HETEKARA
March 20, 2004
Dear Seven Heaven HP Readers,
Long time no see! How have you been? I hope you are all well.
When I first graduated from high school, I was shocked to learn that the Japanese I had learned at school (from my friends) was very colloquial(会話的） and very very Osaka-ben!
For example, if someone asked me to do something, but I couldn't do it, I answered:
「あかんと思います」
So, even after a long and hard time of studying Japanese in high school, I had to learn a COMPLETELY NEW "KEIGO" kind of Japanese ALL OVER AGAIN!!! This was really difficult!
During my college years, in the evenings, I went to teach English to businessmen at company classes--at 久保田鉄工、栗田工業 and Citibank, etc.. I felt very nervous teaching these classes because I knew these were very big, good companies and I thought I should speak very respectable 格式高い Japanese.
Usually, I only spoke in English, however, I was told that one of the classes was "for beginners" and to please explain the lesson in Japanese, so during my first class, I outlined my lesson plans in Japanese.
I wanted to say:
"We will first study self-introductions, then go into daily conversation, then go through lessons on Japanese culture and history so that you can explain these to foreign people. Then we will go into discussions on topics in the news, and then cover other areas of interest......"
But I didn't know the appropriate Japanese word for "GO THROUGH" or "COVER", so I looked it up in my dictionary and it said:
「経る」.
So I said:
「まず、自己紹介を丁寧にできるように練習します。それを’経てから’日常会話に入りましょう。それを’経てから’日本の文化や歴史を説明する練習をして、それらを’経てから’ニュースの話題に入り、’経てから’。。。。。。。。」
At this point, one of the businessmen said,
「先生って、すごい なまってるんですね！」
Everyone laughed very hard and very loudly:
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!
I was SO EMBARRASSED and ASHAMED and turned ALL RED! I didn't know what was wrong and I felt tears coming to my eyes.
急にお笑いされて、つらくて恥ずかしくて、涙がポロポロ！
I had never been SO embarrassed!! I had never heard this word before. At school, my friends had only taught me:
「ほんで」or「ほんでから」or「ほいでから」！
Anyway, if any of you would like to write to me, my e-mail address is:
oyimus@khaki.plala.or.jp
Please write to me and へてから I'll be glad to reply to you in English or Japanese and へてから we can write to each other about many things and へてから you can teach me Japanese and へてから we can become GOOD FRIENDS!!!
Always,
Janet
p/s へてから、もう一つ。 "Oyimus" is "Sumiyo", my Japanese name (純代） written backwards.
Some people tell me that it sounds like the Japanese word for sweet potatoes "Oymos",so they write to me "Dear Oymo". However,although I JUST LOVE sweet potatoes, I am NOT TOO HAPPY to be called one!!!
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