こんにちは、９月から入社しました翻訳事業部の葉と申します。 初めてのブログですが、バイオリンとチェロについてお話ししたいと思います。 バイオリンを習い始めたのは、大学院２年生の頃でした。写真は当時使っていたものです（ヤマハBraviol V7SG 4/4）。 紙幅の関係上、ここで自分が最も好きな三曲をお薦めしたいと思います。 The Promise(Secret Garden) Introdution & Rondo Capriciosso（Saint-Saen） Gipsy Air, Zigueniweinsen（Sarasate） いずれも、Youtubeで動画が見られますので、ぜひ一度聴いてみてください。 チェロは、バイオリンと違い、音が低くて、とても優雅な楽器だと思います。ここで二本チェロに関する映画をお薦めしたいと思います。 『Hilary and Jackie』（1998,イギリス） 『Like Sunday, Like Rain』（2014,アメリカ） スタイルが全く異なる二本の映画ですが、チェロだけでなく、音楽以外の人生に関する哲理も得られるのではないかと思います。ぜひ見てみてください。

Last month an unfortunate story of misunderstanding blew up on local Twitter and newspapers, even making it to BBC News in the UK. A convenience store was in commotion over a foreigner of Asian descent openly stealing a drink, and was arguing with staff demanding to know ‘what have I done wrong!?’. Neither the customer nor the convenience store staff seemed to be at fault, instead the problem was with the design of the drink bottle’s label, which reads ‘Free Tea’ (フリーティー). Why might this be a problem? Whilst the word ‘free’ has many meanings, a native English speaker is most likely to think of ‘given or available without charge’ (Oxford Dictionary of English). According to the Japanese manufacturer’s product site, the product’s slogan is ‘ストレス社会解放応援飲料’, a drink to support freeing oneself from the stresses of modern life. ‘Free’ is also often used as a loan-word in Japan for things ‘free of’ something, such as calories, alcohol or purine. Even amongst Japanese native speakers this loan-word has a few meanings but its meaning broadens when read by a native English speaker as English, unlike the Japanese ‘自由’ or the French ‘libre’, doesn’t make a distinction between free of cost and freedom of self. Translation and native checking services are thought of being a necessity when developing products or offering services abroad, but as the market for ‘inbound’ services in Japan grows with increasing tourism as Japan looks towards the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it’s equally important to consider the […]