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!
Maddies Manga 
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