Think it might be more accurate to say he was a natural historian.
Yeah… the dictionary said that, but I’ve never heard of a Narual Historian before. Also, I think that @Luacat said he was a biologist… so I went with that.
p74 はくぶつ学者だった ダヴィドさんは、これまでに みた ことも ない この もように びっくり。
Why is こともない used here instead of ことがない？
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Now we know the story of the French naturalist discovering the panda hide, I wonder if we should retranslate the chapter title?
パンダが有名に - panda became famous
いがいな - unexpected
きっかけ - chance, occasion
って - he said, I hear that, as for…
As for the panda, did it become famous by an unexpected chance?
Did I hear the panda became famous through an unexpected encounter?
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I imagine this is the “light exclamation” usage of も. It’s a little more expressive than just the plain が.
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Page 75
新しく 有名に なった、 竹を 食べる 大きな どうぶつも パンダと よばれるように なりました。
The newly famous large bamboo eating animal, also became called a panda.
このため、 もともと パンダと よばれていた ほうに、 小さいと いう いみの、 「レッサー」 が つきました。
Because of this, the animal originally called panda, was given the name “lesser”, meaning small.
Caption
ぼくが先なのに！！
I’m the original!!
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Come on! It’s not even the new day in Japan! Give me a chance! 
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Page 75
Micki time-traveled to be first on the draw today, but here’s mine anyway!
新しく 有名に なった, 竹を 食べる 大きな どうぶつも パンダと よばれるように なりました
新しく - newly; new; anew
有名に - famous + に
なった, - became
竹を - bamboo + を
食べる - to eat
大きな - big; large; great
どうぶつも - 動物, animal + も, also
パンダと - panda + と (quotation particle)
よばれる - 呼ばれる, to be called (a name); to be referred to (as)
ように なりました - past polite of 様になる, to reach the point that; to come to be that;
[This] newly famous big bamboo-eating animal also came to be called a panda.
このため, もともと パンダと よばれていた 方に, 小さいと いう いみの「レッサー」が つきました
このため, - for this reason
もともと - originally
パンダと - panda + と (quotation particle)
よばれていた - called
方に, - no idea! Something to do with turning “small” into “smaller” perhaps?
小さいと - small + と (quotation particle)
いう - 言う, to say; to utter; to declare / to name; to call - I have no idea what this is doing here
いみの - meaning + の
「レッサー」が - lesser + が
つきました - named / attached
For this reason [the animal] originally called “panda” was named “lesser” (which means “small”).
or
For this reason [the animal] originally called “panda” had the word “lesser” (which means “small”) attached.
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p74「パンダ」は、地元の ことばで、「竹を 食べる もの」と いう いみの ことばが もとに なっています。
How is もと translated in this context?
p75 このため, もともと パンダと よばれていた ほうに, 小さいと いう いみの「レッサー」が つきました.
I can’t figure out how to translate ほうに either.
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Original I think
way?
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Page 75:
Doesn’t it mean that they attached the small part to Panda? = Small Panda
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Ok, so if ほう means “way” and with に, “to the way”
Then altogether maybe,
Because of this, they attached “Lesser”, meaning small, to the way it was called Panda originally. (I think)
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That looks good to me. I’d gone for Jisho meaning 11 again for 付く tsuku - Jisho.org but I agree that “attached” is probably a better translation, in that the word “lesser” was attached to the original name “panda”.
Apologies if I jumped the gun with my post earlier…
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It could still mean “given the name” here depending on how ほうに is translated, so it’s still a strong possibility seeing how it meant that in two previous sentences.
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Fun fact: One of the names that used to be used for the red panda was “Firefox”…
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Page 66:
Sorry to be going back a few pages, but I got a bit tangled up in phrasing this sentence and I haven’t seen many posts verifying it:
海で泳ぐとプールよりも少しうまやすいと感じませんか。
Now I’m sure the general gist is that it’s comparing swimming in a pool to being in the Dead Sea, and asking if you get the same ‘feeling’ or ‘sense’ of ease or calm from it - 感じませんか - (Won’t you feel/I wonder if you feel…)
So maybe…
I wonder if it is easier to float in the sea than in a swimming in a pool?
Edit: Corrected translation after marcusp pointed out a typo concerning 「うきやすい」。
As a side note: I hope everyone here had a nice Christmas, if you celebrate it, and Happy New Year to you all.
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Page 75
I’m giving myself a right headache over this one, but as far as I can see the ほうに is identifying the original panda. I might be way off but it seems (from this link and others) that one of the uses of ほうに is to refer to a person (or panda). But I am way out of my depth here!
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Page 66 / 67
I know this doesn’t answer your question, but I can’t see うまやすい. Do you mean うきやすい? That is 浮き易い, easy to float.
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Yep! A big ol’ typo! No wonder it wasn’t making sense.
Thanks for pointing that out.
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