# 国語



## Mindalin

Hi everyone and a Happy New Year to you!

I was wondering how best to translate the word 国語.  I know what it means, but I was trying to translate the following sentence, and I got a bit stuck.

"雪乃は、静かに国語の教科書を広げた。”

Translating the word as 'National language textbook' doesn't sound natural, and saying 'Japanese textbook' could lead people to believe that she is learning Japanese as a language learner.  Since what she is studying is not central to the story, I was thinking of just leaving it out thus rendering the sentence as below,

"Yukino quietly opened her textbook." 

I would really appreciate some feedback on this.


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## Aoyama

> saying 'Japanese textbook' could lead people to believe that she is learning Japanese as a language learner


Well, that's a possibity, but "Japanese textbook" (or textbook of Japanese) is OK to me. Japanese, as opposed to History, Arithmetics, Geography etc.
A textbook baring NIHONGO (sorry, no kanji here) as a title, would obviously and automatically be a text book for foreigners learning Japanese.


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## Mindalin

> Well, that's a possibity, but "Japanese textbook" (or textbook of Japanese) is OK to me.


 
So the sentence would look something like this,

"Yukino quietly opened her Japanese textbook."

For some reason, I get a feeling that a Western reader would wonder what a 'Japanese textbook' is. For a Japanese reader,  ’国語の教科書’ is readily understandable, and he/she would have a good idea as to what would be in it.  By the way, would anyone know what kind of things would be in a ’国語の教科書’? I assumed it would be things like kanbun or maybe poetry.


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## palomnik

It depends on what level the student is at.  If it is grammar school level, it will no doubt include reading, grammar and learning new kanji and kanji combinations and alternate pronunciations.  At a middle school level it would be primarily reading progressively more literary texts.

Depending on the level implied, maybe you just want to translate it as a "reader", or a "grammar book."


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## Flaminius

If the context is pre-war æra, I am wondering if "national reader" could be a translation.  Students used to read from the government-written _kokugo _textbook; a reader of the national language as opposed to dialectal and classic Japanese.


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## Aoyama

> would anyone know what kind of things would be in a ’国語の教科書’? I assumed it would be things like kanbun or maybe poetry.


That would simply depend on the grade of the student. You would have :
Kokugo I, Kokugo II, ...V, VII . Kan(m)bun would be just that (in junior high school).
Flaminius will surely give us precise informations about that.


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## Mindalin

Actually, the sentence is from the novel of one of the Kinpachi Sensei TV shows called ３年B組着ん金八先生、十五歳の愛. The main protagonist Yukino is a 15 year old girl, so I think in this case maybe the book she's reading has stuff like kanbun in it.


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## Captain Haddock

Well, the 国語 textbooks I have are all essays, stories, and language discussion (grammar, kanji, writing style, etc). It's pretty much what we mean when refer to "English" as a school subject — grammar and literature study.

Maybe "language" or "literature" textbook would be appropriate for a translation. Obviously "national language" sounds weird in English.


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## Flaminius

If you are translating one of the Kimpachi series, the context is fairly well-understood that the drama takes place in Japan.  I can find little umbiguity here about the status of Japanese as the mother tongue of the students just as English is in a British, Australian, Canadian or American classroom.  Can "Japanese textbook" not get the meaning across?


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## Hiro Sasaki

Mindalin said:


> Hi everyone and a Happy New Year to you!
> 
> I was wondering how best to translate the word 国語. I know what it means, but I was trying to translate the following sentence, and I got a bit stuck.
> 
> "雪乃は、静かに国語の教科書を広げた。”
> 
> Translating the word as 'National language textbook' doesn't sound natural, and saying 'Japanese textbook' could lead people to believe that she is learning Japanese as a language learner. Since what she is studying is not central to the story, I was thinking of just leaving it out thus rendering the sentence as below,
> 
> "Yukino quietly opened her textbook."
> 
> The Japanese language is 国語　for us Japanese, and 日本語　for
> foreigners. Its's very simple.
> 
> Hiro Sasaki
> 
> I would really appreciate some feedback on this.


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