NHKビジネス英語を120%利用 [まぐまぐ！]

2009/07/04

NHKビジネス英語を120%利用【実践 6/26(Fri.)】

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　　　 ■□■NHKビジネス英語を120%利用■□■
　　　　 & NHK News Headlines　　　
発行者責任者 / Sanae Kawamoto
協力： Cecile, Sei Shimura, Ina, Akira, Kimie, Hiromi, Shin, Hiroko
Kodo Ogata

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みなさん、こんにちは。

実践ビジネス英語 6/26(Fri.) 分のお届けです。
このディクテーションは Kodo Ogata さんがしてくださっています。

「まぐまぐ」でメルマガを受け取っている皆さん、昨日までメインテナン
スの関係で配信ができませんでした。遅くなって申し訳ありません。

留守中は Cecile さんと尾形さんがディクテーションを代わってくれまし
たが、訂正の数が私の原稿とは全く違います。2人とも完璧に仕上げ
てきます。今週の月曜日分から私の草稿に戻ったのですが、さっそく
訂正、追加、修正が増えましたあ。優秀な協力者の皆さんのおかげ
で発行できているメルマガです。

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【原稿チェック： Hiromi, Ina, Hiroko, Cecile, Kimie, Cecile】
【ディクテーション： Kodo Ogata】
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実践ビジネス英語　　　Friday, June 26　　（このディクテーションは Kodo
Ogata さんがしてくださっています。）

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Anger Management (6)
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1<S>: In our current vignette, one of the Great Lakes executives,
James Madigan, had a problem with anger management.

2: Yes, he lost his temper and his job. Frankly, from the examples
Jay Tyson gave of Madigan's behavior, it sounds like he would have
been a nightmare to work with. It's hard to get work done with someone
smashing telephones and yelling at office staff. At least, they gave
him a chance to rectify his behavior before firing him for good.

3<S>: That's right. Jay Tyson mentioned that Madigan was sent to anger
management counseling as a condition for renewing his contract.
Unfortunately, it didn't seem to work out in the end.

4: No, and in fact he didn't seem to think he had a problem. This
is the most challenging part of working with someone with anger
management issues. I worked with one such guy on a project several
years ago. I was fortunate enough not to be on the receiving end of
one of his tirades but I witnessed him in action, yelling at one of
his support staff about a minor mistake she had made. I've heard from
mutual colleagues that he hasn't changed much over the years. He tends
to explode but, well, sometimes, apologize the next day. More often
than not, though, he tends to blame others just as Madigan did at
Great Lakes.

5<S>: Anger management can be a very delicate issue. Often the person
in question refuses to admit they have a problem.

6: Yes, and this is something I've been thinking about a lot
recently. At work, the person's boss would have a certain degree of
power in the situation and could order the person to see counseling as
in Madigan's case. On a personal level, it can be even more
challenging. One of my relatives has anger management issues, but many
of my family members, myself included, haven't yet figured out the
right way to approach this person. After all, telling someone they
have anger management issues is a sure way to make them even angrier.
It seems counterproductive and get suffering in silence isn't an
attractive option, either. I've tried to approach the problem somewhat
indirectly with this relative but haven't had much success yet. Have
you had any experience with colleagues like this, Sugita-san?

7<S>: When I was a cub reporter, one of the American writers I used to
work with had an occasional burst of anger. He would lift his
typewriter, a fairly heavy manual machine in those days and just
smashed it down on the floor.

8: Wow! So how did everyone in the office handle being around him?
Was he ever reprimanded by his boss? Or did everyone just accept it as
one of his idiosyncrasies?

9<S>: Well, everybody was afraid of him when that happened even his
boss. But otherwise he was a pussycat. This happened a couple of times
while I worked in the editorial department and he would write a
"shimatsusho," or a letter of apology afterwards.

10: As I mentioned, I haven't worked with many people with severe
anger management issues. However, this does bring up an interesting
cultural plane. Years ago, when I started working for a Japanese
corporation in Tokyo, I was shocked the first time I saw my boss
loudly berating one of my colleagues.

11<S>: What happened?

12: Well, apparently my coworker had made some sort of mistake and
our boss criticized his actions in a voice that could be heard from
every corner of the office. I couldn't believe that he was yelling at
him in front of everyone, although my colleagues pretended not to hear
and continued to tap quietly away at their computers.

13<S>: I guess it could happen in some Japanese companies.

14: Yes, I've seen several more cases ever since. But at the time,
it didn't make sense. Everything I'd read about the concept of saving
face and losing face in Japan went out the window. I wondered how my
boss could humiliate my colleague in such a way. It took me a while to
realize that I was misinterpreting the situation.

15<S>: How so?

16: Well, the coworker who was getting yelled at was actually one
of the top performers on our team. In a way he was getting both
positive and negative feedback from our boss. Negative in the sense
that a mistake had been made but positive in the sense that it
reflected the high expectations our boss had for him. Later I also
realized that our boss was berating him in front of everyone so that
the rest of us could learn from our coworker's mistake. It was an
eye-opening example of cultural differences at work. I've since
discussed this issue with many Japanese business people in variety of
industries and nearly every person I've spoken with has either been
criticized in a similar manner or has witnessed it in their workplace.
There seems to be a level of trust between the manager and staff
member that allows this kind of behavior to take place without
permanently damaging their working relationship. Now of course, this
kind of thing happens in the U.S. as well, but I don't think it would
be interpreted in the same way. Most managers prefer to take their
employees aside and deliver negative feedback privately, often
couching it with positive feedback to end the meeting on a good note.
Loudly criticizing someone in front of others could negatively impact
the relationship in the long run.

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Word Watching
----------------
■ executive vice president
17) Now "vice president" is a title you'll find at many companies. But
corporations that have many vice president, there may be more of a
differentiation. So you may have "assistant vice presidents," "vice
presidents," then "higher up," "senior vice president," and finally,
"executive vice president." The actual responsibilities do vary from
corporation to corporation, though.

■ to be honest
18) "To be honest" is a pretty common expression and it's used at the
beginning of a sentence to indicate that what you are about to say are
your true feelings about something. But you probably shouldn't use it
too often, because it might indicate that everything else you say is
not so honest. You might also hear "frankly" or "frankly speaking" in
this case.

■ high-profile
19) You can talk about "high-profile" jobs, careers, projects, events,
court cases, or campaigns.

■ in a nutshell
20) You use the expression "in a nutshell" to indicate that you are
about to give a very brief summary or explanation about some issue.
Imagine using so few words that you could actually fit them into a
real nutshell.

■ go ballistic over
21) So if you "go ballistic over" something, it means you are
extremely angry. It usually refers to a sudden outburst of anger.
Uh... you might also hear "flipped out" or also "go postal," which
comes from some unfortunate events years ago, where some postal
workers went ballistic in their workplaces. So you can hear "go
ballistic" or "go postal."

■ That was the last straw.
22) So for "the last straw" you could also say, "That was the straw
that broke the camel's back." It's used to describe the last thing or
event in a series of problems that you finally just couldn't take
anymore and you had to put an end to it.

■ give someone his walking papers
23) Now this is just one of many expressions that's used to mean
terminating, dismissing, or firing an employee. You might also hear
"to give someone the pink slip," "to give someone the boot," or "give
someone the ax."

■ sweep under the carpet
24) You also hear "sweep under the 'rug'" in this case as well. But it
generally means that you're hiding something that is somewhat
embarrassing. You can use it in an informal way. You could also use
it to describe perhaps a company that's embarrassed about some sort of
scandal, you could say, "They swept it under the 'carpet' or 'rug'."

■ Walk a mile in my shoes.
25) "Walk a mile in my shoes" is a pretty common expression and if
someone says it to you, that's they are asking you to try to see
things from their perspective. You might also hear, "Put yourself in
my shoes."

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

26) That's all for today.
27) Thanks for joining us.

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==== NHK News Headlines by Sei Shimura ====

（この部分は、NHKラジオ第 2放送、午後 6時からのニュースヘッドラ
インを志村さんがディクテーションしてお送りします。）

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NHK News Headlines / Monday, June 29, 2009 #3,977
--------------------------------------------------
1) Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura has criticized moves
within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to try and bring forward
the party leadership election.

2) The interim president of Honduras is defending the ouster of
President Manuel Zalaya by the military and Supreme Court, and has
declared a two-day nighttime curfew.

3) Japan's industrial output rose 5.9 percent in May from the previous
month, marking the third consecutive month of increase.

<Words & Phrases>
・bring forward　前倒しにする
・party leadership election　総裁選挙
・interim president　暫定大統領
・nighttime curfew　夜間外出禁止令

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NHK News Headlines / Sunday, June 28, 2009 #3,976
--------------------------------------------------
1) South Korean President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Japan on Sunday for
a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso.

2) Japan and Bermuda have reached a basic agreement to exchange
information on taxes and an effort to combat tax evasion.

<Words & Phrases>
・Bermuda　バミューダ
cf. 北大西洋にある諸島でイギリスの海外領土である。イギリスの海外
領土の中でも、政治的・経済的な自立度が高い<出典　ウイキペディア>
・tax evasion　脱税

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＜編集後記＞

マイケル・ジャクソンが亡くなった報道が頻繁にされていますね。
私がこのニュースを知ったのはシアトルのカフェでした。レジに並んで
いたら、隣に立っていたおばちゃんが急に話し掛けてきました。

「マイケルが亡くなったんですってよ。さっきニュースでやっていたわ」
「何があったんですか？」
「それがまだよくわからないの。部屋で発見されたらしいわよ。まだ50
歳だったのにねえ～。」

アメリカでは、こうやって実に簡単に会話が始まりますね。列車の中
でも知らないおばちゃんに話し掛けられたし、お店に入れば、レジの
人が必ずといっていいほど

Hi, how are you doing?

と挨拶してきて、「あら、このシャツいいわね。」なんて声をかけてくれ
ます。買い物をすると、zip code は？と聞かれるので、日本から来て
いるからと答えると、「あら、こちらへはどうして？」「楽しんでいる？」
「どのくらいいるの？」なんて聞いてきます。答えていると、横にいる人
が「日本から来たですって？私行ったことあるわ」なんて話が弾みま
す。

どうして郵便番号を聞くのかなと思ったら、どの地域から買い物にき
ているか把握するためなんですって。へえ～、おもしろいですね。

オレゴン州からワシントン州に渡ったところで、「ワシントン州だから、
ここで買い物すると消費税取られるわよね。」（オレゴンには消費税が
ありません。）と言えば、ドライバーズライセンス見せるとオレゴン州の
人間からは消費税取らないから私と一緒にレジに行きましょうなんて
言ってくれ、本当にフレンドリーでした。

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このメルマガは、NHKラジオ英語講座の「入門ビジネス英語」「実践ビ
ジネス英語」を聴き、番組中の講師とネイティブの解説やおしゃべり部
分をディクテーションしてお届けしています。テキストには書いていない
部分ですので、何と話していたのだかの確認のためにご利用ください。
NHKラジオ講座を使った熱心な英語学習者のために個人的に作成し
ているもので、NHKとは関係ありません。
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配信中止は http://home.att.ne.jp/zeta/sanae/melmaga.htm
お問い合わせは sanae@sta.att.ne.jp まで
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