恥ずかしい英語

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突然ではありますが「訴求力を持つであろう広告やフレーズの，国・地域・言語による違い」について興味を持っています．以前書いたのはこちらですが，このような違いはいつも面白いと思ってみています．

今週半ばだったでしょうか，Facebook などでこちらのソフトウェア（リンク）が，日本人の友人の間で頻繁に紹介されていました．書いている英語のフレーズの間違い（スペルミスだけでなく，文脈からみた不自然な間違い）を指摘してくれるソフトウェアのようです．想像なんですが，おそらく世界中の英語文献などをデータベース化して，そこから頻繁に使われる表現などにスコアをつけてサジェストするようなアルゴリズムでしょうか．Google などの検索サジェストでも同じようなアルゴリズムを使っているみたいですし，こういう応用に使えるのだとしたら面白いですね． 1  このソフトウェアは僕はまだ使ってませんが，使用した感想などあればぜひ聞かせて下さい！

さて，今回の本題になるのですが，上記の日本語サイトの広告のトップラインを見て下さい．「恥ずかしい英語とは，おさらば」となっていて，これが何とも日本向けの広告表現だと思いました．こちらのソフトウェアの日本語紹介記事（これとこれ）を見ても「恥ずかしい失敗をしない」を全面に押し出したヘッドラインです．一方で，下記は同じソフトの英語版（リンク）で，日本語版と比べて見ると面白いでしょうか．同様の広告のトップラインは「Improve your English communication」となっていて「英語のコミュニケーションを上達させよう」というような意味になります．実はこちらのサイトでも詳しく見るとカウンターに「Embarrassments Avoided」と書いてあるのですが，カウンターの添字なので日本サイトの「恥ずかしい」とは広告の意図が違うと感じました．これらの解釈はもちろん僕の主観ですが，皆さんはこの２つのサイトの作りの違いをご覧になって，どんな感想を持つでしょうか．

少し一般化し過ぎかもしれませんが，日本は「恥ずかしくないようになる」が訴求力を持つ社会である気がします．日本語では「どこに出しても恥ずかしくない子」「人様に顔向けできない」みたいな表現があったりしてて，これは私が現在住むアメリカでは同様の表現が少ない（あるいは無いかも？）気がします．日本人のこういう性質は僕は好きで，とても一緒にいて居心地が良いと思います． 2 その一方で「英語の上達」みたいな文脈ですと，恥ずかしい間違いをしなければ上達しないでしょうから，そんなに気にしなくても良いじゃない，とも思います．こちらのソフトウェアに限って言えば，トップベージの広告の文言（つまり最も日本人に刺さるであろう文言）が「上手くなろう」でも「コミュニケーションを楽しもう」でもなくて「恥ずかしい間違いを避けよう」となっていることが，自己言及的に日本人の英語上達を阻害してる心理的な壁を暗示しているようで，ウイットが利いてるなあと深読みしてしまいました．さすがイスラエル人，皮肉まじりのユーモアです．笑 3

こと外国語学習などの話になりますと，色んな人が意見を持ってて雑音が煩わしいかと思います．ついつい外国語学習方法論を披露したがるのは海外在住者のウザい癖ですが，あえてその流れに乗っかるなら（すいません），自分は外国語はあまりガリガリやらなくてもライフワークとして10年20年かけて勉強したり練習したりすれば良いと思っています．結局その時にできることしかできませんし，背伸びしても何ともなりませんし，近道もありません．自分より少しでもできる人に引け目を感じるかもしれません．でもボルトが僕より走るのが速くても引け目を感じないのと同じで，他人と比べてそもそも引け目を感じなくてはいけない性質のものではありません．何にしても「好き」とか「続ける」が大事だと思っています．自分の場合は外国語学習が好きで上手くなりたいのですが，職場のカフェのレジのオバちゃんとは毎日スペイン語で挨拶しますし，頻繁に行く中華料理屋では中国語で会話をするようにしています．どちらも日本的には人様に聞かせられるようなレベルでもないのですが（多分相手に迷惑がかかってるレベルです．笑），恥ずかしい間違いをしないと気を張るよりも，おかしな表現だって冗談の１つも言ってみて相手が笑顔を見せてくれる方が，よほどやり甲斐にもなりますし継続もできると思います．10年続ければ，何かの違いが出てくるはずでしょう．最近は仲良くなって，無料でコーヒーをもらったり，まかない飯を出してくれたりなど予期しない短期的な効果も見られました．ということで外国語学習者のみなさん，恥ずかしさに負けないで，しかしそもそも恥ずかしがらなくてはいけない理由がないので，一緒に頑張りましょう！

Notes:

  1. 実はこういう英文の検証方法はは，自分も手作業でよくやります．例えば先日メールを書いていたとき， "as a side note" "as the side note" "on a side note" "on the side note" のどれが慣用的に使われてるかわからなくて，（前置詞２通り）×（冠詞２通り）の合計４通りを google で検索してみて，一番使用例が多い表現を採用した，みたいな感じです．留学時代の友人が書いた記事でも同様の趣旨のことが書かれていましたので，興味があればご一読を． ↩
  2. とは言っても，他者との関係において自分の何たるかが決まり過ぎると，生き辛い気もしますので，まあ何事も程度問題でしょうか．中庸の徳です． ↩
  3. これはイスラエルのベンチャー企業らしいです． ↩

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