のほうも / 意外だった / 一応 / このまま / この分だったら

[eeky]

Hi,


1. だから、入ったところでちゃんと勉強して・・・学問のほうも、人生のほうも。

My translation: "So, study diligently at the place (=university) that you've enrolled into..."

Then I'm a bit unsure. Is のほうも = の方も? Could the last part mean something vaguely like "work hard, play hard"?


2. A pupil is telling her teacher that she found a recent exam hard. The teacher says:

私もちょっと意外だったんですけれど、それまでにやったところ、復習しましたか。

My translation: "I was a bit surprised too [at the difficulty of the test / at how badly you did], but did you revise the things we've studied so far?"

a) I'm a bit puzzled by the grammar of 私もちょっと意外だったんです. It looks to me as if the teacher is literally saying that she was surprising, rather than surprised, but that wouldn't make sense. I would more expect 私にも... or something. How does this work?

The student replies:

はい、一応したつもりだったんですけど・・・

b) Does this mean "Yes, I had some kind of plan [to study...], but..."? Especially, I am unsure of the sense in which 一応 is used.


3. A couple of lines further on, the student says:

先生、このままじゃ、最後の成績も悪くなりますよね。

a) Does このままじゃ mean "if I carry on like this" (i.e. don't improve)?

b) Can 最後の成績 refer to results in a future test?


4. 中間試験は、まあ、確かに悪かったけれども、この分だったら、期末試験で頑張れば、取り戻せると思いますよ。

My translation: "Sure, the mid-term exam was bad, but, as things stand, if you try hard in the end-of-term exam then I think you can recover."

What is この分だったら? I guessed "as things stand" because I found a similar expression, この分では, but I'm not sure if this is the same thing.

 

[LloydVincent]

1. だから、入ったところでちゃんと勉強して・・・学問のほうも、人生のほうも。

Yes, if it were kanji it would be 方. The last part means: "(at university study) both academics and life". so yes, you're basically right.


2. 私もちょっと意外だったんですけれど、それまでにやったところ、復習しましたか。

Think of what も is replacing here. は or が? In this situation, if you said 私が意外だった, that would be wrong because it would mean "I am surprising" like you said, but here も is replacing は, which marks a topic (not a grammatical subject).

私にも would also be perfectly fine here.

一応 is tough because it doesn't have a true equivalent in English. Here, it indicates that although the student did in fact study, they feel it didn't do much good. Kind of like "for what it's worth, I did study, but..."



3. 先生、このままじゃ、最後の成績も悪くなりますよね。

a) Does このままじゃ mean "if I carry on like this" (i.e. don't improve)?
You're basically right. まま is like "as things are", so I'd translate it as "the way things are going"

b) Can 最後の成績 refer to results in a future test?
Yes, but something about 最後の成績 strikes me as awkward. Did you get this from a book or write it yourself? (It might be okay, I have been wrong before)

4. 中間試験は、まあ、確かに悪かったけれども、この分だったら、期末試験で頑張れば、取り戻せると思いますよ。

この分 is referring to the amount (分) of setback suffered by doing badly on the midterm test, so I think your translation works.

"even with this setback," could also work. Or if we try to match the grammar more literally then something like "if this is the extent of the damage," is possible too.

 

[eeky]

Hi Lloyd, thanks a lot for your very helpful reply.

Yes, the sentence with 最後の成績 is from a book.