Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (September 10, 2023)

4 comments

1. (Preceding sentence for additional context)「諸君」彼は委員たちに向かって言った。

   > 中のなん人かは、両院の錚々《そうそう》たるメンバーであった。

   This is my first time seeing a たる-adjective in たる adnominal form. I usually see said adjectives used in an adnominal manner with とした. Can someone with a lot of reading experience confirm if it is indeed more common to see たる-adjectives with とした instead of たる? If that’s the case, is there any reason for that? Also, could the たる in the provided sentence be swapped out with とした without change in meaning (or becoming ungrammatical)?

   Regarding what the sentence is saying.

   中 is read なか in this case? And is it referring back to 委員たち as なん人か is an indeterminate number of people, while 彼 is only a single person?

   Does the sentence altogether mean something like: “Some people among them were distinguished members of both houses of parliament”?

2. I’m curious for anyone who read the Japanese novelization of howls moving castle how difficult would your rate it, I finished spirited away and it was mostly N3 or below grammar (I think), I’m having much more difficult with howls

3. 近づかれるといい匂いがするとか、そういうこと以前に、どうしてもそこに目が吸い寄せられそうになるんだよな。
   **I read a novel ,and there’s this one sentence which make me confused. Hope someone could tell me its correct meaning.**

   (my guess but not sure: “Before we talking about stuff like she smell good when get close to me, I feel like my eyes always being attracted by her breast.” )

   **Context: A character thought when a girl at his school stand too close to him. This school used to be for girl only, but now it became a co-ed school for both male and female students.**

   Girl「ん？　どうかした？」​

   MC「いや、どうもしないけど‥‥」

   とはいうものの近い！　近いんだって！

   見ての通りの金髪美少女で、元女子校の名残かも知れないが、いつもなんだかやたらと距離が近い。

   Girl「んっふふー♪　そう？」

   ツンと上を向いた砲弾みたいなおっぱいが、スクールカーディガンの下からあふれそうなくらいに激しく自己主張をしている。

   **近づかれるといい匂いがするとか、そういうこと以前に、どうしてもそこに目が吸い寄せられそうになるんだよな。**

   健全な男子としては、もうどうしようもないとは思うんだけど、お陰で彼女の前では平常心を保つのに苦労させられる。

4. Hi, I would like to begin learning Japanese, most of the guides tell you to start on kanjis, is there another approach? Or that is the most “easy” one

   Where do I start?