なぜ?どうして?Finished!

And the chapter starts on this page… so that’s all the information we have.

Page 80

見ていて

Here’s an example sentence from Renshu:

03

babies は 見ていて interesting.
Babies are interesting to watch.

Surely our sentence is the same?

Waterfalls (etc) は 見ていて refreshing ですね
Waterfalls (etc) are refreshing to watch.


Or, another theory, based on this link, can you just say “when watching”, “while watching”, or even “when you see”?

4 Likes

Page 80

水が 高い ところから いきおいよく おちる たきは、見ていて とても すがすがしいですね。

I think I’m going for: Watching a waterfall, with its water falling vigorously from high above, is really refreshing isn’t it?

4 Likes

Page 80:

I asked a native because it really looked weird and she said:

The subject is Waterfalls
見ていて would means likes~, seem~~
It’s similar to みたい

3 Likes

Turned to Google - not sure why I didn’t think of that before.

A little bit curious that it’s not in the grammar dictionaries, I think. Or Jisho.

2 Likes

I know natives are great at knowing what the sentences mean and all, but she’s really saying that the waterfalls are doing the looking? What are they looking at? :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like

We’ll discover it later in the chapter! :wink:

Just out of curiosity, is this person at all versed in Japanese grammar? A language teacher of some kind, or someone interested in studying foreign languages? They study it at school, but I think we all know how much that stuff tends to stick.

A typical English-speaking native on the street will not be able to confidently answer grammar questions using the right terminology.

Not at all!! She didn’t know that 好き is an adjective :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

She said that my translation was fine, and then the lines Incooied here.

Nice one. And, funny, it has the same example sentence I found at Renshu: 赤ちゃんは見ていて楽しい. And for me that really does settle the question.

2 Likes

If you’re translating the sentence like this with 見ていて meaning “to watch” then it looks like a gerund (verb acting as a noun) to me. So if that’s the case, then 見ていて could be the subject of the sentence (while waterfalls is still the topic).

Then 見ていて とても すがすがしいです could be translated as “watching is very refreshing”. Like saying “Skiing (verb as a noun) is fun”.

Of course this could be switched around to be the same as yours-- “very refreshing to watch”.

Not sure about all this, just a thought.

2 Likes

Page 81:

たきの 水が おちきって ふかく たまった ところを 「たきつぼ」と いいます。

The place where the waterfall’s water falls and accumulates is called “waterfall pool”

水が いきおいよく おち、ものすごい 音が して、はく力まん点です。

The water falls vigorously and makes a terrible sound, with a full impact

I get the idea, but I don’t know how to translate it properly.

しかし、せかいには この たきつぼが ない たきが あります。

However, in the World there are waterfalls without a waterfall pool

5 Likes

Page 81

たきの水が おちきって ふかく たまった ところを 「たきつば 」 といいます。

The place where the waterfall’s falling water collects deeply (collects below?) is called a plunge pool.

水が いきおいよく おち、ものすごい 音が して、はく力まん点です。

The vigorously falling water, making a great sound, packs a punch!

しかし、せかいには この たきつばが ない たきが あります。

However, somewhere in the world, there is a waterfall without a plunge pool.

3 Likes

Page 82:

いったい どういう ことでしょう。

What the heck is going on? (Maybe to lose of a translation?)

南アメリカの ベネズエラに、エンジェルフォールと いう たきが あります。

In Venezuela in South American, there is a waterfall called “Angel Falls”

たきの 上から 下までが およそ 千メートルあり、高さ せかい一の たきです。

From top to bottom of the waterfall there are about one thousand meters. It’s the tallest waterfall in the word

それは、東京スカイシリーの てっぺんよりも はるかに 高い ところから、水が おちてくる ことに なります。

The water falls from this height, taller than Tokyo’s Sky Tree. I need a lot of help with this phrase.

あまりにも 高いため、おちた 水が 下に とどく 前に、とびちってしまいます。

Because of this too much height, the falling water is flying before it reaches the bottom

このため、エンジェルフォールには たきつぼが なく、たきの 下では 強い 風と 雨が まっています。

This is the reason the Angel Falls don’t have a waterfall pool, and from the bottom of the waterfall, a strong wind and rain are waiting (for you?)

3 Likes

Page 82

My attempts. Will try and break that fourth sentence down later if I get a chance, unless you want to have a go…

いったい どういう ことでしょう。

How on earth can this be?

みなみアメリカの ベネズエラ🇻🇪に、エンジェルフォールと いう たきが あります。

There is a waterfall in Venezuela, in South America, called Angel Falls.

たきの 上から したまでが およそ せんメートルあり、 高さ せかい一のたけです。

At roughly 1000 feet from top to bottom, the waterfall is the tallest in the world. EDIT - should be meters not feet!

これは、東京スカイツリーの てっぺんよりも はるかに 高い ところから、水が おちてくる ことに なります。

The water is falling from a height even higher than the top of the Tokyo Skytree Tower.

あまりにも 高いため、 おちた 水が 下に とどく 前に、とびちってしまいます。

From such a height, the water falling is completely scattered below.

このため、 エンジェルフォールには たきつばが なく、たきの 下では 強い 風と雨が まっています。

The result is that Angel Falls is without a plunge pool, and underneath the waterfall a strong wind and rain awaits.

3 Likes

You’re getting ahead of yourself… :wink:

1 Like

I’m in the future!!

Let me fix it :wink:

1 Like

Meters. Japan, like most of the world, measures in meters.

Angel Falls is 3211 feet tall.

I’d go with “far higher than”, personally. Aside from anything else, the Skytree is only 634 meters tall.

3 Likes

Page 82

これは、東京スカイツリーの てっぺんよりも はるかに 高い ところから、水が おちてくる ことに なります

I’m having problems with this sentence so will try to work it out…

これは、- this (the height of the waterfall)
東京スカイツリー - Tokyo Skytree [not that there’re actually any trees there!]
の - possessive particle
てっぺん - 天辺 - top; summit
より - than
も - even
はるかに - 遥か, far; far away; distant + に particle
高い - high, tall
ところ - place
から、- from
水が - water + が
おちてくる - 落ちる, to fall, in て form with くる (to come) attached. This is where my problems start. I’ve seen this くる attached a lot in Japanese, but still don’t get it.
ことに - thing + に - (I don’t understand why this is here)
なります - become - (and I don’t understand why this is here)

That is, the water falls from a place that is far higher than even the top of the Tokyo Skytree.

I’m okay except for the last phrase… おちてくる ことに なります

Why not just 落ちます?

ことになる = an event that takes place as if spontaneously, irrespective of the speaker’s volition, according to the grammar dictionary. “Turn out that ~”. So I guess, “It turns out that the water falls from…”?

~てくる = an auxiliary verb which indicates … continuation of some action up to a current point in time

5 Likes