魔女の宅急便 (Kiki’s Delivery Service) Discussion Thread: Chapter 3

あたし(ね) = I
もうすこし = a bit longer
この町に = in this town
いよう = to stay (居る + volitional よう to express Kiki is making a motion to do something)
= can be used to soften a statement, similar to saying “probably” in English
と思ってるの = thinking

“I’m thinking of staying in this town a bit longer” :slightly_smiling_face:

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Ah, volitional of 居る! Makes perfect sense once you see it. Thanks!

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Whoever’s leaving those semicolons at the end of the definitions in the spreadsheet is really setting off my OCD haha. :sweat_smile:

I think I understand this one, but I want to double check. Page 59 of the blue book.

「いい方にお会いできて……それだけで、もう……あたし、ついさっきこの町についたばかりなんですもの。」

Being able to meet a nice person… that alone is already (enough)… I only just arrived in this town a little while ago.

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That sounds about right. She’s stumbling over her words a bit (because she’s exhausted and overwhelmed after a very long and stressful day), so this is a bit disjointed.

FYI: Here’s chapter 4’s discussion thread :slight_smile: (set to start tomorrow)

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Done chapter 3!

I want to thank everyone who lifted my spirits last week when I was falling behind and getting discouraged. And thanks to everyone that answered all my questions!

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Chapter 3 summary (kindly provided by @Kyasurin) is now available in the main post up top ^^

This was funny:
「ぼく、あしたになったら、白猫になってるんじゃないかな」

Yay! I finally finished chapter 3. I fell behind during the holidays so I’m glad I made it. I’m reading so much faster now that I’m not trying to understand every little detail.

Looking forward to chapter 4.

Edit: I found the summary very useful. It seems I understood everything mostly right, but a few things I had missed, so it’s nice to have a reference.

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I tweaked the summary to change “dummy” to “pacifier/dummy” since “pacifier” is the term used in American English.

@Sylph I thought that was funny too. I literally laughed out loud when I read that line.

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Well, not everyone can be perfect. :sweat_smile:

So I need to know now, do you not have the phrase “to spit the dummy”?

(Also, apologies for the semi colons in the vocab list!)

Nope, I’ve never heard of that phrase or anything similar to it. I was really confused when I saw the word “dummy”. I thought to myself “Did Kyasurin misread or misremember this section?” Then I looked it up on jisho, followed by Wikipedia, and that cleared everything up.

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Hi all - I just wanted to say that I’m still reading, but I’m behind! I am doing my best to catch up and thank you to everyone who is adding vocab! It’s really helping me!!

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No worries! We are still happy to discuss plot/answer questions about Chapter 3 (or even earlier) if that’s where you are!

Where did you find the Swedish version? I’ve been scouring the internet for it, but I just can’t quite seem to find it!

I found it used, so might not be any left. I just googled for it, Kikis Expressbud, and found it through Google on a Swedish site for used items (or so it seemed at least).

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A little bit random, but what exactly is バタパン? I googled it and it looks a bit like a small bread roll? :confused: I was kind of hoping it was going to be a croissant, but apparently not…

i’ve been reading another kiki book alongside (i was reading that already when i stumbled on this book club). the other book is called キキに出会った人びと。

its got stories about the townspeople of コリコ、most of which are from before kiki arrived in the city. one of the stories is about おソノさん growing up. when she’s a toddler, sono san’s mother (who wanted to be an actress but ended up quitting drama school, getting married, having a baby and becoming a baker) is quite famous for her バタパン。I don’t think its necessarily a thing you can buy at a bakers, just something the writer invented for her story. you also find out in the story how おソノさん, after inheriting her mother’s bakery, makes a new パン to rival her mother’s famous バタパン and names her shop グーチョキパン屋 after it.

i also thought it was amusing how this very japanese store name was made to look european in the film :slight_smile:

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That is so cool! Thank you for sharing! :grinning:

firstly, thanks very much for the vocabulary list. it’s really helping! :weary:

aaahhhh this chapter has so many things my understanding of which is quite cloudy! im not sure though if i should painstakingly break down those bits and look for translations/explanations or just go with the flow and carry on reading!

i’ll limit myself to those problems that are easier to put down here and ask for help on.

  1. (page 22) kokiri san’s advice to kiki :

「でもキキ、めんどうくさがって、おちつくところをいいかげんに決めちゃだめよ」

Is she saying, ‘because its a bother, don’t be reckless/irresponsible about deciding on a place’ ? What does おちつく mean in this context then? Doesn’t that mean calm/stable? Why is she advising against picking a stable, calm sort of place? What am i missing here?

  1. page 23, just before kiki leaves okino san says:

「うまくいかなかったら買えてきてもいいんだよ」

he’s telling her its okay to come back if she doesn’t do what? if she doesn’t go skillfully? can’t be that…