2008.11.05
2008年11月第1週分 Lesson 3 Complete Streets (1)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
● 今日のテーマ
Shiga visited a typical American small town and tells everyone about the new city planning that’s going on there.
● vibrant 活気に満ちた，躍動する
Vibrant is an adjective related to vibrate. Something that’s vibrant is pulsing or thriving with energy. It’s very positive way to describe something.
● all-American いかにもアメリカらしい
Shiga uses the phrase all-American to describe Peoria. All-American comes from football, and it meant nation level, nationwide level, so if you can play football at all-American level, if you are an all-American, you are at the highest level in the sport. But the meaning of the phrase has expanded, and nowadays I think it tends to be used to describe something that shows all the good qualities of the U.S.
・ all-American 1. having good qualities that people think are typically American : a clean-cut all-American boy
2. (of a sports player) chosen as one of the best players in the US (OALD)
● Peoria
Shiga also ends the sentence with the phrase "see how things play there." There is a phrase "Will it play in Peoria?": that used to use to ask if something would be accepted in middle America, if regular people in U.S. would like it. Sometimes new ideas start from the East Coast and the West Coast. But East and West Coast are often considered a little bit different from the Heart Land — the central part of the U.S. So if something would play in Peoria, if it was popular in Peoria, it would probably be popular all over the U.S.
・ Peoria a small city in the US state of Illinois. The opinions of the people who live there are considered to be typical of opinions in the whole of the US
・ Will it play in Peoria? それはピオリアで受けるだろうか？
● stroll around ぶらつく
Stroll is a way of walking. It tends to be rather a slow, relaxed, comfortable kind of walking. It’s also related to something that in Japan people call a baby car. In the U.S. we don’t call that thing a baby car. Most people call it a stroller.
● gain momentum 勢いを増す，気運が高まる
・ momentum はずみ，勢い
・ gain/gather momentum
The campaign for reform should start to gather momentum in the new year. : incentives to maintain the momentum of European integration / Governments often lose momentum in their second term of office. (LDOCE)
● shoulder 路肩
→ ビジュアル辞典
● read all about it
The phrase "read all about it" was also used in the past before the Internet and before there was a lot of radio and television to sell newspapers when something had recently happened. So newspapers would pat out special editions to report about surprising events and you would see newsboys standing on the street shouting "Read all about it!" trying to sell their extra editions of the newspapers. That was quite a while ago. I’ve only seen it in movies. I don’t have personal experience of that time.
● What’s black and white and read(red) all over?
The answer is a newspaper or a blushing zebra!
● put a premium on ～ ～を重視する
・ put/place a premium on something to consider one quality or type of thing as being much more important than others: Modern economies place a premium on educated workers. (LDOCE)
2008.11.06
2008年11月第1週分 Lesson 3 Complete Streets (2)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
● 今日のテーマ
The group discusses bike riding and the overall health benefits brought by the complete street design concept.
● crutches 松葉杖， 支え・頼り
Tyson talks about crutches which people use physically to support them when they can’t move by themselves without some support. But the word crutch is also used figuratively to mean a temporary support, but usually it’s used when it’s an inappropriate support, like you should be able to learn to not use the crutch. Drugs and alcohol are often described as a crutch helping people through stressful time.
・ Matsushitaさんが言っている「比喩的な意味」は，LDOCEによれば，
something that gives someone support or help, especially something that is not really good for them: As things got worse at work, he began to use alcohol as a crutch.
● a new lease of [on] life
The phrase "a new lease of life" is usually used when someone gets a second chance. They have a new bright future ahead of them. Some event gave them hope and maybe even happiness. But the phrase is interesting because I always knew it as "a new lease on life." In the real world, you get "a new lease on an apartment." When we recorded this, many people objected to using the word of because like me they know the phrase as "a new lease on life." But I checked on the Internet, and it turns out that using the phrase with on is much less common that using the phrase with of. So maybe it’s changing.
・ take[get, have] a new[fresh] lease on[of] life （病気を克服して）寿命を延ばす，元気［生きる望み］を取り戻す，新たな気持ちで再出発する （ジーニアス大英和）
a new lease of life <especially British English> a new lease on life <American English>
a) if something has a new lease of life, it is changed or repaired so that it can continue: Historic buildings can have a new lease of life through conversion.
b) if someone has a new lease of life, they become healthy, active, or happy again after being weak, ill, or tired: an operation to give her a new lease of life
● payoff 成果，見返り
・ payoff an advantage or a reward from something you have done (OALD)
● bike
Shiga uses the word bike here to refer to bicycle. In the U.S, usually even without context, if someone says bike, it means bicycle. To get the meaning motorcycle, usually you need a context that indicates it is a motorized vehicle.
● in the past month 今から一ヶ月以内
・ 今が11月15日だとすると，last monthは10月を指し，the past monthは10月15日から11月15日までのひと月を指します。
● It comes as no surprise that … ・・・は驚くようなことではない
・ come as a surprise (to somebody) (=happen unexpectedly) : The triumph came as a surprise to many fans. / It should come as no surprise (=you should expect it to happen) that cycling builds leg strength. (LDOCE)
● celebrate a banner business year 商売の景気がよい年を祝う
A banner business year — in this case, Kinkaid is using the word to mean "unusually good" or maybe more specifically "distinguished from all the others" because it’s excellent. A banner is a kind of flag, so I suppose if something has a banner on it, it’s noticeable.
・ banner year <American English> a year which is good because something is successful (LDOCE)
● escalate 上昇する，高騰する
Kinkaid uses the verb escalate. Escalate is a verb that was made from a noun. And the noun originally was actually a brand name. It wasn’t until the late fifties and the early sixties that it came to be used as a verb to mean "increase" or "go up."
・ もともと OTIS 社の商標であった escalator ということばから作られたことば
● bike lane 自転車専用レーン bike path 自転車専用の小道
Shiga mentions both bike lanes and bike paths. Bike lanes tend to be a part of the street. It’s designed into the street. There are special markings to show where the bike lane is. And drivers have to be very careful about people possibly being in that lane. A bike path tends to be separated from the road or maybe has nothing to do with the automobile road system at all. It could be a path through a park or any other part of the city where it’s not sharing the road. Occasionally you’ll also hear bike trailer or bike track. And those tend to be even further away from automobiles out in the mountains or rougher ground like that.
● forefront 最前線
・ at / in / to the forefront (of something) in or into an important or leading position in a particular group or activity (OALD)
● muscle toning 筋肉を鍛えること
・ tone (up) to make your muscles, skin, etc. firmer and stronger (OALD)
2008.11.07
2008年11月第1週分 Lesson 3 Complete Streets (3)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
● 今日のテーマ
Kinkaid, Shiga, and Tyson comment on how civic planning often has to reconcile conflicting interests.
● dusty bicycles ほこりをかぶった自転車
Kinkaid mentions "dusty bicycles." I suppose if they’re hanging in the garage they probably have collected quite a bit of dust. But I think you can also use this adjective just to mean something that’s unused, whether it actually has dust on it or not.
(アメリカではしばしば車庫の壁に自転車を掛けておく)
That keeps them out of the way when you’re not using them and they’re safe and they’re dry and you still have plenty of room to put a car in.
・ out of the way じゃまにならないように
● itch to V Vしたくてたまらない
Kinkaid mentions that "high-school kids may itch to drive a car." Often people say "have an itch" when actually what you have is an urge. It doesn’t have to a physical itch. It’s some kind of strong and restless desire.
Another way you can talk about something you really, really want to do is to say you’re dying to do it.
So in this sentence, you could say "high-school kids may be dying to drive a car."
・ be itching to do something, be itching for something <informal> to want to do something very much and as soon as possible: He was itching for a fight. (LDOCE)
● "us somewhat older folks want to pump the bike pedals"
She also mentions "us somewhat older folks." If you think about it grammatically, us is part of the subject, so why not say "we somewhat older folks." You could say that. It is correct, but I think it sounds hypercorrect to most people. It makes you sound very prim and proper and not so much interested in meaning but only interested in being correct. You should probably think about it as a set phrase — us older folks, us young people. It’s used quite a bit.
・ prim 堅苦しい，しかつめらしい always behaving in a careful and formal way, and easily shocked by anything that is rude (OALD)
● pump the bike pedals 自転車のペダルをこぐ
・ pump to move something quickly up and down or in and out : He kept pumping my hand up and down. (OALD)
● a good excuse 格好の理由
・ いい意味での「理由」をあらわすexcuse
excuse a good reason that you give for doing something that you want to do for other reasons
● prick up one’s ears 聞き耳を立てる，興味を示す
・ prick (up) your ears (of a person) to listen carefully, especially because you have just heard something interesting: Her ears pricked at the sound of his name. (OALD)
● people in all walks of life あらゆる階層の人々
・ walk of life the position in society someone has, especially the type of job they have
from every walk of life/from all walks of life Our volunteers include people from all walks of life. (LDOCE)
● No pun intended. しゃれではありません
The only problem with the phrase "No pun intended" is that people often use it even when they really did mean a pun.
If you’re listening earlier, you probably heard us talk about a riddle that’s based on a pun. It’s "What’s black and white and red(read) all over?" Do you remember the answer? It’s either a newspaper or a blushing zebra, which is what makes all the little kids laugh. That’s a very well-known pun in the U.S. Here’s another one. This is also an old kid’s pun and it’s usually presented as a riddle: Why did the silly Billy go to bed with shoe polish? The answer is "he wanted to rise and shine."
・ rise and shine 元気よく起きる <spoken> used humorously to tell someone to wake up and get out of bed (OALD)
shine は「靴を磨く」の意味も。
● Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. 産湯と一緒に赤児を流すな。
This is a very common proverb to talk about not throwing out good things together with bad things. And it actually comes from German and wasn’t even used much in English until probably the late 19th century, early 20th century.
2008.11.12
2008年11月第2週分 Lesson 3 Complete Streets (4)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
● 今日のテーマ
Kinkaid expects better environments to result in citizens being happier when out and about in a town.
・ out and about = 1. able to go outside again after an illness 2. travelling around a place : We’ve been out and about talking to people all over the country. (OALD)
● keynote concerns 基本的な関心事
Shiga uses the word keynote to describe concerns. Keynote means main or major or even basic or fundamental. It’s often used to describe speeches at conventions and other kinds of large meetings. But you can use it to describe almost anything that’s a major element in any situation.
・ keynote (adjective) [only before noun] relating to the most important part of a formal meeting, report etc
● get around 動き回る，歩き回る
・ get around = get about to move from place to place or from person to person (OAL)
● health and welfare 健康と福祉
Shiga mentions people’s health and welfare. Welfare focuses on their living conditions, whether they’re living well, well enough, or not. But also in the U.S., the system of government support for poor people is called welfare system.
● figure into ～ ～に盛り込む
・ figure in If a person or thing figures in something, they appear in or are included in it. : Human rights violations figured prominently in the report. (COBUILD)
● again 繰り返しになりますが，前にも言ったように
・ You can use again when you want to point out that there is a similarity between the subject that you are talking about now and a previous subject. : Again the pregnancy was very similar to my previous two…
● safe and sound 安全で確実な
Safe and sound are very similar words, but not quite the same. Safe, of course, means "without danger," "without threats." And sound focuses a little bit more on being strong and correct and reliable. It can also be used to mean "healthy."
● boulevard は 「広い大通り」
Usually. But people often use street names to try to make their home sound better. So, for example, my father grew up on "Grand Boulevard." But there’s nothing grand about it, and it also really isn’t a boulevard. It’s a small street that only the people who live on it need. It doesn’t take you somewhere else in their suburb, but it sounds nice.
● with an eye to ～ ～のことを考えると
You can use the phrase "with an eye to" for all kinds of different things when you mean considering or taking into consideration or while thinking about A and then make your comment about it.
・ with an eye to (doing) something if you do something with an eye to doing something else, you do it in order to make the second thing more likely to happen: Most novels are published with an eye to commercial success. (LDOCE)
● feel upbeat 明るい気分になる
・ upbeat = positive and enthusiastic; making you feel that the future will be good: The tone of the speech was upbeat. / The meeting ended on an upbeat note.
● cabstand タクシー乗り場
Kinkaid talks about cabstands. You could call it a cabstand or taxi stand. In the U.S., people use cab and taxi pretty much interchangeably for the same thing. Cab comes from an old word cabriolet, which was a kind of horse-drawn vehicle. Taxi actually comes from a word taximeter, which I think no more ever thinks about any more these days. It was a meter for a cab. So two words kind of got all mixed up together. And nowadays people usually use only a taxi or a cab, although the drivers are usually called cabbies.
● "bus stops are set apart and highlighted"
Kinkaid also talks about bus stops and cabstands being set apart. I think some of the elements of complete streets wouldn’t make drivers very happy, but this would, because buses and taxis stopping in the road interrupt traffic flow terribly. So if it was easy for buses and taxis to stop and for people to get on and off without disturbing the traffic flow, I think this would be really highly valued by anybody driving, not just pros.
● whopping 100 percent なんと100パーセント
・ If you describe an amount as whopping, you are emphasizing that it is large. (INFORMAL) : The Russian leader won a whopping 89.9 percent yes vote. (COBUILD)
2008.11.13
2008年11月第2週分 Lesson 3 Complete Streets (5)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
== Key Phrases to Remember ==
● strike someone as ～ 人に～という印象を与える
fickle 飽きっぽい，気まぐれな
● put a premium on ～ ～を重視する
・ job-hop （しばしば）転職する
・ premium 賞金，賞品，保険料
・ Mandarin 北京官話
I think in the U.S., most people learn or most people think they know there are two major Chinese languages: one is Mandarin, and the other is Cantonese.
● come as no surprise 驚きではない
・ rampant 猛威をふるう
● be in the forefront of ～ ～の最前線にいる
● prick up one’s ears 聞き耳を立てる，興味を示す
● stir up ～をかき立てる
・ stir かきまぜる
== あんな時，こんな時 ==
「驚きではない」と言う時
● I’m not surprised (that) …
● I wouldn’t be surprised if …
● … surprised no one.
● It’s not surprising (that) …
● Nobody was panicked by …
・ panic のつづり
Be careful with this past tense spelling of panic. You have to add a k ; otherwise you’d have to pronounce it [pænist].
会話では，
● No doubt. I don’t wonder [it’s no wonder.]
● I knew it was coming. Now give it to me straight.
・ Give it to me straight. はっきり言ってくれ。
There was an older phrase that was popular probably in the late 60s, maybe early 70s. If you wanted someone to tell you bad news directly and clearly, you’d say, "Sock it to me!"
・ Sock it to me. はっきり言ってくれ，そのまま伝えてください，さあかかってこい
sock it to somebody <old-fashioned> to tell someone to do something in a direct and forceful way (LDOCE)
I think it comes also from the idea that you are hit by the bad news. You almost feel it physically.
・ sock = 「なぐる」 から
● It’s just as I expected [thought]. 思った通りだ
● I knew it would turn out that way sooner or later. いずれそうなるだろうと思ってたよ。
● What a surprise.(↘) I knew it was done deal.
・ done deal 出来レース，完了した取引 < informal > an agreement that has been made and cannot be changed: The merger is far from a done deal. (LDOCE)
2008.11.14
2008年11月第2週分 Lesson 3 Complete Streets (6)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
S = 杉田敏 I = Susan Iwamoto
S: In our current vignette, we looked at urban renewal, particularly in smaller cities such as Peoria, Illinois.
I: That’s right. And this is a welcome trend in many cities across the U.S. Many residents of small cities and suburbs have grown tired of strip malls, and big box stores that have overtaken main street mom-and-pop shops.They long for a more pedestrian-friendly environment and a stronger sense of community. Just this past summer, I visited such a place. An American friend of mine moved back to the US after over ten years in Tokyo. She’s now living in a small city of sixty thousand people in the state of Connecticut.
・ strip mall 大通りのショッピングセンター
・ box store 倉庫形式のディスカウントストア
・ mom-and-pop 家族経営の，零細な
S: That must have been quite a change.
I: Definitely. She loved her old neighborhood in Tokyo, where everything was short-walk or train-ride away. Though she was happy to move back to the U.S., she didn’t want to live in a place where she would have to rely on a car to go everywhere. She found a happy balance in her new city, which is the suburb of the state capital, Hartford. When I visited her the summer, she took me on a tour and pointed out some of the latest development projects in the city, designed to foster a stronger sense of community. The city has worked on improving and expanding its center, with many shops, restaurants, theaters and public facilities such as libraries and parks.
・ short-walk or train-ride away 歩いてすぐ，または電車で行けるくらいの所にある
S: Sounds like a nice place to live.
I: Doesn’t it? Whether you can call it complete streets, new urbanism, or suburban redevelopment, there is definitely a movement of foot(?) to counteract years of urban sprawl. Sometimes this means taking a new urban planning approach to an existing city or sometimes it’s creating a planned community from scratch. This is a welcome trend and something I wish had happened years ago in some of the places where I grew up.
・ urban sprawl スプロール化現象（郊外に向けて宅地が無秩序に広がっていくこと）
・ from scratch ゼロから，最初から
・ something I wish had happened ずっと前に起きていてほしかったこと（連鎖関係節）
S: What do you mean?
I: Well, though I was born in one of the largest cities in the U.S., Philadelphia, I grew up mostly in the suburbs. I spent four years in elementary school in Tokyo, and after that my family moved to a suburb outside Washington D.C. for a couple of years. My sisters and I definitely went through culture shock at first.
・ go through ～ ～を経験する
S: Culture shock? What made it difficult to adjust?
I: Well, we’d grown used to a certain level of independence in our neighborhood in Tokyo. We had parks, playgrounds, and of course the all-important toy stores and candy stores within walking and biking distance. Suddenly we are in a suburban neighborhood filled with house after house with parks, playgrounds and shops all car-ride away. It took some getting used to. Many of the other towns I lived in after that were similar. They all had their own charms. But most didn’t really have a city center — a place where you might bump into your neighbors while you’re running out errands or just enjoy an evening stroll. I definitely prefer living in cities with a high level of walkability.
・ with parks, playgrounds and shops all car-ride away 付帯状況。「公園，遊び場，お店などがみな車で行く距離にあって」 all は前の3つの名詞と同格。
S: I guess that’s why you’ve been in Tokyo all these years.
I: That’s definitely one of the reasons. Unlike my friends, I’ve often wondered if I could get used to suburban life in the U.S. again, after enjoying the conveniences of a big city. However, I’ve been happy to see that many communities in the U.S. are really making efforts at urban or perhaps suburban renewal.
・ このへんは郊外(suburbs)のイメージが日本の郊外とは違うような気がします。日本の郊外は，コンビニもあれば，なんたらショッピングセンターがあってさほど不便な感じはしないと思いますが。
S: Both Shiga Hiroshi and Jay Tyson pointed out the benefits of complete streets for senior citizens and people with disabilities.
I: Yes, and Rosa Cortez also mentioned how increasing walkability of cities can help decrease the rate of obesity. It’s clear that this kind of redevelopment can do a lot to improve the quality of life for many residents. I can think of a few of my relatives who would really benefit from this sort of improvement to their community. They can no longer drive and must rely on family members and friends to get around. This can take a toll on people who have been so independent for so long. My parents live in Florida — a state that has long attracted retirees. They live in a housing development for people aged 55 and over in a city with many shops, restaurants, and other facilities, very few of which are within waling distance. Many of the residents, including my parents, are still young and healthy enough to drive, and they help the older or less mobile residents by giving them rides to doctors or supermarkets. Though it is nice to see neighbors helping one another, it must be tough to rely on another all the time.
・ relatives who would really benefit from this sort of improvement to their community 仮定法のwould。直訳すると，「もしそういうところに住んでいるなら利益を受けるであろうような親戚」
・ take a toll on ～ ～を犠牲にする，～に害を与える
・ give ～ a ride ～を車に乗せる
S: Do you think this urban renewal trend will continue in the United States?
I: I certainly hope so. Cutting down on car usage in favor of walking or cycling is certainly better for the environment and for one’s health. The social benefits are considerable as well. Many of these communities have outdoor events throughout the year, whether festivals or farmers’ market. And these are the great way to get to know your neighbors better.
2008.11.19
2008年11月第3週分 Lesson 4 Diversity in the Workplace (1)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
● 今日のテーマ
Tyson introduces Sue Kim, a new hire from Chicago, who brings more diversity to the team.
● "I’d like to welcome Sue Kim"
Jay Tyson starts off by saying "I’d like to welcome …" He could say, "Please welcome .." or "Let’s welcome Sue Kim."
● admin assistant 秘書，アシスタント
He also uses the shortened form of administrative; he only says admin. Admin can be used for administrative, administrator, or even administration.
● diverse, diversity の発音
You’ll probably notice throughout this lesson people tend to say [dəvəːs] or [daivəːs], [dəvəːsti] or [daivəːsəti]. All of them are correct. It depends mostly on the person’s dialect, or the rhythm and focus of the sentence. Both of them are used, so be prepared to hear it either way — [daivəːs] or [dəvəːs].
● fit in なじむ，うまく溶け込む
・ fit in if someone fits in, they are accepted by the other people in a group: I never really fitted in at school. (LDOCE)
● Hey!
Later, when we have a chance, take a look at the spelling, when it’s this interjection, it’s spelled HEY. If you’re talking about food for horses, it’s spelled HAY, although the pronunciation is the same. When I was a kid, we used to make jokes sometimes: when we were driving, we’d see, you know, dried grasses growing in fields and say, "Hey, hay!"
● tamale タマーレ
Tamale is in the U.S. a fairly common and fairly popular food these days. It’s a dish from South America. The U.S. version is probably mostly from Mexico. And it’s made with corn flour and usually has a kind of meat stuffing and it’s often steamed and wrapped in corn husks.
● bologna sandwich ボローニャ・ソーセージのサンドイッチ
In the U.S., there’s two pronunciations for this word. [bəlouni] is probably the most common one when you’re talking about the sausage. But if you’re talking about the city in Italy, I think most people would say [bəlounjə]. One other thing: for the pronunciation [bəlouni], there is a second spelling, and a different meaning. If you spell it b-a -l-o-n-e-y, it means pretentious nonsense. So if someone is telling you something that you disagree with, you can look at them and say "Baloney!"
・ baloney = boloney たわごと something that is silly or not true [= nonsense]: Don’t give me that baloney. (LDOCE)
● bite into ～ ～にかじりつく
bite into / through / at / down
- She bit into a croissant and took a sip of coffee.
- An adult conger eel can easily bite through a man’s leg.
- Nina pushed her fist into her mouth and bit down hard.
(LDOCE)
● go for ～ ～を選ぶ，（選んで）～にする
・ go for something
- to choose something : I think I’ll go for the fruit salad.
- to put a lot of effort into something, so that you get or achieve something: Go for it, John! You know you can beat him. / It sounds a great idea. Go for it! (OALD)
"Go for it!" は「がんばれ！」
● "our diversity"
Cortez talks about "our diversity." She could be referring just to Great Lakes or even just to her team. But even if she is referring to that specifically, I think the same list of characteristics applies all over the U.S.
● discrimination based on age, sex and race
He’s referring to the idea that some people don’t like other people because of their age or their sex or their race. So to talk about that kind of idea negatively, he could have said ageism, just like you can say sexism, or racism.
● build on ～ ～をさらに増強・拡大する
・ build on something to use something as a basis for further progress: This study builds on earlier work. (OALD)
● "to manage increasingly diverse work-forces since the 1970s"
Yes, I remember this fairly clearly. I think it was first in the 1970s in the U.S. that more and more women started taking up part-time work. But not only that, there were quite a few who started developing careers, not just part-time work to earn more money, but with a clear focus that they wanted to work hard and climb through a company, getting more experience, and more responsibility.
2008.11.20
2008年11月第3週分 Lesson 4 Diversity in the Workplace (2)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
● 今日のテーマ
Cortez says that companies are becoming more diverse and that this diversity is becoming commonplace.
● fill positions 地位に就く
Cortez talks about "filling positions." She could have said "in positions," or "occupying positions," or even "taking positions."
● pink-collar job 伝統的に女性の職種だった秘書，交換手など（white-collar, blue-collar のもじり）
Some people even call those jobs the pink-collar ghetto, because it was very difficult to get out of.
・ 最後の文のitはthe ghetto をさす。It … to なら，終わり方が out of it のはず。
・ pink-collar jobs/workers/industries etc <especially American English> low-paid jobs done mainly by women, for example in offices and restaurants, or the women who do these jobs
● awesome 畏怖の念を起こさせるような（万能語: nice に近い）
Awesome is the word that’s been fairly popular for maybe the last two decades or so, to describe something that gave you a very strong and good impression.
If you really want to make it clear that you’re using awesome more in the slang way, you can add dude to it. "Awesome, dude!"
・ awesome 1 extremely impressive, serious, or difficult so that you feel great respect, worry, or fear: an awesome responsibility / the awesome sweep of the scenery
2 <especially American English> <informal> very good: Their last concert was really awesome. (LDOCE)
YouTube のコメント欄なんかにほめ言葉としてよく見かけますね。
● "Nobody thinks twice about it"
"Nobody thinks twice about it" means it’s commonplace, it’s not unusual, it’s not remarkable.
・ think twice about ～ to think carefully before deciding to do something
● It’s not only an issue of women climbing the corporate ladder then and now, I think.
Kim put the phrase "I think" at the end of her sentence. Sometimes this means it’s my opinion, but often if you put "I think" at the end of the sentence, it means I’m not exactly sure about what I’m saying. So if you want to be very clear that it’s your opinion, put "I think" at the beginning.
● onslaught 襲来
The word onslaught is often used in a negative way when something is too powerful in coming to you //in gripping huge waves and you can’t withstand it. But you can use it more neutrally just to mean something that’s rather overwhelming.
・ onslaught 1 a large violent attack by an army
onslaught on/against In December they launched a full-scale onslaught on the capital.
2 strong criticism of someone
onslaught on/against his public onslaught on the Conservatives
under the onslaught of something He praised his wife for her dignity under the onslaught of the tabloid press.
3 the onslaught of something the effect of something that is unpleasant and could cause damage: plants that will survive the onslaught of winter (LDOCE)
● adept 熟達して
Hughes uses the word adept. There’re two other words that are very similar — adopt and adapt. They’re all different only in the central vowel sound. Adept, the word Hughes uses, means good at something. Adopt means take something up and make it your own. And adapt means change to fit something or suit something. I sometimes hear people mix the word up or type the wrong word in texts, and especially in e-mail when they’re busy and not paying really close attention.
● in charge of relations
Cortez mentions that their senior VP is in charge of relations, but she doesn’t really spell out what kind of relations or relations between whom she is talking about. But because she is talking with colleagues, they all know the person she’s referring to. So it’s not really necessary to explain it at all really clearly here.
● sit on the board ～の理事［役員］を努める
・ sit to be a member of a committee, parliament, or other official group ～の一員になる
sit in/on : They both sat on the management committee. / He was the first journalist to sit in parliament. (LDOCE)
● be on top of things 事情をしっかり把握している
・ on top of something in control of a situation : Do you think he’s really on top of his job?
● catchword スローガン，標語
・ catchword 1. a briefly popular or fashionable word or phrase used to encapsulate a particular concept 2. a word printed or placed so as to attract attention
2008.11.21
2008年11月第3週分 Lesson 4 Diversity in the Workplace (3)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
● 今日のテーマ
The team talks about some of the lessons they’ve learned in the Great Lakes diversity training program.
● promoting diversity in the workplace
These days in the U.S., I think most companies have some sort of diversity training for their employees. Not only does it ensure that all their workers work well together, no matter what kind of backgrounds they come from. But it also can serve a sort of a defense against a discrimination lawsuit, because it shows the court that the company intends to, and is trying to, set up an environment where people can work together, no matter what their backgrounds are.
● first and foremost まず第一に
・ first and foremost used to emphasize the most important quality, purpose, reason etc: Dublin is thought of first and foremost for its literary heritage. (LDOCE)
● corporate clones 企業の中のクローン人間
Corporate clones would be employees who all seem the same. They are interchangeable; they look the same; they think the same way. They really have the stamp of the company on them. In the past, I think, sometimes corporate clones were called cogs. Cogs are a small part of intricate machinery. They are interchangeable. You can’t really tell them apart. But they go in, they do the work, they leave. It’s kind of a dull and boring way to talk about company employees.
・ cog 歯車
● get grounded 地面に足をつける，基礎を身につける
● get centered かたよらない
Hughes talks about being "grounded and centered." Grounded refers to having your feet on the ground, being effective and matter-of-fact, concrete and focused on what you’re doing. Centered is a little more about not going too far in any direction, not being extreme, knowing what you’re doing and doing it well and doing it carefully.
・ matter-of-fact 実務的な
・ grounded 1 reasonable and in control of your emotions, even when this is difficult
2 someone who is grounded understands their own character and knows what is really important: Simmons says that her family keeps her grounded. (LDOCE)
・ centered feeling calm and in control of your life and feelings: Julia seems very centred nowadays. (LDOCE)
● a couple of ～ 2つの～，2, 3 の～
Cortez mentions "a couple of those training programs." Couple tends to mean two. It could be two, three, maybe four, even, depending on the conversation. It’s a very vague way to talk about the number of something.
It’s probably better to think of a couple as meaning more than one, but not a lot.
・ a couple of ～ (1) two people or things (2) a small number of people or things (OALD)
● alleged の発音
Alleged (/əledʒd/), or /əledʒɪd/ is kind of an interesting word. Both pronunciations are acceptable in this case: /əledʒd/, /əledʒɪd/. But if you change it into the adverb, people use the three-syllable version: /əledʒɪdli/.
Also, if you listen to news stories when the reporter is talking about someone who is suspected of a crime, they usually say alleged (/əledʒd/), or /əledʒɪd/, until that person has been convicted in a court.
・ allege to state something as a fact but without giving proof
・ the alleged killer (= that somebody says is one) 「殺人犯だとされている人」
● get a grip on ～ ～を理解する
If you get a grip on something, you get in control of it; you learn how to handle it.
・ grip an understanding of something : I couldn’t get a grip on what was going on. / You need to keep a good grip on reality in this job. (OALD)
● "Men are inclined to oversell their capabilities and women tend to undersell themselves."
This is true in the U.S. There’s also cultural differences between countries. In some countries, U.S. style, selling yourself, wouldn’t work. And sometimes in the U.S., foreign workers seem to be underselling themselves. I think Japanese style would be seen as underselling.
・ oversell 売り込みすぎる to say that somebody/something is better than they really are
・ undersell 控えめに売り込む to make people think that somebody/something is not as good or as interesting as they really are
● "consign them to a corporate trash basket"
・ consign ゆだねる，（廃棄するために）～を入れる
consign somebody/something to something
1 to make someone or something be in a particular situation, especially a bad one: It was a decision which consigned him to political obscurity.
consign somebody/something to the dustbin / scrapheap / rubbish heap etc : Many older people feel they have been consigned to the medical scrapheap.
2 to put something somewhere, especially in order to get rid of it: The shoes looked so tatty that I consigned them to the back of the cupboard. (LDOCE)
2008.11.26
2008年11月第3週分 Lesson 4 Diversity in the Workplace (4)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
● 今日のテーマ
Tyson notes that Great Lakes trains managers embrace diversity, and back the training up with financial incentive.
● get down to brass tacks 問題の本質に取り組む
"Get down to brass tacks" is an idiom that means focus on key issues or "get serious" or "get down to basics." Nobody is exactly sure where this phrase comes from, but the earliest references are from 150 years ago in Texas of all places.
・ get down to brass tacks <informal> to start talking about the most important facts or details of something (LDOCE)
・ of all places(people) よりによって
● revamp 改良する
Revamp is a verb that people use to mean "make better" or "improve", "shake it up so that it becomes better." It’s a little different from "change." It tends to include the idea of improvement.
・ revamp to make changes to the form of something, usually to improve its appearance (OALD)
・ shake something up to make changes to an organization in order to make it more effective: the government’s plans to shake up the educational system (LDOCE)
● shed light on new twists
・ twist くふう，要領，新方式 a clever device : TRICK : questions demanding special twists of thinking <New Yorker> (Merriam-Webster)
● wear different hats 様々な役割をこなす
To wear different hats refers to having different roles. Another quite often used phrase is wear two hats, meaning you have two roles. And although these two phrases seem very, very familiar to me and very .. like something that’s been in English for a long time. They’ve actually only been used since about the 1950s or 1960s in the U.S.
・ hat <informal> a position or role, especially an official or professional role, when you have more than one such role: I’m wearing two hats tonight — parent and teacher. (OALD)
● mentor メンターになる，助言を与える
A phrase similar to the meaning mentor is to take someone under your wing. And it means "take care of them," "watch them," "help them grow and develop."
・ mentor a : a trusted counselor or guide b : TUTOR, COACH (v.) to serve as a mentor for
・ take somebody under your wing かばう，保護する to take care of and help somebody who has less experience of something than you
● it backs up the program with money.
So you could say Great Lakes is putting their money where their mouth is. They are not just paying lip service to diversity.
So here too, you can see bonuses in the U.S. is not quite the same thing as bonuses here in Japan. They are usually not automatic, and occasionally they’ll be for something that you did that surprised your boss. It’s not always something you know you’ll get ahead of time.
・ put your money where your mouth is <informal> to show by your actions that you really believe what you say （金を払って）約束を果たす，行動で自分の言ったことを裏打ちする
● keep the ball rolling ものごとを進め続ける
・ set/start/keep the ball rolling to start something happening:
To start the ball rolling, the government was asked to contribute £1 million. (LDOCE)
2008.11.27
2008年11月第3週分 Lesson 4 Diversity in the Workplace (5)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
== Key Phrases to Remember ==
● asset 資産，貴重なもの，人材
● awesome 畏怖の念を起こさせる，圧倒されるような
● prompt someone to （人）を・・・するよう促す
And many politicians these days use TelePrompTers to help them make good speeches.
● be on top of things 事情をしっかり把握している
・ I’m on top of things [it]. 大丈夫。わたしは状況を把握しているから。
It also means "You can rely on me.
● keynote 基調
● point of view 視点
== あんな時，こんな時 ==
「・・・を望みます」という時 I hope ..
● I’m hoping for another bumper crop this year.
・ bumper crop 豊作
You can also use the phrase to refer to anything that you hope to have a lot of this year.
● hopefully うまくいけば，できれば （文修飾的な使い方には批判的な人もいる）
OALD の解説では，"Although this is the most common use of hopefully, it is a fairly new use and some people think it is not correct." とある。
But I think it’s pretty much become standard in the U.S., and if you insisted on not using it this way, people would probably think you’re pretty much of a curmudgeon.
● Here’s hoping for success [the best].
乾杯する時の典型的な言い方。
Yeah, you could probably use it for almost anything if you’re right at the starting point — just as you take that as a first step.
● Keep your fingers crossed and hope for a miracle.
keep one’s fingers crossed は成功を祈るおまじない。
・ keep one’s fingers crossed to hope that your plans will be successful (sometimes putting one finger across another as a sign of hoping for good luck (OALD)
It sounds a bit like you have nothing else to rely on. And to emphasize this, sometimes people will say they have their fingers and their toes crossed.
● Jack pinned all his hopes on hitting the jackpot.
・ hit the jackpot （スロットマシンなどで）大当たりすること
And nowadays you can use "hit the jackpot" to refer to almost any kind of unexpected success or award.
・ pin [ set, fix, build ] one’s hopes on ～ ～に期待をかける
The company is pinning it hopes on the new project. (OALD)
● Hope so. = I hope so. / Hope not. = I hope not.
● cling to [entertain, harbor] the hope that … 希望に執着する :
2008.11.28
2008年11月第3週分 Lesson 4 Diversity in the Workplace (6)
《ディクテーション・ノート》
S = 杉田敏 I = Susan Iwamoto
S: Our most recent vignette covered the topic of diversity in the workplace. What’s your take on this, Susan?
I: Well, this has been a buzzword in the U.S. for some time now. Organizations are looking to leverage the experience and perspective of the diverse workforce. And as we heard from Rosa Cortez and Tony Hughes in the vignette, this diversity includes culture, gender, age and race among other things.
・ leverage ～に影響を与える
S: Sue Kim mentioned that Great Lakes has a chief diversity officer. What is required of them?
I: Good question. Well, you know, you can find chief diversity officers at corporations, universities, and other organizations. Many organizations without a C-level position, CDO for chief diversity officers in that area, may have diversity officers in HR divisions. People in these positions need to be innovative, persuasive, and well-versed in change in management. They often look for ways to improve recruiting, management development programs, and performance management with an eye toward broadening the talent base of the organization. At universities, this may also involve curriculum development.
・ C-level = top level 肩書きに chief がつく
S: What are some of the challenges organizations face in this area?
I: Well, one of these is recruiting. When I worked in HR for a bank in the U.S. years ago, I remember one of my colleagues saying that it was a challenge to find diverse-ful of candidates for management positions. Despite the bank’s concerted effort to do so, they were hoping for up and coming executives with backgrounds that reflects the local community. But it was often hard to find candidates even when you’re using professional recruiters. Another challenge with recruiting is to make sure that interviewers are well-trained in being able to recognize good candidates for a particular position. This may sound obvious, but when faced with the selection of good candidates, interviewers often go with the person they click with. And that connection may be deceiving.
・ up and coming 元気いっぱいの
・ go with ～ ～を選ぶ
・ click with ～ ～と気が合う
S: What do you mean?
I: Well, they may miss out(?) someone who will connect better with certain clients, or perhaps will bring a new perspective to marketing or product development. Their different approach may not be what the interviews’re used to and interviewers may overlook some promising candidates as a result.
S: Recruiting and promotions are internal issues for organizations. Corporations must deal with diversity in the marketplace as well.
I: Yes, and that’s exactly why it’s beneficial to have a variety of people with different backgrounds in their organizations. This is true for the domestic market, but especially for companies doing business globally. Corporations are investing more and more in employee training programs for working on multicultural teams throughout the organization and for how to work with clients from different cultures.
・ invest A in B AをBに投資する
S: You do a lot of this kind of work yourself, don’t you?
I: Yes, that’s right. I conduct diversity and intercultural management training programs for Japanese and foreign multinationals. Sometimes I work with expatriates, who’ve been assigned to a foreign country. But I also do programs for executives who have multicultural project teams and diverse client base. There’s definitely a lot more to global multicultural work environments than just knowing some business etiquette.
・ There is more to A than B. Aに関しては，B以上のものがある。Aについては，はなしはBにとどまらない。
S: What do you mean by that?
I: Well, one of the things we discuss is the importance of being able to embrace multiple perspective and to see the value of diversity on your team. It’s very easy to make quick judgments and evaluations of situations or people, but when working with people who come from different backgrounds, you may find that you’ve jumped to the wrong conclusions. We tend to evaluate situations through lens of our own culture or life experience. Well, this is not necessarily wrong. It may cloud a perception of a situation. Being open to different ideas and approaches can be very beneficial, whether in your working relationships with colleagues or with client relations.
S: How so?
I: Well, for example, you may have some people on your team with different approaches to time. Some people come from cultures that value schedules and strict time management. Well, others take a more .. flexible approach, adjusting the schedules according to the situation at hand. And depending on your own style, you may view that first person as either very responsible or very rigid and inflexible. In the case of the second person, you may see them as disorganized or disrespectful or you may see them as very effective at prioritizing and able to adjust quickly to change. The important thing is to understand your own style, recognize that it’s not necessarily the global standard, and then attempt to understand where your team members are coming from. You may find you share the same objective but their approach may be the best one for that particular situation.
・ prioritize ～を優先させる
S: Any other examples?
I: Sure. There’re some cultures that emphasize expressing emotions and feelings in an open and vocal way and accept this as normal in the workplace. Other cultures tend to value a more neutral approach, expressing feelings in a more restrained way. You can imagine the misunderstanding this may cause. The expressive team member may think that the more reserved colleague doesn’t care about a particular issue, while the other member may view the passionate colleague as overreacting to the situation or behaving in a childish way. In fact, they may both feel strongly about the issue at hand, but by failing to understand each other’s perspective, they may lose valuable time that could be spent dealing with the main issue. Interculturally-savvy team leaders and managers can identify these potential road blocks and take measures to resolve them, creating a smoother working relationship among team members. That can mean a much more productive team in organization as a whole.