2009/03/29
クリストファー・ベルトンの「英語の世界」 ＜第７２号＞
============================================================================= クリストファー・ベルトンの「英語の世界」 第７２号： ０９年０３月２９日 Official Site: http://www.chrisbelton.com/ ============================================================================= ------------------------------------ 目次 ------------------------------------ ☆ What's New? ☆ Belton's Blog ☆ ワン・ポイント英語 − ＜Useful Phrases: Start a family / Now you’re talking!＞ ☆ Potluck − ＜April Fool's Day＞ ☆ オンライン英字小説 − ＜The Stoning of Hazelbury: Part XXXI＞ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ☆ What's New? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ☆ 4月から、毎月第４週目の日曜日に「多読」をテーマにした連載記事が Asahi Weeklyに載ることになりました。 第１回目(４月２６日）のテーマは[Overcoming the Hurdles to Reading English Literature]です。 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ☆ Belton's Blog ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've had a busy week translating 26 editions of a manga comic for publication overseas (actually, two different manga comics.) It came to 416 pages all together, and I had to finish the entire translation within six days, which was a real challenge. I managed to meet the deadline, though. But, while working on this job, I noticed something that may explain why comics are more popular in Japan than they are in England: The onomatopoetic sounds effects! English is not a very onomatopoetic language, and in most cases a simple verb is used to explain a noise. For example, in English pigs grunt, mice squeak and elephants trumpet. It is therefore almost impossible to express the onomatopoetic nuance of ブー、 チュandパオーwhen used in comics as sound effects, as in English it is only possible to explain the noise that an animal is making without actually reproducing it. There are some exceptions, such as "woof" for a dog and "meow" for a cat, but in most cases the translator is left scratching his head. But, this problem gets even worse when the noise is used to express a movement. Japanese comics are full of these sound effects, and deciding what English words to use in the translation takes more time than the translation itself. The words that caused the most trouble were words like 「ジロ」、「ギョロ」、「ピク」、 「イチャイチャ」, etc., as there are no equivalent words in English. American superhero comics use onomatopoetics quite regularly, but these are nearly always restricted to fighting scenes and consist of simple words like "Pow!" "Wham!" and "Whoosh!" But, I was obliged to provide a faithful translation and couldn't ignore these sound effects, so I had to either use verbs to express them or make up my own words, and the end result, to be frank, looks quite unnatural and rather ridiculous in English. So, I wondered if maybe this could explain the difference in popularity of comics between nations. I have heard that Japanese comics are very popular in France, so maybe the French language is able to reproduce these sound effects without any problem. They certainly enhance the enjoyment of the comic when they are used, which, I presume, means that the enjoyment is reduced when they are not used; hence their low popularity in England. And that is just one more example of how culture is influenced by language. Isn't language amazing....? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ☆ ワン・ポイント英語 ＜Useful Phrases: Start a family / Now you’re talking!＞ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ★ Start a family 奇妙に思えるかもしれませんが、このフレーズは結婚することではなく、 子どもを持つことを意味しています。 - Do you have a family? No, we’ve only been married for six months. 子どもさんはいらっしゃいますか。 いえ、6か月前に結婚したばかりですから。 - We will start a family next year. 私たちは来年、子どもを作る予定だ。 - John and Mary started a family soon after they were married. ジョンとメアリは結婚してまもなく子どもをもうけた。 ★ Now you’re talking! Now you are saying something that interests me greatly.（あなたの 話していることは私の興味をすごくかきたてる）という意味のフレーズ。 非常に会話的であり、‘That’s a wonderful idea!’（それはすばらしい 考えだ！）の代わりに使えます。非常に興味をもっていることを示す ために、両手をすり合わせる仕草をしながら、よく口にされるせりふ です。 - Let’s go and have lunch. Now you’re talking! さあ、お昼にしましょう。 そう来なくちゃ！ - Would you like a drink before you go home? Now you’re talking! 家に帰る前にちょっと飲んでいかない？ それはいいね！ - Would you like to go to the movies on Saturday? Now you’re talking! 日曜日に映画にいかない？ それはいいわね！ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ☆ Potluck − ＜April Fool's Day＞ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ★ April Fool's Day もうそろそエイプリル・フールですね。今週は、以前にイギリスのマスコミ が取り上げた真っ赤の嘘記事を紹介します。 ☆ April 1st, 1976 A famous British astronomer, Patrick Moore, announced on BBC Radio that at 09:47 precisely the planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter and this would result in reduced levels of gravitation on earth. He advised listeners to jump into the air at that moment to experience a temporary feeling of weight loss. A few minutes after 09:47, the BBC began to receive telephone calls from hundreds of listeners claiming that they had felt a floating sensation. One woman actually said that her, eleven friends and the kitchen table had begun to float around the room, and another listener complained that she had risen from the ground so rapidly, she had hit her head on the ceiling. イギリスの有名な天文学者パトリック・ムアは、BBCラジオで次のよう に語った。午前９時47分ちょうどに冥王星が木星の陰を通過する ため、地球の引力が低下する。その時間になったら、宙に飛び上がり、 無重力状態をしばし体験してみてはいかがだろう、と彼はラジオ 聴取者たちに勧めた。９時47分を少し過ぎたころ、BBCには、 すばらしい浮遊感を味わったという数百人もの聴取者たちから 電話がかかってきた。実際、ある女性によると、11人の友人たち と台所のテーブルが、部屋の中を漂いはじめたという。また、 いきなり飛び上がったので天井に頭をぶつけてしまった、と苦情 をいう聴取者もいた。 ☆ April 1st, 1979 Capital Radio announced that the government was planning to synchronize the British calendar, which had gained 48 hours since 1945, with the rest of the world and April 5th and April 12th would be canceled for that year. キャピタル・ラジオは次のように報じた。政府は、1945年以来48時間 進みすぎてしまったイギリスのカレンダーを世界のほかの国々と合わ せる予定であり、その年の４月５日と12日は抹消されることになった、と。 ☆ April 1st, 1992 A British radio show, Today, announced that scientists had discovered the gene responsible for making people laugh. They also mentioned that they had discovered that people of German extraction did not have this gene. イギリスのラジオ番組「トゥデイ」は、科学者たちが、人の笑いをつかさどる 遺伝子を発見したと報じた。また、ドイツ系の人にはこの遺伝子が発見 されなかったとも述べた。 ☆ April 1st, 1992 The BBC announced that France had claimed ownership of the Isle of Wight, a small island off the southern coast of Britain that is popular as a holiday resort. The BBC received hundreds of calls from people trying to confirm this, and were surprised that most were in favour of the idea because it would mean cheaper wine, better food and more topless women on the beaches. BBCは、リゾート地として人気のあるイギリス南岸沖の小さな島、ワイト島 の領有権をフランスが主張したと報道した。BBCは、これを確認しようと する人々から何百件もの電話を受け、ほとんどの人がこの意見を好意的 に受けとめているのを知って驚いた。より安いワイン、よりおいしい食事 が身近になり、浜辺ではより多くのトップレス女性が見られるようになる、 ということらしい。 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ☆ オンライン英字小説 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ★★★★ The Stoning of Hazelbury (by Christopher Belton) ★★★★ メルマガ限定オリジナル作品の「オンライン英字小説」の 連載を毎週提供します！ The Stoning of Hazelburyは出版されていないオリジナル小説です。 毎週ワン・チャプターづつ発行しますので、是非是非最後まで読んでみて ください。 途中からの方はバック・ナンバーでキャッチアップできます。 Part Iはこちらへ： http://archive.mag2.com/0000251837/20080831060000000.html ----- The Stoning of Hazelbury: Part XXXI ----- In the end, three members had been replaced with chinless, bespectacled objects to whom a variety of adjectives could be directed, but none with sporting connotations, and there the matter had rested. Stone was broken out of his meditations by a gentle cheering that rippled across the field, and passing his eyes over to the changing room and make-shift changing room set up for the visiting team near the main building, he perceived two teams--one in red and white, the other in yellow and black--jogging towards the pitch. He groaned the groan of a man who recognized the opening scene of his worst nightmare, and as the two teams reached their respective areas and began to warm up, he found difficulty in defining his feelings. Was he relieved or was he experiencing a change of heart that would occasion him to rush onto the field and bring back Weeks and the rest of the boys? He put the question to himself pointedly, and the answer was: He was relieved that the fiasco would soon be over and the incriminating evidence being held against him safely in his clutches. For there was no doubt about it, his team would lose. Arnolds, the new center forward, had just been passed the ball, and after directing a startled glance at it, as if seeing one for the first time, had unleashed a rubbery leg at it and tied himself in a reef knot. The ball, having been tickled slightly, gently rolled to a halt two yards before him. The goalkeeper, another replacement, was having difficulty collecting even the simplest of passes owing to an apparent fear of the ball. He seemed to look upon it as a malevolent object bent on mayhem, and leapt deftly out of its way to avoid its teeth whenever it came close. Only when it had come to a halt at the back of the net would he approach it and give it a tentative poke with a suspicious boot. Yes, without any shadow of doubt, his team would lose. The referee, a local councilor, called the teams to order, flipped a coin, raised his right hand to inform the multitude that the home team had won the toss, and prepared to blow his whistle. The game, after the referee had gently advised the Greenhurst goalie that he might do a better job in the goal mouth, as opposed to wandering around the midfield, started dramatically with what, to the spectators, appeared to be a rugby scrum. As soon as the ball had been tapped into play by Arnolds, the entire two teams rushed upon it, and all that was visible for several moments was a tangle of arms, legs, heads and vivid splashes of red, white, yellow and black. Then, suddenly, the ball rolled out of this mass, and some seconds later, Wendhurst, disentangling himself, secured the sphere and leapt off down the field towards the opponent’s goal with the rest in hot pursuit. ＜Part XXXII は来週につづく＞ (C) Christopher Belton, all rights reserved ============================================================================= 発行者の紹介 ------------ 発行者はイギリス人作家クリストファー・ベルトンです。『「ハリーポッター」が 英語で楽しく読める本』シリーズをはじめ、TOEIC、英検、英会話、多読、 ライティングなどの数多くの英語教材を出版する傍ら、海外では小説家として 知られているプロ・ライターです。 オフィシャル・サイトは下記のURLにて、是非アクセスしてみてください。 http://www.chrisbelton.com/ ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- クリストファー・ベルトンの「英語の世界」 発行者： クリストファー・ベルトン オフィシャル・サイト： http://www.chrisbelton.com/ 発行システム： 『まぐまぐ！』 http://www.mag2.com/ 配信中止はこちら： http://www.mag2.com/m/0000251837.html -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
