Zizka's JLPT 4-3 Studies

[Zizka]

Oh ok, that does clear things up.

調査によって新たな事実が明らかになった。Through investigation, a new truth was discovered.

I instinctively put ため here. I asked GPT the difference:

Great question—these two are easy to confuse because both can translate to “because of” in English, but they’re used quite differently in Japanese.

	ため	によって
Tone	Neutral / slightly subjective	Formal / objective
Usage	Everyday speech	Formal writing, reports
Meaning	Simple cause/reason	Cause, agent, variation
Flexibility	Limited	Multiple meanings

…which doesn’t help that much? Except maybe for usage?

Quick Rule of Thumb

• Use ため → when talking about your own situation or simple reasons

• Use によって → when sounding formal, or talking about systems, events, or objective facts

This does help however. I mean… ‘simple reasons’ is just way too vague to help in a pedagogical context. What constitutes a ‘simple reason’, it’s not something objective or which can be used as a reference.

Through investigation, a new truth was discovered.

It’s a simple reason here.

明日遊 びに行く為に、今日仕事を終わらせないといけない。

I have to finish my work today so that I can go out tomorrow.

So here I put によって and it didn’t work. So I’m pretty sure I don’t get the difference between the two, even with GPT’s explanation.

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もう離婚しようと思う。なぜならもう愛を感じないから…。

I think I’m getting a divorce now. Because I don’t feel any love anymore…

I’ve been saying なぜなら during my Japanese tutoring to ask ‘why’ but she never corrected me, she usually does. I asked GPT and ‘why’ is なぜ. So I think I was just wrong and she never corrected me?

---

By the way, GPT can also extract text from images, you don’t need to use a website in particular anymore. Just copy/paste your screenshot and ask it to extract the text.

翻訳

駅で大事なことに気がついた。I realized something important at the station.

今日は日曜日だったのだ。Today is Sunday.

目覚まし時計が鳴らなかったのも、The alarm clock didn’t ring…

バスが平日の時刻表通りに来なかったのも、The bus didn’t come at the usual timetable…

今日が日曜日だからだったのだ。Was because today was Sunday.

よかった。I get it.

怒られないで済む。I didn’t end up angry.

しかし、ずいぶん無駄な心配をしてしまった。However, I wasted time worrying.

私は得をしたような、I learned something/I got something…

損をしたような複雑な気持ちで家までの道を30分歩いて帰った。I returned walked back home in 30 minutes with a complicated feeling of loss.

Here’s the extracted text from the image:

問 損をしたようなとあるが、なぜか。Why the feeling of loss.

1 急がなくてもいいのに急いでいろいろ心配してしまったから。Worried about things for no reason.
2 平日なのに日曜日だと思って寝坊をしてしまったから。
3 余裕をもって会社に着けなくて上司から怒られてしまったから。
4 急いだのにバスも電車も来なくて会社に遅れてしまったから。

[pm215]

@Zizka

調査によって 新たな事実が明らかになった。Through investigation, a new truth was discovered.

I instinctively put ため here

This isn’t 調査のため because that would be “because of an investigation” or “for the benefit of an investigation”, both of which are a bit odd. What we want to do here is describe the way/means in which the thing was discovered, which is something によって can do.

@Zizka

明日遊 びに行く為に、今日仕事を終わらせないといけない。

This can’t be 遊びに行くことによって because here we’re expressing the reason why we’re doing something, our purpose. によって can’t do that: when it is expressing something we could translate as “because” (rather than one of its two or three other jobs) it is giving the cause in a cause-and-effect relationship.

[Zizka]

I can’t say it’s 100% clear yet but it’s probably something I’ll eventually understand like もらう/あげる/くれる.

I wanted to try something a bit different, this is from the manga ‘drifting classroom’.

Here is the extracted Japanese text from the image:

Here is the extracted Japanese text from the image:

おかあさん……
ぼくの一生のうちで、
二度と忘れることのない
あの信じられない一瞬を思う時、
どうしても、それまでの
ちょっとしたできごとの数々が
強い意味をもって浮かびあがって
くるのです。

(for those who’d like to give it a shot).

翻訳

おかあさん…… Mother
ぼくの一生のうちで、During my life
二度と忘れることのない I will never forget one thing.

I originally thought this meant 二度 meant ‘two times’ but it actually means: never again. I mean 二度と (にどと) means never again.

あの信じられない一瞬を思う時、When I think about that moment I can’t believe

どうしても、それまでの

I couldn’t wrap my mind around the の there. As a sidenote, according to GPT, の is the most important particle. This is a recurrent thing as I never really understood the use of の in the context of the sentence above. I get that の can turn something into a noun. How do you turn ‘the moment until now’ into a noun?

I understand this fine:

Simple examples:

• 昨日までの仕事
  → “the work up until yesterday”

• 今までの話
  → “the story up to now”

• それまでの人生
  → “life up to that point”

今まで+の+話. That’s easy.

But here: まで = “until / up to”

1. の = turns what comes before into a modifier (like an adjective)

Like an adjective? What’s the noun being described here?

I also instinctively thought どうして+も meant ‘also why’ or ‘also how’ but it means ‘no matter what’ which I didn’t see coming.

どうしても、それまでの No matter what, up until that point

ちょっとしたできごとの数々が

ちょっとした is another expression I didn’t know. It’s honestly not something to be understood as ちょっと+する (do a little…) since it means: a bit of a…

出来事（できごと）means an incident. So small event(s).

数々=かずかず：a large number of.

So I thought, how can 数々 be the subject here but it’s actually the whole sentence which is the subject. So The many small events is the subject. But it’s still weird to me, how can かずかず come before が but then realized it was a actually a noun! In English, many is a determiner. Even now, I’m not sure how it can be a noun. But the thing is that, 数々 doesn’t just mean ‘many’ it means ‘many things’, it’s like two words packed into one.
強い意味をもって浮かびあがってくるのです。They come back with strong meaning.

浮かびあがって is a set expression.

Without GPT, I wouldn’t have been able to understand what’s being written here. I assume this is N3 or more?

[pm215]

Not showing us the actual manga panel is making us play on hard mode because we don’t have the speech bubble breaks and flow

manga stuff

@Zizka

おかあさん…… Mother
ぼくの一生のうちで、During my life
二度と忘れることのない I will never forget one thing.

The Japanese up to this point isn’t a complete sentence, so there’s no sentence break here – it continues on and is part of the same sentence as the next line. In fact the whole text is a single sentence right up to the ending です。

@Zizka

あの信じられない一瞬を思う時、When I think about that moment I can’t believe

You have the pieces in the wrong order here. If your translation ends up with its main verb being something that isn’t at the end in the Japanese, usually something’s wrong. Specifically here, 信じられない is modifying 一瞬.

@Zizka

どうしても、それまでの

I couldn’t wrap my mind around the の there. As a sidenote, according to GPT, の is the most important particle. This is a recurrent thing as I never really understood the use of の in the context of the sentence above. I get that の can turn something into a noun. How do you turn ‘the moment until now’ into a noun?

This isn’t the nominalizer の – it’s the DoBJG “no 1” version like 先生の本. In 先生の本 the meaning is"this is a 本, and we narrow down which one it is with 先生". In our phrase
それまでのちょっとしたできごと we are talking about some sort of ちょっとしたできごと “unimportant events”, and we narrow down exactly which ones with それまで : “the unimportant events that happened up to that point”.

@Zizka

Without GPT, I wouldn’t have been able to understand what’s being written here. I assume this is N3 or more?

I dunno really how to evaluate texts by N level, but I guess it would be above N3 level. It’s tricky because it’s a long sentence with quite a lot of modifying clauses in it, and what it’s talking about is a little abstract. On the other hand none of the vocabulary is particularly obscure and the grammar isn’t really using any N1 constructs.

[Zizka]

You can read the manga here. You just need to pick the option 無料, in grey.

いつも見なれた木々

I’d go for: I got used to always see the trees.

それから、After that…
踏みつぶしても also crush underfoot…
踏みつぶしても and also crush underfoot…
はえてくる雑草。 I think it says something about crushing weed (雑草) under his feet. GPT…So here it’s +ても, not て+も. So it’s even if I crush the weed, it grows.

Why would he talk about the trees and crushing weed, maybe he’s a poet.

@pm215

This isn’t the nominalizer の – it’s the DoBJG “no 1” version like 先生の本. In 先生の本 the meaning is"this is a 本, and we narrow down which one it is with 先生". In our phrase
それまでのちょっとしたできごと we are talking about some sort of ちょっとしたできごと “unimportant events”, and we narrow down exactly which ones with それまで : “the unimportant events that happened up to that point”.

But in 先生¹の本², 1 and 2 are connected with の. So this:

connects what comes before to what comes after. I thought it ended there but keeps on going to the next line then.

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Here is the extracted Japanese text:ぼくはいつも、
わざとこいつを
踏みつけて
学校に行きました。So instead of reading it like above, I need to read it like this:ぼくはいつも、わざとこいつを踏みつけて学校に行きました。I think he’s saying that he tramples the weed on purpose. こいつ means the weeds there, ‘this guy’.

[pm215]

@Zizka

I thought it ended there but keeps on going to the next line then.

It looks like this manga generally marks ends of sentences with 。in both narration and dialogue, which is helpful of it (not all do).

[pm215]

@Zizka

いつも見なれた木々

I’d go for: I got used to always see the trees.

Note that the Japanese here is a noun phrase, not a sentence ending in a verb.

@Zizka

Why would he talk about the trees and crushing weed, maybe he’s a poet.

He’s already told you why these things are important to him, in that long first sentence we started with

[Zizka]

Because he will never forget that day so he goes in the details of everything?

Which should be read as:

翻訳

そしてゴミに むらがる ハエでさえも、

Even the flies gathered at the trash,

群がる（むらがる）：to swarm, gather; describe ハエ (fly)

いまになってみれば 忘れることが できません。Even looking at it now, I can’t forget.

Answer is:

“And even the flies swarming over the trash—now that I look back, I cannot forget them.”

Close enough I think.

I never know if も is the inclusive one or the intensity one.

そして何よりも おかあさんとの あのことが、 一生涯ぼくを 責めるでしょう。

翻訳

And, more than anything, that thing with mom will probably haunt me.

何よりも＝more than anything,

Again, I don’t understand the も there.

[Zizka]

1^st そうです、 もとはといえば おかあさんの いうとおり、 六年生にもなって 未来カーなんか ほしがらなければ よかったのです。

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2^nd でもぼくは どうしても、 マイクで命令する だけで自由に動く そのおもちゃが、 ほしくてたまらな かったのです。

Summary

翻訳 (1st):

1^st そうです、 もとはといえば If we are talking about the origin

おかあさんの いうとおりThe way mom said

六年生にもなって Even if I have reached grade 6

未来カーなんか A future car

So 未来カー is actually the UFO looking thing in the display case. I thought it was raining but it’s just the reflection of the glass.

Expression of the day:

When you add ~がる to an adjective, you are saying: “They are acting like [Adjective].”

So here, the mom is saying:

It’s better if you don’t show sign of wanting a future car since you’ve reached grade 6.

[Shannon-8]

Ugh
Yeah, this one seems difficult for me
But, actually, from my textbook learning, I was unable to pick up and read よつばと!! until recently… Casual “real speak” isn’t covered as much in my basic learning textbooks…
…Zizkaさん, you might enjoy Natively, a website where Japanese-studying readers rate various books by how difficult that they felt things were. Also, you can use it to help you find what you might want to read .. If you aren’t interested in officially-rated Graded Readers (for example the new ones that go along with the Genki textbooks)…

[Zizka]

You’re right, it is difficult for me too. On the other hand, I find it more interesting to read than a lot of JLPT test stories. It’s closer to literature.

I’ve checked Natively and a lot of stories are children books which isn’t really my thing. I wouldn’t enjoy reading One Piece for example, I’m too old for that. I think it’s something I would’ve enjoyed as a teenager probably. Or Naruto. It’s just not my thing. I like darker and more mature stories when it comes to fiction. At the moment, I’d rather bite the bullet with harder stories I’m invested into instead of reading those.

There’s Junji Ito there so that’s cool (N26) although that’s borderline N2.

Drifting Classroom is actually (N28), which means N2. So maybe I could go down a bit, ok.

Let’s try Junji Ito and see if I can notice a difference between levels. I don’t know how much of an impact 2 levels will have but let’s see. Most of his books are N2 or borderline N2.

I’ve already read a lot of his work so I’d like to read something new.

So anyway, after some searching, I’ve found 血の轍 which is supposed to be 18 (N4 being 13-19) which I think is about my level.

You can read it here.

• Speech Bubble: 静（せい）ちゃん！

• SFX (right): とた とた とた

• SFX (left): どた どた

Panel 2

• Speech Bubble: 静（せい）ちゃん！

• SFX: ガチャッ

Panel 3

• Speech Bubble: まだ寝（ね）てるん？ 起（お）きてほら！

Summary

Seichan! Seichan!

I’m guessing the SFX are the sounds from a passing train (とたとたとた).

The ん there is explanatory. It’s Kansai dialect.

まだ, still: Are you still sleeping?

ほら means “come on”. So:

Are you still sleeping? Come on, get up!

[pm215]

@Zizka

I’ve checked Natively and a lot of stories are children books which isn’t really my thing. I wouldn’t enjoy reading One Piece for example, I’m too old for that. I think it’s something I would’ve enjoyed as a teenager probably. Or Naruto. It’s just not my thing. I like darker and more mature stories when it comes to fiction. At the moment, I’d rather bite the bullet with harder stories I’m invested into instead of reading those.

There’s Junji Ito there so that’s cool (N26) although that’s borderline N2.

Drifting Classroom is actually (N28), which means N2. So maybe I could go down a bit, ok.

I wouldn’t put too much faith in Natively’s rough N level estimates for its levels – manga and books have their own sources of difficulties that don’t map on to JLPT difficulty. And I agree that you should pick stuff to read that you think you’ll enjoy – even easier manga is still hard when you’re starting out, and you will never want to put in the effort on a story you don’t care about. But I think it is helpful when you have multiple manga that do interest you and that you’re considering, to have a way to say “ah, this one is probably easier overall so maybe start with this one”.

@Zizka

I’m guessing the SFX are the sounds from a passing train (とたとたとた).

Probably more likely the sounds of his mother walking along the hall to his door – they get louder (bigger font and どた rather than とた) as she gets to the door.

[Zizka]

So it’s definitely a lot easier. I’m skipping pages, people who want to read everything can read it on their own:

Summary

朝飯＝朝ごはん, kansai dialect (かんさいべん）.

She’s asking him what he wants to eat for breakfast. あんまん or . We’ve talked about this in a previous example I think.

He goes for the 肉まん.

はい。

コトン

あ、ママ 今日さ、
飲み会だから。

はぐ

うん… 帰り遅くなるん？

いや〜〜 9時くらいには帰ってくる。

付き合いだし、
ずっといたってしょうがねぇし。

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はい。

コトン

あ、ママ 今日さ、
飲み会だから。

はぐ

うん… 帰り遅くなるん？

いや〜〜 9時くらいには帰ってくる。

付き合いだし、
ずっといたってしょうがねぇし。

Summary

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はい。Yes.

あ、ママ 今日さ、飲み会だから。Today I’ve got my drinking party so…

うん… 帰り遅くなるん？You’ll come back late?

いや〜〜 9時くらいには帰ってくる。I’ll come back around 9:00 pm.

付き合い+だし、It’s for work (he doesn’t really want to go there, he has to).

ずっといたってしょうがねぇし。

So this part was quite hard for me. Lots of things I didn’t know namely:

いても→いたって even if I stay…

しょうがない which is changed when said by a man in to しょうがねぇ.

So he’s saying that there’s no point in staying there all the time (for a long time).

[Zizka]

Panel 1 (Top Right)

• Mother: まあ ほどほどにね。

Panel 2 (Top Left)

• Father: 大丈夫 大丈夫 本当に帰るから。

Panel 3 (Middle Right)

• Mother: あ、

• Mother: 天気予報。

Panel 4 (Middle Left)

• Onomatopoeia: もく もく

Panel 5 (Bottom Right)

• TV/Radio: …高気圧に覆われ 一日を通して非常に暑くなるでしょう。

Panel 6 (Bottom Left)

• TV/Radio: 群馬県南部では 最高気温…

  Summary

  ---

  翻訳：

  Mother: まあ ほどほどにね。

  I think some things in this manga are harder/more complicated than ‘Drifting Classroom’. This one for example as the verb is… omitted.

  ほどほど is a な adj. / noun. + に which turns it into a verb. So the mom is saying to do it with moderation. Yeah. I know. You can change a な adjective into an adverb with に:

  Adjective/Noun	Meaning	Adverb (+ NI)	English Meaning
  Shizuka	Quiet / Calm	Shizuka ni	Quietly / Silently
  Kirei	Clean / Pretty	Kirei ni	Cleanly / Neatly
  Hen	Strange	Hen ni	Strangely / Weirdly
  Hodohodo	Moderate	Hodohodo ni	Moderately / In moderation

  (notice the ほどほど there). I sort of knew that but it was… in the back of my mind.

  大丈夫 大丈夫 本当に帰るから。Don’t worry, I really will return.

  Then the weather report （天気予報）comes onto the TV.

  This is what the weather report says:

  …高気圧に覆われ 一日を通して非常に暑くなるでしょう。

  高気圧に覆われ it’s something related the weather and it was so specific that I didn’t really want to go deep into this.

  一日 means all day then something I sort of/kind of understand then 暑くなるでしょう (will probably become hot).

  非常に is again, な adj. turned into adverb through に. So extremely which I didn’t know as I didn’t know 非常 (extreme).

  Long story short, a hot day ahead.

  Then the radio keeps going:

  群馬県南部では 最高気温…

  群馬県 this is a prefecture.

  

  南部 means ‘south part’. So the ‘south part’ of the Gunma prefecture. 最高気温 just means the highest air temperature 気+温.

  All in all, it’ll get hot.

  As a side note, Gunma is notorious for being a hot place in Japan.

あ。

水着の名札、The nametag (名札) of the swimsuit (水着).

消えかけてたから書いといたからね ママ。

Summary

So 消えかけて is a combination of 「消え」「かけてた」+「から」 (because). So this is one of those cases where you have a combination of 消える+かける. The thing is that I would’ve thought it would’ve been いた here. So the reason why that is is because Japanese people don’t say the い when they’re talking in いた! So there’s that.

かける used as an auxiliary means incomplete action. So the boy’s name was starting to disappear.

[pm215]

@Zizka

朝飯＝朝ごはん, kansai dialect (かんさいべん）.

FWIW, apparently this manga uses Gunma dialect, not kansai.

[Zizka]

So I’ve been reading 血の轍 and it’s not really my jam, I can’t get into it. The pace is really, really slow and even further long, it’s not really scary. It’s more like the story of a manipulative mother. It’s disturbing but not really horror. I mean, maybe psychological horror. I’m not saying it’s bad, just not my thing.

I’ve been browsing to find something I’d like but I’m really picky. So for now I’ll go back to ‘drifting classroom’. I’m interested in the story and it seems to be moving at a brisk pace.

そしてその日…… そうです、 あのことが起きる 前の日、ぼくは 学校が終わるのを 待ちかねて 玩具店（がんぐてん）へかけて行きました。

翻訳

I’ll use spoilers for this one. Then I’ll see, if no one else participates I’ll just stop using spoilers as it’d be pointless.

そしてその日…… そうです So that day.

あのことが起きる 前の日、The thing that happened before that day

To me 起きる means to wake up but it can also mean to happen, as it is the case here. As to when it has which meaning, it’s probably a context thing, sort of like ‘bat’ in English (the animal vs the baseball bat).

So I checked with GPT and I was wrong. It’s the day that happened before the event.

ぼくは 学校が終わるのを 待ちかねて 玩具店（がんぐてん）へかけて行きました。

I think he’s saying that after school was over, he went to the toy store.

Summary

でも それを 見ているうちに、While I am looking at this…

ぼくの心は とつぜん 変わったの です。Suddenly, my heart changed.

New : とつぜん: suddenly;

ぼくは、未来（みらい）カーを 買うのをやめて、 そのかわり そのお金で ささやかな 腕時計（うでどけい）を おかあさんのために 買ったのです。

Summary

Something along the lines that he bought a watch for his mom.

買うのをやめて: 買うの (to buy) + やめつ（やめる）stop.

What a good boy.

Summary

おかあさん、 新しい（あたらしい） 腕時計（うでどけい）が ほしいと いってたから！

He says his mom said that she wanted a new watch.

時計（とけい）をポケットに ねじこむと、 いつのまにか 学校（がっこう）のほうに 歩いて（あるいて）いました。

By the way, the text extraction from Gemini is vastly superior to any website which provides the same service. There’s really no point to use anything else. It even includes furigana in brackets.

Gemini also pretty much defeats the purpose of using any other websites based on my experience.

Summary

Anyhow,

ねじごむ=なし込む：to thrust into;

When I thrust(ed) the watch in my pocket, I was walking in the direction of the school.

のほうに in the direction of…

[pm215]

@Zizka

あのことが起きる 前の日、The thing that happened before that day

To me 起きる means to wake up but it can also mean to happen, as it is the case here. As to when it has which meaning, it’s probably a context thing, sort of like ‘bat’ in English (the animal vs the baseball bat).

So I checked with GPT and I was wrong. It’s the day that happened before the event.

First rule of Japanese grammar: the thing being modified is always last. A phrase ending “…日” is some kind of day. “The thing that happened before that day” would be あの日の前に起きたこと, a phrase ending こと (some kind of thing).

[Zizka]

You’re right.

I’m using Gemini at the moment (A.I.) and I never suspected it to be that powerful. It still isn’t perfect but I find there’s no need to use any other websites. It answers any questions I have, extract text and quiz me on the grammar. I never realized how much of a revolution it was until recently.

It’s even possible to have a conversation live and practice listening. The voices sound really good too, not the cheap a.i. voices. I can ask her to repeat, tell me what the words she’s using mean in English… it’s mind blowing.

I can ask my (many) questions and get an answer instantly, without bothering anyone. Long story short, it’s revolutionary.

I’ve read 16 pages in two days while before, I was reading maybe a third of a page in a day?

I don’t really have any more questions to ask since A.I. covers everything, manga, JLPT, everything. I mean technically I don’t even need a tutor.

For example:

Summary

This image contains the following Japanese text:

もう二度と帰ってこないから!!

Translation Breakdown:

• もう二度と (Mō nido to): Never again / Never a second time.

• 帰ってこない (Kaette konai): Not coming back / Won’t return.

• から (Kara): Because… (used here to emphasize a decision or reason).

Natural English Translation:

“Because I’m never coming back again!!” or “I’m never coming back!!”

[Shannon-8]

@Zizka

Panel 1 (Top Right)

• Mother: まあ ほどほどにね。

Panel 2 (Top Left)

• Father: 大丈夫 大丈夫 本当に帰るから。

Panel 3 (Middle Right)

• Mother: あ、
• Mother: 天気予報。

Panel 4 (Middle Left)

• Onomatopoeia: もく もく

Panel 5 (Bottom Right)

• TV/Radio: …高気圧に覆われ 一日を通して非常に暑くなるでしょう。

Panel 6 (Bottom Left)

• TV/Radio: 群馬県南部では 最高気温…

Thanks so much, Zizさん, for typing these up!
You did really nice formatting, too!

Shannon's notes

Panel 1 (Top Right)

• Mother: まあ ほどほどにね。
  I’m not really 100% on how to use まあ… I kind of usually think “Well, …”, like a person might use “じゃあぁ…”…
  … But our Zizka is rigorous, so I looked it up, because I didn’t really know…
  Thus (gag on the circus atmosphere of ads and colors) Maggie Sensei on まあ and まあまあ
  … Conclusion from grammar research: yeah, it is a “well”, showing uncertainty or reluctance…
  …Aside: There is a nice example of a と言う usage in the article, too. I read it as “when you put it that way…” (as if it is convincing and has changed my mind), but Maggie calls it “If you insist…”
  まあ、そんなにいうならやってみるよ。
  = Well, I guess I can give it a try if you insist.
  …AND I really didn’t know about the ほどほど… I think of ほど as ほどextent程WK28, so I was perplexed… So I looked it up to see ほどほど (moderate 程々) and ほどほどに (in moderation 程々に)
  …Nb. review from the other day’s lookup, which is still in my search buffer: よそ見る (よそみる to look aside 余surplus27–所place8–見る)
  …まあ、ほどほどに. .. Well, if it’s only a little……
  … But then, when I saw Zizka’s comment that “Hey, this is an Adverbial form”, I think he’s right that the Verb was omitted. But then, since the next sentence, the father says that he’ll be back… So possibly she’s meaning “Well, if you will only go for a little while…”

Panel 2 (Top Left)

• Father: 大丈夫 大丈夫 本当に帰るから。
  It’s fine, it’s fine. (Because) I’ll be back. (As if he is trying to convince the wife to let him go away to serve in the military during wartime…)

Panel 3 (Middle Right)

• Mother: あ、
• Mother: 天気予報。
  Ah, the weather report.

Panel 4 (Middle Left)

• Onomatopoeia: もく もく
  I’m used to seeing もぐもぐ for “mumbling” or “groggily/sleepily”, but not familiar with もくもく…
  Internet says that もくもく is “the sound of chewing with one’s mouth full”

Panel 5 (Bottom Right)

• TV/Radio: …高気圧に覆われ 一日を通して非常に暑くなるでしょう。
  I think 高気圧 (高high/tall7–気energy/spirit4–圧pressure20) is probably what we call in the US a “high pressure system”…
  …覆う (おおう to cover; to hide, conceal N3 Anime, News Top 6K (!!) WK51 “覆capsize/cover49”) in passive form, "to be covered" … But this seems to be more of a Noun form, “high pressure system”, since it seems to be what is を通す (をとおす to pass through) … Which seems to be in a て connecting form
  …A high pressure system is passing through all day, and it will be(come) extremely hot(I learned that most News predictions are professional-opinion softened by でしょう)

Panel 6 (Bottom Left)

• TV/Radio: 群馬県南部では 最高気温…
• …In the southern part of Gunman province the highest temperature…

[Zizka]

@Shannon-8

Thanks so much, Zizさん, for typing these up!
You did really nice formatting, too!

I can’t take credit for that, it’s all A.I.. I just copy pasted the image into Gemini and it does the work for me.

For example:

#1: I copy paste this image in Gemini. I say: ‘‘Explain this from a N4 student perspective).

#2: I get this:

Transcription (notice the furigana in brackets)

Transcription

あっ、ほかの組（くみ）の連中（れんちゅう）も心配（しんぱい）して、窓（まど）から首（くび）をだしてるぞ！！

Vocab

Japanese	Reading	Meaning / Role
ほかの	Hoka no	Other / Another
組	Kumi	Class / Group / Set
連中	Renchu	Guys / Group of people (Casual/Colloquial)
心配して	Shinpai shite	Te-form of 心配する (to worry)
窓から	Mado kara	From the window (から = from)
首をだしてる	Kubi o dashiteru	Sticking their heads out
ぞ	zo	Emphatic particle (casual/masculine)

Notes

N4 Language Notes

• て-form for Reason: In this sentence, 心配して (worrying) acts as the reason for the next action. “Worrying, [they are] sticking their heads out.”

• ～ている (Shortened to ～てる): The text uses だしてる instead of だしている. This dropping of the “i” is very common in manga and casual speech. It represents an ongoing action or state.

• 首をだす (Kubi o dasu): This is a literal idiom. 首 (neck/head) + だす (to put out).

Kanji

Kanji to Note

• 窓 (Mado - Window): A common N4 Kanji.

• 心配 (Shinpai - Worry): Very important N4/N5 vocabulary.

• 組 (Kumi): You often see this in school settings (e.g., Year 2, Class B).

@pm215 I likely won’t be asking more questions here since I’ve found a way to be independent but I want to thank you (again) for your help through those 800+ messages. You stuck to it with dedication and never let me down or gave up. That’s a testimony to your character.

@Shannon-8 Just to give you an idea, I copy/pasted some of your interpretation:

Feedback

Your analysis of the individual components is excellent, especially the Kanji breakdown! You are spot on that 高気圧 (こうきあつ) is exactly what we call a “high pressure system.”

However, there is one grammatical “trap” in your interpretation regarding how the sentence is connected. Here is a breakdown to help you polish the translation.

1. The Passive Verb: 覆われ (おおわれ)

You correctly identified 覆う (おおう) as “to cover.” In this sentence, it is in the Passive Voice (覆われる) and then shortened into the Stem Form (覆われ) to connect the two parts of the sentence.

• Logic: In Japanese, using the stem form (instead of the te-form) to connect sentences is very common in formal news or weather reports.

• Correction: It isn’t “passing through” yet; the sentence is saying: “[The area/country] is covered by a high-pressure system, and [as a result]…”

2. The Time Phrase: 一日を通して (いちにちをとおして)

This is where the “passing through” confusion likely happened.

• Grammar: [Time Period] + を通して is an N4/N3 grammar point meaning “throughout” or “all through.”

• Analysis: It doesn’t mean the pressure system is passing through; it means the hot weather will last all through the day.

3. The Result: 非常に暑くなるでしょう

• 非常に (ひじょうに): Extremely/Very.

• なる: To become.

• でしょう: As you noted, this is the standard “professional prediction” used by weather forecasters.

I wanted to take some time to show you as I think it could tremendously speed up your studies.