What does this mean?

[aestasgurlie]

I am reading Alice In Wonderland in Japanese, and I keep coming across the word なっちゃった ( nacchatta). Ive tried so hard to find a meaning but am still empty handed. Does anyone have any clue what it means?

 

[NANGI]

Konnichiwa Aestasgurlie-san!

"Nacchatta" is a slang of "Natte shimatta". "Natte shimatta" is the past perfect tense of "Naru". "Naru" means "become", "get", "grow", "turn", "come to" and etc.

An instance, Ookiku nacchatta.
"Ookiku nacchatta" is "Ookiku natte shimatta" accurately and meas "I have grown up a man(woman)" or "I have become a big man(woman)".

"Nacchatta" is used for child and woman usually. Man use "Nacchimatta" in the same mean.

NANGI

 

[aestasgurlie]

Arigatoo! Thank you so much, Nangi-san. That really helps becuase it comes up a lot in the story. I also have a question about the punctuation. What are those things that kinda look like [ and ] except a little different. I cant figure out how to get my computer to type what Im trying to explain, so i hope you get what im talking about!

 

[tasuki]

「 and 」、right? They're the Japanese equivalent of quotation marks.

 

[NANGI]

Konnichiwa Aestasgurlie-san!

The punctuation that kinda look like [ and ] except a little different? Ummm... I can not imagine any kind of symbol. Is it a Kanji?

Can you draw(figure out) it by painting?

NANGI

 

[aestasgurlie]

Arigatoo Tasuki-san! That is exactly what i was thinking of! I thought they were like quotation marks, but I wasnt sure and didnt want to start using them in the wrong way.

 

[tasuki]

My pleasure. In the tech documentation I get at work they are also sometimes used as single quotation marks, but the difference is only in usage.

 

[aestasgurlie]

Well i am only 15 so i dont work...but I did finally figure out how to type them while I was messing with my IME. Hhhhmmmmm, the things you learn everyday. I just cant wait till summer break so i can focus on Japanese (they dont offer it at my school) instead of how many "i"'s are in Mississippi, or how to type "properly", or that (n-2)180 is the formula for any n-gon.

 

[tasuki]

Well, good luck with that and がんばれ！. I wish I could do the same, despite my being in Japan... The luxuries of school life..

 

[aestasgurlie]

Lucky! I cant wait till i go to Japan for foreign exchange......a whole year away! But next year I am taking classes at the community college, since I live in a little logger town and the only language classes are French and Spanish. So it will be regular school, community college, and drivers ed, all at once. Ahhhhhh, so much for such a little person!

 

[tasuki]

Well, I have no doubt that if you can bring yourself to a good enough level to read Alice in Wonderland in Japanese through self-study, that you'll be able to handle it. Have faith in your abilities... I still can't read the newspaper and I've been here for 5 years...