和製英語と英語の違いを説明するシリーズLost in Translation
第5回の今日は”ペットボトル”です。
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Lost in Translation Part 5 ペットボトル (Plastic Bottle)
Tyler Ayala
In Japan, ペットボトル is used to describe bottles made of plastic, such as these:
However, in English we call them ‘plastic bottles’. If you are to call them pet bottles, some people might know what you’re talking about, but they might picture something more like this:
This kind of pet bottle might be used to feed young orphaned animals. Since ‘pet bottle’ isn’t used, though, it could be mistaken for almost anything. Most definitely, people will not understand what you intended to say.
In addition to ‘plastic bottle’, we also simply say ‘bottle’ or we use the name of the product plus ‘bottle’. For example, we might say, ‘Could you please pass me that Coke bottle?’ In this case, Coke means Coca-Cola (コーラ). Also, you could say the same thing in this way: ‘Could you please pass me that bottle of Coke?’ Both ways sound normal.
As well, if you would like an empty ペットボトル, then you can simply say, ‘May I have an empty bottle?’ or, ‘Do you have a bottle I could use?’
I must remind you, though, that I am an American. I am not completely sure that ‘pet bottle’ isn’t used in English in any country. I guess that in the United Kingdom, this phrase might be common. In the United States, however, no one knows it.
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※The English described in this blog is from an American perspective. Cultural reactions and vocabulary might be different in other countries like Canada, Britain and Australia.
職場で使える英語表現を毎週ご紹介するシリーズ
Weekly Workplace Word Wisdom(W.W.W.W.)
第50回の今回は、Curtis講師が勤務評定の場で
上司の側" boss side"（評価する側）の際に
便利な英語表現をご紹介します。
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Personal Review (Boss side)
Many western countries, specifically the U.S. and Canada, have a periodic review cycle. This can be called the “annual performance review”, although some companies can have a “quarterly performance assessment”, and even a “monthly employee review”, depending on the nature of the company and the need to remain up-to-date for product information or industry-wide trends.
In the past, a performance review consisted of the employee sitting in the chair, listening to their manager’s complaints and comments. More recently, the “360-degree review” includes the employee’s assessment of the manager. And there is also the “employee self-assessment”, where the employee grades their own performance for the year.
Even in the U.S., we find it difficult to say negative things to someone, although they may have done a poor job during the year. We use “honestly”, “candidly”, and “I hate to say this, but” to indicate that we’d prefer to say something positive, but we have no choice but being negative. Occasionally, we also use the same language to indicate that the employee had done a better job than we’d expected.
Saying something negative:
Candidly, your performance has been declining recently. To be honest, I expected you to do a better job on the xxx project. I hate to say this, but while your performance has been average, the rest of the team has done much better than that.
Saying something more positive than expected:
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from you, but you outperformed my expectations. Candidly, I thought that you might not do well this year, but you were my best engineer.
When we tell an employee how their performance was, it may help to make our statements sound more personal, or as if we are giving an opinion instead issuing a flat statement. Phrases that start with “I think that”, “I feel that” and “I believe” all have the nuance of being an opinion rather than a statement of fact. An advantage of these phrases is that when used for giving praise to someone, they imply that the supervisor is being sincere in what they’re saying. These phrases can be used with both positive and negative statements.
Positive feedback: I feel that you have made some great improvements in your performance in the last year. I think with time and a little more experience, you can become the next project leader. I believe that you have potential, and that if you apply yourself, you will be able to join the management track.
Negative feedback:
Generally you have fulfilled the minimum requirements of the job, but there is still room for improvement.
I feel that there are areas in your performance that can be improved.
Looking at your performance over the last year, I think that there are a few things that need bolstering.
Overall, I believe that you can do better than you have, recently.
The key point in the above examples for negative feedback is that all 4 sentences address the employee’s performance, without directly attacking the employee themselves. By focusing on performance, the employer is avoiding direct confrontation with the employee, and the employee will be more willing to change their behavior in the future.
和製英語と英語の違いを説明するシリーズLost in Translation
第4回の今日は”ショートパンツ”です。
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Lost in Translation Part 4 ショートパンツ（Shorts）
Tyler Ayala
In Japanese, the phrase ショートパンツ is sometimes a little confusing to foreigners since this phrase doesn’t exist in English. What Japanese would call ‘short-pants’ we call just ‘shorts.’
If we hear the phrase ‘short-pants’ we think that this is contradictory since pants and shorts are opposite of each other. Some native-speakers might guess that your meaning is actually shorts; however, they might think that you are talking about Capris.
Capris
Shorts
As you can see, there might be some confusion if the native-speaker assumed you meant Capris. This confusion might be compounded further if you are talking about a man since Capris are mainly worn by women.
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※The English described in this blog is from an American perspective. Cultural reactions and vocabulary might be different in other countries like Canada, Britain and Australia.
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For employees, the Performance Review generally has negative connotations. If the economy is doing well, the performance review can be used to calculate the size of a bonus or salary increase the employee is to receive. If the economy is tight, the performance review can used by the company to justify slashing salaries, or even for cutting jobs. Additionally, there is a sense of being judged based on their past actions. For this reason, some of the language used by the employee during a review tends to be defensive. Finally, the person giving the review is a manager or supervisor, so the employee wants to be careful in their choice of wording to avoid saying something that may cause conflicts with their superior within the job, or for the reviewer to further reduce the size of the bonus or salary increase.
On the other hand, we also want to remind our manager of our successes over the last year, and to present ourselves in a good light without giving the impression of being too boastful or of outright lying. Therefore, the language used will be softened and presented less as direct statements and more like opinions. Typical phrases are “I think”, “I feel” and “I believe”.
Example for describing accomplishments:
Q: “So, tell me Curtis, how do you see your performance for 2009?”
A: “I think I did well in the last year. I led the development project for the new inkjet printer, and acted as the go-between for marketing and research on three other projects. Based on the reduction in complaints, and the increase in positive customer surveys returned to R&D, I believe that my role as go-between was a success. I feel that my experiences as project lead have prepared me to take on additional responsibilities in 2010.”
Example for explaining weak performance:
Q: “Your goals for 2009 included a 10% increase in customer sales. It looks like you only achieved a 4% increase. Why is that?”
A: “I feel that my performance was strong in the face of the weakening economy. The industry as a whole saw a 20% drop in sales, making my 4% increase look significant, I believe. Obviously, there can be room for improvement, but I think that I could increase my sales even more in 2010 if I can attend the sales training seminars being offered next month.”
Example for responding to direct criticism:
Q: “Frankly, I’m disappointed with your performance in the last year.”
A: “I think I did the best I could under the circumstances. Our department budget was slashed by 25% and we’ve been understaffed for several years now. To be honest, I don’t think anyone else could have done better in my shoes. We’re going to see the same level of performance next year as well, if I don’t get 3 more people to help me with my projects.
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今までいくつもの英会話レッスンを受けましたが、こういう話は初めてでした。
講師の実体験等が多く聞けたので、非常に参考になりました。
著書のダイジェスト版といえる内容で、コンパクトにまとまっておりました。
スピーキングについて以前から課題としていましたし、
しています。
講義「大前研一流 議論する力」とは？
