April 28th Daily Reading ブラックジャックによろしく: Community Reading Exercise

Claiming I:

Analysis

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え…僕と一緒じたいんです『か』?
This is a typical sentence with an ellipsis which always throws me off. But this time I caught it with its pants down.

He’s talking to his teacher with the glasses and asks him:* (You) won’t be together with me?*

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Claiming K:

I’ve added p.22 to this first message so people have some more to do. If some reason we run out, I’d be nice/appreciated if the last person to claim a letter would upload the page that follows.

Well, K is just a repetition of what was already said:
You are in charge of this patient

Re: J:

@Naphthalene
Is 『ぞ』generally a particle which means s you’re being not very nice/very direct in your communication?

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Hm, it’s “rough”, and roughness (especially in a work situation like here) would not be considered nice, but that’s context dependent. If you are a man talking to close male friends, it can be fine (but yes, it would be “direct” anyway)

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Wait, why is that in a different thread?

Because it was some pages before, but it is the same word (that is why I recognized it immediately).

Do you just carry over unfinished pages to the next thread?

It sometimes happen also.
I myself prefer to just leave on the original, after all it isn’t much important if the reading and analysis is done on a different day than the one in the thread title.
I am not as fast as others, but I like to look all the aspects of the texts (even “off-frame” texts: text in the landscape, chapter titles, etc.)

(動詞 and 形容詞) as a same category… is there a word for them both ?

Could 活用語 be understood in that sense ? (I seems 活用詞 doesn’t exist) (活用 (かつよう) : 1. practical use, 2. conjugation, inflection)

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Is 『ぞ』generally a particle

@Shannon-8 hosted some reading threads about クレヨンちゃん, 九歳の男児. All the small history titles (supposedly told by that character) ended in ゾ …

Actually, despite the simplicity of the stories, and the very small amount of kana, it was a hard thing to read; due to the big amount of contractions, ellipsis, child-speak and lack of particles.

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Claiming L:

Analysis

Close-up:

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Transcription:
今日(きょう)(はじ)めて(ぼく)『は』正式(せいしき)『に』入院患者(にゅういんかんじゃ)『を』()()ちつ(こと)『に』なった…

今日(きょう)(はじ)めて(ぼく)『は』正式(せいしき)『に』入院患者(にゅういんかんじゃ)『を』()()ちつ(こと)『に』なった…

And so on that day/today it was my responsibility to become in charge of an in-patient

or

Today I became in charge for the responsibility of an in-patient

There isn’t much analysis to be done here either. It’s all pretty straightforward I think.

As so today it was my responsibility to be in charge of an in-patient for the first time

I feel like to be responsible and to be in charge is redundant but oh well, I didn’t write it.

Nevermind, it’s ‘officially’, not be responsible.

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Well, there is (はじ)めて : for the first time; and 正式(せいしき)『に』, officially.

Also, you already know it maybe, but for others: 入院 = hospitalization (lit. entry into a hospital); the antonym is 退院 (たいいん), leaving a hospital

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(You) won’t be together with me?

I wonder… is he asking about “the teacher” not being with him,
or about “出久根先生” (Dr Dekune, the other student that was summoned together with Saitou), not being with him ?

Saitou asks that just after Professor 白鳥 (/!\ irregular reading しとり) told Dekune that for him it will be another different assignement.

Then, Shiratori replies with … 研修医一人で … “one single intern”.

So I think 僕と一緒じたいんですか is rather “(He, Dekune) won’t be together with me?”

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That’s the most reasonable to assume, considering that they were just talking about Dekune.
It’s possible to bypass the problem by turning the sentence as “(We) won’t be together?” :stuck_out_tongue:

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Claiming M:

Analysis

Close-up:
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I’ll delve into the details a bit further this time, I might’ve rushed a bit last time although from the get go I think it means “My life purpose is to protect that person’s life” but let’s see if my intuition is right.

(ぼく)使命(しめい)『は』この老人の(いのち)『を』(まも)(こと)だ…

I was pretty much on the money. I thought 使命(しめい) was ‘life purpose’ because he’s been having an existential crisis but actually it means mission.

(ぼく)使命(しめい)『は』この老人の(いのち)『を』(まも)(こと)だ…
My mission is to safeguard/protect this old man’s life

Since I was the person who claimed the last letter, I’ve uploaded the next page. Letters N to Q inclusively are now available.

OFF TOPIC:.

@YanagiPablo, I am pleased to see that, on the “Reading” sub-board of this “Japanese Language” forum, there is a Book Club dedicated to クレヨンしんちゃん, Vol.1, that one manga of which I actually own a physical copy! They are REALLY NICE, and do 6 pages per week. (Whispering: I can let you share my relevant pages each week if you would like to join us! Let me know, then I delete this comment; so plz don’t quote me on this, just reply)

FWIW, I REALLY LIKE how they do the “Book Clubs” here… They pre-announce the book so that you can purchase a legal copy, and then you read portions together; often with an ongoing vocabulary reference spreadsheet.

@Zizka, wow!! I really like the Interpretation recap with the Japanese sentence right next to it!! Perhaps I will be able to build vocabulary here without expensive written notes! Those are great for retention review, IMHO.

Running away now… Boss is coming!!!

Coming back to say: Thank you, @Naphthalene, for your insightful comments on my summary attempt from last night. Much appreciated! I need to go back through tonight and absorb.

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N.

I got a little more time, so here goes “N”

Transcription:

かねとし75歳ーーー

昨日 自宅で倒れ意識不明この病院へ運びこまれた

Vocabulary
  • 自宅【ジ・タク】: I know お宅 is respectful language for “your house” (and the origin of the term “otaku”); so I supposed this mean “own house”, and guessed the reading.
  • 倒れ【たお・れ】: collapse
  • 意識【イ・シキ】: consciousness
  • 不明【フ・メイ】: unclear, obscure, ignorance (不=negation, 明=bright); both together 意識不明 = unconscious
  • 運び込む (はこびこむ) : to carry on; here in passive (~む->~まれる)+past form (~れる->~れた)
Analysis

The meaning is quite straightforward;
however, grammatically, I think there is a verb omitted here;

自宅で is the place of the action, “at (his) own house”, but the verb is obviously not 運びこまれた.

Maybe 自宅で倒れ意識不明に倒れて ? but that would be too redundant and the verb has been omitted ?

I don’t exactly understand why 倒れ is before 意識不明 …

Or maybe it is an attribute of it? : (自宅で倒れ)->意識不明

Interpretation

金子敏夫75歳ーーー
Kaneko Toshio, 75 years old"

昨日 自宅で倒れ意識不明この病院へ運びこまれた
Yesterday, he fell unconscious at his home and has been carried to this hospital

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Claiming O:

It’s a good question, I too would like to know. What kind of construction is this grammatically speaking?

Analysis

I’m trying to spend more of my time on things I don’t understand as opposed to detailing things I understand fairly well.

Vocabulary:
この(ひと)生死(せいし)
生死(せいし) is new to me and therefore comment worthy. According to my dictionary, is a noun meaning ‘life and death’. It can also mean samsara and death in Buddhist terminology but I don’t think it applies here.

(ぼく)(にぎ)っている
(にぎ)る is, you guessed it, the new vocabulary for me. It means ‘‘to grasp’’. It’s in the progressive form (non-finite form)/

:bulb:Interpretation

Well the right part means ‘This person’s life and death’ while the left part means I’m holding it…

So:

この(ひと)生死(せいし)(ぼく)(にぎ)っている
The life and death of that person is my hands. (tweaked to sound good in English)

or

I’m holding the life and death of that person in my hands

Claiming P:

This is actually one strip that showed up in the first episode. I remember because I had done this one and had asked a question about this but got no answer so it’s a good opportunity to analyse it again.

Long message incoming

(まえ)『は』医者(いしゃ)だ…
You are a doctor
That’s fine I have no issue with that part.

The sentence then continues and this is where I have some questions. I’m really going waist deep into this one so bear with me.

新人(しんじん) means “a newcomer, a rookie” and the sentence ends with a non-formal copula だ so this is clear to. The director of the hospital is telling Saitou that he thinks Saitou is a rookie and well, he is.

This is a good opportunity to tackle だろう. I always pass it by, barely grazing it but now dang it I want to understand it. Not understanding something and letting pass by depresses me, it feels like I’m cutting corners. So let’s take that bull by the horns and ram it in my head.

Shannon previously provided a link about this but I wasn’t sure I understood and decided to google it on my own.

According to this article だろう expresses uncertainty. First Eureka moment was that I read it was the non-formal form of でしょう which I did not know. Quote:

Darou is a plain form of deshou , and means “will probably.” The adverb tabun (“perhaps”) is sometimes added.

Bold for emphasis. In the sentence at hand, I don’t think the director is saying that Saitou ‘will be a rookie’ it just wouldn’t make sense so this makes me question the veracity of that article.

Further on, another quote:

Darou or deshou are also used to form a tag question. In this case, you usually can tell the meaning from the context.

Again, in the article, I don’t think the director is asking a question. I think he’s stating a fact and the だろう is there to express a “pretend” uncertainty as a form of politeness so that it doesn’t come across that he’s accusing Saitou of being a rookie.

A difference source seems more plausible:

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So basically, it’s something which is hard to translate in words. It’s not a “hard” I think in the sense that’s he’s thinking about it. It’s more like he considers that Saitou is a rookie from my understanding of things. Am I on the right track with this?

が comes after, as part of the は✚が construction, going from something general to something more specific.

You’re a doctor but you’re also a rookie I believe

Then, for the second question, 半人前(はんにんまえ)… what does it mean? The dictionary lists: “half a man”. I don’t even really understand what that means in English. I can picture it as an insult to a man but other than that, I don’t know and I feel like it carries a specific meaning which I can’t quite grasp. It could mean that he’s still wet behind the ears or just out of his teenage hood.

I googled it and this wiki says it can also mean ‘half a person’s work’. Is this what the director is saying here? Saitou is doing only part of the full job of a doctor?

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it comes after a conjugatable form; so it is not the subject marker particle, but the “but” conjunction.
As there are two in a row ( 新人だろうが半人前だろうが ) maybe it is a kind of “either”; like “you may be a rookie, or you may be a half man, but you take the patients” (but just a wild guess of mine… I would like a learned reply too)

Ohhhh, illumination! Xにとって = for X, concerning X; so 患者にとってお前は医者だ = for the patient, you are a doctor; and the whole sentence: “you may be a rookie, or you may be a half man, but for the patients you are a doctor”

And indeed, with that new context in mind 新人 should be more like “newbie, fresh recruit, just graduated, etc” and 半人前 someone with still incomplete abilities/responsabilities, or a part-time job person?

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Which meaning of とる is it? Which would you associate it with?

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JMDict shows the kanji as “に取って”, so I guess it’s the meaning of “to pick, to choose”, and doing that “for” (に) someone or something.

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The reason I’m asking is because there’s also 採る.

To take on, to employ, to hire
or
to adopt, to decide on

Since it’s in kana it’s hard to tell.

I just checked and your interpretation is right. I’m still wondering about that とる/取る though.

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Q. and R.

Transcription:

これは試練だ…

僕が本物の医者になれるかどうか…

試されている…:bangbang:

Vocabulary
  • 試練【シ・レン】: test, trial
  • 本物【ホン・もの】: real thing, genuine (note the mixed ON/kun reading)
  • 試す【ため・す】: to attempt, to try, to test (same kanji as 試練)
  • (動詞)かどうか : “whether or not to (verb)”. the construction is just the juxtaposition of two questions (particle か), one of them after a phrase, the other after the interrogative word どう (how, in what manner, in what way)
Interpretation

Once the vocabulary done, it is straightforward:

これは試練だ…
This is a test

僕が本物の医者になれるかどうか…
Whether or not I can become a genuine doctor…
試されている…:bangbang:
I’m being tested (on that)…!!

notes: なれる = potential form of なる
試される = passive (then ~ている). I’m not very sure the purpose of the passive form here…

thanks to Myria for solving the 試される question

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試す means “to test”
The passive means “to be tested on 〜” here.

“This is a test… I am tested on whether I can become a real doctor or not”

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