Reading in Japanese (1)

I would like to tell you what I have been reading in Japanese. Recently I have to use a lot of time for English education, and then I don't read that much in Japanese. However, the books I still want to read or reread exist, which I'm going to write below.


最近は，あまり日本語の本を読まなくなった．英語教育や言語学などの本を読むのはもちろん，たまに手を出す自分の専門外の学問の入門書なども英語の本を読むようにしている．

ぼくは，漫画にはあまり興味がないし，純文学も大衆小説もあまり日本のものは好きじゃないし，好きなものはもう読んでしまった．それでも，確かにまだ読みたい本というのはないわけじゃないし，思い出深く読み返したい本もある．そういうことを述べてみたい．

ぼくは，以前このブログでも書いたと思うが，ディズニー映画はあまり好きではない．しかし，代わりと云ってはなんだが，児童文学のたぐいは意外と好きだったりする．大学生頃，人間関係に苦しんで，何もしなかったころは，地元の図書館に行って，よくドイツやイギリスの児童文学の本を借りてきて読んだものである．

さて，日本のものだが，寺村輝夫の『消えた２ページ』という本が小学生のころ好きで，１８ぐらいになったときも突然読みたくなって，読み返したのを覚えている．ぼくは，小学校の頃，中学入試をして，嫌な受験勉強をやらされた経験があって，そのときに読みたかったという本が結構ある．そして，まだ読んでいないものもある．そのひとつに舟崎克彦の『ぽっぺん先生』シリーズというのがある．これは小学校の時読書好きの頭のいい子はみんな読んでいた．ぼくの弟も読んでいた．ぼくが頭のいい子になれなかったのはこういう読書を怠ったからではないか，とときどき思う．

Mr. Poppen Series by Katsuhiko Funazaki contain the author's acute observation against the world. One work deals with Darwinism.

このあいだ，この著者の作品そのものでなく『これでいいのか！　子どもの本』とかいうタイトルのエッセイを読んで，この著者がかなり深い洞察力の持ち主であることを知った．『ぽっぺん先生と笑うカモメ号』という作品ではダーウィンの進化論をテーマに書いているらしい．

ハリー・ポッターシリーズがそうであるように，児童文学の中には極めて鋭い人間世界を貫く冷酷な法則（本来，このことを「学問」と呼ぶ）を何気なくテーマに盛り込んでいるものがある．『ぽっぺん先生』はこの日本版なのかもしれない．

Why do we have to say hi?

The school I'm working at has very strict rules, and the teachers and students need to follow the rules. Sometimes I feel as if I belonged to a military rather than a school. On the other day, there was a party called "welcome party" but substantially "punishment party."

You could imagine how strictly I'm asked to greet to them. By the way, why do we have to greet to others. While reading a book by Minoru Becchaku (Betsuyaku), I found the reason. This author seems to be getting famous, but I have appreciated his works since long time ago.

Minoru Becchaku (a.k.a. Minoru Betsuyaku) is a playwrighter, but he writes very funny essays too. He has a sense of humor.

Anyway, after I knew why I have to say hi, I am willing to use any greetings to people at work, who I want to stay away from.

According to Becchaku's work, "How to live our daily life":

幼時我々は親たちに「あいさつしなさい」と常に強制されたのであり，「どうして」という我々の疑問はその度に「うるさい」という言葉で封殺されたのである．（中略）
……あいさつというものは，出会ったもの同士がそれぞれに無害であることを確かめるための手続きである，と一般的にはみなされていて，それ自体は間違いではないのだが，その時我々は同じ世界を共有しているのではなく，全く別の世界にそれぞれ分離されている（中略）つまりあいさつの中には，相手がそれ以上自分自身の世界に近接しないよう警告を発し，同時に，相手を相手の世界に封鎖して閉じ込めようとする，呪術的要素が含まれているのだ．
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　『日々の暮し方』（白水社Uブックス）

Our parents have forced us to greet since we were very young. Our questions about why we have got to greet have always been rejected.

... Greetings are the procedure meeting people need to conduct to make sure that they are safe each other. This explanation isn't wrong, but at that time we find ourselves in different worlds rather than in same worlds.... In other words, a person will use greetings in order to warn others not to be closer to his/her own world and to confine them to their own worlds at the same time.

Got buckwild

Yesterday, I had to attend a welcome party for new teachers because I'm a new teacher at the school I'm working at. But, I think that "welcome party" is a wrong name, the party was supposed to be called "punishment party."

Every procedure of the party is controlled in detail. And new teachers including me freaked out because we were asked to fill out every collague's glass or to pay attention to anything that would satisfy other teachers. I think that it was like a military party.

Despite the fact that the Golden Week is coming in Japan, I'm sure that some of the days will be used for work, which is totally disgusting.

In the country of the last things

I want to do lots of things, but there's no time. Actually, I really want to make my website in addition to this blog site. But, I'm sure it needs some time, which can't be found in my daily schedule.

Also, I know that I need to spend more time to make my classes better by reading some materials and litterature about ESL/EFL. For some reasons, though, I'm not in an situation in which I can do such things... Sometimes, I wonder why I can't be a teacher or professor like Dr. Ueda (See the pic) in TRICK, who is always doing what he wants and who doesn't lose his job even if he messes up.

Anyway, have a good week, readers. I hope I can see you immediately.


Regards,

outrageous2007

No Peter, no business

I want to read about other than my field, but recently I can't find enough time to do so. Peter F. Drucker is one of the authors I am interested in but whose books I haven't read. Most Japanese enterpreneurs have been influenced by them. As long as I looked over the information below, he is one of the greatest intellectuals, as people say.

According to Wikipedia (partly editted by outrageous2007):

Peter Ferdinand Drucker (November 19, 1909–November 11, 2005) was an author of management-related literature. George Orwell credits Peter Drucker as one of the only writers to predict the German-Soviet Pact of 1939.[1] Peter Drucker made famous the term knowledge worker and is thought to have unwittingly ushered in the knowledge economy, which effectively challenges Karl Marx's world-view of the political economy.

Several ideas run through most of Drucker's writings:

- A profound skepticism about macroeconomic theory. Drucker contended that economists of all schools fail to explain significant aspects of modern economies.
- A desire to make everything as simple as possible. According to Drucker, corporations tend to produce too many products, hire employees they don't need (when a better solution would be contracting out), and expand into economic sectors that they should stay out of.
- A belief in what he called "the sickness of government." Drucker made ostensibly non-ideological claims that government is unable or unwilling to provide new services that people need or want - though he seemed to believe that this condition is not inherent to democracy. Even successful programs, such as US Social Security, long ago ceased to be interesting to an increasingly alienated citizenry.
- The need for "planned abandonment." Corporations as well as governments have a natural human tendency to cling to "yesterday's successes" rather than seeing when they are no longer useful.
- The lasting contribution of the "father of scientific management", Frederick Winslow Taylor. Although Drucker had little experience with the analysis of blue-collar work (he spent his career analyzing managerial work), he credited Taylor with originating the seminally important idea that work can be broken down, analyzed, and improved.
- The need for community. Early in his career, Drucker predicted the "end of economic man" and advocated the creation of a "plant community" where individuals' social needs could be met. He later admitted that the plant community never materialized, and by the 1980s, suggested that volunteering in the non-profit sector might be the key to community.
- He wrote extensively about Management by objectives
- A company's primary responsibility is to serve its customers, to provide the goods or services which the company exists to produce. Profit is not the primary goal, but rather an essential condition for the company's continued existence. Other responsibilities, e.g., to employees and society, exist to support the company's continued ability to carry out its primary purpose.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Drucker

tipsy, not drunk

↓下の記事で，Bunkamuraの美術館に行った後，その友達と少し飲んでいた．東京に帰ってきてからは飲みに行くことは殆んどない．ところで，「酔った」とかは英語で何というのだろうか．drunk じゃん，簡単だよ，と思うかもしれないが，この単語はろれつが廻らなくて，理性的な行動ができなくなっている状態を指す．

This girl is drunk.

We saw the drunken girls at the bar.

ついでに，drunken という単語もある，どこが違うのかは結構難しいが，普通，drunken は名詞の前につけると思う．

で，最初に戻って，少し気持ちが良くなっているけど，周りに迷惑をかけるほどじゃないときは，tipsy と云う．

She is getting tipsy.

その他の単語は，酔った挙句，気を失う，寝てしまうとき，to pass out という句動詞を使う．「意識を失う」という意味でアルコール（英語では，alcohol「アルカハール」だ）に関係ないときでも使う．ところで，昔，このto pass out は to pass away と同じだと思っていたことがあった．それで，２人の女の子が，料理がぜんぜんできない出不精のだんなさんが，奥さんが旅行で何日も家を離れているとき，ジェリービーンズしか食べれなくて，奥さんが帰ってきたときにpass out していたという話を笑ってしていたのを聞いていて，「え，だんなさんが死んじゃったのに，なんでこの子たちは笑ってるんだ」とびっくりしたことがある．あとで，こんな簡単な単語も知らなくて笑われてしまったが，句動詞は結構難しい．だって，to get out (of) と to get away (from) はそれほど違わないし．

She passed out.

Modigliani and Hébuterne

I went to the museum in Bunkamura titled "Modigliani and Hébuterne, the tragic couple" (http://www.bunkamura.co.jp/english/museum/event/index.html) with my friend. Since I had the blues because of my goddemn work, doing different things uplifted me. Although Modigliani and his wife passed away when they weren't enough old, I kind of envy them in that they could devote their life to arts. I would like to spend time in appreciating litterature or movies, but my daily life doesn't give me the time to do so.

According to Wikipedia:

Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (July 12, 1884 – January 24, 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who pursued his career for the most part in France. Modigliani was born in Livorno, Italy and began his artistic studies in Italy before moving to Paris in 1906. Influenced by the artists in his circle of friends and associates, by a range of genres and movements, and by primitive art, Modigliani's oeuvre was nonetheless unique and idiosyncratic. He died in Paris of tubercular meningitis—exacerbated by a lifestyle of excess—at the age of 35.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Modigliani

American English and British English

Although it is easy to identify the difference between American English and British English in pronunciation, it is difficult to find one in usages. The school I'm working at has many teachers who aren't from the US. I don't have any difficulty understanding them, but they sometimes use different words and phrases than me. Below are some usages ESL teachers may need to know.

1) to have a bath

In the US, to take a bath is more common.

2) toilet

Americans prefer "bathroom" or "restroom."

3) click

In the US, people also say snap your fingers.

4) naughty

Another word "sassy" is more widely used when somebody is impudent.

5) "have got" in a question or negation (ex. I haven't got any money. / Have you got a minute?)

Americans do not use this usage. For instance, the examples above must be said like this: "I have no money. / Do you have a minute?"

balsam apple, Jew's-ear

One of my students asked me, "What is 'nigauri（にがうり，ゴーヤ）' in English?" Of course, I didn't know the word "balsam apple."

Also, a teacher from New Zealand said, "I ate kikurage" yesterday, and I wondered how they would say it in English. But, he told me that he didn't know the answer.

Some English words to describe Japanese food might not be commonly used, and sometimes native speakers do not know the words.

How about these?

1) dried bonito
2) pickled plum
3) Japanse turnip

amphitheater

I learned that some of Americans pronounce "ph" in "amphitheater" with /p/ sound instead of /f/. Like grocery, it seems like you can't call it wrong anymore. By the way, amphitheater is a very difficult word for the Japanese.

amphitheater「アンフィスィアター」を「アンピスィアター」と発音する人が増えているらしいことをラジオで知った．と，偉そうに書いたが，この単語自体ぼくはあまりなじみがない．円形の劇場のことで，ギリシャ・ローマ時代からあったもの．ラジオでは，philosophyを「ピロソフィー」と発音する人はいないから「アンフィスィアター」と読まれなければいけない，と云っていた．ところで，groceryは「グロウサリー」じゃなくて「グロウシャリー」と発音する人がかなりいる．これも，centerを「シェンター」と発音しちゃいけないから，ということになるのだろうか．

littlest? Isn't it "least"?

I found this article on Today's IHT and the Asahi Shimbun (English edition).

Quote:

The problem is her attitude. "Linda" gets angry over the littlest thing, yet doesn't understand why no one wants to visit her. This has been going on for years.

In Japan's English classroom, students learn that "less" and "lesser" are the comparative forms of "little" and "least" is the superlative. However, native speakers seem to use "littlest" at times. Collins Cobuild Advanced Dictionary of American English refers to this usage.

A word that I learned from my student

Yesterday, I encounterd a word I didn't know in my class. A student asked me about the word below. She was writing a sentence like below and asked me a question about it:

I want to go to the shopping mall. I want to gallivant there.

I understood what she wanted to say, but I wasn't sure if this is the right sentence because I didn't know the word to "gallivant." Now, I looked it up and the meaning is below:

gallivant (v.) to wander about in search of amusement or pleasure.

Actually, I express the same contenct in this way:

I want to hang out in the shopping mall.

Anyway, I still need to work on my vocabulary. And recently, I feel that many words I learned during the three years in the US are away from my head. How forgetful I am!

There will be some changes in Doraemon.

The fashion of characters in the animation "Doraemon" will change when the new school year gets started. Nobita will wear a colorful T-shirt. Suneo will be more fashionable. And Shizuka will wear clothing that shows her feminine character. Sometimes I wonder why those things would need to be updated.

According to Oricon News:

声優陣が一新してから3年目を迎える本作が、新年度に突入するにあたり生まれ変わる。のび太はカラフルなTシャツ姿、ジャイアンは長めの短パン、スネ夫はさらにオシャレなスタイルに大変身。さらにしずかちゃんはちょっぴりセクシーな女の子らしいファッションとなっている。

http://contents.oricon.co.jp/news/confidence/43781/
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/doraemon/contents/topics/index.html

Conversation Openers

"Fairwell, my lovely" is loved by some Japanese guys. As a matter of fact, though, no Japanese guy can't behave like Philip Marlowe. I just find a funny article on Yahoo! I wish some of the Japanese who have read this would try to come on to girls in vain, no I mean, successfully.

If you met a girl like a Hollywood actress, would you try to talk to her? Or would you stay away from her because you got stressed out?


Yahoo!にあった綺麗な人にあったときの会話の切り出し方．日本語にしてみたいが時間がない．

According to Yahoo!:

1. She has a great dog, so you pet the dog and ask, "What's your dog's name?" Obviously she will tell you, to which you can comment on how sweet the dog is and the conversation should naturally unfold.

2. You're in a café and she has a newspaper. You can ask, "Do you mind if I read that section when you're done?" When she gives it to you, ask, "Anything exciting I should read first?"

3. On an airplane, ask to borrow a pen. If you're feeling really courageous, once you've got her pen, shake her hand and say very seriously, "Nice to meet you, I'm ranked #2 among America's Most Wanted Pen Thieves. Ever seen it?" Sure it's kinda cheesy, but it's also the kind of off-the-wall thing women love.

4. At a diner, ask her if you can borrow the salt from her table. When she gives it to you, say, "Thanks, I saw you eyeballing it so I thought I'd help out by removing the temptation for you. Salt is very bad for you, ya know," as you proceed to douse your own food with it -- another one that's sure to get some laughs.

5. In a bank line, you can even use the lack of customer service on the part of the tellers as a prop. Why? Because it gives you something to talk about -- that's exactly what props are for.

http://personals.yahoo.com/us/static/dating-advice_prop;_ylc=X3oDMTFlODlnZ2NtBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwX3RvZGF5BHNsawNkYXRpbmctYWR2aWNlX3Byb3A-

Lack Wit

According to Mother Goose:

When I was a little boy
I had but little wit;
'Tis a long time ago,
And I have no more yet;
Nor ever, ever shall,
Until that I die,
For the longer I live
The more fool am I.

Thai English

In a way, this American idol may look like an Asian. I don't know much about her, though. I just read the article about this lady who is getting popular not because of her voice but because of her legs. But, the same thing often happens in Japan too, as you know!

Today, it was the first day of the school year at the school I'm working for. In one of my classes, there were students from Thailand. I don't know why, but I have difficulty understanding their accent especially when they are female. Not only their articulation isn't clear but also their English sounds really childish, which affects my comprehensibility.

Is Tata Young, who has got some Thai cultural background, really sexy? But, I don't think that her accent does not sound as childlike as native Thai speakers'.

They tend to put /y/ after a consonant. Then, "please" becomes "pleage," and "No" goes "Nyo."

Since I don't have good listening skillls, I hardly understand what they say. That is the problem. I can't count how many times I have said "Could you said that again?" today.

Chinese people who speak English

The article below interested me. Now, I'm teaching English to Chinese students. I hear that in China, students' English education histories vary according to what part of China they are from. In some classes, they don't know ABC, while there are some people who can make themselves understood in English.

By the way, I doubt that Liu Yang, who speaks in the article below, spoke like this:

"They can have very simply conversations, like: 'Who am I? Where am I going?"'

In this sentence, "simply" must be changed into "simple." I think that the write of this article tried to make Liu Yang's speech look like that of non-native speakers. That is kind of nasty.

According to Yahoo! News:

The word is out in China: Speak better English
April 11, 2007

BEIJING (AP) -- Along with spitting, run-down housing and bad manners, add unintelligible English to the list of things organizers of the 2008 Beijing Olympics want to ban.

Municipal officials promised on Wednesday to crack down on awkward, Chinese-inflected English, known as "Chinglish," and asked the public to help police bad grammar and faulty syntax. ...

Liu Yang, who heads the "Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program" for the city government, said 6,500 "standardized" English-language signs were put up last year on Beijing roads. But he acknowledged private businesses were not following the rules, which were handed to reporters -- a stack of glossy documents weighing 2 pounds. "We will pass the message on to authorities in the advertising sector," Liu said. "If English translation is needed it must be subject to the standards set forth in the regulations."

Liu said a language hotline may be set up for the games to encourage the public to report nonsense English. China's diplomatic missions abroad are assisting, Liu said, "and our people working in foreign companies are helping with correct usage."

"In the future when we set up new signs in public places in English, we hope all these standards will be followed to avoid more additional mistakes."

Liu said Beijing taxi drivers must pass an English test to keep their licenses. But he acknowledged most speak only Chinese, and many are skipping language classes.

"The taxi training courses are not working effectively, and there is a problem of taxi drivers missing classes," he said. "Taxi drivers need to get their licenses renewed every year, and an English test is now part of that that exam. But the exam is not so difficult."

"Some taxi drivers do speak some English, and that's a big change from the past," Liu added. "But the overall level still needs to improve. Some taxi drivers speak no English; they understand no English." ...

Liu stood by the figure, but conceded the vast majority of the English speakers fell into a category he labeled "low level."

"They can have very simply conversations, like: 'Who am I? Where am I going?"'

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-beijing-chinglish&prov=ap&type=lgns

English Grammar the Japanese don't know

Americans learn English grammar at school too. However, what they learn is totally different than Japanese people do.

英語学習において，文法はそれなりに重要であることは以前述べた．しかしながら，高校・大学受験であれ，資格試験などの学習であれ，日本人の英文法の学習はなにか違っている気がする．

というのは，自分自身やはり，英語を話したり，書いたりするとき，完全にネイティヴのように離している訳ではなくて，やはり少し文構造を意識していると思うが，しかし，実際，日本で書かれた文法書に目を通してみるとなんか違和感を覚えるのである．

ネイティヴであれば，自然に身につく言葉の感覚を意識的に合理的なルールで説明するようなものでなければならない．ただ，なかなか自分自身この問題を考えているがうまくいかない．

そこで，とりあえず，アメリカ英語の文構造やアメリカの国語の授業で倣う文法ルールで，日本の学校英語のルールと衝突するものをいくつかたびたび紹介することにしたい．これは，ネイティヴが読んでもつまんないだろうから全部原則として日本語で書く．

最初に，ぼく自身がすごいびっくりしたことを書く．

Jill likes that her children eat ice cream.

上の英文は文法的に正しいだろうか．正しいのである．少なくとも，多くのアメリカ人が正しいと云うだろう．ぼくは，あまり文法にうるさいほうではないが，like は，to do と -ing形をとるが，that 節をとることなど考えもしなかった．しかし，この英文をTESL（第2言語としての英語教育）や英文学の学位をもっているアメリカ人が異口同音に正しい英文だと云ったのである．

As long as you are non-native speakers, you often encounter a sentence that you believe would be totally incorrect but that native speakers say is correct.

だから，これは，教養のある人でも，以下のような文章を云ってしまう問題とはわけがちがう．

There's two books on the table.
If I was a girl, I would often bake cookies.

ちなみに，There's-->There are，was-->were のほうがいいとされる．これは書き言葉では必ず直される．じゃあ，want はどうなのかというと，これはwant that... というのは絶対にダメらしい．なぜかは全くわからない．

Wanna go to an island.

World Map

Today I had to watch some students taking an exam. Since I was kind of bored, I was looking at a world map put on the wall. That made me think of my possiblity to go abroad, and I started out considering where to go.

I have lived in the United States for three years, and I loved the life up there. However, I think that the states isn't the best place to visit for a vacation. Except for some big cities such as New York or Chicago, you would have to drive to look around.

If you don't want to drive a car during the trip, you should go to Europe rather than to the US.

Since I speak only English other than Japanese, probably it is safe to go to English-speaking coutries or some countries where most people can speak English. I've visited Netherlands and Germany. I want to go to Sweden and Denmark, but I know it is kind of expensive.

While thinking about that kind of things, one thought came out of my head. How about going to an Island. My first instinct is Isle of Man, which is refered to in Agatha Christy's novel. Since I'm kind of childish, I like the idea to go to an island where there is few people. After the thought, I looked through the map more carefully. Then, I found many islands where English should be spoken. I'm not talking about the places like Hawaii, where many Japanese visit. Instead, I want to go to a place where there's no Japanese. If I have a chance, I will visit those places.

Isle of Man

Anyway, thanks to the world map, I didn't feel bored that much.

Bugs Bunny is not Easter Bunny

Although this is not directly relevant to Easter, thinking about Easter Bunny makes me concerned about Bugs Bunny.

I just wanted to mention his accent, which is a blend of somebody from Blooklyn and somebody from the Bronx. Certainly, I, who is used to the Midwest US accent, often have difficulty understanding his speech. But, sometimes if a Japanese spoke English like Bugs Bunny, he/she would sound so cool. Will somebody try it instead of me?

Happy Easter!

I hadn't noticed that April 8 was Easter until I was told yesterday. Also, I just learned that different countries have different ways of celebrating Easter.

According to Wikipedia:

Canada and the United States and parts of UK
Throughout North America and parts of the UK, the Easter holiday has been partially secularized, so that some families participate only in the attendant revelry, central to which is decorating Easter eggs on Saturday evening and hunting for them Sunday morning, by which time they have been mysteriously hidden all over the house and garden. According to the children's stories, the eggs were hidden overnight and other treats delivered by the Easter Bunny in an Easter basket which children find waiting for them when they wake up. The Easter Bunny's motives for doing this are seldom clarified. Many families in America will attend Sunday Mass or services in the morning and then participate in a feast or party in the afternoon. In the UK, the tradition has boiled down to simply exchanging chocolate eggs on the Sunday, and possibly having an Easter meal; it is also traditional to have hot cross buns.

Scandinavia
In Norway, in addition to skiing in the mountains and painting eggs for decorating, it is traditional to solve murders at Easter. All the major television channels show crime and detective stories (such as Poirot), magazines print stories where the readers can try to figure out who did it, and many new books are published. Even the milk cartons change to have murder stories on their sides. Another tradition is Yahtzee games. In Finland and Sweden, traditions include egg painting and small children dressed as witches collecting candy door-to-door, in exchange for decorated pussy willows. This is a result of the mixing of an old Orthodox tradition (blessing houses with willow branches) and the Scandinavian Easter witch tradition. Brightly coloured feathers and little decorations are also attached to willow or birch branches in a vase. For lunch/dinner on Holy Saturday, families traditionally feast on a smörgåsbord of herring, salmon, potatoes, eggs and other kinds of food. In Finland, the Lutheran majority enjoys mämmi as another traditional easter treat, while the Orthodox minority's traditions include eating pasha instead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter

Tense

ひさしぶりに日本語で書いてみる．

昨日，アメリカ人女性が，近々松下政経塾生相手に行なう日本語のスピーチ原稿をチェックする機会に恵まれた．彼女の勤務先近くのタイ料理で食事をしながら（高かったけど，奢ってもらいました）というインフォーマルな形で行なわれた．彼女は日本語がわりとうまいけど，ネイティヴレヴェルではないので，しょっちゅう日本語と英語のスウィッチを切り替える変な会話だった．

スピーチ自身は，彼女の日本と日本語への関わりを話したもので，面白かったと思う．ただ，彼女が使う日本語に一定のくせが見られたので，日本人英語学習者に役立つ点について簡単にしるしたい．

"What are you doing tonight?" "Well, I have a date."

もっとも，顕著だったのは，日本語と英語の時制の違いである．日本人もアメリカ人も「・・・ている」（日本語教師は「テイル」形とか云ったりするらしい）というのが，英語の現在進行形（be -ing）とほぼ同じと考えている．ただ，両者はだいぶ違う．

まず，覚えてほしいルールは，「英語の現在進行形は未来を表わす用法があるが，その場合，日本語では普通の現在形を使うことがほとんどである」ということ．

What are you doing tonight?

は，What are you going to do tonight? とほとんど同じ意味である．これを「夜，何しているの？」というのは少しヘンで，「きょうは，夜，何するの？」ぐらいが自然である．

もうひとつ例をあげる．シカゴの地下鉄もドアが閉まる前に，

The doors are closing.

I used a train at Netherlands too. But, I didn't understand its announcement because it was said in Dutch.

というアナウンスがあった．この場合，進行形は極めて近く起こる動作に使われている．これは，日本語ではご存知の通り，「ドアが閉まります」と云わなければならない．これを，「ドアが閉まっています」というと，英語だと，

The doors is closed.

だ．この場合の「・・・ている」は，動作の完了を表わしているような気もするが，英文の方を検討してみればわかるように状態を表わしてもいる．ちなみに，

The doors have (already) closed.

とは，文法的には間違っていないが，たぶん云わないと思うからだ．このように，「・・・ている」は英語の現在進行形，現在完了形，受動形にもなりうるという難しい問題をはらんでいる．

ちなみに，最初，ぼくは，明確に，「日本語の『・・・ている』はまず未来を表わさない」と云いきりたかったのだが，よく考えると，

「来年は，ぼくはハーヴァード（大学）のキャンパスで勉強していると思うけどね」

のように，「未来」がいつかが明示されているときには使えるようである．ちなみに，英語ではこういうときに未来進行形というのか，will be -ing という形を使うことができる．

I will be studying at Harvard next year.

この，will be -ing はどう使うか，実感をともなってわからなかったのだが，ある高校の新人研修会で，新しい学期が始まったら，教える科目を云う時に，

I'll be teaching math.

のように，皆が云うのを聞いたので，「ああそうか，まだ，新学期は始まってないけど，自分が教えているところを想像しているからこういう風に使うんだ」と思ったものである．もちろん，これを「数学を教えています」のように云うのはヘンである．ただ，「新学期には，数学を教えていることになるでしょうね」ぐらいだとそれほどおかしくはない．

というわけで，「・・・ている」という日本語表現はものすごい曲者である．で，いままでの説明はぼくが勝手に書いたもので，文法書などは特に見ていない．英語教師や日本語教師の読者がこの説明を勝手に利用されても結構だが，学問的に裏づけがないとかの責任は負いかねる．また，もっと優れた説明があれば，勉強したいので，メイルをしたり，コメントをつけてくれれば幸いです．

Flower watching?

The article below was interesting even to me, a Japanese speaker. This author writes in a funny way, but she describes some cultural difference b/w Japan and the US well.

Accoding to the Japan Times:

Saturday, April 7, 2007
JAPAN LITE
The short-lived cherry blossom -- Japan's national identity
By AMY CHAVEZ

The most beautiful time to be in Japan is right now -- cherry blossom season. Oha-nami cherry-blossom-viewing parties are taking place everywhere, and you don't need an invitation to go to one.

As a matter of fact, almost anything you do, as long as it is under a cherry tree, is considered ohanami, (flower-watching).

Stroll along a cherry tree-lined road, and you can say you have done ohanami.

... All you have to do is find a cherry tree and claim it as your own. But hurry, because the trees only bloom for two weeks.

The cherry blossom is the national flower of Japan and for Japanese it is part of their national identity. This brings up some important questions.

Which part of the cherry blossom do they identify with -- the petals, the stem?

Can the Japanese really have a national identity only two weeks long? I guess you have to be Japanese to understand.

With just two weeks to enjoy the festivities, I suggest you get out there and start partying with the blossoms -- your buddies -- right now. But here are a few things to keep in mind.

Be sure to take a vinyl sheet. In the West, we tend to take a nice soft blanket to sit on when we go on a picnic, but the Japanese prefer a large, blue, crunchy, plastic sheet.

The Japanese are champions at matching plastic with nature, so it was determined a long time ago that blue vinyl matches the pink blossoms better than any other color.

... There are advantages to vinyl sheets, however. They are easy to clean up spills on, and they are much easier to flick ants off of.

Oh come on now, don't try to tell me you don't take part in some good "bug flicking" now and then. You see an ant, you ready your thumb and index finger, you line up where you want to launch the little blighter, and FLICK!

... On my planet, the United States, there is no way they'd let you drink outside in public and share your national identity with the trees. But the Japanese acceptance of alcohol is the very reason people in Japan can identify, on a national level, with the little pink blossoms. ...
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070407cz.html

Keep thinking

No matter what kind of work you are doing, you have to think. By thinking, you are improving your situation at workplace. Kimiyasu Kudo, a pictcher at Yokohama Bay Stars, is still able to keep being an athelete because he is always thinking about what he has to do as a pro. If you want to belong to the first place in your own field, to think is a must.

However, it is not as easy as it said because you often have to do something miscellaneous tasks, which is in a way of your regular job. All I can say about this matter is that you should put the priority on what you really need to do. I'm sorry to give you this ambiguor answer, but all the people who accomplished something big did this. Have I accomplished something? Unfortunately, no.

You know, I mean, like...

Japanese students studying in the US learn English from their friends at college, so, it is not strange that they speak like college students.

Some Japanese people who can speak English to some extent tend to use phrases like "you know," "like," and "kind of." If you are asked not to use them, you may need to change the way you speak. I think, though, that you don't have to take too personally. The speech that contains those words could sound like that of American college kids. Anyway, non-native speakers' speech is often criticized by other elements, so you could say that it had been very very hard until you became able to speak like college kids. And also it is true that the words like "like" and "you know" are very convenient when it comes to the situation in which you need time to find an appropriate word.

As long as you are non-native speakers, you often need time to find appropriate words or expressions. "You know" or "like," may give some time for it.

By the way, I need to mention the usage of "I mean," which could slightly different than the cases of "you know" or "like." My friend clearly told me that I should not use "I mean" when I was looking for an appropriate word. The reason would be that if listeners hear "I mean," they will think that they can forget what they have heard before. In other words, "I mean" is used for redefining what they have said before.

You shouldn't identify "I mean" with "you know."

Is "Money talks" a golden word?

I have been unable to update this blog site as often as I used to do because I started out working at a language school. However, I kind of lost interest in working at the school. Why? I have been thinking about whether or not I should tell you this. But, I made up my mind. I'm going to write.
To tell the truth, I am fed up with the school that doesn't have any teaching phylosophy and that always thinking of ripping off students!

I have three reasons I do not like to work at this school. Let me tell you each of them in a point form.
Sometimes I always wonder what is being "international." The concept of "international" may be as fishy as "national," isn't it?

1) Students aren't much motivated.

Most of the students at our school is international students. They entered our school because they want to go to the universities and they would like to keep the status of their student visas while working. Even if they want to learn at the school, they want to learn Japanese. But, I don't know why they have got to learn English. And then I am an English teacher. It is really really really weird.

Although there are some conditions to enable a learners to learn their new language well (e.g. innate ability, personality, when to start), motivation is also an important element. However, do you think Asian student who came to Japan to learn Japanese want to learn English? I doubt it. I can easily imagine. Say, what if you went to the states to learn English and you would have to learn Spanish? I can't say anything more about it.

2) The school isn't sure what kind of teaching methodology is being used.

I know that there are many language teaching methods in this world. Audio Lingual Method, Grammar Translation Method, Total Physical Response, Suggestpedia, etc. It's hard to tell which one is the best. However, I can tell you one thing. Teachers at the schol should be sure what kind of method they are using and they are trusting the method. But, at our school, I always wonder whether or not the schoo has such a thing. Maybe there used to be, but now absolutely no. That kind of sad.

3) Safe learning (or/and teaching) environment isn't available.

The school do not trust the teachers. And the teachers are always freaked out. And teachers' anxiety are shifting to their students. Definitely worst schenario seems to be coming.

I'm trying to avoid giving you details, but I hope you can understand how frustrated I am now. To tell the truth, I would like to quit immediately. But, some of the cirsumstances around me do not allow me to do so. Life is hard....

All I could do is to pray. I wish things will be better in the future no matter what kind of choise I would make then.

Test of English for International Communication?

I'm going to teach the TOEIC preparation course this school year. The exam is getting more and more common in Japan. When I was in high school, STEP (test organized by the Society for Testing English Proficiency) was still more common than the TOEIC. Things have totally changed, though.

Even ESL programs in North America often provides TOEIC preparation courses, although the targets are mostly Japanese.

My concern is whether or not the TOEIC is really a test of English for International Communication. I kind of doubt it. Even ESL teachers in the US hardly know what the exam is. And people who got high scores speak English a little. Maybe this is not only because of the quality of this exam but also Japanese people who try to only gain high scores but who do not want to make efforts to improve four language skills slowly and steadily.

Real speaking and listening skills must be learned only through real interaction in the English language.

According to Wikipedia:

There are an estimated 3 million test takers in 60 different countries per year, but most of those are Japanese and South Koreans. For that reason, the TOEIC test is virtually unknown outside Japan, Korea and some of their neighbouring countries in East Asia. Its precursor, the TOEFL test, has more international recognition and prestige. However, things are gradually changing in Europe. (See below: TOEIC in Europe)

The questions attempt to reenact international business environments and contain vocabulary and usage that are not necessarily needed in everyday life. Even a native speaker will find it hard to get full marks unless they have a good educational background, which strongly suggests it is not a true test of English communicative competence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEIC

Subject-Verb agreement

The fact that even native speakers may make subject-verb agreement errors may surprise non-native speakers. I talked about it in front of people today, and they seemed impressed.

When I lived with this roommate, I often heard him make such an error. He is like, "She don't." Then, I often corrected his error, which annoyed him.

Chinese food

I went to a Chinese restaurant yesterday. One server spilled soup over my clothes. My suit went wet. He said that I did not have to pay. I didn't know whether or not it was my day.

Hokkaido

Whether you are Japanese or English speakers, you could find Amy Chavez's columns interesting. Below is about Hokkaido, northern part of Japan where more and more foreigners live. I think that Hokkaido is not like other parts of Japan. If you are tired of how hectic life in Tokyo is, you should go to Hokkaido. I may think of moving there too.

Hokkaido is not just a location of "Kita no Kuni Kara (From the North Country)." It is getting popular amoung Westerners too in that the place does fit more than other places in Japan. I have been dreaming about going to Sweden to meet a beautiful girl, but if I realized I wouldn't able to make it, I might think of making my dream realistic and decide to move to Hokkaido and live there quietly. In a way, two places are kind of similar, aren't they?

According to the Japan Times:

Everything is big in Hokkaido. Big streets, big stores, big parking lots. Hokkaido doesn't give you that quaint, traditional, slightly claustrophobic feeling you get in Honshu and throughout the rest of Japan. Big gaijin would like Hokkaido.

Hokkaido is responsible for 10 percent of all the food output in Japan. Before I visited Hokkaido, most of the pictures I had seen of it were the side panels of milk cartons. They always featured happy cows grazing in large grassy pastures. One of the most famous dairy brands in Hokkaido is "Milkland Hokkaido." You've got to love a company whose motto is, "every day, every day, for tomorrow." ...

So the next time some foreigner complains about how small, cramped and crowded Japan is, you can tell them quite frankly where to go -- to Hokkaido.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070331cz.html

April Fools' Jokes

If I was Remington Steel, I could tell you a bunch of white lies today... I know he is not who he says he is. But, then who is Remington Steel?

Happy April Fools' Day! In Japan, people celebrate April 1 too. The Japan Times always reports some fake news on the day, although other newspapers in Japan never do that.

Acording to Wikipedia:

April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day, though not a holiday in its own right, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends and neighbors, or sending them on fools' errands, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. In some countries, April Fools' jokes (also called "April Fools") are only made before noon on April 1st.[1] It is also widely celebrated on the Internet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools

Although I want to put a funny April Fool's joke on this blog site, I can't think of anything. Therefore, I really hope that this day was your day. If somebody has got it going on around you, you could say something you hardly say to him or her. Even if you messed up, you could say "Oh, it's an April Fool's joke!"

Pretty Cool

I watched a comedy titled Pretty Cool (2001) last night. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251951/ It was like American Pie. I have nothing to say about its content. Instead, I picked up some phrases that may be unfamiliar to English learners in Japan:

1) Miss Smith is not who she says she is.

Because of "she says" that's inserted, the reletive clause structure in this sentence is hard to be recognized.

2) Don't ever talk to me again.

"Ever" means "at any time." Japanese people easily understand the usage of "ever" when it is used in a question with present perfect.

Have you ever taken a TOEIC test?

Note: TOEIC is Test of English for International Communication. This exam is very common in Japan.

3) Class dismissed.

Japanese people knows "That's all for today." But, in the states, "Class dismissed" is also commonly used, as you know.

昨日，寝る前に気晴らしでコメディーを見た．内容についてはあまり云うことはないが，使える英語表現は結構あった．まず，

Ms. Smith is not who she says she is.

これは，whoではじまる関係詞節にshe saysが挿入されているので，文構造を見抜くのが難しくなっている．「スミス先生は，自分でそういっていた通りの人ではない」という意味．

Don't ever talk to me again.

日本人は，現在完了の疑問文で使われたときしかeverをきちんと使えない人が多いが，実際はもっと広く使われる．at any timeの意味であることに変わりがない．この文の意味は，すぐにわかると思うが，「もう2度と私に話しかけないで」ということである．ただ，意味がわかるだけじゃなくて，自分で使えるようになるまで練習することは必要である．

Class dismissed.

「授業はこれまで」というお決まり表現．高校や大学などではこっちの方が普通じゃないかと思う．もちろん，That's all for today.という表現も間違いではない．ただ，日本人が海外の教室にいる場合，自分が先生であるよりも，学生であることが多いだろうから．意味は知っていないといけない．

ついでに，この原題はPretty Coolであるが，ここでのprettyはもちろん「かわいい」ではなく「かなり」である．実際，このprettyはratherよりもよく使われる．