Saturday, March 03, 2007

ER or EE

Movies will be a good textbook for English learners who want to learn colloquial experssions. Today I watched 100 Women, which is a comedy like American Pie. Characters in this movie was speaking the typical English of college students.
Even movies you think are silly could be good learning materials for ESL/EFL students
I learned the words "dumpee." I understood that it has the opposite meaning of "dumper." "dumpee" is to "dumper" what "employee" to "employer." I believe that most of Japanese English learners who know "to dump" don't know neither "dumper" nor "dumpee." So, let them practice this sentence if you need to teach the words:

Dumpers dump dumpee.

One more thing. People usually use the word "bra," but the characters in this movie use the word "brassiere." I assume that Japanese people don't understand when you say "brassiere" instead of "bra" because of the stress position. They might think you say "Brazil."

きょう,100Women (邦題『Hな彼女の選び方』)というコメディー映画を観た.こういう映画は内容はともかく口語英語の教材として最適である.ここで,dumperとdumpeeという単語が対比して使われていた.英語の得意な人なら,dumpに「(つきあっている人を)ふる」という意味があることを知っているのかもしれない.

She dumped me.「あの子に俺はふられたんだ」

としょっちゅう云っている人もいるかしれない.dumper は「ふる人」のことである,dumpee は「ふられる人」のこと.文脈でわかったけれど,dumpee はぼくもはじめて聞いた単語である.er と ee の関係は次の単語を知っている人がいるかもしれない.employer 「雇う人=雇用者」,employee 「雇われる人=従業員,社員」.こっちのほうは仕事でよく使うので覚えていたほうがいいかも.

ついでに,英語では普通ブラジャーのことは bra というのだが,この映画では, brassiere という硬い言葉を使っていた.ただ,日本語の「ブラジャー」の発音に慣れている人は,音を聞いてもBrazil ぐらいに思うのではないか.カタカナで無理やり表記すれば,「ブラアー」か「ブラヤー」である.大事なのはストレスの位置(赤字にしてみた).あ,そうだ.どうでもいいけど,日本語では「ノーブラ」というけど,英語は braless という.
It's kind of embarassing for me, who is a guy and who doesn't know what should be called if it is not an underwear but a swimsuit, to teach how to pronounce "brassiere." Is what she is wearing called a bra? If not, what do you call it?

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