そこへゆくと、まだ固い莟を見つけ出して


知名度の高い執筆者ばかり適当に揃えて一冊の雑誌を作る編集は、例えて言えば、インスタント食品をうまく使って食卓を賑わす料理人みたいなものだ。失敗の危険は少ないかもしれないが、創る喜びは少ない。

そこへゆくと、まだ固い莟を見つけ出して、これにあたたかい春の風を送り、花に育てる編集の仕事はそれ自体がひとつの芸術である。そういうことの可能なエディターはそれほど多くいるとは考えられないが、優れた才能の開花のかげにはきわめてしばしばこういう創造的編集が存在するのではあるまいか.

Ok I am going to try again at trying to solve this, don't blast me if I get
something wrong.

> 1 - そこへゆくと

> If you go there? (Talking about perhaps the previous paragraph which I have
> included.) Or, does it mean to physically go there?

> 2 - まだ固い莟を見つけ出して、これにあたたかい春の風を送り、花に育てる編集の仕事はそれ自体がひとつの芸術である ->

> An Editors job , like raising a flower, a hard bud that you find, and send
> to the warm summer wind..is naturally one kind of art form.

> 3 -
> そういうことの可能なエディターはそれほど多くいるとは考えられないが、優れた才能の開花のかげにはきわめてしばしばこういう創造的編集が存在するのではあるまいか.

> There are not a lot of editor's that can create this type of natural art
> like a gardener BUT behind the flowering (shadows) of this great talent very
> often, is a creative editor.

Did I at least get the jist of it right? I still do not know what そこへゆくと is...

Finally, I had to answer the following questions: which one is correct?

[code]

    a - まだ有名でない執筆者の才能が花開くかげには、優秀な編集者がいる。
    b - 雑誌をつくるということは、花を育てるように創造的で芸術的な仕事である。
    c - 簡単につくられた雑誌より、時間をかげで編集された雑誌のほうが内容が良い。
    d - 優秀な才能を持つ編集者がいれば、より良い雑誌がつくれるようになる。
    
[/code]

I chose 'd' to be correct BUT I WAS WRONG, 'a' is the correct answer, why is
'a' correct?




This is less an answer than a _guide_ to how you might try to read and
understand sentences like these. It seems you're getting stuck a lot and
having difficulty figuring out how to parse the sentences.

So, let's take

> そこへゆくと、まだ固い莟を見つけ出して、これにあたたかい春の風を送り、花に育てる編集の仕事はそれ自体がひとつの芸術である

* * *

The **first** thing I would do is just make sure I know how to read the kanji
and what all the vocabulary means.

  * [莟]{つぼみ} a bud, a young plant
  * [春]{はる} spring ( **not** _summer_ )
  * [編集]{へんしゅう} ...

* * *

**Next** , I would try to figure out what the basic structure of the sentence
is.

Since the sentence ends in である you should expect the following structure

> Aは/がBである

So, we can boil the whole sentence down to

> 仕事はそれ自体が芸術である

Hmmm. So, you'll need to figure out what's going on here with a marked topic
and subject for the sentence.

But essentially this reduced sentence says

> As for the job, it is itself an art.

So now, you'd have the basic sentence.

* * *

**Now** we need to build up from this.

Here there are three things to consider

  1. そこへゆくと
  2. まだ固い莟を見つけ出して、これにあたたかい春の風を送り、花に育てる
  3. How does #1 relate to #2 (For example, is it part of the relative clause or the main sentence?)

I'm going to initially pretend like そこへゆくと isn't even there and just see if I
can make sense of the bulk of the _relative_ clause.

> まだ固い莟を見つけ出して、これにあたたかい春の風を送り、花に育てる

This relative clause is broken into three parts marked by the verbs: 出して, 送り,
and 育てる. So, at a minimum, this relative clause is describing three aspects of
編集の仕事. Given the form of 出して and 送り, I'll initially try to connect these using
" _and_ " in English.

_Now_ take each of these one by one

> まだ固い莟を見つけ出して  
>  _Someone_ discovers a still firm bud.

> これにあたたかい春の風を送り  
>  _Someone_ sends it a warm Spring breeze

> 花に育てる  
>  _Someone_ nurses [it] into a flower.

Putting these three parts together

> _Someone_ finds the still firm bud, sends it a warm Spring breeze, and
> nurses it into a flower.

* * *

**Now** we need to connect the relative clause to what's happening in the main
clause. As noted the relative clause modifies 編集の仕事.

> The job of being an editor, who finds a young, firm bud, sends it a warm
> Spring breeze, and nurses it into a flower....

And now we can complete the sentence.

> The job of being an editor is itself a kind of art, where the editor is
> someone who finds a young, firm bud, sends it a warm Spring breeze, and
> nurses it into a flower.

* * *

There's still the matter of そこへゆくと. You could follow the lead suggested in the
comments regarding this, but also you could just translate it literally into
English

> If you're going to go there,....

This is referring to the build up of the previous paragraphs and amounts to
saying

> If that's how you're going to think about things,

with the implication being _we can imagine the situation as follows_ (though
this is not explicitly spelled out).

* * *

OK. So what are the take-aways here?

  1. As I've recommended before, _slow down_.
  2. Take the time to write out the vocabulary by hand.
  3. Actually break the sentence down into its parts. Write these out on a sheet of paper so you can see it all in front of you. This might seem tedious, but it's a good way to help train your brain into how to parse a Japanese sentence.
  4. Make sure you've accounted for everything and you're not trying to force the sentence to say what you think it should say. (I think this is such an easy trap to fall into when starting with a new language: we anticipate too quickly where we think we're being taken and then get confused because we're not really _hearing_ what's being _said_.)

* * *

As I mentioned in the comments, you haven't really told us what question was
being asked. Without knowing that, it's hard to say why one choice is better
than another. But let's look at the choice you made and the choice that was
marked as correct.

Your choice:

> 優秀な才能を持つ編集者がいれば、より良い雑誌がつくれるようになる。

Follow the same _principles_ as I outlined above. (1) Make sure you know what
all the vocabulary means and how to read the kanji. (2) break the sentence
down into its most basic structures. (3) Stitch everything back together.

I'll assume that you already did #1. So for #2, the basic sentence is

> 雑誌がつくれるようになる  
>  You'll be able to create a magazine.

Go through all the steps I recommended for this sentence. In the end, you
should wind up with something like

> If there is an editor who has superior talent, then it will be possible to
> create a good magazine.

The choice marked as correct.

> まだ有名でない執筆者の才能が花開くかげには、優秀な編集者がいる。

you should be able to analyze this to be saying

> Behind the blossoming of the talent of a not-yet famous author there is a
> superior editor.

Given that the paragraphs you provided us in your question are focused more on
authors than the publishing of a magazine, it seems clear that choice d is
most likely not hitting the target (so to speak).




This is less an answer than a _guide_ to how you might try to read and
understand sentences like these. It seems you're getting stuck a lot and
having difficulty figuring out how to parse the sentences.

So, let's take

> そこへゆくと、まだ固い莟を見つけ出して、これにあたたかい春の風を送り、花に育てる編集の仕事はそれ自体がひとつの芸術である

* * *

The **first** thing I would do is just make sure I know how to read the kanji
and what all the vocabulary means.

  * [莟]{つぼみ} a bud, a young plant
  * [春]{はる} spring ( **not** _summer_ )
  * [編集]{へんしゅう} ...

* * *

**Next** , I would try to figure out what the basic structure of the sentence
is.

Since the sentence ends in である you should expect the following structure

> Aは/がBである

So, we can boil the whole sentence down to

> 仕事はそれ自体が芸術である

Hmmm. So, you'll need to figure out what's going on here with a marked topic
and subject for the sentence.

But essentially this reduced sentence says

> As for the job, it is itself an art.

So now, you'd have the basic sentence.

* * *

**Now** we need to build up from this.

Here there are three things to consider

  1. そこへゆくと
  2. まだ固い莟を見つけ出して、これにあたたかい春の風を送り、花に育てる
  3. How does #1 relate to #2 (For example, is it part of the relative clause or the main sentence?)

I'm going to initially pretend like そこへゆくと isn't even there and just see if I
can make sense of the bulk of the _relative_ clause.

> まだ固い莟を見つけ出して、これにあたたかい春の風を送り、花に育てる

This relative clause is broken into three parts marked by the verbs: 出して, 送り,
and 育てる. So, at a minimum, this relative clause is describing three aspects of
編集の仕事. Given the form of 出して and 送り, I'll initially try to connect these using
" _and_ " in English.

_Now_ take each of these one by one

> まだ固い莟を見つけ出して  
>  _Someone_ discovers a still firm bud.

> これにあたたかい春の風を送り  
>  _Someone_ sends it a warm Spring breeze

> 花に育てる  
>  _Someone_ nurses [it] into a flower.

Putting these three parts together

> _Someone_ finds the still firm bud, sends it a warm Spring breeze, and
> nurses it into a flower.

* * *

**Now** we need to connect the relative clause to what's happening in the main
clause. As noted the relative clause modifies 編集の仕事.

> The job of being an editor, who finds a young, firm bud, sends it a warm
> Spring breeze, and nurses it into a flower....

And now we can complete the sentence.

> The job of being an editor is itself a kind of art, where the editor is
> someone who finds a young, firm bud, sends it a warm Spring breeze, and
> nurses it into a flower.

* * *

There's still the matter of そこへゆくと. You could follow the lead suggested in the
comments regarding this, but also you could just translate it literally into
English

> If you're going to go there,....

This is referring to the build up of the previous paragraphs and amounts to
saying

> If that's how you're going to think about things,

with the implication being _we can imagine the situation as follows_ (though
this is not explicitly spelled out).

* * *

OK. So what are the take-aways here?

  1. As I've recommended before, _slow down_.
  2. Take the time to write out the vocabulary by hand.
  3. Actually break the sentence down into its parts. Write these out on a sheet of paper so you can see it all in front of you. This might seem tedious, but it's a good way to help train your brain into how to parse a Japanese sentence.
  4. Make sure you've accounted for everything and you're not trying to force the sentence to say what you think it should say. (I think this is such an easy trap to fall into when starting with a new language: we anticipate too quickly where we think we're being taken and then get confused because we're not really _hearing_ what's being _said_.)

* * *

As I mentioned in the comments, you haven't really told us what question was
being asked. Without knowing that, it's hard to say why one choice is better
than another. But let's look at the choice you made and the choice that was
marked as correct.

Your choice:

> 優秀な才能を持つ編集者がいれば、より良い雑誌がつくれるようになる。

Follow the same _principles_ as I outlined above. (1) Make sure you know what
all the vocabulary means and how to read the kanji. (2) break the sentence
down into its most basic structures. (3) Stitch everything back together.

I'll assume that you already did #1. So for #2, the basic sentence is

> 雑誌がつくれるようになる  
>  You'll be able to create a magazine.

Go through all the steps I recommended for this sentence. In the end, you
should wind up with something like

> If there is an editor who has superior talent, then it will be possible to
> create a good magazine.

The choice marked as correct.

> まだ有名でない執筆者の才能が花開くかげには、優秀な編集者がいる。

you should be able to analyze this to be saying

> Behind the blossoming of the talent of a not-yet famous author there is a
> superior editor.

Given that the paragraphs you provided us in your question are focused more on
authors than the publishing of a magazine, it seems clear that choice d is
most likely not hitting the target (so to speak).

