[Calling a person with a title] 英語で「●●先輩」と言うには？

My 12-year-old girl had a club activity last Saturday, and she had asked me something like this the previous day: "Daddy, can you go to H station with me tomorrow?" This H station is the nearest stop to her school. I said ok.

The next morning we got on the train together until we went to the station near her school. She was to see one of her friends out there. Having arrived there a bit earlier, we stayed inside the station to have a chat until her friend would show up. Trains came along one after another, and several club members passed in front of us. My daughter said to me, "She's an 8th grader" or "He's in highschool."
As she was explaining to me about the students who she waved her hand at, there was an expression that went: "She is also Senpai."

"Senpai" is an expression often used in Japan when you call somebody who is older than you. It is like a title, which is used to show respect. She knew that word because she had heard it so often at her old Japanese school, as well as in TV dramas.

I asked her, "How do you usually say 'Senpai' in English when you are at school?"
I was just curious. There are Japanese kids out there in her school, and we are in Japan.

"Mmm..." My 12-year-old starts thinking. "We just say, 'Hi, Scott' or something. There is no such thing in English like Senpai.'

In that evening, she was walking around the station after her activity was done. There were two Japanese elementary school kids, who are attending my daughter's old Japanese elementary school. They belonged to the same club as my daughter until she was graduated from that school. As soon as these two girls found my 12-year-old, they raised their voices, "Sub-leaderrrr!!!"

It was at this moment that I reassured that calling somebody with a title is very important in a Japanese-speaking community in order to show respect. In an English-speaking community, on the other hand, there is no such thing because there are other ways to show respect.

I was thinking for a while about that difference between Japanese and English on the way back here to Toyota city today.

========================
先週の土曜日は12歳の娘がクラブ活動に出かける日でした。前日彼女が「ダディ、H駅まで一緒に行ってきてほしい」と言いました。H駅とは学校から最寄りの駅です。私はOKと言ったのでした。

翌朝、我々はその最寄り駅まで二人で電車に乗っていきました。彼女は駅で友達と会うことになっていました。少し早く着いたので、駅の中でずっと話をして、その友達が来るまで待ちました。電車は次から次へと到着し、5～6人の部員たちが我々の前を通り過ぎました。娘は私に「あの人は8年生」とか「あの人は高校生」などと私に言いました。手を振って挨拶した生徒たちについてそうやって説明しているうち、彼女はこんな日本語交じりの言い方をしました。「She is also Senpai.」

Senpai（先輩）というのは、自分より年上の人を呼ぶ際日本でよく使用される表現です。それは敬意を示すための肩書きのようなものです。娘がその言葉を知っているのは、以前日本の学校に通っていてそれをよく聞いていたのだろうし、TVのドラマを見ていてもよく耳にするためでしょう。
「学校で会話する時、Senpaiは英語で何て言う？」
と私は娘に尋ねました。
私はちょっと興味がありました。学校には日本人がたくさんいます。しかもここは日本です。
「うーん」12歳の娘は考えはじめました。「私たちの場合、ただ"Hi, Scott"とかそういった風に言う。Senpaiといった言い方は英語ではしていない」

夕方、クラブ活動を終えた娘は駅の近くを歩いていましたが、そこに二人の日本人の小学生がおりました。彼女らは娘が通っていた日本の小学校に今も通学している子たちです。娘が卒業するまで同じクラブの部員でした。娘の姿を見つけるや否や、女の子たちは「副部長さぁ～ん!!!」と声をあげたのでした。

そこで私は、日本では肩書きは、人を呼ぶ際、その人に敬意を示すためにはとても重要だと再確認しました。一方、英語の場合だと、そういったものはない。それというのも、それ以外の方法で人に敬意や尊重を示すことが可能だからです。

豊田市に戻ってくる道中、私はそういった「日本語と英語の違い」について、すこし考えたりしました。

[Japan used to be like that] 昔の日本はこうだった

I had a chance to speak with my father a year ago or so, and he gave me this book on machine designing that (presumably) he or his brother was studying with as a highschool student in Japan. He is approaching 70 years old now, but he was keeping the book in good shape. It was as old as an antique, which seemed perfect just to put it up on a bookshelf or something.

I opened the book to start reading the introduction. I quickly learned that everything seemed totally different from the situation of now today. The author of the highschool textbook was so enthusiastic and even anxious about the future of the Japanese nation. I was able to tell how the country was like in that period of time. Japan was not one of those advanced countries yet, but was wishing to be one. Reading that introduction, I realized that many people of this country seemed to have a great deal of passion toward restoring themselves. I was impressed by that strong emotion, and that is why I want to pick up this introduction this time.

I personally have an impression that the way it is described is pretty much Japanese, because it reminds me of a great deal of "we, Japanese" sort of idea, which many of non-Japanese individuals might take "discriminatory". But this has been lasting presumably since this country came into being. Even in this 21st century, this mentality is remaining so strongly, which is one of the biggest characteristics of this nation. The difference between the "we, Japanese" perception I see now today and the one I find in this introduction is that the former is working not favorably, whereas the latter seems pretty good because it looks like the people are trying to be united for becoming better. - Anything has a good part and a bad part, just like any medicine we drink. And I wanted to pick up this old time's stuff because by reading this introduction I wanted to be more motivated like these people of the old time.

The original (Japanese) does not include the paragraph numbers. I have put those things for any convenience to those who may want to read and study Japanese and English.

If there are any mistakes or good advice on my translated text, please let me know.

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English translation:
1.
Now we are living in a competition era of human history. We need to run ahead of other countries, until prosperity will be promised to us. We can not enjoy substantial happiness or comfort without making it. Japan consists of some small islands, and sadly we do not have much natural resource. There is not even enough resource for petroleum or steels.
2.
How do we prosper ourselves? Practically speaking, I think the only possible way should be to take the path of becoming an industrialized country. Japan is known as a country of marine products industry, but it is on the way to be gradually squeezed. On the other hand, however, we can put all of our energy in order to be industrialized. Nobody should be able to stop it. - What do you think?
3.
Think about our industrial level from the global perspective. How many of our products can be considered beyond that level? Only a few can be counted in it. There are so many problems to overcome, and I realize that there is still a long way to go.
4.
The Japanese have a best suited quality for becoming engineering specialists. But I must say that just having that quality would not be enough. We need to put it into practice.
5.
It will not be said enough how many of you graduate from tech high schools, vocational schools or universities in order to reach that goal. Beside those people who are lucky enough to learn at schools, other people have very few books to help them master a specialized field on their own and earn a living. On top of that, the amount of books on machine engineering is helplessly small, which is no good for our country to be successful as being industrialized.
6.
This textbook "Machine Designing" is intended to be written for tech highschool students who will learn mechanics. The book is following the instructions from the Educational Department of Japan. Please note that I was unable to go so far as to cover all of the things on kinematics or material engineering. I encourage you to refer to another book, such as "Machine Application Dynamics," which covers this area suitably.
7.
I feel sorry that in some places I had to be a little too formal when explaining things, so you might feel this book appears difficult to read. I also have a concern that you might think you are getting nowhere when you come across an integration statement. But don't take it too hard on that, because the mathematical expressions are used only to explain about designing methodologies. So you would only need to be focused to apply the outputs of the math.
8.
Machine designing has a lot to do with the Japan Industry Standard (JIS), and so that is why I adopted this standard whenever I could. As to the [Relation Standard], the 1965 version was adopted. The names for machine elements also have English titles for your reference. The terminology in the textbook is based on the JIS and the Academic Terminology Glossary.
9.
Machine designing requires you to have broad and systematic knowledge that is closely related to machining, machine materials, machine application dynamics, and so forth (the contents of which are published as other textbooks). So I do hope that you will study and fully understand these subjects, until you will have finally learned how to design on your own.

Tokuzo Suzuki


1年ぐらい前、父親と顔を合わせる機会があり、その際、父またはその弟が高校時代(日本の高校)に使っていた機械科の教科書をもらいました。もう70歳にもなろうとしている父親がくれた高校の教科書なので、それはまるで骨董品です。読まずに飾っておいてもいいようなものです。

とはいえ、本を開き、最初のページから読んでみました。まえがきが私には面白く、筆者の日本国への将来を案じつつ、多大に期待するような気持ちについてなど、特に印象に残ります。当時の日本がどんな雰囲気だったかを感じとることができます。国をあげてこれから先進国になるんだという気概があり、それが素晴らしいと思ったので、今回ここで取り上げてみようと思いました。

さて、これは一読して実に日本人っぽい感覚だなぁと分かります。いたるところに「われわれ日本人は」的なものを私は垣間見ます。非日本人の感覚からすると、こういった感情を「人種差別的」ということで、疎ましいと思う向きも確かにあります。ただし、これはおそらく有史以来、日本人に染みついた感情ではないかとも思うので、善し悪しの問題ではないと思います。飲み薬がそうであるように、こういった気質も、良く作用する場合とそうでない場合の両方があるように思います。私が今回取り上げる高校の教科書にかかれた文章は、その点でいけば、非常に良い方向に作用していると思います。みんなで結束し、成長するんだ、という思いを感じます。自分もこれを読むと、当時の日本人のような気持ちになり、励みになります。

ここでの便宜上、引用した文章には段落番号を付してありますが、その点ご了承ください。

==================================================
「東京教育学院工学部版　機械工学科　教科書」より引用：
まえがき
1.
現代の世界は平和的競争時代であって、国の水準を他国より優秀な地位におかなければ国の繁栄を握ることが困難である。繁栄がなされなければ国民の富もなし、安心もない。日本は小さな島国であり、天然の資源が悲しいほど不足である。石油もなければ鉄鋼も貧弱である。
2.
こういう国柄である以上何によって国を富ますかを考えれば、手近な手段として工業国立国以外に歩む道が見当たらない。水産国としては世界の注視をあびているが、水産関係は徐々に苦しくなる立場におかれつつある。工業はだれにもじゃまはされない。工業立国以外に何があろうか。
3.
日本の工業はしからば世界水準に達しているかどうか。世界水準に達していると思われる製品は微々たるものである。考えなければならない点は多く、また道もまた遠しの感がある。
4.
日本国民は工業には最適する頭脳の所有者である。所有者であるだけでは問題にならない。実力者でなければならない。
5.
工業に関する高等学校、専門学校、大学を卒業する技術者は現在いくらあっても不足している。それらの学校生活を持つ者は別として、わが手で食べ、わが心で専門技術を習得してゆく人々にとって良い教科書は非常に少なく、ことに機械工学においては困るぐらい少ない現在である。これでは工業国になれる道理がない。
6.
本書「機械設計」は、文部省高等学校機械化指導要領に従って執筆したものであって、範囲の非常に広い機械要素を主体として、それに関係ある他の科目を若干採ってある。したがって、この教科書中に述べられてある機構学および材料の強さなどは到底十分には表わされえない。それらは別刊教科書の「機械応用力学」に関係深い項目であるからそれらを参照されたい。
7.
書き方がやや堅苦しく、読んでいて理解することが容易でないような表現となっていることを心苦しく思う。ことに一部に積分学の一端が記述してあって、不可解ではあるまいかと心配するが、設計法では数学は説明のためのものであるから数学そのものに苦しむ必要はなく、その答えを応用することに専念してもらえたら幸いと思う。
8.
機械設計は、日本工業規格（JIS）と深い関係があり、よって主要な規格表は紙面の許す限り採り入れた。とくにねじ関係規格は1965年改定のものを採用した。要素には、参考のためになるべく英語を添えてある。用語は原則として、JISの用語および学術用語集によった。
9.
機械設計は、「機械工作」、「機械材料」、「機械応用工学」などの他の科目（別刊教科書）と密接な関係を持つ総合的な体系であるから、それらについても十分な理解をもって勉学されんことを望むものであって、それで初めて設計能力が習得できるものと信じる。

鈴木徳蔵

[Subbed: Nuclear Boy] 原発くんビデオ

Original upload by http://www.youtube.com/user/onaradaijobu

This video is originally from a Youtube uploader's writeup:
This is based on the simple analysis on the current state of the Fukushima Nuclear power plant created by Kazuhiko Hachiya, a media artist (http://togetter.com/li/111871)

The creator of the video is not a nuke plant issue expert, so I encourage you to get more accurate information that Tokyo Electric Power Company provides.

I would like to thank all of the people who are working on this issue in Fukushima at the risk of their lives. I also would like to pray for the best.

I personally find this video very funny and useful, and that's why I wanted to put up this video here.

Hope that this video will help you better understand the issue.

I also hope that the things will turn out fine as the cartoon suggests.

The Young Lady's Journal on a TV Program, Shimura Dobutsu-en (志村動物園)

My daughter sent me a journal today on a TV program she watched. The program's title is Shimura Domutsu-en (志村動物園/ The Shimura Zoo). She loves animals so much. Her grandparents have two dogs and every time she visits there for a couple of days, she stays with the dogs the whole day. Even when it is snowing she plays outside with the dogs. She even keeps lying down or sitting down on the ground to play. It is like she is thinking herself as a dog, too. Looking all that, they say, "She is possessed with the spirit of animals!” Yeah, she is really crazy about animals.

=============================================================
This is the journal she sent to me, and I'm going to give her some advice on how she can improve it (including some spelling/ grammar mistakes to correct as well as how she can make it more descriptive).
=============================================================

I watched a TV program called shimuradoubutsuen. There is a story what I want to write about. There is one dog named Sara. She is a quiet dog when her mom is home. But when her mom is out she changes to a different dog. She acts that kind of bad thing when it becomes a cold season. She messes up everything in the room when her mom is not home. She gets on the chair and flips the chair over and gets on the shelf and drops many things. When Sara's mom saw it, she said she wanted to know how come Sara does it. So I think she called that person. The person's name is Heidi. She was invited there because she can hear what the dog wants to say. She went to her house to hear what the dog wants to say. As Heidi started to consentrate on Sara, Heidi said did you ever throw away Sara? The mom said I had a big canser so I could not stay with her. And that is why she does that kind of thing. And the mom cried a lot. When I watched this I thought I wanted to be like Heidi because I want to hear an animal's voice. If I can do it I can let a lot of animals stay with me.

From "The Tale of Ise" (伊勢物語より)

This is an exercise for bettering my translation skills. Hopefully I will be even better at my everyday technical translation activities that I am currently engaged with. (Not to mention my another duty (This is even more important!) as a technical supporter of 3D CAD). Note that this is not a translation of the original but a translation plus some more explanation in the modern English.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The Tale of Ise (伊勢物語)" is a collection of poems and narratives, which consists of more than 100 sections, including romantic episodes over an ideal central character. This character is suggested to be Ariwara no Narihira (在原業平 825-880), an influential politician of the time. There is another collection of poems (Kokin Waka Shu, 905: 古今和歌集), containing similar headnotes attributed to Ariwara no Narihira. Some critics say that this Ariawara (an actually existed individual) and the imaginary central character of the tale have something in common in terms of how they were described. "The Tale of Ise" is considered to be published around the time this "Kokin Waka Shu" (translated as "The Collection of Contemporary Waka Poems") was released in 905.

私は技術翻訳・通訳を十七歳の頃から少しずつやらせていただいております。また、仕事以外では日本文学の読書・英訳を趣味にしています。普段着の私が大体どのような感じの英語に翻訳するのかをご覧いただくべく、簡単なサンプルを用意させていただいている次第です。

今回は翻訳というよりは、原文（古文）の「現代英語解釈版」を行なっております。 その旨ご了承ください。


[1] Original

昔、田舎わたらひしける人の子ども、井のもとにいでて遊びけるをおとなになりにければ、男も女も恥ぢかはしてありけれど、男は「この女をこそ得め。」と思ふ。女は「この男を。」と思ひつつ、親のあはすれども聞かでなむありける。

さて、この隣の男のもとより、かくなむ、

筒井筒井筒にかけし まろがたけ過ぎにけらしな妹見ざるまに

女、返し、

くらべこし振り分け髪も肩すぎぬ君ならずしてたれかあぐべき

などと言ひ言ひて、つひに本意のごとくあひにけり。


[1] English translation

Once upon a time, there were a little boy and a little girl in a small village, who used to play together. As they grew up, they started to feel shy one another, but the boy was secretly thinking, "I want to marry her." The girl also thought the same but didn't show her feeling. Their parents suggested their son and daughter that they marry but they refused every time.

The boy had his servant send this poem to the girl:

"Do you still remember the days we used to measure our heights near the well?
I'm sure you can't imagine how tall I have got now. We haven't seen each other for a long time."

The girl replied in a poem:

"We also used to see each other how long our hair had become.
My hair has become even much longer so as to go beyond my shoulder.
Now I'm ready for the martial ritual to tie my hair up. It is for no other man but you."

They were corresponding to each other like this, until finally they married as they had long wished in secret.



[2] Original

さて、年ごろ 経るほどに、女、親なく、頼りなくなるままに、
「もろともにいふかひなくてあらむやは。」
とて、河内の国、高安の郡に、行き通ふ所いできにけり。

さりけれど、このもとの女、「あし。」と思へる気色もなくて、
いだしやりければ、男、「こと心ありてかかるに やあらむ。」
と思ひ疑ひて、前栽の中に隠れゐて、河内へいぬる顔にて見れば、
この女、いとよう化粧じて、うちながめて、

風吹けば沖つ白波 たつた山夜半にや君がひとり越ゆらむ

とよみけるを聞きて、限りなくかなしと思ひて、河内へもいかずなりにけり。



[2] English translation

Years went by and the girl's father passed away. This incident challenged their life because they had relied substantially on this father. The boy couldn't stand that tough situation. He started to date with another girl at Takayasu county, Kawachi prefecture.

Although the boy was away from home sometimes to see another girl, the wife didn't seem to get upset. The boy started suspecting, "It's strange. I wonder if she's got another guy." One day he said to his wife, "I'm going to Kawachi now," but he hid himself in the bush in the house yard to see what she'd be doing while he was out.

It turned out that the wife was there, dressed up nicely, and was looking far in distance to recite this poem:

"He must be crossing over Mt. Tatsuta by now. The mountain's name reminds me of the ocean that wavers when the wind blows. I wonder if he is safe..."

Seeing all this, the boy was pretty much moved; and he didn't go see that another girl as much as he did.



[3] Original

まれまれかの高安に来て見れば、初めこそ心にくくもつくりけれ、
今はうちとけて、手づから飯匙とりて、笥子のうつはものに盛りけるを見て、
心憂がりて、行かずなりにけり。さりければ、かの女、大和の方を見やりて、

君があたり見つつを居らむ生駒山雲な隠しそ雨は降るとも

と言ひて見いだすに、からうじて大和人、「来む。」と言へり。

喜びて待つに、たびたび過ぎぬれば、

君来むといひし夜ごとに過ぎぬれば頼まぬものの恋ひつつぞ経る

と言ひけれど、男住まずなりにけり。


[3] English translation

There was a time one day that the boy went to see the girl of Takayasu, where he found the girl was behaving vulgarly and shamelessly. The boy was disappointed because she was appearing girlishly first, but now she changed. He thought he wouldn't want to see her.

This girl didn't know anything about all this. She was looking at the direction of Yamato, where the boy was living.

She composed this poem:

"I'm looking at Mt. Ikoma, thinking that you live beyond that mountain.
I speak to the cloud, 'Don't you cover that up, even if it rains. ' "

Receiving this poem, the boy replied to her, "I will be there soon."
The girl was so glad but the boy didn't show up.

The girl sent another poem:

"You didn't come tonight...
I'm counting the days until you will come..."

But the boy didn't see her anymore.

[12-yr-old and her dad reading the GUNDAM script (English/Japanese)] 父と娘が読むガンダムの脚本(日英)

毎日寝る前に読書するようマミーが言うので、娘は正月自宅に帰ってきた単身赴任のDaddyとこのような「読書」をしたいと提案したのでした。

テキストは"ガンダムで英語を身につける本―あの名セリフは英語だとこうなる!" (ガンダムEnglish研究会 [著])


まずは日本語をよみ、それから英語訳を読みました。
（思いつきでやってみた迄なので、余り上手ではないのでご了承ください。）
バイリンガルのブログなので、掲載するのにちょうどいいかと思い、載せております。
娘と日本語で会話することは無いので、ここで我々は日本語を披露し合いました。

[1]カイがマチルダ中尉に「一緒に写真を撮ってください」とお願いしている場面。
（ちなみに「中尉」を「ちゅうさ」と読んでいるのは間違い。正しくは「ちゅうい」です。）
[2]「親父にもぶたれたことないのに！」の場面。
[3] アムロがホワイトベースの独房に入れられた時の場面

（夜間なので、近所に迷惑にならないよう、かなり静かに読んでおります…）

[1]カイがマチルダ中尉に「一緒に写真を撮ってください」とお願いしている場面


[2]「親父にもぶたれたことないのに！」の場面


[3] アムロがホワイトベースの独房に入れられた時の場面

[My 12-yr-old singing karaoke] 娘のカラオケ

I went back home during the year-end and came back here to Toyota on Jan 5. My 12-year-old girl was always sticking to me as if she was glue or something.
We went to a karaoke place and this is what I recorded when she was singing.

My 12-yr-old singing "Jesus Loves Me"