Chapter Pages 2 and 3
This なあ differs from other uses of な. Here’s a quote from Maggie Sensei about なあ:
In this case, Nishikata is feeling/thinking 「いい」 as he watches his classmates.
For an English translation, I’d probably go with “Must be nice…” It’s a bit loose in the translation, but I think it captures the sentiment.
Sometimes I like to add “inner quotes” to make it a little easier to see what’s going on.
「『プール授業初日だ』っていうのに見学なんて」
The のに is joining two sentences together, so let’s further break this down by splitting it:
「『プール授業初日だ』っていう」
This one is a bit difficult to translate because we don’t know who the subject is. Perhaps:
“It’s called the first day of swimming lessons.”
“They say it’s the first day of swimming lessons.”
「見学なんて」
“Something like observational study.” (has a feel of disdain in the なんて)
Putting these together with のに meaning “even though”, we get something like:
“Even though it’s called the first day of swimming lessons, it’s observational study.”
For an English translation, I’d probably reword it a bit, and change the second half from a noun-sentence to a verb-sentence: “Even though it’s our first day of swimming lessons, I’m stuck watching.”
Are you ready for a “how am I supposed to know that” moment?
This さえ is…a particle.
(I’ve updated the vocabulary sheet.)
Via Maggie Sensei’s page on さえ:
Remember the “if only” meaning for 「さえ～ば」.
Let’s break down the sentence and see how it applies.
「この手のケガさえなきゃ・・・」
The noun ケガ is modified by この手, giving us the injury of this hand or simply this hand’s injury.
At the end we have なきゃ (colloquial for なければ). This has has a meaning along the lines of “if (it) doesn’t exist; if there is no …; if (one) doesn’t have …” Its a conditional, meaning there should be something after it, but Nishikata’s left that part unspoken (because it’s obvious what would follow).
Altogether, we get something like, “If only I didn’t have this injured hand…”
適当 is one of those words you get a feel for over time. The に after it turns it into an adverb, like -ly in English. You may notice you even used -ly in your translation for the word.
For English, I might go with “Even though I just said it randomly” to give a similar feel.
Chapter Page 6
「別にいいよ」 is a common phrase meaning “I don’t mind” or “I don’t care.” For example, if your friend asks if he can borrow your car to drive to the bank, as he puts a ski mask over his head, and checks the locks on his empty briefcase, you might respond, 「別にいいよ」.
In the case of Nishikata, he’s saying he doesn’t really care, followed by 「知りたくない」, 知る (to know) + たい (want, desire) + く (to join another word to it) + ない (don’t). "I don’t want to know. If I remember right, the し at the end is used when stating a reason.