Grand Comic Reading Project #1: Doraemon Color Collection

[deathtrap]

I've gone through the first story and transcribed all the panels. I did this so I could have a text version for quick look up without the tedium of constantly picking up the dictionary. I use Pera-pera-kun in Firefox for that

I'm pretty sure it's 100% correct but if someone would like to go through it and double check that would be great.

What I would like to do is convert the actual comic pages to contain these text versions as extra. I was thinking of either cutting up the comic pages and putting the text on the side and displayed as the mouse rolls over each individual panel. All done with HTML. What do you guys think?

静香

嘘

小鸟飞来这里了！

我撒了鸟饲料，它们就飞来了！

我最喜欢小鸟了!!

我也是啊！！

再走近一点看看吧！！

你看！全部都飞走了！！

好不容易才让它们过来的！！

哆啦A梦！想想法子帮我吧！

总之，想要和小鸟做朋友就对了！

没错！

「小鸟帽」

有非常多的种类喔！！

一戴上就可以成为鸟儿们的同伴！

试试看，戴上鸽子的帽子吧！

看不出来是鸽子啊！！

这的确是鸽子啊！！

呯啦 呯啦

我也要戴上，一起飞吧！

咯咯咯，咯咯咯。

试试看这个麻雀吧！

一起到静香那里去吧！

啾啾啾啾 啾

鸟儿都不怕我呢！！

因为它们以为我们是伙伴吧！

哇啊！！好厉害！

也借给我一个吧！！

好啊！

虽然有很多种类……

不过我觉得静香还是最适合天鹅了！！

好像很好玩的样子……

我们也拿来玩吧！！

哇啊啊！

你在干吗呀？

哈！哈！对了！猫头鹰白天根本看不见啊！！

幸好我是鱼鹰啊！

啾啾

哈哈哈！每个人都吓一跳！！

怎么了！？

咕咚

鱼鹰是会飞到水面上抓鱼的啊！

[feihong]

@deathtrap

Wow, that sounds like a huge undertaking. Consider using one of the tools listed on this page: http://www.insidescanlation.com/backgrounds/software.html

Perhaps if enough people are interested, it can be a collaborative project.

[deathtrap]

Here's the transcription of the second story. Let me know if there are any errors and I'll fix them.

啪

辟里啪啦

哆啦A梦，拜托你帮帮我！我老是被人欺负！

想要能帮助打架的道具吗？

想啊！

借我可以马上逃走的道具！！

「变色龙茶」

你知道变色龙吧！！

就是，体色会随着……

周围环境的变化而改变的动物！！

喝下去之后，只要身体紧挨着什么东西，不只体色会跟着改变……

例如紧紧靠着树木，会跟着变成树木！若紧紧靠着石头，也会跟着变成石头！

不过，时效只有十五分钟喔！！

好像很好玩！

大雄！过来帮一下忙！

咦？我才不要呢！

啊！不在啊？

那么哆啦A梦拜托你了！

什么？

大雄！好奸诈喔！！

一眨眼就变成墙壁的颜色了！！

不只体色变了，连外表也变成真正的石头！

已经十五分钟了啊！

这样一来就可以放心了！！

绝对抓不到我了！！

谁可以过来一下！！

有一只小狗溺水了！

汪汪汪汪

快点救它啊！

我不会游泳啊！！

啊！对了！

变成木头就不会沉下去了！！

靠近邮筒的话，

全身就会变成红色的了！

啊！来了！

你在做什么！！

未超过十五分钟的话，就无法再改变！！

恢复！！

咦？

消失到哪去了？

阿嚏

原来躲在这里啊！！

看你还能逃到哪去？

准备受罪吧！

咚！咚！

哇啊！好痛啊！

我一点都不觉得痛啊！！

对了！身体也变成水泥了！

请你原谅我们吧！！

[renzhe]

I think that 道具 is simply taken from Japanese, where it means "tool": http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/道具

In Chinese, 道具 means "prop", as in a stage prop or a movie set prop: http://baike.baidu.com/view/175623.htm

In fact, my (official) mainland translation purchased in Shanghai refers to Doraemon's gadgets as 机器. So 道具 could be a fan translation, or maybe converted from the Taiwanese version, where the Japanese usage might be more common. Or maybe they changed it at some point, just like they renamed Doraemon from 机器猫 to 哆啦A梦.

Here are some words from the second story (the first is easy, and people have posted the bird vocab already):

I don't think that 紧挨 is a word, but a short phrase, with 紧 meaning "tight".

你在干吗呀 is usually written with 嘛. but it means the same: "What are you doing?!?"

体色 = body colour

奸诈 = fradulent, deceptive

墙壁 = wall

石头 = rock

木头 = log, piece of wood

树木 = trees

外表 = exterior

溺水 = drown, drowning

沉 = to sink

邮筒 = mailbox

超过 = exceed

恢复 = recover

消失 = disappear

躲 = to hide, to avoid

受罪 = to suffer

水泥 = concrete

Most of this is rather simple vocab, and well worth learning if you're not familiar with it.

[skylee]

我老是衼人欺负！ - 衼 should be 被

就是，休色会随着…… - 休 should be 体

只要身体紧埃着什么东西 - 埃 should be 挨

请你原就我们吧！！ - 就 should be 谅 (I think, I haven't read the comic)

[deathtrap]

Thanks skylee, I've edited my previous post to include those changes.

[renzhe]

Hehe, I read through the whole thing and didn't notice the mistakes.

I was stumped by 休色, so I went and checked in the comic, and still didn't notice it was wrong

Time to go to sleep.

[jbradfor]

I think I missed a joke in the 梦想手电筒 story.

On page 32, Doraemon presses a button to set it to change interrelated (相关) items. How is milk related to walnuts? Or is that the joke, that it isn't related? And same with grass and fences?

And on page 33, after setting it to restore (恢复) it, why did his teeth turn to leaves?

[feihong]

Yeah, I didn't get it either. But I consulted a friend who knows Japanese, and it's basically a bit of phonetic wordplay:

• Milk is pronounced miruku. Walnuts is pronounced kurumi.
  
• Leaf is ha. So is tooth.
  
• Grass is kusa. Fence is saku.
  

They should have put an editor's note to explain this, because otherwise it was just plain mystifying.

[jbradfor]

Ah. Thanks. I don't feel so bad now for not getting it.

[Gleaves]

Thanks for clearing that up. I simply chalked it up to semi-random accidents and moved on.

One thing that did bother me about that story - if you have a flashlight that can turn things into whatever you are thinking, why would you even bother with other settings, or ever stop using it for that matter?

[jbradfor]

In case anyone is still reading this: I've been updating the vocab list on feihong's wiki.

Some questions.

What is the difference in the use of 卵 vs 蛋? On page 72, they use 卵 for 蝴蝶 but 蛋 for 青蛙. Is it just a case of "some use this, some use that, just learn it."?

From page 80: 无论多笨的人 -- would you translate that as "no matter how stupid/awkward the person"?

@renzhe

如果 ... 的话 belongs together. You can drop the "如果" or you can drop "的话", or you can use both together. It means "assuming that ...." or simply "if ...". The sentence means "if you water it again....", and 的话 is not translated literally.

I don't ever recall having seen that 的话 pattern before. But there it is again on page 75: 按这个按钮的话. And again on page 82. Did I just not pay attention before, or is this more of a "kid-like" way of taking?

[feihong]

@jbradfor

I have read/heard the 的话 pattern many times. It is not restricted to kid talk. If I see it again in a different comic, I'll try to point it out. Hopefully it will be uttered by an adult, to prove my point.

Your translation of 无论多笨的人 is spot on.

I feel like 卵 is more commonly used to describe eggs that don't have a shell, for example fish and insect eggs. But then they go and use 蛋 for frog eggs. Maybe it's not a hard and fast rule.

Or maybe 蛋 is universal, and 卵 is less so.

In any case, you should learn 卵. It was in my flashcard set long before I read Doraemon. I probably first encountered it while playing a Zelda or perhaps a Mario game.

[renzhe]

I don't ever recall having seen that 的话 pattern before. But there it is again on page 75: 按这个按钮的话. And again on page 82. Did I just not pay attention before, or is this more of a "kid-like" way of taking?

Nah, it is very common but quite spoken, and means pretty much the same thing as 如果. At least I can't think of any difference off the top of my head.

From page 80: 无论多笨的人 -- would you translate that as "no matter how stupid/awkward the person"?

Yes. 多 here is like 多么.

[jbradfor]

Thanks feihong and renzhe, much appreciated.

In any case, you should learn 卵

I did already. Earlier this year, when I tried to learn some Japanese food names. It seems they use 卵 instead of 蛋.

[roddy]

What I would like to do is convert the actual comic pages to contain these text versions as extra. I was thinking of either cutting up the comic pages and putting the text on the side and displayed as the mouse rolls over each individual panel. All done with HTML. What do you guys think?

If you do it as rollovers is there a chance of breaking whatever pop-up dictionary / annotation stuff people are already using?

[feihong]

@roddy: If I correctly understand what deathtrap is trying to do, then no, it won't interfere with annotation software.

I think deathtrap only wants the Chinese text to pop up, not the actual definitions/pronunciations.

[Gleaves]

I've been reading these one or two at a time when I have a free moment. Most of them have been pretty enjoyable. I just finished 童话故事徽章. It was probably my favorite episode thus far. I like how they shook it up and let 静春 have more of a starring role and multiple gadgets. I was actually a bit scared for her when the mouse grabbed her skirt.

In that story, she calls Doraemon's pocket 四次元口袋 (pg 131)? Does this refer to the fourth dimension or something? What's the 元?

[renzhe]

四次元口袋 = 4-dimensional pocket, 四次元 = fourth dimension.

Newer mainland translations use 四维口袋, which is also what I'm more familiar with.

According to wikipedia, 三次元 is a synonym for 3d, so it's probably used in Chinese too.

[jbradfor]

According to jisho.org, 四次元 is the Japanese term for the fourth dimension, as you guessed.

I've been unable to find the Chinese term for this; is it the same? Any help? [EDIT: 四维. Thanks renzhe!]

I've pretty much being doing the same, reading one when I have a chance. I usually read it through not looking up any words, which takes me about 10 minutes. Then I go back and look up the couple of words that my not knowing felt to me to really impact the meaning.

I really like the part in 海水控制器 when Doraemon basically tells 大雄 to stop being so lazy. [Not as if it made any difference...] I also like 大雄's name of the machine he wants Doraemon to produce.