Never Underestimate "等 (Tou)"! 「等」の訳し方

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

A Japanese man asked me what the translation of the following term is:

指名委員会等設置会社 shimei iinkai tou settichi gaisha

I told him that, in order to translate it, I needed to look up and understand the meaning of this term. He looked puzzled. He seemed to have thought that the translation should be "a company with nominating committee, etc.," and came to me only to confirm that his translation was correct.

Today's topic is "等 (tou)," which means “etc.,” or “and others. ” Many legal terms include "tou" to avoid specifically explaining something." So, translators have to be very careful about this term.

In this case, as I said to the man, I first needed to find the definition of "指名委員会等設置会社" and translated the definition into English as follows:

A company with audit, nomination and compensation committees (revised on September 22, 2023)

Yes. "指名委員会等" of "指名委員会等設置会社" means 指名委員会 (a nomination committee) and two other committees, "監査委員会 (an audit committee)" and "報酬委員会 (a compensation committee)."

Generally, English translation is 1.5 to 2 times longer than the original Japanese sentence. This is often because of the hidden "power" of "等 (tou)." "等" is a single Chinese character, but never, ever underestimate the power of 等 (tou)!

Another such powerful word is 特定 (tokutei), meaning certain or specified. I will write about it in another post.

時々訳語を聞かれます。その日は「指名委員会等設置会社」について聞かれました。だから言いました。「先に意味を調べてからでないと訳せません」と。

以前も書きましたが、翻訳を組み立て作業を勘違いしている人って多いです。例えばこの場合だと

指名＋委員会＋等＋設置＋会社
nomination + committee + etc.+ with + company 　で順番変えて
a company with a nomination committee, etc.

でもこれだと日本のコーポレートガバナンスについて英語で知りたいと思っている外国人は先ず「はあ？」です。日本人はよく「等」を使いますが、英語で「etc」は嫌がられます。だってそれじゃ分かりませんもん。で、調べました。そしたら、指名委員会、監査委員会、報酬委員会を全て持つ株式会社のことだそうです。ということで、字面ではなく、この定義を訳さなければなりません。

日本語から英語に訳すと普通1.5倍から2倍の長さになります。「等」などの短いのにたくさんの意味が込められている侮れない単語のせいです。「特定」も侮れません。こちらについては別の機会にまた書きます！

ちなみに日本語が主語を省くことは皆さんご存知だと思いますが、そのせいで折角のオチが台無しになってしまっている｡｡｡（と私が思っている）のはカズオ＝イシグロ氏の「A Pale View of Hills」です。英語で読むほうが楽しさ倍増なので、英語で読める方は先ずは英語で読まれることを強くお勧めします。詳しくはこちらをお読みください。（ネタバレ注意⁉）

Learning Japanese - 見てみてください。"見て" is Different from "みて"

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

A non-Japanese coworker of mine asked me about the following sentence the other day. He's been studying Japanese for several months and doesn't understand the difference between the two "mite." The sentence contains "mite" twice, but their meanings are different:

見てみてください。Mite mite kudasai. (Please take a loot at it.)

The first mite (見て) is a verb and means to see, look at, etc. "見" is used to describe something to do with vision or view, such as 見学 (observation, tour), 見晴らし (view) and 政見 (political view). On the other hand, the second mite (みて) is a subsidiary verb and has nothing to do with vision, but means "to try." Also, this mite (みて) is usually written in hiragana characters.

The second "mite (みて)" can be combined with other verbs as follows:

やってみて。 Yatte mite.  (Give it a try.)
着てみて。 Kite mite.  (Try it on.)
食べてみて。Tabete mite. (Try it.)

I explained all these things to him and he seemed to have satisfied, but I was surprised at this question and want to share this experience with non-native Japanese speakers who may have the same question. This gave me a chance to look at my mother language from a new perspective!

先日外国人の同僚から不思議な質問をされました。「見てみてください」というときの、「見て」と「みて」は両方とも「見る」じゃないのか。そうだとしたらなぜ2回言うのか、というのです。

最初はただびっくりだったのですが、知恵を振り絞り、最初の「見て」は見る（look、see）の意味だけど、二つ目の「みて」は視覚とは関係なく、「試しにやる」という意味だということ、だから漢字でなく平仮名で書くのが普通だと説明しました。

聞かれるまで全く考えたことはありませんでしたがもっともなご質問。日本語について考えさせられました｡｡｡

Japanese Supremacy 人の振り見て我が振り直せ No.2

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I often go to a casual Italian restaurant at Ginza, central Tokyo, to lunch alone when taking a half day off from work. Restaurants in the area are mostly fancy, but this place isn't and its food and drink is good and reasonable.

Last week when having lunch there, I saw a Chinese family, a mother and two daughters, entering the restaurant. They just walked through the entrance toward a table next to mine despite being stopped by the manager saying in Japanese, "待ってください (please wait)" a couple of times. The three kept talking in Chinese ignoring him and were seated on the table. The manager gave up stopping them, left the table and came back with menus and three glasses of water. The three, taking the menus from him again without thanking him in Chinese, Japanese or English, kept loudly discussing something on the menu. The manager belatedly said again only in Japanese, "これがフードメニューで、そっちがドリンクメニューです。(This is a food menu and that is a drink menu)" to the three. Again no response. I got interested in where this dysfunctional communication between the Chinese customers only speaking Chinese and the Japanese manager, who also only spoke Japanese, would go.

Then suddenly after the heated debate in Chinese for another couple of minutes, they just stood up and left the restaurant again without saying anything in Japanese or English, or even in Chinese, leaving the manager and us appalled.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was first awkward and everyone was quiet, but a few minutes later, a group of middle-aged Japanese ladies said one after another, "That's terrible!," criticizing the Chinese family and mentioning recent troublesome incidents across Japan involving tourists from Asian countries.

I also felt sorry for the manager, who, although only in Japanese, tried to politely communicate with foreign customers until he came to my table and apologized saying "せわしない人種ですからね (They are a race of busy people)." I sensed a hint of contempt in how he had said. So although I knew that he wanted to please me by insinuating that "we are Japanese and different from them," I just said, "グローバル化ですね (It's been globalized everywhere!)." There is no difference between the Chinese family and Japanese people travelling to Europe and the U.S. during the years of the bubble economy.

The Chinese family's behaviors are rude. They could have said something in Japanese or English using a dictionary, or at least in Chinese. Most Japanese know that "xie xie (I'm not sure if this spelling is correct)" means thank you. But the manager has also a problem. Why doesn't or won't the manager of a store at Ginza, central Tokyo, speak even one word in English? If he had said "Hello," "Please wait," or "This is a menu," they may have responded and things would have gone differently. I had an impression that he decided to speak only Japanese. Besides, his remark "せわしない人種ですからね (They are a race of busy people)" is very discriminatory.

I learned a few days ago that a Japanese interpreter for an international marathon race held in southern Japan wrote in her blog that "speaking to participants from African countries was like speaking to primitive people, but these chimpanzees began to open their minds."

If an interpreter, who is supposed to have a global, open and non-discriminatory mindset, thinks that way and posts such an appalling comment, how come we can expect other people to have an open, global, inclusive mindset?

Or is this our or my intelligence level? I wrote this in the previous post, but need to write it again: "Wise men learn by other men's mistakes..."

仕事で半休取ったらよく銀座のイタリアンバルでランチします。銀座ですが値段はとっても良心的。食事もドリンクもおいしいです。

先日ランチしていたら、中国人のお母さんと娘二人が入ってきました。店長さんが「待ってください」と何度か止めたのですが、それを無視して私の隣のテーブルに座ってしまい、店長さんもあきらめてメニューと水を持ってきました。すると黙ってメニューを見始め今度は中国語で喧々諤々の議論。店長さん、一応「こっちがフードメニューで、そっちがドリンクメニューです」と日本語で言ったのですがそれも無視。数分議論が続いた後、今度はいきなり席を立って出ていってしまいました。

店内はみな唖然。最初は静かだったのですが少しするとあちこちで話が始まり、向こうのテーブルの女性4人が「あれはひどい！」と店長さんを慰めました。しばらくして店長さん、私のところにも来て「すみませんでした」と謝りました。そこまではまあよかったのですが「せわしない人種ですからね」と私に笑いかけてきたのです。その言い方に明らかな悪意とおもねるような響きを感じました。何かとっても嫌な気分になり、「どこもグローバル化ですね」と返しました。

人を人と思わない態度のその中国人家族にも腹が立ちましたが、銀座のレストランの店長さんが英語を全く使わない（使えない？）のもどうなのでしょう。「Hello」、「Please wait」、「This is a menu」ぐらい言えると思うのは私だけでしょうか。なんか日本語しか使わないぞ、という頑なな「信念」をお持ちのような印象を受けました。

ちなみに、大分別府マラソンの通訳者の方がアフリカからの参加者の方を原始人、チンパンジー呼ばわりしたらしいですね。グローバル人であるはずの通訳者がそのレベルですから後は推して知るべしですね。前回に続いて「人の振り見て我が振り直せ」の話でした｡｡｡

Translation Isn't Assembly Work 人の振り見て我が振り直せ

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Here is a question. How would you translate the following Japanese text? This is part of a letter from a professional firm to its corporate client which has decided to replace the firm with another one:

弊社といたしましては今後貴社に業務提供できなくなってしまうことを大変寂しく思っております。

Google translated like this:
"We are very sorry to be unable to provide business to your company in the future."

A human and Japanese translator did like this:
"We will miss you for no longer being able to provide services......"

Sorry for not showing the entire sentence, but I just couldn't keep reading it because I was too surprised at the term "miss." You think I'm joking? No! This is a kind of mistakes Japanese translators often make because the word for word translation of "寂しい (sabishii)" is "miss."

I understand that “miss" is used when your coworker leaves the company or your friend moves to another place, but in such a B2B case, the translation should just be like, "We hope to have another opportunity to better serve you in the future." By the way, the letter also uses "well" a couple of times. Again, "well" is a useful word especially for non-native English speakers like me to buy time to think of what I should say next while speaking, but isn't appropriate for B2B documents.

Some misunderstand that translation is assembly work and is done in the following steps:
- divide the source text sentence into words;
- translate each of these words into the target language;
- re-arrange the translated words in the grammatically correct order of the target language.

This procedure works in some cases, such as "このリンゴは赤い." "この" means "this", "リンゴは" means "apple" and "赤い" red and so they can be combined and rearranged as follows: "This apple is red." Beautiful! But we often talk about more complicated stuff, particularly, in business situations. That's why translation requires interpretation and in extreme cases, a translated text doesn't contain any word used in the source text, but still successfully conveys the intended message.

A few years ago, a man told me (by the way I did and still do translation) that I didn’t have to think of anything while translating because translation is assembly work. He is wrong. Translators have to understand the message and concept of the source text and find the best way to convey it in the target language.

Today's conclusion: “Wise men learn by other men's mistakes."

先日、他の人が日本語から英語に訳したビジネスレター読む機会がありました。ある会社から同業他社に乗り換えるお客様への、会社から会社へのレターなのですが、「We will miss you....」とあってびっくりしてしまいました。

原文（日本語）には確かに「貴社との取引がなくなることを寂しく思う」云々とあったのですが、「会社」対「会社」（つまりB2B）の場合に英語で「miss」は変だと思ったのです。

親しい友人がどこかに行ってしまうとき、同僚あるいは仕事での付き合いがあった人が帰国してしまうときなど、個人から個人へは使います。でも会社から会社へのビジネス文書だと、日本語の意味するところを意訳して、「今後機会がありましたらまた弊社をご利用ください（We hope to have another opportunity to better serve you in the future）」ぐらいにした方がいいと思います。自分の語感を確認するため、アメリカ人の友人に聞いたら、やはり、B2Bのその状況で「miss」は使わないという意見でした。ちなみにその翻訳文の中では、なぜか「well」が二回使われており、これもビジネス文書にはふさわしくないと思いました。

翻訳を言語組み立て作業と勘違いしている人がいます。それで済む場合もありますがほとんどはそうはいきません。訳文に、原文の単語がほとんど入っていないようなケース（上記の例）すらあります。それを知らないある人から、以前、「いちいち考える必要なんかない、機械のように訳せ」みたいなことを言われ、とても傷ついたことがありました。

と、偉そうに話しましたが、「人の振り見て我が振り直せ」でした。気を付けます！

Whispering Interpretation is a Way to Reach "Mu" ウィスパリング通訳で無の境地？

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I currently translate business documents from Japanese to English and vice versa, but used to work as an in-house interpreter at a US company. There are two conventional ways of interpretation, i.e., consecutive interpreting and simultaneous interpreting. A consecutive interpreter listens to what the speaker is saying while taking notes and translates the message verbally into another language after the speaker pauses. A simultaneous interpreter listens to what the speaker is saying while concurrently translating it into another language.

However, there is another more popular way of interpreting in this increasingly busy world, i.e., whispered interpreting.

Whispered interpreting or whispering is similar to simultaneous interpreting. An interpreter listens to what the speaker is saying while whispering the message translated in another language. However, there's a big difference between the two forms of interpreting. Simultaneous interpreters usually demand scripts while whispering interpreters not, which means users don't have to worry about script preparation for whispered interpreting.

So, simultaneous interpreters usually work at big conferences. They usually receive scripts beforehand and interpret what speakers say generally based on the scripts. On the other hand, whispering interpreters usually work on-site for businesses, sitting next to CXXs at meetings to whisper in their ear so that the meeting doesn't have to stop for interpretation. (A meeting using a consecutive interpreter takes about two times longer than otherwise.) Given a shorter time of a meeting combined with no need for script preparation, it's understandable that more businesses prefer whispered interpreting.

One another thing people often misunderstand is that anyone speaking fluently speaking English can be an interpreter/translator. This isn't true. Interpretation/translation requires two sets of skills, English skills and a deep understanding of the subject matter, and the importance of the latter is much higher than you think. The US company had many employees who, having lived or studied in the US or UK, spoke English more fluently than I did, but I was hired as a project interpreter after two interpreters being fired not because of my English skills, but my good understanding of the subject matter, i.e., financial business.

I did a lot of whispered interpreting and liked it for a reason. I could be "mu," i.e., immerse myself in the present while whispering as it requires full concentration. It has a downside, however. Not only whispering, but also the other types of interpretation is exhausting! I had flu almost every year when I was an interpreter.

今はほとんど翻訳専業ですが、以前、ある米系の会社で社内通訳をしていました。通訳に逐次通訳と同時通訳があるのはご存知かと思いますが、ウィスパリング通訳というものがあるのはご存知ですか。

ウィスパリングは同時通訳と似ています。スピーカーが話すのと同時に通訳を必要とする人の耳元で訳を囁きます。ただ一つ大きな違いがあります。同時通訳には原稿があることが多いのですが、ウィスパリング通訳に原稿はまずありません。

ですから大きな会議などでは、原稿を見ながら話すスピーカーの話を同時通訳者が原稿を見ながら訳す。一方、ウィスパリング通訳者は会議で偉い人の隣に座って原稿なしにその場でごにょごにょ囁き（訳し）ます。「通訳は現場で起きている！」わけです。（吉兆の女将ではありません。）

よく勘違いされていることがあります。通訳と翻訳には英語スキルだけでなく、内容に関する理解が求められますが、内容理解の重要性は英語スキルと同等、いや英語以上なのだということです。米系の会社には私よりペラペラの人がいっぱいいたのにどうして私が通訳することになったのか。ご推察の通り。私に金融業務やリスク管理業務に関する知識があったからです。英語スキルのなさ（苦笑）を金融知識が補ってくれたわけです。

当時はウィスパリング通訳ばかりしていたのですが、好きだったのには理由があります。「無になれる」んです。集中しなければならないので当然といえば当然ですね。ただ、ものすごく疲れます！社内通訳やっていた頃は毎年インフルエンザにかかっていました。

Flu and Japanese Diplomacy - Is Japan Really Independent? インフルエンザは自立のチャンス？

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

The winter flu in Japan is peaking. All Japanese broadcasters have been reporting almost everyday about how to protect us from this seasonal disease and what to do after catching it.

This made me wonder if flu patients follow the Japanese doctor's general instruction. Stay home for three to seven days. A doctor in a TV program also said that flu patients shouldn't go out for an about five-day period to prevent the spread of flu viruses. My gut, however, says otherwise. Not every, but many, in particular employees, go to office no matter how sick they are because they can't afford to take such long days off. How come they can take sick “vacation” knowing that they will have to do accumulated work anyway after recovering from flu?

This gets me to think about another thing. Who are responsible for this epidemic in this small archipelago? Patients? Of course they are. But companies are also responsible.

Corporations are required to have an annual leave system in place and under the system, employees should be allowed to take days off whenever they want to take without explaining why. You may wonder why I am saying this, but in Japan, most businesses have such system, but practically don’t allow employees to use it as they like.

Company policies of most Japanese businesses require employees to report beforehand to supervisors and/or colleagues when and how long they want to take days off and why. It sacks, isn't it! But this is Japan. And this is why so many Japanese take vacations twice a year at the same time, i.e., mid-August and year-end/new year. This causes another problem. Everywhere across Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa is so crowded during these periods!

Can't anybody come up with an idea to stop such Japanese group behavior of doing things always together, i.e., taking vacations for the same period, going to the men's/ladies' room together, having lunch together, and leaving office together?

But this makes me again wonder why, despite such a collective mindset, they don't unite to fight to increase wages, reduce overtime or take vacation? The percentage of labor union members in Japan has been gradually decreasing over the last five years. Japanese do things together with others, but for what?

Here is my answer: they believe that as long as they do what they are told to do and do things together, they would be protected by somebody, like supervisors. That’s why employees ingratiate themselves to (i.e., sontaku) their superiors.

But here is a real problem. What if they no longer have such "somebody"? It’s been happening to Japan. Japan is losing or has already lost powerful "somebody," i.e., the U.S.

Japan has been irresponsible for its own actions since the end of the war, doing whatever the U.S. wants it to do in exchange for its protecting Japan. But this won't work anymore. Although Prime Minister Abe hasn't noticed or doesn't want to notice it, Japan needs to change to be responsible for its own actions by building not vertical, but horizontal relationships with not only the U.S. and other G7 members, but also Asian countries, especially China and South Korea, because, like it or not, they are Japan's neighbors.

So, here is what Japanese need to do first. Take days off whenever they want, have lunch anytime and anywhere they like, leave office as soon as they finish working, and spend time with families or enjoy solitude to be independent as a person.

However, there is another scenario. Japan has recently seen an increasing number of non-Japanese trade union members. So, as pressured into opening the country in the Meiji era, Japanese, very weak to external pressure, but very good at mimicking others, will again be pressured into learning from these immigrants how to fight and say to no to be responsible for themselves and be independent in a real sense.

インフルエンザ真っ盛り。そこで考えました。インフルエンザに罹った人ってちゃんと自宅待機しているのでしょうか。してないと思います。だって、戻ったらたまった仕事をしなくちゃいけないのかと思うとおちおち休みなんか取れないでしょう。

ということは、この日本列島インフルエンザは、もちろん患者のせいではあるのですが、企業の責任も大きいのではないでしょうか。ほとんどの企業では、取得時期や理由を言って事前承認取ることを義務付けてるでしょ。これじゃ有休取れません。お盆と正月に全国混むのもこのせいですよね。

誰かこの、一緒に休んで、連れランチして、連れ退社するという連れション体質を変えてくれませんかね。

でも不思議なんです。そんな連れション体質にもかかわらず、労働組合員数は17～18％ぐらいに低迷している、というか減っているらしいのです。じゃあ、労働者諸君は何のために人と同じ行動をとるのか。権力と戦うためではないのです。そう、権力に好かれるため。忖度ですね。

でもね、権力者がいなくなったらどうなるのってことを考えてください！だって日本の「上司」だったアメリカはもうだめでしょ。

だから言いたいのです。もう「アメリカだけ」は古い！これまではアメリカについていく甲斐もありましたが、これからは「みんな」と上手くやらないと。特にお隣の中国と韓国とです！

というわけで会社員の皆さん、有給休暇を好きなときに取りましょう。特にインフルエンザになったら絶対取りましょう。ランチは好きな時に好きなものを食べましょう。そして定時に帰りましょう。

でもね、実際は違うかもしれません。最近、外国人の組合員数が増えているんですって。ということは、開国の時と同様、移民の人たちからの「外圧」で、「真似」するのがうまい日本人は自分の行動に責任を持ち、戦うことを学び、自立を余儀なくされるのかもしれません。そう期待します！