実践ビジネス英語 dictation (aired 8/31,9/1)

実践ビジネス英語Talk the Talkコーナーのディクテーションです。番組8月後半のテーマは、’Drawn to China（中国に魅かれて）’でした。中国市場の魅力について、番組vignetteでは、’There’s no better place to pursue the American Dream than China.（アメリカン・ドリームを求めるのに、中国ほど適した場所はない）’ というセリフもありました。Talk the Talk では、Heatherさんがご自身の日本語との出会いについて、また、海外での生活・就労経験を持つことについて、ていねいに話されています。
今回は、すぐに使えそうな短文を取り上げて「かもめのフレーズ帳」にまとめています。

（S: 杉田敏先生　H: Heather Howard さん）

Drawn to China (Talk the Talk)

S: Now, in our current vignette, Goto Yoko returns to the United States from China, and tells some of the H&B staff about the wonderful experiences she’s had in that country. Now, when did you first know that you wanted to live and work in Japan, Heather?

H: In high school, actually that was when I first started studying Japanese. I was lucky enough to go to a school that offered an unusually wide variety of foreign languages including things like Arabic, Chinese and Latin. In fact it was Latin that I initially wanted to study. It was my mother who got me involved in Japanese.
I was in high school during mid to late 1980’s, and Japan seemed to be in the news almost constantly in those days. So my mother thought, “If Heather can speak and read Japanese, she’ll have a very valuable skill. She’ll have all sorts of fascinating opportunities.” However, I had utterly no interest in Japanese at that time. So we ended up making a deal that I would study Japanese for one year. If I absolutely hated it, I could give it up and do something else, but I had to stick it out for a year.

S: I see. So I assume that you didn’t hate it, after all.

H: On the contrary, I was almost immediately hooked. I think it was fascinated by how completely different it was from the English alphabet. And this made me want to learn more and more about the language and the culture that had developed such a different system. That was twenty-seven years ago. And I have been studying Japanese ever since. So, my conscious desire to go to Japan began in high school.
But my mother actually began laying the groundwork for me to live overseas even earlier. I had a very diverse global collection of childhood storybooks. One was the tale of a mysterious young woman who came to live with an elderly couple and wove beautiful fabric for them to sell. The only condition was they couldn’t look at her while she was weaving...

S: And would you definitely recommend living overseas to other people?

H: I think living overseas is one of the most valuable things anyone can ever do in their life. If I had my way, everyone would spend at least a year studying or working in a foreign country. It’s a cliché but it’s true; it broadens our horizons beyond anything we could’ve imagined. We learn there’re vastly different ways of looking at the world in daily life. We encounter all sorts of new alternatives and inspiration.
And at the same time, I think we gain a deep appreciation of the good things in our own cultures. There’s so much we take for granted when it’s always been part of our lives. But living in another country can open our eyes to how lucky we’ve been in many respects.

S: We often hear how fewer and fewer Japanese students are going to overseas universities these days.

H: Yes. I’ve been very sad to hear that. One reason often given is that they’re concerned it would harm their job prospects. But I read a Japanese newspaper article last year about how many companies actually want to draw on the language abilities and international perspectives those people acquired overseas to keep pace with the globalization of business.
So according to the article, more and more companies are helping such students by conducting recruitment exams in summer and autumn, or even year-round. Also, some companies are allowing new employees to join them in the fall or anytime in the year.

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かもめのフレーズ帳
・I was almost immediately hooked.
（ほとんどすぐに夢中になりました）
→ be hooked (+on〜): （〜に）夢中になって
→ immediately: すぐに
・I have been studying Japanese ever since.
（それ以来ずっと日本語を勉強しています）
・It broadens our horizons.
（それは私たちの視野を広げます）
→ broaden : 広げる
→ horizon : 水平線、地平線。「視野、展望」という意味では複数形にします。