reading notes, どちらかが彼女を殺した

どちらかが彼女を殺した～第４章～１

From page 169 to 178.

We are beginning chapter 4 and have almost reached the middle of the book! In this chapter, Yasumasa has returned to work but pursues his investigation. There are a lot of words I didn’t know, especially at the beginning…

  • 分離帯・ぶんりたい　I have no idea how to say that in English… On a road, the two directions are sometimes separated by a concrete railing or parapet, that’s 分離帯.
  • ボネット car hood (from “bonnet”)
  • 紙屑・かみくず　paper scraps, paper waste
  • ひしゃげる　to be crushed, to be squashed
  • 破片・はへん　fragment, broken piece

坂口 Sakaguchi is the junior colleague from Yasumasa, he already appeared during Sonoko’s funeral.

  • 実況見分・じっきょうけんぶん　on-the-spot investigation
  • 格段・かくだん　special, exceptional
  • 緩やかな・ゆるやかな　gentle, easy, slow
  • 居眠り・いねむり　dozing, nodding off (I had totally forgot this word…)
  • 鑑識・かんしき　forensics, crime lab (hard to remember…)
  • 鑑定・かんてい　judgement, expert opinion
  • 損傷・そんしょう　damage, injury (a word easy to guess thanks to the kanji)
  • 微量・びりょう　minuscule amount
  • 含有・がんゆう　contain, include
  • 元素・げんそ　chemical element
  • 杓子定規・しゃくしじょうぎ a hard and fast rule, stick fast to rules
  • 極端・きょくたん　extreme
  • 非番・ひばん　off duty
  • 処方・しょほう　prescription
  • 面食らう・めんくらう　to be confused, to be taken aback
  • 釈然・しゃくぜん　fully satisfied
  • 拘る・こだわる　to fuss over, to be particular about
  • 警戒・けいかい　vigilance, precaution
  • 免れる・まぬかれる　to escape from, to avoid
  • 却って・かえって　on the contrary, all the more, instead, rather
  • 陥る・おちいる　to fall, to trap

I found the beginning of this part rather difficult, as every descriptive passage.

Once again, Kaga does not appear here but he is nonetheless present, and the reader knows that he is investigating, too.

About

I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to read mystery novels and play video games in these languages.

Learning languages has always been one of my favourite hobbies, but I’m not a social person, I don’t like to meet new people and make friends, this is just not me. I keep hearing that languages are meant for communication, that we have to actively use them, talk to people, etc. and for a long time, I thought I was weird to learn languages just for me, just to enjoy media, culture and entertainment in a foreign language, with absolutely zero interest in communicating with natives.

Now I don’t really care what people think, and this blog helped me a lot to stop doubting myself and just do what I enjoy doing.