In today’s post, I thought it would be fun to break down this manga panel together! As it has no furigana, I think it is perfect study material. To start, let’s create a word bank so that we understand each of the words.
** For this post, you need to be able to read hiragana, as I won’t be providing romaji readings**
This picture is from chapter one of the manga “私に起きた恋の話” You can check it out for yourself here!
Word Bank
- 昔・むかし・The past
- 緊張・きんちょう・To be nervous
- 言葉・ことば・Word(s)
- うまい・Properly, well
- 出る・でる・To go out (intransitive)
- 性格・せいかく・Personality, disposition
- 自信・じしん・Self confidence
- 顔・かお・Face
** There is a tricky conjugation in this panel! Let’s touch on that before we begin. **
自信 の なさ
This なさ can be pretty confusing if it’s your first time encountering it. Once you understand it though, it’s actually very easy to understand! It’s a conjugation of the “ない” adjective.
With all い adjectives, when you take out the final い and replace it with さ、it becomes a noun! “自信のなさ” is somewhat similar to “自信のないこと”. If you want to learn more about turning adjectives into nouns, please check out this post here. They give a very informative explanation, with many helpful examples.
Let’s get translating!
The full sentence is:
昔から緊張すると言葉がうまく出てこない性格で、自信のなさが顔に出てしまう。
First, let’s break it up into sizable chunks, as it’s a rather long sentence.
1
昔から緊張すると
- The と marker at the end of this bit is a very important piece of grammar! It tells us that whatever is said before and after it, happen together. Whenever ~~~ happens, ~~~ happens too, is another way to explain it..
- We can also translate “昔から” as “always” in this context
We can translate it as: Since a long time ago whenever I’m nervous…
2
言葉がうまく出てこない性格
- “言葉が出る” can be translated literally as “words come out”, but it implies speaking.
- The 出てくる form of 出る puts an emphasis on movement.
- 性格 in this sentence is being described by everything before it.
So, we can translate this part of the sentence as: I have a disposition where I can’t speak properly; I have a disposition where I can’t express myself well.
1 & 2
昔から緊張すると言葉がうまく出てこない性格で
Let’s put the first half of the sentence together!
- The で at the end of this half works like “and” in English. It connects the two halves of the sentence together.
Using everything we learnt above, we can translate this half as: Since a long time ago, I’ve had a disposition where whenever I get nervous, I can’t speak properly and…
or, a little less literally:
I’ve always had difficulty expressing myself well when nervous and…
3
自信のなさ
- Remember, なさ is the noun form of the い adjective ない.
This piece can be translated as: lack of confidence.
4
顔に出てしまう
- ”顔に出る” can be translated as “shows on one’s face” as in someone’s emotions are clear just by their facial expression.
- The てしまう form subtly implies some regret or unhappiness in this context.
We can translate this part of the sentence as: It shows on my face.
3 & 4
自信のなさが顔に出てしまう
Now let’s put the second half of the sentence together!
Using everything we learnt above, we can translate it as: My lack of confidence shows on my face.
1 2 3 4
昔から緊張すると言葉がうまく出てこない性格で、自信のなさが顔に出てしまう。
Alright, now we’re ready to read the whole sentence! Using everything we’ve learnt, let’s try to translate it all:
Since a long time ago, I’ve had a disposition where whenever I get nervous, I can’t speak properly, and this lack of confidence sadly shows on my face.
or, a little less literally:
I’ve always had difficulty expressing myself well when nervous, and this lack of confidence shows on my face.
And that’s it! If you have any questions or comments, please let me know!
Maddies Manga 
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