★Let's read はらぺこあおむし "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

I uploaded a video of Japanese version of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" on YouTube. In my opinion, the Japanese version sounds more interesting than the original one. The moon talks on the first page. Those English sentences I put on the video are by Eric Carle who wrote this story. The Japanese version are written by Hisashi Mori and is not the literal translation of English version, so I would like to explain those Japanese words one by one for you. First of all, the title of Japanese version is はらぺこあおむし.
・はらぺこ means starving and this word is often used by kids, or those girls puts on a cute act. If I see girls who use that word, I would be putting off by them to be honest. 
・腹 (はら) is stomach.
・ぺこ is an abbreviation of ぺこぺこ which is an onomatopoeia that means empty in this case.  ・あおむし means caterpillar.  あお is blue and むし is insect, so it literally means "blue insect". Japanese people use the color blue instead of green. In Heian Period, we only had 4 words to describes the colors. They are red, white, black and blue. That is the reason why we still have a lot of words that has blue in them even the actual color is green. For example, green light is 青信号(あおしんごう), green vegetables are 青菜(あおな), and green apple is 青りんご.  I like the first page. In English, it just says  "In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf." In Japanese version, the story starts with the moon talking to itself. 「おや、はっぱのうえにちっちゃなたまご。」 ・おや is an interjection which is like "Oh?" in English. ・はっぱ is leaf, and うえに is on.  ・ちっちゃい is a slang of ちいさい which means small. ・たまご is egg.
おつきさまが　そらから　みて　いいました。 The moon said it from the sky. ・おつきさま is another baby word that means the moon and is often used in the picture books or TV shows for kids or baby songs.
おひさまがのぼって　あたたかいにちようびのあさです。 ぽん！とたまごから　ちっぽけな　あおむしがうまれました。 あおむしは　おなかがぺっこぺこ。 ・Again, おひさま is a baby word that means the sun. ・あたたかい is warm. ・にちようびのあさ is Sunday morning. ・ぽん！ is a sound that is similar to POP! in English. ・ちっぽけな is itsy-bitsy. ・おなか is stomach. I already explained about ぺこぺこ, but now it added small っ between the word ぺっこぺこ. It makes it sounds like the caterpillar is very hungry. Then, he starts to look for the food. ・...をたべる means to eat something. まだおなかはぺっこぺこ。
・まだ is still. やっぱりおなかはぺっこぺこ。
・やっぱり is another way to say still/as I thought. それでもおなかはぺっこぺこ。
・それでも  is nevertheless. まだまだおなかはぺっこぺこ。
・まだまだ also means still. By repeating twice makes it sounds more stronger than just まだ. You can also learn the counter words for things from this book. りんごを　　ひとつ　たべました　I ate one apple. なしを　　　ふたつ　たべました　I ate two pears. すももを　　みっつ　たべました　I ate three plums. いちごを　　よっつ　たべました　I ate four strawberries. オレンジを　いつつ　たべました　I ate five oranges. On Saturday, in English version goes like this. "On Saturday he ate through....." In Japanese version, they ask you a question. どようび、あおむしの　たべたものは　なんでしょう。 Do you know what the caterpillar ate on Saturday? It makes you to have a conversation with kids who are reading this book with you and I think it made this book more interesting. He ate a lot and then he had a stomachache. On Sunday, he ate green leaf and he got much better.
おなかのぐあいも　すっかりよくなりました。 ・ぐあい is condition. ・すっかり is completely. ・よくなる is get better.
ほら、こんなに　おおきくて　ふとっちょに　なったのです。 ・ほら is used when you want to get attention. Similar to "Look!" in English. ・こんなに is "this (adj)."  It is used to exaggerate the adjective that comes after it. It has became this big. こんなにおおきくなった。 ・ふとっちょ is another baby word and it usually used for someone who is fat.

まもなく　あおむしは、さなぎになって　なんにちも　ねむりました。 ・まもなく is soon. ・さなぎ is cocoon. ・なんにちも is for many days. ・ねむりました is the past tense of polite way for ねむる to sleep. On the last page of English version, it just says  "He was a beautiful butterfly." In Japanese one, it goes like this.

「あっ　ちょうちょ！」 I am not sure who is saying this phrase. Maybe the moon from the first page, or maybe a kid who found a beautiful butterfly. ・あっ is another interjection and it means like "Oh" in English. ・ちょうちょ/ちょう is butterfly. あおむしが　きれいなちょうになりました。 ・...になる means to become something.

I hope you understood more about the Japanese version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It takes only 3 minutes to read, so please use this video as your speaking practice material.  What did you think about the Japanese translation?  Which version do you like better?  Please let me know in the comment!