Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.
Discussion Guidelines
Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy!
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.
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.
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).
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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
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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!
At page 73 right now!
I dont comment a lot because it takes me more time to write questions here than to read, and recently I dont have to ask much things grammar wise now that I am using chatgpt, I learn a lot! It’s a very good tool to learn grammar and even colloquialisms.
Just noticing that grammar takes a while to really “stick in” my brain. I often look up stuff I saw 3,4, 5 times. But it’s because a lot of times it looks very different even though it’s not. Each phrase looks very unique in japanese for now, probably because I need to read more. Is this a normal step of learning ? I would love to hear feedbacks from the せんぱいs of this thread.
At page 72, this “甘いと思って食べたらしょっぱいから”
Was an interesting sentence. I didnt understand at first that the と was used for linking 甘い and 思って together. I am too used to mean “and” or “if”. Some of these particles like から are very flexible (to my view), so it’s hard to get used to them yet.
I wish I could read more but I really lack focus these days. So sadly I am behind on all my goals / books and also on Genki, so I cant really read more as I wished to. Maybe next months! I am still glad I read everyday even a few pages.
I’m having trouble with the back-and-forth between Suna and Takeo. From the だろ ending, I understand that Suna is challenging his (obviously incorrect!!) assumptions, but what does だって mean when he says: おまえだって？
Struggling with the 「だと何かなー」part. Is she saying something about always only eating cake?
Also, does ばっかり carry a different connotation from ばかり? Took me a bit to figure out that they’re the same thing
Page 76
「告白してつらい立場に追いこんだりしない」
I think I get that the gist is that confessing would put her in a painful situation but I don’t understand the usage of 追い (to chase) and こん (?) here
Page 82
「もうめんどくさいから、全部バラしていい」
What is 「バラして」? From the context, it sounds like Suna is a bit tired of dealing with Takeo while he’s freaking out so he’s saying that he’s going to lay it all out plainly?
That is indeed completely normal Just think about it, like it’s an SRS (like in wanikani). You see a new grammar point in the wild and look it up (even that is already a difficult skill you already manage!) and later the same grammar point (maybe even dressed differently) will pop up again. But just like in wanikani you might have already forgotten it, but luckily when you read anough the same grammar point wil pop up again and again. Reading is the original SRS! It’s harder than learning kanji with wanikani, though, since grammar can take many different forms and some are heavily context-related. So of course it’s more difficult to recognize grammar even if you already learned it well. Not to mention all the vocab around it you might not yet have learned.
So in other words: Every time you have to look up a grammar point, you repeat it and level it up You’re doing really well
Sounds normal to me. I finished the Genki books months ago and tried ingraining the material from many different angles (exercises, practice sentences, SRS, YouTube videos, daily immersion).. I’m still looking up points that should be burned into my brain by now. But eventually one more thing will click, then another, and hopefully over time most of it will.
Yep, that’s normal. Especially since the conditions in which you see grammar ‘in the wild’ are very different from textbook conditions! In the textbook, you just see that grammar point. OK, got it! But then, in native material, it might be combined with other grammar points (some that you might not know), there might be only half a sentence because a character didn’t say a full thought, etc etc etc. But don’t worry, eventually it will click more and more.
I read the と here as kind of like ‘and so,’ but I’m not 100% on this interpretation, or why she would use と instead of から or ので
なにかな
What, I wonder
と思って
I thought
So, she always brings him ‘just cake,’ and we see from the next speech bubble that she tried a new kind of dessert. Together with that context, I think なにかな is her wondering what else she should make besides ‘just cake’ like always.
That’s how I think of it too! But it’s nice to hear from other people experience when you are in “the thick of it” lol.
Sometimes I forget stuff I saw instantly, so it feels a bit discouraging, but I try to trust the process
Ironically, this is encouraging for me to hear aha. I also did all the exercices, and spreading them (one day I do all the Practices, the others I do the Workbook ones) helps me rather than do everything at once. How is this “clicking” process going for you? For me it does feel like things take a lot of time to really stick, but it does feel like some of them do stick, eventually.
Yeah, right? Sometimes I read comprehensible sentences but it’s hard to translate it, due to context or a slightly different construction (like you both said). Textbook reading really is nothing compared to the real thing.
Am I weird for wanting someone to describe entirely only failures ? That would be so encouraging to me LOL
the very ironic thing, is that I “saw” it in Genki the day before asking this question . Relating to my post about forgetting things quickly… I didnt even notice that.
For my defense, I learned 思います, so 思って wasnt very familiar form
Once a grammar point starts to click, it takes a bit for me to even realize it’s happening lol I’ll second guess myself and look it up to verify my interpretations are right at least a few times before being confident about it going forward.
From the context, it sounds like Suna is a bit tired of dealing with Takeo while he’s freaking out so he’s saying that he’s going to lay it all out plainly?
Just think about it, like it’s an SRS (like in wanikani). You see a new grammar point in the wild and look it up (even that is already a difficult skill you already manage!) and later the same grammar point (maybe even dressed differently) will pop up again. But just like in wanikani you might have already forgotten it, but luckily when you read anough the same grammar point wil pop up again and again. Reading is the original SRS! It’s harder than learning kanji with wanikani, though, since grammar can take many different forms and some are heavily context-related. So of course it’s more difficult to recognize grammar even if you already learned it well. Not to mention all the vocab around it you might not yet have learned.
. Relating to my post about forgetting things quickly… I didnt even notice that.