Japanese with Manga

Psychic power in gym class with 超能力

Manga panel from からかい上手の高木さん showing example of Psychic power in gym class with 超能力.
からかい上手の高木さん » Volume 7 » Page 36

Nishikata and Takagi compete to see who can score higher on the long jump in physical education class. When Nishika lands his jump, he’s a bit shaky. He watches as the spectating Takagi sweeps her arms as if to knock him over, and he falls back, lowering his score. Takagi gives her condolences afterward.

西片(にしかた):
高木(たかぎ)さんて…もしかして、超能力(ちょうのうりょく)使(つか)えるの?」
“Takagi... could it be... you have psychic powers?”
Literal: “Takagi-san... by any chance, can you use psychic powers?”

Key Points

1超能力(ちょうのうりょく) = “supernatural ability” or “psychic power”
  • (ちょう) adds the idea of “super-“ and 能力(のうりょく) means ability or power.
2〜て after a name adds a spoken topic feel
  • 高木(たかぎ)さんて…」 is a casual way to bring up Takagi as the topic.
  • It sounds like “Takagi… say, are you maybe…?”
  • さん is an honorific suffix attached to a person’s name to show respect and social distance, roughly equivalent to “Mr.”, “Ms.”, or “Mrs.” in English, though it’s used far more broadly and doesn’t specify gender or marital status.
からかい上手の高木さん © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.