Current mood:	lazy
Current music:	Piotr I. Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
Entry tags:	translation:kobato

Kobato Exam 4
So, I decided to practice my Japanese some more, and do Kobato again, especially after seeing another familiar face in this month's chapter.

Scans are available at ladydarkmoon's place as usual, but at least to me Sendspace is being a bitch, so I had to use chibiyuuto's cleaned up and resized (T_T) version. Special thanks to dayfall for uploading pages 2 and 5 to a better place for me.


Exam 04: A fantastic New Year's gift

-01- (splash: Ioryogi and Kobato)

Side text: How do Kobato and Ioryogi-san spend their New Year's day?

-02-

Kobato: Ioryogi-san.
Ioryogi: Yeah.

Kobato: Today, January 1st, is New Year's day, right?
Ioryogi: Yeah.
Sign: New Year's greetings (T/N: Honestly, that last kanji didn't convince me at all. This is one of those messy fonts, and the text is -small-, so I might not have gotten it right. I had a feeling the word would be "goaisatsu" when I first discerned the hiragana "go", so...)

-03-

Kobato: Even though it's New Year's day, it's quiet, isn't it?

Ioryogi: Probably New Year's recess---
Ioryogi (SFX): And this neighbourhood is supposed to be a shopping district...

Kobato: New Year's recess...?

Ioryogi: People want to take a break from work around New Year's day.
Look.
Kobato (SFX): ?

Sign: European Pastries Tirol

Ioryogi: They're in recess here too.

Sign: Happy New Year!
From December 30th to January 3rd
we will be closed for holidays. (T/N: The sign actually says "please let us rest" instead of "we will be closed for holidays", in some wording that either -is- keigo or borders it.)
European Pastries Tirol

-04-

Kobato: Really?

SFX: suton (T/N: Sit.)

SFX: niko niko (T/N: Smile.)

Ioryogi: What the hell are you sitting down for, Kobato?

Kobato: New Year is to rest, right?
So, let's rest until January 3rd.
SFX: ka- (T/N: Light.)

-05-

SFX: don (T/N: For dramatic effect.)

Ioryogi: Well, the part about New Year being to rest itself wasn't wrong.
If only you hadn't done it in front of the store!
SFX: shiku shiku (T/N: Sobbing.)
SFX: hote hote (T/N: Toddle toddle.)

Kobato: I'm sorry---
But, what should I do in a recess? I don't quite get it...

Kobato: I can't watch TV with the electronics store closed,
Kobato (SFX): Oh---
Sign: Enomoto Electronics
Sign: On recess
until
January 5th.
Enomoto Electronics
Kobato: Books, magazines, the new ones won't come out,
Kobato (SFX): Oh---
Ioryogi (SFX): Because on New Year's holidays there are many merged issues--- (T/N: I'm guessing he's talking about end-of-year double issues like the ones we see in manga magazines.)

-06-

Ioryogi: But,
with no people around like this, I can't test you either, Kobato.

Kobato: I beg you!
Please test me!!

Kobato: If I don't get the "bottle" quickly
and fill it up with wounded hearts
Kobato: ...... I can't go. (T/N: When you say it like Kobato just did, it might not have anything to do with "going" at all. Ioryogi's line on next page doesn't have that kind of ambiguity, I think, but I thought I'd mention this one.)

-07-

Ioryogi: ...... That's right.
Because you want to go.

Ioryogi: Oh!

Ioryogi: I found someone doing business! (T/N: My dictionary gives "merchant" for the kanji, but the reading doesn't match. It gives "person waiting" or "person being waited" for "machibito", so I used "someone doing business", as in "a merchant who is waiting for costumers". Also, I'm not sure what is the thing that kinda looks like a katakana "o" in the beginning of the bubble.)

Ioryogi: That's just what we need. Go help her.
Kobato: Eh?!

Kobato: Er... Um... Won't you please let me lend you a hand?

-08-

Baa-san: Oh! Well, aren't you a cute girl...

Baa-san: What is your name?
Kobato: It's Hanato Kobato!

Baa-san: Then let's have you help around at once, shall we?
Kobato: Thank you very much!

Baa-san: Can you start by putting this in front of the gate?
Kobato: All right!!

SFX: gu- (T/N: Grabbing.)

SFX: guki (T/N: No idea, but from the picture it looks like something snapped in her back.)
Kobato: Crack?! (T/N: I'm going by the assumption that Ioryogi's line explains what the heck is written here.)
Ioryogi (SFX): Ah. The sound of destruction.

-09-

Baa-san: It's a bit heavy so be careful, okay?
Kobato: Okaaaaay...
SFX: piku piku (T/N: Twitch twitch.)
Kobato (SFX): ... A bit?

Kobato: I- I carried it---
SFX: ze--- ze--- (T/N: Wheeze.)
Baa-san: Thank you. Now, come in.
Ioryogi: Why did I have to carry it too?

Kobato: Eh?

Kobato: But... er...
Kobato: Is it okay for me to go into the house?

Kobato: I saw in the TV earlier,
a child who was taking care of the house being told by the mother that it's no good to let a stranger into the house,
Kobato: because it might be a bad person.

Baa-san: So serious! A child who worked with all her strenght carrying that for me, where is that a bad person?

-10-

Baa-san: Besides, there's still a lot of things I'd like you to help me with.
Kobato: Okay!!

-11-

Kobato: What is this?

Baa-san: A work tool.

Kobato: Work?
Kobato: What kind of work is it?

Baa-san: Fortune-telling.

Kobato: You're a fortune-teller, granny?!

Baa-san: Now, it's your turn, Kobato-chan.
Kobato: Ah... Yes!

Kobato: I'm sorry for staying until this late.
But, I was supposed to lend a hand, and somehow it was nothing but playing. (T/N: Might be a bit off.)

Baa-san: That's what New Year's day is.

-12-

Baa-san: For this year to also become a good year, for us to be able to work with all our strenght, New Year's day is when we rest and have fun, even if a little.

Ioryogi: Ahhh! To that extent, even though there was sake, I couldn't drink. I couldn't eat mochi either. Ahhh! (T/N: Mochi.)

Baa-san: Here.
Label: New Year's gift
Kobato: ?

Kobato: Eh?
Kobato: Eh?
Eh?

Baa-san: These days there are many people who give money but in the old days it was also customary to give mochi balls.
The mochi is taken care of.
And, also have this along with it.
Label: Happy New Year!

Baa-san: The lovely child over there is a good eater. (T/N: Totally not sure on this one. Anyway, she's implying that he's a living thing.)

-13-

Ioryogi: ...... You noticed?

Baa-san: Conquering years is also

Baa-san: becoming a little bit better informed than young people.

Baa-san: It'll be nice if your wish is granted, right, Kobato-chan?
Kobato: ...... Granny.

Kobato: Thank you very much!!

-14-

Baa-san: But, through the meetings from now on, that wish might also change.

Side text: The New Year's gift was the granny's kindness. Let's do our best in the next test!
To be continued.

---

Page 4 cracked me up. "It's recess? Then let's sit down doing nothing until it's over!" I wonder how CLAMP comes up with Kobato's misinterpretations on... pretty much everything. That must be one of the reasons why Kobato only comes out once a month...

Is anyone else bothered by the extremely thin lines used to draw Kobato? I really prefer thicker lines, like the ones in Holic.

Seriously now, I -have- to learn keigo. Translating all this business-talk is torture. While I'm at it, might as well add Kansai-ben to the to-learn list. (Whoa. I wrote this comment way before looking at the baa-san's dialogue, and it turns out that she speaks Kansai-ben... Who's the fortune teller now? ^_^) And Ioryogi's phonetic slurs drive me nuts! (And to think I complained about Kurogane in TRC when I started...)

Despite my complaints, this chapter was still a hell of a lot easier than Exam 3. Or maybe it's just me getting into the Kobato nonsensic mindset.


(*Looks at "current music". Thinks of the "V for Vendetta" movie. Wishes someone would do that to local congress.*)