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I find these mini-lessons quite useful. The grammar difficulty and the questions asked to clarify the portions of the sentence add just the right amount of guidance to material that is at a level just outside what I learned from TextFugu.
Most of the kanji are beyond the ones that I learned with TextFugu or some of the more common one’s that I’ve learned on my own. I don’t really want it all converted to hiragana though, and I also don’t want to use rikaikun all the time, since it gives me nearly every possible definition when all I need is a little reminder about the reading. Perhaps the html tag could be used to include the reading, so that it will pop up if I hover over the kanji?
I read all of the posts and posted to the first few, but after missing one day, it was harder to start posting again. Perhaps the frequency should be reduced to 2-3 days to give more time to answer even if you don’t check every day. But more important is consistent updates, because after a few updates were delayed, I stopped checking as often, and was only checking to read the questions, think about the answers to myself, and compare to the answers at the end.
Examples taken from some real source are best. Drama dialogue is good; Manga dialogue, Novel snippets, or anything else from a practical source. I like going through the sequence of lines like we did with Good Life, since it built the context which is so important to understanding Japanese.
I had to look both kanji words up with rikaikun this time…
1. Rikaikun gave me a bunch of definitions; I’m going to go with “incompotent” for now.
2. Rikaikun had a couple options here too; I’ll say “Idiot son” for now.
3. Idiot son, but… (Note: the text here does not match the original line!)
4. It’s a common greeting for a first meeting, or joining a group of people (school, work). The literal translations I’ve seen, like “I’ll be in your care”, I don’t really like. I’d translate it as a greeting appropriate to the context.
5. Assuming this is a continuation from the previous line, this line is directed to “Papa’s” “Idiot Son” (i.e. the speaker’s older brother):So, “You’re his idiot son, but nice to meet you too.”
I was pleased at how little I needed rikaikun for this one.
1) So; therefore
2) Shook hands with Papa
3) Lit: Beginning; usage: “Pleased to meet you.”
4) So I shook hands with Papa. I’m pleased to meet you.1. こんな = about ideas expressed by speaker; とき = occasion; speaker is expressing an option about an particular occasion (probably the previous part of the conversation)
2. New leather boots get wet
3. 気にして = to worry (too much); いた = exist (past tense); combined… was worried too much.4. However (and other similar meanings)
5. I’m not sure what the の is doing here, but the を is specifying what is being worried about too much.
6. The last statement said it was a clear day, so here the speaking is probably saying, “Despite [the clear weather at] that time, I think that Papa was worry too much that his new leather shoes got wet.”I decided to skip the end of this page to type my reply, so I wouldn’t have any preconception based on others’ answers.
1. very
2. air cleared; past tense, related to weather.
3. I going to say “The mornings in March had very clear skies.”
4. Hmm, I was bit uncertain about ordering of this sentence; perhaps there’s a particle missing that would have made things a bit more clear?I think next time, I will leave rikaikun off, so I text my actual knowledge first, before I get automatically prompted with kanji meanings.
1. From 僕, we know the speaker is male. I have the impression that the speaker a slightly more polite sort of male, since 俺 was not used, or the speaker is in a situation where the casual version would be inappropriate.
2. For the use of the two “僕”, I originally translated as “About me, I…”
3. To Be Born (Past) + Day = Day of birth
4. I started with “I am remembering the day of my birth.” I didn’t like this translation, since I don’t think people can remember their own birth. A Drama might have a setting where this is true though, so I wouldn’t rule that out entirely.
After reading the other comments, I find I agree with Elenkis’ translation. The second 僕 is the “you” version for addressing you children.
The male speaker is talking to a child, reminiscing about the day that child was born.
