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レポート執筆に苦戦
日本ではさほど苦にならなかったレポートも、英語で書くとなると
至難の業。まずは、ウエブや本から引用するときは剽窃にならないよう
表現に工夫し、出典は規則に従っていちいち明記しなくてはなりません。
日本語で考えては英語で書くうちに、話はどんどんそれていくし、
果ては、なぜかばかげた考えが頭に浮かんできて…。
Battling essays
When I was in Japan, writing essays was not a big deal for me. But now, in Australia, it is. Writing essays here is very different, particularly in terms of two things: plagiarism and referencing.
In Australia, plagiarism is a very big deal. It can also be a big deal in Japan, but in Japanese universities many students lift sentences from books or Web sites and usually they get away with it. But if you did that in Australia, you may be failed. You may even be forced to leave the university forever.
So if I want to use information from books or Web sites, I have to paraphrase it. I have to express the same meaning as the original article, but using different words and sentence structures. And when you paraphrase, you have to reference your sources, which I find irritating.
One of my classes is "Academic English." Its aim is to help students write a good essay or make a good presentation. One day, our lecturer told us: "Please use Harvard referencing, because most lecturers prefer the Harvard system — or sometimes the Chicago system." Harvard? Sometimes Chicago? I didn't know what she was talking about.
As I packed up my notes and my pencil case, another Japanese exchange student asked the lecturer what she meant by the Harvard system. She was very brave, and I admired her for asking. Apparently, the Harvard system involves writing the title of the book, the author and the year that it was published for each reference, and putting the list of references at the end of the essay.
This didn't sound so difficult. But there are some rules: The book title should be written in italics, commas should be placed between the author and the year of publication, etc. These rules must be strictly followed, and if that girl hadn't asked, I would have been completely unaware of them.
My essay topic was "Aging population and the Japanese economy" and the essay was to be about 1,500 words in length. At first, I thought 1,500 words was too long and I would never be able to write that much in time. But actually the problem was not length but coherence.
As I wrote, I found I didn't keep to the topic. I kept on going off on tangents. (This seems to be much more acceptable in Japanese essays than it is in English essays). As I wrote, I thought up each sentence in Japanese first (I still find it hard to think in English) and then I would translate it into English and type it. So far so good, but the problem was that I would often forget my original thoughts in Japanese as I struggled to translate them into English. After a while, I started thinking there must be something wrong with my brain.
I really struggled with writing the essay and around the 1,200-word mark something strange happened. Absurd thoughts came floating into my mind, and I started laughing at myself. Kris noticed me chuckling as I wrote my essay in the dining room. He said with a laugh: "It sometimes happens to me too! Just relax, mate!"
Fortunately I finished three hours before it was due. I'm worried though about what mark it will get. I'll know at the end of this month. Please, give me a good mark!
- was not a big deal
- 大したことではなかった
- it is
- 一大事だ
- particularly
- 特に
- in terms of 〜
- 〜について
- plagiarism
- 剽窃(ひょうせつ)、盗作
- referencing
- 参照、出典明記
- lift 〜 from 〜
- 〜を〜から盗用する
- get away with it
- 何とかやり過ごす
- be failed
- 落第する
- be forced to 〜
- 〜させられる
- forever
- 永久に
- paraphrase 〜
- 〜を言い換える
- express the same meaning as 〜
- 〜と同じことを表現する
- original article
- 原文
- sentence structures
- 構文
- reference your sources
- 出典に参照を付ける
- find irritating
- いらいらする
- aim
- 目的
- lecturer
- 講師
- Harvard referencing
- ハーバード方式(ハーバード大学で考案)
- prefer 〜
- 〜を好む
- Chicago system
- シカゴ方式(シカゴ大学で考案)
- packed up 〜
- 〜をまとめた
- exchange student
- 交換留学生
- what she meant by 〜
- 〜はどういう意味か
- brave
- 勇敢な
- admired 〜 for 〜
- 〜が〜したことをすごいと思った
- Apparently 〜
- どうやら〜らしい
- involves 〜
- 〜を必要とする
- title
- 書名
- author
- 著者
- was published
- 出版された
- for each reference
- それぞれの出典について
- didn't sound 〜
- 〜には思えなかった
- in italics
- イタリック体で
- commas
- コンマ
- be placed
- 付ける
- be strictly followed
- 厳密に従う
- would have been completely unaware of 〜
- まったく〜に気付いていなかっただろう
- Aging population
- 高齢化
- economy
- 経済
- was to be about 〜 in length
- 長さは〜だった
- that much
- そんなに
- in time
- 期限内に
- actually
- 実際は
- coherence
- 一貫性
- didn't keep to 〜
- 〜から外れた
- kept on going off on tangents
- 脱線し続けた
- acceptable
- 許容範囲の
- find it hard to 〜
- 〜するのは難しいと思う
- translate 〜 into 〜
- 〜を〜に訳す
- So far so good
- そこまではいい
- struggled to 〜
- 〜することに苦戦した
- there must be something wrong with 〜
- 〜におかしいところがあるに違いない
- brain
- 脳
- 〜 mark
- 〜の時点
- something strange
- おかしなこと
- Absurd thoughts came floating into my mind
- ばかげた考えが心に浮かんだ
- noticed 〜 chuckling
- 〜がくすくす笑っているのに気付いた
- mate
- 君
- Fortunately
- 幸い
- 〜 before it was due
- 提出期限の〜前に
- mark
- 点数、評価