Lost in translations (N5)

[xgc1986]

皆さん、こんにちは！

Somebody (I don’t remember who, sorry) recommended this page with free books to read in different levels

Link: Home | Natively - Learn through native resources (learnnatively.com)

Let’s start with my problem, I was just reading this book “The kid shepherd” (羊飼いの男の子), and I need help with the second sentence.

• 男の子は面白くありません。

I am translating it into "The boy is not interesting”, but it makes more sense to translate it as “as for the boy, X is not interesting” where the X can be the work as a shepherd, but then I do not understand where the topic comes from.

Can somebody be so gentle to help me?

Thanks.

The page:

Also, if somebody also have some troubles translating sentences, feel free to share with us, we all can learn from our ignorance.

[HotAirGun]

@xgc1986

it makes more sense to translate it as “as for the boy, X is not interesting” where the X can be the work as a shepherd

Yep, it looks like 男の子は[同じ仕事が]面白くありません for me too.

@xgc1986

but then I do not understand where the topic comes from.

The topic is 男の子, he’s marked by は.
The subject is 同じ仕事, it’s implied from the previous sentence and it would be marked by が.
So, “as for the boy, the same work is not interesting”.

[conan]

In case you didn’t get it from those two sentences as well, the next sentence also reinforces the meaning: 何か面白いことがしたいな。 “I want to do something interesting.” (The な is an indication that he’s talking to himself, like a, “Oh, if only I could do something more interesting,” feeling.)