時をかける少女: Week 1 Discussion (Chapter 1)

I saw this definition in my Kindle dictionary:
[副]かたい物どうしが触れたり、軽く当たったりしたときの音を表す語。

It’s the 大辞泉 dictionary.
So, I interpreted it as,
Not even the faintest of sounds could be heard.

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I’d like to keep the thread organized and limited to just the first chapter. I understand that that’s still several days away, but I think it’s better to wait. Doesn’t mean you can’t read ahead obviously, but maybe just write down these questions and ask them next week.

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I understand ^^ I’ve deleted the question

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I was thinking of it as a conscious action, like she was standing there bracing herself for what might happen next, or mustering the courage to call out

I find it really strange that it’s not in J-E dictionaries and not in some J-J dictionaries :laughing: First time a word hasn’t been in any of my main dictionaries

Could you explain how you came to this translation? Maybe I’m missing something important in it

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Two other people kind of answered this. Basically, I want to say the same thing but in a slightly different way.

I would translate it as “A liquid which seemed as though it was flowing out from the test tube spilled over the edge and raised up a white steam like thing.”

In my mind, the 流れ出る is more the act of it slowly globbing towards the edge whereas the こぼれ carries more the meaning of the actual going over the edge and spilling out. Not 100 percent on this though. Just the way it seems to me.

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Not who you’re asking, but break it down a bit. Ignoring all the surrounding bit,
音ひとつ聞こえてこなくなる
It becomes so that a single sound can’t be heard.

I think you might be thinking that 聞こえてこない means that something was heard, and then wasn’t - possibly because ことりという is making you think a specific sound has to be heard - but that’s not how てくる works. Just, no sound is coming. And the ことり bit is just for emphasis. It’s like saying “not even a peep” in English.

Does that make sense?

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Here’s some more info on that:

Especially:

そらあかるくなってくる。
The sky [over a period of time through now and continuing to some future point] brightens.

そらあかるくなっていく。
The sky [over a period of time starting now and continuing indefinitely] brightens.

With the present tense, the factor that changes is the point in time at which the action begins. (~てくる typically implies the action started in the past, while ~ていく typically implies the action starts now.)

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The なる was throwing me off a bit, but I think it’s necessary because the previous sentence is やがてドアは、音を立てるのをやめた. So basically, before long the door stopped making a sound. So the following sentence (the one mainly being discussed) is saying: (it became that) not a single コトリという音 could be heard from the other side of the partition screen.

I think I got it now. :+1:

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Yeah, I was thinking of the いってきます kind of くる. You do something, then come back. Thanks~ that makes sense. It’s kinda like “not an audible sound came”.

Thanks @Darcinon for the link~

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Thanks for this breakdown, I probably couldn’t have explained it like so :stuck_out_tongue:

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Hi, can someone please help me make sense of this sentence?
Kadokawa page 11
なにか叫びつづけていなければ、こわさのあまり、気を失ってしまいそうだった。

I’ve tried to break it down as -
なにか叫びつづけていなければ - had to continue yelling something
こわさのあまり - too much fear (?)
気を失ってしまいそうだった - the feeling seemed to be lost completely.

but I’m not sure if this is right or how to make it all fit together…
thanks!

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to lose consciousness; to faint; to black out​

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The なければ is just a regular conditional. “If she didn’t keep screaming”.

気を失う is an expression, it means “to lose consciousness”.

The のあまり part when attached to something gives the idea that something is too strong and leads to another thing happening. In this case, she was so scared that, if she didn’t keep screaming, she would have fainted.

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Bit of a general grammar noob question, but does the である at the end of sentences have a particular meaning? I tend to just ignore it… :sweat_smile:

For example
実験室の中でなにか物音がしたからである。

PS. how do you add the blur for spoilers?

である is basically the literature version of です.

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I mentioned this some time ago in this same thread, here it is:

For the spoiler blur, just do this:

image

spoiler

It’s a formal literary form of です. It comes with a bunch of unique grammar structures and words as well, which I can never remember at all. Clearly I just ignore it too, because I didn’t even notice it was written in である form.

Blur spoilers is hidden under the gear menu. As is the collapsible box. And the poll.

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Damn, you’re all so fast :laughing:

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Y… you’re fast.

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Whoops! Missed that! Thank you :blush:

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