Nihongo No Kosei (Chukoshinsho)

[Machine Translation] Originally, Japanese had an "all's well that ends well" structure, with the center of gravity being the verb at the end. However, as interest shifted to nouns that appeared one after another, the balance was lost, and the long-cultivated fun of the language was lost. This is due to the influence of the translation culture. In order to regain the original charm of the Japanese language, the richness of the spoken language may be an important key. In this essay, the author suggests many blind spots hidden in daily language life in a light touch, comparing them with English expressions.

もともと日本語は「終りよければすべてよし」の構造で、重心は末尾の動詞にあった。だが次々と登場した名詞群に関心が移り、バランスが崩れた結果、長く培われてきたおもしろさは失われた。それは翻訳文化の影響だといえる。日本語本来の魅力を取り戻すうえで、話し言葉がもつ豊かさこそ重要なカギとなるのではあるまいか―。日常の言語生活にひそんだ盲点の数々を、英語表現と比較しつつ軽やかな筆致で示唆するエッセイ。