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パーティーでの出会い
英語のネイティブスピーカーとの出会いを求めて、国際パーティーに参加した武藤さん。
名札に名前を書いて会場に入ると、日本を含めたさまざまな国の人たちが200人ほど集まっていました。
一通り会場を回ってみた武藤さんですが、自身が外国人だと思われたり、
英語圏の人だと思って話しかけたら実は違っていたりとなかなか思い通りの出会いがありません。
International party
A Japanese woman handed me a blank name card. "Write your name on this," she said, "and stick it somewhere where people can see it." I wrote down my name, stuck it to my shirt, took a deep breath and stepped into the room.
I had come to Maebashi for an international party in the hope of finding some native English-speaking friends. I had been alarmed at how quickly my English was deteriorating, and I had thought that, maybe, making friends would be a good way of keeping my English alive.
There were around 200 people at the party: young, old, Asian, Caucasian, all sorts. I wandered around, looking at other people's name tags.
"Where are you from?" someone said in Japanese. It was an elderly Japanese woman. She peered at my name tag. I could see the penny drop as she realized that I was Japanese. She might have thought I was from another country because of my appearance.
I knew how she felt. There was nothing to do but guess where people came from by their appearance, and unfortunately that meant relying heavily on stereotypes. I started talking to a woman with blue eyes and blond hair. I assumed she was from an English-speaking country, but in fact, it turned out she was from Taiwan. I felt like an idiot when I found out. You shouldn't make assumptions based on appearance; you should always talk to people to find out about them.
After that, I just talked to anyone. I talked with people from Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, India and also Japan, which was fun, but none of them spoke English as their first language. At the end of our short chats, I would always ask, "Have you met a native English speaker here?" But none of them had.
The party was drawing to a close and I was despairing of meeting any native English speakers. "Hi. Having fun?" I said in Japanese to a girl standing next to me. The girl smiled and nodded. "What's your name?" I continued in Japanese. "I'm Heather," she said in fluent Japanese, "I'm from Canada."
I have to admit I was a little surprised, but we continued to chat, and before I knew it, we had slipped into English. We didn't talk for long, but it was an enjoyable conversation and we exchanged numbers.
A week later, we met up at a Starbucks near Takasaki Station. I wanted to talk to her more. She was an exchange student, like I had been, and I thought it would be interesting to share our experiences.
"I don't want to talk in English," she said. "I don't want to talk to people in English while I'm in Japan, but most people here try to. It would be better for my Japanese if they spoke to me in Japanese."
These words reminded me of how I had felt early on in my stay in Sydney. I had thought exactly the same thing. I hadn't wanted to speak Japanese because I wanted to improve my English. Already I was filled with memories of Australia.
Though she didn't want to speak in English, talking to her was a way of keeping my precious study-abroad memories alive, and that, in some respects, was more important than anything.
- handed 〜
- 〜を渡した
- blank
- 何も書かれていない
- name card
- 名札
- stick 〜
- 〜をくっつける
- wrote down 〜
- 〜を書いた
- took a deep breath
- 深呼吸した
- stepped into 〜
- 〜に入った
- in the hope of 〜
- 〜を期待して
- had been alarmed at 〜
- 〜に不安を感じていた
- was deteriorating
- 低下している
- keeping 〜 alive
- 〜をさびつかせない
- Caucasian
- 白人
- all sorts
- あらゆる人
- wandered around
- 会場を回った
- name tags
- 名札
- elderly
- 年配の
- peered at 〜
- じっと〜を見た
- could see the penny drop
- ああそうかと分かった
- realized that 〜
- 〜に気付いた
- appearance
- 外見
- There was nothing to do but 〜
- 〜するしかなかった
- guess 〜 by 〜
- 〜を〜で推測する
- unfortunately
- 残念なことに
- meant 〜
- 〜を意味した
- relying heavily on stereotypes
- 偏見で大部分を判断する
- blond
- ブロンドの
- assumed 〜
- 〜だと思った
- in fact
- 実際は
- it turned out 〜
- 〜だと分かった
- idiot
- 愚か者
- found out
- 知った
- make assumptions based on 〜
- 〜で推測する
- first language
- 第一言語
- chats
- 会話
- was drawing to a close
- 終わりに近づいていた
- was despairing of 〜
- 〜の望みを捨てかけていた
- Having fun?
- 楽しんでる?
- next to 〜
- 〜の隣に
- nodded
- うなずいた
- fluent
- 流ちょうな
- have to admit 〜
- 〜だと認めざるを得ない
- was a little surprised
- ちょっと驚いた
- before I knew it, 〜
- いつの間にか〜
- had slipped into 〜
- 〜で話していた
- enjoyable
- 楽しい
- conversation
- 会話
- exchanged numbers
- 携帯電話の番号を交換した
- met up at 〜
- 〜で会った
- Starbucks
- コーヒーチェーン
- exchange student
- 留学生
- like I had been
- かつて自分がそうであったように
- experiences
- 経験
- while 〜
- 〜にいる間は
- reminded 〜 of 〜
- 〜に〜のことを思い起こさせた
- early on
- 初めのうち
- stay
- 滞在
- exactly
- まさに
- improve 〜
- 〜を向上させる
- precious
- 貴重な
- study-abroad memories
- 留学の思い出
- in some respects
- ある意味