時間をかける彼女 (excerpt #1)

This might be more popular as "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time." I don't have a possession of its English version (nor if I knew whether there's one or not), so these series' explanation would solely comes from my obviously lacking Japanese ability.

放課後の校舎は、静かで何かしら寒々しい。時々どこかの教室の扉の開け閉めされる音が誰もいない廊下の通路に響く。講堂のピアノで誰かがショパンのポロネーズを弾いていた。

"The school building after the school was out. Quiet, somewhat bleak. Sometimes, from some classroom somewhere, a sound of sliding door resonated into the empty corridor. Someone was playing Chopin's polonaise on the auditorium's piano.

＊放課後の校舎は、静かで何かしら寒々しい。

放課後・ほうかご "after school. Literally, set free, lesson, after"
校舎・こうしゃ "school building"
静か・しずか "quiet"
何かしら・なにかしら "somewhat"
寒々しい・さむざむしい "bleak"

Marked with は particle, the topic of this sentence is 放課後の校舎 "school building's after school period." What about this particular "school building" on its "after school period"? It was 静か "quiet," and 何かしら "somewhat," an adverb that modifies 寒々しい "bleak." Together, these components formed "quiet, and somewhat bleak."

Combined with the topic, the sentence becomes "A quiet, and somewhat bleak school building on its after school period."

Note on 静か. In the sentence, this word changes into its て form and as a rule for na-adjective as this word, its て form is given as 静かで.

＊時々どこかの教室の扉の開け閉めされる音が誰もいない廊下の通路に響く。

時々・ときどき "sometimes"
教室・きょうしつ "classroom"
扉・とびら "sliding door"
開け閉め・あけしめ "opening and closing"
音・おと "sound"
誰も・だれも "anyone"
廊下・ろうか "corridor"
通路・つうろ "pathway"
響く・ひびく "to resound" 

Even if on the outset, this sentence looks long and complicated, in reality, it was a relatively simple one. You just need to break it down properly. The subject of this sentence, marked with particle が is 時々どこかの教室の扉の開け閉めされる音. Or simply, 音 "sound" modified by the chains that precedes it.

The modifiers are, from the beginning, 時々 "sometime," どこか "somewhere" added with の particle, 教室 "classroom" and another の particle to indicate possessive, 扉 "sliding door" (contrast this with ドア "(western style) door") and yet another の particle, 開け閉め "opening and closing" and finally される, a passive form of する "to do." These modifiers, modified the "sound" to become "Sometimes, a sound of classroom's door somewhere, opening and closing."

So, what is this particular "sound" doing? 誰もいない廊下に通路に響く. Or, picking the most important (the only) verb, this "sound" is simply doing 響く "to reverberate; to resound; to echo." The words that precedes this 響く is simply adding extra modifiers to it. Let's take a look.

First of all, 誰もいない. A combination between 誰も "anyone" and いない "no one" to put an emphasis to "nobody, not a single soul." This "no one" becomes an attribute to the noun that follows it which is 廊下の通路 "corridor's pathway" which marked with a target particle に and thus becomes the target of the aforementioned verb 響く "reverberate."

Finally, the complete sentence becomes, "Sometimes, a sound of classroom's door somewhere, opening and closing, reverberating to the corridor's pathway that has no one in it." Or at least, that was the idea.

＊講堂のピアノで誰かがショパンのポロネーズを弾いていた。

講堂・こうどう "auditorium"
誰か・だれか "someone"
弾く・ひく "to play"

In Japanese language, ordering of sentence's components does not matter much as long as each of them marked correctly with a proper particle to define their respective role in the whole sentence.

This example, for instance has three main particles and a couple of の particles which I often considered as a part of phrase rather than independent particle especially if it takes a possessive role such as in this one. The three particles, in order, are as follows. で marks 講堂のピアノ "auditorium's piano" as an instrumentation, often translated in English as "by." Therefore the first order becomes "by auditorium's piano."

The next order, が marks 誰か "someone" as a subject. And the last particle in order, を marks ショパンのポロネーズ "Chopin's Polonaise" as a direct object. Finally, at the very last of this sentence, the verb acted upon this direct object 弾いた a past-form of 弾く "to play."

Thus, the sentence in its entirety becomes, "Someone was playing Chopin's Polonaise on auditorium's piano."

The order of this sentence could be different and yet it would still convey the same idea as long as there's a proper particle that marked each part in accordance to its role to the sentence. For example, this sentence could be rewritten as 誰かが講堂のピアノでショパンのポロネーズを弾いていた.

Final Fantasy VII Game Script (excerpt #1)

This script was said by Barret on the very first part of the game when he led the Avalanche to sabotage the Mako reactor #1. The English version given is the original's game translation.

この星は魔晄エネルギーに 満ちている。住民はその魔晄エネルギーを使って日々生活している。でも誰も魔晄の本質を知られねんだ。おまえ、知っているか？魔晄はこの星を流れる血だ。それを神羅って会社はガンガン吸い出していやがる。

"The planet is full of Mako energy. People here use it every day. But none of 'em knows what it really is. How 'bout you? It's the lifeblood of this planet. But Shinra keeps suckin' the blood out."

A couple of notes: 魔晄・まこう is a unit of energy used in this game's universe. Literally, it consists of 魔 "magic" and 晄 "light" so it's "magic light" or "light of magic." 神羅・しんら is a corporation name in this game's universe. Literally, it consists of 神 "god" and 羅 which could mean anything from "thin silk" to "arrange." Doesn't really matter as any veteran of this game would immediately recognise these words: "Mako" and "Shinra."

＊この星は魔晄エネルギーに満ちている。

星・ほし "planet"
満ちる・みちる "to be full"

A very straightforward sentence, its meaning is also self explanatory. The topic, marked with は particle is この星 "this planet" and as a whole this sentence give a meaning of "This planet is full of Mako energy." A somewhat interesting is perhaps the ている form of 満ちる which turns its dictionary form "to be full" into its progressive form version. This is generally true for any verb in its ている form.

＊住民はその魔晄エネルギーを使って日々生活している。

住民・じゅうみん "residents"
使う・つかう "to use"
日々・ひび "daily"
生活・せいかつ "living"

Another straightforward sentence.  The topic, marked with は particle is 住民 "residents." This topic is then explained to have something to do with その魔晄エネルギー "that Mako energy" that is marked with を particle to become a direct object of a verb, 使う "to use." Had we stopped here, the sentence would mean "Residents are using that Mako energy." But in this case, 使う is using its て form 使って which means that it is not over yet as there's an extra information after it. This extra information is given as 日々生活している "living daily" to give the whole sentence a final meaning of "Residents are using this Mako energy on a daily basis."

＊でも誰も魔晄の本質を知らねんだ。おまえ、知っているか？

誰も・だれも "no one"
本質・ほんしつ "essence; true nature"
知る・しる "to know"

This sentence begins with でも "but" to give it a contrast with previous sentence. The rest is an another straightforward construct. 誰も "anyone," followed by 魔晄の本質 "Mako's essence" marked as a direct object with を particle of its final verb 知る "to know." However, in this sentence, this verb turns into 知らねんだ which perhaps a colloquial version of 知らない + の + だ that eventually means "do not know" added with a の to indicate that the speaker also asked for the listener's confirmation. All these, gives the first part of this sentence a meaning, "But no one knows about Mako's real essence, right?"

The second part of this sentence is a continuation on the topic, and simply asked おまえ "you," whether he, 知っているか？ "knows about it?" This is another example of ている form as it changes 知る into 知っている.

＊魔晄はこの星を流れる血だ。

流れる・ながれる "to stream; to flow"
血・ち "blood"

As usual, look for the topic marked with は particle. Here, it's 魔晄 "Mako" which then explained as この星 "this planet," 流れる血 "blood that is flowing" and a copula final marker. The "blood that is flowing" part was translated into "lifeblood." It is perhaps comes from the fact that inside your body, blood is flowing through the veins to indicate that your body is functioning, therefore alive, and thus the meaning "lifeblood" could be derived from.

＊それを神羅って会社はガンガン吸い出していやがる。

The topic here is それを神羅って会社 which transliterated to "something (それ) that a company (会社) called (って) Shinra (神羅) do." What does it do? ガンガン吸い出す. ガンガン is perhaps an onomatopoeia meaning "(pounding) headache; intense; etc." In this case, however, it was more fitting to use ガンガン meaning from its rather slang expression use in ガンガン食べる "to pig out; to chow down." Using this meaning, ガンガン吸い出す then would mean "to suck greedily" which is more appropriate to the context.

いやがる at the end of this sentence is kinda puzzled me but I think because it means "to hate; to dislike," it probably marks the entire sentence as something that the speaker has a strong feeling (of hate) against.

Together, these all then becomes, "The company called Shinra, greedily sucking this, I hate." Not quite a proper English sentence, but the idea should be clearly conveyed through.

Final Fantasy XII Ultimania (excerpt #1)

This is the scene early in the game where the main protagonist, Vahn encountered "Mob" bulletin board for the first time and had it explained to him. Doesn't make sense if you hadn't play the game but here goes:

この掲示板に貼られてるのは、魔物退治を頼む張り紙ばかりなんだ。賞金をかけられた人のことを「賞金首」って言うだろう？それのモンスター版みたいなもんだな。退治を依頼された魔物は「モブ」って呼ばれてるぜ。

"Stuck on this bulletin board, is a bill to request a monster's extermination. Headhunters track people, right? This bounty is for the monster. The monster who were requested to be terminated is called 'Mob.'"

＊この掲示板に貼られてるのは、魔物退治を頼む張り紙ばかりなんだ。

掲示板・けいじばん "bulletin board. Literally, put up (掲), show (示), board (板)"
貼る・はる "to stick"
魔物・まもの "monster. Literally, magic (魔), thing (物)"
退治・たいじ "extermination. Literally, retreat (退), cure (治)"
頼む・たのむ "to request"
張り紙・はりがみ "poster. Literally, attached on (張り), paper (紙)"

It is usually a good idea to read the sentence until you found a topic, or a subject of the sentence that was marked with either particle は or が. In this case, marked by a particle は as この掲示板に貼られてるの is the topic of this sentence. This topic takes the form of [この + noun + に + verb + の]. The に particle here act as a target particle indicating the noun as a target of an action represented by the verb. The verb part, however, requires a bit more attention because it's not in its dictionary form. 貼られてる is probably an inflected form of 貼る "to stick" with ている to indicate a progressive action. Thus, the whole sentence becomes "Something that was stuck at this bulletin board" which then marked with a の particle to nominalize so it could be marked as a topic.

The "something" part that was "stuck at this bulletin board" then explained by the next part of this sentence. 魔物退治を頼む張り紙ばかりなんだ. A [noun + を + verb] + noun + ばかりなんだ construct. The first noun part is a four kanji compound, consists of 魔物 "monster" and 退治 "extermination" to mean just that, "monster extermination." Attached with direct object particle を, and a verb, 頼む "to request," it becomes "a monster extermination request." This construct then act as a modifier for the second noun that follows it, 張り紙 "poster" which resulted in the second noun part to have a meaning of "A poster (of) monster extermination request." ばかりなんだ is a bit unclear, but it is perhaps a colloquial version of ばかり "just" and のだ a sentence ending to indicate that the speaker is explaining something.

＊賞金をかけられた人のことを「賞金首」って言うだろう？

賞金・しょうきん  "prize. Literally, award (賞), money (金)"
人・じん "human, person"
賞金首・しょうきんくび "bounty. Literally, prize (賞金), neck (首)"
言う・いう "to say"

Quite simply, this sentence is a [A + を + B] sentence. The "A" part being, 賞金をかけられた人のこと and the "B" part being, 「賞金首」って言うだろう？.

The "A" part itself is a [noun1 + を + verb] + noun2 + の + こと construct or "The thing with noun1 that was verbed on noun2." The verb in this construction (which modifies noun2) is かける, further conjugated into potential and non-present form かけられた. Now this verb, かける, is a very widely used verb in Japanese and it could mean to take, to attach, to hang, to play, to put, to dial, and quite a few more. This verb, acting on noun1, 賞金 "prize," to mean "takes the prize" then used to modify noun2, 人 "person" so it becomes "the person who takes the prize."

The "B" part is a noun + って言う + だろう construct. って言う marked the preceding noun as a quote, and だろう is used by the speaker to (implicitly) ask for the listener's agreement. The noun part, is an interesting one. 賞金首. For some reason, Google Translate gives "Mad Dog" on this word which doesn't really make sense. Weblio.jp however, if I'm not mistaken in translating, gives an explanation to this word as "a person who handed a criminal, dead or alive, to an authority who would give him money for it" which is simply a long form of "headhunter." I had used this as the final translation. It is interesting because this word consists of kanji for 賞金 "prize" and 首 "neck" which invokes an image of putting a prize for (someone's) neck.

Altogether, this A + を + B sentence final meaning could be deduced as, "A man who takes the prize thing is called 'headhunter,' right?"

＊それのモンスター版みたいなもんだな。

版・はん "edition"

There's only one kanji here, 版 which means "edition, version, etc." The sentence itself is colloquial, maybe even depends on a local dialect and stuff like that, but the entire sentence talks about それ "this" which in context, meaning "the thing about the prize on stuff that was posted on this bulletin board" mentioned earlier at the previous sentence. モンスター版 then explains that "this thing" is a "monster edition" as opposed to previous context with "headhunter" thing.

＊退治を依頼された魔物は「モブ」って呼ばれてるぜ。

依頼・いらい "request. Literally, depend on (依), request (頼)"
呼ばれる・よばれる "to be called"

This sentence is a very basic A + は + B sentence or "A is B" with the A part being 退治を依頼された魔物 and the B part being 「モブ」って呼ばれてるぜ.

The A part could then be further dissected into a noun1 + を + [verb  + noun2] or "verb modified noun2 that acts on noun1." The verb is a する-verb, 依頼する "to request" that was further inflected into a passive non-present form された and it in turns, modify the noun2 part of this sentence which is 魔物 "monster" which then will become "monster that was requested." Requested for what? Answer: Noun1: 退治 "exterminate." Therefore, the A part becomes "monster that was requested to be exterminated."

The B part dissected simply as noun + quoting particle + 呼ばれる or "to be called noun." The noun part is a made-up word, written with katakana, モブ "Mob." Together, this sentence overall then becomes, "Monster that was requested to be exterminate was called 'Mob'."

The ぜ part at the end kinda still puzzles me though, but I'm going to dismiss it and attribute it to being a part of local dialect, casual speech used by the game's character.

Interesting Kanji (#1)

Introduction

Every once in a while, probably some time after I published an excerpt, I would try to write something about a kanji that I found interesting, and talk about it. It may related to its etymology, its various usage, and what not.

Enjoy.

破
as seen in 破壊・はかい "destruction" in Rendezvous with Rama (excerpt #1).

First of all, this kanji consists of 石 and 皮 which means "rock" and "skin" respectively. By itself, jisho.org gives this kanji to mean "middle section of a song." Not sure if it was used to mean any song including modern songs, but definitely applicable to traditional song because why else? To be quite honest, I've never seen it used in such a way.

Usually, though, and is its most likely use case scenario, this kanji is used as a verb 破る・やぶる "to break; to destroy; to defeat; to shatter; etc." It invokes an image of something that was reduced from its previous form, in a not-too-good manner. Irreparable, regrettable, and so forth, you get the point.

This invoked image mostly stays with this kanji even when it becomes a component of another kanji compound.

We've seen it before in 破壊 "destruction."

Another example is 破産・はさん "bankruptcy." This 破産 has another interesting property where if you replace the 破 part, the "destroying" part and change it with 生 "life" to become 生産・せいさん the meaning becomes its opposite. "Production." It should be obvious the distinction while 破産 means "a lost of assets," 生産 means "a gain of assets."

Other examples include 破裂・はれつ "explosion," 破滅・はめつ "ruin," 破局・はきょく "catastrophe," 破損・はそん "damage," and so forth. Now each of these compounds has almost the same pattern in which they portray a status beyond repair.

Now why does 石 "rock" and 皮 "skin" combination becomes as such? Well, probably because it's not advisable to try rubbing your skin (or any skin) with a rock. At best you're going to scrape the skin, but most of the time you're going to damage the skin. Not a pleasant image but when you see this 石 "rock" and 皮 "skin" becomes 破, you'd be forced to remember its inherent "destructive" force.

Rendezvous with Rama (excerpt #1)

"Rendezvous with Rama" is a sci-fi novel written by the late Arthur C. Clarke. I have both the English and Japanese version and thus, this series would use the wordings from both version as is.

遅かれ早かれ、かならずおこることだった。１９０８年６月３０日、モスクワはあやうく、三時間と四千キロの差で破壊をまぬがれた〜大宇宙のものさしで測れば、まことに微々たる差とはいえ。

"Sooner or later, it was bound to happen. On June 30, 1908, Moscow escaped destruction by three hours and four thousand kilometres -- a margin invisibly small by the standards of the universe."

＊遅かれ早かれ、

遅い・おそい "slow"
早い・はやい "fast"

A set phrase combining imperative forms of "slow" (遅い) and "fast" (早い) to give it a new meaning. "Sooner or later." Cultural note: Generally, Japanese avoids direct imperatives unless in a very casual environment, or between the wider social status differences. Often, the uses are relegated into a set phrase such as this one.

＊かならずおこることだった。

A straightforward descriptive sentence that delivers only one idea. Usually, we can ignore the だ at the end of a sentence, or in this case, its non-present form だった because it is a copula, in place of "is" in English. It is a casual form of です and です is perhaps one of the very first thing you learn in Japanese.

Therefore, for this sentence, the idea is 起こる "to happen" + こと "thing" or "thing that happen." This idea is enhanced by an adverb at the beginning, かならず "always; without exception; absolutely; without fail; etc" to give it a final meaning of "always (going) to happen."

＊１９０８年６月３０日、モスクワはあやうく、三時間と四千キロの差で破壊をまぬがれた

年・ねん "year"
月・げつ "month"
日・にち "day"
三時間・さんじかん "three hours"
四千・よんせん "four thousands"
差・さ "difference"
破壊・はかい "destruction"

The first part, １９０８年６月３０日 simply marks the date on which the following event took place. Now the place of interest, is the topic of this sentence, marked with は particle. And it's モスクワ "Moscow."

Now as the topic has been established, the rest of the sentence will add more information into/about this topic. The first information is an adverb, あやうく "barely" which gives the following information an "almost" quality.

The information in question is 三時間と四千キロの差で破壊をまぬがれた. The core idea of this information is, as it's usual in Japanese, located at the end of this sentence, 破壊をまぬがれた "escaped destruction." This core idea is preceded by a で particle, often translated into English as "by" which marked 三時間と四千キロの差 "a difference of three hours and four thousand kilometres" and therefore giving the information a complete translation of, "Escaped destruction by a difference of three hours and four thousand kilometres."

Combined with the topic and the rest of modifiers, the final translation of the sentence becomes "On June 30th, 1908, Moscow, barely escaped destruction by a difference of three hours and four thousand kilometres."

＊大宇宙のものさしで測れば、まことに微々たる差とはいえ。

大・だい "big"
宇宙・うちゅう "universe"
測る・はかる "to measure"
微々・びび "insignificant; slight; small"

When you see a sentence involving ば somewhere, it is most likely a conditional sentence and therefore would have at least two ideas in the manner of "if A then B."

The conditional part of this sentence is 測れば "if measured," followed by its "then" clause, まことに微々たる差とはいえ. This clause's idea is 差 "difference" modified by a couple of adverbs that precedes it, まことに "truly," dan 微々たる "really insignificant." It is then marked with とはいえ "although" to give 測れば、まことに微々たる差とはいえ as "although if measured, its difference is truly insignificant."

But we're not finished! 測れば is further expanded by 大宇宙のものさし with an instrumentation particle で "by" attached to it. 大宇宙のものさし is a simple A + の + B or "A's B" or in this case, "Big universe's measurement." Thus, combined, the whole sentence then becomes, "Although if measured by measurement of the big universe, its difference is truly insignificant."