Reading Resource: Dokusho Club

日本語の練習 第141週

Japanese Practice Week 141

2022年08月07日「日」第141週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

「浦島・太郎」は、僕が小学生の頃、初めて日本について興味を持った本です。今年、日本の小説を読みました。といえば、小説が好きなら、DokushoClub(Ariane)のサイトがおすすめです。

Arianeさんは、日本の本について素晴らしいレビューをします。N5からN2までの読書レベルの事を書いています。「浦島・太郎」のことを書きました。

　

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N3　文法

[という]

called; named; that

Used to describe a noun in further detail. I often use this in the Pokemon nuzlocke entries for Pokemon. Like, “the Pokemon named/called Pikachu” would be “ピカチュウというポケモン”.

N + という + N
Phrase + という + N

Ex: 真っ赤という色が好き。

　　(I like the color that is deep red.)

Ex: 僕は「名探偵コナン」というマンガとても気に入っています。

　　(I really like the manga called “Detective Conan”.) 

[ということだ]

I’ve heard that, rumor has it that

I can think of two ways to use this grammar:

1. Talk about stuff that you heard from someone else. You can use によると to describe where you heard the information.
2. Describe something, guess, or give a conclusion to something. You can use つまり to make it clearer to the listener. It’s kind of like という意味.

V[Dict-Form] + ということだ
Phrase + ということだ
N + ということだ

Ex: テレビによると、「事件はまだ解決されていない」ということだ。

　　(According to the TV, it seems the case is not solved yet.)

Ex: 彼女はもう会わないと言った。つまり、僕らは別れるということだ。

　　(She said she will never see me again. It means that we are breaking up.) 

Ex: N3の試験の結果は１００点、つまり合格ということだ。

　　(I got a 100 on the N3 exam. In other words, it means that I passed.)

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N3　動詞／N3 VERBS

運転（する）
うんてん（する）
operation; driving

運＝carry, luck, destiny, fate, lot, transport, progress, advance
転＝revolve, turn around, change

This one is a bit tricky but think of a type of transportation that has wheels. These wheels can revolve around and around to get you where you need to go. Like when you are driving a car or another vehicle that has wheels. Like a moped in this protagonist’s case.

Just make sure you look out for truck-kun whether you are driving or not.

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対話／DIALOGUE

Going shopping for clothes. Do they have it in red?

[買い物する]
A:いらっしゃいませ。何を探していますか。
B:ジーンズとシャツです。赤いシャツはありますか。
A:はい、色々あります。サイズはいくつですか。
B:Mです。
A:これらがMです。
B:これを試着してもいいですか。
A:はい。脱衣室はあそこです。
５分後。。。
B:このシャツはいくらですか。
A:１０００円です。
B:それじゃ、これを買います。

[Going shopping]
A: Welcome. Are you looking for something in particular?
B:Jeans and a shirt. Do you have any shirts in red?
A:Yes, we have many different colors. What size are you?
B: A medium.
A: These are all mediums.
B: May I try this on?
A: Yes. The changing room is over there.
5 minutes later
B: How much is this shirt?
A:It’ll be 1,000 yen.
B: Then I’ll buy this one.

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タイトルを見る／WHAT’S IN A TITLE

ダンジョンに出会いを
求めるのは間違っているだろうか
外伝　ソード・オラトリア

ダンジョンに出会（であ）いを

The first word is katakana which usually points to a foreign language word or a name. Luckily it is the former. This word means “dungeon”.

The particle に is used to locate a place. You usually see this translated to “on, at, in”. So someone is going to a dungeon to do something. Let’s take a look at the word attached to this particle.

出会い is from the verb 出会（であ）う which means to meet a person. 出会い is the noun form of this verb. It can mean meeting, encounter or rendevous.

※Note when using 出会う：This is only meant to meet for the first time. Once you have met the person, just use 会（あ）う. The を particle is used to indicate the direct object in the sentence. This particle sets us up for a verb.

This alone gives a loose translation of “An encounter in a dungeon”.
Like Pokemon… mystery dungeon?

求（もと）めるのは

The kanji 求 means want, desire. From this we get three meaning of the verb 求める:

1. to want or to wish for something
2. to request or to demand
3. to search for, to hunt (a job), or to pursue (pleasure)

The title is suggesting that you are trying to meet people in a dungeon, so it would probably be best to go with meaning #3. If they wanted to search for someone, wouldn’t 探す, suffice?

It seems like this verb is implying that the person you are encountering is someone that you are pursuing for pleasure here. As if they are trying to meet a guy or a woman (maybe girl or lady would be less wordy) while in the dungeon. For example, flirting with them, chatting them up while slaying monsters… stuff like that.

Sounds like ナンパする (pick up/hitting on women) would be better choice in verbs for that.

Add this with our last rough translation and you get: “Meet a Girl/Guy in a Dungeon” or “Have an encounter with a Girl/Guy in a Dungeon”. I think I’ll go with girl here.

Adding from the ナンパする part: “Hit on Girls in a Dungeon” or “Pick up Girls in a Dungeon”.

間違（まちが）っているだろうか

間違っている is the active verb of 間違う. To get this form you turn 間違う into it’s てーForm which is 間違って and then add いる.

Think of the active verb as adding a “ing” to the end of the verb. 間違う means to make a mistake, to be incorrect, or to be mistaken. A good way to translate this would be “being wrong”.

The だろうか at the end of this sentence is an expression that mean’s “don’t you think”. You can use it to either get agreement from someone or to get them to understand where you are coming from with your own opinion.

Since this is a question, it is best to reword “being wrong” to something else. Maybe drop being and make the phrase become “is it wrong?” would work.

So for this I’d translate it to: “Is it Wrong to Hit on Girls in a Dungeon”

外伝（がいでん）ソード・オラトリア

The kanji 外（がい） means “outside” while the kanji 伝（でん） can mean “transmit, go along, walk along, follow, report, communicate, legend, tradition”.

Perhaps this word got it’s meaning through putting outside （外）and legend（伝）together. It is outside of the legend or main story. In other words, a “side story”

We’ve got another instance of katakana here which just translates to “Sword” and オラトリア translates to “Oratoria”. It seems to be Latin for rhetoric or oratory. Since this is a side story I’m assuming the rhetoric (or perhaps the point of view) of this story will be done by a side character. A certain side character with a sword.

I’ll keep it simple and put Sword Oratoria

In all this is what I got:

Is it Wrong to Hit on Girls in a Dungeon
Sword Oratoria

I couldn’t find an English title for this anime, so I found a game that seems to center around the main story that has translated it.

Very close. Somewhat confused on why they put “to try to” here though. Nonetheless, this title comes from a side story that is in this anime. The title is fairly long so I’m glad they have an abbreviated name “DanMachi”.

This side story tells the tale from Ais Wallenstein’s point of view. It starts from her encounter (出会い) with the Bell Cranel and seems to end around episode 14 of the main story.

The interesting thing we get from this side story is Ais acting more “human” than I thought. She comes off a bit robotic in DanMachi but in Sword Oratoria we get to see the actions that lead up to her interactions with Bell more. Even though she is strong, she still has struggles of reaching more heights (aka Level 6).

Not only do we get to see more sides to Ais, we also get to see the girls in Loki’s familia and how they train a competent newbie that lacks confidence.

Here’s a PV:

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キュウセイの大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第１５

したっぱたちと戦った。奴らはヤドンのシッポを取るにとって、一攫千金のマインドセットしかない。シッポがすぐに生えてくるけど、痛くない？動物虐待じゃないか？それに、町のヤドンたちは奴らに誘拐されていた。サンゴも誘拐されたなら、嫌だ。ヤドンは二匹がいる。ん？シッポが切られている。。。あれ？メールを持っている。このヤドンはオッサンのヤドンのはずだ。オッサンは井戸へ必死に走ったの理由。。。僕たちがやるしかない。

したっぱもう一人みたいだ。僕は「ただのガキ」だから、彼は僕をスルーした。それなら、ポケモン勝負で奴を倒す。ドガースというポケモンを持っていた。強かったなあ。倒したあとで、奴らが逃げちゃった。それじゃ、ロケット団の復活？

オッサンとヤドンとオッサンの家に帰った。お礼にルアーボールをもらった。

それに、オッサンはぼんぐりを使って特性のボールを作ってあげたいと言った。しろぼんぐりをあげるとき、オッサンは僕に「１日ほどかかる」と伝えた。とりあえず、ジムに行く。ジムリーダーはどんなポケモンを持ってるかなぁ。

１５

Fought some lackeys. They seem to only care about making a quick buck off of the Slowpoke. It turns out their tails grow back but doesn’t it still hurt them? Besides, you’re taking them from this town. I wouldn’t want them taking Sango from me. There are a couple of Slowpoke down here, too. Hmm? This one has some mail. This must be Kurt’s Slowpoke. No wonder Kurt came down here. I’ve gotta do something.

Looks like there is one more lackey left. He’s not going to listen to me because I’m a kid so I’ll beat him in a Pokemon battle. He had this tough Pokemon named Koffing. After we beat them, they left. So Team Rocket is back, huh?

I went back to the house with Kurt and his Slowpoke. He gave me a Lure Ball as thanks.

He’ll also make pokeballs from apricorns for me. I gave him the white apricorn and he told me it will take a day. In the meantime, I’ll take on the gym here. Wonder what kind of Pokemon this gym leader has.

In conclusion, I hope that this series is helpful with your journey to learning Japanese and/or taking an interest in the country’s culture. Until then… また来週！