Week 4 ギャルと恐竜 ・ Gal and Dino 🦕 (Absolute Beginner Book Club)

:sauropod: Welcome to Week 4 of ギャルと恐竜 ・ Gal and Dino :nail_polish:

Learn more about the Absolute Beginner Book Club here
Visit the home page for Gal and Dino here

Remember to set this thread and the Gal and Dino home page to watching to receive notifications!

Week 4 3 Jan 2025
Start Page 17
End Page 23
Last week Week 3
Next week Week 5
Home Thread Here

Page numbers are the ones printed on the bottom of the pages. These may differ from the numbering in digital versions.

Final Panel

:mag_right: Vocabulary

Vocabulary spreadsheet

Characters

Japanese English role photo
かえで Kaede main character
恐竜 Kyoryu (Dino) main character - a dinosaur who Kaede finds in her apartment
大家さん Oyasan (Landlord) Kaede’s Landlord

:speech_balloon: Discussion Guidelines

Spoiler Courtesy

Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.

  1. Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
  2. Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
  3. Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.
Instructions for Spoiler Tags

Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).

Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:

Example

This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.

The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.

This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.

Posting Advice
  • When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.
  • Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!

:fire: Participation

Will you be reading along with us this week?
  • I’m reading along
  • I’m still reading but haven’t reached this point yet
  • I’ve already read this previously, but I’m here for the discussion
  • I’m reading this after the book club has finished
  • I’ve stopped reading this book
0 voters
9 Likes

Two orders of business this week:

  1. This is our last split chapter week. Starting next week we’re going to read a whole chapter at a time.
  2. There have been some updates so the post editor lately. If you are using the Rich Text Editor as opposed to the Markdown editor (the A in upper left corner of the posting window, circled in red, will be highlighted), please make sure to close the details dropdowns before you post. Annoyingly, if you post while the dropdowns are open, it will post with them open, which defeats the point of even having them in the first place, so I hope that Discourse will fix this soon… :face_with_steam_from_nose:

11 Likes

When I think I have a great idea and then I think about it a little more…

Screenshots
Of course he'd basically be a climbing gym for cats

Now I’m imagining some really huge dinosaurs like a brontosaurus covered with happy cats.

this is how u look at ur friend when u want them to do u that favour and they know u want them to but u don't want to say it and they give in anyway

He's gonna huff and puff and blow my house down!

I tried a bit more of a naturalistic translation this time, which meant deviating from the literal content at times. I’m always struck by how translators convey semantics and pragmatics without being beholden to literal phrasing (a difficult line to walk) and I’m interested in doing that kind of work myself so…

Translation
Page 17

“Ah, miss landlady, hello.”

“Oh, Kaede-chan… and a dinosaur…

“Ah-so he’s been in my room since the day before yesterday…”

“Ahh, I see…”

“Is it a problem that I let him in the room?”

“Hm, well… as long as our cats aren’t scared, it should be fine…”

Page 18

[watching Dino swarmed with cats] “Then it’s fine.”

“Oh, I have some cat food left over, do you need any? Dino won’t eat it…”

“Oh my! You’re a godsend!” [lit: you’re saving me]

“Honestly, you’ll be taking it off my hands.” [lit: no, I’m the one being helped]

Page 19

"Hey, are you staying over today too?

“Huh, what? Come on.” [lit: hurry up]

Page 20

“If you’re staying tonight, we’ll need to get a toothbrush and towels and stuff!”

“…okay”

“Then let’s go to DonQui” [lit: shall we go to DonQui/DonQuijote]

N.B. I think technically the end page is 22…? unless I’m mistaken

10 Likes

Yeah, I’m often astounded by the way that translators translating comedy manga into English can make it funny in English too. For some reason, when I’m translating I can’t make a natural-sounding English sentence to save my life…

8 Likes

I KNOWWW… for like a decade on and off I’ve tried to translate persian songs into english, and getting the literal meaning is fine but then actually making it look like proper lyrics and not some goofy stilted text is so so hard

6 Likes

Dino vs cats… but at least he gets a toothbrush and a towel out of it.

I’m going to maintain my low effort approach of not even trying to do this :sweat_smile: but @ghelgheli I like your natural translations (especially your pg 17 godsend / taking it off my hands interaction! Hard to make those set phrases make sense)

Best bits

Abject despair as cat food is calmly discussed despite being attacked by an entire pack of cats (not the right collective noun…)

Page 17

部屋にいれるのマズかったっスか - is the スか a slurred ですか?

And am I right to infer that she’s likely the landlady renting the room, if Kaede is asking whether it’s ok to have a dinosaur?

Looking forward to full chapters next week!

7 Likes

Thank you!! I was pleased with myself for that one UvU

To my understanding yes, and from what I’ve seen around this is something that, depending on the person, may be an occasionally pronunciation vs. a feature of their idiolect. There was a character in ハピネス who articulated it this way all the time (even in keigo).

Yes, and—maybe you knew this already, in which case I’m sorry!—the phrase 大家さん means landlord (gender neutral)

6 Likes

I did not! Thank you. Totally skated over that.

5 Likes

Very well week 4! Translation attemps:

Page 17

あ 大家さん - Ah, landlady

こんいちは - Hello.

あら 楓ちゃん - Oh my, Ms Kaede.

と恐竜。。。 - And, a dinosaur…

あ ー昨日から部屋にいるんですけど。。。 - Ah, since the day before yesterday he’s been on my room

ああ そうなのね - Oh, i see

部屋にいれるのマズかったっスか? - Would it be troublesome if he stays on my room?

そうねえ。。。 - let’s see… (Or, let me think…)

ウチの猫ちゃんたちが怖がらないなら大丈夫かなあ。。。 - If my cats aren’t scared then it will be fine i think…

Page 18

じゃあ 大丈夫だ - Well then, it’s fine.

あ猫のエサ余ってるんですけどいります? - Oh, i have some excess of cat’s food, do you need some?

恐竜食べなくて - Dino doesn’t eat it

あら! 助かるわあ. - Oh my! You are helping me.

いや 助かるのアタシの方だし - No, You are the one helping me (I didn’t knew how to translate these last two, i didn’t knew who was talking. Thanks to @ghelgheli 's translations i was able to get who was speaking on these last two)

Page 19

なあ - Hey

今日もウチ泊まれの? - Today you will also pass the night on my room?

え? なに? - Eh? What?

早くしろよ - Decide quick

Page 20

もし泊まるなら 歯ブラシとかタオルとか買わなきゃいけねーだろ - Perhaps, if you stay the night we should buy things like a toothbrush and a towel

。。。よし - …Alright!

んじゃドンキいくか - Okay, then, shall we go to Don Quijote? (I have played Yakuza before, so i got the reference)

Favorite panels of the week

Next week will be a whole chapter, looking forward to the challenge!

5 Likes

One trick in manga is that you can frequently tell who’s speaking by the character’s usual speaking style, especially if it’s particularly distinctive. In this instance, we haven’t heard much yet from the landlady to really know how she talks (though using the あら exclamation and the わ sentence ender are fairly typical of the motherly older woman character archetype), but we do know from the previous chapter that Kaede uses アタシ as her first-person pronoun, and occasionally ends sentences with だし, so it’s pretty likely that this line is spoken by her.

11 Likes

Looking forward for next week to start reading full chapters! I really enjoy the difficulty level, the art and the humor so far!

This week I had one sentence I didn’t get while reading but thanks to this thread I got it :smile: (いや 助かるのアタシの方だし)

9 Likes

Another fun chapter! Like everyone, I’m excited about doing a full chapter next week.

Did pretty well on most pages, except for panel 2 of p18. I totally thought the cats were trying to eat dino and they were talking about saving dino or something :sweat_smile:

A few questions this time:

p17 panel 4 - そうなの

そうなのね

Is this like “It’s like that, huh?” or something? そう = like that, connected to の (indicating a realization) by な?

These basic そう and こんな type phrases are tripping me up left and right…

p17 panel 5 - katakana and dropped mora

部屋に 入れるのマズかったっスか?

Even though I didn’t quite understand the intended meaning of マズかった here, I got the general gist that it was a negative thing of some kind so I got the meaning.

っスか confused me at first, but I assumed the っ is a dropped で, which is hinted at by ス being in katakana. Seems that katakana can represent slang—is that also what’s happening for マズ here?

p18 panel 2 - particles, けど, て, ほうが, し

This is where I got lost.

猫のエサ
余ってるんですけど
いります?

猫のエサ didn’t have a particle and I didn’t check whether 余る was transitive or not. Is having 猫のエサ on it’s own line suggesting that it’s the topic that might be normally marked by は?

I need to read about けど because while I get that it’s supposed to be like however or but, I don’t quite understand how it works. Here, is it kinda like “though”, as in “Ah, I have a lot of cat food left over, though, do you need it?”

恐竜
食べなくて

Again, no particles, so I thought this was “Don’t eat Dino!” :rofl: Why would て form be used here? I feel like I read that sometimes て can be added to speech as though someone were going to continue speaking, but doesn’t.

いや
助かるの
アタシの方だし

I recall from a previous week that だし is Kaede listing a reason, and I literally earlier today learned that ほうが is used for the positive part of comparisons. Is this, then, something like “No, you are helping me more!” ? I don’t know if the し really translates into English per se, but I guess it serves to let us know that she’s kinda making an argument.

Also, thinking about it, why would she use だ here when she’s been speaking more politely to 大家さん otherwise?

p20 panel 1 - もし, なら, なきゃいけねーだろ

もし
泊まるなら

Is もし here an interjection like “excuse me” or is it part of the なら conditional somehow?

歯ブラシとか
タオルとか
買わなきゃ
いけねーだろ

Having trouble with the last two lines. My best guess:

買わなきゃ = I gotta buy
いけ = I assume this is a form of 行く??
ねー = either a slang negative ない or a drawn out ね ender
だろ = a shortened だろう, demanding a response of agreement

And, for fun,

some panels I liked:


This one cat looking back at 大家さん like “is it okay?!?!”


Love that Dino always has their mouth wide open


楓! Getting down to business!!!


This close-up… bahaha

7 Likes
Summary

17:
Landlady, hello!
Ah Kaede and…dinosaur?!
Since the day before yesterday he is in my room
Ah, so it is…
Is it a problem that I put him in my room?
If the cats aren’t afraid this should be okay,I wonder…(First thought it meant the Cats are Not in the garden…)

18:
So this is okay…

Had to translate it, thought it asked If Dino is eating Cats, didn’t unterstand the conversation, only parts that he is Not eating the food and the I’m saved Part…

19: I really have a Problem with katakana…couldn’t get get the Uchi Part…

20: same. Brush and towel took some time…but I got it, even that Donki means Don Quichote::slight_smile:

Conclusion for me
There are a Lot of Katakana in this Manga which are difficult to translate for me, those are holding me back…need to learn those better!

4 Likes

I could understand most again this week, had a little peek and it seems like it’s getting a little more difficult soon.

struggled with this

Does anybody have a breakdown for this sentence (not only translation but also explain a little?)

5 Likes

My read of it:

いや - “No”
助かるの - Nominalization of 助かる/to be saved, i.e. “the one being saved”
アタシ - “I”, feminine first person singular pronoun. In katakana for stylistic emphasis/legibility
の方 - direction/“greater than”, combines with the pronoun to indicate herself [rather than the landlady]
だ - casual copula, “is”
し - reason-giver, softener

Putting it together:

Transliteration: No, being-saved-one I-direction is-reason
Literal: No, the one who is being saved is me

8 Likes

ahhh the の方 really threw me off, but I think I get it now, thank you!

5 Likes
Page 18

Here’s what it’s likely doing here:

Source: けど: Why Are Japanese Speakers Always Ending Their Sentences with "But"?

So the first けど part of the sentence (“I have cat food left over”) provides context for the post-けど part (“do you need it?”).

“Don’t eat Dino!” would actually work grammar-wise, but since none of the cats seem to be eating Dino and it doesn’t flow with the conversation it’s probably not that, yeah.

I think it’s either:

  • An open sentence: “Dino didn’t eat it, [so I don’t need it].”
  • An after-thought to be inserted in the first sentence: “Dino didn’t eat it, I have cat food left over, do you need it?”
Page 20

It’s the latter: もし If (For emphasis).

買わなきゃいけねー is slang for 買わなきゃいけない, which is a common abreviation of 買わなければいけない. So that whole part is just “must buy”.

I couldn’t answer @pocketcalamity’s questions from page 17 and only half from page 18, so that’s up for grabs :wink:

5 Likes

This one is how “explanatory の” (idk the actual term for it) conjugates with sentences that end in nouns (and i think な adjectives too): this な you should think of as kind of a form of だ/です that’s necessary to make it clear that you’re saying の in a splainin way rather than a possessive way

p17 panel 5 - katakana and dropped mora

部屋に 入れるのマズかったっスか?
I think マズかった could also be written 不味かった or まずかった: it’s just the conjugation for the い-adjective まずい. here maybe (just a guess) the katakana is more emphasis

3 Likes

I gotchu!

pg 17

This is just まずい, 4th definition.

My read on the katakana usage here is less that it’s slang, and more that it’s not the most common meaning of the word. This is just my feeling, so don’t put too much weight behind that :sweat_smile: I’ll try and pay more attention while I’m reading manga this week and see if I can decide if this is true..

Yep! This is less polite than using です, but still not disrespectful. My guess is that Kaede has a decent relationship with Oyasan. But she might also just talk to everyone like this because she’s a gyaru. It’s hard to tell bc I don’t see her talking to outright strangers a lot in this series.

Related sketch (Instagram link)

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR9_-VdCdxF

pg 18

This is also just one of (many) definitions of 方. Here you want #2. You’ll note your grammar point is also here as a definition too. It’s an annoying word with a lot of uses :sweat_smile:

Good catch!
I don’t know the exact nuance for this, you’d probably need to ask a native speaker. But the polite/casual lines aren’t totally set in stone and sometimes it will meander in a conversation. It’s a little strange to have Kaede, who is both younger and renting from Oyasan to not use です here, but it’s clearly not an offense meant.

10 Likes

Oh I love them so much already :’)

While challenging at times, I love getting to interact with more slang/ways of speaking. I feel like it helps to dust off and freshen up some grammar points when I break the “conjugation” down.

Page 20

I miss ドンキ. I wish so deeply for one where I live.

This last bit reminded me of “とか” and I definitely want to incorporate it into more of my journaling.

Excited for next week! Thanks again to everyone for sharing your experiences + translations. It helps a ton (:

8 Likes