What the French waiter said －フランス人のウェイターさんが何と言ったか－

The Canadian restaurant owner said to the waiter, “You are too aggressive and combative towards your fellow workers.  You are fired!”

The waiter, who was French, said, “You can’t fire me for being rude towards my colleagues.  You are violating my human rights!” 

When the case went to court, The judge asked him why he thought the restaurant was violating his human rights.

“Well,” said the waiter, “I’m French.”

“Umm... how is that relevant?” asked the judge.

“French culture is more direct and expressive than Canadian culture.  So, you see, I was not trying to be rude.  I was only behaving in a way that is natural in France.  The restaurant is discriminating against me by not making allowances for my Frenchness!”

The court case will continue.

What a great excuse!  I like this waiter.  I have changed his words to make his argument clear, but basically his defence is as I have written above.

I feel that he is being a little unfair to his fellow Frenchmen.  There is a negative stereotype that French waiters can be rude.  I haven’t spent enough time in France to know if there is any truth in this.  But it is surprising that the person perpetuating this stereotype is himself French.

Let’s imagine that this French waiter’s legal defence is successful.  What other arguments might people put forward in their defence after this case?

“Judge, they fired me for being lazy.”

“Yes?”

“Well, I’m British.  You can’t expect me to work hard.  They must make allowances for my Britishness.”

Or, maybe: “You can’t fire me for being constantly late and finding it hard to get out of bed before 1pm.  I’m a university student!  What do you expect?”

Vocabulary:

combative – ready or eager to fight or argue

to fire someone – to take away someone’s job or employment

to violate someone’s human rights – to treat someone so badly that you are not treating them to the minimum level that all humans should expect

rude – not polite; not respectful towards others

to discriminate against someone – to treat someone differently to others, in an unfair way

to make allowances for something – to take special circumstances about something into account, when making a decision (eg. “The judge made allowances for his mental illness and gave him a lighter punishment.”)

a stereotype – a simple and often negative image about a group of people

to perpetuate something – to make something continue; especially of something negative, such as a myth or stereotype, to help it continue long into the future 

 

Small －スモール－

“I wish I were big.”

12 year-old Josh, in the 1988 film, “Big”

Like most people, I suspect, I spent a lot of time as a child wishing that I were older and bigger.

I remember sitting with my friends when I was a primary school student and rolling up a piece of paper into the shape of a cigarette, then setting fire to the end of it.  I breathed in the smoke, thinking that I would be like an adult.  Instead, I just burned my throat and coughed a lot.  Apparently they don’t make cigarettes out of school notebooks.  And they put a filter on the end!

I was thinking about an old fantasy-comedy film from the 1980s starring Tom Hanks recently.  In the film, “Big”, a 12 year old boy wishes to be big, and is magically transformed into a 30 year-old.  The boy in adult form, played by Tom Hanks, has to get a job until he can reverse the magic.

There are a lot of funny scenes.  A female co-worker of Tom Hanks becomes attracted to him and they have a fun day out together, then sit talking in Hanks’ apartment late in the evening.

She hints that she might like to stay the night.  Hanks innocently says, “Do you mean sleep over?  Okay, but I get to be on top!”

He is of course thinking of the bunk-bed he has in his apartment, one bunk on top and the other underneath.

The scene which brought the film to mind recently, though, was this: Hanks goes to a swanky toy store and there is a giant keyboard on the ground.  He plays a tune on the keyboard by jumping from one key to another.

My wife and I received some hand-me-down toys for my son at the weekend.  He got lots of things, including a little tent and a fold-away jungle-gym.  He used to have few toys.  Now going into his play area reminds me of stepping into the swanky toy store in the film.

But it is a bit of a challenge to get him to play with his new toys.  He has gotten used to a life without them, and loves getting his mum or dad to flick through a picture book with him instead.

So I have been playing with his toys.  I put some music on and sit inside the tent, cross-legged.  There is just enough room.  Life feels more peaceful inside a little tent.  I feel like meditating.  My son comes to visit with a picture book.  It’s nice to be small.

Vocabulary:

to reverse something – to put something back to the way it was; to undo a change

to sleep over – to spend the night at another person’s house, especially for a child to spend the night at a friend’s house

a bunk-bed – A bed with more than one sleeping area, usually one on top of another

to bring something to mind – to make one remember something or think of something

swanky – (informal) stylishly luxurious and expensive

hand-me-down – second hand; donated by a previous owner

to flick through something – of a book, photo album etc., to look through at speed, looking only briefly at each page, picture etc.

to meditate – to focus one’s mind in silence, usually for religious or spiritual purposes

Translating Kawabata’s Snow Country －川端の雪国を訳すこと－

I finished reading Yasunari Kawabata’s novel, Snow Country (Yukiguni) in Japanese today.

It was difficult to understand, but I did notice one very important difference between the English translation and the original Japanese text, which I’d like to compare.  The English translation of one vital scene didn’t seem to capture the original meaning.

The scene involves the two main characters in the novel: Komako and Shimamura.  Komako is a geisha at a hot-spring resort.  She entertains male guests to the holiday resort at drinking parties or in their rooms.  Shimamura is a rich, older man who occasionally visits from Tokyo.  He doesn’t think deeply about the world around him, or other people’s feelings.

Shimamura occasionally visits the hot spring and is entertained by Komako.  After a while they begin a physical relationship.  Komako falls in love with Shimamura.  But since Shimamura is already married, and can only make occasional visits to the hot-spring, there is something sad and doomed about the love affair.  Komako knows that it will not last but falls for Shimamura anyway.

In the vital scene, the relationship between the two subtly changes.  They are both drinking alcohol in Shimamura’s room.  Komako cradles Shimamura like a baby.

Here is an extract of the scene in English:

*

A childlike feeling of security came to Shimamura from the warmth of her body.  She seemed ill-at-ease, like a young woman, still childless, who takes a baby up in her arms.

“You’re a good girl.”

“Why?  Why am I good?  What’s good about me?”

“You’re a good girl.”

“Don’t tease me!  It’s wrong of you.”  She laughed.  “I’m not good at all.  It’s not easy having you here.  You’d best go home.  Each time I come to see you I want to put on a new kimono, and now I have none left!  This one is borrowed.  So you see: I’m not really good at all!”

Shimamura did not answer.

“And what do you find good in me?”  Her voice was a little husky.  “The first day I met you I thought I had never seen anyone I disliked more.  People just don’t say the sort of things you say.  I hated you!”

Shimamura nodded.

“Oh?  You understand then why I have not mentioned it before?  When a woman has to say these things, she has gone as far as she can, you know?”

“But it’s all right.”

“Is it?”

They were silent for some moments.  Komako seemed to be looking back on herself and the awareness of a woman’s being alive came to Shimamura, and her warmth.

“You’re a good woman.”

“How am I good?”

“A good woman.”

“What an odd person!”  Her face was hidden from him, as though she were rubbing her jaw against an itching shoulder.  Then suddenly – Shimamura had no idea why – she raised herself angrily to an elbow.

“A good woman?  What do you mean by that?  What do you mean?”

He only stared at her.

“Admit it!  That’s why you came to see me.  You were laughing at me!  You were laughing at me after all.”

She glared at him, scarlet with anger.

*

So Komako’s feelings are hurt when Shimamura switches from saying, “You’re a good girl,” to, “You’re a good woman.”  Is there such a big difference between “girl” and “woman”?  “Woman” doesn’t sound disrespectful in English, so the change in meaning is not very clear.

But the scene makes more sense in the original Japanese.  At first Shimamura says, “kimi ha ii ko da ne... ii ko day o.”  He then changes to kimi ha ii onna da ne... ii onna day o.”

In Japanese, you can refer to a woman as “josei” or “onna no hito”, which sound more respectful.  Using “onna” sounds much more directly sexual than “woman” in English.  In Japanese it is clearer why Komako’s feelings are hurt.  She realises that Shimamura has no deep feelings for her, but visits the hot spring to use her body.

How can you translate this meaning into English?  You could say, “You are a good woman, very womanly.”  This stresses that she is physically like a woman, or sexually attractive.  Or you could say, “I’ve got a good woman.”  This stresses that Shimamura feels he owns Komako, or treats her like an object rather than a person.

Translation is difficult!  And my blog is already too long... It’s Shimamura’s fault.  He’s a bad man.

Vocabulary:

a novel – a long, fictional story

vital – extremely important

occasionally – not often

doomed – fated to end badly

to fall for someone – to start to love someone, especially deeply or uncontrollably

subtly – in a small and hard to detect or understand way

to cradle someone – to hold someone tightly, like one holds a small baby

ill-at-ease - uncomfortable

to tease someone – to make fun of someone; to laugh at someone in a light, joking manner

itching – of skin, feeling irritated so that you want to scratch it

to glare – to stare at someone in anger

scarlet – of a brilliant red colour

 

Changing your personality by studying a second language －第二言語を学んで人格を変えること－

I noticed recently that I tend to speak Japanese in a very soft way.  When I was going shopping with a guide, I kept saying “... ni ikimashou ka?” (Shall we go to...?)  I wondered to myself if I would express where I wanted to go so softly if I were speaking in English.  I don’t think that I would.  I would probably say, “Okay, let’s go to...” (ja, ... ni ikou)

My wife told me that she used to have a Chinese colleague who spoke fluent Chinese, Japanese and English.  He used to use all three languages at work to deal with customers and colleagues.  But the odd thing was that he sounded very sharp, authoritative and manly in two languages – Chinese and Japanese.  And he sounded quite mild, kind, and effeminate in one language – English.  She says that if he used one language for a long time, even his behaviour started to change.  He seemed to become more considerate to others when using English.

Can changing language really have such an influence over our personality?  And if so, why?  Is it the language itself which promotes certain attitudes in the speaker, or is it the circumstances in which the speaker learned the language that is important?

Maybe my wife’s former Chinese colleague learned English by listening to an old-fashioned, softly-spoken teacher.  When he deals with a colleague’s request or problem in English, the phrases which instantly spring to mind are soft, such as, “Can I give you a hand?”  If he learned Japanese from an argumentative girlfriend, perhaps the phrases which spring to mind are naturally sharper, such as, “dou shita no?” (What’s up?)

My polite Japanese comes from textbooks and from hearing new students speaking very polite Japanese to me.  Maybe I can train myself to speak more casually or roughly by listening to Imawano Kiyoshiro songs?  I like the Timers song, “Doboku sagyouin”: “ore no hataraku, doboku genba. Kyou mou shigoto tsurai. Meshi ha nee ka, kyuukei mada kai. Ore ha mada nemutte itai!” (I work at a construction site.  Work’s tough again today.  Isn’t it time to eat yet?  No break yet?  I wanna go back to sleep!)

So if learning a second language can not only improve your language skill but also change your personality, it is very important to find the right teacher!  I suggest an English teacher who speaks polite British English.  And who lives in Nerima.  And who likes Imawano Kiyoshiro.

Vocabulary:

sharp – of a comment, not soft or not gentle

authoritative – commanding and self-confident

manly – having or showing those good qualities traditionally associated with men, such as courage and strength

mild – not harsh; gentle or soft

effeminate – of a man, having (generally negative) qualities traditionally associated with women, such as weakness or softness

to promote – to encourage; to push forward

to spring to mind – of a thought, word etc., to suddenly appear in one’s mind