Considering it’s the end of a chapter, the end of this week’s reading is probably noticeable enough to not require this, but in my Tsubasa Bunko (June 2016 edition), it ends on page 42.
In between I was really confused. I got the thing about the ceremonial clothing and makeup, the dancing. But the part about the rice was strange. It was really hard for me to imagine the scenery. Looking back I got every single word right and also got the translation, but I was convinced, I understood something wrong. Up until this one word: 口噛み酒 。
Seriously, what an unbelievable gross tradition. I can totally understand why 三葉 wants to leave this shitty ド田舎 as quick as possible!
Okay, again I have some sentences I’d like to discuss with you.
がっちん！という金属音が、ひぐらしの声色に溶けていく。ほらよ、とテッシが自販機から取り出した缶ジュースを差し出す。
I’ve read this sentence like twenty times, but don’t quite get it. I think my problem here is the に in ひぐらしの声色に溶けていく. I think it means something like ‘His everyday tone of voice dissolves (loosens?)’. But isn’t this に溶ける rather used in a context like a 砂糖は水に溶ける (sugar dissolves in water)?
テッシーにだまされたというよりも、まあそりやそうか、という気持ちになる。
In my opinion a very Japanese sentence. I’d translate it as : ‘I got the feeling of it is how it is / what so ever rather than telling Tesshi to shut up.’
「糸の声を聞いてみない」と、作業の手を止まずにお祖母ちゃんは続ける。
This 聞いてみない comes probably from 聞いて見る, so it’s ‘try to listen’. It’s negative, so ‘don’t try to listen’. But this makes no sense in this context. Her granny wants her to listen to the tread (what a weird granny…). Is this again some dialect, originating from 聞いて見なさい? And if yes, how should anybody ever be able to distinguish it from 聞いてみないでください
「思春期前の子さまは気楽でええよな！」
Has anyone an idea, what this ええよな could mean in this context? What feeling should it create in this sentence?
On second thought, I think this is a shorter みなさい. お祖母ちゃん does more interesting contractions, like てまった instead of てしまった. We can probably just chalk it up to her age and heavy dialect. They mentioned that in class with the teacher as well.
I just want to test my comprehension a bit and bounce some ideas off of other readers (especially since I don’t have the English version to reference). Grandma’s speech about the 組紐 was a little hard to follow at first because of the dialect, but I really pushed myself and this is what I got out of it:
She basically says that because of Mr. ぞうり salesman’s huge fire that wiped out the town and all the old writings, the meaning behind their 組紐 pattern has been lost. However, the shape of the pattern itself lives on, and the meaning is “carved into” the pattern. So if they keep weaving it (or braiding it, or whatever), someday its meaning will be revived.
Is that right? Actually, I was annoyed by this part when I first started reading it because I was finding it kind of hard to follow, and I didn’t think I really cared about it. But once I understood it, I found it charming in that old people folk tale kind of way. And Mitsuha’s reactions throughout, because she’s heard the story a thousand times, were also funny.
Bah. I was kinda hoping the book would explain why Yotsuha (and I keep wanting to write Yotsuba…) is sitting behind a screen in the cord-weaving scene. I guess that’s just where the アシスタント sits?
A “snack bar” (スナックバー, sunakku bā ), or “snack” for short, refers to a kind of hostess bar, an alcohol-serving bar that employs female staff who are paid to serve and flirt with male customers. Although they do not charge an entry fee (and often have no set prices on their menus), they usually either have an arbitrary charge or charge a set hourly fee plus a “bottle charge”. (Customers purchase a bottle in their own name, and it is kept for future visits.)
I love that section with all the grumbling and then Tesshi suggesting they go to a cafe which turns out to be a vending machine.
Just one query about the word 過疎っぷり (p30 for me) - I can see 過疎 on Jisho but not with っぷり. ふり gives a range of options including the completely fabulous "not wearing underwear or pants", but none are leaping out at me as making sense in context. Help please!
My interpretation: The metallic “gachin” sound (of the cans of drink coming out of the vending machine) dissolves/melts/fuses into the sound of the evening cicadas.
Which, in case you’re interested, sound like this
)
