このメーカは英語の使い方に注意した方が良い！

Somebody came to class with this notebook, which says:

× Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much ; wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
◯ Knowledge means being proud of having learned so much; wisdom means being humble about what one doesn't know. <- maybe, as I'm not exactly sure what they wanted to say.

• knowledge 知識 
• wisdom 知恵
• humble 謙遜 (definitions from edict)

Notice that the semicolon was used incorrectly. In English, there is usually no space in front of punctuation. Be careful!
 
Worse than the semicolon, though, is the fact that I can't even be sure what their sentence means! It took me several reads to guess the meaning.

There's a lot that I don't know, and I have to be humble about my weak Japanese skills. Manufacturers and business people need to be humble about their English abilities. Don't sell a product with English on it without having someone who has a lot of knowledge of English check it! For me, that is wisdom.

「claim」と「complain」の違い

I've been told:

× You always claim about wrong English.
◯ You always complain about wrong English.

claim

1. 〔証拠なしに～が本当であると〕主張｛しゅちょう｝する、言い張る、断言する
2. 〔当然のこととして～を〕要求｛ようきゅう｝［請求｛せいきゅう｝］する、求める
3. 〔～の所有権を〕主張｛しゅちょう｝する
4. 〔命を〕奪う
5. 〈主に英〉〔賞品などを〕獲得する
6. 〈主に英〉〔人の注意を〕引く

complain 【自動】

1. 不満｛ふまん｝［苦情｛くじょう｝・不平｛ふへい｝］を言う［漏らす］、文句｛もんく｝を言う、愚痴｛ぐち｝を言う［こぼす］
2. 〔病状｛びょうじょう｝や痛みを〕訴える、言う
3. 〔苦情｛くじょう｝でも言うかのように〕うめく、きしみ音を出す
4. 〔正式｛せいしき｝な機関｛きかん｝に〕苦情｛くじょう｝を申し立てる、訴え出る、クレームを付ける
5. 〔コンピュータやソフトウェアが〕エラーを出す、言うことを聞かない

Well, I cannot claim that my Japanese is perfect, and I don't expect Japanese to have perfect English, either. However, if you are a big business and try to use English, you should make the effort to let a native speaker check your English for mistakes.

"Complain" is used when talking about something you are not happy about. That means that English doesn't have the word クレーマ. In English, you'd have to say "someone who made a complaint".

• complaint 文句 (definition from jmdict)

I can't claim it is good, but I was awake the other day at 5 am. I can't complain about being up at that time, either, because I was able to see the reflection of the sunrise on the office towers around Tokyo Station. It was beautiful, I thought.

「appeal」と「claim」の違い

Today's content might be controversial. Get ready. I want to talk about "appeal" and "claim".

• controversy 論, 繋争, 争論, 論争 (definition from jmdict)

These words are often confused by Japanese, mostly because they have been adopted into Japanese with meanings which are slightly different from their English meanings.

Someone told me:

× Chinese appeal their country is a developed one.
◯ Chinese claim their country is a developed one.

We can say:

× Chinese claim about Japanese policy.
◯ Chinese complain about Japanese policy.

× Taiwanese claim to the world to recognize them as a country.
◯ Taiwanese appeal to the world to recognize them as a country.

◯ Taiwanese claim they are an independent country, but China disagrees.

Here are the definitions of "appeal" and "claim" from Eijiro on the Web; check their site for the examples:

appeal

1. 注意｛ちゅうい｝を喚起｛かんき｝する
2. 援助｛えんじょ｝を求める、懇願｛こんがん｝する、訴える、要請｛ようせい｝する、頼む
3. 気に入る、興味｛きょうみ｝をそそる、魅力｛みりょく｝がある
4. 上訴｛じょうそ｝する、抗告｛こうこく｝する
5. 抗議｛こうぎ｝する

claim

1. 〔証拠なしに～が本当であると〕主張｛しゅちょう｝する、言い張る、断言する
2. 〔当然のこととして～を〕要求｛ようきゅう｝［請求｛せいきゅう｝］する、求める
3. 〔～の所有権を〕主張｛しゅちょう｝する
4. 〔命を〕奪う
5. 〈主に英〉〔賞品などを〕獲得する
6. 〈主に英〉〔人の注意を〕引く

I talked about "appeal" back in January. Check this post:

http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2010/01/appeal.html

I took this photo last night at a performance of my friend's band. The name of the band is ギロチン工場. I'd like to appeal to you to catch one of their performances if you are into noise rock. I cannot claim that this is a good photo, but it's the best my phone could do.

Somehow I've never talked about "claim", though! OK, there's the next post.

復習:「so」と「such」の違いについて

Somebody the other day said:

× Soooooooooo cute kid!!!
◯ Such a cuuuuuuuuuuuute kid!
◯ Sooooooooooo cute!

Remember, the pattern is:

• so + (adj)
• such + (adj) + (n)

This was the subject of my post back on July 16 of last year:

http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/07/more-about-so.html

In May of last year I talked about going to a Ryoji Ikeda exhibition:

http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/05/ive-been-taking-it-easy-today-check-out.html

This past Friday, I had the chance to see him perform live.

× It was soooooooo good performance!
◯ It was such a gooooooood performance!
◯ The performance was sooooooooo goooooood!

He performed with Carsten Nicolai as well. That concert was probably the best one I've been to in five years. The visuals were so well-designed! I had such a good time.

Here's some more information on Ryoji Ikeda. You should check out his work:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/池田亮司

EL-THANK JAPONは英語の使い方に注意して方が良い＋「arrive」の使い方

I was doing some shopping at the supermarket this evening. Walking down the aisle with cereal, I saw this package.

• aisle - 通路
• cereal - シリアル

× organic cereal arrived from France
◯ organic cereal from France

Using "arrived" here is strange. "Arrived" emphasizes that someone has traveled or something has been sent. The important point here is the origin (生産国) of the cereal, not the fact that it has traveled.

We don't know who sent it, either. Good cases for using "arrive" include:

• What time did you arrive?
• A: When will this package arrive? B: It will arrive in about two weeks.

Of course, we do care when this cereal arrived because we want it to be fresh. However, for this kind of product, I usually leave it to the supermarket to watch that.

• leave it to (人)に任せる、～に委ねる (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

After searching for English materials on the net, I'm glad you have arrived at our blog. Another post is coming soon!

「go on」について

"Doesn't 'go on' mean continue?" somebody asked me. This person had read my post from a few days ago about "go to" and "go on".

http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2010/10/ecocologo-togo-on.html

"Sure! 'Go on' has both meanings," I said.

"Go on" as a verb meaning "continue" can take an activity as an object.

• I will go on posting pictures of English mistakes when I find them.
• Even if you make mistakes, I hope you'll go on studying.

It doesn't always use an object, though. There was a typhoon on Saturday.

• Someone told me that her daughter's school festival went on despite the typhoon.

Right now, there's a box of chocolate sitting next to me. They're delicious, so I might go on eating them if I don't put the box away. I supposed I had better put them away.