How does "なると” factor in here?

[u/Aur0ha]

The sentence/phrases in question is:

後半になると

もう何が何だか

訳ワカメ

Because Japanese lacks punctuation like English, I'm having a hard time discerning when phrases begin and end. I've translated it as "after halfway ... I don't understand." But that middle phrase with "なると” at the beginning is throwing me off.

[u/fujimidai]

You are uncertain about 「なると」but have no problem with 「訳ワカメ」？

[u/Aur0ha → u/fujimidai]

I'm translating a fan manga with Google Translate as I haven't master kanji yet, I'm hoping translating will help me learn to recognize phrases in written text and understanding kanji. I know it's not completely accurate, so I'm being careful and doing research when I don't feel like it is. Case in point: this post.

I knew what ワカメ meant, which just left the kanji. Don't know why it's in katakana though.

[u/fujimidai → u/Aur0ha]

Fair enough. The kanji there is read as 「わけ」and sort of means "reason" (as in "the reason why"). Wakame (a type of seaweed) you say you know. .

The phrase used there is actually like a Japanese dad joke. There is a common way of expressing being confused that is (when expressed grammatically in writing) 「訳がわからない」which means "I don't understand why" or "I'm confused."

In speech, this can get slurred a bit, so it may sound like 「わけわかんない」and from there it is a short hop, skip and a jump to the "dad jokey" 「わけワカメ」.

[u/Aur0ha → u/fujimidai]

Aaah thank you. Japanese is a very punny language. This work in particular seems to have a lot of those in the yonkoma especially

[u/Aur0ha → u/Aur0ha]

Google translate is helping me, I am not only translating with Google Translate. What do you people want me to do, find each individual kanji in a book? I could do that but it'd take forever.

[u/Ok-Implement-7863]

It’s a deliberate play on words. So basically three ダジャレ strung together 

1) 後半になると 

2) 何がナンだか

3) 訳わかめ

1. なると aka のの字かまぼこ is something you eat with noodles. The sentence also means “in the later half”

2. ナン is the bread you eat with curry. As a sentence also means more or less “what’s going on”

3. ワカメ is seaweed. As a sentence it seems people used to actually say 訳わかめ as a ダジャレ for I don’t understand but the usage has died out

All together it’s “during the second half I didn’t know what was going on”. But the word play mashup is actually the whole point here

[u/JapanCoach → u/Ok-Implement-7863]

People... used to... .actually say

OUCH

[u/Aur0ha → u/Ok-Implement-7863]

that 3rd one makes sense, since this was from the late 2000s, so 訳わかめ might have been used more back then.

[u/Yatchanek]

後半になると - when it comes to the second half/later part

もう何が何だか訳ワカネ I have no friggin' idea what is what (what's going on)

[u/nvisel]

X になると Y
When X becomes (or when it becomes X), Y naturally results.

と here is a conditional particle that implies causation or a natural consequence.

後半になると、もう何がなんだか訳ワカメ
When it becomes the second part, didn’t understand anything. Or, maybe “when it got to the second half, I didn’t understand anything”.

Parsing Japanese as it is usually written does take time and practice. Eventually you will be able to identity clauses pretty quickly, and create a mental “pause” when reading and connect the parts together. This skill may also be helped by listening to lots of spoken Japanese, as often you will hear a beat between clauses.

[u/ApsychicRat]

others have answered you but to help with your reading here, なる is the verb to become, and と is a particle with a couple different uses and i think this is the one where your making a list?

[u/luffychan13 → u/ApsychicRat]

と here is a conditional to state "if/when" A happens, B is sure to follow.

冬になると、寒くなる。

ボタンを押すと、チャイムが鳴ります。

[u/ApsychicRat → u/luffychan13]

right, ive internalized this as as the "with" meaning kinda like "with x being a given circumstance, y is true." used when と is referring so a scenario or situational case.

[u/Aur0ha → u/luffychan13]

Thank you!!!

[u/poshikott]

"When it comes to the later half, I don't know what's what anymore"

The "...になると" can be translated as "When it comes to ..., "

It's made up of なる (become) + と (if/when), but it might not make a lot of sense to translate it directly like that.