Julieta
後輩
- 14 Nov 2012
- 15
- 2
Hi again guys 
I have a couple of things that have been torturing my mind for a while. If someone could help me I'd be really grateful. :roflmao:
1) I found this dialogue in a short story I was reading, and I'm not 100% sure if I understood what it means.
「変わったよなあ、恭子。知り合った頃は、人形みたい な子だと思ったのにさ。こっちが何を言っても満足に返 事もしなくて、『はい』とか『ええ』ばっかりで。俺な んか、今時珍しいくらいに、おとなしくて可愛い子だと 思ったよ。それが、今じゃ百面相並みだ」
「当たり前よ。最初は誰だって、ネコ被ってるに決まっ てるじゃない？相手がどんな人かも分らないうちから、 そんなに自分を見せるはずがないわ。あれはね、作戦だ ったね」
"You have changed, Kyoko. When I first met you I thought you were just like a doll: no matter what I said, you never gave me a complete answer, you just said things like "yes" or "sure". I thought that, in times like these, a quiet and cute girl like you was rare. And now, instead, you make all kinds of comic faces."
"Of course. At the beginning, everyone pretends to be someone else, don't they? As long as you don't understand what kind of person you are talking to, you shouldn't reveal yourself that much. That was a strategy."
In the dictionary, I found "百面相" as "making different (comic) faces", but a Japanese friend told me that it could also mean "moody". In the context above, which is the better?
And why "俺なんか"? Couldn't it just be 俺は? Or I completely misunderstood the meaning of the sentence?
2) I am doing a research about the writer Nonami Asa, and I found this site: 乃南アサ
I understood the general meaning (she was surprised when she found out that she had passed the university entrance exam, she had no particular interest in social studies and left after 2 years, she tried different jobs before writing her first novel), but I really can't grasp the meaning of these sentences:
a) 当時社学に応援部の主将がいてね。「お前、男だったら 本当にワセダマンのタイプなんだよな～」って言われた んですよ。別に反骨精神や問題意識が強いわけじゃない けど、「ま、いいじゃ～ん」ていうのが嫌いというか、 白黒つけたいというのがあったからかしら。
She has been told by 応援部の主将 that, if she were a man, she would have been the Waseda-man type?
And after she explains why?
b) 私の場合、決断を迫られた時に大抵選択肢が二つ、時に は一つしかなくて、嫌でも何でもそれだけということが 多かったですね。自分で気持ちを追い詰めてしまうのか な。良くいえば迷いがない。悪くいえば背水の陣を引い ちゃうんです。
"In my case, when I had to make a decision sometimes I had 2 major choices, sometimes just one (and it happened a lot that I didn't like that only option)." After this, complete darkness.
c) 私は今の時代に生きている、または生かされている人間 を書きたいんです。皆、生身の人間だから、どんなにと りすましていても気恥ずかしさやみっともなさを持って る。虚勢を張ったり、頑張れば頑張るほどちらほらと見 え隠れするんです。だから人間って面白い。
"I want to write about the people living and surviving (?) in these times. We are all humans, made of flesh and blood: even if we look prim, we all have our "skeleton in the closet". And the more we try to hide it, the more it shows, here and there. That's why humans are interesting." More or less?
d) 今でも大学時代の友人と会いますけど、皆もう真四角で 融通の効かない人になっちゃって…。学生時代は三流ス ポーツ紙のＨなページで「Ｗ大の××クンは…」なんて体験記を書かれてい たり、破天荒な生き方してた人たちが。変わらないのは 私だけって言われます。
"I still meet my old friends from university today, but they all became strict and inflexible..." and then I have absolutely no idea of what "Ｈなページ" or the following string could mean.
e) 大学に入ったら友達を増やして、急がなくてもいいから 何かを見つけるんだって気持ちを持っていてほしい。見 つかるんだ、と思って、ただ待っていても見つからない し、焦って見つけても失敗することも多い。だから焦ら ないで何かを見つけてほしいですね。
Is she talking to the reader (or better, the freshmen?), something like "Once you enter university, I'd like you to meet new friends and to look for something, but with no hurry" (I'm absolutely not sure. The more I read it, the more confused I am. :grumpy: )
Thanks to everyone who had the patience to read this all. I didn't expect it to be so long. ごめん T_T
I have a couple of things that have been torturing my mind for a while. If someone could help me I'd be really grateful. :roflmao:
1) I found this dialogue in a short story I was reading, and I'm not 100% sure if I understood what it means.
「変わったよなあ、恭子。知り合った頃は、人形みたい な子だと思ったのにさ。こっちが何を言っても満足に返 事もしなくて、『はい』とか『ええ』ばっかりで。俺な んか、今時珍しいくらいに、おとなしくて可愛い子だと 思ったよ。それが、今じゃ百面相並みだ」
「当たり前よ。最初は誰だって、ネコ被ってるに決まっ てるじゃない？相手がどんな人かも分らないうちから、 そんなに自分を見せるはずがないわ。あれはね、作戦だ ったね」
"You have changed, Kyoko. When I first met you I thought you were just like a doll: no matter what I said, you never gave me a complete answer, you just said things like "yes" or "sure". I thought that, in times like these, a quiet and cute girl like you was rare. And now, instead, you make all kinds of comic faces."
"Of course. At the beginning, everyone pretends to be someone else, don't they? As long as you don't understand what kind of person you are talking to, you shouldn't reveal yourself that much. That was a strategy."
In the dictionary, I found "百面相" as "making different (comic) faces", but a Japanese friend told me that it could also mean "moody". In the context above, which is the better?
And why "俺なんか"? Couldn't it just be 俺は? Or I completely misunderstood the meaning of the sentence?
2) I am doing a research about the writer Nonami Asa, and I found this site: 乃南アサ
I understood the general meaning (she was surprised when she found out that she had passed the university entrance exam, she had no particular interest in social studies and left after 2 years, she tried different jobs before writing her first novel), but I really can't grasp the meaning of these sentences:
a) 当時社学に応援部の主将がいてね。「お前、男だったら 本当にワセダマンのタイプなんだよな～」って言われた んですよ。別に反骨精神や問題意識が強いわけじゃない けど、「ま、いいじゃ～ん」ていうのが嫌いというか、 白黒つけたいというのがあったからかしら。
She has been told by 応援部の主将 that, if she were a man, she would have been the Waseda-man type?
And after she explains why?b) 私の場合、決断を迫られた時に大抵選択肢が二つ、時に は一つしかなくて、嫌でも何でもそれだけということが 多かったですね。自分で気持ちを追い詰めてしまうのか な。良くいえば迷いがない。悪くいえば背水の陣を引い ちゃうんです。
"In my case, when I had to make a decision sometimes I had 2 major choices, sometimes just one (and it happened a lot that I didn't like that only option)." After this, complete darkness.
c) 私は今の時代に生きている、または生かされている人間 を書きたいんです。皆、生身の人間だから、どんなにと りすましていても気恥ずかしさやみっともなさを持って る。虚勢を張ったり、頑張れば頑張るほどちらほらと見 え隠れするんです。だから人間って面白い。
"I want to write about the people living and surviving (?) in these times. We are all humans, made of flesh and blood: even if we look prim, we all have our "skeleton in the closet". And the more we try to hide it, the more it shows, here and there. That's why humans are interesting." More or less?
d) 今でも大学時代の友人と会いますけど、皆もう真四角で 融通の効かない人になっちゃって…。学生時代は三流ス ポーツ紙のＨなページで「Ｗ大の××クンは…」なんて体験記を書かれてい たり、破天荒な生き方してた人たちが。変わらないのは 私だけって言われます。
"I still meet my old friends from university today, but they all became strict and inflexible..." and then I have absolutely no idea of what "Ｈなページ" or the following string could mean.
e) 大学に入ったら友達を増やして、急がなくてもいいから 何かを見つけるんだって気持ちを持っていてほしい。見 つかるんだ、と思って、ただ待っていても見つからない し、焦って見つけても失敗することも多い。だから焦ら ないで何かを見つけてほしいですね。
Is she talking to the reader (or better, the freshmen?), something like "Once you enter university, I'd like you to meet new friends and to look for something, but with no hurry" (I'm absolutely not sure. The more I read it, the more confused I am. :grumpy: )
Thanks to everyone who had the patience to read this all. I didn't expect it to be so long. ごめん T_T
