GrammarInTheWild - Daily Discussion

August 16th Translation

Notes
Although there were some comments mentioning that this could be several different meanings of さ, this might be a good time to reiterate it, to help point out a common feature of manga. Extremely often, to save on space in panels, a 句点(くてん) 。(full stop) will be omitted, opting for a new line of text instead. If sentences ‘seem’ to stop, but there is no full stop at the end of the line, you can usually safely assume that the author just didn’t include a full stop.

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August 17th

Verb[Passive]

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Summary

Oi walk properly!
If you don’t hurry you’ll get told off again Shin!

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You’re right, sometimes it’s very hard to tell what the speaker means when they use さ It’s similar to ‘like’ in English, and depending on the person, used simply to fill the silence.

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translation

Hey! Walk steadily, man. If you don’t hurry you’ll be yelled at again, honestly.

Or maybe “Shin” is the name of a guy…

use case

秋の暗い夜に雨に打たれている窓の音が安泰な感じがします

you guys' use case translation

あのさ、ちゃんと私の話を聞いているふりをしながらブンプロを使っているのはちょっと失礼じゃない?
Well, isn’t it a bit rude to pretend listening attentively to my talk while using bunpro?

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...

Hey, walk faster!
If we don’t hurry, he will do that smug face again, believe me.

(Not sure about 信, though.)
Edit: oh, I confused どやす with どやる :sweat:

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T

Hey look out, watch where you are walking. If you don’t slow down (again), believe me, I will hit you.

U

みんなが後ろ指を指されて変体の人で僕を責められている。濡れ衣だよ。僕は地下鉄で携帯電話を落ちってしまうだけだ。パンチラするものか。

Edit

Didn’t know Shin was name, ugh…that makes more sense now.

@MZa 's:
I feel relaxed/peaceful on autumn nights with the sound of rain hitting the window. :maple_leaf: :cloud_with_rain: :relaxed:

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@s1212z @HotAirGun @MZa
You guys all bring up a good point, and is another thing that you can look for in manga, and even regular magazines.

If someone’s name is a kanji that is very easy to get confused with the rest of the sentence, it will usually be separated by a half space, as is seen here. This is not just for names though, even in regular text messaging sometimes people will put half spaces if there are many kanji together that should not be read as one word, or should be read separately as a ‘name/place’.

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August 17th Translation

Notes :
どやす is a (somewhat) slang verb that can have several meanings, depending on the context. It can be ‘hit, beat, yell, shout’, but usually ends up sounding more like ‘get a whooping, cop a hiding, get a thick-ear, get a mouthful’.

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August 18th
Causative

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Summary

I haven’t got time to put another doctor on standby!

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translation

There is not time to make another physician waiting.

use case

その「スタンバイされる」ことは私をよく考えさせました。

you guys' use case translation

@s1212z: みんなが後ろ指を指されて変体の人で僕を責められている。濡れ衣だよ。僕は地下鉄で携帯電話を落ちってしまうだけだ。パンチラするものか。
Everyone is pointing at me in my back and call me a pervert. These are unfounded accusations. I dropped my portable phone in the subway. Is it panchira?

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I’m curious, does パンチラ describe the act of trying to see someone’s underwear or is it merely underwear being visible, and would something like 盗撮 be more fitting?

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...

I don’t have time for make me waiting by another doctor!
(Not really sure it’s the right way to say it in English :sweat_smile:)

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Just a quick question about why you’re using “we”. Reading the text, I didn’t get the feeling this includes both parties, the one being admonished as well as the speaker. Is it something visible in the panel of the manga, or just “common sense”? To me, because Shin’s name is being used, it has the ring of “you’ll get a beating”. Thanks for explaining :slight_smile:

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I’m pretty sure it’s the act of peeking at ladies undies coming the abbreviated form パンツをちらり which was the intention though I don’t have direct experience on exact usage here (just for clarity, this sentence is fictitious and not a real life experience :blush:). If the accusation involved photography (which I wasn’t necessarily implying but that is a conceivable real life scenario) then 盗撮 seems applicable. @MZa , ものか is a rhetorical question and a grammar point here! So with the aforementioned, feel free to take a second look now :slightly_smiling_face: Sorry, I know it’s edgy but I’m finding benefit in these contexts that stick to memory for me…hopefully others as well (as long as say it correctly!)

T

I don’t have the time for different doctor to make me wait!

U

朝ご飯を作り切るまで外で私の飼っている熊を待たせた。

君ら

The ‘standby’ context/thing often makes me think

Edit

スタンドバイ probably meant ‘on call doctor’…forgot to add that

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Good question! There is no nuance of ‘we’ in the text itself, but I used ‘we’ purely because I have read the manga.

Japanese is considered a pronoun-free language (meaning that it doesn’t need pronouns, not that it doesn’t have them). So in most cases, the most accurate translation is one that uses no pronouns at all, for example

“If not hurrying, a beating will be had!”

If who doesn’t hurry?
Who will get the beating?

Answer: It doesn’t matter, the speaker knows who, and the listener knows who and that’s all that matters.

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I see, thank you. I knew about the pronouns and haven’t read the manga :slight_smile:

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August 18th Translation

Notes :
And the difference between 別 and 他 is…? In the beginning, sometimes these two can be hard to differentiate, but there is actually a pretty big difference. 別 usually strongly focuses on eliminating the first option, so something like 別の仕事を探したい would usually sound like (I don’t enjoy this job, I want to quit it and find another), whereas 他の仕事を探したい would be taken more as (I want a different/another job -possibly in addition to this job-). So be careful when using 別 unless you are trying to create space between the thing you’re talking about. In this example, they want a different doctor because the one they currently have is reckless and a bit of a maverick.

Side-note - I strongly recommend this manga to anyone that is reasonably confident in their kanji. It has almost no furigana except for names, and includes a * next to any medical word it introduces, with a note in the margin about what it means.

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August 19th
でしょう

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