That looks pretty good to me!
Keep in mind this is the beginning of the section, and I think the rest of the section will help us understand.
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Tae Kim on しか and why it needs a negative verb afterwards.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/amount#Indication_that_there8217s_nothing_else_using
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Allll righty then. Finally got caught up. Only took me three evenings - two to read the book, and one to read the thread. 
A friend of mine is actually going to be visiting the Blue Lagoon on Friday…
One thing that amuses me about pandas is that their name in kanji is 熊猫. 
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Page 73
Christmas and New Year have been busy! Family time (making our first gunpla together!), and work (I’m a Tokyo Tour Guide and this week is super-popular) have been hectic, WK and BP have both been mostly on vacation mode, and I still have some catching up to do in this thread! But here’s a small stab at page 73….
パンダの ことを さいしょに 有名に,したのは, キリスト教を 広めに, 中国に 来ていた, フランス人の アルマンダヴィドさんです.
パンダの ことを - pandas, but not really sure what the こと is doing here (pandas as a thing / “about pandas”?)
さいしょに - 最初, beginning, outset, first + に
有名に, - famous + に
したのは, - する in past tense (made famous) + のは (nominalisation?)
キリスト教を 広めに, - Christianity + something to do with 広める, to propagate, ie. Christian missionary
中国に 来ていた, - came to China
フランス人の - French person + の
アルマンダヴィドさん - [Father] Armand David
です. - polite ending
Pandas were first made famous by the French Christian missionary in China called [Father] Armand David.
りょうしの 家で 見つけたのが 白黒もようの けがわでした
りょうしの - 漁師, fisherman + の
家で - house + で
見つけたのが - past of 見つける, to discover + のが (nominalisation?)
白黒もようの - 白黒模様, black and white pattern + の
けがわ - 毛皮, fur
でした - past polite ending
The black and white patterned fur was discovered [by Armand] in a fisherman’s house.
As you can see, I know nothing about nominalisation and passive voice, so looking forward to seeing how other people have tackled these sentences!
Oh, and Happy New Year everyone!
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I ended up with a similar translation for P73
パンダの ことを さいしょに 有名に したのは、キリスト教を 広めに、中国に 来ていた、フランス人の アルマン・ダヴィドさんです。
It was the Frenchman Armand David who at first made the panda famous when he came to China to spread Christianity.
りょうしの 家で 見つけたのが 白黒もようの けがわでした。
At a fisherman’s house, he discovered a pelt with a black and white design.
Image Caption
中国で しいくされている ジャイアントパンダ。
Raising giant pandas in China.
I think your first sentence is more accurate, as he was a biologist so I’m not sure he would have gone to China to spread Christianity… 
I had a lot of problems with that one.
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That is brilliant! Nice one! Thank you! I’l use that! lol!
広め is in the stem form, in a construction with に and 来ていた = was coming to propagate
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I wasn’t familiar with this construction. As far as I can see しいくする means to raise, and the されて is the te form of the passive form of suru. Adding in the いる I think the whole middle part means “being raised”
Giant pandas being raised in China.
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Actually, I suspect he went to China as much to spread Christianity as to practice biology.
I think the translation is - Pandas were first made famous by a Frenchman called Armand David, who came to China to spread Christianity.
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Tokyo tour guide sounds like a fun job. You’ll be needed when the Olympics rolls around.
Although りょうし can mean fisherman, here it means hunter猟師. I checked it out in wiki just to confirm the story.
Here again, using kanji would have avoided confusion. (Edit: Now thousands who have read the book think that someone went fishing for a bear. 
)
Someone needs to invent a word or phrase that we can use to label a case where confusion could have been avoided using kanji instead of hiragana. 
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Like “I thought that I hated Kanji, but I actually love them”?
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It’s kind of like “pandas and everything about them”, but that makes for kinda clunky English, so we usually just say “pandas” in the translation.
Armand David. Even in Japanese, Western names are typically written firstname-surname order.
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I don’t know why I wrote David Armand, haha 
I had even googled him whilst I was translating to check the name and I must have accidentally swapped the name around when I was writing the final sentence. I shall go correct it.
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Wow, thank you so much for your amazing help as always Micki, trout, Belthazar, and everyone! Really, very much appreciated! Thank you!
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You did all the hard work on this one Marcusp with a great breakdown of each of the sentences!
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Page 74: Long page today.
今から およそ 百五十年前の ことです。
This was about 150 years ago
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。
Mr David was a biologist that was surprised with this pattern that he had not seen before
それから パンダの けんきゅうが ばじまりました。
And then he started studying the pandas
一年後、「ジャイアンとパンダ」と 名前が つき、正式に みとめられるように なりました。
One year later, the name “Giant Panda” officially became recognized I don’t know what つき means here
ジャイアントパンダの 名前が つく 前は、 パンダと いえば、 レッサーパンダの ことでした。
Before the name Giant Panda arrived, Panda was the name of the Red Panda Not sure I;m translating it properly
「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。
The local area word for Panda meant originally “Thing that eats Bamboo” LOL
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Definition 11
It’s more like Before it was given the name giant panda, if someone said “panda,” people thought of the red panda.
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I saw this one… but I was still not able to choose a definition
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The red panda is my favourite animal. I think it’s a bit sad that it got demoted to “lesser” panda just because they found a bigger one, even though the red panda was discovered first. (Judging by the image on the facing page, this may be the point the book is about to make…)
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