23695
This monologue piece is is taken from an anime (魔法少女まどか☆マギカ, episode 2, this
starts at ~10:55). It makes sense to me except for the highlighted part:

> 別に珍しくなんかないはずだよ  
>  命と引き換えにしてでも 叶えたい望みって  
>  そう言うの抱えている人は 世の中に大勢いるんじゃないのかな  
>  **だから それが見付からない私達って**  
>  **その程度の不幸しか知らないって事じゃん**  
>  恵まれ過ぎて バカになっちゃってるんだよ  
>  何で 私達なのかな  
>  不公平だと思わない  
>  こーゆーチャンス 本当に欲しいと思っている人は他にいるはずなのにね

[Audio extract.](https://clyp.it/52m1q5ox) [I've included the earlier bits for
context as well]

The way I've seen Xしか～ない used is normally (always?) to stress that there is
nothing but X.

In this sense, it goes something like:

Us, who have haven't found it [the wish], **know nothing but the unhappiness
of that degree** [???]. This makes little sense within the rest of the
monologue that stresses how much of "happy fools" she and her friend are
[context: they are granted a free wish in exchange for becoming magical girls
but can't think of anything worth risking their lives for].

This makes me think I've fundamentally misunderstood this part of grammar. Is
that so, and where did I go wrong?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-08T18:51:35.900
23679
2015-04-09T15:03:41.690
2015-04-08T18:52:52.633
3437
9771
question
grammar anime
Usage of しか～ない in this piece of anime monologue
> [命]{いのち}と[引]{ひ}き[換]{か}えにしてでも [叶]{かな}えたい[望]{のぞ}みって
>
> そういうの[抱]{かか}えている[人]{ひと}は [世]{よ}の[中]{なか}に[大勢]{おおぜい}いるんじゃないのかな。
>
> **だから、 それが[見付]{みつ}からない[私達]{わたしたち}って、**
>
> **その[程度]{ていど}の[不幸]{ふこう}しか[知]{し}らないってことじゃん。**
>
> [恵]{めぐ}まれ[過]{す}ぎて バカになっちゃってるんだよ。

To understand any sentence taken from a passage, one needs to be able to
replace _**in Japanese**_ all of the **impersonal pronouns** with actual and
concrete words that are used in the passage.

> 「だから **それ** が見付からない私達って、 **その程度の不幸** しか知らないってことじゃん」

「 **それ** 」＝「命と引き換えにしてでも叶えたい（ような）望み」= "a desire so urgent that one would like
to have granted even in return for one's life"

The speaker and his/her friend do not have that kind of desire.

「 **その程度の不幸** 」＝「命と引き換えにしてでも叶えたい（ような）望みがない程度の不幸」= "a level of unhappiness
where one does not have a desire so urgent that one would like to have granted
even in return for one's life"

**Do not ever translate「その程度」 to "that degree/level" because it always means
"a lower degree/level".**

That is the level of unhappiness that the speaker has experienced first-hand.
In other words, the speaker and his/her friend have **not** experienced the
extreme kind of desire that quite a few people would have in this world.

「～～しか知らない」= "~~ is all one knows", "one knows nothing but ~~", etc.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-09T15:03:41.690
23695
2015-04-09T15:03:41.690
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
23679
answer