うそだもんね - from context I think it’s “that’s a lie, isn’t it” but I don’t understand the もん part
Page 34
また こんどかってもらえば - I was a little thrown by this… once more + this time + buying it(?) + you could receive it?
このどら焼きがいいんだもん - I’m taking this as him whining, like “but I liked this dorayaki, it was good”?
あれを使って - it’s (that over there) + (using) – but why あれ? He has the thing in his hand… unless implicitly he’s looking at the inner tube and it’s far away from him at that moment?
[panel 16] 木こりがオソ - what is this? couldn’t find it… The woodcutter’s something? From context I’m guessing “axe” but not sure how “osu” means that.
Xと思ったらY is a common construction that normally means something like just when I thought x, then y. It’s basically that meaning here, but in English you would say x, then again y. So here he’s basically saying “at first I thought it was really strange, but then again, they used that thing (and that’s why the spider wasn’t there)”. Also notice that explainer んだ is there again - another clue that the second half is the sentence is his explanation for what happened (spider was turned into a puff of smoke/cloud). This kind of implied fragment that isn’t written happens a lot in Japanese, I’ll try to point it out the next few times.
I’ll answer more questions tonight after work if someone doesn’t beat me to it!
I actually had some of the same questions when reading!
ゴロアワセトウ
Page 30 panel 40:
やめて。にわ中、さくだらけじゃない。
I think it’s kind of a confusing sentence as well. I took the じゃない to mean the girl’s mother is clarifying what she wants the kids to stop doing: Not a yard covered in fences. The mother doesn’t appear to be harshly scolding the kids (やめて！) so much as mildly rebuking them (sort of like: Do something else, not that).
I think 〜じゃない can be surprisingly tricky, especially when spoken where the tone of voice that it’s said in can completely flip the meaning. A Tofugu article explains it better: 〜じゃない・〜ではない.
木こりのいずみ
Page 33 panel 6:
グローブもやくに立てばよろこぶさ
At first, I thought the boy was just saying to ジャイアン that he would be glad if the glove is useful (after saying it was a waste in Nobita’s hands). There are a lot of set phrases for some form of 役に立つ + some expression of happiness to express “I’ll be glad if it’s of help”. It’s actually ambiguous though and I like your interpretation.
There seem to be a lot of instances in Japanese with anthropomorphizing things (擬人化). Like for example with いる being used not just for non-living things like ghosts, robots and so on but even things like cars, trains, countries(!), etc. – treating them just like living beings depending on how the speaker feels about them.
Thank you for your help! Both of your answers are quite interesting, especially the anthropomorphizing of things being a thing that happens in japanese. I love when people post links to the grammar points being explained, thank you! I have so many to read haha
Both chapters were such a fun read! I really enjoyed the word play with the flashlight, I guess there would be a lot more seeing how many kanjis already have the same pronunciations this early in my studies. I hope to see another story like that.
Still heavily relying on help to get through but I’m recognizing more vocab and is the first time I recognized every kanji used.
もん is short for もの and in this context is often used to signify a complaint or dissatisfaction or excuse.
p 34
The subject isn’t stated and the second half of the sentence is missing, which often happens in Japanese. I think he’s saying he could get the dad to buy another one. てもらう can be used in the sense of getting someone to do something for you. And the conditional here -eba form is a clue that he’s making a suggestion: is you get him to buy one for you (implied: that would be good) = why don’t you get him to buy you another one
Exactly, that dissatisfaction / complaint もん makes another appearance!
I think he hasn’t pulled the lake or yet so it’s ‘away’ in that he’s remembering it and has to get out
It’s a typo in your reading: it’s オノ axe
No worries, super common even in more advanced clubs!
I wondered if it was named after Doraemon but it’s actually been around for centuries. It’s two sponge cakes with bean paste in the middle.
ドラ can mean gong, and Wikipedia tells me it’s thought either it’s called this because each half looks like a gong, or perhaps the first one was cooked in a copper gong shaped pan
It looks like they using the “anywhere door” in this panel:
The Anywhere Door is one of the most popular and frequently used gadgets in the series. It’s prime function is to transport the user to whatever location they desire by walking through it.
I remember in the Genki II book there is a story about Doraemon and it mentions the Anywhere Door too.
Page 28, Panel 19
Nobita is saying (referring to the flashlight):
おもしろいきかいだなあ。
I think the きかい in this panel is for this kanji 機械:
machine; mechanism
instrument; appliance; apparatus
Just mentioning because I saw it getting translated as 機会 - chance; opportunity; occasion; and I don’t think that is correct.
The pace might be a bit fast for some of us. Its good to have time to read over the chapters and revise the vocabulary, i think. One chapter a week was a good pace for me.
Yeah, the pace is a bit fast for me and I liked the one chapter a week pace too, but that’s okay I just do what i can!
Side note, I also like the idea of ABBC reading a certain number of words or sentences a week vs chapters (I feel like there are more words/sentences in these recent stories ), or maybe there should be a turtle pace ABBC. But I guess the downside is that one book could take many months to finish (which I would be fine with). Oh well, I’m still enjoying it the way it is and plan to stick with it!
Don’t feel pressured to read two chapters per week! If you can consistently read one per week that’s great as well! You can read the part of the forum related to one story and come back later for the other chapter. As long as you’re learning and having fun, it’s enough!
The very first manga I ever read was ドラえもん Ch 1 online with my Japanese friend. Afterwards she sent me a どこでもドア magnet so we can visit each other anytime
p 28 panel 19
You are correct!
I’m afraid I don’t have time myself to check posts for accuracy that provide lots of translations but no Japanese, so good catch! But rest assured everything with Japanese plus a specific question - I read and respond to all of those comments
And I second the advice to continue at the one chapter per week pace for anyone who prefers that!
