● Back Numbers 005〜008
今回(No.005)は、私たちがふだんあまり使うことのない「身体の部位」を表すことば、および、それらを用いた例文をあげていただきました。 |
No. 005 Rare body parts
----あなたの英語を印象的にするには? |
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Today I was doing some dictionary work, and came across quite a number of what may be called "rare body parts". Actually, I did not know the Japanese equivalents of some of these parts, so I made a point of learning them. One way of making one's language more impressive is to use words that are rather rare, and which the average learner is not likely to know. With this in mind, I have made the list below. Try not only to memorize the English words, but also the sentences. 脳天 I hit the man on the crown of his head. |
● Words & Phrases ●
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(帝京大学教授 Christopher Barnard) |
次回掲載予定、3月14日 |
「迎えに行く/来る」を"pick up"と言うことは、ご存知の方も多いでしょう。しかし、さらにその場合、どんな乗り物を使うのかは、どう言えばいいのでしょう? |
No. 006 He picked me up at the airport.
----「迎えに来る」場合の乗り物は何か? |
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If I said to you, "Please pick me up at the airport", I would be rather disappointed if you came by bus or train, and then expected me to take the bus or train back home with you. The verb "pick up" in this sense means "come and meet me in a car (and take me home)". Does it cover only a private car, or would it also include a taxi? I have asked various native speakers, and have had different answers, so we can conclude that "pick me up" perhaps covers the taxi situation. In Japanese, one could say, バスで空港へ迎えに行きます. "Pick up" would not cover this situation. Probably we would say something like this: I will take the bus (train) to the airport, and meet you there . It would be a mistake to say something like this (which is a direct translation from the Japanese): × I will meet you at the airport |
● Words & Phrases ●
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(帝京大学教授 Christopher Barnard) |
次回掲載予定、3月21日 |
現代社会はどこを見回しても、色彩にあふれています。だとしたら、そんな多種多様な色彩表現を使いこなすのも英語学習の必須条件ではないでしょうか? |
No. 007 Talking about colours
----色をカラフルに言ってみよう |
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We live in a world of fashion. It is only natural that we should be able to talk about the many colours we see around us. Here are some different ways that we can talk about colours in detail: 1) Use "dark" or "light": dark blue, light green Since people may well describe the same colour in different ways, when talking about them, we tend to be rather vague, by saying things like this: It is sort of salmon pink. These sentences using "sort/kind of", "more or less", etc., are examples of vague language. Mastering vague language will help your English to sound much more natural. I will take up the question of vague language in the next Column. |
● Words & Phrases ●
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(帝京大学教授 Christopher Barnard) |
次回掲載予定、3月28日 |
今回は、前回触れた「英語のあいまい表現」について、さらにくわしく解説しています。日本語でも、特に会話では、あいまいな言い方が多用されており、それにより、私たちの話す言葉がさらに「日本語らしく」なっているのに気づかれることでしょう。 |
No. 008 Vague language
----あいまい表現を使いこなそう |
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In the last Column, I said that vague language will help your English to sound more natural. There are two main reasons for this. First, vague language is a very natural part of our daily language use. For example, in your daily Japanese, you often say things like: のようなもの, 何となく, だいたい, 〜っぽい, 〜的な, etc. However, in "formal" language learning, such as at school, much of this vague language tends to be overlooked or ignored. Thus, students may learn "The car is red". But they are very unlikely to learn "The car is kind of red", or "The colour was somewhere between green and blue". Generally, learners who master vague language do so in natural situations (e.g., living abroad), or because they have made a special effort to do so. Second, since a learner of a foreign language does not know that language perfectly, it is only natural that much of what she says is less than 100% exact or accurate. Instead of looking for the English word that is the exact equivalent to a Japanese word, you can use vague language to convey your basic meaning. Here are some examples of vague language used to convey the general meaning of some Japanese words: 螺旋階段 They are steps that are sort of like a corkscrew. I suggest that you try to think of some different Japanese words and expressions, and see if you can explain them using vague language. |
● Words & Phrases ●
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(帝京大学教授 Christopher Barnard) |
次回掲載予定、4月4日 |