mangajin issue 20 learn japanese through comics...
JAPANESE POP CULTURE & LANGUAGE LEARNING
'EI ,,,,, l::s&
$4.50
M A N G A J I N
S PE C I AL
No. 20
FEATURE
So you want to learn Japanese
BRAND NEWS A slick slogan and a c lever name from the Post Office
31Tl:ifl Sangyo Kakumei A revolutionary slogan: sangyo kakumei written ~ ~ (sangyo, "industry") + 1(i ~ (kakumei, " revolutio n") refers to the Industrial Revolution, but the people at Toshiba changed .tangyo to 3 fT (sangyo, "three lines") and used this as a slogan for their "revolutio nary" new word processor that prims three lines simultaneously. This printer can turn out 230 characters/second as opposed to 70/second for their standard printer.
v ~'J7.A
Retakkusu Not a great pun, but it's note worthy that even the Post Office uses clever names for their services. The word retakkusu is a combination of " letter" (transcribed into katakaoa as v 5' - retli) and "fax" ( 7 7 -;; ~ .A ,Jakkusu). The main advantage o f the retakkusu is speed. ff you apply at the post office by 3 PM, your message can generally be delivered that same day. The basic charge is ¥510 fo r one page up to size 84 (approx. I O"x 14"), and ¥310 per page a fter that. You can a lso send money or fl owers along with your retakkusu, or, for those who want that special touch, the retakkusu can be put on a card with an origami crane that spreads its wings and plays an appropriate me lody when opened (for an additional c harge of only ¥1 ,100).
Thanx to: D.C. Palter and Matt Durbin
Send us your examples of creative product names or slogans (with some kind of documentation). If we publish your example, we'll send you a MANGAJIN T-shirt to wear on your next shopping trip. In case of duplicate entries, earlie~t postmark gets the shirt. BRAND NEWS, P.O. Box 6668, Marietta, GA 30065
MA NGAJIN 5
MAD*AD
Mad Amano is well known in Japan for his satire and political parodies. A former planning manager with Hitachi, he left the corporate life in 1974 when he won the cartoon prize o f Bungei Shunju, a leading Japanese journal o f political and social commentary. Although he works almost exclusively for the Japanese press, he now lives in the U.S., and he targets the politics and happenings of other countries as much as he docs those of Japan. Mad Amano makes full use of the punning potential inhe rent in the many homonyms found in Japanese.
•111x: :1: .:·•m, Buckingumtape ~~..-:J~:/jlh7-7o 6
M AN GA JI N
~
lJij
'*
~ r.~
~ ' 1:.'i ~ I') I:
Bekkyo no sai
no
I f. "/ .:f / if]_, 7 - -.10 Bakkingamu Tepu.
nizukuri ni
separation of occasion Cs)
packing
(purpose) Ruckingum
tape
When packing for your separation - Buckingum Tape.
C: 6mt ~ -r·l: .. . klji ni yoru to roku-.wi made ni . . . article according to 6 years old by (the time)
c
• It IJ, ~c $ (7) .: o • by the age of ... ~, 1iiJ f.&. i ~ 1:
[2]
Hobbes: "... most children have seen a million murders on television." 1Hivt'G'>T1Jt ~t..:::tn 1 6?~ 10075i"IG'>>W:A 7'1.-l::"t' -+ t:. tt' -r: v' (!) r~ lj: 7 v 1:: "'(' 1 oo H @I ~ (f) Taitei no most
kodomo wa terebi children as-for TV
-r: -r:
~A :,; - :.--- ~ ~ ~ tt ' satsujin shiin o mite kite iru murder ~cene (obj.) have seen • on television (TV) 1.: (;t 1Cf B~ (;t ~ t?
Calvin: "I find thru C. .~&~. ? (~$1Jf{.T; X.~ .: t
de hyakuman-kai mo no on I million times (emph.) of
J.J A.J!.
'?
-r: o
n da. 11e (explan.) (quote)
v
~ 'o
very disturbing!" )
t -r (> $i'U : 1J: ~
~ -?"1? ~-?tJ: o to komatchau na. when am disturbed
-+ -f-?flfl< C So kiku hear that
Calvin: "It means I've been watching all the wron channels." ~P~ T ~ .t;- :i "t' ~ '( e t..: ~'( G'>rJJ~ ·:d..: -T "\' / ~-iv -+ 0 ~ I? , ';r < if' t rd1 j4 ":) t:. -r "' : . - ;f, )v ~ Tsumari, boku In effect I
• Calvin !± 7
-r ":)
ga zutto machigatte (subj.) all along mistaken
channeru channel
v ~"t" 100 7J@ t.: lt"t' the layers of dirt it's in." I·.Q)Ir$
-t-tti.Jf.A. --:> --r~.o •J.,
Kagakusha wa, mono ga umatte-iru chiso o shirabem dake de, scientist(s) as-for thing(s) (subj.) is/are buried in din- layer (obj.) investigate only by
t· tt < I? "\ ?1 "'
-t- tt -IJ< sore
f.:O
that
(subj.) how much
• how+ adj.+ it Is 't',
[Ol__
-IJ' b -IJ' ~ lv t!. 0 fu rui ka wakaru n da.
dore kurai
old
('?) know
c.' lv ~ 1: -t ;h..1Jf1uJ 4
(expl an.)
n'(~~ ~~J), O)~l*o
"H_e_y_!"--------------------------------------------------------------~
j:; "\ ! C_a-lv-in_:__ Oi!
Hobbes: "Why, you must be
siuears old."
4HJ: ... l.::i!i\ ~.o,~~.o· slit
(~~)
-+ b-? tJ,
~-
1;!:
6.i;l
1: i:, -/){It'~ v' 0
Fiimu, kimi wa roku-sai ni chigai nai. (exclam.) you as-for 6 years old must be • Why li, flfltl:~ ·!~P!J!~•J"t". B~ (~~) . Jj:~ ~:. ~ i --:> -r .0 t: ~ ~ ~'n', >b t, 7:> lv ( LJ ~0)-:. t ~ t')o • rmT-O)""f l:t~:a-~--:>;btr-.: t ~: J:--:> 1:', Calvin ~:-?v•"( v'o "layer of dirt"= f~ t ~-? t..: t/veJ :a-?Jq"" -c v' .o b ~t(ffH& 0) ::1? 1: Hobbes O)fli;t; n{~ O/(C
/9)
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Nihongo Daisuki! Japanese Through Games & Songs Susan H. Hirate & Noriko Kawaura Oral/aural beginning Japanese language activities for children in elementary school. 208 pages $19.95
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MANGA JI N
15
F eatu re•Stor y
Choosing the right textbook by Karen Sandness If you enroll in a regular Japanese class. you probably won 't have a say in choosing the textbook (although the book used may be one factor in deciding if a cla~s i s ri ght f or you) . so this section is largely for people w ho are intere!.ted in self-study. V ery simply. the best advice I can g ive concerning teac hing yourself Japanese is. ··Don ' t." but if you arc determined to teach yourself. you need to choose your learning materials carefull y -a m i stake here can lead to much personal frustratio n. A bookstore with a good foreign lang uage section will offer a wide range
o f tex t books. and the cover blurbs of l>Ome o f them announce wonderful new methods that w ill make you nuent in no time wi t h very little effort. Rig ht. and you can lose fifty po unds ly ing on y our couc h eat i ng j unk food all day. The fact i s that achieving professional competence in Japanese- that"s the abi lity to li ve your li fe and carry o ut your business in reasonably correct Japanese witho ut reco urse to English- requires more time than most A mer icans are w illing to devote to anything but l>po n s. Y ou can put in the time over a decade o r two. or you can shorten the calendar time required
by d ropping every thing else and taking a six o r eight ho ur per day intensi ve course for a year or two. but you cannot escape the time requi rement. Anyone w ho tells you di ffe rently is a liar. Period. The most extrav agant c laims come from authors and publ ishers w ho produce g lo ri fied phrasebooks wi th tapes. i f you know absolutely nothi ng abo ut Japanese. this kind o f material can prov ide an inexpensive way to samp le the lang uage. but like all phn"ebooks, they present the material unsystematically and leave you ill -equipped to understand what native speakers mig ht say in response to your phrases. Hav ing narrowed your searc h to real textbooks. you next need to eliminate the obviousl y bad o nes. Y o ur fi rst task is to look at the copy ri ght dates: any thing more than ten or fifteen years old , no matter w hat i ts orig inal merit. is going to present the language and :.ociety of the past. Then. y ou need to sho w the text-
Some textbooks This is a list of the major Japanese language texrhnoks 11011' amilahle. We asked se1·eral experts to ll'rite brief c·omments ahout these hooks, and where po.uihle. we comhined lhese co!lunems info the ""hlurhs"" heloll'. Our panel members were: Wayne Lammers . Jo/111 Meam. Dal'id Mills. Karen Sa/1(/ness. and Chris Thompson. Japanese: The Spoken Language, Eleanor H. Jorden with Mari Noda, Yale Univ. Press, 1987.371 pages, $1 7.95. [tapes; videos; supplement for learning kanji & kana; 2 sequels; Shinkunrei roomazi; no kana or kanji in main text] Generally recognized a\ the mo'>t comprehen~ive and effective ~et of materials for adult. Eng l i~h-~pcak ing Mudent~ of Japane-.e. Highly evaluated for natural/realistic language. In addition to its supplement. Japanese: The Wriu en Language. instructor versions of all volumes arc available with drills. dialog\. etc. wriuen in Japanc-.e. With audio tape' and video. a po~~i ble choice for \elf- in~truction. although grammar explanations can be complex/ tediom•. Not for the casual learner. Beginning Japanese, Eleanor H. Jorden. Yale University Press, 1963. 409 pages. ¥3600. [tapes; supplement Reading Jap anese; sequel; Shinkunrei roomazi; no kana or kanji in main text] Rendered somewhat obsolete by publication of JSL (above). but some prefer the grammar explanation' in this earlier text. Language and situations now out of date. Situational Functional Japanese, Tsukuba Language Group. Bonjinsha, 1991 . 212 pages, ¥3000 (notes). [tapes; videos; CAl; 2 sequels; drill books; modified Hepburn roomaji; kana & kanji used throughout text] Realistic language pre,ented in natural situations; especially good for those studying in Japan. The drill book presents a wide range of exercises for each lesson. from su b~t itution drilb to role-playing; include~ cultural notes and ""conver~ational '>trategie~ ... Combination of audio. video, and computer ~oft ware i' a plus. Japanese for Busy People, Association for Japanese-Language Teaching. Kodansha lnt'l, 1984. 170 pages, $19.95. [tape; CD;
16
MAN GAJ t N
sequel; Hepburn romaji; kana used for dialogs & reading drills) Thb '>eems to be ~omething of a standard for adult education and community college courses; not bad for those waming a ""quick lh"" imroduction. but not 'o suitable for serious ~t udcnts who intend to follow through to advanced levels. Some u\eful content for bu'oine's type'>. but limited in \COpe. Nissan's Business Japanese, Hajime Takamizawa. Passport Books, 1991 . 293 pages, $29.95. (tapes; sequel; modified Hepburn roomaji ( "hune'); kana and kanji used for d ialogs; mini-essays on Japanese business culture) Essays on busincs~ & etiquette are excellent. but the premise that the \tudent can reach the level of conducting business negotiat ion~ in Japanc'>e through an introductory level textbook i' unrealistic. Language/grammar explanation' arc weak; l"eful for ~omeone who already has the ba~ics down and wants to add on business vocabulary. Learn Japanese the Fast and Fun Way, Carol &Nobuo Akiyama. Barron's, 1990. 234 pages, $14.95. (Hepburn romaji; kana introduced in final chapter; text contains activity kit] A ""cule"" book with a functional syllabus. but introduces complicated ~t ructurc'> in the early lesson\ wi th liule explanation and in~u flicicnt excrci~c,. o audio tape is a 'enou-. dra'' bad•. Bunka Shokyu Nihongo, Bunka Institute of Language. Tokyo: Bonjinsha. 119 pages, ¥1 ,600. [tapes; workbook; teacher's manual; OHP for classroom use; sequel) A direct method textbooJ.. wriuen entirely in Japane~c. Excellent content. meaningful situations. amusing illustrations. University and graduate ~tudent level. (umtllllll'tl o11 pag l' /Xi
F e a t u r e •
book to someone who can check the language for accuracy and naturalness. One self-instructional text currently on the market was written by an Englishman whose own command of Japanese is none too steady. But a Japanese author is no guarantee of authenticity. because a few feel obliged to "simplify" the language for the poor gaijin. Next you need to be honest about your own goals. If all you want is basic survival skills, you wi ll find one type of textbook most useful. l fyou want a foundation for professional competence, you will need a di fferent type. The latter usually come in a multi-volume series and move carefully from simple structures and situations to complicated ones. The books for teaching survival skills are usually light on grammar and sentence patterns and heavy on vocabulary. If in doubt, consult the author's preface for his or her own statement of purpose. The battle between those who favor
S
t o r
y
instruction in romaji and those who favor hiragana from the beginning can take on the look of a holy war. Having taught both ways, I believe that the outcome of instruction has more to do with the aptitude and diligence of the Ieamer than with the scri pt used in the textbook. If you are a serious student, you will learn hiragana and kanji eventually, but if you seek no more than survival skills, you need not bother. In real life, almost nothing is written entirely in hiragana without kanji. You are better off learning katakana, which allows you to read coffee shop menus, Shinkansen tickets, and approximately every other word in fashion magazines. Having narrowed your search to a few textbooks. the next step is to look at the format of the lessons. Are the suggested procedures something that you could carry out independently? Do you understand the explanati ons? Is the amount of new material per chapter man-
ageable? Does the author provide lots and l ots of exercises to re-enforce the sentence patterns and conversational routines? Are the dialogues intelligent and believable? If possible, you should li sten to the accompanying tapes. Be wary of tapes where the speakers speak too slow Iy, because then you will learn to understand only Slow Japanese, a language not spoken in Japan. Although not in the category of"textbooks," in order to become truly proficient in Japanese you need to spend time in Japan. This should be under circumstances that force you to talk to a variety of people and allow you to continue tudying. There is no substitute for this tep, and after all. communicating with the Japanese people i s the whole point of your endeavor.
Karen Sandness is an advising editor and regular contributor to M ANGAJIN.
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• Contains 350 kanji and about 200 compounds • 6 modes - browse, pronunciation. English/ Japanese translation, dictation. & stroke drill • Teaches pronunciation & stroke order of characters
Japanese Word Torture • Over 2100 words and translations • Work from English to Japanese or vice-versa.
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17
F ea tur e - S tory (cmllinuedfrom page 15)
will no doubt fall.
is true that young Japanese speakers in-
Honorific (keigo), self-deprecatory (kenji5-go) and polite (leinei) speech codes represent the ultimate minefield for the
creasingly tend toward the highly informal, old habits die hard. Like any living language. Japanese changes over time. but you ·re probably better off letting the Japa-
thumb: simply use the more expedient tongue. You 'II quickly get a sense of your companions' linguistic ability. If their English is much better than your Japanese,
average gregarious and egalitarian American. You have probably been told to stick
nese do the linguistic trail-blazing.
don't insult their intelligence by insisting
to "desu-masu" forms. which do indeed offer a safe haven. At the very worst. these
on peaking in Japanese. but make known your interest. One ploy I've found particu-
Trying out your Japanese
fonns can only give you a reputation for
The thorn y question of how to engage
larly helpful is to compl iment their English while ruefully remarking upon the
reserve, which isn't all that bad in Japanese society. When with potential friends, allow them to set the level of speech; with
the Japanese in Japanese language conversation was rai sed in early issues of M AN-
poor quality of your own Japanese in such a way as to invite their assistance.
GAJIN.
superiors. always err on the side of formality. using keigo if you can manage it. With " inferiors" (the local street-sweeper? stu-
and there are still no easy answers. Your primary purpose in learning the lan-
Once you've steered the conversation into Japanese. one blank look on your part
guage is communication. not linguistic one-upsmanship. You probably won "t want
may be all it takes to throw it back into English. where it may languish forever. So
dents? shop assi stants?). maintain the
to address someone in Japanese unless you
""desu-masu" but drop the keigo. Don "t try to deal with self-deprecatory speech until
are capable of sustaining at least a minimal exchange: greeting every Japanese face you see with konnichi 11'a is no different
when in do ubt. fake it. When groping for a word. sometimes help is no further away than your nati ve language: if there· an
from the Japanese schoolchild's penchant for shrieking "haro. haro" at every passing foreigner. I abide by a simple rule of
accent. Chances are good that either your neo logism i s already in common use. or that your companion will at least under-
you think you can handle the other two. In general , it's best to observe and then adopt forms used by genteel Japanese of rou ghly your own age and social position. While it
English equivalent. try it in a Japanese
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19
L ett e r s (continued from pa11e 3)
romaji (Japanese wriuen in English letters). The idea is to practice reading the kana (phonetic symbols) and kanji (Chinese characters) that you know, and to gradually pick up more. At the same time, you are expanding your vocabulary of words, phrases and sentences. For the more difficult mango (like the feature mango in this issue), beginners will probably rely heavily on the English translations to follow the story, but the literal word-for-word translations make it easy to pick out any word or phrase you want to add to your vocabulary. On the flip side, advanced students can read the manga directly. referring to the translation and notes only when stumped by an odd word or phrase. For these readers , we ha1•e simply done some of the legwork. so they can read right through without putfing the story down to pull out the dictionary. We have heard from quite a few trans lators, teachers, and "near-native" speakers who say they learn something new this way from every issue.
Whatever your level. we recom mend that you don' t approach M ANGA· JJN as if it were a textbook in which you have to understand point A before you can go on to point 8 . Our hope is that the manga material makes you wallt to read on, even if you don't entirely understand why the translation comes out the way it does. The more you read. the more things are repeated, and the more you pick up - not only in specific vocabulary but in a "feel" for how Japanese works. If you're a relative beginner, though. you mig/If wam to "work" on one page at a time. This is such a good question we'd like to throw it open to our readers how do you read and learn from M AN·
pretty much self-contained for language learning, it doesn ' t work quite ri ght i n my case, because wi thout resorting to a dictionary it would feel as if (well , not quite, but ... ) I were learning the spelling of E nglish words without caring about the pronunciation. In the "pronunciation guide" you dismiss the intonation as mostl y inessential, and the majority of the kokugo, eiwa or waei dictionaries back up your view by simply ignor ing accent. I don ' t expect you to further complicate the format of the magazi ne to include accent marks. I would just feel vindicated by an acknowledgement that accent , yappari, is an issue.
GAJIN?
Verona, Ital y
Accent marks I've grown acutely accent-sensitive by st.udying (Eleanor) Jorden' s textbook and I miss the marking of accents on M ANGAJIN's romanization.lf the idea of the magazine is to make the material
GIANLUCA G OR 'I
We would not deny that "accent i s an issue." but we think imitating native speakers, whether in rea/life or on the tapes that go with your textbook, is more likely to produce natural-sounding results than attempting to fabricate the sound on your own from a notation or (conti11111'd on page 71)
JAPANESE
S/TL:.tT/0.\:.tL
Fl_ :vCT/Oi\'A l..~
r-1 hi II\ I " ' · I , •• 1 •. l
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SITUATI ONAL FUNCTIONAL JAPANESE was written for learners with no previous knowledge of Japanese. It has, however, also been shown to be effective as a review text giving language skills useful for life in Japan to those who have studied Japanese outside Japan using noncommunicative approaches such as the structural or grammar-translation methods. • For more information, contact as below.
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MANGAJ I N
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F e a t u r e • S t o r
(continued from page /9)
stand it. (After all. many Japanese have
pretended to understand. A~sumi ng that your diligence has pro-
learned English from instructors who mistakenly pronounce English words much
duced a certain level of proficiency. you
the same way.) A substantial portion of Japanese communicative competence lies
Japane~e.
in easily memorized fonnu laic expressions; hesitation sounds (ano, eto instead of the English "uh'' or ··urn'') and non-verbal behavior like proper bowing and body language also ensure a smooth now. Not only will you sound more authentic. but it
The better you get. the more it seems to work against you. Long years of foreignen, 'linguistic ineptitude have led theJapane~e to equate speaking Japanese with
should also be aware when not to u e For example. strong emotions
being Japanese. so your very existence is seen as a logical impossi bil ity. I n parts of
are often impossible to express in any language other than your own. so don't get
Japan. particularly in Tokyo. increasing numbers of gaijin speaking passable Japanese have reduced the jaw-dropping con-
into a shouting match unless you're very. very good. If you use Japanese for business purposes. it's probably better to limit
siderably. The phenomenon hits harder outside of Japan, where few indeed speak
it to the pleasurable end of forming bonds and creating allies. M ost high- level nego-
wi ll be easier to think i n Japanese. You'll find that nantlwdo (''of course/! see"uttered at appropriate intervals) is a handy
tiations are carried our through interpreters for each party. While this can make for
the language and fewer sti ll can be said to speak with any degree of competence. As greater numbers of non-Japanese demon-
way to indicate attentiveness and agreement without actually having to put your-
some rather crowded conference rooms. it's the only professional way to go.
strate that they can both learn and function in Japanese. the law of diminishing returns
self on the line. If you remain attenti ve. pretty soon you 'II be able to piece together
As your ability improves, be prepared to confront the Law of D iminishing Re-
will gradually reverse course, and you will have played a part in the process.
what's being said. Obviously. this latter :-tratagem should be employed with dis-
turns. according to which fledg l ing attempts (a mangled greeting. etc.) are met
cretion. It can back fire when you really need the very information you've only
with copious nattery. while true facility is viewed with suspicion or incredulousness.
Ginny Skord is a prorc~~or or Japanese language and literature and a rcgularcomributorto M " G \JI'.
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[email protected] M ANGAJIN
21
-If 7 ')
~~
• Sarari-kun
~
Sarari-kun: M $
Nani-goro mo whatever
also
k.yoso·shin
ga
competitive spirit (subj)
ft'Thlf
f.! -t'/ o
-$";!-
nak.ereba
da
if there is not
is
~o!.
(cmph)
otto have a Son:
1\1 o
Hai.
" Yes sir." (PL3) • nani·goro is a combination of nani ('"what") and koro ("thing," changed to goro for euphony) -> "whatever." • kyiiso = "race" and -shin means "heart/spirit." so kyoso-shin means "competitive spirit." • nak.ereba is a conditional "if/when" form of nai ("there is not/not have") "if there is not/if you don't have." • dame means "(is) no good," so nak.ereba dame means "it's no good if you don't have" • "you must have.'' • zo is a relati vely rough emphatic particle used mostly by men, but also occasionally by women to show strong determination. • the child may look like a girl, but actually this is a boy.
0
Sound FX: 7" - 7"Gii gii (effect of sleeping soundly) ~'7ft'-'
-t'!
Yoshi.
Mak.enai
zo!
(exclam.)
won'tlose
(emph.)
Son: J: - L o
" All right! I won' t be out-done." (PL2) •
yoshi, especially with a long yo, suggests he is gathering his strength for an all-out effort • "okay!lall right!/here goes!" • makenai is the plain negati ve form of makeru (''lose/be defeated").
0
Sound FX: 7"-7"-t 7"-7"Gil gtl I Gii gil (effect of sleeping soundl y)
© ishimura So, All rights reserved. First published in Japan in 1991 by Nishimura So. Englbh rights arranged through ishimura So.
tran~lation
22
M ANGAJIN
fJ" 7 ')
[iJ
.n • Sarari-kun Wife:
~
~ hikkakeru
"?
-c
'7 'T t!. wake da.
ue
leg (obj.) hook/catch
(quote)
is
" It's so robbers will tri (PL2)
here."
• normal word order would be sono himo (wa) nani yo, "What's that string?" In sentences with question words, yo can replace the final desu ka to make an informal question. This generally has a feminine feel, though in certain circumstances the structure can be used quite forcefully by men as well. • ashi = " leg/foot,'' and hikkakeru ="hang/hook," so ashi o hikkakeru means "hook a leg on" • "trip (on)." • ue is a colloquial equivalent of to iu, which marks the preceding phrase as the content of wake ("reason/explanation"). • da is the informal/abrupt (PL2) equivalent of desu ("is/are").
Wife: ~lv~l:? i Sonna ni so much
< "' < b o
(J) ,
aru
no.
on calorie markers (subj) there are (emph)
"All the dishes have the calories indicated."
v / SSOp:j 480 cal. Omurersu. gohyaku-gojii en, yonhyaku-hachijukkarorii :1 o "I 7 500p:j 630 cal. Korokke, gohyaku en, roppyaku-sanjukkarorii 4T 7 .Y 480p:j 350 cal. Sarada, yonhyaku-haclujii en, sanbyaku-gojukkarorii
Cards: :t A
Omelette 550 en 480 calories. Croquettes, 500 yen 630 calories. Salad 480 en 350 calories. • menyii is used much like the English word ''menu," but in this case refers to the individual cards by the samples in the window. • no indicates this is why she thinks it's a "good restaurant."
t.J.o ii
Kore wa this
wa
ne.
as-for good (emph.) isn't it
"This is nice, isn ' t it." (PL2-Fem.) OLI : -r L- .t o Desho.
"lsn 't it." (PL2) • desho is a colloquial, slightly abrupt form o f deshO.
t:: 'IJ 680 ~ A, J:t;,'IJA,I :,/ a t::-=. •J tJ•n
I
(J)
l.t
Chef: lv-
.::. tt U:
N-
Kore wa
hmm
t.. lv t!.-h' 680 nan da ka roppyaku-hachijii
this
as-for somehow
1J o ') -
(J)
1J / :J t!. t.. o
680
I
-) lv -) lv
karorii
no
kanji
da na.
I
Un,
calories
of
feeling
is, isn't it
I
Uh-huh, uh-huh
U/1.
" Hmm, this one's sort of 680 calorie-ish. isn't it. Uh-huh, uh-huh." (PL2) Wife: ... GV.>!vt.: .. . Anta ...
" Honey ..." (PL2) • nan da ka is literally " what is it?'' > "somehow/kind of." • da is the plain/abrupt form of de.m. • anta is a contraction of anata, literally " you," but used by Japanese wives in addressing the ir husbands.
MANGAJ IN
31
;t;;"" -q L 1 T • 0 -jama Shimasu
tj lv t_: nan da
First Friend: ':J.. J. / fn ~ ill= Gomen Rusuban sorry
"Sorr (PL2)
• gomen, from the honorific prefix go- and menjiru ("exempt/excuse"), has become an informal word for apologizing. • rusu refers to "absence from home," and ban means "watch/guard." Rusuban (o) suru refers to the act of staying behind to watch the house while the others are away, and rusuban is the "title" of the person who remains behind. • nan da shows he is making an explanation, "it's that .. ."dais the PL2 equivalent of desu ("is/are").
(2]
2nd Friend: .::. t1. i.P C:> Wl: Korekara juku
1: fT ~' tj ~ ~ ( tj lv } tj v' lv t_: ni ikanakya {nan}nai n da
from now cram school to
must go
(expl an.)
"I have to o tom cram school class now." (PL2)
• juku refers to private, after-school classes many Japanese school children attend in an effort to gain an advantage in the entrance examinations for high school and college/university. • apparently the artist/letterer made a mistake and the nara, or more likely its contraction, nan, was left out of ikanakya (nan)nai. This is a contraction of ikanakereba naranai ("must go"), from the verb iku ("go"): ikanai = "don't/won't go" --> ikanakereba = " if don't go" --> ikanakereba naranai = "it won't do if (1/you) don't go" = "(1/you) must go." • n da shows he is making an explanation. The explanatory form for after a verb or adjective is n(o) da; for after a noun, na n(o) da (see first frame).
IB Tsumannai
t_: -::> t::. tj
ichinichi datta
boring/uninteresting one day
was
7
nil (exclam.)
"What a borinl! day it was!" (PL2) • tsumannai is a contraction of tsumaranai ("boring/tedious/dull"). • -nichi is the counter suffix for " days." • datta is the PL2 equivalent of deshita ("was/were")- i.e., the past form of da seen in the first two frames . • ending the sentence with the short sound na would be like reflecting to himself, "it was, wasn't it?'' (the expected answer being "Yes"). Lengthening na to nil gives it the feeling of an exclamation, "What a ... it was!"
4
40
MANGAJIN
© Imazeki Shin, All rights reserved First published in Japan in 1988 by Take Shobo, Tokyo English translation rights arranged through Take ShabO.
;t:; -t 7 L.. 1. T • 0-jama Shimasu
~
~
A : 13 i i Omae you
7
14
sii
*
(J)
.:
~ i t::. .: c en ;., n'?
c
shorai no koto
( pause) future
r s)
kangaeta koto aru ka ?
things thought
have you ever
" Say.. have ou ever thou ht a bout the fut ure?" (PL2)
8 : /'jlt' J: o Nai vo. not exislihave not (emph.)
"No." (PL2) • omae is a rough/informal. masculine word for "you.'' • sa or sa is a particle used colloquially as a kind of verbal pause. some• • • •
CD
thing like teens' use of "like/you know" in colloquial English. In this case he is essentially trying to get the other fellow' s attention. shorai is used when referring to the future of someone/something in particular, while mirai is used in a more abstract references to "the future:· ... no koto is an expression meaning "about ..." when followed by verbs implying speaking or thinking. kangaeta is the plain/abrupt past form of kangaeru ("think"). the past form of a verb plus koto (ga) aru ka asks the question. "Have you ever ... T With a non-past verb it becomes "Do you ever ... T
B:
~- i ·JJ
-t J., c
I 0#
Kangaegoto suru to jiibyo
~ ~-::> -t:;, ~ -? !v t!. J: tj de nemwchau
deep thinking do when 10 second~ in
fall asleep
11 do yo na (expl) (emph)
" When I think a bout thin~ I fall asleep in ten seconds." (PL2) A: li 7? Ha "Oh?" (PL2) • kangaegoto is from kangaeru ("think") and koto ("thing''; k changes tog for euphony), and it implies not just ordinary thinking but "deep thoughts/ ponderings... • to after a verb has a conditional '·if/when" meaning. • nemutchau is a contraction of nemulle shimau, from nemuru (''go to sleep"). Shimau after the · te form of a verb implies the action or its result is complete and/or undesirable. • 11 da is a contraction of no da. which indicates he is making an explanation. He implies. " I don'tthink about things because .. :·
0
A.: t;t lv ~
!!:
lilt-::> -t:;, ~ -?
lv t!.
Nande
nemwclwu
n da
why
fall as leep
J: ? yo?
(explan.) (cmph. )
" Why_do you fall asleep?" (PL2) t;t 1v ~ 0 l l 'b t;t
ann
7
Nande
lie
iwarete mo
111i • ••
why
(quote)
even if is said
(pause)
"Even if I am asked ' Why,' you know ... " -+ " I don' t know. I wonder . . ." (PL2) • aski ng a question with da or 11 dais masculine and can sound very rough, with or without the emphatic yo. Here it's more the feeling that he is "pressing" for an explanation because he's puzzled/mystified. • iwarete is the -te form of iwareru, the passive form of iu ("say"). "Even if I am asked why?" implies "l don't know how to answer." • nii in this case functions as a verbal pause while he ponders an answer.
GJ
Sound FX:
Guii- !
Snore! (sound of powerful snore) A:
(j: 7 .. .
Ha (sigh of comprehension & resignation)
M ANGAJIN
41
:;f ~~ )' ')
7 / • Obatarian
Narration: ;;f ;'\ 7 •; 7 /
::I- 71
1;;1:
Obatarian
;f, 1
~
wa kodineito
obatarians
-r: ~ lj ~_,, dekin.ai
as-for coordinate
cannot
Obatarians can' t coordinate (their outfits). (PL2) Arrows: ~ ff.ft Murasaki
Midori
Purple
Green
Husband: -f -f tL ~ -c
v'
So sore kite
iku
< (J)
tl'? ka
no
wear-and go (ex plan.) ?
th- that
" You're going to wear that?" (PL2) • dekinai is the negative form of dekiru ("can/able to do"). • kite is the -te form of kiru ("put on/wear" for clothing that involves putting arms through sleeves). Kite iku is literally "put on and go" • "wear.'" • asking a question with no ka shows he is seeking an explanation.
0
Arrow: {{; Clta
Brown Husband: -f -ffl) (-::> (;;!:
<
(/)
iJ'?
So sono
kutsu
ltaku
no
ka
th· those
shoes
wear
(explan.) ?
"You 're oing to wear those shoes?" (PL2) • ltaku means "put on/wear" for apparel one puts one's legs or feet into/ through, including pants, stockings, and shoes.
Obatarian:
-J {> ~ "' Urusai
wa
ne-
noisy/bothersome (fem.) (colloq.)
"Oh be uiet!" (PL2) ~ f: }.. ""? t:. b (/) ~ -c filf
-/){
!'If; \, \ (/) J: warui no
""?
Ki ni ilia
mono kite
nani ga
yo-!
like
things wear
what (subj.) is bad (expl) (emph)
" What's wrong with wearing things I like?" (PL2) ;{_ C;, -f -) 1: ! ! § 5t (;;!: c.-- -) lj (/) !! iZ. - ""? !! Eraso
ni
Jibun
wa
do na no
£- !
air of importance with yourself as-for how (explan. ?) Huh?
"You talk like an authorit self? Hunh?" (PL2)
but how about our-
• urusai! when spoken sharply is equivalent to English "Shut up!/Be quiet!" wa is a colloquial particle used mostly by women, and ne in this case serves as emphasis: " You sure are noisy" • "Shut up!/Be quiet!" • ki ni ilia is the past form of ki ni iru, an expression meaning "to like/be pleased with." ki ni ilia mono= "things I am/you are pleased with" • eraso is the adjective erai ("eminent/important [person)") with the suffix -so indicating "an air/appearance of," so eraso ni implies "[act/speak] with an air/appearance of importance/authority."
0
Husband: :b L (i Washi wa Ume
*::st7
