Characters
Many characters have katakana names that derive from German words.
Japanese
German
English
role
first appearance
フリーレン
Frieren
Freeze
main character
Ch 1 p 3
ヒンメル
Himmel
Sky or heaven
Frieren’s comrade
Ch 1 p 3
アイゼン
Eisen
Iron
Frieren’s comrade
Ch 1 p 3
ハイター
Heiter
Cheerful
Frieren’s comrade
Ch 1 p 3
フェルン
Fern
far away
new character
Ch 2 p 42
シュトラール
Strahl
sunlight
holy city
Ch 2 p 42
エーヴィヒ
Ewig
forever, eternal
reference to historical character
Ch 2 p 47
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but rather “remote, far, distant” in German. And the Holy City シュトラール on page 42, which is Strahl = beam of sunlight. Page 47 エーヴィヒ = Ewig = forever, eternal
Ah, Fern and her ridiculously formal language. どうかなさいましたか indeed.
I kept reading ahead (because my BookWalker free version of the first two volumes expires this weekend ) and I think this 2nd chapter is the hardest of the first book. There’s a lot of text and it’s rather abstract at times.
Keep pushing if you’re struggling, it gets easier after that.
That also tripped me up a bit at first. Also I remember being vaguely confused at the beginning of the chapter because there’s no introduction/salutation between her and Frieren so I assumed that they had already met in the interval betwen Ch1 and 2 and were traveling together.
I don’t know enough about how that character develops to know if the author is referring to fern (english) or fern (German). This source seems to think it is referring to the German meaning of fern (English: far).
even as a German speaker I wouldn’t have figured out Strahl from that!
oh I get it, I misinterpreted your post and thought you meant it wasn’t German but the image fern, but now I see the picture was part of your sentence Thanks! I updated the name list in a general sense
エーヴィヒ isn’t a new character but rather a historical figure. I think this passing reference is his only mention, but it’s entirely possible there are other passing references - I don’t entirely recall.
What does どうかなさいましたか? mean?
I guess it is somehow “can I do something for you?” Literally from the words I just read “please, did?” Which does not make so much sense to me but I guess its some keigo set phrase.
Page 44
I had trouble here with フリーレンs sentence in the right lower corner.
I guess however I got it to be:
らしくないね is “that is quite unusual”
進んで人助けするような"things like continue to help another person"
質じゃないでじょ ”I did not think you were that kind of person"
So all together. “That is quite unusual for you, I did not think you were that kind of person to continue to help another person.”
The sentence afterwards is also hard. But I think it is “Since you are not ヒンメル?” (suggesting that is something that ヒンメル would have done but not ハイター)
Page 48
I have trouble with the sentence あなた達の手前格好を付けていたから
I guess something like “I am attached to this body in front of you guys”(referring to his body)? Or “I am attached to the body I see in front of me” (like I would miss you if I die)
lower right is also difficult.
I don’t understand the construct よとあります (what does this mean?)
なさいます is polite なさる which is polite する, so yes, basically, どうしましたか？
44
You have the right general idea.
らしいくない = negative form of ～らしい, which you can think of as ‘esque’. So it would mean something like ‘that’s not really like you’.
あるまいし is a grammar form meaning ‘it’s not as if ~’. So you are correct, though she means something a bit closer to ‘It’s not like you’re Himmel’. (One trick to knowing it doesn’t literally mean ‘you are not Himmel’ is because ある is reserved for inanimate objects)
48
格好をつける = to put up a front, to pretend.
“The first reason is, I wanted to pretend [I wasn’t scared of death] in front of you guys”
The second is a bit complicated. Let’s break down the sentence like this:
それに聖典には健やかに生きよとあります。
それに / 聖典には / 「健やかに生きよ」/ と / あります
Anyway / a commandment / “Live healthily” / [quotation particle] / is
The よ is part of the embedded quote “生きよ”, which is the command form of “live”.
The と indicates a preceding segment is a quote or a nested phrase.
あります is just the existence verb.
Typo: In the second sentence, it’s よう, not じょう
And adding to Jintor’s answer above that 進んで has a specific meaning, that’s a bit separate from the normal meaning of “to continue”. It has the meaning of “voluntarily; willingly; of one’s own free will”. I’ve changed the entry in the vocab sheet.
who did the borrowing? or who has the debt? is it Frieren that owes Haita? because Haita starts requesting stuff( perhaps to be repayed)
p.47
記されているとされています。
whats the function of とされています here?
indirect speech? like " its said that this magic is inscribed in here"?
p.48
あなた達の手前格好を付けていたから。
The first reason for his request to transcribe the book was because he put up a front (格好をつける) in front of them (手前) do i understand this right ?
Sure, I’ll decipher this book for you. Just give me about 5 or 6 years.
Page 48: Something tells me Heiter isn’t really that interested in immortality (even though he’s probably not lying when he says he wasn’t as cavalier about death as he pretended. Is he sneaky enough to use the book as an excuse to get Frieren to spend a couple of years with Fern and get them to bond?
Page 50: If I get this correctly, Frieren has a hard time locating Fern. She notes to herself that this is an excellent application of magic technique, and wonders how much Fern has been studying to pull this off. Is it really that, or it this a sort of innate talent that Fern has unlocked? I’m guessing it would fit in thematically, being a war orphan. She maybe has had plenty of reason to hide and not stand out, before she was taken in by Heiter. Her blast is impressive, though! I guess we’ll find out more about this later.
Page 53: It’s surprising that Frieren doesn’t really like magic. In most fantasy I’ve read, it requires a lot of dedication. Things like this really keep me interested in the story.
Language question:
p.48
私は僧侶なのでどうも勝手がわからないのです。
I’m pretty sure this means “I’m a monk, so a don’t really understand this (i.e. magic)”. But what’s the どうも勝手が doing here? Is it “however I try, in my own way”…
Frieren is in debt to Heiter. ハイターには indicates the direction: “There is a debt to Heiter”. And Frieren says 返しに来た: I came to return it.
p.47
Yes, you can consider it as a passive form of する, but it’s probably easier to remember this as its own grammar point meaning “It is said/considered, that…” See とされている (JLPT N4) | Bunpro
p.48
Correct. The first part is that he was always scared of dying, he just put up a front of not-caring for them. The second part is that he’s actually gotten more scared of dying, compared to before.
私は僧侶なのでどうも勝手がわからないのです。
I’m pretty sure this means “I’m a monk, so a don’t really understand this (i.e. magic)”. But what’s the どうも勝手が doing here? Is it “however I try, in my own way”…
I took it as his magic is kind of automatic as a monk and he does not know how to teach it.
Not sure though if this is right
) and I think this 2nd chapter is the hardest of the first book. There’s a lot of text and it’s rather abstract at times.
Thanks! I updated the name list in a general sense
love that
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