Could someone please explain the correct translation of this sentence?


While reading a JP children's book, I found this sentence:

顔は、ところどころ、味噌を **つけたよう** に **まだら** で、くちばしは、平たくて、耳まで **さけています** 。

which I roughly understand as:

[As for its] face, here and there, [it has ] spots/speckles like pickled miso,
[as for its] beak [it is] flat up to [its] ears [and is] dividing the spotted
appearance.

I don't fully understand the relationship between the bolded nouns/adjectives
and the verb.

**(1)** Is 味噌をつけたようにまだらで read as:

  1. "Appearance of pickled miso spots"
  2. "Appearance of pickled miso **in** spots (places)"
  3. "Spotted appearance **of** pickled miso"
  4. "Spots **like (similar to)** pickled miso" << My reading
  5. "Spots like [it was] **covered** in miso << Alternate verb 付ける instead of 漬ける

**(2)** What's the relationship between まだら **で** , つけたよう **に** and さけています?
Should it be read as:

  1. "Dividing the spotted appearance"
  2. "Dividing the appearance **with** spots"
  3. "Dividing the spots **in/of** the appearance"

For the record, I'm familiar with what で and に _are_ (as particles), but I'm
still inexperienced with their real-world use. (This is only my 3rd book).




> 「顔{かお}は、ところどころ、味噌{みそ}をつけたようにまだら **で** 、くちばしは、平{ひら}たくて、耳{みみ}までさけています。」

First, the sentence structure. This sentence talks about two features of a
creature.

1) its face

2) its beak

Thus, the 「で」 right in the middle is the 連用形{れんようけい} ("continuative form") of
the auxiliary verb 「だ」. This 「で」 is **_not_** a particle. The 連用形 is being
used because the sentence still continues after talking about the first of the
two features that the author intends to talk about. For translation, a plain "
** _and_** " should work nearly every time.

Next, the vocabulary.

「 **つける** 」 here is 「付ける」 and not 「漬ける」, so there is no mention of "pickled
miso" in the sentence, I assure you. 「付ける」, in this context, would be best
translated as " ** _smear_** ". So, we have " ** _smeared with miso_** ".

「 **さける** 」 in this sentence is 「裂ける」. 「耳までさけている」 thus means "(the beak)
extends from ear to ear".

Put it altogether, my own TL would be:

> "Its face has spots here and there as if smeared with miso and its beak is
> flat and it extends from ear to ear."




Some quick thoughts to try to help guide you.

  * Miso itself is not something that one pickles. Miso is already pickled, in a sense, as it is created by fermenting and mashing soybeans (and/or rice and other grains).
  * The で in the middle could be interpreted here as the conjunctive or て form of the copula だ / です. This construction basically means _"[thing before] is, and ..."_ , as a means of connecting two sentences.
  * After the で in the middle, there's a comma, and then the next noun phrase is marked by a new instance of は -- introducing a new topic. Consequently, the final verb さける applies to this new topic -- in this case, to the くちばし.

See if the above gives you any insight into how to understand your sample
Japanese sentence, and let us know how it goes.

