Pathetic bilingual people

Yesterday, I saw Yuna Ito, a singer, talking with Ryoko Shinohara, an actress, on TV. In the talk with Shinohara, Ito insisted that the Japanese word "setsunai （せつない）" can't be translated into English. I've had enough of this kind of remark because I'm sure she isn't right. Even with my poor English skills, I can traslate "setsunai" into many Japanese: sad, trying, painful, depressing, melancholy (melancholic), heartbroken.
According to Ms. Yuna, the concept of "setsunai" doesn't exist outside of Japan.
Probably, she wanted to prove that the Japanese have delicate feelings American people would never understand by showing an example. But, her remark comes from her shallow understanding of English and Japanese. The situation in which word-for-word translation from Japanese into English is difficult doesn't mean that Americans do not have the concept Japanese people have, vice versa. What if I said the word "pathetic" cannot be translated into Japanese? Probably some people would insist that it be "mijimena （みじめな）" or "awarena （あわれな）." Although "pathetic" isn't exactly the same as either of the two, you think this word can be translated into Japanese. The same thing should be applied to what Ito said.

The trouble is that most of the Japanese who don't speak English overestimate this type of bilingual people. They just can speak two languages fluently. Nothing more than that. They have never thought of the difference between the two languages seriously. Some of them cannot even read and write in either language. I don't understand why most of them can become TV reporters and be called "intelligent" with "remarkable language skills."
She doesn't look like an American. Isn't she Japanese?

昨日，テレビで伊藤由奈（ゆな）という歌手が，篠原涼子と話しているのをたまたまテレビで見た．「『せつない』と言葉は日本語にしかない言葉で英語に出来ないんですよ」と云っていた．本当かよ，とつっこみたくなってしまった．英語のできないことにかけては人後に落ちないつもりのぼくも，sad, trying, painful, depressing, melancholy (melancholic), heartbroken...　と次々と単語が浮かんでくるからだ．

こういう発言は，日本人は欧米人にはない繊細な感情があって，それがこの美しい日本語にあらわれている，みたいな主張になるが，単に逐語訳が難しいだけのことではないのか．だいたい失礼ながら，この歌手はおそらく英語も日本語も適当におしゃべりできるだけで，読み書き，すなわち，自覚的に思考の道具として言語を使用するということ，ができる人ではないと思う．この人は歌手だからそれ以上云うつもりはないが，ときどきなぜか「語学力を生かして，知的な」アナウンサーになっている人がたくさんいるのにはあいた口がふさがらない．
What if she was a news reporter? Hmm... I can't say anything...

誤解のないように云っておくが，ぼくはすべての英日バイリンガルや帰国子女を批判しているわけではない．それどころか，いまだに，単にネイティヴらしい/r/の発音をしただけで，教室で帰国子女が堂々とクラスメイトや先生からシカト（無視）されているということを聞くと，本当に自分を含めて日本人というのは pathetic （註・これも日本語に訳せないといえば訳せないよね？　「みじめな」と「あわれな」の両方を同時に含むようなニュアンスになるし）だと思う．ただ，たとえ，ニューズを読むだけもアナウンサーになるような人は，英語でも日本語でもどちらでもいいから，読んで理解し，それに対しての自分の考えをコンパクトに云えるぐらいの人がなってほしいと願うだけである．