think it comes from なる, so you can read it as こうなれば - which I understood as “If thats how it is”
れば changes to りゃ.
When looking this up to not give you wrong information, I found this forum post which this Contraction is covered in.
Hope this helps!
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Ah, thank you! I knew って would keep giving me trouble. I wonder, is the て in てことは！？ (page 13) something similar?
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I think these pages weren’t too bad and I managed to follow decently enough, but please let me know if I’m off or missed some important nuances:
Chapter pages 8 and 9
「ふーん 子供ねー」
Hmm, a child, huh.
「へえー」
Huh~
「なんだよ・・・」
What is it…
「何も・・・書いてないだろ。」
Nothing… I hope there’s nothing written on it.
「オレ・・・そんな子供っぽいことしないよ。」
I… wouldn’t do something childish like that.
「ははー、」
Haha~
「そーなんだー」
What’s this~ (not sure whether the そ part is just an interjection)
「ウソだ、」
It’s a lie,
「また からかってんだろ。」
I think you’re teasing me again.
「書いてるのか！？」
Is there something written on it!?
「書いたのかオレ！？忘れてるだけで！？」
Did I write something on it!? Am I just forgetting it!?
「か・・・か 返してくれよお！！！」
G…g-give it back!!!
「はい。」
Sure. (love the deadpan here haha)
Don’t really have any burning questions from these apart from just a general nuance that I’m wondering about: does Nishikata referring to himself in his thoughts using オレ indicate anything in particular? From what I’ve read generally it’s a more casual/somewhat rude way of male referring to themself, so is it just that he’s not talking to anyone so doesn’t need to be formal with himself?
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